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

This video provides a history of Army SOF – Special Forces, Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations, ARSOF aviation, and the Rangers. It covers the period of World War I to the present. The video was produced by the U.S. Army Special Operations History Office, United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) at Fort Liberty, N.C.

History of U.S. Army Special Operatons Forces, ARSOF History, YouTube, July 10, 2023, 13 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHQtj7B9UwY

SWCS has a new website and it is chock full of some great information about training for Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations. The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS) or SWCS for short is one of the Army’s premier training and education centers.

At any given time during the year SWCS is host to over 3,000 students that are attending courses ranging from entry-level training to extremely advanced training for Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) soldiers. There are over 41 courses at the training center located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

There are some great features available on the website:

• Academic Handbook
• Past Issues of Special Warfare Magazine
• Info on the JFK Special Warfare Museum
• Pineland Underground Podcast
• Special Operations Center of Excellence (SOCoE) Libraries

USAJFKSWCS website:
https://www.swcs.mil/

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Photo: A student from the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School who is in the Special Forces Combat Diver Qualification Course leaps off the tailgate of an MH-47 over the open ocean at dusk near Key West, Florida February 24, 2020. Students who attended the six-week course were qualified as basic military open-circuit and closed-circuit combat divers knowledgeable in waterborne surface infiltration and exfiltration tactics, techniques and procedures and qualified in waterborne operations including day and night ocean subsurface navigation swims, day and night infiltration dives, deep dives, search dives, diving physics, physiology and injuries, marine hazards, tides and currents. (U.S. Army photo by K. Kassens)

The Special Warfare Museum, currently located in a building on Ardennes Street on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is slated to reopen on April 1, 2021 after having closed its doors for more than a year. This is good news for the Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations community – organizations that have had its history on exhibit for decades in a building on Fort Bragg since the 1960s.

Troubled History Over Past Year. The Special Forces Museum has had an interesting history in the last few years. In December 2019 it was ‘closed for inventory’. Then in January 2020 it was announced that the history office of the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) would assume responsibility for the museum – so oversight was transferred from the US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS) to the United States Army Special Operations Command. The name was changed to the Army Special Operations Forces Museum (U.S. Army) and the plan was to incorporate the history of the Army Rangers and Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). In April 2020 USASOC provided more details that revealed the physical facility of the Special Warfare Museum would be permanently closed (SOF News) and that it would be replaced with an ‘online presence’ and small, periodic ‘exhibit road trips’ to ARSOF units.

Resistance to the Closing of the Museum. The Special Warfare community, past and present, was not happy with the decision by USASOC to change the focus of the museum from special warfare to ARSOF, to have it run by USASOC, and to close the physical location of the museum. Pressure was mounted by a petition drive, social media, the Special Forces Association (SFA) and other organizations, senior officers and NCOs (serving and retired), and other interested parties to keep the museum open in a physical facility and to return it to its ‘Special Warfare’ roots.

USASOC Azimuth Check. In June 2020 the United States Special Operations Command formed an ‘advisory committee’ to study the situation and provide recommendations and courses of action. The members of the council came from serving and former officers and NCO’s of the Army’s special warfare community.

Museum Advisory Committee. A number of meetings were conducted by the committee, they visited the current museum location, and explored other locations on Fort Bragg. There were a host of issues to digest to include space limitations, funding constraints, staffing, who would have ‘ownership’ and oversight, and more. The council provided recommendations to USASOC for consideration later in mid-August 2020.

Back to SWCS. In the fall of 2020 USASOC directed that the museum would once again fall under the Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS). It also directed that a new location be found within Bank Hall (on Ardennes Street). The museum’s floor space in Bank Hall will have a significant increase over what the museum currently has for exhibits. Bank Hall is currently under renovation. A recent announcement by SWCS on Facebook indicates that the museum is (currently) called the JFK Special Warfare Museum. It is also being referred to as the USAJFKSWCS Heritage Center. The museum website on soc.mil has yet to be updated on the reopening or any other developments since January 2021.

