What is Special forces?
[[File:Navy SEAL.JPEG|thumb|[[United States Navy SEALs]] with ''M4'' assault rifles]] [[File:Delta-Operator.jpg|thumb|[[Delta Force]] operator]] '''Special forces''', or '''special operations forces''' are [[military]] units used to trained to perform unconventional (not ordinary), difficult, often high-risk missions.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Chapter 4: Special Operation Forces in Annual Report to the President and the Congress (1998)|url=http://www.dod.mil/execsec/adr98/chap4.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629105025/http://www.dod.mil/execsec/adr98/chap4.html|archive-date=2011-06-29|publisher=US Government|accessdate=2012-11-05}}</ref> They are highly-trained and are the most valuable units in the world. Because of the hard training and the high risk, there are not many special forces units.<ref>see Anglim, Simon: ''Special Forces - Strategic Asset.'': Infinity Journal, 2/2011, p.16.</ref> Those elite units are often used to operate deep behind enemy lines.<ref>Gray, Colin S.: ''War, Peace and International Relations: An Introduction to Strategic History'', London: Routledge 2007, S. 284.</ref> In a war they are also used for unconventional warfare. == Military special forces == [[File:KSK 1 retouched.jpg|thumb|German [[Bundeswehr]] unit abseiling from a [[Helicopter|chopper]]]] Because special forces are really rare, they mostly have to do unusual, difficult things like: * Gathering intelligence * Destroying targets (for example bunkers, ports, missiles etc.) * Protecting and rescueing important people * [[Commando]] * [[Reconnaissance]] * [[Military diving]] (frogmen or combat divers) * [[Paratrooper]] (airborne forces) * Unconventional warfare == History == [[File:Evstafiev-spetsnaz-prepare-for-mission.jpg|thumb|[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Spetsnaz]] preparing for mission, [[Afghanistan]] 1988]] [[File:GROM DN-SD-04-01612.JPEG|thumb|[[Poland|Polish]] [[GROM]] in [[Iraq]], 2003]] Special forces were very important in the history of warfare where war is more defined a