U.S. Troops: Ready, Set...Gone

While diplomats debate the wisdom of war with Iraq, the fighting has already begun

In special-forces circles they call Captain Mark's 12-man team a force multiplier. Military commanders use terms like quick-reaction force or special ops when discussing his work, but mostly they convey its nature with knowing looks. Captain Mark, a pseudonym, simply says he has a "cool-guy job." However you describe him, you have only to study Captain Mark's travels in the past few years--Haiti, Georgia, Afghanistan--to work out what the bearded 33-year-old does. His 5th Special Forces Group "A team" of language specialists, weapons trainers, logistics men, forward bomb spotters and CIA paramilitary intelligence gatherers is essentially a fuse, a fire starter,...

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