A report has been published by the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) about female soldiers in Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF). USASOC commissioned this study in January 2021 to identify barriers female Solders encounter in ARSOF units and establish lessons learned and best practices in order to recruit, maximize comprehensive integration, and retain extraordinary Soldiers.

The report is entitled BREAKING BARRIERS: Women in Army Special Operations. The report is based on a comprehensive study of women in ARSOF conducted by USASOC that was completed in December 2021. The USASOC staff conducted a critical analysis of the findings and have decided to address 42 of the recommendations outlined in the study.

The USASOC research team was led by an Organizational Psychologist. The team applied a three-pronged approach to the study consisting of a survey, moderated focus group discussions, and command team interviews. There are about 2,300 female Soldiers and 470 female civilian employees assigned to USASOC – about 8% of USASOC.

Table of Contents:

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Methodology
• Chapter 3: Demographics
• Chapter 4: Gender Bias
• Chapter 5: Equipment Fitting
• Chapter 6: Childcare
• Chapter 7: Social Support
• Chapter 8: Sexual Harrasment
• Chapter 9: Soldier Morale, Well-being, and Quality of Life
• Chapter 10: Pregnancy and Postpartum
• Chapter 11: Access to Women’s Health Care
• Appendix A – Roll up of Recommendations for Action
• Appendix B – Women in ARSOF Survey Data

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BREAKING BARRIERS: Women in Army Special Operations, United States Army Special Operations Command, originally published December 2021, updated August 18, 2023, PDF, 106 pages.
https://www.soc.mil/wia/women-in-arsof-report-2023.pdf

SOF News Weekly Update for 20160925 – SOF tactical drones, Marine’s Raider insignia, 352nd SOW, ‘offroad aircraft’ for SOF, Norway’s all-female SOF unit, the revamped AC-130J Gunship (Ghostrider), SF out of Philippines, battlefield technology shop for USSOCOM, US Special Forces out of Philippines, papers on hybrid warfare and UW PSYOP, and more.

Marine’s Raider Insignia. A retired Marine Corps general comes out in favor of the MARSOC insignia – saying it gives Marine SOF ‘street cred’. (Marines Corps Times, Sep 19, 2016).

SOF Microdrone. It is something out of the movies but will soon become part of the SOF toolkit. An autonomous drone that can fly without a GPS and which requires little human interaction. Read more in “Special Operators Are Getting a New Autonomous Tactical Drone”, Defense One Technology, September 11, 2016.

352nd SOW Training in UK. Some CV-22’s have been conducting low-level and terrain-following missions in the UK. Read more in The Press and Journal, September 20, 2016.

US SOF’s ALP. The good, the bad and the ugly. Read an extensive report about how one of US special operations forces programs – the Afghan Local Police or ALP – worked very well or went very wrong. See “How to replace a bad ALP commander: in Shajoy, success and now calamity”, Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), September 1, 2016.

Off-Road Aircraft for SOF? An interesting concept has the attention of the SOF community. A vehicle that can travel on the ground (70 mph) and fly (up to 10,000 ft). Read more in a news report by The Washington Times, September 20, 2016.

Airborne Laser Designators for SOF Contract Air? One former SOF aviator thinks we should consider putting a more robust support system on SOF contract aviation assets that support SOF ground elements around the world. An interesting read on SOF contract aviation. Read more in “Supporting SOF Teams With Airborne ISR”, LinkedIn Pulse, September 13, 2016.

Norway’s All-Female SOF Unit. In 2014, Norway created the world’s first all-female special operations unit. Call “Hunter Troop”, or Jegertroppen, its members undergo a year-long training program. In 2014 the course had a 96% attrition rate. Read more in a news report by Task & Purpose, September 14, 2016.

10th SFGA and Colorado State University – A Healthy Combination. USSOCOM is sponsoring a to promote the psychological health of SOF members. Read more in “CSU promotes groundbreaking study of program for returning military”, CSU Source, September 23, 2016.

7th SFGA DCO Interview. The DCO of 7th SFGA chats about the Florida community and post-Army plans in “A conversation with Col. Robert Kirila”, NWF Daily News, September 23, 2016.

