Download or read book 21st Century SOF written by Department of Defense and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-22 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this concise JSOU monograph, Dr. Rich Yarger considers the 21st century security environment, previous work on special operations theory, and various other perspectives of SOF gleaned from his research to synthesize an American SOF school of thought, which he argues provides a foundation for developing an American special operations theory for the 21st century. He offers definitions, premises, and principles that explain modern American special operations over the last 70 years and can serve SOF well into the future. Based on his research, he identifies major areas of concern for SOF leadership. As USSOCOM confronts the challenges offered by the 21st century and policymakers continue to look at SOF as a preferred means to address numerous and complex security issues, theory is essential in determining and explaining the appropriate roles and missions for SOF in the 21st century and for building and sustaining the forces. It explains the strategic utility of SOF, bolsters the strategic art within SOF, and informs doctrine. This monograph offers a basis toward such a theory. The timing for advancing a comprehensive theory of American special operations could not be more opportune for several reasons. First, with over 70 years of modern history, the American SOF reputation has never stood higher in the esteem of the public and policymakers. In the last two decades special operations have taken on a greater role in national defense, and policymakers and strategists have found utility in the kind of military power SOF projects. Such recognition is a double-edged sword. The nation has been confronted with significant challenges in the first half of the 21st century that have already strained the capacity of the United States and its strategic partners to deal with them. Policymakers and the 2012 Defense Strategy are correct to recognize the relevance of SOF to these threats and opportunities, but in advocating the greater use of special operations they clearly do not grasp what the SOF Truths imply about SOF capacity.5 As a result, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) must parley the hard-earned esteem won by special operators over the past decade to build the force for the future while advising policymakers and senior military decision makers on how best to use a qualitatively constrained SOF capacity. Concurrently, a number of people question whether the greatest strategic utility is being made of SOF power.6 This is not a questioning of SOF personnel's efforts, but a genuine concern about how unique and limited capabilities are used, or not used, and how they might best be used in the future. A unified theory would inform how best to wield the SOF sword. Second, under USSOCOM, SOF have matured into a discrete military force with many of the distinguishing characteristics that define a separate service. Theories and schools of thought explain how each service fits into the nation's security, sets the parameters for roles and missions, lays the basis for a strategic art, and informs doctrine and the professional development of the force. In the past, SOF have relied on mentoring, on-the-job experience, a limited doctrine, and a high degree of flexibility and adaptability. Notwithstanding the great need for and value of the latter, a theory and school of thought provide perspective for strategy, mission planning, and improvising when in contact with the enemy, significantly shortening and lowering the cost of the learning curve at all levels of war.
Download or read book Special Operations Forces in the 21st Century written by Jessica Glicken Turnley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-09 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book sets out the major social scientific approaches to the study of Special Operations Forces. Despite consistent downsizing, over the past two decades the armed forces of the industrial democracies have seen a huge growth in Special Operations Forces (SOF). Through increasing numbers of personnel and more frequent deployments, SOF units have wielded considerable influence in conflicts around the world, with senior SOF officers having led major strategic operations. This increased presence and unprecedented expansion for SOF is largely a result of the ‘new’ kinds of conflicts that have emerged in the 21st century. At the same time, even with this high profile in the military, policy and media and popular cultural arenas, there is relatively little social scientific research on SOF. This volume aims to fill this gap by providing a series of studies and analyses of SOF across the globe, since the end of World War II. Analysing SOF at the micro, mezzo and macro levels provides broad and diverse insights. Moreover, the volume deals with new issues raised by the use of such forces that include emerging modes of civilian control, innovative organizational forms and the special psychological characteristics necessitated by SOF operatives. It concludes with a discussion of a question which continues to be debated in today’s militaries: what makes SOF ‘special’? Filling a clear gap in the literature, this book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, civil-military relations, irregular warfare, security studies, and international relations.
