New Secretive Special Operations Detachment Opens Up in North Carolina

America now has another group of special operations commandos that will support a number of secretive military operations.

(Image source: Department of Defense)

During a no-frills ceremony in October, the North Carolina National Guard introduced a new detachment of highly-trained "quiet professionals" to support joint military operations around the globe. State and Federal officials oversaw the activation of the unit that will "provide planning and mission support" to secretive special operations forces.

Lt Col Matthew Devivio, Public Affairs deputy director for the North Carolina National Guard, told TheBlaze the unit is currently dubbed "SOD-X."

"That's really as far as we're going right now on the unit, or about it's capabilities," he said. "But we are really excited to have the unit in North Carolina -- we have two special forces companies already and this just rounds out our capabilities."

Devivio was tight-lipped about whether SOD-X would need some time to go through training or whether the unit was fully deployable as of today. But Joseph Tevenick, a military analyst noted, "It’s possible Special Operations Command is counting on these reserve operators to bulk up task forces in the field, as needed ... (since) the command is America’s premier counter-terrorism force."

According to Tevenick, the new SOD-X might have more bodies than the average special operations detachment if it is called up to work with JSOC; "SOD have around 30 soldiers each. But groups with greater responsibilities—like Rhode Island’s SOD-Global—have more people," he said.

Army Brig. Gen. John Byrd, the NCNG’s Assistant Adjutant General for Domestic Operations, having these forces in North Carolina adds to the long-standing special operations capabilities in the state.

“The addition of the of the SOD, coupled with the two Special Forces companies currently in place and in close proximity to Fort Bragg … means North Carolina now has the ability to accomplish worldwide missions," he said.

(Image source: Department of Defense)

Though Devivio wouldn't confirm what some of those "worldwide missions" would look like, Army Col. Sean Corrigan, the JSOC Chief of Staff, said SOD personnel will "provide the special-operations community a broad and diverse perspective when planning and executing missions due to their experiences and knowledge from the civilian sector" as their ranks will include part-time National Guard members.

The SOD-X becomes one of 10 National Guard special operations detachments located across the country, each of "which support a specific U.S. Special Operations Command component headquarters or theater headquarters, world-wide," the 382nd Public Affairs Detachment noted in a press release.

(H/T: Medium)

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