Inside Special Operations

Oct. 24, 2001 -- While missiles seek out strategic targets, clearing the way for ground troops in Afghanistan, America's military elite — the special operations units — spearhead covert missions, providing intelligence and sneaking behind enemy lines, often in the dark of night.

The Green Berets, Delta Force, Navy Seals and the Army Rangers (known collectively as "special operations" forces) are a breed unto themselves, says Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, an account of a disastrous 1993 Special Ops mission in Somalia.

"They are the best of the best…" Bowden told ABCNEWS' Primetime. "They are capable of killing people with their hands, with weapons, with a sniper rifle from a great distance. And they have no compunctions about doing so if it's in the service of their country."

Those who join these units are hand-picked for their survival skills, fitness, intelligence, personality and willpower.

"These men are survivalists," he says. "They are capable of going without food, without water for long periods of time; capable of laying perfectly motionless in a spot for days, if necessary; capable of being delivered to just about any target anywhere in the world."

But despite their training, stamina and high-tech gear, the work they do is extraordinarily dangerous and even with the best planning, an operation can go very wrong, very fast.

Special Forces in Depth

Soldiers Become Cops

In 1993, as part of the United Nations effort to quell anarchy in the impoverished East African nation of Somalia, special forces soldiers were sent in not as soldiers, but as policemen.

Their goal was to arrest the troublesome warlord Mohammad Fara Aidid, hiding out somewhere in the neighborhoods of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Because this mission was more peacekeeping than a military strike, support was limited and there was little expectation of resistance.

But their peacekeeping mission turned into a battle for survival when the enemy overwhelmed a U.S. patrol.

"It was a routine mission," says Capt. John Hillen, an expert in Special Ops. "They had done the mission several times before and I don't think they really anticipated that much could go wrong."

Things did go horribly wrong on >, however, > Miscalculating who the enemy was and how heavily armed they were, plus the lack of adequate contingency planning cost 18 American lives in a single bloody day.

Lessons Learned?

But the debacle in Mogadishu may also offers lessons about what not to do in Afghanistan. ABCNEWS talked with former Army Rangers, members of Bravo Company, 3rd Ranger Battalion of the 75th Ranger regiment about what their experiences had taught them.

"I think the nation will realize we can't half-ass what we're doing," says > Clay Othic. "It's going to be speed, surprise, violence of action."

In Somalia, says > Mike Goodale, "we had a very strict set of rules of engagement. We were told specifically … identify your target, make sure they have a weapon, make sure it's pointed at you before you fire at them." In Afghanistan, he hypothesizes, "The rules of engagement will probably be adjusted ….There won't be any room for hesitation."

"This time there's a different face to the action…" says Othic, comparing Osama bin Laden >

"When you send Special Operations in, you have to send them in balls to the wall, all or nothing," says Dale Sizemore.

At Their Best

Special Ops have made adjustments and adapted such that this time in Afghanistan, any opposition will see the special ops at their best.

"I think what we might see in Afghanistan, if we do undertake missions of this sort, will be, very complex, contingency plans in which there are backups, for backups, for backups. And they are all rehearsed," says Hillen.

Special Ops units will be better equipped than they were in 1993, with state of the art global position equipment custom made sniper riffles, and advanced night vision technology.

"We are better militarily. We have better weapons," says Bowden. "Bombs and missiles are far more precise than they've ever been in the past."

Some things about the Special Ops units, says Sizemore, haven't changed. "Special Operations is ready every day … All they need is a briefing."