Word: unitized
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These unorthodox struggles require a special type of soldier: bold and resourceful, often trained in the black arts of stealth and sabotage, suitable for an elite unit that can vanish into alien territory or strike anywhere with speed and surprise. Recent events have underscored the need for such mobile, small-scale fighting units. As Americans abroad have become increasingly vulnerable to terrorist attacks like the Christmas-week atrocities in Rome and Vienna, Washington has recognized more than ever the utility of a quick and certain response. At the same time, the Reagan Administration has placed increased emphasis...
...unit in particular, readiness has not been as big a problem as simple logistics. Based at Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army's elite Delta Force has been too far from recent targets of terrorism to play a role. By the time Delta Force troops reached the Mediterranean to respond to the seizure of TWA Flight 847 last June and the hijacking of the EgyptAir flight to Malta in November, they were too late for a successful rescue operation. One of the Holloway Commission's recommendations is for the "forward deployment" of some special-operations forces and equipment overseas...
...major problem is that instead of fusing into a cohesive elite force, this hodgepodge of different units has increased interservice rivalries, in part because of such rapid growth in recent years. The Air Force's 1st SOW is equipped to transport Special Forces; so is the Army's Task Force 160 of the 101st Air Assault Division. The Rangers, 1,800 strong, see themselves as the elite light-infantry unit; so does the entire 198,000-member Marine Corps. The Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Agency, established in 1984 to advise on policy, is run by Marine Major General Wesley...
...Britain has just two: the Special Air Service (SAS), which fights on land, and the Special Boat Squadron (SBS), deployed at sea. The Germans have Grenzschutzgruppe (GSG-9), the elite commandos of the Border Protection Group. The Soviets have special forces (known as Spetsnaz) attached to every Red Army unit to perform intelligence gathering and to operate behind enemy lines. In Afghanistan, small (ten-to-15-man) Spetsnaz teams have begun to disrupt the ability of the rebel mujahedin to move freely at night on their supply trails. Israel also has special forces attached to every military unit...
Such draconian restrictions could well become commonplace. Across Western Europe last week, special precautions went into effect in response to the Rome and Vienna bloodbaths. Austrian officials strengthened the special antiterrorist unit that guards Vienna's Schwechat Airport but ruled out isolating the El Al check-in area in a remote corner of the airport because, as one spokesman put it, the airline did not want to operate in "a ghetto." Highly visible armed police patrolled El Al check-in areas at Frankfurt, Munich and Paris airports. Passengers on the twice-weekly El Al flight between Tel Aviv and Madrid...