Special Warfare The Professional Bulletin of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School Reserve Component Special Operations Forces PB 80–92–1 March 1992 Vol. 5, No. 1 From the Commandant Special Warfare Probably nowhere in the Army is the importance help them improve land-navigation and other basic of reserve-component forces more evident than in skills. Since 1989, this course, developed with the special operations. help of the National Guard Bureau, has reduced RC The majority of our special-operations forces are attrition by approximately 50 percent. found in the reserve components: Nearly half of our In September 1992, new tables of organization Special Forces soldiers belong to either Army and equipment for Civil Affairs foreign-internal- Reserve or National Guard groups; 87 percent of our defense and unconventional-warfare battalions will PSYOP and 97 percent of our Civil Affairs troops are provide reserve-component detachments more pre- in the Army Reserve. cisely tailored for the various CA missions in LIC. As Recent military operations have emphasized the we work to integrate this new RC capability into our value of these reserve components: During Opera- doctrinal, operational and organizational concepts, tion Just Cause, there was an urgent need for more we are also producing mission training plans which Civil Affairs soldiers, and thousands of reservists will assist commanders of these new units in train- volunteered, caring for civilians in the combat area, ing for their assigned missions. These MTPs are providing shelter to dislocated civilians, and restor- scheduled to be complete before the changeover to ing civil government and services quickly so that the new TOE. We are also developing instruction, the Panamanian government could resume its training literature, basic and advanced NCO courses responsibilities. and skill-qualification tests for the new Civil Affairs During Desert Shield/Storm, a number of Civil MOS, designed to give reserve-component CA sol- Affairs and Psychological Operations units were diers better opportunities for training and career mobilized, as well as the National Guard’s 20th SF advancement. Group. Following Desert Storm, Reserve CA person- As we look toward the future, we face a changing nel assisted the Kuwaitis to rebuild their govern- threat and a restructuring of the Total Force. ment and aided Kurdish refugees during resettle- Although SOF may not experience the drawdown ment operations in Operation Provide Comfort. The forecast for conventional units, we may be required services which RC SOF units performed and the effi- to perform new missions and a wider variety of mis- ciency with which they mobilized were impressive. sions than in the past. As we strive to meet the chal- Last year’s functional alignment of active and lenge of this new environment, it will be important reserve components of the Army Special Operations to maintain the force of trained, capable and ready Command was done partly to standardize AC and soldiers that only our reserve-component special- RC unit training and operations, and in time it will operations forces can provide. increase USASOC’s overall readiness. Army SOF are now aligned along functional lines, with similar AC and RC elements grouped under one commander either in the Army Special Forces Command or the Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. USASOC oversees training and readi- Maj. Gen. David J. Baratto ness for National Guard SOF. The Army Special Forces Command has already initiated an evalua- tion and standardization program to measure all its assigned units by the same standards. At the Special Warfare Center and School, we no longer have separate qualification courses for active and reserve-component soldiers. All candidates for Special Forces now attend Special Forces Assess- ment and Selection, and if selected, the SF Qualifi- cation Course. Prior to SFAS, reserve-component sol- diers attend a two-week SF Pretraining Course to PB 80–92–1 Spring Contents1989 March 1992 Special Warfare Vol. 5, No. 1 Features Commander & Commandant Maj. Gen. David J. Baratto 2 Special Operations in Desert Storm: Separating Fact from Fiction Editor 7 Treating the Animals of Kuwait Jerry D. Steelman by Capt. Bob Vogelsang Graphic Art Director 8 Food Distribution During Operation Provide Comfort by Capt. David S. Elmo Bruce S. Barfield 10 Focusing on the Future: The Role of SOF in Emerging Defense Strategy by James R. Locher III 14 USACAPOC: One Step Closer to the ‘Total Army’ by Brig. Gen. Joseph C. Hurteau and Maj. Robert D. Hayner 18 The 200K Call-up: Just Cause vs. Desert Shield by Col. Frederick C. Oelrich, USAR 25 Ensuring Readiness for Active and Reserve-Component V E AS R I RT T A E SF Units S LI B E T by Col. Joseph K. Dietrich Special Warfare is an authorized, official quarterly of the 28 Federalization: 20th SF Group Becomes First RC SF Unit United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Cen- to Be Activated ter and School, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Its mission is to promote the professional development of special opera- by Sgt. Scott D. Hallford tions forces by providing a forum for the examination of both established doctrine and new ideas. 