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For a training exercise, it is stipulated that the US has been divided into three nations, Weston, Easton, and Floridan. Easton has turned communist. Weston is still a capitalist democracy. Floridan was neutral. But those darned commies from Easton overthrew the government there, leading to war with Weston. Weston’s 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is to infiltrate Easton, and assist pro-Weston guerilla forces there in overthrowing Easton’s communist government. ‘Big Picture camera crews in the rugged countryside of West Virginia cover an actual situation pitting the Special Forces of the U.S. Army, against the “Aggressor.” Although it’s a training problem, the script is written as it is enacted and the residents of Preston County are invited to join whichever side they choose. “Guerrilla, U.S.A.” is exciting, timely, and informative.’
“The Big Picture” episode TV-561
Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
The 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is an operational unit of the United States Army Special Forces activated on 20 May 1960. It was reorganized from the 77th Special Forces Group, which was also stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Its purpose is to conduct guerrilla operations and train friendly governments’ armed forces in the South, Central, and North America as well as the Caribbean. 7th Special Forces Group participated in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983, as well as in Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989. The 7th SFG has, like all the SFGs, been heavily deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the War on Terrorism…
The 7th Group was active early in the Vietnam War, first operating in Laos (Operation White Star), and later in other global Cold War operations in addition to South East Asia (Laos, Thailand, and South Vietnam). 7th Group was also the first unit in South Vietnam to have a member earn a Medal of Honor, Captain Roger Donlon…
Throughout the 1980s, 7th Special Forces Group played a critical advisory role for the El Salvadoran armed forces, which grew from a force of 12,000 to a total of 55,000 men. The Salvadoran military became a highly trained counter-insurgency force under the tutelage of 7th Group.
The 7th Special Forces Group also played a very important role in preparing the Honduran military to resist and defeat an invasion from Nicaragua. 7th Group also trained the Honduran military in counter-insurgency tactics, which enabled Honduras to defeat the Honduran communist-backed guerrillas.
7th Special Forces Group also became involved in counter narcotics operations in the Andean Ridge countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The goal was not just to stop the flow of drugs into the United States, but to stem the violence that resulted from the drug trade in those countries.
During the 3 October 1989 coup against Noriega by some of his troops, members of 7th Group conducted reconnaissance operations near the road that led from the cuartel of Battalion 2000 to Panama City, giving the US Southern Command advanced early warning of the elite Panamanian unit moving to rescue Noriega, who was being held captive in the Panamanian Comandancia…
From 19 December 1989 to 31 January 1990, elements of the 7th Special Forces Group participated in Operation Just Cause to restore democracy to Panama. The 7th Group conducted combat operations on D-Day against multiple strategic targets. Over the next two weeks, 7th Special Forces Group conducted many reconnaissance and direct action missions in support of the operation…
Since early 2002, the 7th SFG has deployed almost nonstop in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. 7th SFG along with the 3rd Special Forces Group are the two SFGs responsible for conducting operations in Afghanistan. The Group has also deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom numerous times, but not as often as Afghanistan. The 7th SFG has lost more SF soldiers in the Global War on Terrorism than any other SFG…
: “Guerrilla USA” 1963 US Army; The Big Picture TV-561){kind=link}