The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has posted online its December 2023 issue of Tip of the Spear. This is a news rollup of the major SOF component commands and the Theater Special Operations Commands (TSOCs). Some interesting reading in the articles listed below.

• SOCAFRICA’s Silent Warrior 23
• Exercise Flintlock 2024
• NSW Trains with Romanian SOF
• SOCNORTH’s SOF Symposium
• Navy SEALs train with Indian MARCOS
• From “Silent Ones” of Vietnam to Today’s SWCC
• U-28A Crews Awarded DFC
• MARSOC Small Unit Tactics Training
• Foreign Air Attaches Visit AFSOC
• SOCAFRICA Units train in Tanzania
• 10th SFG(A) Combat Dive Training
• 20th SFG(A) Conducts SF Readiness Evaluation
• USSOCOM Visits House SOF Caucus

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Tip of the Spear, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), December 2023, PDF, 40 pages. https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/69480

Photo: Combat Divers assigned to 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) prepare to dive into the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon, Nov 6, 2023. Photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Wood.

The RAND Corporation has published an interesting report entitled Strategic Disruption by Special Operations Forces. This report answers two questions:

• What are the mechanisims through which disruption campaigns by military forces can enable friendly strategic outcomes short of war?
• What is the role for special operations forces in such campaigns?

The authors of the report have developed a new concept for strategic disruption by special operations forces. It involves proactive campaigns to delay, degrade, or deny an adversary’s ability to achieve core interests through its preferred strategies. The report outlines five unique pillars that can create the time, space, and opportunities needed for the U.S. to achieve strategic objectives. It uses historical cases to buttress the report’s findings.

Table of Contents:

• Chapter One. Introducing Strategic Disruption
• Chapter Two. Defining Strategic Disruption
• Chapter Three. The Value Proposition of SOF in Strategic Disruption
• Chapter Four. The Resist Pillar of Strategic Disruption
• Chapter Five. The Support Pillar of Strategic Disruption
• Chapter Six. The Influence Pillar of Strategic Disruption
• Chapter Seven. The Understand Pillar of Strategic Disruption
• Chapter Eight. The Target Pillar of Strategic Disruption
• Chapter Nine. Future Strategic Disruption in Cyberspace
• Chapter Ten. Findings and Implications for Future SOF
• Appendix A. List of Historical Strategic Disruption Campaigns

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Strategic Disruption by Special Operations Forces, RAND Corporation, November 2023, PDF, 109 pages. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1794-1.html

Photo by Sgt. Patrik Orcutt, DoD.

Arizona State University is now offering an academic journal that covers the topics of irregular warfare and special operations. The first issue, fall 2023, has been published and is posted online. This peer reviewed publication is focused on furthering studies and discussion on the intersection of irregular warfare and special operations. It will cover lessons learned (historical studies), current best practices, and the nature of future conflict.

The editors and editorial board are a “who’s who” of the special operations community; many of them academics in universities and military educational institutes – some with extensive military experience in special operations. Current plans are for the journal to be published twice a year.

The title of the journal is unusual and deserves explanation. Inter Populum is Latin for “among the people”. It has been said by General Rupert Smith (2005) and echoed by many national security pundits that the nature of future conflict will be “wars among the people”. Therefore, the focus of Inter Populum is the human domain – a principal concern of both irregular warfare and special operations.

This current issue has six articles about special operations and irregular warfare covering the topics of World War II, Falklands War, Ukraine, maritime operations, counterterrorism in strategic competition, and ethical decision-making. In addition, there are nine book reviews covering the topics of airpower, Vietnam, ‘Gray Wars’, military reconnaissance, interpreters, Iraq, intelligence, and more. The first issue of Inter Populum is a great read – I look forward to subsequent issues.

Inter Populum: Journal of Irregular Warfare and Special Operations, Arizona State University, Fall 2023, PDF, 148 pages. https://interpopulum.org/

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has posted its October 2023 issue of Tip of the Spear. This publication features a number of interesting and informative articles about U.S. special operations forces that are deployed around the world. Topics are listed below:

• Providing medical support in East Africa
• SOCKOR and ROKSWC train together
• SOCNORTH deploys SOF to Arctic during Operation Polar Dagger
• Army CA and SEALs host medical civic action program in Philippines
• NSW interoperates with USS John P. Murtha in Bering Sea
• NAVSCIATTS assist in establishing Philippines Maritime Training Center
• USAF gunship trains in Chile
• The Cognitive Raider of MARSOC
• Exercise Raven trains up MARSOC units
• MARSOC conducts jungle training
• USSOCOM Warrior Care Program – Care Coalition
• DoD’s Warrior Games Challenge – Invictus Games
• Foreign intelligence threats to SOF and CI
• USASOC study on measures to optimize female soldiers

