Front Row L-R: Brad Cooper, Ron Bruce, Hans White, Fred Lynch, Ed Murdock
Inputs by Detachment “A” members Fred Bremer, John Phipps who provided the narrative and presentation of this photo to Danny Goldman, Ron Bruce with additional narrative, Ric Patrick, and James Stejskal.
This iconic photo was presented to Detachment “A” member Danny Goldman on behalf of Team 4, by John Phipps along with a personal note signed by Team 4 members.
In April of 1980, Detachment “A” Team 4, dressed in civilian clothing, boarded a commercial flight in Berlin Germany, and traveled to Fort Bragg, NC to undergo Special Operations Urban Commando Training at the Mott Lake facility located on Fort Bragg.
The photo was a spur-of-the moment thing – they had flown over commercial so they had the civvies. Ron Cornell, pictured, and Horst Duchow (not in photo) were augmentees from the “B” team and participated in all the training.
The dog belonged to Mike Brown, who was one of the instructors assigned to the site.
The team thought it would be humorous to dress in their “Det A fatigues” and take the photo, cigars and all.
Team 4 was the first Detachment “A” unit to go TDY for an Urban Commando course.
The team went thru “Blue Light”, which was an anti-terrorism course, and was heavy on marksmanship. That was right before “Eagle Claw”, and the team thought they would be the primaries for that mission, but it was not to be.
The only one of the team members who went was Brad Cooper.
Two or 3 teams from other units were also there for 3 weeks. Much shooting ensued. Rushing of occupied buildings. A final test of an assault. Records were kept of everything which could then be tabulated.
Unbeknownst to Team 4 at the time, when the scores were added at the end of the training course Team 4 was named best team.
They enjoyed themselves, of course. One series of odd events: the weather was absolutely fine, yet each week it would rain on Sunday night. The first morning of each Monday, they all wallowed in a muddy pit for hand-to-hand training. Hence, they would get their set of fatigues for the week totally dyed with Carolina-red mud. Oh, the horrors.
Another minor quirk out there: since it somewhat removed from the Fort Bragg flagpole, the occasional oddity occurred. On the classic army training schedule was, maybe once a day: “Debris removal & Relocation.” Only our adjutant, Danny Goldman could have topped the Mott Lake moniker for Police Call.
Team 6 went the next go-round, also won Best Team, and one-upped Team 4 in their photo, as they had a red convertible as a prop, Bonny & Clyde-style. At least 1 more team, or more also went and came up Number 1 as well.