Air Force Special Operations

When Getting Ready for Selection, Prepare Don’t Over-Train

I’ve been scouring social media for the past few days because I’ve gotten a few messages about training for selection and the gist of several of them had me wondering if some of the potential candidates were reading a few things that are out on social media and taking it as gospel.

The first and I’ve gotten several of these questions and they’re similar in the vein where young guys ask:

“Should I be training with 85-100 pound rucksacks to prepare for Selection?

The answer is, and we’ve stated that here and we’ll do it again is an emphatical No.

The training that candidates will face in the selection course will mainly be to carry 45 pounds of dry weight (minimum) during certain events. Does that mean that 45 pounds is all you will carry? Of course not. You will carry frequently more and later those weights will increase to at times over 100 pounds. Plus, during the team events in the Selection course, you’ll be asked to carry other items that will add a lot of weight to your load.

But you need to focus on the subject at hand. Don’t worry about the qualification course or what you’ll be carrying on the teams down the road. If you don’t pass Selection, you won’t have to worry about B and C.

Get used to working with a rucksack within the limits that the cadre set out. If you can carry a rucksack with a dry weight of 45 pounds over varied terrain on your own with little difficulty, then doing it in the school environment will not be a problem.

I really don’t recommend going over 55 – 60 pounds of weight in your ruck when training for selection. Why? Because any more than that and you’ll be putting yourselves at a much greater risk for injury. Like the workout programs we post on SpecialOperations.com every morning, they are designed to prepare your body to be functionally fit, with an all-over level of physical preparedness.

The key is not to over-train. During my time as a Selection cadre member, there were always candidates who weren’t ready for the physical and mental challenges in the course. But there were also a few, who had gone overboard with the preparation and once they began the course, would break down quickly and suffer injuries. And they invariably would tell us how they prepared to come to the course and we’d hear stories of vastly overloaded rucks for training.

That’s a sure-fire way to have knee and back issues down the road.

And once again, because this needs repeating often, don’t make it a habit of running with a rucksack in your preparation training…You’re going to get tempted to because some guy “heard from a guy, that knew a guy, who once may have been an operator” that you have to do that in order to pass Selection. Bunk.

None of the times and distances that will be specified for carrying a rucksack in Selection are set up as to require the candidate to run to make the time. You’ll have to move hard and fast, and it won’t be easy…it’s not supposed to be. If Special Operations Forces training was easy, everyone would do it.

But training for Selection by running with a ruck is a preparation for problems down the road and ultimate failure. Don’t do it.

Now for the flip-side of our discussion today. Under-training. Wait, What did you say?!?! Yes, because it leads to other questions/comments that I’ve seen recently is:
“So as long as I don’t quit and have a never say die attitude, I’m good…right?

Wrong. This may be a case of a miscommunication. And it may have been on my part so let me explain. In several earlier posts, I wrote that candidates should never quit and always have a can-do attitude. And that is absolutely correct.

But I believe a few readers have misconstrued my comments to mean that if you show up at Selection with an attitude that says “I’ll never quit”, then they’re guaranteed to pass the course. And that is completely wrong.

I don’t know what the numbers will show from today’s courses, but during my time there, we boarded and non-selected almost as many candidates for not meeting the course requirements than those who quit or voluntarily withdrew.

Be prepared, be ready to train and be confident in your abilities. With the advances of Social Media, there are few surprises in the Selection courses that you’ll face. One thing that the internet won’t and can’t explain is how tough it is. You’ll be tested as never before. Embrace the suck, keep focused on the task at hand and move on.

But the more prepared you are, the better you’ll do in the course. But like anything else, too much of a good thing can be bad. Don’t over-train and get hurt. Stick to the guidelines that are out there and get ready for the ride of your life. DOL

If anyone else has any questions, feel free to send them along to [email protected] or on Twitter @SteveB7FG and I’ll be glad to answer them and we may use it in our next video.

Photo courtesy of US Army

The Aircraft of the Air Force Special Operations Command

The United States Air Force has some of the most sophisticated aircraft in the world. And some of the most feared aircraft by our enemies aren’t the sexy, sleek fighter jets, but the fat, slow converted cargo aircraft. The AC-130U gunship, “Spooky” as the pilots call it strikes more fear in the hearts of the Taliban than any other aircraft.