Tip of the Spear, United State Special Operations Command, October 2023, posted on DVIDS, PDF, 40 pages. https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/68407

Photo: U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Marine Forces Reserve, conduct a direct action raid under the supervision and training of Marine Raiders with Marine Forces Special Operations Command during Exercise Raven, a unit readiness exercise, May 25, 2023. Exercise Raven is a training exercise held to evaluate all aspects of a Marine Special Operations Company prior to a special operations deployment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Henry Rodriguez)

The latest edition of the Special Operations Forces Reference Manual has been published by the Joint Special Operations University Press. The document provides information on U.S. special operations forces of all the services. Topics include the SOF command structure, unit organization, equipment, and areas of responsibility.

Contents:

• Introduction to Special Operations
• Special Operations Forces Structure
• Army Special Operations Forces
• Naval Special Operations Forces
• Air Force Special Operations Forces
• Marine Corps Special Operations Forces
• Special Operations Related Definitions
• SOF Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Bibliography

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Special Operations Forces Reference Manual, Fifth Edition, Joint Special Operations University Press, MacDill AFB, Florida, November 2023, PDF, 162 pages. https://jsou.edu/Press/PublicationDashboard/240

Photo: Special Warfare Combat Crewmen conduct a maritime external air transportation system training evolution, a way to move a watercraft from a point on land or water to somewhere else, using an Army MH-47G Chinook helicopter. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Prows, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Det)

The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has posted online its August 2023 issue of Tip of the Spear. The publication has a number of interesting articles about U.S. special operations events and training exercises from around the world. Article topics are listed below.

• SOCAFRICA Change of Command Ceremony
• Civil Affairs in Benin
• SF Conducts Free-Fall Operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina
• RoK and SOCKOR Decades-Long Alliance
• SOF in Exercise Arctic Edge 23
• SEALs and Australian Special Forces in Talisman Sabre 2023
• Indonesian Navy’s KOPASKA Train with SEALs
• Southern Star 23 and JTACs from US, Chile, and Spain
• Navy SEALs in Colombia
• Korea – ARSOF and the “Forgotten War”
• SEAL Team Three Celebrates 40 years
• NSW Legend Honored at SEAL Graduation
• Marine Raider Regiment Language Program Wins SOCOM Award
• Remembering General James J. Lindsay – 1st USSOCOM Commander

Tip of the Spear, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), August 2023, PDF, 40 pages.
https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/67485

Photo: From August 2023 issue of Tip of the Spear. SOF operators train in unforgiving terrain at Pituffick Space Base, Greenland to demonstrate operational capabilities that are critical for integrated deterrence and layered defense during Arctic Edge 23. Courtesy photo USSOCOM.

For many decades members of the special operations community awaited the periodic publication throughout the year of the Special Warfare magazine produced in print and online by the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJKFSWCS). The finely produced publication provided excellent commentary on doctrine, SOF history, current events, and more for the special operations community.

Over the past few years the frequency of the publication has diminished and there was quite a break between the last issue and this August 2023 issue. The current issue is only 13 pages long. Past issues were anywhere from 44 pages to over 100 pages long. So I suppose we should manage our expections! Time will tell.

Topics in the August 2023 issue of Special Warfare.

• TRADOC’s Training Revolution: TRADOC 50th Anniversary
• ARSOF Heritage Week
• Distinguished & Honorary Members of the Regiments
• Vietnam-era Medal of Honor Recipient Receives Special Forces Honor
• JFK Special Warfare Museum
• ARSOF Lineage or Legacy: Which is the right word?

Let’s hope the Special Warfare magazine comes back frequently and as robust as past issues have been over the years. It provided a valuable service to ARSOF members in the past and hopefully the magazine will do the same in the future.

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Past issues of Special Warfare can be accessed online at the links below. You will find that neither link has all of the past issues – just some of them.
https://www.swcs.mil/Resources/Special-Warfare/
Special Warfare – DVIDS

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has failed for the most part – Kyiv still stands and Ukraine has recaptured much of the territory it had lost in the initial phases of the war. The remarkable resistance of Ukraine has surprised many national security observers, caused embarrassment to Russia, and have had many looking to apply lessons learned to a future Taiwan conflict.

