Operation Eagle claw: fail
Operation Eagle Claw took place in Tehran, Iran. The objective of this mission was to rescue 66 US hostages being held by the Iranians. Operation Eagle Claw was ended by a horrific helicopter crash that killed 8 people on board. During operation Urgent Fury, a part of this, soldiers stormed a prison and rescued some Us hostages that were in Grenada. Also, during Operation Just Cause, a CIA agent was rescued and president Manuel Noriega was captured. Unfortunately, not all hostages were rescued due to the helicopter crash.
Great Scud hunt: success
This mission was part of Desert Strom in 1991. Delta soldiers infiltrated hundreds of miles into Iraq to find and destroy any scud missile launchers. Scud missiles are missiles that are shot radically at a traget with hope of hitting it. They do not go very far, but can be very dangerous to nearby enemy countries. What the soldiers would do is they would find a launch site, kill its crew and soldiers, then radio the location to US fighter jets. These would then destroy the sites with bombs.
Hunt for osama bin laden: fail
Tora Bora Mountains, where Osama was hiding
This operation took place in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden was supposedly hiding in Tora Bora mountains. These mountains were notorious for being the hardest place to secure. There were so many advantage points the enemy had to shoot at the Delta soldiers. Delta knew this was going to take a lot of skill to accomplish. The entire team grew beards and wore civilian clothes to blend in and get closer to the mountains. They needed to kill as many Al-Qaeda as possible, with hope that Osama was among them. They cleared every cave, and secured the mountains after a couple fo hours, yet Osama Bin Laden had slipped right through their fingers, and got away. This went bad because the Afghani soldiers they took with them were stubborn to help because they didn't want to kill their own people. This slowed them down. This could be why they didn't make in time to capture Osama Bin Laden.
Operation Gecko: Fail
The objective of this mission was for Delta to raid the walled compound owned by Mullah Mohammed Omar, kill any Taliban inside, and gather intel about their plans. This was in the town of Kandahar. When they arrived at the compound, not one person was inside. The Taliban was one step ahead of them. Instead, when Delta left, their base was vulnerable, and the Taliban took this opportunity to attack the base. Delta had to rush back and fight off the Taliban.
Baghdad air strike: intel fail
DElta was inserted to kill Sadam Hussein by calling in an air strike on him at a restaurant. The soldiers marked the restaurants for the stealth bombers to blow up. When they blew it up, they found out that Sadam was never there in the first place due to a bad intel reading.
Roy Hallums rescue: success
On November 1st, 2004, Roy Hallums and 5 others were captured in Baghdad. A group of gunmen stormed the compound where they were at, took them, and demanded $12 million ransom. Delta Force responded to the terroristic threats, and they flew in to rescue the hostages. When they arrived they killed most of the gunmen and took the rest into custody. They liberated the hostages, and found Roy Hallums in a dark cellar room with a tube hanging from the ceiling that gave him oxygen to breathe.
Hostage Rescue: Success
On April 4, 2004 italian workers were kidnapped by Iraqi criminals. On June 8, Delta flew in to liberate the hostages. When Delta arrived, the kidnappers were taken completely by surprise, and were easily restrained and taken into custody. The hostages were soon found in a dark room within the compound.
Posse comitatus act of 1878:
This Act was created by to divide the military and the law enforcement. It can be appealed if needed, but otherwise is strict. This means the army can't do public law enforcing like obtaining thieves and murders in our country, and the police can't go over seas and fight enemies to defend our country. One example of it being appealed was back in 1987. President Ronald Reagan waived the Act when Cubans invaded the US, were sent to jail, mounted an uprising, and the police couldn't handle all of them. He sent Delta in to subdue the crowd of angry Cubans.
Some smaller but important missions:
Delta served as bodyguards frequently back in the 90s during Desert Storm. For example, they guarded General Norman Schwarzkopf and Hamid Karzail. Both men were targets of Afghanis and Iranians. They still do bodyguards today, but not as often as they do counterterrorism. They also infiltrated Libya back in 1984 to instal surveillance cameras in their training camps. This way they could keep tabs on their progress and any planning they were doing.