In 2009, Norwegian journalist Peter Refsdal embedded with the Taliban in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, the United States’ attempt to uproot al-Qaeda and remove the Taliban from power. One of his most interesting observations: The Taliban do not fear fighter jets.
“All the time there’s jets, the sound of jets flying around, and the Taliban, they don’t care about it,” Refsdal told Anderson Cooper in a 2010 interview for CNN. “But there’s one plane that scares them. … It was the sound of this transport plane that scared them. And this is a plane equipped with a lot of heavy machine guns, even a cannon. And the thing is, the Taliban, they know that this gunship is used when there are some Special Forces operations. It’s used as a support, air support during these kind of operations.”
Refsdal is talking about the AC-130 gunship, a variant of the C-130 that is absolutely brimming with firepower. “It’s the four fans of freedom, as we call it,” Major Eric Forsyth, an HC-130J pilot, told Popular Mechanics.
SPOOKY
The AC-130 is only operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, or AFSOC, and the currently deployed model is the AC-130U “Spooky.” The Spooky can unleash hell with a variety of weapons, including the M102 105-mm howitzer fired from the left rear-side door. It’s the largest gun ever operated on a USAF aircraft.
“The psychological effects of the gunship—the Taliban just go home and wait until the gunship has gone away,” says Forsyth.

The AC-130U is a tremendous weapon that all of the Special Operations Forces have at their beck and call. And they’ve gotten the grudging respect from the enemy. But the next generation of “Spooky” the AC-130J is rumored to be the premiere AFSOC (Air Force Special Operations Command) ground support aircraft for the next 50 years.

But AFSOC also flies a variety of other airframes as well including the V-22 Osprey, the Air Force version carries 588 more gallons of fuel to increase its range, the C-146A Wolfhound, the U-28A, the MC-12W Liberty, the C-145A and the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper, drone.

To read the entire article from Popular Mechanics, click here:

Photo courtesy US Air Force

Survival Knife, Gear Review: Looking for a Versatile Tool

A survival knife is a tool and not a fashion statement but for any guys out there that have been in a survival situation or a school environment as in a training course, you’d know that. So it becomes a case of practicality over all else

While I’m admittedly no expert on knives, I know what works for me and what I’ve used. And as in anything when it comes to gear, much of what we choose comes down to personal choice. I’ve tried a lot of different knives and found some that I’ve liked and some that I didn’t. The one design that I’ve kept coming back to is the Bowie knife design.

Some guys don’t care for them, but it’s been around for about 200 years and it will work in about any situation. For most of the small mundane tasks, you’ll come across, a Swiss Army Knife or a Leatherman will work just fine, I never went anywhere without one of those in my pocket.

And the part of the world you’re going to be working in will have a factor in the decision which one to carry. A heavy-duty knife for working in the jungles of Latin America would be a very different choice than one working in the arid environments of the Middle East. So, with that in mind, you’ll still want a mix of a bigger knife for the heavy-duty tasks and a small one for the more intricate stuff will be the best way to go. Some of the other considerations include:

When looking for a heavy-duty knife, a fixed blade is better than a folding one. I look for one with a full tang, which is the part of the blade that extends down the entire length of the knife. The ones that don’t have a full tang tend to snap off at the most inopportune of times.

Most of the best knives are made from either carbon steel or stainless. Each has their good points. I prefer carbon which holds an edge better but saying that I’ve had a stainless steel one for the past decade and a half.

The handles come in a variety of styles, hardwood, bone, rubber, and polymer. All have their strong points. It just comes down again to personal choice. Blade type and length are the next criteria. I prefer the straight blade rather than a serrated one. It is better for chopping and those serrated blades are much tougher to sharpen. Blade length should be between 6-12 inches. I personally think a 6-inch blade may be a bit too short. A 9 to 10-inch knife is ideal. My Bowie is just under 11 and a half inches and at times is a bit too big for many applications.

The sheath is a very important part of the knife, the design will affect where you carry it and how it is drawn. But a couple of considerations to look for are The strap to keep your knife in place, some are Velcro or snaps but they should be located at the top so as to not allow the knife to slide out. A Belt loop, preferably a wide one is best so that it can be carried on your belt or as part of your kit. And a lower attachment strap or hole is nice to have so that you can strap it to your leg if need be.

