 It's a long way from Iran to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Half way around the world, you might say. That's where this story begins. It's my story, but it could be the story of a great number of other US Army advisors who serve in nearly 50 countries overseas. My name is Captain Paul Weinman. My assignment with the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Iran is as an advisor to the Imperial Iranian Army Special Forces Group. But before you teach, you have to learn the hard way. At Fort Bragg, we learned our Special Forces lessons well, lessons that would make us into tough, well-trained soldiers able to handle any situation in some far-off land. North Carolina or North Iran, a jump's a jump. The same tension as you go out that airplane door, the same big lift in your chest as you see that parachute silt billowing out above you. It may be the safe ending to a flight, but your job is just beginning. U-5 students know you're part in this exercise. You've been dropped presumably into enemy-held territory where guerrillas friendly to us are operating. You're to link up with the guerrilla force in your area, train them in the tactics which we've been teaching you, and follow through on a bridge destruction mission with them. All right, let's synchronize our watches. Time is now 0821. Lieutenant Weinman? Yes, sir. You will be met by guides from your guerrilla band, move to your mission support site where you have the balance of today and tonight to organize your guerrillas, make your reconnaissance and prepare for the attack. Your guerrillas will hit the bridge tomorrow morning prior to daylight. My job was to direct the guerrillas. The special forces man fights in the action only as a matter of self-defense. The exercise appeared to be going well. My instructions on the approach seem to have paid off. Quickly, the sleeping guards were taken care of. For one thing, we made way too much noise moving up to the bridge. Right, too much racket. You sound like a herd of elephants. And another thing, your guerrillas spent too much time in the target area to blow the bridge effectively. And you can eliminate this problem by preparing more thoroughly. Remember, in this business of special forces, there's no room for mistakes. It wasn't all muscle work. You've got a head on your shoulders, and you're expected to use it. Psychological operations is one of three related activities. The others are counterinsurgency operations and unconventional warfare. Name two prerequisites for successful guerrilla warfare, Lieutenant Weinman. An inaccessible area of operations and communications. Thank you. Captain Wilford. Captain, I was in Malaya for six years and rarely saw a guerrilla radio. Guerrilla communications was normally done by messenger. Thank you, Captain Wilford. This is not to say that communications are not desirable for successful guerrilla warfare. It's just that as a special warfare man, you must know how to make do without. As you well know, gentlemen, here at the school, we do stress communications. Yes. They stress communications at the school all right. Like putting up a 30-foot bamboo pole for an antenna. It doesn't require a requisition to supply, but it can extend the range of a radio set by four times. Because an infinite variety of daily challenges and tasks may lie ahead, the man who wears the green beret must master what seems like an infinite variety of skills, such as this 100-foot descent down a windswold rope. He learns techniques to sustain himself in distant reaches of the jungle or an arctic wasteland. Above all, he knows the ultimate alternative faced by the special forces man in action, adjust or die. So he has learned to adjust, to live off the land and on and off the water. For he may someday have to infiltrate an area from the water, or a target, say, may be on a waterway. That's why amphibious training is necessary. As a sport, scuba diving is popular. But for us, scuba is not a sport. It's an essential skill of special forces operations. Again, it's not a matter of learning from a lecture or from charts or from books. We learn by doing. Our graduation party wasn't exactly the senior prom, but a realistically staged ambush exercise. After the simulated ambush was started, it was over. The guerrillas stripped the aggressors and their vehicles of guns, ammo, food, and gasoline back into the wooded country that was our protection. A simulated attack? Yes, but realistic practice for the real thing, if it ever comes. With the end of the field exercise and the return to Fort Bragg, my course at the Special Forces School was over. After many months of hard work, my class was given the right to wear the coveted Special Forces beret that the late President Kennedy described as a mark of excellence. My next stop on my journey to Iran was in the opposite direction, the Army Language School at Monterey, California. To learn Parsi, the language of the country. Welcome to the Persian Department. You are beginning a year of intensive study of Parsi, Persian, a language spoken by 35 million people. Salam means hello, our first achievement in the adventure that was the learning of a new language. From the beginning, all communication was conducted in Parsi. Salam. Salam. Salam. Salam. Salam. Salam. Inchist. Inchist. Inchist. Inchist. Inchist. At