Rebel Alliance Special Forces, also known as Alliance Special Forces or Rebel Alliance SpecForces were a special military branch of the Alliance to Restore the Republic led by General Crix Madine. Known to be a cocky and arrogant in general, SpecForce often took the Rebellion more seriously than most ground troops, and disdained on those who shirked from duty. All SpecForce personnel were required to pass training which consisted of four months of intense, physical and mental training, including learning the use of antique slugthrowers, disarming proximity mines and rappelling off a ray shield.
The Alliance Special Forces was founded as a detachment of the Alliance Army following the founding of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Alliance General Pitt Onoran was put in charge of the Alliance Special Forces on Yavin 4 and some of its first battle groups were the Marine Corps, the Pathfinders—led by Sergeant Ruescott Melshi—and the 4th SpecForce Regiment, a battle group comprising of many elite rebel troopers including Jav Mefran.
Six months before the Battle of Scarif, a SpecForces team infiltrated Iakar to steal medical supplies, where they recruited the gunner Bistan. During Operation Fracture, Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service confirmed the existence of the Death Star and the location of it's plans. The Alliance High Command, however, failed to act upon the growing threat fearing utter defeat. Captain Cassian Jeron Andor however believed in obtaining the plans and he put together a team of rebel troopers—including members of the Rebel Marines, Pathfinders and 4th Specforce regiment such as Mefran and Sergeant Melshi. Led by Cassian and Jyn Erso, the team named themselves Rogue One and took a stolen shuttle to the Imperial garrison on Scarif where the data vault containing the Death Star plans was.
Rebel Marines fighting on the surface of Scarif
The troopers dispatched into the shrubbery of Scarif's beaches and began planting explosives to create a distraction whilst Cassian and Jyn went up to the data vault in the Citadel Tower to find the plans. Mefran and several others guarded the shuttle in the meantime. The troopers held at first but were soon forced to retreat from incoming AT-ACTs. Luckily, the Alliance Fleet had reached Scarif and the X-wing starfighters of Blue Squadron saved them from the walkers. Blue Squadron's U-wing dispatched more Alliance Special Forces soldiers to assist Rogue One and the battle stretched on until death troopers landed on the beach and gunned down the entire force excluding Melshi, Lieutenant Taidu Sefla, Baze Malbus, and Chirrut Îmwe.
Selfa was gunned down by death troopers trying to reach a master switch on a nearby console. Melshi soon joined the Lieutenant leaving Baze and Chirrut trapped by the death troopers. Chirrut sacrificed himself to turn the master switch and Baze was killed when facing off with the death troopers. At the same time, Mefran and a few others were under fire defending the shuttle and a grenade thrown by a Coastal defender stormtrooper blew up the shuttle killing any surviving troopers. Despite the loss of all the Special Forces soldiers, Cassian and Jyn managed to obtain the Death Star plans and transmit it to the MC75 Star Cruiser Profundity. The Battle of Scarif was the first major Alliance victory against the Empire.
During the Mid Rim Retreat, a Gigoran Alliance Special Forces Corporal named Purpruff was scouting for a new location for the Alliance High Command and soon traveled to the ice planet Hoth. There she noted her initial impressions and hiked the terrain on the surface. Purpruff soon found a cave where a herd of Tauntauns lived. The High Command took Purpruff's report into account, with General Jan Dodonna even making note of the world as a possible base location. After two years of work expanding the ice caverns, their base was built on Hoth in 3 ABY. The base was named Echo Base.
Rebel troopers and special forces personnel tried to hold back the Imperial invasion of Hoth for as long as they could.
Over a third of the personnel there were Alliance Special Forces, one of them being a young man named Kryndal. Kryndal—like most of the personnel there—was very passionate about the Alliance cause but he was soon challenged by First Sergeant Hazram Namir, a soldier from Twilight Company who disagreed with his view of the war. Kryndal and Namir got into a fight and Namir was taken away by the other Special Forces soldiers. A few days later, the Empire discovered Echo Base and Darth Vader launched an attack. Taking on the brunt of the fighting from defensive trenches, many Alliance Special Forces personnel defended Echo Base, Perimeter Outpost Delta and Outpost Beta until the Imperial forces overran them. The rebels there took heavy losses escaping Hoth.
A number of rebel Pathfinders were hand picked to join the Endor strike team under General Han Solo. The group of elite troopers tasked with destroying the shield generator protecting the second Death Star. However, the Imperial forces at the Garrison set a trap and captured the entire team. Luckily for them, the native Ewoks attacked the stormtroopers and a skirmish broke out. Several Pathfinders were killed in the ground battle but when they managed to destroy the shield generator, the Alliance Fleet above could send starfighters inside the Death Star and destroy it.
The Battle of Endor came out as a victory for the Alliance and the turning point of the war for them. Afterward, Solo led his strike team to root out a surviving Imperial outpost on Endor. He also knew that his strike team would see further action as the Galactic Civil War shifted into its post-Endor period, which threatened to see Imperial remnants hunker down in the Outer Rim Territories. Solo would indeed lead Pathfinders in the raid at the Wretch of Tayron.