Here are a couple of (but not all) good choices for survival knives to pick from:

SOG SEAL Team Elite:

SOG has updated their SEAL knives and has added a nice addition to their catalog. This is a very good heavy-duty knife that is at home with the avid outdoorsman as it would be during an operation. The blade is powder coated black or coated with hard cased black TiNi to prevent rust.

The black handle comes in ballistic nylon or Kydex. The sheath is made of nylon and has MOLLE attachments. Just over 12 inches in length, with a 7 inch partially serrated edge blade. It is a tough customer and will withstand heavy use.

Overall Length: 12.3 inches
Blade Thickness: 0.24 inches
Tang: Full
Blade Material: AUS 8
Price: $186.50 (+10.25 for the Kydex handle)

Ka-Bar BK-22 Becker Companion:

Ka-Bar has been putting out quality products for generations and this knife is a nice addition to their line. This offers great value for the money and will be a nice piece of equipment that will last for years.

It is an excellent overall tool that is heavy enough to do the chopping and splitting etc that you’ll need but versatile enough to handle smaller tasks while not being too bulky. It comes with a polyester sheath with MOLLE attachments and a front pocket.

Overall length: 10.5 inches
Blade Thickness: 0.25 inches
Tang: Full
Blade Material: 1095 Cro-Van
Price: $121.75

Caraway Cutlery Bowie:

This was a gift from a very good friend of mine nearly 20 years ago and whenever we’re out in the outdoors, this one comes with us. It is the least expensive of the three but is a good quality knife for hunting or camping. The overall blade length is a bit too long for my taste, but it keeps a razor-sharp edge with the stainless-steel blade and is a great chopping tool.

The handle made from bone and has a brass plated guard as well, so injuries are properly prevented when the user gets carried away with chopping in the base camp.

The knife comes with a leather sheath which I never cared for in steamy jungle environments but works just fine in the Northeast. It is just a little too big for most uses.

Overall Length: 15 inches, 9.75-inch blade
Blade Thickness: 0.25 inches
Tang: Full
Blade Material: Stainless steel, plain edge
Price: about $60

For those of you who are looking for a custom-made knife, I would encourage you to check out Naylor Forge. Ashton Naylor is a retired Special Forces officer who commanded a battalion of the 5^th SFG in Iraq and was the SWC Group Commander. He is a self-taught blacksmith who puts out some tremendous quality knives, tomahawks, and axes.

And he’ll tailor them to your needs and specifications. He can give you some good tips on what will work best for you. And what will fit your needs. Check out his website here:

Photo courtesy YouTube

SOF Selection PT Preparation 5.11.2017

Chest and Triceps day at the gym today to build upper body strength. Then a 5-mile ruck march with 45-pounds minimum. Remember to stay hydrated and mark your progress down in your workout log book.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Bench Press

3 x 10 Dumbbell Flies

3 x 10 Dumbbell Incline press

3 x 20 Pushups (alternate sets with wide, narrow and shoulder width)

3 x 10 Kip Ups

3 x 20 Sit ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

5-mile rucksack march (45-pound minimum) over varied terrain, note your time

Stretch well after completion

How the OSS Shaped Special Operations Forces and CIA of Today

Just a few short months after Pearl Harbor, the United States was locked in a global war with both the empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. And the country had no formal intelligence gathering apparatus.

So, in July 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and appointed BG William “Wild Bill” Donovan as its head. It was an agency that fell under the auspices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines, conduct special operations, propaganda, subversion, and sabotage.

Prior to the OSS, the business of American intelligence had been done on an ad-hoc basis conducted by various elements of the State Department, Navy, Treasury, and War Departments. There was no joint interaction, control, and no direction. Both the Army and Navy had separate code-breaking units that reported only to the individual services.

Donovan was an interesting choice to lead this ground-breaking unit. To begin with, he was a Republican and Roosevelt a Democrat and the two had many disagreements and political battles in New York prior to the war. One must wonder if a sitting US president today would appoint a political foe in the political morass that plagues Washington.

