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The Fourth Age of SOF: The Use and Utility of Special Operations Forces in a New Age is a sweeping monograph that chronicles the history of modern Special Operations Forces (SOF) and insightfully describes their new challenges. The authors have compiled an excellent, concise history of SOF’s three earlier ages: 1941–1960, 1961–1979, and 1980–2020, setting the stage for projecting SOF’s Fourth-Age roles in the emerging era of strategic competition.
Special Operations Forces Moral Injury Fact Sheet
SOF Moral Injury—The What
Current SOF operators are not the first generation to face the invisible wounds of war. However, many SOF warriors are unfamiliar with the term or concept of moral injury (MI). “When I first heard about it, I really ...
U.S. and coalition forces are challenged by increasingly capable adversaries across all domains, the electromagnetic spectrum, and the information environment. The winners of future warfare will be those who imagine and act asymmetrically, innovate and implement the fastest, and converge kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities most effectively. Special Operations Forces (SOF) are uniquely capable of thriving in this complex operating environment. SOF provide deep experience, bespoke capabilities, and unorthodox culture to offer asymmetric options to deter or prevail during competition, crisis, or conflict.
How do special operations forces (SOF) plan operations against threats delineated in the National Security Strategy that transcend the geographic and legal boundaries imposed by the Goldwater-Nichols Act and Unified Command Plan? The Department of Defense (DoD) requires, but does not have, an entity that connects, integrates, and globally synchronizes irregular warfare across combatant commands and the interagency.
Since the days of the Revolutionary War, Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) have been persistently irregular in their approach. Our organizations have always provided outsized impact to the larger Army and Joint Force. While the adversaries, threats, and locations have changed, this impact has endured. However, we have not updated our doctrine since 2014. Now, as we face new threats and challenges, this doctrine will guide our transformation.
Two recent essays published by the Center for the Study of Intelligence and Nontraditional Warfare at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) rekindle interest in a perennial debate about whether covert action, particularly paramilitary operations, and other capabilities related to irregular warfare should be the responsibility of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or the Department of Defense (DoD).
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