A Leader's Handbook to Unconventional Warfare
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SWCS PUB 09-1, NOV 2009 A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare LTC Mark Grdovic U.S. ARMY JOHN F. KENNEDY SPECIAL WARFARE CENTER AND SCHOOL U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, or SWCS, is responsible for the training, personnel, doctrine and policy to support Army Special Operations Forces, or ARSOF. SWCS serves as the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, or USASOC, proponent for all matters pertaining to individual training, develops doctrine and all related individual and collective training material, provides leader development, develops and maintains the proponent training programs and systems, and provides entry-level and advanced individual training and education for Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations and Special Forces. SWCS, a component subordinate command of USASOC, constitutes the training center and institution of ARSOF. The Directorate of Special Operations Proponency has the responsibility for managing the careers of all Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations and Special Forces Soldiers from the time The SWCS’ Directorate of Training and Doctrine develops all Army special-operations doctrine they enter one of the career fields until they leave. and works with the field and trainers at SWCS to develop all courses and training programs. The SWCS publications being revised or written at any given time. has some of the most up-to-date doctrine in the Army, with 30 field manuals and other doctrinal The Directorate of Special Operations Education serves as the USAJFKSWCS adviser for education issues. It provides training and education opportunities that enable the USAJFKSWCS staff and faculty to perform as flexible, adaptive ARSOF leaders and trainers. Key in the training of special-operations forces is language and culture training, which falls under the auspices of the Directorate of Special Operations Education. The Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center is responsible for all U.S. military special-opera- tions forces combat medical training including Army Rangers, Civil Affairs, Special Forces and Navy SEALs. Advanced education for Army special-operations Soldiers is provided through the Noncom- Soldiers for leadership positions in all ARSOF including Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations and missioned Officer Academy and the Warrant Officer Institute. The NCO Academy prepares enlisted Special Forces. Soldiers receive training in leadership skills, military studies, resource management, effective communication, operations and intelligence, unconventional warfare, operational plan- ning, psychological operations, civil-military operations and advanced military occupational skills. The Special Forces Warrant Officer Institute educates and trains warrant officer candidates, to provide the force with competent combat leaders and planners. newly appointed warrant officers, and senior warrant officers at key points in their career in order spectrum of special-operations training from the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations The Center and School’s Training Group, consisting of five battalions, conducts the complete The Army Special Operations Capabilities Integration Center anticipates the future environ- advanced individual training to CA, PO, and the SF Qualification Course. ment, threats, and requirements for the ARSOF, and to look at what can be done today to prepare for tomorrow’s issues. The center validates concepts through experimentation, war-gaming and formulates the impact on proposed ARSOF futures capabilities and operational architectures. students who attend any one of many courses offered by the SWCS. The International Military Student Office is responsible for the oversight of international The Center and School conducts more than 44 different courses and trains more than special operations forces. 14,000 students annually. Since 1963, SWCS has led the way in creating the world’s finest 2 A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare LTC Mark Grdovic U.S. ARMY JOHN F. KENNEDY SPECIAL WARFARE CENTER AND SCHOOL A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare 3 Comments about this publication are invited and should be forwarded to Direc- tor, Directorate of Training and Doctrine, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, 3206 Ardennes St., Fort Bragg, N.C. 28310. Copies of this publica- tion may be obtained by calling SWCS at 910-432-5703. Electronic versions of this publication can be found at www.arsofu.army.mil. accepting works relevant to Army special operations for potential publication. For moreThe information, Special Warfare please Professional contact Mr. DevelopmentJerry Steelman Publication or Mrs. Janice Office Burton, is currently Special Warfare at 910-432-5703 or [email protected] or [email protected]. This work has been cleared for public release, distribution is unlimited. 4 A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare The views expressed in this publication are entirely those of the author and do - ment, the Department of Defense, the United States Special Operations Command, thenot Unitednecessarily States reflect Army the Special views, Operations policies or Command positions orof the UnitedU.S. Army States John Govern F. Ken- nedy Special Warfare Center and School. A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare 5 Foreword At the end of World War II, the Army developed the concept of unconventional warfare, or UW, based largely on the experiences of Soldiers who had worked with resistance move- ments during the war. The concept was formally convey a wider responsibility than simply working introduced into doctrine in 1955, specifically to as activities conducted to enable a resistance move- mentalongside or insurgency guerrilla forces. to coerce, UW disruptis currently or overthrow defined a government or occupying power by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary or guer- rilla force in a denied area. From the beginning, UW has been a mission of Special Forces, and the JFK Special Warfare Center and School has been the proponent for UW training and doctrine. Our operating environment has been less constant since the 1950s, however. We no longer face the threat of major combat operations, as during World War II. The dominant form of warfare that now confronts the United States and will likely do of irregular warfare — counterterrorism, foreign internal defense, stability opera- tions,so for counterinsurgencythe remainder of the and 21st UW century — will is increasingly irregular warfare. involve Theall elements five components of the U.S. military and other elements of national power. UW thus presents a challenge to conventional forces and special-operations forces alike. This paper, although it is not doctrine, is intended to introduce a new generation of Soldiers to the concept, the history and the techniques of UW. It is intended to be number of topics that are of interest to members of the special-operations commu- nitythe first and, in in a some series cases, of papers general-purpose published to forces inform as readers well. and provoke thought on a Major General Thomas Csrnko Commander U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School 6 A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare About the Author Lieutenant Colonel Mark Grdovic is assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command Central. His previous assignment was as the director of the USASOC G3X Special Program Division. Other assignments include Director of the President’s of the Special Forces Doctrine Branch, SF Doctrine Division, in the U.S. Army John F. KennedyEmergency Special Operations Warfare Center, Center White and School’sHouse Military Directorate Office. of He Training was formerly and Doctrine. chief His other SF assignments include service with the 1st Battalion, 10th SF Group, - 3rdas commander Battalion, 10th of SF SF detachments Group; and commander,016 and 032; Company small-group A, 4th instructor Battalion, for 1st the Special offi Warfarecer portion Training of the Group.Special Lieutenant Forces Qualification Colonel Grdovic Course; holds company a bachelor’s commander degree and from S3, SUNY Cortland University and a master’s degree from King’s College London. In 2002, Grdovic was one of the main architects of the UW campaign plan for Iraq prior to the start of the invasion in order to link-up with the leadership of the PatrioticNorthern Union Iraq as of part Kurdistan of Operation (PUK) Iraqiand synchronize Freedom. In the 2003, Kurdish he infiltrated efforts. In northern 2007- 2008, he served as the CJSOTF-AP LNO to Multi- National Force Iraq (MNF-I). Lieutenant Colonel Mark Grdovic, far right, was one of the main architects of the UW campaign plan for Northern Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare 7 8 A Leader’s Handbook to Unconventional Warfare Understanding Unconventional Warfare resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt or overthrow an occupying powerUnconventional or government warfare, by operating or UW, throughis defined or aswith activities an underground, conducted auxiliaryto enable and a guerrilla force in a denied area. Inherent in this type of operation are the inter-relat- - pabilities,ed lines of byoperation promoting of armed insurrection conflict or and resistance subversion. within The his concept area of is control, perhaps thereby best makingunderstood him whenmore thoughtvulnerable of asto a meansconventional