But Roosevelt had befriended his political foe in the ensuing years and respected his vision of foreign affairs. Donovan had traveled extensively thru Europe and had even been allowed by Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Italy to visit the front line during Italy’s war with Ethiopia. Donovan was sent to inspect US defenses in the Pacific during the time before the war and found them wanting. Roosevelt also sent him on fact-finding missions to the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Donovan had many close contacts with the British and he urged FDR to support Winston Churchill.

Thus, when FDR appointed Donovan the head of the OSS in July 1942 he had already been laying the groundwork from the previous year to build a centralized intelligence program. But they were starting with only their imagination to guide them. Donovan immediately based OSS on the British model of intelligence with their Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE). This would prove to be the groundwork for the future.

There was considerable push-back from the FBI, as Director J. Edgar Hoover was openly hostile to Donovan and because of that, operations in Latin America were virtually non-existent as Hoover kept that part of the intelligence area for himself and the FBI. Consequently, the level of sharing of intelligence between the two organizations was zero. Several high-ranking generals held the fledgling organization and Donovan in low esteem, including Douglas MacArthur. It would later keep OSS from helping the liberation of the Philippines, an area that was tailor made for OSS.

Donovan built OSS from nothing to over 10,000 operatives by the end of the war in just three short years. They trained spies, commandos, saboteurs, propagandists and had support personnel to conduct operations all over the globe. At war’s end, Donovan had a plan in mind to bring OSS to the next level and build a post-conflict national intelligence service. But with Roosevelt’s death, President Harry S. Truman disbanded OSS and parceled out its functions to the different services. He then created the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947, but Donovan was not to be its head.

Many of Donovan’s OSS operatives became the face of CIA including Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, William Colby, and William Casey.

Dulles was the agency’s first head and ran a very successful espionage operation against Germany from Switzerland during World War II. Helms, who succeeded Dulles, had run post-war intelligence operations in Berlin against the Russians. Colby who ran the CIA later was an OSS operative who led commando raids in France and Norway. And Casey who was head of CIA during the Reagan administration worked during the war at the Secret Intelligence Branch in Europe under Donovan.

The Special Operations side of OSS later morphed into the CIA’s paramilitary Special Activities Division but it became the backbone of the US Special Operations Command of today. The Special Operations branch of OSS was the basis for many of the Unconventional Warfare (UW), Counter-Insurgency (COIN), and Foreign Internal Defense (FID) tactics and techniques used by today’s U.S. Army Special Operations Forces.

During the war, OSS’ Special Operations Branch fielded units called Operational Groups (OGs) that conducted raids, ambushes, sabotage, and armed resistance groups. These OGs were active in Yugoslavia with the partisans, in Burma as well as France, Italy, and Norway. The most well-known were the Jedburgh OGs which carried out operations in Europe.

Col. Aaron Bank created the 10^th Special Forces Group in 1952, he was a Jedburgh assigned to Europe and recruited other paratroopers, OSS operators, and the 1^st Special Service Force. Using the training and tactics he learned with OSS, Bank created the Special Forces groups that we know today.

The Navy SEALs are well known to have evolved from the famous frogmen and UDTs of World War II. But they also trace part of their lineage to OSS, although they don’t claim it. The Maritime Unit (MU) of OSS was created to conduct special operations, espionage and to develop special equipment, tactics, techniques, and procedures for other special units. This describes closely to what the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 officially known as Developmental Group (DEVGRU) is tasked with today.

One of the most famous of the MU’s operators was Walter Mess. He had conducted sensitive missions in Poland and Czechoslovakia before heading to the MU. He conducted over 100 secret missions, rescued 220 downed pilots using scout swimmers and PT boats and had 15 jumps into Thailand and Burma.

Although an Army officer, and an honorary Green Beret, Mess fits the bill for a quintessential example of a Navy SEAL. He should be recognized as such by USSOCOM.

While many of Donovan’s intelligence operatives became the backbone of the CIA, the special operations side of OSS became the beginning of the Special Operations Command and the units assigned to it.

And to show the lineage to the OSS, the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) wears an adaptation of the unofficial OSS spearhead insignia as its shoulder patch.

From humble beginnings 75 years ago, the United States Special Operations Command and the CIA owe its legacy to a group of free thinking, “glorious amateurs” as General Donovan liked to call them.

