thedrifter
09-19-07, 07:56 PM
Call grows for unconventional warfare command
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff Writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 19, 2007 18:32:13 EDT
There are growing calls from inside and outside the military for the establishment of an unconventional warfare command that would oversee those special operations forces whose primary mission is not to kill or capture the enemy.
The idea has been shot down at the highest levels or years. But recent leadership changes in Congress, the Defense Department and U.S. Special Operations Command have given fresh hope that the PowerPoint slides might finally become reality.
At the core of the debate are the Army’s Special Forces, who specialize in working “by, with and through” indigenous forces. They have long complained that they play second fiddle in U.S. Special Operations Command to those units that specialize in direct action, i.e. missions focused on capturing or killing the enemy. SOCom gives direct-action units, particularly those that fall under Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), priority in resourcing, and it is from those units that most of SOCom’s leadership is drawn, they say.
Only by the creation of an unconventional warfare command will the special ops units that emphasize indirect action get a fair shake on the battlefield and inside the bureaucracy, their argument goes.
The proposals for the creation of an unconventional warfare command fall into two rough categories: those that argue for breaking the unconventional warfare forces away from SOCom altogether, and those that advocate grouping those units under a two- or three-star UW command that remains part of SOCom as the indirect-action equivalent of JSOC.
Although the voices calling for taking the military’s indirect-action forces out of SOCom are mostly civilian, the proposal to create a UW equivalent to JSOC inside SOCom originated in the heart of the indirect-action community.
“It was generated at USASFC,” said a field grade SF officer who has followed the issue closely. USASFC is the U.S. Army Special Forces Command, the two-star headquarters at Fort Bragg, N.C., responsible for training and equipping the SF groups. “People were asking the question why we have this big repository of subject-matter experts, both civilians and military people, in unconventional warfare, and we have just this Title X nondeployable headquarters,” he said. Many in Special Forces thought the solution was to turn SF Command from a Title X administrative headquarters into an operational UW headquarters.
The UW task force idea was floated in a 2005 Army War College paper by then-Lt. Col. Chris Haas, a Special Forces officer who commanded 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, during the opening phase of the war in Afghanistan and now, as a full colonel, commands 3rd Special Forces Group. “Clearly, the time has come for restructuring U.S. Army Special Forces Command,” Haas wrote in his paper, “A Standing Unconventional Warfare Task Force to Combat Insurgency in the 21st Century.” “[R]estructuring Army Special Forces Command into a standing, deployable Unconventional Warfare Task Force charted to conduct long-term, unconventional warfare offers DoD the most immediate and viable response to the current security environment.”
Some observers say that the creation of a UW command is becoming increasingly likely. There is now “a better than 50/50 chance” of the Pentagon establishing a UW command inside SOCom, said the retired SF colonel, adding that his assessment was based on the personalities involved and his “reading of the goat entrails.” He was not alone in singling out changes in leadership at the Pentagon, SOCom and Congress as a major factor. And Adm. Eric Olson, the new SOCom commander, is presumed by many observers to be more willing than was his predecessor to consider some form of UW headquarters.
But many other observers said a UW command will be created only if Congress forces the issue.
For a more in-depth analysis, read the full, exclusive story on Armed Forces Journal.
www.armedforcesjournal.com/2007/09/3049653
Ellie
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff Writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 19, 2007 18:32:13 EDT
There are growing calls from inside and outside the military for the establishment of an unconventional warfare command that would oversee those special operations forces whose primary mission is not to kill or capture the enemy.
The idea has been shot down at the highest levels or years. But recent leadership changes in Congress, the Defense Department and U.S. Special Operations Command have given fresh hope that the PowerPoint slides might finally become reality.
At the core of the debate are the Army’s Special Forces, who specialize in working “by, with and through” indigenous forces. They have long complained that they play second fiddle in U.S. Special Operations Command to those units that specialize in direct action, i.e. missions focused on capturing or killing the enemy. SOCom gives direct-action units, particularly those that fall under Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), priority in resourcing, and it is from those units that most of SOCom’s leadership is drawn, they say.
Only by the creation of an unconventional warfare command will the special ops units that emphasize indirect action get a fair shake on the battlefield and inside the bureaucracy, their argument goes.
The proposals for the creation of an unconventional warfare command fall into two rough categories: those that argue for breaking the unconventional warfare forces away from SOCom altogether, and those that advocate grouping those units under a two- or three-star UW command that remains part of SOCom as the indirect-action equivalent of JSOC.
Although the voices calling for taking the military’s indirect-action forces out of SOCom are mostly civilian, the proposal to create a UW equivalent to JSOC inside SOCom originated in the heart of the indirect-action community.
“It was generated at USASFC,” said a field grade SF officer who has followed the issue closely. USASFC is the U.S. Army Special Forces Command, the two-star headquarters at Fort Bragg, N.C., responsible for training and equipping the SF groups. “People were asking the question why we have this big repository of subject-matter experts, both civilians and military people, in unconventional warfare, and we have just this Title X nondeployable headquarters,” he said. Many in Special Forces thought the solution was to turn SF Command from a Title X administrative headquarters into an operational UW headquarters.
The UW task force idea was floated in a 2005 Army War College paper by then-Lt. Col. Chris Haas, a Special Forces officer who commanded 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, during the opening phase of the war in Afghanistan and now, as a full colonel, commands 3rd Special Forces Group. “Clearly, the time has come for restructuring U.S. Army Special Forces Command,” Haas wrote in his paper, “A Standing Unconventional Warfare Task Force to Combat Insurgency in the 21st Century.” “[R]estructuring Army Special Forces Command into a standing, deployable Unconventional Warfare Task Force charted to conduct long-term, unconventional warfare offers DoD the most immediate and viable response to the current security environment.”
Some observers say that the creation of a UW command is becoming increasingly likely. There is now “a better than 50/50 chance” of the Pentagon establishing a UW command inside SOCom, said the retired SF colonel, adding that his assessment was based on the personalities involved and his “reading of the goat entrails.” He was not alone in singling out changes in leadership at the Pentagon, SOCom and Congress as a major factor. And Adm. Eric Olson, the new SOCom commander, is presumed by many observers to be more willing than was his predecessor to consider some form of UW headquarters.
But many other observers said a UW command will be created only if Congress forces the issue.
For a more in-depth analysis, read the full, exclusive story on Armed Forces Journal.
www.armedforcesjournal.com/2007/09/3049653
Ellie