Updating the Practice of Unconventional Warfare: A Blueprint for the Continued Evolution of Special Forces – Curtis L. Fox

U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) is weighing visions for how the Special Forces Regiment will evolve to be ready for the next conflict.

The U.S. Army is in the midst of the worst recruiting crisis in modern history. Plagued by the public’s frustrations with two decades of involvement in two separate wars, a humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan, controversial culture-war changes to military policy, a dearth of healthy militarily-fit young people graduating from American high schools, and an increasingly tight employment market, the U.S. Army has catastrophically fallen short of recruiting goals for the last three years. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George have decided to close 32,000 personnel billets over the next 5 years. This will ensure that none of the Army’s 12 divisions are hollow due to chronic under-manning. Recruiting challenges appear to be a feature rather than a bug of American’s desire to serve in the Army. Closures will include 3,000 billets from USASOC.

Since the War on Terror began in 2001, mother USSOCOM has grown by a full 58.4%. USASOC, the largest component under USSOCOM, added 10,000 bodies to its ranks (37.4% growth). USASOC also shifted an enormous number of Reserve component billets to Active Duty. In 2001, 41% of USASOC’s personnel billets were in the Reserve component. By 2022, USASOC’s Reserve component had dwindled to a mere 12%, while Active Duty forces had increased from approximately 15,000 to over 31,000.

During the War on Terror growth spurt, Civil Affairs and Psyops (PO) grew by 1,000 billets. These non-kinetic units proved to be the secret sauce for counter-insurgency (COIN) operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nevertheless, USASOC’s “trigger-pullers” grew by 12,000 billets during the same period, and it is now the “trigger-pullers” that the USASOC is attempting to preserve. The Ranger Regiment, Army Special Operations Aviation, Special Forces, and special mission units are unlikely to see significant cuts. Instead, the PO will lose a headquarters, and most of the Special Forces Groups (brigade-level commands) will lose a plethora of enablers and support specialists.

USASOC planners have to be pragmatic in making cuts. While CA and PO have clearly proven their value over the last 20 years, there are hardly enough Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alphas (SFOD-As) to cover a third of the available missions. Making further cuts to Green Beret billets would not just be extraordinarily difficult, but would likely force USASOC to reduce its annual mission portfolio.

However, this may be a golden opportunity to reimagine how the Special Forces Regiment is trained, structured, and employed.

What Does Special Forces Actually Do in the Name of Unconventional Warfare?

Army Special Forces are the Unconventional Warfare (UW) experts of the United States Department of Defense, and UW remains their primary focus. UW is defined by the U.S. Army as “those activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt or overthrow an occupying power or government by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary or guerrilla force in a denied area.”

On paper, the Green Berets now perform several subordinate missions in service of this master mission, including Foreign Internal Defense, Direct Action, Special Reconnaissance, Counter-Insurgency, Special Reconnaissance, Counterterrorism, Information Operations, Counter-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Security Force Assistance.

Army Special Forces rarely conduct what can be considered a true Unconventional Warfare Campaign (following the doctrines in which they train in). A recent example was the deployment of two SFOD-As to Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. These teams from 5th Special Forces Group were tasked with coordinating and leading factions of the Northern Alliance in capturing Mazar-i-Sharif, the transit hub that controls all movement in northern Afghanistan.

However, despite rarely practicing UW doctrine in its purest form, Special Forces has always tactically worked through partner forces to achieve strategic effects.

Special Forces traces a proud lineage back, not merely to the legendary Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Special Operations branch and Operational Group Command branch. Major Robert Rogers raised a company of “Rangers” in New Hampshire, training them in innovative light infantry tactics, reconnaissance, and basic special operations.

Though founded in 1952, the Special Forces Regiment made its name in Vietnam. The entire 5th Special Forces Group deployed together to Vietnam, establishing its Group HQ at Nha Trang and making the war a part of day-to-day life in the Group. Green Berets became renowned for leading Montagnards, Nungs, and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) troops on long-range patrols deep into hostile territory.

Green Berets also contributed the backbone of tactical personnel in the famed Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group (MACV SOG). This joint military and CIA command conducted covert operations throughout the Vietnam War, including famed reconnaissance missions into Laos and Cambodia. Under MAC-V SOG, Green Berets mapped out and disrupted the Viet Cong’s logistics and supply along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

In addition to covert reconnaissance missions, Green Berets were also tasked with the CIA’s Phoenix Program. The Phoenix Program was tasked with destroying the Viet Cong’s support infrastructure and hierarchy of command in South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam). Phoenix operatives conducted snatch-and-grab missions against Viet Cong officers, facilitators, and financiers. Green Berets trained what became known as Provisional Reconnaissance Units (PRUs), elite Vietnamese fire teams, and led them as force multipliers on these missions. After the war, the Viet Cong admitted that the only thing that their commanders truly feared was the Phoenix Program.

The Green Berets have also conducted remarkably successful irregular warfare operations (FID, COIN, Counter-Narcotics, and Security Force Assistance) to counter advancing insurgencies, Islamo-Fascism, and narco-terrorism across the world, to name a few: El Salvador from 1981 to 1991, Colombia from 2002 to 2016, and the Philippines from 2001 to 2015.

The Special Forces Regiment has also always understood Operational Preparation of the Environment (OPE) and Advanced Force Operations as implied tasks within the domains of Unconventional Warfare and Special Reconnaissance. The legendary Berlin Detachment A company (the line teams were known simply as Det As) of the Cold War conducted OPE in Berlin in preparation for a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Under the descriptor of “urban Unconventional Warfare”, the Det As trained with elite German units, conducted special reconnaissance taskings, and established resistance networks. In the event of war, these networks would activate and support the Det As in sabotage and subversion taskings.

Within the Counterterrorism mission Special Forces also has an implied Hostage Rescue mandate. The Berlin Det As built the first Hostage Rescue capability in the U.S. Armed Forces, qualifying with elite units like the German GSG-9 and British SAS. 5th Special Forces Group stood up project Blue Light. Hostage Rescue skillsets are now maintained in the CIF (commander’s in-extremis force) company of each Special Forces Group.

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Stay tuned for next Monday’s continuation of “Practice of Unconventional Warfare” – you won’t want to miss it!