Photo courtesy CIA

SOF Selection PT Preparation 5.9.2017

Tuesday is Leg Day but we’ll begin with pull-ups and towel pullups for those who don’t have access to ropes for climbing. Then we’ll do some shuttle runs and sprints to work on our cardio to break things up a bit this week.

Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR

3 x Pullups 10 reps

3 x Towel pullups 10 reps

3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x Goblet Squats 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

4 x Sled push heavier weight

3 x 10 reps Dumbbell lunges

3 x 20 Side planks

4 x 25 Meter Shuttle

5 x 50 Meter Sprints

Stretch well after completion

Secret US Space Shuttle Mission Lands in Florida After 2 Years

The area around Disney World in Central Florida was rocked by a sonic boom on Sunday as a secret space shuttle mission landed at Cape Canaveral after spending the past two years in space.

The sonic boom set off a ton of social media activity as residents raced to ask what had just occurred in the area.

The U.S. Air Force confirmed that its X-37B unmanned mini space shuttle landed at KSC after spending 718 days in orbit. The spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on May 20, 2015.
What it has been doing circling the planet all this time is the secret part that military officials won’t discuss, though many experts believe it has intelligence-gathering equipment. What the military did confirm in a news release is that mini shuttle is “an experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Air Force.”
This was fourth space trip for the 29-foot-long, 11,000-pound mini shuttle, but it was the first time it has landed in Florida — which is why Sunday’s sonic boom provided an unexpected wake-up call.
X-37B’s booming return was unexpected. While there were rumors in February that the mini shuttle might return to Florida after its three previous flights ended at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, officials would not confirm any itinerary for the spacecraft.
Sunday morning’s homecoming was announced by the Air Force at 7:57 a.m. in a tweet: “The Air Force #X37B #OTV4 has returned from orbit and landed safely at @NASAKennedy.” Video and photos of the craft’s landing were later released.
NASA and the Air Force had been landing the X-37B in California, but with another scheduled mini-shuttle launch for later this year, the public may once again get another look at the weird smaller version of the shuttle.

The military has a plenty of options for an unmanned piece of equipment such as the X-37B, and if it indeed is an intelligence gathering platform, it will up the ante in the Space Race again.

To read the Orlando Sentinel entire article click here:

Photo courtesy of NASA

The US Needs a Light, Turboprop, Ground Support Aircraft

In a not-so-amazing turn of events, the Air Force has come to the realization that they need a lighter, more cost efficient, ground support aircraft. The Air Force hasn’t had those types of aircraft in the inventory since Vietnam and has been loath to even keep the invaluable A-10, preferring the sleek, sexier F-15, and the F-16.

But for the pilots who fly the missions in combat, especially in the Middle East, it is a no brainer and the Air Force is listening to them and will hold an attack experiment using light turboprop aircraft at Hollman, AFB.

Light attack aircraft were just that – smaller attack aircraft like the A-37 Dragonfly or Navy OV-10, with significant weapons loads but not designed to stand up in the front of the apocalyptic Soviet/NATO battlefield. For the Air Force, the long path to considering a new attack aircraft started in 2008. Faced with increasing airpower demand in Iraq and Afghanistan, the existing fighters were being wrung out. For the kind of air support we were providing for U.S. ground forces, the existing F-16, F-15E and Navy / Marine F-18 were a ridiculous overmatch.
But we also wanted aircraft that could be forward deployed to austere airfields, fueled from 55-gallon drums, and supplied from the back of a pickup truck – none of which a jet can easily do. And we needed it to be relatively cheap to buy and to operate. In short, we envisioned an aircraft that looked like earlier designs, with the weapons and sensors of a modern jet.
These aircraft existed. I had seen the A-29 Super Tucano in Colombia in 2007. Raytheon had a conversion of their T-6 trainer (the AT-6) that included a weapons capability. What we were looking for was off the shelf stuff, not needing a long development period. For combat operations in the Middle East, this seemed like a good match.
The aircraft that existed were two-seaters with light armor, good day/night electro-optical sensors, guns, and precision munitions. Unrefueled, they had twice the loiter time of the fast jets. They sipped fuel – the fuel they burned in an hour of flight approximated the fuel an F-15E used taxiing from parking to the runway. We were looking at traditional attack aircraft – combat aircraft that could be used for a wide array of missions from Close Air Support to interdiction to combat search & rescue. In 2009, these aircraft could have flown from a dozen US-operated airfields in Afghanistan that could not have supported fast jets.

