U.S. Army Special Forces Groups

The 1st Special Forces Group is a U.S. Army Special Forces unit subordinate to the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) and the Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC). The group was activated on 24 June 1957 at Camp Drake, Japan. It was among the first groups of the Special Forces to be officially formed. The group is responsible for operations in the Pacific. Currently, the First Battalion is stationed at Okinawa while the 2d, 3d, and 4th Battalions are stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington with a 4th Battalion standing up in the summer of 2009. 1st Special Forces Group holds the distinction of having the first, Captain Harry Cramer killed 21 October 1957, and last, SGT Fred Mick killed 12 October 1972, Special Forces men killed in Vietnam, as well as the first man, SFC Nathan Chapman killed 4 January 2002, in Afghanistan. Captain Cramer’s name was left off the Vietnam Memorial when it was opened in 1982 due to the secretive nature of his mission and that the extent of America’s involvement in Southeast Asia was not known in 1957. However, his son appealed to the National Parks Service and in 1983 Captain Cramer’s name was added to the Memorial.
Throughout 2003–2004, the 1st SFG (A) deployed many soldiers in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM and OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan. By November 2004 the unit deployed an entire battalion to Afghanistan as part of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force- Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A).
Today, 1st SFG (A) continues to support the Global War on Terrorism with operations in the Philippines, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as maintaining US security relationships with partner nations throughout the Pacific.