Female Marine Falls Short in MARSOC training. A female Maine finished Phase I (Assessment & Selection) of the Marines Special Operations training course but did not advance to the next phase. (Marine Corps Times, Sep 23, 2016).

Interesting Article on SF Selection and the Private Sector. Read “Special Forces, Entrepreneurship, and Selecting for Intangibles”, The Havok Journal, September 21, 2016.

AC-130J Gunship. New armament makes the gunship a formidable weapon. Watch a video on the improvements made to this airplane – referred to as a ‘bomb truck with guns’. (Defense News, Sep 19, 2016).
www.defensenews.com/video/air-forces-most-lethal-gunship

Book Review of SAS Rogue Heroes. A new book provides fresh insight into the Special Air Service activities during World War II and also on its more unofficial goings-on after the war. (Daily Mail, Sep 22, 2016).

SF Out of Southern Philippines. For years one of the quiet success stories of U.S. Army Special Forces has been the SOF task force operating in the Philippines helping the Philippine military keep the Islamist insurgents at bay. SF has been deployed on an almost continuous basis since 2002 in that country conducting an advise and assist mission. Things are about to change with the election of Rodrigo Duterte as the President of that nation. He has called for the U.S. Special Forces to leave the southern Philippines. At the height of the mission over 1,000 participants were deployed; currently there are about 200 U.S. military involved in the mission. Read more in “Duterte Wants U.S. Special Forces Out of the Southern Philppines”, Foreign Policy Passport, September 12, 2016.

Interesting Video of SOF on Ground in Syria. A short video clip seems to show a demonstration against American special operators in Syria as they leave a Syrian town. (Task & Purpose, Sep 19, 2016).
http://taskandpurpose.com/video-appears-show-american-special-operators-run-syrian-village/

SF as Observers in Foreign Wars? One author suggests the reintroduction of American military observers accompanying foreign armies into battle as ‘military observers’. He believes that Special Forces officers and NCO’s are ideally suited for this job. Read more in “Special Forces as Military Observers in Modern Combat”, Real Clear Defense, September 21, 2016.

USSOCOM Cdr Comes Out Against Publicity. Army General “Tony” Thomas, Commander of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), has come out strongly against the the many books and movies about SOF that seem to be to revealing. Read more in “Top U.S. Special Operations general: “We’re hurting ourselves’ with all these movies and books”, The Washington Post,  September 15, 2016.

Paralyzed Green Beret to be Forced out of Army without Medical Benefits? It appears that Human Resources Command is about to commit a huge blunder in its adverse discharge of a Special Forces Soldier from the Army. SFC Tim Brumit was paralyzed from the chest down after he jumped from a boat into shallow water in Florida attempting to assist a distressed swimmer in the summer of 2015. The multiple combat veteran with 12-years service dove at the wrong time – between waves when the water was extremely shallow. The Army decided to find “No” on the Line of Duty investigation means that he will receive an other than honorable discharge which will cost him a huge amount of money in future medical costs. The Army’s reasoning is that they found traces of drugs and alcohol in his system. Read more in a story by Army Times, September 17, 2016.

Challenge Coins? Not just SF. See “CIA challenge coins: Secret symbolism, dark humor can be had for a price on eBay”, The Washington Post, September 21, 2016.

SOF in the Future. Read an article by LTG Charles Cleveland (Ret) and Col David Maxwell (Ret) on where SOF needs to go in the future. “U.S. Special Operations Forces at 9-11, Today, and for the Future”, The Cipher Brief, September 11, 2016.

14 Firms funded by CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency has been pumping money into innovative Silicon Valley firms for a few years. Read more in “14 cutting edge firms funded by the CIA”, Business Insider, September 21, 2016.

Paper: UW PSYOP. Read “Unconventional Warfare Psychological Operations: An ODA’s Experience at JRTC”, Small Wars Journal, September 11, 2016.

Paper: Hybrid Warfare and SOF. “Hybrid warfare: How to shape special operations forces”, by Norbert Vaczi, Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, June 2016.

