- United States Army Special Forces in popular culture
United States Army Special Forces in popular culture often begins with a
United States Army Special Forces soldier emphatically telling you that the "Green Beret" is a hat and not the man who wears it. Nevertheless, for a time in the 1960s the Green Beret and the men who wore them became a nationalfad encompassing a wide variety ofpop culture .oldiers of the New Frontier
Although the
U.S. Army Special Forces were created with a low profile in 1952, and the green beret was not officially authorized, things changed dramatically with PresidentJohn F. Kennedy . He wanted to challenge Communist influence and wars of liberation in the recently decolonizedThird World , and bolster pro-American regimes with the U.S. Army's ownspecial forces and counter-guerrilla fighters.On 12 October 1961, Kennedy visited the U.S. Special Warfare Center, where his aide,
Major General Chester V. Clifton (and friend of the SWC Commander, BGWilliam P. Yarborough ) informed Yarborough that the President was keen on the Special Forces — but would not visit the SF base unless they were wearing their green berets. The Army, having previously forbidden the green beret, allowed the soldiers to wear them, lest JFK not visit. [Halberstadt, Hans "The Green Berets: Unconventional Warriors" Presidio Press (1988)] The Special Forces displayed their capabilities, impressing the President; so often, in the next years, that they referred to it as "Disneyland". President Kennedy's visit was topped with aBell Aircraft pilot (dressed in Armyfatigues ) flying with arocket belt to the President, and saluting him.Kennedy approved of the Green Beret, and the U.S. Army authorised it. In 1962, he called the green beret "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom". Special Forces soldiers in berets and dress Greens were President Kennedy's cortege in 1963. An SF beret was photographed atop his grave at
Arlington National Cemetery .The first U.S. Army aviator (pilot) to receive the Green Beret was author Robert Skimin. [ [http://www.robertskimin.com/biograph.html Robert Skimin Biography ] ]
The Special Forces have appeared in cinema. The 1st Special Forces Group on
Okinawa provided a number of troopers to act as extras in directorSamuel Fuller 's "Merrill's Marauders" (1961) and were credited at film's start. On U.S. television, a March 1962 episode of "Surfside 6 " is titled "The Green Beret" and featured SF training.Henry Fonda appeared in, and narrated, a 1962 "Special Forces" episode of "The Big Picture" series of U.S. Army-produced films that found their way to U.S. television. In 1963, a Green Beret appeared in the episode "In Praise of Pip " of "The Twilight Zone" though the U.S. Army told theCBS television network to not name Southeast Asian country where the story occurred. The Green Beret's first Hollywood appearance is in the science fiction film "Seven Days in May " (1963) whereinAndrew Duggan is a Special Forces officer loyal to the U.S. President, not the traitorous JCS ChiefBurt Lancaster ; the film also gave the U.S. filmgoer a first glimpse of theM16 rifle .Mattel toys made "Guerrilla Fighter" playsets in 1962 containing a commando green beret with an interesting tin "Guerrilla Fighter" badge depicting the crossed arrows insignia of the Special Forces, (formerly worn by the1st Special Service Force , and before that theU.S. Army Indian Scouts ) and a jungle knife in front of a parachute. The set also contained the MattelDick Tracy automatic cap firing "tommy gun " or "Scattergun " (the Dick Tracy cap firing no longer water firing riot shotgun)toy weapons , both now inmilitary camouflage plastic, a military camouflagedponcho , and in some sets, a rubberKa-Bar knife and atripwire booby trap . Mattel later made the "M-16 Marauder", in 1966, which appeared in "The Green Berets" film wherein an enragedJohn Wayne smashes one against a tree.The public was fascinated with this new type of soldier of the
New Frontier , and the Army reluctantly gave journalists' access to many of Special Forces oftentop secret missions. One writer wasRobin Moore , who used his connections withHarvard University classmateRobert F. Kennedy to write a book about the Special Forces. The U.S. Army agreed on the condition that Moore (then 38 years old) complete the Basic Airborne Course and SF training before being allowed to visit the Special Forces inSouth Vietnam .aturation
Robin Moore successfully completed the courses and was allowed to live with the soldiers in Special Forces and their South Vietnamese,
Montagnard , andNung mercenary allies. His book, "The Green Berets ", was published in 1965, but, because he mentions the American presence inNorth Vietnam andCambodia , he published "The Green Berets" as a novel. The U.S. Army was upset by the book; the reading public was not and it became a best selling book, especially its paperback edition in 1966.At the time of Moore's book and the increasing U.S. Military involvement in the
Vietnam War , a Special ForcesStaff Sergeant namedBarry Sadler wrote a song with Robin Moore and recorded it under the title the "Ballad of the Green Berets ". It became the number-one-single-record in the U.S. in 1966. In addition to the single, Sadler released an album "Ballads of the Green Berets" with Sadler's photograph of him in a green beret appearing on the single, the LP, and on the paperback cover of Moore's "The Green Berets". SSgt. Sadler later recorded an additional, but lesser, song "The A-Team" and released two more long-playing albums, and wrote his autobiography, "I'm A Lucky One"."Ballad of the Green Berets" had many
cover version s ranging fromEnnio Morricone andDuane Eddy to "Drugstore records " on labels such as Diplomat and Wyncote records.Hanna-Barbera Records released a children's LP "The Story of the Green Beret" available to members of theG.I. Joe club. The album was atie-in with the release of the G.I. Joe Green Beret "action figure " (doll) that had appeared in 1966. The exciting record had analbum cover of Special Forces in action and a picture of theMedal of Honor . The record started off with a cover version of "Ballad of the Green Berets" but was a spoken account withsound effects of aColonel taking two small boys to visitFort Bragg, North Carolina , to learn about the training and capabilities of "The Green Berets". The album then featured an exciting account of theBattle of Nam Dong where CaptainRoger Donlon received the first Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War.A less successful song was