Visiting the Museum. The museum will open to the public beginning April 1, 2021. The hours of operation will be from 1100 – 1600, Monday through Friday. Admission is free. COVID-19 precautions are being observed – to include mask and physical distancing. The museum is located on Fort Bragg, NC at 2815 Ardennes Street in Building D-2815, across the street from the JFK Chapel.

JFK Museum Store and Yarborough Knife. The JFK Museum Gift Shop, before its closure, was located in Bank Hall and fell under the JFKSWCS Museum Association. The Special Forces Association has assumed responsibility for the museums gift shop and providing of the Yarborough Knife (SFA). The gift shop is now located at SFA HQs on Doc Bennet Road in Fayetteville (near the airport). Merchandise can be bought online (SFA).

Future Outlook. Eventually the museum will be located in Bank Hall on Ardennes Street once the facility is upgraded. This is a positive move for the Army’s special warfare community. Those that took an active role in persuading USASOC to give this issue another look should be commended. Of course, USASOC gets some credit as well for doing the right thing. The staff at the museum should be recognized for its efforts over the past year to complete the extensive inventory that was conducted and to prepare the museum for reopening. The Special Warfare Museum will likely be a key institution preserving SF, CA, and PYSOP history while providing a mechanism for recruiting FBNC-based and visiting soldiers for the Army’s special warfare units.

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Top Image: Picture of the front of the Special Warfare Museum when it was located on the corner of Reilly Road and Ardennes Street during the last several decades.

Image of Museum Opening. Posted by USAJFKSWCS on Facebook March 30, 2021.

By Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Williams.

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – Clip, clip, snap … an Army Reserve paratrooper breathes heavily through his facemask while donning the harness of an MC-6 parachute. As the paratrooper adjusts his parachute, noises could be heard six feet away as two Sailors assist one of their own in donning the parachute system. With temperatures reaching the mid 90’s and individuals adhering to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, service members work together to refine and retool their proficiency in airborne operations.

More than 70 paratroopers, including members of the 404th Civil Affairs Battalion and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 12 conducted joint airborne operations training here on Aug. 13, 2020 in order to “maintain currency” among their jumpmasters.

“We have to be able to talk purple, especially when we deploy,” said Lt. Col. JohnPaul Le Cedre, commander of the 404th Civil Affairs Battalion. “We have units deployed around the world and when we conduct joint ops with the active component or Navy jumpmasters we need to be able to cross talk which allows us to cross operate.”

During the last five months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 404th has maintained their readiness by administering virtual airborne refresher classes to Soldiers. During these virtual classes, jumpmasters talk through each of the steps involved in airborne operations, touching on tasks and procedures from donning a parachute to properly exiting an aircraft. As Solders move away from virtual training and come together for the first time, members of a U.S. Navy explosive ordnance disposal unit were invited to train alongside them and exchange their best practices.

“We invited them here because their proficiency allows them to bring their point of view and we don’t want to keep our experience insular,” Lt. Col. Cedre said. “We want to share our experience with others because it builds our own proficiency and we feel that, ‘hey maybe we can tweak things to become a little better and safer.’”

As members of EODMU 12 take turns in donning the MC-6 parachute system, Jumpmasters made their way around the field, observing the paratroopers engaged in rehearsals for sustained airborne training.

“They did a really good job of offering hands-on training and putting the parachute on to physically jump out of a mock airplane,” Lt. Jack James, an officer in charge with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 12 said. “Learning how to practice the parachute landing fall is extremely important to staying safe during combat falls, and learning the positioning on how to jump from an airplane was helpful as a refresher.”

EODMU 12 sailors are trained to diffuse conventional bombs, ordnance, and even biological weapons. Besides the ability to defuse bombs under water, the unit also possesses airborne capabilities which allow them to support operations alongside Army assets. Being offered an opportunity to train alongside their counterparts enhances their ability to perform at a higher level.

Lt. James said it was interesting to see the how things are done differently between the services and how much insight he was given into how a battalion level Army airborne programs works through this joint training.

“This unit requires a sailor to be a jack of all trades,” Lt. James said. “We have to have the ability to insert with a lot of different units. At the end of the day airborne is like diving. It gets us to the point of the problem. Wherever we need to go, that’s the route, whether it’s diving in the water or jumping out of an airplane onto a target.”

