Blue Light (counter-terrorist subunit)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Blue Light was an American counter-terrorist subunit of the

5th Special Forces Group that existed into the late 1970s.[1]

According to Colonel

U.S. Army Special Forces leadership to fill an important counter-terrorism gap until Delta Force became operational. He stated that the unit was disbanded when Delta Force went operational.[2]

History

Beckwith's memoir, Delta Force,

US Department of Defense (DOD) brass and the President. Delta therefore represented a political threat in the minds of some Special Forces commanders.[who?
]

Blue Light's S-2 (intelligence officer), captain Timothy J. Casey, was later one of the intelligence officers assigned to JTF 1–79 which commanded the ill-fated Operation Eagle Claw.[3]

BL had recruited from soldiers who participated in the raid on Son Tay or from those who served in Vietnam in various special forces assignments,[4] being later made up of Green Berets from the 5th Special Forces Group's 2nd Battalion.[1] The unit recruited a female soldier named Katie Bradford, who served as an intelligence analyst, although she's been trained to handle combat missions when needed.[5]

The unit was based at Mott Lake.[4] Some experienced SOF officers visited Mott Lake from overseas to provide assistance and advice.[4]

Nevertheless, Delta went on to complete its initial certification exercise in July 1978, and Blue Light was deactivated shortly thereafter. Blue Light members were asked to try out for Delta. At least four successfully passed selection and training.[1]

Origin of name

Blue Light may have been a randomly generated code name, or may be a reference to American radar officer's slang, in which "to bluelight" can reportedly be used as a verb, meaning "to detect a contact with radar," thus metaphorically suggesting the ability to discover the enemy's hiding place.

Founding member Gary O'Neal postulated in his book, American Warrior, that Robert Anthony Mountel used the name because it was the name of an undercover OSS mission in France during World War II.[6]

Pop culture

In the 1990 film

Washington Dulles International Airport
.

References

  1. ^ a b c "This long-forgotten unit was the direct predecessor to Delta Force". 23 August 2021.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-380-80939-7[page needed
    ]
  3. ISBN 1-886391-23-8
    ..
  4. ^ a b c https://jackmurphywrites.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Blue-Light-Americas-First-Counter-terrorism-Unit2.2.pdf
  5. ^ "First Woman in Special Forces". 3 March 2020.
  6. ^ American Warrior, G. O'Neal, p. 142.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blue_Light_(counter-terrorist_subunit)&oldid=1211727832"