The experiment will confirm what the combat pilots already know. In a combat operations area that the sky is controlled by the US, the light, turboprop attack aircraft offers better flexibility, cost effectiveness, better precision and can be more effective in the war on terror.

To read the entire article from Forbes.com, click here:

Photo courtesy US Air Force

The Golden Age of Special Operations, But is the OpTempo Too High?

The United States’ Special Operations Forces are seemingly everywhere and that perception is not far off. In 2016, they were deployed to 138 countries around the globe or about 70 percent of the world.

From battlefields in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, to Somalia and West Africa, to advising counter-narcotics units in the Andean Ridge, working with allied troops in the Far East or braving the bitter cold of the Arctic. Special Operations Forces [SOF], are being used to protect US interests everywhere. This is the age of the Quiet Professional. The demand for their use everywhere has never been higher.

While conventional forces are being under-utilized, the SOF warriors are scarcely a fraction of the total force but are doing the lion’s share of the fighting across the globe. SOF units are taking on the forces of ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Shabab and other terrorist organizations in the most visible of their operations.

But a resurgent and increasingly belligerent Russia, an expansionist China and a seemingly loose cannon in North Korea are factors in the deployment of troops. SOF are also combatting these threats, in the shadows, like they’ve always done.

Now the question is, are the powers in the US government and the Pentagon burning out the force by giving the operators an operational tempo [OPTEMPO] that is too high and will prove to be their undoing?

General Raymond Thomas, Commander of the US Special Operations Command testified before a House Armed Services Committee that the command is suffering from “unforecasted deployment tempo”. The command forecasted the US end to operations in Afghanistan in 2014. But here in May of 2017, there appears no end in sight to combat deployments and operations.

Theresa Whelan the acting Under Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict said that the command has been forced to mortgage the future to fulfill current combat operations. It has hurt the readiness, she said and will only get worse as the demand increases for future operations.

According to Special Operations Command, 55.29 percent of special operators deployed in 2016 were sent to the Middle East. That is a drop of 35 percent since 2006. SOF deployments to Africa have increased dramatically to 17.26 percent last year, up from just one percent ten years ago. European Command deployments at 12.67 percent, Pacific Command with 9.19 percent, Southern Command with 4.89 percent and Northern Command at 0.69 percent round out SOCOM’s deployments in 2016.

From intelligence gathering missions to direct action, SOF operations are the front line of defense in the war against terror organizations like ISIS working with both the CIA and under the auspices of JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command].

The Command has taken to targeting the leaders of ISIS and removing them and the flow of fresh fighters to the battlefield. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told the Armed Services Committee in previous testimony that the operations are successful.

”We are systematically eliminating ISIL’s leadership: the coalition has taken out seven members of the ISIL Senior Shura. We also removed key ISIL leaders in both Libya and Afghanistan… And we’ve removed from the battlefield more than 20 of ISIL’s external operators and plotters.”

“We have entrusted this aspect of our campaign to one of [the Department of Defense’s] most lethal, capable, and experienced commands, our Joint Special Operations Command, which helped deliver justice not only to Osama Bin Laden, but also to the man who founded the organization that became ISIL, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi.”

But the constant combat deployments are a drain on the units and the personnel who never have time to recharge and retool after more than a decade of combat. And the cracks are beginning to show.

General Thomas said that “I closely monitor the parts of our force that are under the most stress,” he stated. “There are forces that are meeting themselves in some regards. Others are in better balance…it’s a challenge”

The challenge he speaks about can be seen in the increasing suicide rate among the nation’s soldiers. Thomas wouldn’t answer how high the rate is, saying talk like that is morbid. But the allegations of high drug use among the Navy’s top unit the SEALs is another sign that the force is getting burnt out.

The units have had issues with widespread cases of divorce, domestic violence, drunk driving, depression and sleep problems; outbreaks of angry violence; chronic physical ailments and pain.