Paper: SOF and Somalia. Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency in Somalia: Assessing the Campaign Against al Shabaab, by Seth G. Jones et al, RAND Corporation, September 2016. “This study finds that a tailored engagement strategy – which involved deploying a small number of U.S. special operations forces . . . ”

Paper: Governance and COIN in Afghanistan. An AfPak Hand who worked for the Combined Joint Special Operations Component Command – Afghanistan (CFSOCC-A) in 2011 writes on his experience working at the district level along the Pakistan border. Read The Illusion of Governance: The Challenges of Providing Effective Governance as a Tool of Counterinsurgency in Eastern Afghanistan’s Paktika Province, by Jorge J. Mendoza, 2011, 119 pages.

Change in Newsletter Frequency. The “SOF News” update will no longer be emailed out each day. After today the newsletter will only be sent out on Sunday mornings. This change is the result of a few factors; but primarily other responsibilities of the author that preclude a more active role. Postings will occur on the website on a daily basis; but the newsletter will only be emailed out on Sundays.

One Woman Remaining in MARSOC Training. The number of women in the current class for U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command assessment and selection course is now only one. The 19-day phase of assessment and selection began on August 11th. Should the female Marine pass this phase then she would move on to a second, more difficult assessment and selection phase. If she passes this second phase then she would attend the 9-month long MARSOC individual training course. Read more in “One Woman Remains in Marine Special Ops Training”, Military.com, August 16, 2016.

Philippine Army SF on the Offense. The Philippine Army’s Special Fores have seized a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan province, Philippines in a series of military offensives this past week. Read a news report in Inquirer.net, August 16, 2016.

China’s Special Forces. The PLA Daily (as in People’s Liberation Army) has reported that the PLA commando units should regularly be deployed to protect the nation’s energy assets overseas and to assist in counterterrorism operations. Read more in a news report in South China Morning Post, August 14, 2016.

AFSOC receives two MC-130J’s. Lockheed Martin has delivered two additional MC-130J Commando II multi-mission combat transport / special operations tankers to the US Air Force. The A/C are assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) at Hurlburt Field, Florida. Read more in a news report by AirForce-Technology.com (August 16, 2016).

How to Make COIN Work. The United States military has a pretty good idea on how to do counterinsurgency. What it doesn’t know how to do is getting the host nation to do counterinsurgency. The U.S. has often found the local elites (usually folks running a corrupt government – as in Iraq, Afghanistan, or South Vietnam) to be more of a hindrance than a help. Probably one of the few exceptions is the U.S. involvement in El Salvador’s civil war. Read more in “Influencing Clients in Counterinsurgency: U.S. Involvement in El Salvador’s Civil War, 1979-92”, International Security, volume 41, issue 1, pages 99-146, Summer 2016.

U.S. Special Ops Airman found Dead. An airman with the 27th Special Operations Wing was found dead in his home in Clovis, New Mexico. read a news report in Air Force Times, August 16, 2016.

Top Ten Special Forces Groups in World. The SpecOps website has rated the “Top 10 Most Dangerous Special Forces Around the World”. In the mix are the Irish Army Ranger Wing, SAS, Delta, MJK, and six others. View the list and a brief narrative on each.

Lisa Jaster Tells us about Ranger School. Major Lisa Jaster was the third female to graduate from the very demanding U.S. Army Ranger School (Fall 2015). She explains how she physically and mentally prepared for the course in “How I Earned My Ranger Tab”, Task & Purpose, August 4, 2016.

Russian’s Trying to Flip U.S.-Supported Syrian Proxy Group. A Syrian rebel brigade fighting the Islamic State and government regime and supported by the U.S. military is being wooed by Russia. The rebel group, based in Aleppo, has been disappointed with the support provided by the U.S. military and Russia is stepping up with bigger promises. Heavy weapons, better air support, and more money are some of the inducements to switch loyalties. The Syrian rebels are trained and equipped by the Americans but the groups leader says support is uneven and sporadic. He is not ‘feeling the love’! Read more in “Russia Is Trying to Poach U.S.-Trained Rebels With ‘Unlimited’ Weapons in Syria”, The Daily Beast, August 5, 2016.