Educating Special Forces Junior Leaders for a Complex Security Environment

[Bob's World]

Interesting, I guess a few comments:

1. You can't train people to think outside the box, but we do try to select from the uniformed masses men who do, and then train them to conduct special operations.

2. Education is rarely a bad thing, and in this case designed as a supplement to years of operations conducted out and among the populaces and security forces of our partners around the world; not to somehow supplant that experience base that is so important to making SF the effective force that it is.

3. SF had (last time I saw the stats) the highest retention rate of any specialty in the Army to stay in until 20 and earn a retirement.

4. SF and US Aid work together quite well, the only constraint on that being that we have to be respectful of the different nature of each other's missions, and too much collaboration hinders the effectiveness of both operations.

So in general, most of the concerns that I've read here are not really as serious as they may seem to an outsider. These guys have volunteered to take on the greatest challenges the military offers, and have stood the test of selection, training, the leadership challenge that is unique to commanding the vast talent and experience in an ODA, and global operations in peace and war. Their families pay a tremendous price in stress and separation as well.

If they also get a chance for an occasional good deal like an advanced degree program, that also allows them to rebond with their families, share their experiences with peers from other theaters, and add some thoughtful perspective to their experience; don't you think they've earned it?

[rborum]

1. You can't train people to think outside the box, but we do try to select from the uniformed masses men who do, and then train them to conduct special operations.

If I understood what it meant to think "outside the box", I might be able to form a halfway-intelligent response, but since I don't...

I do believe SF does a solid job in selection (one of the best, I think, in relation to the specific abilities they are targeting), but I also believe it is possible to train/educate people to think differently and to improve their adaptive skills. Not everyone who enters the ring will become a champion, but most people can improve their ability to generate, evaluate and implement better decisions in general and in operational environments ... but not through sitting in on a PowerPoint briefing. Graduate education - as opposed to training - is supposed to be as much (or more) about learning how to think than learning what to think.

I also like the USAID connection for cross-cultural adaptive skills (in general, maybe or maybe not for SF officer corps specifically).

Seems to me anthropology is misunderstood and probably overvalued by Pop-Centric COINers. Definitely relevant to navigating a complicated and increasingly flat world, but it is no holy grail. Hope that doesn't make me a disciplinary bigot - some of my best friends are anthropologists

[Bob's World]

The Peace Corps, US AID, and SF were all cut from the same bolt of cloth. The missions are all very different, but they also overlap. The focus on Counterterrorism in recent years and the fact that SF is very effective at that mission does not change the basic purpose and focus of the organization and its role in our overall national security construct.

I'm humbled everyday I come to work and am awed by this tremendous community. Such a mix of physical and mental talents, coupled with rare discipline, training, experience, and commitment to a higher purpose is nothing I've found anywhere else; not as a wildland fire fighter in the mountains of SW Oregon; not as deputy district attorney; but in every teamroom of every SF unit one finds it in spades. A national treasure.

This education program is just a little icing on the cake.

[rborum]

I'm humbled everyday I come to work and am awed by this tremendous community. Such a mix of physical and mental talents, coupled with rare discipline, training, experience, and commitment to a higher purpose .. A national treasure.

I concur, sir and thank you for your service.