To advise, assist and accompany the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine, the U.S. Special Operations Forces, specifically the 10th Special Forces Group, have had to change their warfighting mindset, approach to technology integration, talent management and communication.
Well-versed after 24 years of fighting the global war on terrorism—being deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations—the 10th Special Forces Group saw quickly that it had to pivot to support Ukraine, said Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin Dorsh, USA, command senior enlisted leader, Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH) at Petersen Space Force Base, Colorado; Sgt. Maj. Dustin Kirchofner, USA, J-3 Operations, SOCNORTH; and Master Sgt. Cooper Boehme, noncommissioned officer in charge, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) S8.
The special force leaders spoke at AFCEA Rocky Mountain Cyberspace Symposium 2025 on February 12.
“We were forced to evolve, basically, in a manner to best accomplish our mission, to best support our partner,” Dorsh noted. “And to be honest with you, we had to relook at how we were doing business, because ultimately, we were out of position, probably unable to be able to fully support and be able to provide what they were asking for.”
Special operations groups are used to being boots on the ground, working with partner nations, shoulder to shoulder, like they did in the Middle East, Dorsh explained.
And since 2014-2015, the U.S. military has had a constant presence in Ukraine, especially in the Donbas region. U.S. special operations forces had even started Ukraine’s Special Forces Qualification Course. “So, the relationship was on a good, solid ground,” Dorsh said.
Once Russia invaded Ukraine, however, the United States had to set up satellite locations outside of Ukraine’s borders in northern Poland and Georgia. That also meant the special forces groups would not be should to shoulder with them.
“Initially, I questioned the feasibility of the mission,” Kirchofner said. “My initial thoughts were along the lines, ‘This isn’t going to work. How are we going to defeat Russian aggression if we weren’t fighting shoulder to shoulder?'”
Part of the leaders’ pivot was to set a foundation for the relationships that they were going to forge within the 10th Special Forces Group and the relationships with their Ukrainian partners. “What I realized right off the bat is that I needed to change my mindset,” Kirchofner acknowledged. “I needed to do that to get buy-in from the others. So, the company commander and I, our approach was founded on several key principles: trust, transparency, open communication, empowering the teams and humility. Humility was a big one.”
The soldiers had to learn how to advise and assist the Ukrainians in a remote fashion. No longer being co-located with their partner nation required a whole different set of tactics, techniques and procedures, including how they worked with Ukrainian warfighters to leverage technology. But the effort was well-served by their relationship principles.
They also noticed how quickly technology changed from when the war began. And with Ukraine, they had a partner who was already technologically savvy.
“Historically, we had a bias in working with partners, thinking that it is our way or the highway, especially when we were working in third-world countries,” Boehme stated. “It is completely different with the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces. These guys are intelligent, very capable and very experienced. Some of the young people that they would bring over could out-fly anybody on my detachment very easily because they just had more experience with it. But we were able to have that open and honest dialog. We took that openness, and we applied it to the partner force relationship and treated them very much as a peer.”
The U.S. Special Operations Forces also had to find creative ways of funding the support.
“We also had to seek out alternative means of funding,” Boehme noted. “We partnered with different Department of Defense entities. We partnered with international allies, and we partnered with corporate America to be able to apply effort, manpower and money toward the problems that, to be totally honest, the U.S. Army just didn’t have the funding mechanisms to keep up with.”
The leaders also learned how dangerous of an opponent Russia is to Ukraine as far as electronic warfare (EW). And while the United States forces helped Ukraine leverage new capabilities or technologies, it would not be long before the enemy quickly adapted and countered in the spectrum.
“The question is how effective is Russian EW in the field—are they a ‘paper tiger,’ or are they more capable than advertised?” Boehme counseled. “I would say Russia is no paper tiger. But it definitely depends on who you talk to, but I can tell you that their ability to adapt in real time and counter new technologies, new frequencies, new methods, they are rapidly evolving to face a very adaptable threat. They have the manpower and the technology to be able to do that. I don’t know about the flexibility and things like that. I think that’s where we shine, and we’re always trying to stay a bit ahead.”
We were forced to evolve, basically, in a manner to best accomplish our mission, to best support our partner.
Boehme emphasized that U.S. warfighters really need to take a look at everything that emits a frequency and understand the risks.
“It is any type of communications, whether that’s to a drone, to another person, to an entity, to a satellite,” he said. “All those things are something that you have to really take a hard look at when facing at near peer.”
The 10th Special Forces Group also had to contend with staffing shortages and recruiting. With limited personnel, leaders had to pull people from the unit of action, the operational detachment alpha, or ODA.
“I was asked to start pulling people from the ODAs, and I was firmly against that,” Dorsh continued. “I basically put my head in the sand, because of that core belief that everything centers on the ODA. But I had some phenomenal leadership at the company and at the tactical level, and slowly but surely, my mind started to change because I saw the importance. And that transformation is still taking place still today, and that has provided some phenomenal effects for our Ukrainian partners.”
The leaders took a company in the group that was called the technical information support and transformed it into the Advanced Technical Operations (ATOP), empowered with cyber, space, robotic and other capabilities.
“And they came up with a great way to recruit specifically for the ATOP, saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to have a drone race on the compound, and whoever wins that, you get an opportunity to be able to serve on the ATOP,” Dorsh noted. “And, by the way, you get stability. You get to stay in that ATOP for three-plus years, and you don’t have to PCS [permanent change of station].’
“And what I firmly came to believe is that anytime that you can align personal passions with the right organizational requirements, and you just created the holy grail right there, that’s when you start making having a true effect,” Dorsh said.
Link to Article: Special Operations Forces Effectively Pivot Their Warfighting
The Rocky Mountain Cyber Symposium is organized by AFCEA International’s Rocky Mountain Chapter. SIGNAL Media is the official media of AFCEA International.