No matter what military branch a paratrooper belongs too, each jumper’s mindset is different when it comes to mentally preparing for an airborne mission. Whether it’s pacing around a grassy area talking through the motions, or sitting down on hot concrete mentally mapping how a scenario plays out, jumpers prepare their minds for what their bodies are about to go through.

“I visualize everything from hooking up the static line to jumping out of the airplane,” Lt. James said. “I think about how I’ve been trained and the muscle memory I have through practice. It gets dangerous when you get complacent; training prevents that complacency.”

Lt. James said unlike what is seen in movies, jumping is a nerve-wracking experience, but he’s learned new techniques, which will help him mitigate injuries and perform better in the field alongside service partners.

As the training day winds down and the sun sets, Soldiers and Sailors wipe sweat off of their foreheads and congregate six feet apart muffling words of encouragement to one another through their masks.

“Success with a battalion airborne program in the Army Reserve means you must have good communication and relationships with your adjacent airborne units. Those units, in my experience, have been other Army units, U.S. Navy Special Operations, and Air Force Pararescue,” Lt. Col. LeCedre said. “When I see another jumpmaster from any unit there’s a recognition that this is a professional; this is an expert that can be relied upon, and I can trust this person.”

The question of “how will the military adapt to COVID-19?” is far gone as units continuously identify ways to overcome the challenges this pandemic presents, but no matter how rough the road, military services will continue to function and thrive … together.

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Story: This article was first posted on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) and is part of the public domain. “404th Paratroopers and US Navy EOD Conduct Joint Training”, by Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Williams, 361st Theater Public Affairs Support Element, August 19, 2020.

Photo: A U.S. Army Reserve Paratrooper with the 404th Civil Affairs Battalion practices a landing technique by jumping out of a mock airplane here on Aug. 12, 2020. (U.S. Army Photo By: Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Williams, 361st Theater Public Affairs Support Element/Released)

About the 404th. The 404th Civil Affairs Battalion is located on Fort Dix, New Jersey. It is a unit of the U.S. Army Reserve. B Company of the 404th recently completed a tour in Djibouti while assigned to Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in 2019.
https://www.facebook.com/404CABN/

About Civil Affairs. The U.S. Army Civil Affairs Regiment was formally established in 1955 as a U.S. Army Reserve branch. It was designated as the Civil Affairs Regiment in October 1959. In October 2006, civil affairs was further established as a basic branch of the Army. On August 17, 2020 the Civil Affairs Regiment celebrated its 65th anniversary (Army.mil, Aug 17, 2020).

A recent report published by the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) provides insights into the ways that special operations forces can assist indigenous governance structures to halt or reverse the growth of violent extremist organizations (VEOs).

The authors of the report argue that operating in the human domain requires a “. . . deep appreciation of local worldviews, modes and patterns of life, and organic institutional arrangements that make them viable”. SOF is adept at working with government leaders at the national and sub-national level; however, SOF – in many instances – is not knowledgeable about informal governance structures that can assist in the fight against VEOs.

The country faces several home-based and foreign-based terrorist groups to include Ansarul Islam, Islamic State of Iraq and ash-sham networks in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), al-Mulathamun Battalion, and the al-Qa’ida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). More than 500 militant attacks in the past four years have killed hundreds of people. Burkina Faso had over 500,000 internally displaced persons in 2019. Terrorist attacks have taken place in the country’s capital as well as in rural areas.

Burkina Faso has augmented the size of its special terrorism detachment – Groupement des Forces Anti-Terroristes (GFAT). It has also jointed the G5 Sahel Joint Force to fight terrorism and criminal trafficking groups with its regional neighbors (Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger). In addition, it participates in the annual Flintlock exercise conducted by Special Operations Command – Africa (SOCAfrica).

The authors use Burkina Faso as an example of how SOF can support a country in its counterterrorism fight against VEOs. Local political legitimacy can be enhanced – and the influence of VEOs diminished – by working with indigenous, informal governance structures.

