"I'm not looking for Rambo," he once said. "I'm looking for a PhD in violence who can fix a truck, speak Arabic, and doesn't need a hug when things go wrong."
During his service in Vietnam with the top-secret Project Delta in 1966,
Delta Force was officially activated on . While Beckwith is credited as the primary architect, he established the unit alongside Colonel Thomas Henry . who founded delta force
On November 19, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed the finding that officially activated the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D).
Beckwith was hooked.
While Beckwith is the undisputed "Father of Delta," Colonel Bob Mountel (commander of the Blue Light detachment) ran a parallel counter-terror unit in the late 1970s. But Beckwith won the political war. Mountel's unit was disbanded. Beckwith's became legend.
He didn't just found a unit. He founded a mindset. "I'm not looking for Rambo," he once said
Charles Alvin Beckwith died in 1994 of natural causes. He was 65. His funeral at Fort Bragg was small. Few civilians attended. He had asked for only one thing: that his gravestone read simply, "A Good Soldier."
Beckwith copied the SAS selection process but turned the dial to eleven. It became known as "The Long Walk." On November 19, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed