"Tactical Dads" & the Fascination with Pre-9/11 Operator Style
Delta Force, Y2K nostalgia, & what came before Operator Culture
On Friday, Kommando Store, an online surplus store that has started producing their own products, released their ‘Tora Bora Puffy Jacket.’ Kommando Store described the retro-looking hunter-green down jacket as “the pioneering act of ‘Gorpcore’ or ‘Grey Man’ fashion.” Kommando store has been posting clips and photos of the Tora Bora Jacket on model paired with woodland chest rigs, M4s, and Afghan Pakols. That’s because the Tora Bora Jacket, as the name may suggest, is a reproduction of an early 2000s LL Bean jacket that was worn by members of Delta Force during the battle of Tora Bora in 2001. I will let Kommando Store explain.
The idea that there would be a market for a Y2K LL Bean reproduction because of a handful of photos of Delta Force in Afghanistan may surprise some people. It’s not that dissimilar to menswear brands that recreate famous movie pieces, like a knit shirt from The Talented Mr Ripley or a sweater from The Brutalist. And just as the broader culture has seen a surge in Y2K nostalgia, so has the military-tactical space, a trend I have written about here.
The Tora Bora Jacket, of course, made me think of this past season of Articles of Interest, where the connection between the military and outdoor brands was a central theme. It also got me thinking not just about the Operator culture (which has been covered quite a bit), but also what came before it.
On the eve of 9/11 and the subsequent Global War on Terror, US special operations forces were still relatively small in number and budget, and held little cachet in the nation’s popular imagination. GWOT would usher in “a golden age for special operations,” in the words of General Joseph Votel III as he took command of USSOCOM (US Special Operations Command) in 2014. In 2001, USSOCOM numbered roughly 33,000. Today it is closer to 70,000.
In this pre-9/11 era, the look and gear of US special operations forces were still rooted in Cold War military norms and rather DIY. How I described what these guys looked like on Articles of Interest was something like, ‘a bunch of suburban dads on a fishing trip.’ The tactical gear industry was still in its infancy. The Army’s Delta Force was only 24 years old in 2001, and not far removed from dyeing their own field jackets black in the base laundry or jerry-rigging flashlights to their weapons with hardware-store clamps.
Military-vibe accounts on social media love posting pictures of these operators from the 1990s to the early 2000s, commenting on their high-school-teacher style and modest builds, that they could look kind of nerdy. The one man who has really come to define this is Mike Vining, who was one of the first members of Delta Force. His likeness became a meme due to his long and storied military career, paired with his unassuming appearance and large eyeglasses. He looks like Rick Moranis. The meme became so widespread that he has been asked about it in interviews.
GWOT would create the musclebound “operator” look defined by high-speed gear and beards. This shift in style also signaled how USSCOCOM’s role in the US military was changing. Gone were the days of the “soldier-diplomats,” focused on highly specialized missions with regional expertise. More than doubling in size, replaced with “door kickers” conducting 20+ missions a night in Afghanistan in 2011. The M4-toting, fishing vest-wearing, bespectacled operator looked quaint.
This “tactical dad” or early-operator look has become a foundational style, often mimicked on social media by enthusiasts and even made its way into popular culture. In the film Sicario, it is commonly believed that Jeffrey Donovan’s Delta Force character’s appearance is based on these 1990s photos. Some of this look's popularity must stem from a reaction to how overinflated and dominant the “operator” look was in popular culture in the 2010s – and still is. But this is still mostly confined to an online fandom, rooted in moodboard accounts and memes.
Till next time,
C.W.M.
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This totally tracks with what my dad, who started off as a Green Beret and ended up teaching/treating soldiers at Ft. Bragg (including special forces) as an Army Reserve Master Sergeant with a medical MOS, used to tell me. SF guys were basically Ivy Leaguers with M4s. Now the ideal seems to be the Punisher.
Direct Action and door kicking killed Army Special Forces; prior to 9/11 they were already drifting from a very specialized tradecraft in Foreign Internal Defense (training in permissive environments) and Unconventional Warfare (training and fighting in non-permissive environments) which set them apart but night letters seduced the SF Groups to be all they can be. The 11B and USMC 0311 can do all the Direct Action missions and more with sexy gun fighting and raids. Need the best light infantry on Earth? Send in Ranger Regiment.
Special Forces should have stayed in their wheelhouse and now they are all CAG wannabes. Delta until GWOT was all about in and out and STFU; then even they lost the plot a bit. The clothing modes of tactical dads is trying to cosplay as cool killers to look the part.
Practical clothing isn't all tactical, I would suggest the Banana Republic in the 1980s (O Glory Days) and Carhartt et al are a combo of grayman aesthetics and durable clothing.