Report Contents:

• Chapter 1 – Governance Provides in Burkina Faso
• Chapter 2 – Islamic VEOs in Burkina Faso
• Chapter 3 – Governance Environment
• Chapter 4 – Violence and Security in Burkina Faso
• Conclusion
• Survey Methodology
• Acronyms and Endnotes

Informal Governance as a Force Multiplier in Counterterrorism: Evidence for Burkina Faso, by Margaret H. Ariotti and Kevin S. Fridy, JSOU Report 20-3, JSOU Press, July 2020, 110 pages, PDF.
https://jsou.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=55754342

Image: Derived from photo on back cover of the JSOU report and CIA map of Burkina Faso.

The United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) has decided to close the Special Warfare Museum located on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. This action is a very controversial move – especially within the Special Forces community.

Sign the Petition!

An online petition has been started to keep the JFK Special Warfare Museum open.
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/498/201/018/keep-the-jfk-special-warfare-musuem-open/

Current and former Green Berets are aghast at the closure of the museum that showcases past operations and missions of Special Forces individuals and units. Social media in particular has been overwhelmingly critical of the fate of a highly revered institution that has served the special warfare community since the early 1960s.

The Special Warfare Museum featured the past history of the Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations, and Special Forces units and organizations. The exploits of members of this community were on graphic display in the small museum located on Ardennes Street, on Fort Bragg. The Museum was located at the long-time center of the special warfare community – and easily accessed by those Soldiers on Fort Bragg who wished to visit.

The reasons for the closure of the museum are unclear and USASOC has not been very forthcoming with information. The first instance of something happening was when the museum was closed ‘for inventory’. Then the rumors began to fly about what was happening to the museum.

Announcement of the ARSOF Museum

A January 24, 2020 press release by the USASOC Public Affairs Office provided an explanation of sorts. The article, entitled U.S. Army JFK Special Warfare Museum becomes Army Special Operations Forces Museum, said that the “. . . U.S. Army Special Operations Command initiated a plan to reinvigorate the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum.” It said the museum would temporarily close to the public while an inventory was conducted to identify and catalog items. The museum would reopen at the end of February 2020 after inventory was complete. The new museum would widen its focus to include other entities within USASOC – the 160th Special Operations Air Regiment based at Fort Campbell and the 75th Ranger Regiment based at Fort Benning.

This news of the establishment of the “ARSOF Museum” led to a great deal of consternation within the Special Forces community. It was felt that the SF heritage – as well as that of Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations would be diluted. The addition of exhibits and displays incorporating the Rangers and ARSOF aviation would take the place of some displays presenting the long history of SF and other special warfare units currently on display.

On January 25, 2020 SOF News published an article entitled Army Special Operations Forces Museum. The article acknowledged the concerns of the SF community. The article’s opening sentence was “Old time Special Forces Soldiers may be forgiven if they feel a little bit of history is slipping away.” The SOF News article goes on to describe the history of the Special Warfare Museum and the changes that would take place as it became the ARSOF Museum. The closing paragraph of the article, upon reflection, was off the mark – it was too optimistic of how SF and ARSOF history was to be remembered by USASOC.

There is No Museum

The museum has not reopened. It is doubtful if it ever will – even with the name of “ARSOF Museum”. The latest press release on this topic published on April 24, 2020 by the USASOC Public Affairs Office Army raises more questions than it provides answers. The article, entitled ARSOF History: Embracing the Future, does not mention the “ARSOF Museum” at all. It is as if the museum no longer exists.

The article basically says that USASOC will preserve ARSOF history by leveraging technology through “virtual historical exhibits and graphic displays” to make ARSOF history more accessible to everyone. In addition, “Mobile Assistance Teams” will advise units how to display significant artifacts through exported historical print products. The April article explains that the USASOC History Office will retain and preserve artifacts and will work with the Airborne and Special Operations Museum (ASOM) in downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina to display some exhibits.

