SOF Truths & Imperatives - a different kind of values statement: QMN031

Martial Mental Models: The Quartermaster, Thursday, 6 June

(Today’s report is a 4 minute read)

BLUF: The SOF Truths and SOF Imperatives are cultural artifacts that explain the realities Green Berets must live with and the requirements they're given to conduct special operations effectively. They speak to people both inside and outside the organization and govern behavior and values. Used for both justification and enduring guidance, they help determine actions and direction.

Brady here.Yesterday Chris wrote about the mandate handed to Green Berets in training to consider the second and third order effects of their actions. The boards at Camp Mackall he mentioned display two sets of maxims that govern SOF training and operations - the SOF Truths  and SOF Imperatives. For just about all of us, Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) - where every individual is striving just to be considered for a year or more of special forces training - was the first place we encountered these creeds and commandments. They assured all who saw them that we were reaching for the right goal - to be a part of a fighting group that knew what they were doing, and focused their lives on doing it right. They characterize SOF both to the outside world and to those inside SOF, who are charged with maintaining their nation’s capacity for special operations.

SOF Truths

- Humans are more important than hardware

- Quality is better than quantity

- Special Operations Forces cannot be mass produced

- Competent Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur

- Most special operations require non-SOF assistance

The truths describe a set of organizations that value human skills, knowledge and abilities above all, with a realization that it takes time and focus to develop those things. In his excellent summary, CW5(ret) John Friberg lays out a brief history of the SOF truths - developed in the 1980s when SOF had to explain to service chiefs and elected officials why it needed time and resources well ahead of conflict to create and maintain forces that would be capable when needed. It's no wonder that planning and preparation are so key to Green Beret life - their very existence as a regiment depends on it.

SOF Imperatives

- Understand the operational environment

- Recognize political implications

- Facilitate interagency activities

- Engage the threat discriminately

- Consider long-term effects

- Ensure legitimacy and credibility of Special Operations

- Anticipate and control psychological effects

- Apply capabilities indirectly

- Develop multiple options

- Ensure long-term sustainment

- Provide sufficient intelligence

- Balance security and synchronization

In contrast, the Imperatives act as commandments on how to approach operations. Most speak to a measured and deliberate application of the use of force through a considered, targeted approach. While they don't explicitly say ‘Consider the Second- and Third-order effects!' as Chris remembers (likely because everyone hears it a lot while being punished in SFQC), the push to consider political implications, long term effects, psychological effects and to develop multiple options pretty much covers it. 

It's also important to mention that every services’ SOF are subject to these and approach them in different ways based on their mission. A Ranger, SEAL, MARSOC Critical Skills Operator, and Combat Controller all fight differently and thus select and train their organizations accordingly. But these ideas all apply to each group.

Finally, for those who'd like a good primer on considering second and third order effects, this 2006 article from the Joint Information Operations Center lays out a simple methodology for developing branches to the plan with such considerations. (BJM)

THE WRITER AND HIS WAR: The Man Who Told America the Truth About D-Day (9 min) A sobering look at what constant exposure to modern war does to a man. “Pyle often included himself in his stories, addressing his readers directly and letting them see him in the scene, a reassuring presence who was keeping his eye on things for them, reducing sprawling events to their digestible essentials. But here Pyle depicted himself as stunned and confused — a dazed witness to gambles and losses on a scale that nobody could comprehend. “I picked up a pocket Bible with a soldier’s name in it, and put it in my jacket,” he wrote. “I carried it half a mile or so and then put it back down on the beach. I don’t know why I picked it up, or why I put it back down.” Despite this somber portrait of his eventual despair, Pyle’s explanation of infantrymen remains one of my all-time favorite descriptions of any group of people: “I love the infantry because they are the underdogs. They are the mud-rain-frost-and-wind boys. They have no comforts, and they even learn to live without the necessities. And in the end they are the guys that wars can’t be won without.” (BJM)

MEMORY MANIPULATION: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Scientists Discover How to Enhance and Suppress Memories with Uncanny Accuracy (3 min) “Then something interesting happened: they noticed that stimulating the bottom of the hippocampus could actually induce long-term anxious behavioral changes in mice, not unlike the cause and effect of PTSD. "A lot of psychiatric disorders are based on the idea that after there's a really traumatic experience, the person isn't able to move on because they recall their fear over and over again," explains Chen.”

“Conversely, activating the top portion of the hippocampus could actually suppress these negative memories, blunting the trauma and reducing the intrusive thoughts and memories that trigger anxious behavioral changes over time.” (KSA)

AUTHORITY TO THE LOWEST LEVEL: How changes to mission command will mean soldiers taking risks and taking charge on complex battlefields (3 min) “The pace of fighting was exceptionally fast – confusion was the norm” is the battle vignette that Col. Charles Lombardo hopes commanders will take with them when they leave a ramped-up rotation at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. That location is one testbed for an overhaul of how Army leaders push authority down to the lowest levels of fighting units.”

“Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, looks at ways to reinvigorate Army doctrine on mission command and how that will fit in garrison, at training centers and on deployment in an article he co-authored with Maj. Gen. Douglas Crissman at the Maneuver Center of Excellence and Maj. Kelly McCoy, a TRADOC strategist. The article was published by the Army University Press in April.” (BJM)

THE JUNIOR EXEC WITH CPP: PACE

Yesterday I talked about planning for the second- and third-order effects. My favorite mnemonic is PACE: Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency. It’s simply a way to create quadruple redundancy in critical aspects of a plan, say in methods of communications. 

Practically speaking, going into a sales meeting with a primary, alternate, and contingency plan to handle customer objections, or insuring there’s redundancy in the safety equipment you pack for a camping trip is a great way to mitigate risk. (CPP)

Remarks Complete. Nothing Follows.

KS Anthony (KSA), Chris Papasadero (CPP) & Brady Moore (BJM)