Download or read book 21st Century SOF Toward an American Theory of Special Operations written by Harry Yarger and published by . This book was released on 2013-09-04 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this concise JSOU monograph, Dr. Rich Yarger considers the 21st century security environment, previous work on special operations theory, and various other perspectives of SOF gleaned from his research to synthesize an American SOF school of thought, which he argues provides a foundation for developing an American special operations theory for the 21st century. He offers definitions, premises, and principles that explain modern American special operations over the last 70 years and can serve SOF well into the future. Based on his research, he identifies major areas of concern for SOF leadership. As USSOCOM confronts the challenges offered by the 21st century and policymakers continue to look at SOF as a preferred means to address numerous and complex security issues, theory is essential in determining and explaining the appropriate roles and missions for SOF in the 21st century.
Download or read book 21st Century SOF written by Harry Richard Yarger and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report considers the 21st century security environment, previous work on special operations theory, and various other perspectives of SOF gleaned from the author's research to synthesize an American SOF school of thought, which he argues provides a foundation for developing an American special operations theory for the 21st century. The author offers definitions, premises, and principles that explain modern American special operations over the last 70 years and can serve SOF well into the future. Based on his research, the author identifies major areas of concern for SOF leadership. As USSOCOM confronts the challenges offered by the 21st century and policymakers continue to look at SOF as a preferred means to address numerous and complex security issues, theory is essential in determining and explaining the appropriate roles and missions for SOF in the 21st century.
Download or read book 21st Century SOF written by Joint Special Operations and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-28 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 21st Century SOF: Toward an AmericanTheory of SpecialOperation
Download or read book The Conduct of War in the 21st Century written by Rob Johnson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the key dimensions of 21st century war, and shows that orthodox thinking about war, particularly what it is and how it is fought, needs to be updated. Accelerating societal, economic, political and technological change affects how we prepare, equip and organise for war, as well as how we conduct war – both in its low-tech and high-tech forms, and whether it is with high intensity or low intensity. The volume examines changes in warfare by investigating the key features of the conduct of war during the first decades of the 21st century. Conceptually centred around the terms ‘kinetic’, ‘connected’ and ‘synthetic’, the analysis delves into a wide range of topics. The contributions discuss hybrid warfare, cyber and influence activities, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the use of armed drones and air power, the implications of the counterinsurgency experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, as well as the consequences for law(fare) and decision making. This work will be of much interest to students of military and strategic studies, security studies and International Relations. Chapters 1, 2, 5, and 19 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Download or read book Military Strategy for the 21st Century written by Charles Cleveland and published by Rapid Communications in Confli. This book was released on 2018 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book, written by members of the Chief of Staff of the Army's Strategic Studies Group, takes an innovative approach to determining how the United States can counter extremist groups and engage in great power competition in the twenty first century. After proposing that the answer lies in switching the focus of current US strategy from the physical domain on which conflict occurs to the social, political, and cultural networks that comprise the human domain in which it occurs, it develops a new operating concept for conducting operations within that domain. This is an important book for those in security studies and international relations."--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Hard Power and Soft Power written by Colin S. Gray and published by Strategic Studies Institute U. S. Army War College. This book was released on 2011 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction : rust on the mailed fist? -- 11 propositions -- Conclusion.
Download or read book The 21st Century Skills written by and published by . This book was released on 2019-06-13 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What skills enable an individual to maintain his or her employability? The skills for professional success in the 21st century are not the same as in the past. While the 20th century's professionals used so-called "routine" skills, the last 20 years have seen a demand for interaction and analysis skills. It is now essential to know how to question the reliability of information, to be creative, work in a team and communicate clearly. Faced with the speed and variability of information, we must adapt, take initiatives and produce under pressure and uncertainty. While the subject is still reserved for specialists in Europe, thousands of schools and companies around the world have turned to these new skills. 'The 21st Century Skills' offers an analysis of these skills through a model: their need, operation and development potential. Going through psychology, neurosciences, human resources, philosophy, History and biology, this book is at the crossroads of sciences and our everyday life.
