Desert One and Air Force Special Operations Command: a 25-year retrospective.(Vignette)

AFTER THE VIETNAM War, the Air Force s special operations forces (AFSOF) had deteriorated so much that they could not respond to a situation in Iran. On 4 November 1979, supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and held the staff hostage. In response, the US government scrambled to assemble an ad hoc task force to rescue the hostages. Although an elite Army counterterrorism unit had completed certification training that same month, it had no Air Force counterpart. Because of the near-eradication of the SOF community in the 1970s, the American military could not respond adequately to this emergency.

The rescue attempt went no further than its …