The demand for the United States’ SOF operators has never been higher. But as we pointed out in our piece of May 1, Special operations troops cannot be mass-produced. The training takes time, and for the units to do the proper identification, assessment and selection and training, the washout rate will remain high. The standards must never be lowered to meet number requirements.

But in the meantime, the operators of SOF carry on the mission and the tempo gets increasingly higher.

Special Operations is About People Not the Equipment They Use

It is well-known fact inside our Special Operations Forces that being in one of the many units in the United States SOF has more to do with the operators being ‘special’ and not just the gear that they use to get the job done.

But frequently the public gets wrapped around the ax handle with the gadgets that the military has at its disposal and yes while many of them are intriguing, they are not an end-all, be-all for Special Operations.

Special Operations Forces are often compared to professional athletes. While quite different, in one area where they are very similar is that SOF units are always training. They place supreme emphasis on it. The training is what makes the operators special, not the equipment used.

When the Special Operations Command was in its infancy, MG David Baratto, then Commander of the JFKSWC came up with SOF Imperatives to serve as the basic tenets to which SOF should operate.

These were written by a retired Col. John Collins who interestingly enough was not a Special Operations officer. The command adopted them back in 1987 and about twenty years later they were rebranded as “truths”.

But whether they’re called imperatives or truths doesn’t matter. They’re the cornerstone for any operational unit and can be used in both the military and later into the civilian world. For aspiring SOF operators, these truths should become second nature.

At a time when the Special Operations Forces are conducting a lion’s share of operations in Afghanistan and Syria while comprising just a fraction of the total force, it is always important to know what Special Operations is and isn’t.

The five Special Operations Forces Truths:

Humans are more important than hardware:
This one is a no-brainer but at times gets frequently misunderstood in the public’s eye, and at times in our government’s. Operators make the equipment, not the other way around. The training and preparedness of the operator is the critical difference in mission success and failure.

The right operators, the best operators, that are highly trained and working as a team, will accomplish the mission with whatever equipment is available. On the other hand, the best equipment in the world cannot compensate for a lack of a trained force.

Quality is better than quantity:
This one is especially true in Special Operations. A small, well-trained team is much more effective than a large under-or-untrained one. A quality force is a limited resource and is much preferable to conduct sensitive type operations.

Special Operations Forces cannot be mass produced:
Properly training Special Operations Forces operators and units takes years to get them to the level of proficiency that will be needed to conduct the type of missions that these units will be tasked to perform.

Then the joint integrated training within the community amongst the units takes even more time. Any attempt to shorten the process or quicken it to meet operational needs only serves to weaken the entire force as a whole.

Cookie cutter training produces cookies, not special operators. Slapping a beret on everyone’s head and calling them elite is an exercise in futility, not training a force.

Competent Special Operations Forces can’t be created after emergencies occur:
The first word here is perhaps the most important. Competent. As we mentioned above, the training of the individual operators and units takes time. Here is where the commanders of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine SOF units have to be on top of their games.

Not only must they ensure that the force is properly trained and equipped to fight the current wars that we’re involved in, but they must be proactive rather than reactive and have the foresight to see what the next conflict [there will always be a next one] will entail and have the operators ready to take on the challenges of that one.

It requires smart, forward thinking and not reacting to events as they occur.

Most special operations require non-SOF assistance:
This was one of the imperatives under Baratto that was originally left off of the list. Perhaps he and General Wayne Downing, the commander of SOCOM at the time were trying to defend their new slice of the pie without getting too much interference from the “Big Army” at the time. It isn’t known, just speculation on my part.

But Adm. Eric Olson SOCOM Commander found the final imperative or truth and resurrected it in 2009. And it is true.

However, it is true, while the Type-A personalities in SOF will disagree outwardly, it takes a joint effort with everyone pulling together to ensure mission success. With the integration of the conventional force in support of SOF missions, this will increase the effectiveness of the missions that are tasked.

So, with fewer big wars but with many more conflicts all over the globe, the Special Operations Force operators must be prepared, trained and ready to lead. Not only in the current conflicts but in the ones that will follow. And nobody is more prepared than the force of SOF professionals that the United States has.

Photo Courtesy DOD