Creating "Purpose-Driven" Forces: Enhancing the Contributions of U.S. Army National Guard Special Forces

Abstract

The U.S. Army National Guard (ARNG) contains two Special Forces Groups, the 19th and the 20th, which constitute 29% of the Army's Special Forces. Years of war have honed the capabilities of both the active component (AC) and ARNG Special Forces. Nevertheless, according to AC and ARNG officials, using the National Guard is not always as easy as it might be. The ARNG mobilization process is arduous, and the time and resources available to prepare ARNG units for mobilization are scarce. Further, command and control of ARNG units is challenging, given that units are spread over 18 states. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command asked RAND Arroyo Center to help find options for enhancing the contributions of ARNG Special Forces and making them a "purpose-driven" force, that is, organized and employed to take advantage of their strong suits (e.g., skills from civilian careers, language capabilities, depth of work experience). Researchers conducted an online survey and in-person interviews with ARNG Special Forces personnel and others, and analyzed data on deployment, training, qualifications, and related topics. Key findings: Although many valuable civilian skills are present within the ARNG Special Forces, they do not exist in the densities needed to build specific units around them; There is an emerging consensus about "niche" roles that ARNG Special Forces could play, including theater security cooperation activities, unconventional warfare, and foreign internal defense; Deployments are increasingly important, not only to accomplish the mission, but also to build and maintain competence within ARNG Special Forces and to win the confidence of the Army's AC; and There are many options for enhancing the contributions of ARNG Special Forces, including using regular Army advisors at Special Forces company level, increasing Special Forces Qualification Course quotas and support, and seeking authority to access ARNG Special Forces for non-named operations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA577278

Entities

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Command And Control
  • Corporations
  • Department Of Defense
  • Health Care
  • Homeland Security
  • Intellectual Property
  • Language
  • Law
  • Military Organizations
  • National Guard
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Special Forces
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Training
  • Unconventional Warfare
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control