The author spoke with someone with knowledge of the museum transformation. He cited that some of the factors considered in the closing of the Special Warfare Museum included cost savings, the expense of putting the museum in a new building, and the ability to provide greater accessibility to ARSOF history. He indicated that artifacts have been inventoried (the process could still be ongoing) and that there are no ‘current plans’ for the transfer of the items to other museums or organizations. When asked if there ever will be an ARSOF Museum he couldn’t say.

What Does the Future Look Like?

So apparently the USASOC History Office, utilizing assets available within the USASOC command, is going to set up a website with pictures of the displays that one used to be able to see in person at the Special Warfare Museum. Or perhaps they will just point us in the direction of the existing website they maintain called The ARSOF Story: US Army Special Operations History. It is hard telling not knowing. Let’s hope that they don’t take the step of renaming the online site the “ARSOF Museum”.

In addition, the USASOC History Office will, as much as a small staff is able to, export printed materials to ARSOF units for their use. They will likely be able to provide the occasional small team of personnel to units located at Fort Bragg and across the country that would help with the set up of displays of artifacts that had been part of the Special Warfare Museum. The downtown Fayetteville museum will likely benefit from the temporary displays of ARSOF historical items. While the ASOM is a fine museum it is basically about Airborne and not so much about ARSOF.

Certainly current and former members of Special Forces are being slighted. How the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations community views the closing of the Special Warfare Museum is not known to this author. SOF News welcomes their feedback.

It would be refreshing to learn exactly what the plan is for the future of ARSOF history. Will there be a physical museum or is it destined to be a website? Will the artifacts be handed over to the downtown Fayetteville museum? [1] Perhaps the USASOC History Office could provide a little bit more information. Thus far, the office has been less than forthcoming. The Special Warfare community deserves better.

From this vantage point – it feels like a lot of history is slipping away.

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Footnotes:

[1] The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum is part of the Army Museum Enterprise. So is the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville.

Top Image: The original Special Warfare Museum on Ardennes Street, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Old time Special Forces Soldiers may be forgiven if they feel a little bit of history is slipping away. The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum located on Ardennes Street on Fort Bragg, North Carolina is no more. It has been replaced by the Army Special Operations Forces Museum.

History of the “Old” Museum

The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum was established in 1963. The museum was the brainchild of Major General William P. Yarborough in 1961 – the commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Warfare School. It was housed in the one-story Colonel Arthur D. “Bull” Simons Hall located next to the John F. Kennedy Plaza in building D-2502. The building was situated on the corner of Ardennes Street and Riley Road. It was easily recognizable due to the small howitzers and mortars on display outside the building. The museum had a small Gift Shop with the proceeds from sales going to support museum operations.

For years the JFK Special Warfare Museum provided a historical record of Army special warfare units throughout all of this nation’s conflicts. Most members of Special Forces referred to it as the Special Forces museum although from its inception it always included PSYOP and CA. Many SF Soldiers contributed artifacts and donated money for the museum. [1] Those that visited often strolled through the museum’s gift shop to pick up challenge coins, t-shirts, books, souvenirs, and other SF memorabilia. These items are still available through the museum association’s web store.

Exhibits of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum included displays from World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War. Historical units represented included the First Special Service Force, Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and Detachment 101. ‘Modern conflicts’ were represented as well to include Operations Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom.

The old museum building (D-2502) had a small footprint – 1,800 square feet and could only house 20% of the artifacts. [2] The building has since been torn down to make way for the SWC campus. If you haven’t been to Ardennes Street for a few years you will not recognize it!

Currently the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum is located at building D-2815 on the corner of Zabitosky and Ardennes – directly across from the JFK Chapel. [3] Some may recall the building as the old TMC.

No Longer About “SF”

The Green Berets of past eras certainly have some concerns. They fear the history of Special Forces will become diluted as the new ARSOF museum becomes more inclusive of other Army special operations units. There is the strong possibility that many items exhibited that are ‘SF’ centric will be put into storage to make room for historical items from the Ranger Regiment and Special Operations Aviation Regiment. A brief visit to selected social media sites will reveal the concern expressed by the older generation of Green Berets.

