From Korea to Afghanistan: Special Forces Legend Billy Waugh’s Amazing Career Spanned Five Decades – Military.com
To say William "Billy" Waugh was a legend in the Special Forces community is more than an understatement. He was very nearly mythological.
The unparalleled godfather of the Green Berets, and CIA septuagenarian at the spearhead of early operations in Afghanistan, passed away Tuesday. He was 93.
Waugh was on any short list of famed operators who deployed to the Korean, Vietnam and Afghanistan wars, serving in dozens of countries in his more than 50-year career with Special Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Read Next: Air Force Budgets Less for Bonus Pay for its Toughest Jobs in 2024
In Vietnam, he was almost fatally wounded, later receiving a Silver Star. Despite the wounds, he returned to the war after recovering at Walter Reed. In the '70s, he was the first soldier to conduct a high-altitude, low-opening jump -- known as a HALO jump, now a staple in the special operations repertoire.
When he finished his military career at the rank of sergeant major, Waugh had earned the Silver Star, four Bronze Stars, eight Purple Hearts, more than a dozen Army Air Medals, and a bevy of other awards, according to 1st Special Forces Command, which announced his passing this week.
"From Korea to Afghanistan and every conflict in between, I have fought whomever my country ordered me to fight," Waugh wrote in his autobiography, "Hunting the Jackal." "For 50 years in 64 countries, I have sought and destroyed my country's enemies -- whether they be called communists or terrorists -- wherever they hide."
While Waugh is known for his daring feats and fabled accolades, he was also a lifelong supporter of the military communities that formed him. In turn, he formed them under the shadow of his likeness, never losing his Texas heart, keen wit and indomitable spirit.
At the end of World War II, Waugh, who was born in Texas, ran off to join the Marines at the age of 15, hitchhiking 650 miles across the New Mexico desert. He made it as far as Las Cruces before getting picked up by police for failing to have any identification or "any f---ing money," as he would later recount in an interview with RECOILtv.
"So, I hitchhiked across New Mexico and got dumped out in the desert and it began there," he said. Momentarily hampered, Waugh returned to his hometown of Bastrop, Texas, for a belt-whipping from his mother and eventually a high school diploma.
In August 1948, six months after he turned 18, Waugh joined the Army as a paratrooper, going on to jump out of "a heck of a lot of aircraft."
"I didn't like the Army at all until I got a taste of combat in Korea," he wrote. Waugh rose through the ranks quickly during the Korean War. A spirited and determined man had finally found his place in life -- and it was on the battlefield.
"For the first time in my life, I felt completely at home," he wrote.
In 1952, Waugh attempted to complete Officer Candidate School, but the operator powers that be knew he was needed in the enlisted corps. After contracting malaria in the final weeks of the course, he was placed in the hospital and told he had to revert back to an earlier week.
Instead, he kept his rank of sergeant first class and was assigned as a platoon sergeant in Germany. It was there that he began to hear whispers of the Special Forces -- the Green Berets, the infamous and deadly snake-eaters, who came into existence as an organization in the early 1950s.
"I began politicking for a transfer to SF, and I made a trip to Bad Tolz, [Germany] to see for myself," he wrote. "Once I learned what these fine men -- the fittest and most committed group I had ever seen -- were to become, I knew it was the only place for me."
On June 18, 1965, Waugh was nearly dead in a rice paddy. He was the team sergeant for A Team, 5th Special Forces Group, and had been in and out of Vietnam for the last four years.
He and three other Green Berets, including then-Capt. Paris Davis, who just last month was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that June, were leading a company of inexperienced South Vietnamese soldiers on a raid near the east coast of the country along the South China Sea.
There, after midnight, Waugh, A Team and 86 Vietnamese "mercenaries," as he called them, killed upward of 100 enemies in a stronghold. His actions there earned him the Silver Star.
But after the raid, the South Vietnamese became unorganized, and soon hundreds of enemy fighters counterattacked and pinned the group to a knoll overlooking rice paddies where Waugh was lying near death.
Waugh had taken Vietnamese bullets to his ankle, knees and forehead, wounds that would contribute to his eight Purple Hearts. He was not afraid to die, per se, but rather worried he might never do the thing he loved again.
