Unit branches

What is a Ranger or ARSOF Aviator? What is a Special Forces, PSYOP, Civil Affairs, or ARSOF Support soldier?

by the USASOC Historians

From Veritas, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2018

Click on each of the branch calling cards to download a printable version
Special Forces calling card
Special Forces calling card
Rangers calling card
Rangers calling card
PSYOP calling card
PSYOP calling card
ARSOF Aviation calling card
ARSOF Aviation calling card
Civil Affairs calling card
Civil Affairs calling card
ARSOF Support calling card
ARSOF Support calling card

How does an ARSOF soldier concisely explain his/her capabilities to another soldier or, harder still, to a potential recruit in ‘non-militareeze,’ without acronyms and ‘buzz’ terminology, in fewer than 50 words, within 8 seconds, to meet the average attention span of the Generation Y and Z? What defines him/her as an ARSOF soldier specialist? What are the ‘bare minimums’ that this ARSOF soldier ‘will bring to the table’? Are those ‘minimums’ different for officers, warrant officers, sergeants, and enlisted soldiers? This is a difficult challenge for serving ARSOF soldiers, as it was for our veterans.

When President John F. Kennedy promoted Army Special Forces as America’s counter-insurgency specialists, and distinguished them as elite with the Green Beret on 12 October 1961, the Special Warfare Center (SWC) had not codified basic credentials of an SF soldier. Neither had its predecessor, the Psychological Warfare (Psywar) Center, done this for Psywar soldiers. The SF were to organize, train, and advise indigenous guerrilla infantry units, but what specific level of infantry (‘shoot, move, and communicate’) expertise was required? Was it different for officers than non-commissioned officers (NCOs)?

COLs Charles H. Karlstad (U.S. Army Psychological Warfare Center & School Commandant) and Aaron Bank (Center Executive Officer) with LTCs Lester L. Holmes (6th RB&L Group commander) and John O. Weaver (Psywar Division Chief of the Psychological Warfare School) pose by the Headquarters sign on Smoke Bomb Hill, Fort Bragg, NC.
COLs Charles H. Karlstad (U.S. Army Psychological Warfare Center & School Commandant) and Aaron Bank (Center Executive Officer) with LTCs Lester L. Holmes (6th RB&L Group commander) and John O. Weaver (Psywar Division Chief of the Psychological Warfare School) pose by the Headquarters sign on Smoke Bomb Hill, Fort Bragg, NC.

The 1959 “Code of the Special Forces Operator” was a pledge to abide by the Code of Conduct, and an understanding that he was volunteering to be deployed behind enemy lines to organize, train, and exploit guerrilla forces, and realized the hazards involved. He would not tarnish the honor of his team, service, or country. The SF Operator pledged to keep himself mentally and physically fit at all times. He understood that language and specialist training was required, and that he would “undergo more intense and more rugged training than is required of the average soldier of the United States Army.”1 The SF Operator further pledged “to remain in Special Forces for a minimum of six years.”2 And, he acknowledged that a “failure to achieve satisfactory progress in training, demonstration of poor judgment, immaturity or misconduct of such a nature as to bring discredit on [himself] or Special Forces, [would] be proper cause for immediate reassignment and a permanent bar from future duty with Special Forces.”3 Specific standards were not addressed.

Two books, a Pictorial Story of the Special Forces Soldier and a Pictorial Story of the Psychological Warfare Soldier, were illustrated and printed by the 3rd Psywar Detachment, 1st Psywar Battalion (Broadcasting & Leaflet) in 1962. In ‘glittering generalities’ akin to ‘Mom and apple pie’ verbiage, a variety of SF and Psywar ‘special’ skills, operational environments, and unique specialties and techniques were cited for both.

Fifty-six years later, that dilemma still existed. It had been further compounded because ARSOF had a third functional branch, Civil Affairs. And, it encompassed the Rangers, Special Operations Aviation, and Special Operations Sustainment.

Our Volunteer Army (VOLAR), and in turn, the six Army SOF functional specialties, face serious recruiting challenges. The ARSOF ‘calling cards’ were an attempt to ‘codify’ what the Army can expect from our soldiers. They identify basic capabilities—the essence of particular ARSOF specialist soldiers. These fill a void, and a ‘basic issue’ will be distributed to the CSCs and CSUs as a ‘75 percent solution kick start.’ Please reflect on each card’s descriptors and remember the Generation Y and Z audience. Tweak the verbiage, but avoid using contemporary ‘militarese buzz words/terms.’ The descriptors were designed to last more than a few years.

ENDNOTES

  1. Charles H. Briscoe, “The Special Forces Operator,” Veritas: Journal of Army Special Operations History, 14:2 (2018), 63. [return]
  2. Briscoe, “The Special Forces Operator,” 63. [return]
  3. Briscoe, “The Special Forces Operator,” 63. [return]
  4. U.S. Army Special Warfare Center, Pictorial Story of the Special Forces (Fort Bragg, NC: 3rd Psywar Detachment, 1st Psywar Battalion [Broadcast & Leaflet], 1962), iii. [return]
  5. U.S. Army Special Warfare Center, Pictorial Story of the Psychological Warfare Soldier (Fort Bragg, NC: 3rd Psywar Detachment, 1st Psywar Battalion [Broadcast & Leaflet], 1962), iii. [return]