The Dawn of the Special Purpose Units & the International Ranger Platoon

At a recent military history conference Anri Delport, a historian on South African history mentioned an extract from the First World War – it was a story about a veteran and he was referred to as Mr Nobody at All. Through their experience in war and military service, Mr Nobody became Mr Somebody. Many veterans have this experience, it is often linked to the belief of contributing to the greater good – the journey is the typical path constructed in the ‘hero’ narrative. An obstacle in the path is needed.

The key is having a challenge to overcome and for Swedish military units in the early 2000s, they were in danger of being closed due to budgetary constraints. Added to this was the need for special operations soldiers to carry out highly dangerous missions during the War on Terror. 

Many of the Swedish officers and soldiers faced this challenge head-on, they showed courage and helped carve a new future for the Swedish military – they shaped the evolution of modern Swedish Special Forces by creating new specialised capabilities. This was the only way that they ensured the survival of their units. This paved the way for Mr Nobody at All to become Mr. Number 788. The below gives some context and is an extract from the book Number 788.

“In 2002, Maj. M got a call from a senior general at HQ. We can call him Gen. G; he was a former Arctic Ranger, so he knew exactly what they could do, and he had been in the loop for a long time – he gave his silent OK for the unofficial training. The sandbox had just started to heat up and they were on the hunt for more specialised intelligence and reconnaissance resources, the SIG (existing reconnaissance unit attached to the paras) was not enough.

Gen. G said, ‘I can convince the HQ to grant you the funds and the freedom to form a special purpose (special operations) unit within the arctic regiment. I can only guarantee the funding for the training period of the operators. If you don’t deliver after that you are on your own, they might also change their minds after the training period, but that’s more unlikely as they don’t want to lose their investment’. ‘The catch is you need to sell it to them now; you need to act like you already know what you are doing’. 

So, he wanted Maj. M to sell something he didn’t have yet – ‘fake it until we make it’ – it was a daunting thought. It also needed to be kept secret, and to make matters more challenging, he stood without the necessary funding for the ‘show and tell’ that was needed to win them over.  It was not optimal, but it was the break he had been looking for – he knew that if we handled things properly, we would be upskilled, and it could save the regiment. 

A small group was formed at the regiment, and they started to sketch up the training programme. They needed to come up with a new and unique set of skills – as the arctic capability was already known; it had to be something new that didn’t require any money. They had to show that we could provide Tier 1 operators or as close as we could get. The first obstacle, or opportunity, was approaching quickly – a group from HQ were going to visit in a few weeks to listen to what the group at the regiment proposed, as a concept and decide if it would be a go for the creation of a special purpose unit at the regiment.

The concept of the “International Ranger Platoon” was created. 

Lt. A got his task, the order was, ‘We need to be able to take an ID photo at a distance of 1km. You need to put together a kit that would work for that, the parts need to be available on the civilian market.’ Lt. B got a similar order, ‘find a solution on how to transfer a picture from the field to a computer somewhere else, instantly, with no delay and minimal losses. Also, the parts should be available on the civilian market.’ The total cost of all the necessary equipment was around 30k

Maj. M and Maj. T looked at each other, ‘there is nowhere in the regimental budget I could shake out this kind of money’, Maj. T said. Maj. M replied, ‘Agreed I can’t even start to see where we would find it’. There was a short silence and then Maj. M said, ‘let’s go on with the next presentation.’

Maj. T paused and replied – it became personal as he used Maj. M’s first name, ‘Mike this is my job, my livelihood and my kid’s future, not the army, but me providing for my family, everyone chipped in.

Maj. M returned after 5 minutes ‘I spoke with the General. He has given us his word that we would be reimbursed, but only if the platoon got the go ahead, otherwise we would be on our own. The final go ahead was after a visit from a team of senior officers.

After the senior contingent came to visit the unit, they went through HR Matters. Then as the discussion went on and now I read from the book. Keep in mind that this was in the early 2000s, and a disinterested team of officers visited.

‘Oh, sorry I just got an email’. He fiddled with the browser and downloaded the attachments, it felt like forever, and the group from HQ were clearly baffled. The last bit was just showmanship. The Major continued ‘This is you gentlemen one minute ago, he said as he presented and flipped through five pictures that showed all members of the group – clearly identifiable. He continued ‘This is when you arrived, and your number plate is proof that is was your vehicle.’ ‘And this is me talking to you a few moments ago.’  

Maj. M now definitely had their full attention. Col. X was leaning forward observing, thinking, and analysing. Maj. M continued, ‘this is just a crumb of what we are offering gentlemen, real time, ID quality intelligence, from the field to anywhere. You don’t “just” get a top-notch ranger platoon here with all the traditional capabilities. We can work in the whole ISTAR spectrum and beyond. We will provide Tier 1 operators.’   It sounded like a sales pitch for a high powered multi-national company.

‘Where is this taken from’, asked Col. X. Maj. M took up the last slide of his PowerPoint, it showed a map where he had marked the OP and their position. The Major added ‘its 1056 meters away, if you are interested, we can go up to the OP before you leave for the airport.’

Gen. G said, ‘although the capability is not unique, I have never seen it in the hands of a ranger platoon, and it is definitely an interesting added value.’ Col. X asked, ‘Can you do this in a civilian environment?’ The Major replied confidently, ‘Yes, mobile and foxtrot. All patrols in the platoon will also be Tier 1 HUMINT capable.’ He knew that human intelligence was the Colonel’s forte and played for the crowd. The Major basically just said that the International Ranger Platoon was going to be able to develop and run their own sources, he knew it was a gamble. Maj. M added, ‘and as additional support two ranger officers recently qualified for the HUMINT level 3 instructors’ course’.

Col. X leaned back in his chair, ‘I like it. This is exactly the type of multirole, special purpose unit that we can branch in under the SF umbrella and a damn good set of unique capabilities.’ Gen. G nodded and smiled at Maj. M, it meant he had attracted the right kind of attention here. Maj. M would later learn that Col. X was the key player as his role was to assess the capabilities and make a recommendation.” 

This was the dawn of the International Ranger Platoon that formed the embryo of the future Swedish Special Forces. 

Your War Diarists,

Max and Tony

About the Authors

Antonio Garcia is a civil servant, who additionally holds non-resident positions as a research fellow at Stellenbosch University, visiting lecturer at Durham University, and tutor at the Open University. As a combat engineer in the SANDF, Antonio has served in missions in the Sudan, the DRC, and South Africa and its borders. He has published widely on military history and strategy.

Max Lauker served in the Swedish Armed Forces, 2002-2018. Primarily serving in Special Purpose Units belonging to the Norrland Dragoon Regiment, Arvidsjaur. Later serving in Stockholm and Karlsborg with units included under the special operations and intelligence umbrella. Several deployments over the years include Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and the former Eastern Block leading numerous covert operations. Now working in the private security sector with Intelligence as his main discipline.

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