Workup – The phrase SEALs use for a training cycle, especially one that precedes a deployment.

Airborne – In the military, this word is normally used to describe parachute troops and missions.

Theater special operations forces – A phrase used by U.S. Special Operations Command and others to refer to U.S. special operations forces that were not part of and had no habitual relationship with JSOC. Also

After the war there was disagreement over whether Delta had been responsible for the destruction of any real Scuds, with suggestions that many targets were decoys. However, there was no disputing that once JSOC’s campaign in western Iraq began, the number of Scuds fired declined by 80 percent, to an average of just one launch per day. The war ended

On July 1, 2002, the defense secretary sent a memo to Feith, titled “Manhunts.” “How do we organize the Department of Defense for manhunts?” the memo asked. “We are obviously not well organized at the present time.” The memo reflected a critical moment for Rumsfeld and JSOC, according to Andrews. “Once he fastened on the manhunt thing, he looked at

As JSOC sought to fill the gaps in its knowledge of the Quds Force’s reach into Iraq and the Levant, it was able to draw heavily on intelligence from another country that paid close attention to the militant Shi’ite threat in the Middle East: Israel. JSOC had access to Israeli intelligence because in the middle of the decade, Delta established a

The missions into Syria were also kept from almost everyone in the U.S. embassy in Damascus. “The chief of station, the ambassador will know they’re in there and maybe the chief of ops in the station, and that’s about it,” the special mission unit veteran said. The operatives had an emergency action plan if they were compromised. “Your best course

Unconventional warfare – The use of proxy forces to foment rebellion against an enemy state. In the U.S. military, this is a primary mission of Special Forces

Wescam ball – A gyro-stabilized camera in a spherical mounting fixed to the underside of an aircraft, the Wescam ball tracked targets and sent live video back to the JOC. Used primarily by Delta’s Echo Squadron