Special Operations Task Group

Special Operations Task Group
The Skull and Dagger flag adopted by SOG in 1942
Active	26 March 1942 - Present (82 years, 8 months)
Country	Acrea
Type	Special forces
Size	Classified
Part of	Royal Acrean Army Royal Acrean Marine Corps
Headquarters	Joint Forces Base Stennungsund, Götland, Acrea
Motto(s)	“Vad som än krävs.” "Whatever it takes."

The Special Operations Task Group (Acrean: Spesielloperasjonsgruppe, abbreviated SOG) is a special operations force of the Acrean Armed Forces. It was first founded in 1942 as a deep reconnaissance and covert direct action unit. The unit performs a variety of missions, including special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action, hostage rescue, foreign internal defence, unconventional warfare, and raiding. Originally organised under the Army, the unit was combined with amphibious raiding units of the RAMC in 1955 to constitute a joint special operations unit.

History

SOG traces its lineage back to a variety of Stormjägare units of the Acrean Army and RAMC which date back to the Kunhegyes Conflict and Ruvelkan Civil War. These troops, colloquially called Stormers (a name later inherited by Acrean heavy mechanised infantry), pioneered infantry infiltration tactics and were tasked with performing the spearhead of infiltration missions, during which they frequently conducted focused small-team direct assaults and trench raiding. As the use of these tactics became a larger focus in Acrean infantry doctrine and was integrated on a broad scale, the original battalions formed a highly experienced and extremely well-trained core. By the 1920s, Stormjägare was as synonymous with the term "raiders" as it was with "shock troopers". When mechanisation began in the Acrean Army in the 1930s, many troops from these battalions were retrained as mechanised shock troops. Those that remained were withdrawn from their original battalions and reorganised into a few numbered battalions (which were never close to battalion strength) under the name Special Task Group (SAG), with each battalion specialising in different mission sets. These battalions were reorganised into a singular regiment in 1942, forming SOG.

Organisation and Training

A SOG operator photographed in Ruvelka in 2009.

SOG is organised into different groups comprising various capabilities. The core of the regiment are Special Operations Task Group 1, Special Operations Task Group 2, and Special Operations Task Group 3, which form the vast bulk of the regiment's operational strength. SOG-2 and SOG-3 are primarily responsible for Eracuran and Sidurian operations respectively, while SOG-1 has no primary geographic area of responsibility.

In addition to the direct action groups, SOG also has Special Operations Task Group 4 and Special Operations Task Group 5. SOG-4 is responsible for intelligence and related affairs, while SOG-5 serves as the regiment's organic engineering and development wing. In this role, SOG-5 both provides technical and engineering expertise to direct action teams, and is also responsible for training the teams on new technology and equipment and overseeing their employment.

SOG both directly recruits from both the Army and RAMC and accepts applications from prospective recruits. Prospective candidates for the direct action groups must undergo a two-phase process before they can begin selection and training; the first phase is a screening which determines initial eligibility and fitness for service in the unit, while the second consists of an 8 week long intensive school which aims to physically and mentally prepare prospective candidates for SOG training and selection. Once prospects have passed screening, they then begin training which consists of 28 weeks of fundamentals training which includes physical conditioning, land warfare, coastal warfare, and airborne training followed by an additional 28 weeks of advanced skills training at the Special Warfare School in Stennungsund. From here, SOG troopers further conduct specialised training in a given role, which can range from intelligence specialties like interpreters to combat specialties such as snipers. Today, SOG recruits both men and women in all roles. Intelligence and non-combat roles in SOG-4 and SOG-5 have been open to women since the 1990s, however combat roles in the direct action groups were first opened in 2010. The Special Warfare School reported its first female graduates in 2016.