- Today, Special Operations forces are playing a large and growing role in the U.S. military, transforming Defense Department strategy and spearheading hundreds of missions across the globe.

- Our reliance on Special Operations can be traced back to two missions going back more than 40 years.

One was a dramatic failure during the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the other one didn't involve the U.S. at all.

(lively music) President after president has expanded the footprint of U.S. Special Operations.

- [Trump] No enemy stands a chance against our special forces.

- [Masud] How did Special Ops become so central to America's war fighting?

- Can Special Ops keep up with the pace?

- [Masud] The story of how America became so dependent on these forces began with an unusual event almost five decades ago, when someone yelled "fire" on a crowded plane.

- Everybody turns around to look at what's happening there, and there are two people who each have a hand grenade in their hand, and a gun.

- Suddenly we heard on the intercom a man speaking in English with a German accent to say that we've changed directions, but if we'll behave and follow instructions nothing bad will happen to us.

- And then he said thank you for flying Air France, and you know, hung up.

- [Masud] The plane had been hijacked by a group of German radicals and members of a Palestinian liberation organization.

- They want the freedom of 53 prisoners.

If Israel and the other countries accept to release those prisoners, no harm will be done to us, they'll release us, and if not, it'll be different.

- And they finished it with the words, "Now you know how the mind "of a crazy German revolutionary works."

- [Masud] 2,800 miles later, the plane touched down in Entebbe, Uganda, where the hostages were greeted by its leader, Idi Amin.

- He says look, these terrorists have full support of the Ugandan people, now the building is surrounded with Ugandan soldiers armed with machine guns.

So you know, I asked my father what's gonna happen, and he told me you know, we'll probably be dead meat because Israel never negotiates.

He even made the argument, it's way too far for Israel to intervene.

(gentle music) - [Masud] Soon, 47 hostages were released in an attempt to entice the Israeli government to the table.

Olivier Cojol was among them.

(both speak French) Israeli intelligence, secretly planning an operation, was waiting for them.

- They started asking me all kinds of questions like how high is the grass out there, can you see the lake from where you are, which way do the doors open, is it wall, window?

- We never, never had to plan an operation which is so far away, with so many soldiers.

I was not afraid of being killed or being hurt, I was afraid of failure.

- [Masud] Three days later, lead pilot Joshua Shani guided a squadron of four Hercules C-130s through the darkness toward Entebbe Airport.

- We landed normally, no big deal.

In the middle of the runway, paratroopers jumped from the door.

The job was to conquer the control tower.

I made the turn, I saw the terminal, it was quiet.

The Entebbe situation was based on surprise.

- [Masud] Out the back of the Israeli plane, heavily armed commandos quickly drove a convoy that included a Mercedes chosen to resemble Amin's.

- It took seconds and they were inside the building.

- Our soldiers were beginning to come in.

Then I thought that there would be bullets flying, and I covered myself with a mattress.

- [Masud] Within 51 minutes, the commandos had killed all the terrorists and Ugandan soldiers guarding the building.

Then, they rushed the 102 remaining hostages onto the awaiting planes.

(pilot speaks foreign language) (controller speaks foreign language) - After we were satisfied, my instruction was take off, don't wait, go, go.

(gentle music) (crowd cheers) - [Masud] Four hostages were killed, as was the commandos' leader Lt.

Colonel Yonatan Netenyahu, but the world saw the bold operation as an extraordinary success.

- Immediately you saw a trend.

I'm talking about real countries like the U.S. of course, UK, Germany, Italian, all came to learn.

It was like the whole world said wow, they have chutzpah, these guys, they are damn good.

Entebbe gave a green light to government that there is maybe another way, and not just to surrender.

(protesters chant) - [Masud] One of those governments was the United States.

- [Reporter] Look at this.

One American, blindfolded, handcuffed.

Today in the courtyard of the American Embassy in Tehran, he and 60-some others still held hostage and threatened in a country gone out of control.

- [Masud] Dozens of Americans had been taken hostage as the Islamic Revolution swept through Iran, and President Jimmy Carter's administration looked to Entebbe for a solution.

- Operation Eagle Claw attempted to project power and Special Operations forces deep into enemy hostile territory, but while it was sort of in the same spirit as Entebbe, there were a lot of moving parts for Operation Eagle Claw.

- [Masud] The daring plan called for U.S. Delta Force commandos to land in the Iranian desert, then sneak into the city of Tehran to free the hostages.

- I knew it was gonna be complex and really, really high-risk, but you know, if the president was gonna order us to go then you salute smartly and you go.

- [Masud] But the mission lacked Entebbe's precision.

Planners hadn't accounted for the region's punishing dust storms.

Mission helicopters were crippled, then there was a crash.

- Good evening, we tried, we failed, and we have paid a price.

- Left behind in the desert of Iran are the bodies of eight American servicemen, seven U.S. aircraft, and many questions.

- To the families of those who died and who were wounded, I want to express the admiration I feel for the courage of their loved ones, and the sorrow that I feel personally for their sacrifice.

- [Masud] In response to the failure, the U.S. made sweeping changes over the next decade to how these operations were conducted, increasing their funding, beefing up the forces, and putting them under a central command.

- In 1980 there were some six to 8,000 Special Operations people.

Today's count is over 69,000; unbelievable growth.

Because of Eagle Claw, we find ourselves much better prepared today.

Many things would not have happened without that failure.

- The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.

- [Masud] But as Special Operations have become crucial to U.S. military strategy, concerns have also emerged that the forces are being overused and sometimes put in harm's way without a clear strategic goal.

- Special Operations should not be the panacea for every kind of difficulty that we find ourselves around the world facing, to include terrorism.

We should not get to the point that we become the solution for the United States military.

(gentle music)