Understanding “Jade Helm” Part 1: UW vs. DA and Part 2: Why We Need This Kind of Training

Good summary here (from Part 2):

To put it in very plain terms, once the decision had been made by the senior leaders within USASOC and Special Forces Command to refocus on Unconventional Warfare:

• 2012, Army Doctrine Publication 3.05 formally introduced into doctrine the two complementary capabilities of ARSOF: special warfare (UW) and surgical strike (DA).
• 2012 USASOC created a 10 year plan, or blueprint to refocus the Green Berets from kicking doors, back to training guerrilla forces.
• 2013 released ARSOF 2022 (the ten year blueprint)
• 2014 released ARSOF 2022 part 2 showing the lesson learned, progress and way ahead.
• 2014 created 1st SFC (A) which combines all the Army units trained in UW
• JULY 15 – SEP 15 2015 JADE HELM

Basically JADE HELM 15 is the culmination of three years of work. It is an exercise for USASOC and the 1st Special Forces Command (A) to see how their 10 year blueprint is coming along. It will allow them to find out which skills are on track, and find those that need more work. deficient and need to be emphasized. and at what level that need to be

With all that being said and explained what does it have to do with Jade Helm 15? Jade Helm 15 has two goals. The first is to give the teams on the ground a chance to practice all of the varied skill’s required to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt, or overthrow a government or occupying power by operating “by with and through” an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force in a denied area.

The second and in my opinion the most important reason for Jade Helm 15 is to give the commanders, and staffs at multiple echelons a chance to practice command and control of a SIMULATED regional UW campaign.

Every Green Beret has to go through Robin Sage before they graduate. Robin Sage is UW training that happens during the last phase of the Special Forces Qualification Course. It takes place in south central NC, and has for over 50 years. (For more information on Robin Sage and other types of off realistic military training RMT check out Jade Helm 15: Special Forces Off-Post Training.)

Richard, a Green Beret on the popular Special Forces forum Professionalsoldiers.com put Jade Helm 15 vs Robin sage in a beautifully simplistic way everyone can understand.

Robin Sage, the large UW exercise for SF students which has been taking place throughout NC for over fifty years, is only an introductory 100 level undergrad course for an SF soldier in training.

Once assigned to an SF Group, follow-on exercises like Jade Helm 15, for example, are the 500-800 level courses for advanced studies in UW to be applied world-wide when directed in support of US strategic policy.

Understanding “Jade Helm” Part 1: UW vs. DA

July 16, 2015 by Loren Schofield ~ Leave A Comment

http://www.havokjournal.com/nation/understanding-jade-helm-part-1-uw-vs-da/

To understand Jade Helm 15, and why this type of training is important, people need to understand two major key concepts. The first is Unconventional Warfare (UW); what it is, why it is used and the training required to become proficient at it. The second is the internal fight within the Special Forces community on the UW vs. Direct Action (DA) mentality.

Understanding “Jade Helm” Part 2: Why We Need This Kind of Training

http://www.havokjournal.com/nation/understanding-jade-helm-part-2-need-kind-training/

July 18, 2015 by Loren Schofield ~ Leave A Comment

If you missed Part 1 of this series, you can read it here.  And if you are not familiar with Special Forces history I recommend looking at my article Special Forces Primer: Lesson 1 – Correcting Misconceptions:

Special Forces traces its roots as the Army’s premier proponent of unconventional warfare from the Operational Groups and Jedburgh teams of the Office of Strategic Services. The OSS was formed in World War II to gather intelligence and conduct operations behind enemy lines in support of resistance groups in Europe and Burma. After the war, individuals such as Col. Aaron Bank, Col. Wendell Fertig and Lt. Col. Russell Volckmann used their wartime OSS experience to formulate the doctrine of unconventional warfare that became the cornerstone of the Special Forces. In June of 1952, the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) was established under Col. Aaron Bank. Concurrently with this was the establishment of the Psychological Warfare School, which ultimately became today’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. Special Forces Soldiers first saw combat in 1953 as individuals deployed from 10th SFG (A) to Korea.

For eight or nine years Special Forces was getting further and further away from their roots. As the GWOT progressed, Special Forces commanders were only giving lip service to UW. Instead they focused more and more on DA. During this time there were people within the community screaming, that we can’t lose our UW skills. Behind closed doors there was intense and extremely heated debates. From the team rooms to the highest level of command, up and down the hallways there was the argument on UW vs DA.

With Iraq over in 2011, and (at the time) what looked like U.S. troops being pulled out of Afghanistan, coupled with the downsizing of the military, Special Forces Command finally realized the need to rebuild their UW capabilities, and use the lessons we learned from over a decade of war. In July of 2012, LTG Charles T. Cleveland took command of the United States Special Operations Command (USASOC) and in April of 2013 releasedARSOF 2022.

LTG Cleveland said in a 2014 interview:

Last year, USASOC took a major step forward by introducing ARSOF 2022 as our blueprint for the future. ARSOF 2022 sought to clarify the narrative for Army special operations, provide direction to the force, and establish a process for future force development that leads to better support of joint force commanders in the future environment. It set in motion a number of changes primarily focused on the tactical aspects of our business and exploring the beginnings of SOF operational art.