Special Forces Prayer

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Almighty GOD, Who art the Author of liberty

and the Champion of the oppressed, hear our prayer.

We, the men of Special Forces, acknowledge

 our dependence upon Thee in the preservation of human freedom.

Go with us as we seek to defend the defenseless and to free the enslaved.

May we ever remember that our nation, whose motto

is “In God We Trust”, expects that we shall acquit

ourselves with honor, that we may never bring shame

upon our faith, our families, or our fellow men.

  Grant us wisdom from Thy mind, courage from Thine

 heart, strength from Thine arm, and protection by Thine hand.

It is for Thee that we do battle, and to Thee belongs the victor’s crown.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. AMEN

P rayer H istory 

Written in  1961 for  William Pelham "Bill" Yarborough

Written by SF Chaplain John Stevey, the 7th SFG (ABN) Chaplain

History of Art Work and First Printing

In 1962,  Then 1st Lt. W.W. "Wild Wes" Ford being bored while in Psy. Ops. school at Ft. Bragg and having a little wine, either, French or German, noticed  the engraved Border work on the Bottle. 

And then going back to his quarters found a copy of the Special Forces Prayer and started penciling in the Wine bottle border. 

He had Black, Red, Brown and Yellow Marker Pens to do the works with. Decided it looked good enough to print.  

He took it to the 1st PSYWAR Print trailer, that at the time had a brand new Litho Printer, and talked to the Sgt. to see if he could get 10 or 15 copies printed. The Sgt. (Unknown) told him he could print 250 but would be hard to register the colors. Above are the proofs of the color registration. 

Special Forces at the time, being a trading outfit, Wild Wes traded 2 - 8 oz. 2 quart Desert Canteens for the printing. 

The 250 copies were put on a Class table at 1st PSYWAR and were gone at the end of the day. One of the Instructors took it to the book store to get more, (at the bottom of the proof is printed "Printed by 1st PSYWAR as training Material")  and as you know they have been available ever since.