John S Prairie

Organization of United States Army Special Forces in the Objective Force John S Prairie

The current task organization of Army Special Forces was developed fifty years ago to execute missions in a very specific operational environment against a threat that was simple to template. In the twenty-first century this organization is no longer suitable. The Army recognizes this and has initiated a program to transform all of its forces into an Objective Force with specific capabilities to successfully operate in the future operational environment in order to accomplish full spectrum dominance. This thesis examines research material revolving around the Army's Transformation Plan for the Objective Force and breaks the analysis into a four step process. The first step is to review the contemporary operational environment and the characteristics of the future threat. The second step is to identify those operations and mission areas of the Objective Force. The third step is to define unconventional operations and the required capabilities that Special Forces will need to embody in order to be successful at every point across the spectrum of operations. The paper concludes by proposing a realistic Special Forces task organization for Units of Employment and Units of Action that embody the requirements stated in the Army's vision for the Objective Force.