20th Special Forces Group

The 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (20th SFG) (A) is one of two Army National Guard groups for the United States Army Special Forces. 20th Group—as it is sometimes called—is designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counter-insurgency, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, information operations, counterproliferation of weapon of mass destruction, and security force assistance.[2] It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama (and is thus part of the Alabama Army National Guard) and as part of the United States Southern Command has an area of responsibility covering 32 countries, including Latin America south of Mexico, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. The area is shared with the Eglin Air Force Base-based 7th Special Forces Group, which is the active Regular Army Special Forces group responsible for the same region.

20th Special Forces Group (Airborne)
20th SFG(A) beret flash
Active1 May 1961 – present
Country United States
Branch United States Army
Army National Guard
TypeSpecial Forces
Part ofTitle 10: 1st Special Forces Command
Title 32: Alabama Army National Guard
Garrison/HQBirmingham, Alabama
EngagementsVietnam War, Gulf War, War on Terrorism, War on ISIS
Commanders
Current
commander		COL Shawn Satterfield
Insignia
Former 20th SFG(A) recognition bar, worn by non-special operations qualified soldiers—in lieu of a beret flash—from the 1960s to 1984[1]
20th SFG(A) background trimming
1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) distinctive unit insignia, worn by all SFG(A)s and the 1st SFC(A)
1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) shoulder sleeve insignia, worn by all 1st SFC(A) units

Structure

The 20th Special Forces Group has battalions from Alabama (1st Battalion), Mississippi (2nd Battalion), and Florida (3rd Battalion), with detachments; Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina; New Milford, Pennsylvania; Camp Atterbury Indiana; Glen Arm, Maryland; Chicopee, Massachusetts; and the military intelligence company located in Louisville, Kentucky.

Following the start of the Global War on Terror the 20th has been actively deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other places around the world.

20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) soldiers conduct water insertions into the Ross Barnett reservoir as part of their readiness training for state emergencies and missions overseas
A soldier from the 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) helps a sheriff's deputy evacuate a resident and the man’'s dogs from a flooded area 29 August 2012, in Gulfport, Mississippi a day after Hurricane Isaac made landfall.

References
  1. US Army Special Forces 1952–84, Bloomsbury Publishing, by Gordon L. Rottman, dated 20 September 2012, ISBN 9781782004462, last accessed 29 March 2019
  2. Army Special Operations Forces Fact Book 2018 Archived 19 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, USASOC official website, dated 2018, last accessed 28 July 2019
  3. "60th Troop Command (TC)". North Carolina National Guard. 13 November 2019.
  4. Illinois National Guard holds Special Forces Readiness Assessment, readMedia, by SSG James McDonnough (139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment), dated 18 April 2013, last accessed 16 December 2020


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