30 Special Forces Pretraining Views expressed herein are those of the author, and do by Lt. Col. George Rollins not necessarily reflect official Army position. This publica- tion does not supersede any information presented in other 32 The Lords of Darkness: Oklahoma’s 1/245th Aviation Battalion official Army publications. by SSgt. Gregg Bond Articles, photos, artwork and letters are invited, and should be addressed to: Editor, Special Warfare, USAJFK- 36 The Reserve-Component Special Forces Soldier: An Asset SWCS, Fort Bragg, NC 28307-5000. Telephone: AUTOVON with Special Capabilities 239-5703 or commercial (919) 432-5703. Special Warfare reserves the right to edit all material. by Capt. Michael A. O’Brien Published works may be reprinted, except where copy- righted, provided credit is given to Special Warfare and the 39 FID in the 90s author. by Terry Doherty Official distribution is limited to active and reserve spe- cial operations units. Individuals desiring a private sub- 42 The Crusade of a Green Beret: Eleazar Parmly IV scription should forward their requests to: Superintendent in Southeast Asia of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washing- ton, D.C. 20402. by Richard L. Gruenther and David W. Parmly 56 Review Essay: Understanding Terrorism Since the 60s By Order of the Secretary of the Army: by Stephen Sloan Gordon R. Sullivan General, United States Army Departments Chief of Staff Official: 60 Officer Career Notes 63 Enlisted Career Notes Milton H. Hamilton 64 Foreign SOF Administrative Assistant to the 66 Update Secretary of the Army 72 Book Reviews 00340 Headquarters, Department of the Army Cover: Helicopter photo courtesy 1/245th Avn. Bn.; USASOC mobilization photos by Bob Jordan Special Operations in Desert Storm: Separating Fact from Fiction Photo by Douglas Wisnioski The story of U.S. Army special- the best-trained U.S. soldier. It is ultimately persuade their audi- operations forces in Desert Shield the latest chapter in the history of ences to support the United States, and Desert Storm is a story of quiet the uniquely American art of all without firing a single round of professionalism ... unconventional warfare. ammunition. It is a story of hiding in the day Thirdly, Civil Affairs units win and surveilling a 175-mile border at Special-operations forces the hearts and minds of the civilian night ... Briefly, U.S. Army special opera- populace in war-torn nations by It is a story of infiltrating behind tions are composed of five compo- coordinating humanitarian relief enemy lines, sabotaging lines of nents made entirely of volunteers. efforts, like aiding homeless communication and destroying First, the Special Forces are the refugees and establishing law and command-and-control targets ... Army’s experts at unconventional order. It is a story of Americans train- warfare. Taught to speak foreign Like Special Forces, Civil Affairs ing coalition forces, working with languages and blend in foreign cul- and Psychological Operations sol- soldiers from countries as unlikely tures, they can survive behind diers are paratroopers trained in as Syria and Czechoslovakia ... enemy lines and conduct risky long- foreign languages, two skills that It is a story of escaping in a heli- term reconnaisance missions. They enable them to respond to chal- copter flying so low it had to pull up are paratroopers, but they also lenges anywhere in the world. to get over donkeys’ backs ... know how to infiltrate by land and The 75th Ranger Regiment It is a story of the first U.S. troops sea without detection, anywhere in makes up another component of to reach Kuwait City during the lib- the world. Army special operations. Rangers eration of an oppressed people ... Secondly, Psychological-Opera- are the world’s premier light- And it is a story of psyching-out tions forces use the tools of commu- infantry experts, capable of spear- the enemy and rebuilding a war- nication — loudspeakers, leaflets, heading an assault with lightning torn nation. and broadcasts — to fire creative speed, as they did in Grenada and But more than anything else, this propaganda campaigns at target Panama. They often conduct live- is an American success story about audiences. Their purpose: to neu- fire and airborne operations at courage, confidence and maturity in tralize hostile enemy attitudes, and night, and they can project their 2 Special Warfare force to any part of the world. fort during the Persian Gulf crisis. Working with nearly every bat- The 160th Special Operations Johnson’s military career has talion of the coalition forces, Special Aviation Regiment is the final com- been built in the special-operations Forces would prove to be the glue ponent of Army special operations.