In April 2022, General Richard Clarke (Ret.) – former commander of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), stated that many U.S. officials share the desire that “Taiwan, just like Ukraine has been, to be an indigestible porcupine.”

The U.S. and other nations have been reluctant to directly engage in open conflict with Russia or China. This leaves some strategic deterrence gaps – areas that special operations forces can fill. Many studies have been done on how the Ukraine conflict can provide some lessons on how to deter the People’s Republic of China from invading Taiwan. However, most of these are focused on conventional warfare and seem to omit the applicability of SOF.

This JSOU paper aims to fill that research gap by gathering lessons from SOF activities in Ukraine and applying them to Taiwan – adding quills to Taiwan’s defensive capability. The lessons gathered include the strengthening of resistance capabilities, fostering long-term alliances, and dominating the information war.

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SOF Quills for the Porcupine: Applying Lessons from Ukraine to Taiwan, by Scott Simeral, Lieutenant Colonel Steven Skipper, and Lieutenant Colonel Giovanna Espegio, Joint Special Operations University Press, March 2023, PDF, 18 pages.
https://www.jsou.edu/Press/PublicationDashboard/225

Image from the cover of the paper cited above. A porcupine with quills containing the Fairbairn-Sykes dagger, an international symbol for Special Operations Forces, against a backdrop of Ukraine and Taiwan flags. Claire Luke for JSOU Press.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a report on U.S. special operations and the performance of the Preservation of Force and Family Program (POTFF). This document was published in April 2023 and is 42-pages long (PDF).

“The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) established the Preservation of the Force and Family Program about a decade ago to address strains that special operations forces and their families can face. The program was designed to provide a holistic system of care that focuses on physical, psychological, spiritual, cognitive, and social areas of well-being. The program offers services including physical therapy, injury care, psychological treatment, family counseling, and peer mentoring.”

The POTFF is intended to reduce the strains placed on U.S. SOF. It is designed to improve the readiness and resilience of roughly 74,000 SOF and their families. POTFF offers SOF personnel direct access to a range of sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and performance nutrition. The POTFF offers workshops and training for families to help them prepare for and reintegrate after deployment.

The program, established in 2013, was created in response to recommendations from a task force that identified issues contributing to the strains and pressures experienced by SOF and their families from multiple deployments and busy training schedules. It was designed to fill the gap not filled by existing programs provided by the conventional military services and defense-wide agencies.

USSOCOM has established a program evaluation framework for the force and family program in January 2023. However, the GAO has found a number of ‘issues’ with this evaluation program relating to defining performance goals and measures, challenges in data collection and analysis, and lack of a detailed program evaluation plan.

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Special Operations Forces: Actions Needed to Assess Performance of the Preservation of the Force and Family Program, GAO-23-105644, Government Accountability Office (GAO), April 2023, PDF, 42 pages.
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-105644.pdf

Related:

POTFF, USSOCOM
https://www.socom.mil/POTFF/Pages/default.aspx

POTFF Brochure, USSOCOM, PDF, 2 pages
https://www.socom.mil/POTFF/Documents/POTFF-Brochure.pdf

Special Operations Forces: Additional Actions Needed to Effectively Manage the Preservation of the Force and Family Program, Government Office for Accountability (GAO), GAO-22-104486, December 16, 2021, PDF, 56 pages.
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104486

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has published the April 2023 issue of Tip of the Spear. This 40-page pub (PDF) has a number of interesting stories. The highlight of the issue is the award of the Medal of Honor to Paris Davis who was recognized for his bravery during the Vietnam War. Davis retired as a colonel; one of his last assignments was as commander of the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

Other articles include:

• The Danab Receives Military Equipment from the U.S.
• Dutch and U.S. Medical Teams and Flintlock 2023
• AFRICOM’s SOF Exercise in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire
• U.S. Navy SEALs and Royal Thai Navy Train in Cobra Gold 2023
• Naval Commando Turns 100
• Special Boat Team 20 Receives Award
• Dissecting the Bull Frog – a NSW Tradition
• NSW and Women’s History Month
• Prince of Brunei Visits NSW Units
• Last MC-130H Combat Talon II to Boneyard
• Marine Raiders Celebrate 17 Years of Exceptional Service
• MARSOC and 2nd MLG Evaluate New CH-53K Helicopter
• Marine Raiders – What Winning Looks Like
• JSOU Conducts CVE Course

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Tip of the Spear, April 2023, United State Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), PDF, 40 pages.
https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/66647

Photo: Members of Cote D’Ivoire practice movements prior to raid exercise in Volta, Ghana. Photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Charles Brock, March 9, 2023.