Training Our Allies
Written by JANICE BURTON
IMPROVING OPERABILITY WITH THE INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL FORCES TRAINING COURSE
During the recent United States Special Operations Command International Special Operations Forces Week, General Doug Brown, USSOCOM commander, called for special operations forces around the world to build a global network of special operations capabilities based on coalition partners learning more about each other’s capabilities. The U.S. Army JFK Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) heeded that call by initiating a transformation of the training offered to international military students.
The result of that transformation is a program of instruction that is designed to enhance the combat effectiveness of U.S. and coalition special operations forces, or SOF, in the global war on terrorism by providing coalition forces with relevant SF training that assists them in the advancement of their SOF program and facilitates the interoperability of coalition and Army special operations forces (ARSOF) in the GWOT and in other actions around the world. Major General James Parker, SWCS commander, tasked the Training Development Division of the SWCS Directorate of Training and Doctrine to create a program that was physically and academically demanding. “He wanted to make sure that this wasn’t a ‘gentleman’s’ course,” said Ronnie McCan, a training developer in TDD.
The new International Special Forces Training Course, or ISFTC, will be offered for the first time in February and again in June. It bears little resemblance to the course that international students have attended at SWCS. In the past, international students attended a piecemeal course that was often interrupted because of the classified nature of the training. As an example, officers attending the old course missed more than 25 days of training because of security issues. During that time the foreign students traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit embassies or other officer training centers, such as The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. The new program will be completely funded by International Military Education and Training through the United States Congress and through foreign military sales, or FMS, which are funds acquired from countries that purchase equipment and weapons systems from the United States. Wealthier countries pay for their own training through FMS, while poorer countries and struggling democracies receive IMET funding.
All students attend the course under the Security Assistance Training Program mandated by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Annually, Congress approves a list of countries eligible for participation in the program. Students chosen to participate in the training are selected by security-assistance officers, or SAOs, who are assigned to American embassies throughout the world, according to Maryanne Perry, chief of the International Military Student Office, or ISMO, at SWCS. The students must meet certain criteria, such as passing a physical training test, passing a swim test and being airborne-qualified, before they can be recommended for the training. After the SAO ensures that each student meets the class prerequisites, the Department of State performs security screenings on the candidates. Each student must take an English comprehension test and, depending on their fluency, will either be sent to Fort Bragg for training or to the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, fr English language training.
The first iteration of the SWCS ISFTC course will have students from the following countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Jordan, Latvia, Lithuania, Nepal, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
The new 15-week course was designed to take students through a comprehensive program—without any breaks in training—that gives them an overview of the way the United States trains its SF soldiers so that they can take that information back to their native countries and implement it into their own SF regiments.
Approximately 60 students will attend the course, with two 30-man classes running each year. Much like the SFQC, the course will be divided into phases, with Phase I, Special Forces Assessment and Selection, and Phase V, Small Unit Tactics, or SUT, being conducted with their U.S. counterparts.
In the past, an important component of the course has been the unique friendships that have been formed between the foreign students and their U.S. counterparts as they go through the course together. Course designers were cognizant of the need to keep building those relationships, so they have continued to include U.S. sponsorships for the IMS who attend the SFQC. This civilian and military sponsorship is coordinated through the IMSO. Each soldier is assigned a U.S. counterpart to help him through the administrative processes in the program and to help put things in context for him when he cannot understand what is going on in the class. The civilian sponsorship program draws in both military members and residents from the local community. During the student’s down time, the sponsors show them the area, take them to sporting events or shopping or to church, introducing them to the non-military side of American culture.
The remaining training, Phases II, III and IV of the new ISFTC, are unique to the training program of instruction.
The first iteration of the new ISFTC will also be the first time that foreign soldiers have attended SFAS. According to McCan, the inclusion into SFAS will allow them to get first-hand experience of how Special Force soldiers are selected. “These foreign soldiers are handpicked from their countries to attend this and other defense courses,” McCan said, “so SFAS will be more experiential for them—they will learn how we select and what attributes we look for in soldiers who want to become special forces.”
“Many of these students are coming from developing countries that may either have a very young special operations force or may be starting one,” McCan said. “This training will let them see what they should be looking for in soldiers.”
