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

Military Review - May 1, 2004

Continued from page 4.

Although the SOCCENT commander's decision appears to have been successful-with much pain and augmentation by Special Operations Command Joint Forces Command (SOCJFCOM) and other SOF units, the decision put the group commander in a role of JSOTF commander, a role for which his position was not doctrinally designed. (5) Joint Publication (JP) 3-05.1, Joint Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Joint Special Operations Task Force Operations, states that "the core of the JSOTF staff is normally drawn from the theater SOC [Special Operations Command] staff or existing SOF component with augmentation from other service SOF." (6)

The SOCCENT commander's decision to form the JSOTF with an existing service component impeded operations for the TF Dagger commander by placing him in the unenviable position of planning and integrating major joint operational-level functions and tactical-level service tasks simultaneously. As one former SFG commander noted, this arrangement is the least preferred course of action because the commander does not have an organization of joint staff officers accustomed to working with the combatant commander's staff at the joint operational level. (7)

Doctrine for Army Special Forces (SF) and other SOF is nested in joint doctrine; however, the SFG headquarters is rarely, if ever, manned with joint-qualified staff officers. For example, during operations in Haiti in 1993, when the 3d SFG commander tried to form a temporary JSOTF, he discovered that there were no joint-qualified officers in his headquarters to fill essential positions, thus hindering initial startup. The 3d SFG commander later said, "We thought we could do it all, but found that we could not." (8)

Most SFG or Naval Special Warfare Group staff functions are performed by newly promoted field grade officers with minimal or no joint experience. Some are recent ISS graduates and might have served temporary duty as a company grade officer with a joint headquarters during a previous deployment. Fewer still have attended the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) or participated in JSOTF training exercises hosted by SOCJFCOM. So, what can SOF commanders do to enhance their assigned field grade officers' knowledge of joint operations? The answer is joint SOF education and training.

One senior SOF officer with several previous joint tours noted, "Joint tactics, techniques, and procedures must be learned (education) and practiced (training). Learning can conceivably be done in the service schools; practice must be done in joint training exercises, experimentation, testing, and finally operations." (9)

SOF Individual Training Requirements

According to JP 3-05, Doctrine for Joint Special Operations, "SOF require a combination of basic military training and specialized skill training to achieve operational proficiency. SOF-specific training includes both individual skill training and extensive unit training to ensure maximum readiness." (10) United States Code, Title 10, Section 167, "Definitions," charges the SOCOM commander with the training of all special operations forces. (11) This training should include interoperability with conventional and other SOF forces, particularly individual SO training, and professional military education. Joint training of SOF is shared with the regional combatant commanders who, through their TSOC, articulate SOF mission-essential tasks supporting theater campaign and security cooperation planning. (12) The sooner SOF officers are educated and trained at the operational and strategic levels of joint operations, the better prepared they will be when they are assigned to a TSOC or other joint staff responsible for SOF integration.

Because SOF can deploy unilaterally or in support of a conventional force at all spectrums of conflict, they must retain the company-level skills they developed before moving into special operations. Not only must company grade officers know SOF mission-essential tasks, they must continue to hone skills for integration into conventional force operations in support of theater objectives. (13)

In August 2002, the Army War College invited 51 representatives from Army major commands, the Army Staff, the Center for Lessons Learned, the Center for Military History, RAND, and other government agencies to discuss their initial impressions of GWOT and to capture lessons learned. One key lesson learned was that "better SOF-conventional integration and more joint training must be executed to husband Army SOF for the many essential missions they will perform in the ongoing war against terrorism." (14)

According to SOCOM Publication 1, Special Operations in Peace and War, "Training and education are the twin pillars of special operations professional development. Training is designed to produce individuals and units that have mastered the tactics, techniques, and procedures through which units accomplish their missions. Through education, individuals learn the art and science of war and peacetime operations and develop military judgment necessary to apply initiative and creativity to the solution of problems and challenges." (15) The focus must be at the operational-strategic level of warfighting in a joint environment. SOF can apply these skill sets directly to campaign planning for the GWOT.

SOF personnel must complement their formal training with education. SOCOM Directive 621-1, "Joint Special Operations Education System," outlines specific education goals and requirements. (16) As part of the education process, SOF personnel usually attend a host of joint and service courses such as ISS. Selected SOF officers may attend an advanced military studies program such as the Army School of Advanced Military Studies, the Marine Corps School of Advanced Warfighting, or the Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Others may choose to attend joint SOF education courses offered at JSOU at Hurlburt Field, Florida. However, this is about as far as the formal military school system can educate SOF officers. Even SOCOM Publication 1 acknowledges, "The majority of a serious professional development program must be self-development." (17) This approach leaves it up to the individual SOF officer to obtain follow-on and advanced education and training. With the current focus on SOCOM expansion, it is time to change the practice of self-development to require SOF officers receive focused education and training in critical joint warfighting skill sets derived from recent GWOT experiences.

Operations in Afghanistan have yielded some noteworthy issues that the Army should address in formal SOF education and training. Although not all-inclusive, the following areas need greater emphasis in SOF education and training:

* Joint fire measures and integration and deconfliction of air and battle space.

* Special activities and compartmented operations.

* Information management and technologies.

* Joint SO doctrine and linkages to the theater campaign plans.

* JSOTF manning requirements, particularly reserve forces.

* Joint operations and planning.

* Full-spectrum and unconventional approaches to operations ranging from small-scale contingencies to high-intensity conflict.

* Synchronization of joint operations to achieve synergistic effects with sister service capabilities.

* SOF and conventional force interoperability.

Joint SOF Officer Skill Sets

Joint fires and battlespace deconfliction have significant effects on SOF planning and employment. Special operations forces have become proficient in the use of tactical fires at the training centers such as the joint readiness training center (JRTC) and the national training center (NTC). Before operations in Afghanistan, most SOF only incorporated organic service fires (organic attack aviation or artillery platforms). Several scenarios at the training centers employ time-sensitive targets and bombers performing close air support. However, these scenarios do not train SOF staffs or JSOTF commanders inexperienced in the joint fires process and battlespace synchronization.

In some cases, JRTC and NTC training creates false expectations about SOF doctrine and employment. (18) Initial analysis from Afghanistan indicates that air power, coordinated with SOF and indigenous maneuver forces, "was a joint air-land struggle in which the ability to combine fire and maneuver by diverse arms made the difference between success and failure." (19) Although combining fire and maneuver by diverse arms might seem new, SOF have employed it before; the current SOF generation has only relearned it. Air power plays an important role in support of SOF assets. The flexibility of air power, particularly from aircraft carriers, can quickly provide SOF with operational fires, as in Afghanistan.

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