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The JFK Special Warfare Center and School uses virtual simulations and
computer-gaming technology as a key component of its Adaptive Thinking
and Leadership Program.
20
Departments
4 From the Commandant
5 Update
23 Letters
24 Equipment
25 Career Notes
26 Book Reviews
ON THE COVER
SWCS uses computer
simulations to train
ARSOF officers.
Special Warfare
Commander & Commandant
Major General James W. Parker
Editor
Jerry D. Steelman
Associate Editor
Janice Burton
Graphics & Design
Jennifer Martin
Webmaster
Eva Herrera
14
Joyce E. Morrow
Administrative Assistant to the
Secretary of the Army
0601204
Headquarters, Department of the Army
Special Warfare
U P D A T E
Special Forces Common Task Survey
Special Forces Soldiers recently had the
opportunity to shape the future of the force by
participating in a Special Forces common-task
survey that will be used to create a new SF critical skills list.
The survey, conducted by the Training
Development Division, Directorate of Training
and Doctrine, JFK Special Warfare Center and
School, was sent to more than 5,000 Special
Forces Soldiers in the rank of sergeant to
captain in both the active component and the
National Guard through their AKO accounts.
The survey listed 200 common tasks and asked
Soldiers to rate them based on the frequency
with which they perform the tasks, with once
a year to daily marking the far left and right
limits of the survey.
To date, 18 percent of the Soldiers surveyed
have responded, according to Geoffrey Jones,
a training specialist in TDD. A realistic goal for
the survey was a 15-percent return, said Jones,
whose team headed up the survey. He added
that the last survey was conducted in 2001, so
there is not a solid up-to-date total task list that
all SF Soldiers must know. The survey is the
first step in creating that list.
Developed in conjunction with the Army
Research Institute, the survey will be used to
develop a common-task list, and then, accord-
individual actions.
The Valorous Unit Award is awarded for
extraordinary heroism in action against an
armed enemy of the United States. The degree
of heroism required for the award is the same as
that required for an individual to be awarded the
Silver Star. The award is second in unit awards
only to the Presidential Unit Citation.
The 1st Ranger Battalion received its first
Valorous Unit Award for actions on Takur Ghar
mountain, in Afghanistan, during Operation
Anaconda. Carol Darby, USASOC PAO.
LANGUAGE CORNER
The JFK Special Warfare Center
and School has received the funding
needed to contract for the development
of Special Operations Language Training
modules in two additional languages:
Chinese Mandarin and Tagalog. The
language modules are scheduled to be
ready for initial-acquisition training and
for unit-sustainment training in January
2007.
The Army has made Rosetta Stone
language-training products available online at http://usarmy.skillport.
com. The Rosetta Stone courses offer
instruction in 27 languages. They are an
outstanding way for Soldiers in Army
special-operations forces to sustain their
perishable language skills, regardless
of their assignment or their location. To
obtain a Skillport password, go to the
Army Knowledge Online Web page and
select My Education on the left side.
Then select Access Army e-learning
portal and complete the registration
form. The password will be sent to your
AKO e-mail account.
For additional information, telephone
Major Kevin Price, Training Development
Division, Directorate of Training and
Doctrine, at DSN 239-2942, commercial (910) 907-2942, or send e-mail to
pricek@soc.mil.
March-April 2006
Brokering Peace in
Special Forces officer tackles unique advisory role in Darfur.
Story by Lieutenant Colonel Patrick J. Christian
As the world and regional security environments call increasingly for action
under coalition and intergovernmental auspices, an emerging advisory role is
forming for the Army special-operations community. In these roles, perhaps
more than in any others, ARSOF Soldiers will be called on to put all of their
skills to the test. In these advisory roles, Soldiers will operate in isolation, with
few or no support personnel. They will have to work side by side with coalition
soldiers who do not speak their language and have no experience with their
technology. Often times, they will be called on not only to keep the peace, but
to broker it.
Sudan
of political/cultural cleansing.
colonels.
negotiating table.
policy.
Spanish.
