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Behind friendly lines: enforcing the need for a joint SOF staff officer

Military Review - May 1, 2004

Continued from page 2.

U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) and National Guard (ARNG) SOF roles and the roles of conventional personnel supporting SOF are also crucial. Before conducting JSOTF operations in Afghanistan, the 20th SFG (ARNG) conducted several train-ups and participated with SOCJFCOM in MC-02, which provided an excellent shakedown before deployment. Manning with properly educated and trained teams is crucial.

Recommendations

No simple, one-size-fits-all solution exists to create better educated, trained, and joint-qualified SOF officers at the operational level. SOCOM must have creativity, perseverance, and a long-term, broad strategy. A recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) survey acknowledged that to develop an effective strategic plan the Department of Defense (DOD) needed "greater flexibility and that leveraging new educational technologies would facilitate its ability to prepare officers for the joint environment." (25) Two agencies address this education and training requirement: the JSOU and the SOCJFCOM.

In the near term, SOCOM must leverage the capabilities of both the JSOU and the SOCJFCOM. SOCOM assigns officers with the right operational and educational backgrounds and clearly delineates lines of operations. SOCOM must ensure unity of effort to make joint SOF education and training more effective and provide the necessary funding for education and training resources. Joint Publication 3-05.1 and SOCOM Directive 621-1 contain education and training guidance. (26) In accordance with JP 3-05.1, the USSOCOM commander has designated SOCJFCOM to conduct training of selected JSOTFs and to assess SOF-related doctrine in support of SOCOM's collective training program. (27)

There are three training levels. The first includes all staff officers, NCOs, and personnel, including AC and RC augmentees who might serve on a JSOFT headquarters or who are being assigned to a theater SOC. Training might be conducted via a compact disk for individual self-paced training. The JSOU would be responsible for maintaining and updating JSOTF training. Level-two training, which would include the theater SOC commander, potential theater SOC commanders, and selected SOC or JSOTF personnel, would be conducted in a formal classroom environment at the Joint Special Operations University. Level-three training would include staff officers, NCOs, and personnel assigned to or supporting a theater SOC or JSOTF headquarters in support of a JTF or higher joint force. USSOCOM- sponsored SOF training teams would conduct level-three training.

Both JSOU and SOCJFCOM are responsible for this effort, and SOCOM is the executive agent charged with ensuring that all education and training complies with established policy and standards. SOCJFCOM must evaluate the execution of SOFrelated joint doctrine in support of SOCOM's collective-training program through the JFCOM's joint training infrastructure.

Educating SOF in joint operations is also partly a matter of timing. The more senior an officer becomes, the greater the requirement is for joint education and training. JSOU research facilities and teaching focus on educating SOF leaders, giving SOCOM an unparalleled opportunity to meet education requirements for 21st-century SOF personnel. SOCOM must target ISS collectively with JSOU's education mission and SOCJFCOM's experienced trainers to build the necessary core of joint SOF officers.

Special Forces Qualification Course attendees and other SOF personnel in initial entry-training should receive a joint SO doctrine and procedures overview -not to make them doctrinal experts, but to address jointness early in their careers. By the seventh or eighth year of service, most officers no longer command SOF detachments or platoons, but normally occupy assistant staff positions. The time to expose them to joint SOF doctrine in preparation for ISS and field grade officer responsibilities is when they become staff officers.

The proposed model is similar to one originally established in 1989, with a few modifications to account for updated doctrine. (28) The focus must be on educating SOF personnel for the joint operational level. Integration of SOF joint operations, such as in the Special Forces Qualification Course, should fall under the JSOU's direction and be taught in residence or by mobile education teams (METs) traveling to outlying SOF duty stations. Some selected instruction might occur by CD-ROM or interactive web-based learning. (29)

Joint SOF education should also be injected into the ISS. About 75 percent of all SOF ISS students attend the Army Command and General Staff College each year where an established SOF track includes over 200 hours of instruction supported by JSOU in both core- and graduate-level tasks in four areas: civil affairs, psychological operations, special operations, and special operations aviation. JSOU must also offer joint SOF instruction at the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force (USAF) ISS and through their respective Advanced Military Studies (AMS) programs. According to one SOF officer responsible for ISS education, placing a larger number of SOF officers in the AMS programs is a priority, along with follow-on placement of them in areas where they can make the greatest contributions to SOF and the joint community. In addition, programs must continue to be developed for officers selected to fill joint billets but not selected to attend a resident ISS.

According to DOD data, one-third of officers serving in joint positions in fiscal year 2001 participated in both phases of the joint education program. (30) A recent GAO report notes, "The Joint Forces Staff College, from which most officers receive the second phase, is currently operating at 83 percent of its 906-seat capacity." (31) One possible solution to achieving higher attendance is to have SOF personnel attend ISS, go on temporary duty enroute to the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) and then report to their units. This would put more SOF Joint Professional Military Education-Phase II (JPME-II) graduates into units but would require a flexible personnel system. Having a JPME-II-qualified officer in SOF tactical units, headquarters, or joint staffs would be valuable to operations and planning teams and a great investment in and benefit to SOF and conventional forces. These are near-term solutions, but developing a long-term plan is crucial, too. Focused joint education and training for SOF officers is essential for operational success in joint or JSOTF environments.

Does SOCOM need to have a separate ISS? One senior SOF officer pointed out that in the 1930s airmen worked through the theory and mechanics of air-power application at the Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) at Maxwell Field, Alabama. Because of their efforts, when World War II began, their theories and experiments eventually gave birth to a new military service-the USAF. This change came about because the Army could not provide the education, training, and resources airmen required.

Obviously, SOCOM is far from establishing its own ISS or a separate SOF service. However, the National Security Strategy and National Strategy for Combating Terrorism rely on preemptive actions and expanding SOF roles, thus it would be premature to rule out such a possibility in the coming decade.

With SOCOM's and SOF's GWOT missions and the requirement to conduct operations in a joint environment, junior field grade SOF operators and planners must obtain quality educations and training for the operational and strategic levels of joint operations in order to function effectively on a combatant commander's staff or on a JSOTF. Joint SOF staff officer training should focus on, but not be limited to, the following skill sets:

* Joint operations and planning.

* Full-spectrum operations.

* Synchronization of joint operations.

* Familiarity with all service components' doctrine and capabilities.

* Joint fires employment.

* SOF and conventional force interoperability.

* Joint force air component commander and air targets officer coordination.

An ideal place to conduct this standardized joint training would be at each service's ISS as part of SOF officers' required curriculum. If this is not feasible, the JSOU and SOCJFCOM in residence or in mobile education and training teams could conduct education and training. SOCOM, with JSOU and SOCJFCOM, must be the lead headquarters to ensure unity of effort and standardization.

In October 1995, U.S. Army Major General Sidney Shachnow stated, "Undoubtedly, some people will point to the magnificent manner in which SOF has] succeeded in meeting all challenges to date. These same people will remind us not to fix something that is not broken. My response is [as Thomas Edison said]: 'Show me a thoroughly satisfied man, and I will show you a failure.' Of all our human resources, the most precious is the desire to improve." (32) MR

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