Rapid Deployment Force (RDF)

An elite formation of troops designed to move greater distances in a shorter time than conventional military formations. The U.S. military has long used rapid deployment forces as a way to move troops quickly to trouble spots. However, the expansion of U.S. security interests after World War II increased the need for a force that could be quickly dispatched anywhere around the world. This led to the creation of the U.S. Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force.

The concept of light, mobile special forces can be traced to military formations popularized in the 18th century. The French army of that time created light cavalry units called hussars to carry out fast strikes on enemy targets. During the Napoleonic Wars of the early 1800s, many European armies used special light infantry formations as scouts and sharpshooters on the fringes of the main formations. These units went by various names, depending upon their nationality. For example, such forces in German and Austrian armies were often called Jaeger, or hunter, battalions. These units typically consisted of irregular troops who could live off the land and were not as dependent as regular conscripts were on direct control by senior staff officers.

During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress established the U.S. Marine Corps as a rapid deployment force for use against British troops. The Marines continued to serve in this capacity after the United States won its independence in 1784. In the early 1800s, the Marines were sent to North Africa in response to Barbary pirates who were attacking U.S. shipping in the Mediterranean. During [Page 620]the Mexican War, U.S. Marines invaded the Mexican port of Veracruz to pave the way for the U.S. victory over Mexico.

The Marines remained the sole U.S. rapid deployment force for many years. However, this changed following the Allied victory in World War II and the rise of communism as a global challenge to U.S. interests. Immediately after the war, the United States viewed Western Europe and the Korean Peninsula to be the main areas of potential overseas military confrontation. During the decades following the war, political and military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union spread across all the world's continents. The Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia joined Europe and Korea as potential trouble spots. The United States thus faced the need for combined land, sea, and air forces that could respond to threats in any of those places at a moment's notice.

In 1977, a U.S. government study called for the creation of a multiservice force that could be rapidly deployed outside the operational regions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Korea. That year, U.S. President Jimmy Carter directed the military to establish a force that could project U.S. power quickly and decisively. The 1978 seizure of American hostages in Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the following year, stimulated and justified the formation of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF) in 1980.

Originally established as part of the U.S. Readiness Command, the RDJTF was made a separate force in 1981, reporting directly to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, the RDJTF was responsible for planning, training for, and carrying out rapid U.S. responses to threats against vital national interests. The focus of the RDJTF was on the Middle East, particularly the Southwest Asia-Persian Gulf region. In 1983, the RDJTF was replaced by the formation of the U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM. Like the RDJTF, CENTCOM has no permanent forces assigned to its control. When an emergency arises that requires a military response, available forces from the four service branches and the U.S. Coast Guard are assigned to CENTCOM control.

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