 SOCJFCOM completes in-residence JSOTF training course
Special Operations Command-Joint Forces Command recently conducted a week-long course in Suffolk, Va. for those transferring to a theater special operations command or being assigned as an individual augmentee to a joint special operations task force to prepare them for what they will see and do when they deploy.
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By Robert Pursell
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(SUFFOLK, Va. - May 12, 2008) - U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) Special Operations Command - Joint Forces Command (SOCJFCOM) recently wrapped up its second joint special operations task force (JSOTF) Level II course.
SOCJFCOM, a subordinate command of USJFCOM, serves as the DoD's primary joint special operations forces (SOF) trainer and integrator, supporting all geographic combatant commands and joint task forces.
SOCJFCOM's seven core training functions include command and control, intelligence, operations, support, plans, communications and effects.
The week-long Level II course, conducted in Suffolk, Va., is for those transferring to a theater special operations command assignment or being assigned as an individual augmentee to a JSOTF. The course represents what the warfighter will see at a JSOTF headquarters.
Air Force Maj. George Dowdy, one of the instructors for the course, explained the purpose of the course.
"We've taken a lot of guys that are used to operating at the tactical level and moved it up one level to the operational level of war, where the staff must link strategic objectives with tactical operations," he said.
Dowdy said the course included 35 students representing all of the services and explained its importance.
"We had a mix of students who brought with them a joint flavor and a wide array of expertise. Not only did we have special operators, like Navy SEALS and Green Berets, but we also had conventional members who have only served in traditional roles with their respective service.
"Here we are talking about special operations and that's a new concept to a lot of folks who have only worked conventional operations. These are the folks who are sitting out there on these different task forces that have been formed,' said Dowdy. "We can't afford to have special operators doing all the staff functions so we've got to pull in conventional forces and this course does a good job of helping integrate them into the SOF fight."
The class used presentations, discussion and personal interaction to provide an overview of doctrine, planning, coordination, integration, employment and implementation to an individual augmentee headed into a theater JSOTF.
One of the students, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Eric Denis, said his greatest benefit of the course was the ability to look at the larger picture and see how everything fits together.
"What I've gained the most out of this course was simply being able to bring the connection to what happens actually on the ground at a tactical trigger-pulling level to how that fits into the bigger picture of what the joint task force commander as well as the joint special operations task force commander is trying to achieve," he said.
Dowdy explained how the training went and highlighted the level of participation and energy of the students.
"I think it went really well…the level of participation, the energy that went into the different practical exercises that we had the students perform," he said. "We had them sitting there for about three hours, but if you walked in you saw them all very engaged. They actually saw three hours as a short time period for what we had asked them to accomplish. It looked like everybody enjoyed it and really started realizing all of the things that need to be thought out and planned."
SOCJFCOM conducts its training at two additional levels as well. The other courses include Level I, a web-based joint SOF individual training for individuals assigned to a JSOTF who may not have a joint or SOF background and Level III, joint SOF collective training for a JSOTF.
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