The hope is that the students will take the lessons learned from SFAS back to their countries to develop a similar selection process or to improve the process already in place.
Special Operations Week is Phase II. During this time, the students will be given an overview of Special Forces, including SF history, the way an SF group is set up, how a theater special operations command works and how a joint special operations task force operates.
“This week is really designed to show them the tools we have as Special Forces soldiers,” said McCan. “We will introduce the use of civil affairs and PSYOP (psychological operations) at this time as well.”
Utilizing the wind tunnel and visits to SF dive lockers, the program will introduce students to SF advanced skills. “We will also introduce them to the equipment we have at our disposal by showing them the capabilities and tools we have that can be used on the ground,” he said.
One area of key importance to the students from developing nations is a block of instruction on human rights and the law of armed conflict, which will be taught by the SWCS judge advocate general. This course, by its very nature, will be sensitive, as not all nations see eyeto- eye on human-rights issues. In certain instances, the United States and its allies play by different sets of rules when interpreting treaties and international law, according to Major Michael Roberts, the SWCS judge advocate general.
More importantly, the Special Operations Week training will prepare the foreign soldiers to work with American Special Forces during combined operations. While this training was not provided to the IMS before, the inclusion helps better prepare the IMS to serve as a commander or staff member of his country’s unit or as a liaison to U.S. SOF in support of ongoing operations.
Phase III is a six-week “crash course” in Special Forces military occupational specialties (MOSs). Under the old program, the students received a two-day introduction to the five MOSs that compose an SF operational detachment. Students will now receive a one-week introduction to four of the 18-series MOSs: the 18 Bravos (weapons sergeants), the 18 Charlies (engineer sergeants), the 18 Deltas (SF medics) and the 18 Echoes (communications sergeants.)
“During each of these weeks, the students will be introduced to the duties and responsibilities of these soldiers as well as a basic understanding of their capabilities,” McCan said. “As an example, when they are attending the 18B training, they will be introduced to the types of weapons the soldiers use—they’ll get to see how it works and how to shoot it.”
The 18 Alpha (SF officer course) has been extended to two weeks. The majority of the international students are officers at the captain level. “We extended this training the extra week to cover the duties and responsibilities of an A-team including warrant officers and team sergeants,” McCan said. “A big part of this training is how to plan for missions—this is really their meat and potatoes.
”During the 18A training, the soldiers will also be schooled in the military decision-making process, with three of the days used as a mission-planning exercise.
Phase IV is geared to training management. Originally designed to be an instructor-training course, this phase evolved to encompass not only classroom training but hands-on training via the simulation center as well. The SWCS Department of Education will give the students a one-day instructor training course showcasing the way SF soldiers are trained to be instructors.
A methods-of-instruction course will also be incorporated into the program. This portion will be challenging for the students, as each student will be required to present a class to his peers. They will be evaluated on how well they give the class. This is particularly important, as many of these soldiers will be required to train other soldiers in SF capabilities and duties upon returning to their native countries.
The students will also visit the SWCS Noncommissioned Officer Academy to gain an understanding of the education system for NCOs. “In a lot of the countries the students are coming from, officers do not deal with NCOs. When they need something, they usually deal with officers—they don’t understand that an SF NCO can make things happen on the ground,” McCan said.
Phase V, the final phase, is a three-week introduction to SUT. The foreign students will attend this portion of training with their American counterparts during this period of training. Students will receive advanced shooting skills and some training in military operations on urbanized terrain, or MOUT. They will spend time learning patrolling, individual and collective tasks, movement under fire, helicopter operations, troop-leading procedures, hand-to-hand combat techniques and advanced shooting skills. Soldiers engaged in SUT training in the transformed SF training pipeline fire more rounds in training than ever before. The foreign students will have that same opportunity.
“This period of training is really about improving their skills,” McCan said. This is one area that course developers may look closer at extending in future iterations.
The training will culminate with a physically challenging multiechelon exercise, affording the international students the opportunity to put the skills they learned throughout the course into practice. Following the culmination exercise, the students will graduate and receive an international SF tab. ♦