What Is The Future Of Special Forces?
How the rapidly changing nature of battle is shrinking operational space
First of all, let’s define what we mean by the term Special Forces. In a lot of dictatorships (Russia, North Korea, China) it just means troops who’ve been given slightly better equipment and trained to perform risible martial arts routines for the camera. These forces are “special” in the same way as some people have special needs. Then there are the large-scale units like the US Green Berets where personnel have specialized training such as the cultivation of local guerillas, the development and propagation of propaganda materials, and co-ordination of friendly forces. These special forces are essentially force multipliers. They possess better-than-average combat capabilities but their true value is in leveraging local assets, which is a specialized mission profile.
Unfortunately the waters become muddied quite quickly. The US 75th Ranger Regiment is classified as special forces and its personnel are highly trained. But are they truly “special” or simply very good soldiers capable of performing a wide range of mission profiles? Where on the spectrum between regular troops and special forces would we place the UK’s Parachute Regiment, the three battalions of which rotate through training as Special Forces Support Group? How would we…