Download or read book The Role of Army Special Operations Forces in Information Warfare in the 21st Century written by John H. Bone and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hard Power and Soft Power The Utility of Military Force as an Instrument of Policy in the 21st Century written by Colin S. Gray and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2011-07-09 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Commentators distinguish between two kinds of power, ?hard? and ?soft.? The promise in this logic is obvious. Unfortunately, to date, the idea of soft power has not been subjected to a critical forensic examination. The ill consequences of America's difficulty in thinking and behaving strategically are augmented perilously when unwarranted faith is placed upon soft power that inherently resists to strategic direction. Although it is appropriate to be skeptical of the utility of soft power, this must not be interpreted as advice to threaten or resort to military force with scant reference to moral standards. Not only is it right in an absolute sense, it is also expedient to seek, seize, and hold the moral high ground. The more challenging contexts for national security will still require the mailed fist, even if it is cushioned, but not concealed, by a glove of political and ethical restraint. (Originally published by the Strategic Studies Institute)
Download or read book Special Operations Forces and Great power Competition in the 21st Century written by Hal Brands and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America is moving from one era of foreign policy to another: The primacy of counterterrorism has faded, and competition with authoritarian great powers is the dominant concern. While special operations forces (SOF) understand that they must play a role in great-power competition, they often lack a clear understanding of what that entails. SOF can support great-power competition in five ways: gathering information, working with allies and partners, imposing costs, handling crisis response, and undertaking strategic raids. In addition, retaining competency in counterterrorism is itself a crucial contribution to great-power competition, because suppressing non-state threats is the prerequisite to allowing the rest of the American government to focus on other things.
Download or read book The Competitive Advantage written by Michael E Krivdo and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume 8 of the Army University Large Scale Combat Operations series. The Competitive Advantage: Special Operations Forces in Large Scale Combat Operations presents twelve historical case studies of special operations forces from World War I through Operation Iraqi Freedom. This volume sheds light upon the emerging roles, missions, and unique capabilities that have forged a path for Army Special Operations Forces today. These case studies set Large Scale Combat Operations in the center and place ARSOF's role in the forefront. If a reader were to take one piece from this volume, it would be the clear understanding of the close synergy that occurs between the Conventional Force and SOF in Large Scale Combat Operations for major wars in the 20th and early 21st century. That synergy should provide a broad azimuth for military planners and practitioners to follow as the Army, SOF, and the Joint Force combine to preserve the peace, defend the Nation, and defeat any adversary.
Download or read book Special Warfare written by and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Command and Control of Special Operations Forces for 21st Century Contingency Operations written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The establishment of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) in the late 1980's created a single command designed to correct serious deficiencies in the ability of the United States to conduct special operations and engage in low-intensity conflict. Among other things, the creation of USSOCOM intended to correct problems associated with the command and control of Special Operations Forces (SOF). However, these command and control problems still exist today. Recent contingency operations in Afghanistan and the Philippines have shown the command and control difficulties with SOF. The command and control structure established for Task Force DAGGER was ad hoc in nature and did not follow current doctrine. Although not perfect, the C2 structure established for Operation Enduring Freedom- Philippines followed current doctrine and proved much easier to work with. Current doctrine is a starting point for establishing command and control structures and combatant commanders should follow this doctrine when establishing lines of command. Creating a Standing Joint Task Force is not the way for combatant commanders to establish their staffs. In contrast, this paper argues that the optimal C2 for SOF operations in the 21st century should be a blend of doctrine and practical lessons learned during recent combat operations.
Download or read book Weapon of Choice written by Charles H. Briscoe and published by www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK. This book was released on 2010-01 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2003, this is the first unclassified official history authored by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command relating to Operation Enduring Freedom. Contains extensive maps and illustrations. Previously difficult to obtain, this extensive study shows what Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) accomplished to drive the Taliban from power and to destroy al-Quaeda and Taliban strongholds as part of the global war on terrorism during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Download or read book Special Ops America s Elite Forces in 21st Century Combat written by Fred J. Pushies and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
