Aaron Bank
Aaron Bank (born November 23, 1902 in New York) is the founder of the Green Berets.He served as a colonel in World War II, leading the Office of Strategic Services (which would soon evolve into the CIA). Bank's armies destroyed rail lines and stole weapons from the German side. In 1944, Bank led "Operation Iron Cross", which attempted to use American military and German civilians to capture Adolf Hitler.
After the war he formed the Green Berets, drawing upon former members of the "1st Special Service Force" known as the Devil's Brigade. Using the training and strategies and the lessons learned from the Brigade's missions in Italy and France during World War II, Bank created an elite unit of men skilled in the art of hand-to-hand combat, stealth tactics, the use of explosives for demolition, amphibious warfare, rock climbing and mountain fighting, and as ski troops.
Aaron Bank was commended by George W. Bush in 2002, the year he celebrated his hundredth birthday, for developing the unconventional warfare programs and techniques that had been used in toppling the Taliban.