"I drifted in and out of consciousness, my body perforated with gunshot wounds, leeches feasting on every open wound, with one thought jabbing at my semilucid brain," he wrote. "Damn, my military career is finished. I'll never see combat again."
That, of course, never came to pass -- the operator powers that be again had other plans for Waugh when Davis pulled his near-lifeless body out of the feces-laden paddy and put him on a helicopter.
Davis did not leave a single member of his team behind that day, and would go on to earn the Medal of Honor in March after decades of supporters fighting for its upgrade from a Silver Star.
When Davis was home in 1969, explaining to the public the perils he and his team faced that day, Waugh was recovered and back in Vietnam with the highly classified Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observations Group, or MACV-SOG, where he trained Vietnamese fighters in unconventional warfare.
It was with this team that Waugh conducted the first HALO jump into communist North Vietnamese Army-occupied territory as a sergeant major, according to his book and 1st Special Forces Command, one that was done without any of the high-tech night vision devices or altimeters seen in Special Forces today.
"I am saddened to learn of the passing of Billy Waugh, a friend and a great American soldier," Davis told Military.com on Wednesday.
"Billy served our country with distinction, honor and dedication to serving selflessly on behalf of all American citizens," he said. "I remember him as one of the best soldiers I have ever served with in combat. May God bless him and keep him forever."
Davis signed the message as "an admirer and teammate."
Waugh retired in 1972 and returned to Texas for a brief stint with the U.S. Postal Service. "After nearly twenty years in SF, much of it in combat, sorting mail doesn't scratch the same itch," he wrote. "Not even close."
Five years later, Waugh wrote he received a mysterious phone call from an old Special Forces friend. "Billy, are you ready to travel?" the voice asked over the receiver.
And travel Billy did. For the next three decades, he worked as a CIA operative in dozens of countries, starting first in Libya spying on the Soviet-aligned government. There, he honed his skill with a 35mm camera, a craft that would serve him well in his career with the agency.
Between the '70s and '80s, Waugh took on more heavy-duty assignments with the CIA, anywhere from the Marshall Islands to Sudan.
In 2001, when most retired soldiers and spooks would be enjoying their golden years, Waugh was celebrating his 72nd birthday in Afghanistan. He was still with the CIA, this time hunting Osama bin Laden in the caves and high plains of Tora Bora.
He was a rare feature of war, a man who stood at the forefront of America's two most infamous insurgent conflicts -- a fact and position that was certainly not lost on him.
"Two weeks earlier, when the United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III headed for Afghanistan lifted off with me aboard, our country was officially embarking on its War on Terror," he wrote. "I, however, had been at war against terror for quite some time. To me, Operation Enduring Freedom was a natural extension of the work I'd been conducting for close to fifty years."
But Waugh was also a fixture in the Special Forces community up until his death this week. Current and former Special Forces members took to social media to share their stories of meeting Billy Waugh.
1st Special Forces Command wrote on social media: "Our condolences go out to Billy's family, friends, and loved ones. He will be missed. We will always honor and remember him."
The Army's John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School said, "He was a pioneer and an American hero who will be missed by many."
Joseph Teti, a co-star of the Discovery Channel's show "Dual Survival" and a former operator, including nearly a decade of service with the Green Berets, said he met Waugh twice while they were both in the CIA.
"I actually saw Billy one time prior," Teti told Military.com on Thursday, recounting one of his first years at the agency. "I knew who he was and I was -- quite frankly -- just too intimidated to even go up to the guy."
Teti would meet Waugh again, this time in early-2000s Afghanistan at a hotel bar. Waugh invited him to have a drink.
"He was just cordial, very nice," Teti said. "When he talks, you just shut up and listen; he was one of those guys that was just such a wealth of knowledge."
Another MACV-SOG alumnus, Jesse Campbell, was with Waugh at the time. Teti told them he admired a picture of them that was hanging on the wall of the bar. It was from their Vietnam days. Waugh asked the bartender to take it down, and he and Campbell both signed it.
The top of the image read, "Joe, kill all the bad guys."
"He handed it to me. You could have knocked me over with a feather duster. ... He didn't know me from a can of paint," Teti said, adding that talking to Waugh "was almost like you were talking to a family member."
Teti rattled his accolades, a condition that many in the community have when it comes to the legend of Billy Waugh. Teti said that Waugh was as "tough as woodpecker lips" and harder than "Superman's kneecaps" to do what he did for as long as he did it for.
"It's staggering," he said. "It's a testament to how good of an operator he was -- to physically survive what he was doing in such austere and dangerous high-threat environments."
-- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence.
Related: Paris Davis, Black Green Beret in Vietnam, Finally Awarded Medal of Honor at White House
See the original post here:
From Korea to Afghanistan: Special Forces Legend Billy Waugh's Amazing Career Spanned Five Decades - Military.com
- Lavrov Warns NATO Of 'Time Bomb' in Afghanistan Over Military Redeployment Attempts | Watch - Times of India - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- MTN leaves Afghanistan, hands over to M1 Group - Developing Telecoms - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Governments of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to sign railway project - AzerNews - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Afghan-American appointed to lead U.S. policy on Afghanistan at the State Department - ASIA-Plus - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Veterans who each lost part of a leg in Afghanistan try for new world record with Grand Canyon hike - Stars and Stripes - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Afghanistan: Suspended/Closed Health Facilities due to the U.S. Government Work-Stop Ban (Update as of 22 April 2025) - ReliefWeb - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- On This Day in 2008, a Mortar Attack Halts Toby Keiths USO Concert in Afghanistan - American Songwriter - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Pakistan, Russia agree to boost cooperation on terrorism threats in Afghanistan - MSN - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- US weapons left behind in Afghanistan now with Taliban: Why is Pakistan ringing alarm bells? - Firstpost - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan womens team gets funding from the International Cricket Council - AP News - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Trump administration ending temporary protected status for nationals from Afghanistan and Cameroon - Scripps News - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- US restores urgent food aid, except in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the worlds poorest countries - AP News - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan women's team gets funding from the International Cricket Council - MSN - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan: Has Taliban Handed Over Bagram Airbase to US? | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G - Firstpost - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Terrorists used US weapons abandoned in Afghanistan in Jaffer Express attack: report - Dawn - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Anti-US banner appears on former embassy in Afghanistan - Caliber.Az - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan women's team gets funding from the International Cricket Council - The Derrick - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan women's team gets funding from the International Cricket Council - Traverse City Record-Eagle - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Taliban carries out public execution of two men in western Afghanistan - Times of India - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- 'Trump and Afghanistan are the perfect illustration of America withdrawing into itself' - Le Monde.fr - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- A midwife says of the aid cuts in Afghanistan: 'No one prioritizes women's lives.' - NPR - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- Banned from education: A review of the right to education in Afghanistan - UNESCO - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- The Taliban leader says there is no need for Western laws in Afghanistan - AP News - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- ACAPS Thematic report - Afghanistan: Implications of the US foreign aid cuts on the humanitarian response (01 April 2025) - ReliefWeb - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- American woman held in Afghanistan by the Taliban has been released, AP source says - AP News - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- India says it is monitoring reports of abuse against Sikhs in Afghanistan and Pakistan - Amu TV - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- EU and Central Asian leaders urge inclusive government in Afghanistan - News.az - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- About 140 years old: the oldest person on Earth lives in Afghanistan - EADaily - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- Trump hands Taliban-controlled Afghanistan the same 'Liberation Day' tariff as the UK 'after terror group spen - Daily Mail - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- China, Japan, India, Malaysia, Russia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan ,Italy, Poland, Spain, South Korea And More Countries Propel Gilans Tourism To... - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- Afghanistan: Suspended/Closed Health Facilities due to the U.S. Government Work-Stop Ban (Update as of 1 April 2025) - ReliefWeb - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- Bidens Failure in Afghanistan: Public Relations Was the Concern Not the Dissent Cable - American Center for Law and Justice - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- TTP, BLA's armament: Pakistan urges UNSC to prevent weapons' access to terrorists in Afghanistan - Geo.tv - April 5th, 2025 [April 5th, 2025]
