INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL OPERATIONS Unclassified Special Operations Overview Click arrow below to continue WARNING - This document contains technical data whose export is restricted by the Arms Export Control Act (Title 22, U.S.C., Sec 2751, subject to severe criminal penalties. Disseminate in accordance with provisions of DoD Directive 5230.25. This document contains information EXEMPT FROM MANDATORY DISCLOSURE under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 1
Transcript
INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL OPERATIONS
Unclassified
Special Operations Overview
Click arrow below to continue
WARNING - This document contains technical data whose export is restricted by the Arms Export Control Act (Title 22, U.S.C., Sec 2751, subject to severe criminal penalties. Disseminate in accordance with provisions of DoD Directive 5230.25. This document contains information EXEMPT FROM MANDATORY DISCLOSURE under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
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INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL OPERATIONS
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What are Special Operations?
What are Special Operations?
MISO Leaflet Drop Counterterrorism
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Special Operations or SO are acts or activities such as:
What are Special Operations?
Direct Action Civil Affairs Operations
Foreign Internal Defense
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Special Operations Forces or SOF, are forces or units of the military services designated by the Secretary of Defense to conduct or support Special Operations.
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Special Forces or SF are specific U.S. Army forces organized, trained and equipped to conduct Special Operations with an emphasis of unconventional warfare capabilities.
What are Special Operations?5
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Tactical operations to achieve effects at the strategic or operational levels of war
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SO can be conducted in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments
What are Special Operations?7
INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL OPERATIONS
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JFSC Pub 1
Levels of War
Strategic level of war — The level of war at which a nation, often as a member of a group of nations, determines national or multinational (alliance or coalition) strategic security objectives and guidance, and develops and uses national resources to achieve these objectives.
Tactical level of war — The level of war at which battles and engagements are planned and executed to achieve military objectives assigned to tactical units or task forces.
Operational level of war — The level of war at which campaigns and major operations are planned, conducted, and sustained to achieve strategic objectives within theaters or other operational areas.
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Differences fromConventional Operations
Differences from Conventional Operations9
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Acceptance of greater physical and political risk
Differences from Conventional Operations10
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Operational techniques and modes of employment
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Dependence on detailed operational intelligenceand indigenous assets
Differences from Conventional Operations
Special Operations are dependent on very detailed and real-time intelligence
• Guard schedules
• The height and thickness of walls
• Precise locations of both friendly and hostile forces
• Which way doors open and close
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Independence from friendly support and more reliance on unconventional support and
sophisticated communications
Differences from Conventional Operations13
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Special Operations Characteristics
Special Operations Characteristics14
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Special Operations Employment
Special Operations Characteristics15
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Conducted across the entire range of military operations
Special Operations Characteristics16
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Use of Other Forces
Special Operations Characteristics17
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Special Operations Requirements
Special Operations Requirements 18
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Special Operations Advantages
Special Operations Advantages
• Objective vulnerability
• Minimize political liability and risk of escalation• Reduced visibility• Results are often disproportionate to the
size of the force
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Direct/Indirect Approaches
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• Short, sharply focused offensive actions to isolate and defeat the threat mostly through violent, kinetic actions.
• Rapidly dominate chosen points of vulnerability.
• Clarity of purpose and a clearly defined aim.
• Focus is physical and material instead of psychological.
• Decisive in impact but not end state.
Direct Approach
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• Focus on preparing, shaping and influencing the environment.
• Sets conditions for targeted application of the direct approach.
• Targets the minds of the adversaries and populations.
• Irregular means in a protracted, methodical, and deliberate manner.
• Through, by, and with indigenous forces to preserve legitimacy or obscure intentions while achieving strategic and operational objectives.
Indirect Approach
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Historical Special Operations
The Doolittle Raid -- 1942
Burning ships in Pearl Harbor
B-25B Mitchell medium bomber
USS Hornet, Yorktown class aircraft carrier
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Historical Special Operations
Improvised low-level bombing site
Eighty brave men, all volunteers
The plan was to launch from 400 miles, bomb and recover in China.
The Doolittle Raid -- 1942
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Historical Special Operations
Tokyo, Japan 1942
B-25s onboard USS Hornet en route to Japan One of sixteen B25s
launching off the USS Hornet
The Doolittle Raid -- 1942
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Historical Special Operations
LTC Doolittle wires a message to a bomb
Japanese soldiers escort a captured crew into the city.
U.S. morale soars
The Doolittle Raid -- 1942
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Conclusion
• Tactical operations best applied to achieve operational and strategic level effects
• Different than conventional operations with unique characteristics, requirements and advantages
• Are applied across the full range of military operations
• A compliment to conventional operations, not a substitute