The Green Berets that served in the 1960s and 1970s lived in a different time when many of them thought that special warfare mean’t Special Forces with a little bit of Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs mixed in (apologies to the PSYOP and CA crowd).

However, we now live in a new era. In the past the term special operations – if used at all – referred to Soldiers serving in the U.S. Army Special Forces Groups. [4] Now it is an umbrella term to refer to SOF units across all four services. Currently, U.S. Army SOF refers to several units to include Special Forces, Ranger Regiment, Psychological Operations, Civil Affairs, and Army special operations aviation units. Collectively these Army SOF units are referred to as ARSOF.

The “New” Museum

The ‘new’ museum will be reorganized under the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). While CA, PSYOP, and SF are trained at the USAJFKSWCS – Rangers and Army SOF aviators are trained elsewhere. Moving the ‘ownership’ of the museum from USAJFKSWCS to USASOC provides the ability to include the other two organizations. A recent press release by USASOC tells us that the new museum will “. . . fully represent all of USASOC’s equities.” [5]

The museum is one of 64 U.S. Army museums in the country and falls under the purview of the Center for Military History. According to an online post (accessed 25 Jan 2020) the museum had “. . . the mission to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret significant historical property in support of the proponencies, training and educational mission of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.” [6] This made it the regimental museum for the U.S. Army Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations regiments – including predecessor organizations from the American colonial period to the present.

The new ARSOF Museum will open at the end of February 2020 once a complete historical inventory is conducted to identify and catalog items. In addition, there will be a reorganization and change of authority taking place. Until a permanent facility can be funded and built the new museum will likely occupy ‘several’ places on Fort Bragg. USAJFKSWCS issued a statement saying that the exhibits will be “. . . showcased throughout the command; however, instead of only having access to the history in one building, it will be available to our Soldiers, students, retirees and families throughout the command footprint.” Apparently, in the future, if you want to visit the museum you will have to drive to several sites on Fort Bragg. That does sound a bit problematic.

USASOC certainly has the organizational size to support the new ARSOF Museum. The museum will fall under the control of the USASOC Historians Office. If enough funding is available it will likely provide an improved experience to visitors in the future while equally representing the historical record of all five major components of ARSOF. Looks like another trip to Fort Bragg is on the calendar in a few years to see how this turns out!

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Footnotes:

[1] In the 70s the author donated $100 (big money back then) towards a Life Membership. With the passage of time I am sure my name has been lost on the roster; although there was a plaque at the front entrance years of the B-2502 building years ago with my name along with the many other Life Members. That is probably now stuffed in a cardboard box at this time. The museum was a special place for me starting with attendance at SFQC and later for the many return visits to FBNC.

[2] Letter from Major General Bennet Sacolic addressed to Museum Association Members, 2012.

[3] In researching this article it is not readily apparent where the ‘physical’ location of the museum will be. I suppose we will find out in the next few years. The museum has moved multiple times over the past several decades.

[4] The term ‘special operations’ was rarely used in early SF history. It may have seen its introduction in the early 80s when UW was deemphasized and SITCA (later SR) and DA became more prevalent in training exercises and doctrine. The term ‘special operator’ apparently was first used by SF in the 1950s. But then again, rarely used. See “The Special Forces Operator”, by Charles H. Brisco, PhD, Veritas, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018.
https://www.soc.mil/ARSOF_History/articles/v14n1_creed_page_1.html

[5] “U.S. Army JFK Special Warfare Museum becomes Army Special Operations Forces Museum”, US Army, January 24, 2020.

[6] USASOC page on JFK Special Warfare Museum.

References:

John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum
https://www.soc.mil/SWCS/museum.html

US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum Association
https://www.jfkwebstore.com/

JFK Special Warfare Museum Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jfk-Special-Warfare-Museum-Ft-Bragg-Nc/212706605444953

Bruce, Robert, “Hidden Treasures of the JFK Special Warfare Museum”, Small Arms Review, July 2006.

U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operations Museum. This museum is located in downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina. It was privately funded and then donated to the U.S. Army.
https://www.asomf.org/

Editorial Notes:

The USASOC Historian’s Office has been contacted for further information; the article will updated once we hear from them. (Update: crickets).