- Taliban frees an American man who was abducted while traveling in Afghanistan more than 2 years ago - The Associated Press - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- American George Glezmann freed by Taliban more than 2 years after arrest in Afghanistan - CBS News - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- George Glezmann, US man detained in Afghanistan in 2022, released by Taliban in goodwill gesture - The Times of India - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- American detained by Taliban in Afghanistan is freed in deal mediated by Qatar - WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- Afghanistan: Security Council renews UN mission as WHO warns of health catastrophe - UN News - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- American detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan has been released - AOL - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- Taliban frees an American man who was abducted while traveling in Afghanistan more than 2 years ago - The Sun Chronicle - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- American Detained In Afghanistan By The Taliban Has been Released - iHeart - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- Afghanistan's school year begins without girls beyond sixth grade - News.Az - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- American Detained In Afghanistan By The Taliban Has been Released - KLVI - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- American Detained In Afghanistan By The Taliban Has been Released - WIMA - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- Swiss government to deport rejected asylum seekers from Afghanistan - SWI swissinfo.ch in English - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- US citizen George Glezmann released from detention in Afghanistan - Herald Palladium - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- India ranks 118th in World Happiness Report, Afghanistan is last - Deccan Herald - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- We have no presence in India, Afghanistan or anywhere else: BLA - News Vibes of India - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- Afghanistan trying to connect with neighbors via railway - Pajhwok Afghan News - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- 80% Of Afghanistan Services Risk Shutdown By June: World Health Organization - NDTV - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- British pensioners jailed in Afghanistan to appear in court after the Taliban said their arrest was a 'misunde - Daily Mail - March 20th, 2025 [March 20th, 2025]
- Why is India quietly boosting ties with Afghanistan's Taliban? - Nikkei Asia - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan vets group to step down later this spring - Military Times - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Explained: Trump travel ban 2.0 to affect 43 countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan - The Indian Express - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- NewsMakers Afghanistan and the Future of American - Home - The Commune - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- He helped in Afghanistan. Now, his family is blocked from coming to Charlotte under Trump. - Charlotte Observer - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Health Crisis in Afghanistan: 206,000 Infected with Acute Respiratory Diseases in One Month - Hasht-e Subh Daily - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Rule Breakers review: Terrific drama shows the battle for girls' education in Afghanistan - New Scientist - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Trump calls US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan most humiliating moment in history - Amu TV - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- UAE expands healthcare access with state-of-the-art clinics in Afghanistan - The Tribune India - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Pakistan, Afghanistan among 43 nations to be put in Trump administration's new travel ban list - Connected to India - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- I served in Afghanistan. President Trumps war on DEI is making Americas military weaker - Stars and Stripes - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Pakistan says train attack was orchestrated from Afghanistan: It was like a rain of rockets and bullets - The Independent - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- UAE expands healthcare access with state-of-the-art clinics in Afghanistan - ETHealthWorld - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Hizb-ut-Tahrir Afghanistan: West Is Trying To Assimilate Taliban - Middle East Media Research Institute - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Remarks by Ambassador Dorothy Shea, Charg dAffaires, at a UN Security Council Briefing on Afghanistan - United States Mission to the United Nations - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Afghanistan Monthly Protection Update As of January 2025 - ReliefWeb - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Briefing to the United Nations Security Council by the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, 10 March 2025 -... - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- The UK unequivocally condemns the Talibans ban on girls' education in Afghanistan: UK statement at the UN Security Council - GOV.UK - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- A War and the Taliban: Life of a Greek Woman in Male-Dominated Afghanistan - Greek Reporter - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- De Facto Authorities in Afghanistan urged to Clarify International Position - News Central - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Graham on Ukraine aid pause: If we pull the plug on Ukraine, itd be worse than Afghanistan - The Hill - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- India calls special ties foundation of engagement with Afghanistan at UN - Hindustan Times - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Lindsey Graham's Warning Over Abandoning Ukraine'Worse Than Afghanistan' - Newsweek - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- OIC envoy discusses Afghanistan with Turkish foreign ministry official - Amu TV - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Afghanistan Women: Human Rights Watch calls on ICC to side with exiled cricketers, not Taliban - Sky Sports - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Pakistan to take all necessary measures against terrorist outfits based in Afghanistan: Akram - DAWN.com - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- 2025 Champions Trophy: Heres The Truth Behind Viral Videos Claiming To Show Celebrations In Afghanistan After Indias Win - Newschecker - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- US reviewing visa programs as official says Afghanistan could be included in Trump travel ban - CNN - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- US aid cut leave 80 Afghan women stranded in Oman, fearing return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan - The Times of India - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]