first, as those early days went by, the repetition seemed endless. A language like Parsi, well, it comes hard. Learning a new language makes you feel like a child. Drifting in a world of strange, baffling sounds that always seem just beyond your comprehension. Belly, ma'am, darsim an rayaad migirin. Belly, ma'am, darsim an rayaad migirin. Belly, ma'am, darsim an rayaad migirin. Hamay shagerdan, darsim an rayaad migirin. Hamay shagerdan, darsim an rayaad migirin. Hamay shagerdan. There were times when you felt it was too much that you'd never achieve the point of being able to communicate with fluency, accuracy, speed. The goal seemed unreachable. But you plugged away, not only in the formal classes, but in the language laboratory as well. And then in your room too, often far into the night. We learn not only the language, but also the history, geography, and customs of Iran. And always practice. You listen, then you repeat. Listen, then repeat. Listen, repeat. We spoke parsey amongst ourselves and probably even in our sleep. I had the good fortune to meet and become friends with a young Iranian student studying in a nearby university. Saturday afternoons we often walk together. However, sightseeing wasn't the object. It was starting to come a little easier. But I knew that I hadn't yet acquired the language skill I needed for my next assignment. Then one day it happened. An incident in a judo class showed me that at last I was thinking in the language. While working out with my friend E. Raj, he had the bad luck not to fall right. In the excitement of the moment, wanting to communicate immediately to my Persian friend, I answered him, but not in English. In Farsi, had reached the turning point of thinking in the language. And from then on, it seemed that I made rapid progress. My promotion came through very close to graduation day. Understandably, a happy day for me. After the graduation ceremony, the faculty gave us a small party. A toast was proposed. I had been chosen to answer for the group. I said, I am amazed that after one year of listening to our Farsi, you still remember your Farsi. I and the rest of the students thank you. Because of your understanding and patience, we have achieved our goal. We hope to get acquainted with the Iranian people and the Iranian culture so that we can repay you for some of your hard work. Again, we thank you. Now I was in Iran as an army advisor. How strange it all seemed at first. I had been trained for over a year and brought halfway around the world to serve for two years as a member of the military assistance advisory group in Iran. U.S. Army special forces mobile training teams during the course of the next two years will visit for short periods to instruct in specific subjects to help the Iranian army train a special forces group of its own. Being able to speak the language and participating in the activities of the unit helped to bridge that gap which many times separates a stranger from the people of the country he is in. My counterpart, Lieutenant Colonel Khosridaad, the commander of the Iranian special forces group, proved to be a good leader with a keen understanding of an advisor's problems. Advisor to the Iranian special forces group, I participated in the unit's training in order to pass on those techniques which I felt were the most important. But somehow the most important thing was not what I taught but what I learned from people like Lieutenant Jaleel, one of the fine officers of the unit. I was learning from my students even as I was teaching them. For example, in the English class I taught at the military academy, the West Point of Iran. I felt that I was not only their teacher but also their friend. Captain Weilman, I've heard the result of rain in the United States. In our country, especially in the central and southern parts, we have very little rain. Well, because of our geographical conditions, because of our climate, we have much rain in many parts of the United States. I guess the greatest will for any advisor is when the men that he advises performs a successful maneuver. With the officers of the special forces unit, we planned an exercise to parachute drop into a particular area to test internal security. Lying at night over a training area, simulated as being an enemy hands, we prepared to make our jump in order to rendezvous with a guerrilla force waiting below on the improvised drop zone. And effective in the eyes of his Iranian counterparts, an advisor must show his point as well as talk about it. The guerrillas moved out to meet us. A prearranged password was exchanged. Then we moved with the guerrillas off the drop zone and disappeared into the interior. After weeks of training, the guerrillas were finally ready for an attack against simulated enemy forces. An effective advisor learns how to influence and guide by interjecting his advice in support of the UNIS mission and by letting his Iranian counterpart take the lead in all action. Attack over, the signal was given to move out. The mission had been accomplished. The men had done well, very well. The unit had performed perfectly, led by their own officers, have confidence in these men as a fighting unit and as friends. I think the unit's overall spirit was best expressed by one young soldier when he said, whatever the job, I want to do my best.