Nancy Ames ' "He Wore The Green Beret" with a flip side of "War is a Card Game".Dickie Goodman pitted the two fads of 1966 against each other in "Batman and His Grandmother" where the Caped Crusader went up against the Green Beret.Robin Moore also wrote a 1965 "
Tales of the Green Beret " newspapercomic strip with artwork bySgt. Rock (comics) Joe Kubert that was also published in paperback. It later became aDell Publishing American comic book in 1967 replacing their earlier "Jungle War Stories" and "Guerrilla War" comics. WhenDC Comics 's Larry Rock (brother of the Sergeant), the replacement in "Our Fighting Forces " for the Marines Gunner and Sarge and their dog Pooch proved unpopular, DC replaced him with a Green Beret named Captain Hunter in 1966. Captain Hunter's adventures featured him hunting for his twin brother, a pilot shot down and captured by theViet Cong . Otherwar comics put in their own Green Beret characters, such asLightning Comics ' "Todd Holton-Super Green Beret" (1967) [http://www.geocities.com/thoughtviper/holton/th.html] .Children of all ages could also enjoy
Philadelphia Gum "Men of the Green Beret"trading cards of photographs of the Special Forces in action with a stick ofbubble gum . The artwork on the box was by famed artistNorm Saunders of "Mars Attacks " fame. Aurora Models came out with a model of a Green Beret soldier.With all the interest in the men of the Green Berets, a film version seemed a long time in coming.
Columbia Pictures had bought thefilm rights to Robin Moore's book before publication, using the title, "The Green Berets", for ascreenplay about the training of an SF Team and their deployment in Southeast Asia, but dropped the idea, because of the U.S. Army's many conditions and the U.S. public's dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War. ProducerDavid L. Wolper then bought the rights to "The Green Berets", and dropped the idea for reasons like Columbia Pictures. Although he later produced "The Devil's Brigade " (1968) with Utah-based National Guard SF soldiers as extras, wearing attractive, but imaginary "red" berets.Thus, it fell to John Wayne to buy the rights and ask President
Lyndon Johnson 's help in obtaining the assistance and cooperation of the Pentagon in filming the book. The Army set strict conditions, forbidding Moore to work on or be associated with the film, though thefilm trailer has the caption "TOLD TOUGH - LIKE THE BOOK". Despite Wayne'sbox office prestige and public interest in "The Green Berets", the film was rejected byUniversal Pictures andParamount Pictures . Wayne's preferred film composer,Elmer Bernstein , refused to write the score. Wayne used hisBatjac Productions money to make the film, whichWarner Bros. profitably released to some public protest.John Wayne's version of Robin Moore's "The Green Berets" begins with a choral version of the "
Ballad of the Green Berets " heard behindWayne Fitzgerald 's titles thatsegue to an SF A-Team putting on a "Disneyland" show for journalists, including skepticalDavid Janssen . From SF Colonel John Wayne, reporter Janssen wangles a trip to the Vietnam War, and, eventually, participates in a large-scale battle, based on theBattle of Nam Dong , in the event, Janssen tells Wayne "If I write what I feel, I'll be out of a job". Wayne tells Janssen he'll always have one with them.The last third of the film is Green Beret expertise in a
commando mission to abduct a North VietnameseGeneral who has been seduced by the "sister-in-law" of an ARVN Special Forces ColonelJack Soo Wayne's counterpart. The climax is a superb demonstration ofcombatives by former-Tarzan Mike Henry killing a horde ofViet Cong who attack him, even impaling one on a low tree branch. Themartial arts inspired many film producers.Tom Laughlin made a highly profitableAmerican International Pictures film called "The Born Losers " (1967) featuringBilly Jack , a half-American Indian former Green Beret Vietnam War veteran using his martial arts on amotorcycle gang . The 1971American International Pictures film "Chrome and Hot Leather" features SF men Tony Young,Peter Brown , andMarvin Gaye using their training and Vietnam War experience to avenge the murder of Young's girlfriend by William Smith's motorcycle gang. Thefilm poster shows a uniformed Green Beret using a biker as a sub-human punching bag with the unforgettabletagline : "DON'T MUCK AROUND WITH A GREEN BERET'S MAMA! HE'LL TAKE HIS CHOPPER AND RAM IT DOWN YOUR THROAT!"Decline
As the public wearied of the Green Berets, so did the American
Regular Army . There were feelings that the 1969 ColonelRobert Rheault "Green Beret Murder Case" (wherein the Col. and seven men were tried for assassinating a Communist spy) was used as adiscrediting tactic against the Special Forces proper. [ Stein, Jeff "A Murder in Wartime: The Untold Spy Story That Changed the Course of the Vietnam War" St Martins Mass Market Paper (1993)] In 1972, authorDavid Morrell published First Blood, a novel that features a former member of the Army Special Forces named John James Rambo. The novel focuses on the struggle Rambo faces when he attempts to return to civilian life following the end of his tour of duty in Vietnam, and he eventually turns to violence. In 1982, a film adaptation of the novel was released, starringSylvester Stallone as John Rambo. The film altered many aspects of the novel, including excising the self-loathing characteristics the protagonist possesses in the novel [http://www.davidmorrell.net/faq.cfm] . The film was a box office success [http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=firstblood.htm] , and spawned a series of three additional films.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.