Some minor edits were made to further refine this story based on comments from the reading audience and other sources.

It seems some readers do not recall the use of the term ‘special operations’ in the earlier SF days. Determining when and how ‘special operations’ was introduced into our vocabulary would make for an interesting research project. See more in footnote [4].

One reader wrote in that he recalls an ‘informal’ museum (he believes it to be the very first museum) that was housed in one of the old Orderly Room -type buildings along Gruber Road – adjacent to where 7th Group was located. SF Soldiers donated a bunch of stuff to the collection. (time frame 1965-1966).

Photo:

John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Photo credit to U.S. Army.

This five-minute long video – entitled USAJFKSWCS Command Brief 2018 – provides an overview of how the U.S. Army trains its SOF soldiers. The United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School is located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina with satellite training facilities and courses located across the United States. The Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) school house – known as SWCS – trains and educates Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations Soldiers for their worldwide missions.

www.dvidshub.net/video/634051/usajfkswcs-command-brief

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Video produced by Robert Lindee, USAJFKSWCS, June 11, 2018. Published on October 19, 2018.

]]> 8783 https://sof.news/defense/stabilization-burden-sharing/ Thu, 13 Sep 2018 05:00:07 +0000 http://www.sof.news/?p=8133 Members of NATO-ISAF DCOS-STAB, US Army Corps of Engineers, and Donors Conduct a Coordination Meeting with the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water to Coordinate Projects (2011) The Stabilization Assistance Review and Burden Sharing “A Construct for Leveraging Stabilization Actors and [...]]]>

Members of NATO-ISAF DCOS-STAB, US Army Corps of Engineers, and Donors Conduct a Coordination Meeting with the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water to Coordinate Projects (2011)

The Stabilization Assistance Review and Burden Sharing

“A Construct for Leveraging
Stabilization Actors and their Capabilities”

This is the third article in a three-part series published in SOF News and focused on implementing the Stabilization Assistance Review. It builds on the two previous articles; Implementing the Stabilization Assistance Review (SAR) and Stabilization Environments and the Range of Military Operations. The Stabilization Assistance Review will likely have a significant impact on how the Department of Defense (DoD) participates in stabilization activities. Embracing a common theme from the current administration, the Stabilization Assistance Review says that “there is no public appetite to repeat the large-scale reconstruction efforts of the past”; and goes on to proffer a requirement for, “a more purposeful division of labor and burden-sharing with multilateral bodies…”. The review recommends that DoD be relegated largely to a supporting role, and it is unlikely that the department will see the large funding streams authorized during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq such as the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, and the Afghan Infrastructure Fund. For those of us within DoD who wish to continue to be active participants in stabilization, but are faced with significantly reduced stabilization funding, we will need to embrace the burden sharing concept articulated in the Stabilization Assistance Review by leveraging other stabilization actors to our advantage.

The 2019 NDAA did not include any Defense Support to Stabilization (DSS) language or associated funding. The failure of congress to include DSS in the 2019 NDAA is certainly not helpful, but neither is it a show stopper. DoD, either in the lead (usually a non-permissive environment) or in a supporting role (permissive environment), can continue to be a major player in stabilization activities. Whether executing our core stabilization tasks as articulated in DODI 3000.05 “Stability Operations” and the soon to be released DODD 3000.05 “Stabilization” of providing security, public order, and immediate needs; or by conducting our reinforcing stabilization tasks which include targeted basic services and critical infrastructure repair, DoD can play a significant role. But to do this we must adjust our processes in order to conform to the stabilization burden sharing concept and better leverage the stabilization contributions of various non-U.S. actors (our coalition partners both military and civilian, and to a lesser degree Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), Private Volunteer Organizations (PVO), and other donors).

The following construct provides a framework for implementing the burden sharing concept. It can be employed in support of our current Joint Operations doctrine (Joint Publication 3-0), and would have its greatest impact during phases 2 “Seize the Initiative”, 3 “Dominate”, and 4 “Stabilize” when DoD might be the lead for stabilization and the environment might preclude DOS and USAID from having a meaningful presence (see figure 1). The construct has four steps; information gathering, requirements determination and prioritization, resource allocation, and synchronization.

