Army Special Forces soldiers usually specialize in the same global region for most of their SOF careers, learning the languages and studying the culture. Almost all other NATO troops live in heavily fortified compounds and go out only on patrol convoys. They understand the political-military context they're in. Even though many of their missions are overt and peaceful, there are still dangerous, gut-churning jobs to be done. One new mission is to track, identify, and disarm chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.
Some routine missions can pay off in surprising ways.
In the summer of 1996, U.S. special forces helped train Peruvian soldiers in hostage-rescue missions, among other things. In December of that year, Peruvian rebels seized the Japanese ambassador's house in Lima. Many of the Peruvian commandos who carried out the dramatic rescue of 71 hostages four months later had been among the trainees. Army Rangers in Somalia in 1993 conducted six raids looking for warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid and his henchmen, before the seventh turned into a disaster in which two helicopters were shot down and 18 Rangers were killed. Because of the supreme confidence of special-operations forces, the chain of command must provide more oversight to this type of unit than to conventional forces.