AU is seeking.
team members
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ON THE HUNT The MILOB investigates a missing herd of goats and a
o
wife Ha
was fr
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murdered family in the Bamina Region, Darfur Sudan.
r
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and the
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officers from Islamic
and operational capabilities. Most
pit
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The c
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upon
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have more command and staff
em
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training and experience than
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s and
The fou
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l
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for all reports
Mozambique major had never had
bac
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tory co
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and
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to operate a computer, and only the
So
to
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Karnoi.
a
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attempts by other
Egyptian officer could actually use the
o no
oke u
oman
a v i n g n
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Hawa w
w
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,
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n
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AU
officers
to
computer to type a report.
n
ad g
48
Hawa a
d
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s
goats h
,
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c
t
convince them to
Without extensive training, none
whi
hey wen
tracks
ide
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s
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where t
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use
the
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of
the
foreign officers would have been
p
ollowe
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a
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friend f
templates were
able to use the satellite phones prothe
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ers to
o
espite t
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kilomet
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unsuccessful.
vided to them. The phones provided
ding ri
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Ka
The lack
latitude and longitude coordinates
tra
saw
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y n e v e r
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of
technology
needed for navigating in the southern
g
t
said th
should
,
n
p
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m
m
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c
and coalition
Libyan Desert. Most of the foreign
the
he w
ands
, a n d t
ntry st
s
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partners
officers were dangerous behind the
24
of
fate of
d
r
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h
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T
a
.
inability to
wheel of the team vehicles, and they
k of
ly in
a w a y ..
the bac
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l
use
it
is
also
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l
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, and a
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t
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a drawback
spent on investigations or patrols were
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.
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spent on driving, computers, satellite
,
s
the wa
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as a re
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out
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tential
and the
TAKING NOTES Members of the AUs military-observer teams meet with the secretary general and military leaders of the JEM in Darfur, Sudan.
ambassador.
ad-hoc transmission/transport
escape-and-evade mode.
11
SPECIAL DELIVERY Severely overloaded trucks carry supplies and humanitarian aid for refugees in Darfur in September 2004.
The rebel groups claimed that the GoS was preparing for
and-evasion plans.
30 Sep
s
ans here remain
ili
v
ci
he
t
f
o
The plight
a struggle of
is
y
a
d
ch
ea
nd
perilous, a
ing,
sues of suffer
denial about is
milies and
he deaths of fa
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a
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io
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st
starv
0 kilometers ea
12
,
u
ro
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A
g on
cultures. In
0 families livin
-2
15
nd
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ernment
of Tine, w
between a gov
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is
ex
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o
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the edge
e battalion tha
lic
o
p
a
nd
a
e
military brigad
ed with former
ff
a
st
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v
a
he
he
we think is
weed Militia. T
a
nj
a
J
he
t
f
o
members
ed by
utinely attack
families are ro
loot at
that rape and
es
rc
fo
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nm
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gover
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o
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rebels
will, adding
truction. The
es
d
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ss
lo
sense of
ing for
SW
THE AUTHOR Lieutenant Colonel Patrick J. Christian is a team leader of a securityassistance advisory team working with the Colombian Army. Commissioned in Infantry
in 1986 through the University of South Floridas ROTC program, he served three
years as an Infantry platoon leader before completing the Special Forces Qualification
Course and rebranching to SF. As an SF officer, he served as detachment commander,
battalion S1 and battalion S3 in the 20th SF Group. He later served with the U.S.
Southern Command, the 7th Infantry Divisions 41st Enhanced Infantry Brigade, the 1st
Corps and the U.S. Army Cadet Command before being assigned to the Joint Special
Operations Task Force-Horn of Africa. He has also served as the ground operations
officer in the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Arabian Peninsula and
as a strategic planner in the National Guard Bureau. Lieutenant Colonel Christian is
a graduate of the Command and General Staff Officer Course.
March-April 2006
13
INTERACTIVE TRAINING The ATL simulation allows Soldiers to conduct missions in single-player and multiplayer environments. Photo by
Jennifer Martin.
16
Special Warfare
Notes:
S.S. White, R.A. Mueller-Hanson, D.W. Dorsey, E.D. Pulakos, M.M.
Wisecarver, E.A. Deagle and K.G. Mendini, Developing Adaptive
Proficiency in Special Forces Officers, Army Research Institute
Research Report 1831, 2005.
