Army Special Forces

Army Special Forces, commonly called the Green Berets, are the US Army's premier unconventional warfare units, established in 1952 at Fort Bragg. Operating under US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), the force comprises seven active and reserve groups, each aligned to a geographic theatre. Green Berets are trained in foreign internal defence, counterterrorism, and direct action, and routinely operate alongside partner forces in conflict zones worldwide.

The force came into public focus during the Iran war debate when Joe Kent, a former Army Special Forces officer and CIA paramilitary operator, resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Centre in protest at US strikes on Iran, arguing the country posed no imminent threat. Kent's departure was the first by a senior Trump administration official over the conflict, exposing a fault line between the special-operations community and White House war policy.

Kent's resignation illustrated a broader tension: veterans of the special-operations community, who served in low-signature campaigns against non-state actors, have often been sceptical of conventional state-on-state conflicts. Whether that scepticism can translate into political pressure on an administration backed by a majority of its own voters remains an open question.