Although the construct suggests a sequential execution, the reality is that changes in the environment will cause a constant review and updating of all steps simultaneously. A form of this construct can be executed at any level, strategic to tactical, but the primary location should be within the country that the stabilization activities are taking place. To implement the construct the USG should leverage either an existing Combined Joint Interagency Working Group (CJIAWG) type organization, or establish a CJIAWG if one does not exist. Civil Affairs officers can be particularly useful as members of this group given their in-depth understanding of the human terrain and their access.

In the information gathering step the CJIAWG reviews the DOS, DoD, and USAID strategies and plans for the country in question. This analysis results in the end states to be achieved, the milestones that lead to those end states, and the major areas or sectors within which stabilization activities will occur. This analysis will also produce priorities that will help guide the process. At the same time the group identifies various non-USG stabilization actors co-occupying the same space.

During the requirements determination and prioritization step the group develops a list of stabilization projects or initiatives that conforms to the strategies and plans reviewed in previous step. Sources of information can vary widely. Civil Affairs units offer especially insightful information based upon their understanding of the country and their time spent in the field. Each requirement should be submitted with amplifying information to include cost estimates. The initial product is a list of projects or initiatives, broken into sectors. The group then rank orders the list of requirements.

During the resource allocation step there may be select projects that the USG may wish to execute ourselves, so the appropriate department or agency can be aligned with those requirements. Our coalition partners may wish to focus their efforts on a particular area or region of the country, or on a specific sector of stabilization activities such as health care or electrical power. So those resources could be allocated accordingly. In addition, various NGOs and PVOs should also be considered. But the USG leads for coordinating with these organizations are DOS and USAID. They should seek to work with appropriate NGOs & PVOs in order to maximize their capabilities against the list of requirements. A possible lever the USG can use to facilitate cooperation is security. By offering security, these actors might be motivated to support our requirements. But we must understand that these organizations usually seek to keep their position neutral, therefore they tend to distance from the military. Engagements with NGOs and PVOs should be sensitive to this.

The final step of the construct is synchronization of the execution of the stabilization activities. Combat operations may take an extended period of time. The requirement for stabilization activities do not wait for conflict to end. The greater the gap between the end of combat operations and the start of stabilization activities, the greater the opportunity for malign actors to gain a competitive advantage. Therefore the CJIAWG should, to the greatest extent possible, coordinate the execution of stabilization activities with combat operations, ensuring requisite security is in place to support the execution of the projects, and that the stabilization activities are prepared to be executed as soon as practical on completion of the combat operations in order to consolidate gains. All of this information can be captured in a spreadsheet and sorted by priority, sector, implementer, timeframe, etc. as shown in Figure 2.

Despite the recommendations outlined in the Stabilization Assistance Review, DoD can be a more active participant in stabilization activities. But to do so we must become more adept at employing a burden sharing approach that leverages the capabilities of all stabilization actors, and reduces the costs to the USG.

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Photo and Images. All photos and images provided by the author.

About the Author: Charles Barham is a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 29 years of service (1981-2010).  He also served for four years as a Department of the Army Civilian Management and Program Analyst in the Afghanistan/Pakistan Hands Program (2010-2014).   He currently serves as a Department of the Air Force Civilian Management and Program Analyst at USCENTCOM in an Interagency Planner capacity.

He served for more than three years in Afghanistan as; Assistant Director of the Police Reform Directorate, Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan 2006-2007, Senior Socioeconomic Advisor in HQ ISAF-DCOS/STAB under Generals David Petraeus and John Allen 2011, as Deputy Director of the NATO/Afghan Transformation Task Force, HQ ISAF under General Joseph Dunford 2013, and as a Senior Planning, Programing and Budgeting Advisor to the Afghan National Army Special Operations Command.

He has served for over six years in HQCENTCOM in positions including Senior Socioeconomic Advisor and Interagency Planner.  He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Richmond, a Master of Business Administration from Oklahoma City University, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.

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