1
March-April 2006
17
18
Special Warfare
SW
After the officer has been given information about the way he responds to stress, he
learns how others tend to respond to stress
SW
March-April 2006
19
Yemen
Ethiopia
20
Special Warfare
core of the new Civil Affairs community, said Strong. They are bringing
operational maturity that we thought
we would be lacking with the loss of
the 18 series.
Strong pointed out that the 38B
MOS is an accession MOS, which
acquires Soldiers at the lower-level
grades and trains them through a
series of courses and operational assignments. Soldiers looking to move
into the Civil Affairs field must be very
mature, be very operationally focused,
and they must understand long-term
deployments, Strong added.
The pivotal role that CA Soldiers
are playing in ongoing operations will
continue to make CA a high-growth
Ethiopia
Iraq
Yemen
field. As the Army transforms and
downsizes some units, the CA battalion is going to continue to grow,
Strong continued.
He explained that CA Soldiers in
the 96th are assigned to six operational companies that are deployed to
10 different countries. From Iraq to
the Philippines, were getting the job
done, he said. The success of the
96th can be found in how we apply
our Soldiers to operations.
In Afghanistan, for instance, a CA
team put solar lights into a neighborhood, causing the crime rate to drop
by 18 percent. In Kenya, the teams
21
22
Special Warfare
Letters
Special Warfare should
remain a professional journal
SOUND OFF
SUBMISSIONS
Special Warfare welcomes submissions of scholarly, independent
research from members of the armed
forces, security policy-makers and
-shapers, defense analysts, academic
specialists and civilians from the United
States and abroad.
Manuscripts should be 2,500 to
3,000 words in length. Include a cover
letter. Submit a complete biography with
author contact information (i.e., complete mailing address, telephone, fax,
e-mail address).
Manuscripts should be submitted in
plain text, double-spaced, and in a digital
file. End notes should accompany works
in lieu of embedded footnotes. Please
consult The Chicago Manual of Style,
15th Edition, for footnote style.
Submit graphics, tables and charts
23
Equipment
TACLAN
Linking deployed SOF elements to the global information grid
Army special-operations forces
formation grid.
e-mail to crosbytr@soc.mil.
24
Special Warfare
SW
Officer
Career Notes
Warrant Officer
Enlisted
Myths surround 18F training
There seem to be a number of myths and misconceptions about the Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant Course, or SFISC, and MOS 18F40, SF intelligence sergeant:
Myth: Only senior SFCs can go to SFISC.
Fact: SFISC is open to all 18Bs and 18Cs regardless of grade or time in service. In fact, the
average SFISC student is a senior SSG/junior SFC. The number of SSGs graduating
from SFISC increased from eight in fiscal year 2002 to 39 in FY 2005. Sending Soldiers
earlier in their careers produces an 18F SSG or SFC who will remain on an SF team
longer. (Effective Jan. 1, 2006, there is a one-year moratorium on 18Es attending
SFISC.)
Myth: Only ANCOC graduates can attend SFISC.
Fact: ANCOC graduation is not a prerequisite for SFISC.
Myth: MOS 18F40 will never attain a 90-percent fill.
Fact: MOS 18F is already at a 64-percent fill, up from 47 percent one year ago. The proponent projects that 18F will increase to 103 percent by the end of FY 2007.
Myth: 18F40 is the path to MSG.
Fact: Soldiers competing for promotion to master sergeant as18Fs do not have an advantage
over 18Bs/Cs/ Es with similar experience and achievements. Historically, 18F has had a
higher selection rate to master sergeant only because 18F has had a larger percentage of
eligible Soldiers.
Myth: SFISC is like the old Operations and Intelligence Sergeants Course, or O&I.
Fact: Although it covers many of the same core subjects as O&I, SFISC focuses on the asymmetrical threat, not on conventional order of battle. During the 10-week course, students
learn nontechnical and technical analysis, working with 17 computer software suites.
For more information, contact SGM Charles F. Stevens, Directorate of Special Operations
Proponency, at DSN 239-7594, commercial (910) 432-7954, or send e-mail to stevensc@soc.mil.
March-April 2006
25
Imperial Grunts:
26
Special Warfare
Details
By Robert D. Kaplan
New York:
Random House, 2005.
ISBN: 1-4000-6132-6.
448 pages. $27.95.
Reviewed by:
March-April 2006
27
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