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Subject: Blue Light
hailhero    9/6/2007 4:07:15 PM
I am looking for information on a group called "Blue Light". They would have been disbanded in the early 1980's. From what I know Charlie Beckwith's Delta force along with a trainging accident had something to do with this. My father was part of this group but would never say much about it. Apparently they reffered to themselves as the Blue Light Angels and they had a thing for a song called "Gemini Dream" by the Moody Blues. I would love to speak with anyone who served with my father "KZ". Thanks.
 
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bob the brit       9/6/2007 4:14:26 PM
i believe the group you are referring to was set up by the US army spec forces because there was difference of opinion between senior army spec leaders and charlie boy (beckwith) but they were sacked once beckwith's lads went operational. can't say i know anyone that served (all i know about them is what charlie told me) don't know if that helps 
 
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Horsesoldier       9/6/2007 9:47:38 PM

i believe the group you are referring to was set up by the US army spec forces because there was difference of opinion between senior army spec leaders and charlie boy (beckwith) but they were sacked once beckwith's lads went operational. can't say i know anyone that served (all i know about them is what charlie told me) don't know if that helps 



Blue Light was a tasking to one of the Special Forces Group at the time when everyone in the western world suddenly got religion as far as counter-terrorism stuff went.  If I recall, Beckwith is less than flattering towards them in his book, but that's not the whole story, since I know for a fact that some Blue Light guys were rolled directly into Delta when it was formed.
 
 
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GOP       9/7/2007 2:24:08 AM
.........all i know about them is what charlie told me....... 

You are the man Bob, seriously. Ever meet Marcinko or any of the DEVGRU guys (obviously no OPSEC violations of course).
 
Sorry hailhero, I can't help accept to echo what the others have said about bluelights history and to offer some advice. I'd go over to and hit them up with this exact question. Almost everyone who posts there is a SOF guy, so they would be your best bet for finding out great info and talking to guys who served in bluelight (probably will be via pm's though, they are very serious about OPSEC over there)
 
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bob the brit       9/7/2007 10:31:58 PM

.........all i know about them is what charlie told me....... 


You are the man Bob, seriously. Ever meet Marcinko or any of the DEVGRU guys (obviously no OPSEC violations of course).

 

Sorry hailhero, I can't help accept to echo what the others have said about bluelights history and to offer some advice. I'd go over to and hit them up with this exact question. Almost everyone who posts there is a SOF guy, so they would be your best bet for finding out great info and talking to guys who served in bluelight (probably will be via pm's though, they are very serious about OPSEC over there)

i only met charlie boy because i did a lot of work in the CT side of things (after that bloody game of footy in acsension) and the wing liked guys to go check out other countries' means and methodology (aside from training together) before that i had seen him walk around town (hereford base that is) and thought of him as some high level CIA operative or something (i was younger what can i say) he had quite a chuckle when i told him that. can't remember any devgru lads though, definitely not marcinko

 
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Old Grunt       9/18/2007 8:43:08 AM
From what I remember from the pre-phase history classes, the "light" teams grew out of the Mike Force concept. From my team time I remember the "light" missions where little-to-no-notice missions that had to be executed on a very short (72 hrs or less) time line. "Green Light" missions were overt (e.g. the Jessica Lynch rescue) and "Blue Light" missions were covert (e.g. the Zarqawi hit). While there were no "teams" per se, as the best qualified for the mission were attached as needed, there was a permanent planning cell that worked out all the logistics, area information and non-execution tasks, imagine JSOC on a much smaller scale. I can easily see how a standing "Blue Light" team could have come into being as the likelihood of responding to a terrorist like event become more of a reality. It would be logical progression for it to evolve into a dedicated CT/CI unit.  I remember it became pretty popular for a while for the posers to use the "I was with 'Blue Light' " excuse for a lack of any verifiable service records.
 
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John Barry       9/19/2007 9:24:40 PM
Didn't the formation of Blue Light also have to do with the fact that the British SAS had advised Beckwith to tell the Pentagon that it would take a full two years for Delta to be fully up and operational.  BlueLight was formed as a interm force.
 
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bob the brit       9/19/2007 9:27:39 PM

Didn't the formation of Blue Light also have to do with the fact that the British SAS had advised Beckwith to tell the Pentagon that it would take a full two years for Delta to be fully up and operational.  BlueLight was formed as a interm force.



it was more a case of conflicting views
 
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Nichevo    That's a funny one - Poser checks   9/20/2007 1:38:08 AM

I remember it became pretty popular for a while for the posers to use the "I was with 'Blue Light' " excuse for a lack of any verifiable service records.

There's a con I go to every year.  There has long been one, and recently a second, older fellow, both of who allude to some sort of black backgrounds.  The funny thing is, I can't even get unit designations out of them.  IMHO that is proper OPSEC...but if I were to try and feel them out, what questions could I in conscience ask and hope for them to answer?

In truth both of them seem dangerous fellows and it is not beyond belief they did wet work or something hush-hush.  But y'all seem able to share more info than they.  What could they have been doing, whacking Kennedy?

Oh, the new guy - his unit was shut down coincident with some accident - training or a mission, I forget - which involved two or three casualties among a very small (near single digit) roster and, combined with something else (infighting?), shut them down.  Any echoes in memory, among Ye Who Know, of who this could be?

 
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gf0012-aust       9/20/2007 2:21:11 AM
 
well, if they're claiming to be ex-SEALs, then there are a couple of ex operator outfits that will check up for you and then will name and shame them on their web site.
 
it seems to be rather effective for shutting down the wankers.
 
 
 
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Nichevo       9/20/2007 3:16:10 AM

 

well, if they're claiming to be ex-SEALs, then there are a couple of ex operator outfits that will check up for you and then will name and shame them on their web site.

 

it seems to be rather effective for shutting down the wankers.


No, they don't say, make no specific claims.  One was with the Navy, maybe, but he must be like in his 50s at least.  The other guy, 30s, 40s; not Navy I would think; he wears a high-and-tight.  Their vibe is more CIA SAD, or heck, Majestic-12 or Ice Station Zebra than SOG, anyway; implications of unnameable, unavowable deeds.  Deep into the black.  Both Americans, both white.  One (the older) I believe is of Finnish descent, the younger is German/Irish.

Maybe I overanalyze.  I should say, it IS a science fiction and fantasy convention, not a veterans' occasion ;> 

I could supply their names but would wish to make no trouble for them - I know them socially, and as I say, they give nothing away that I can analyze except that they have triple-dog-dareya clearances and mayn't speak of it.  But not being in the life, I guess I don't know what questions to ask.  They have "the look" or "the vibe," I guess I would say.

Assuming they were something on the order of what they implied...what would they be prone to be?  If they were SEALs or CAG would they feel obliged to hold that in? 

I would identify both of them as potentially dangerous fellows in a pinch.  The younger fellow is now, I think, a bodyguard for VIPs, people like Karl Lagerfeld as I last heard.  Wears excellent suits.  The older fellow is I guess retired, slightly less like a coiled spring, content to watch his daughter run around the con trailing a pack of boys.
 
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