Military

In 2017, U.S. Special Operators Have Deployed to 137 Countries

The tabs on their shoulders read “Special Forces,” “Ranger,” “Airborne.” And soon their guidon—the “colors” of Company B, 3rd Battalion of the U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group—would be adorned with the “Bandera de Guerra,” a Colombian combat decoration.

“Today we commemorate 16 years of a permanent fight against drugs in a ceremony where all Colombians can recognize the special counter-narcotic brigade’s hard work against drug trafficking,” said Army Col. Walther Jimenez, the commander of the Colombian military’s Special Anti-Drug Brigade, last December.

America’s most elite troops, the Special Operations Forces, have worked with that Colombian unit since its creation in December 2000. Since 2014, four teams of Special Forces soldiers have intensely monitored the brigade. Now, they were being honored for it.