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By Root 1635 0

is very high. In the case of Special Forces, a soldier may be able to negotiate the training pipeline in a year or eighteen months, but it will be several more years before he becomes a seasoned, competent Special Forces soldier. This is a business where experience and maturity count. The reality is that training is never over; with each deployment, a Special Forces sergeant learns a little more and becomes more proficient at his profession. A senior Special Forces team sergeant brings two decades or more of knowledge to the battlefield; within that team, the Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha, there may be collectively a century and a half of on-the-job experience.

The politics are important and interesting. The defense establishment is an entrenched bureaucracy, and the defense budget is controlled by Congress. Those many billions of defense dollars flow into congressional districts where the defense plants, shipyards, and military bases are located. Neither the president nor secretary of defense can wave a magic wand and reallocate those dollars without congressional approval. And to be fair about it, there are legitimate competing priorities. Within the defense establishment, there are admirals and generals who feel their ships, planes, and armored divisions are just as important to the defense of our nation as SOF components. I sense there’s a general agreement in the Department of Defense and Congress that special operations needs more robust funding, and more money will help—especially in the retention of our experienced SOF operators, whose skills are in high demand in the private sector. Yet it still takes time. Regarding these SOF Truths, the last one may not be so relevant as once thought. This emergency’s going to be with us for the foreseeable future.

Just what are the forces that make up the U.S. Special Operations Command? There are four major commands that fall under this command—three of them with their personnel and their roots firmly grounded in the three major service providers. The Air Force component is the Air Force Special Operations Command, located at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. This command provides special heavy-lift, fixed-wing, and rotary-wing tactical aircraft as well as special-purpose platforms like the deadly AC-130 gunships. Also under the Air Force Special Operations Command are the Air Force Special Tactics Teams, which train and deploy the paramedics, and the Combat Control Teams. Navy-related special operations fall under the Naval Special Warfare Command located in Coronado, California. Their components are the Navy SEAL teams and the Special Boat Teams. The largest of the service SOF providers is the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which calls Fort Bragg home. While our subject is Special Forces and Special Forces training, it’ll be helpful to take a closer look at the various component commands of the Army Special Operations Command.

First, there is the 75th Ranger Regiment. The regimental headquarters and the 1st Ranger Battalion is based at Fort Benning, Georgia. There’s a battalion of Rangers at Fort Lewis in Washington State and another at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The Rangers are young, tough, and perhaps the finest airborne light infantry in the world. A Ranger can drop from the sky at night, carry a hundred-pound rucksack for a long distance, and fight like a demon when he gets there. Insurgents around the world try not to gather in large numbers lest they find a company of Rangers in their midst. Next there is the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, nicknamed “the Nightstalkers.” They specialize in SOF-configured helicopters, which include the MH-47E Chinook, the MH-60K/L Blackhawk, and the AH/MH-6 “Little Bird.” Ask SOF operators on the ground and they’ll tell you the Nightstalkers are the finest pilots in the world. Currently, the Army Special Operations Command also oversees the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations, or “Psyops,” serve in that twilight between active conflict and peace,