Short answers, pulled from the story.
NATO defines special operations as military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equipped forces using unconventional techniques. These units differ from conventional armies because they operate behind enemy lines to achieve disruption through sabotage or intelligence gathering rather than holding territory.
Richard Bowyer's Dictionary of Military Terms notes that these forces perform functions ranging from counter-terrorism to hostage rescue. The text does not specify a publication date for this dictionary but confirms its content describes the functional range of these units.
Colonel Benjamin Church commanded the first Ranger force in 1676 while learning frontier skills from friendly Native Americans to carry out offensive strikes. This unit operated against Native American tribes during wars between colonists and indigenous populations.
A training depot at Achnacarry in the Scottish Highlands opened in February 1942 under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Vaughan. Volunteers completed an eight-mile march with all equipment from Spean Bridge railway station before starting exercises using live ammunition.
Norwegian Special Operation Forces established an all female unit Jegertroppen in 2014 after gender restrictions were removed allowing women to apply for selection into units. This development followed decades of special forces operations including raids on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan and the Barisha Raid in Syria which occurred in 2019.