Where were you when you were asked to come down to SOCOM to become the senior enlisted adviser?

I was at JSOC with Adm. McRaven when he was nominated for command of USSOCOM. He asked me then to come with him to Tampa and I readily agreed. He is a tremendous commander, officer, leader, and man. My respect for him and his abilities runs very deep and I would follow him anywhere. It was a no-brainer.

 

It does not take more than a few minutes of walking around any U.S. military facility serving the SOF community to realize the numbers and importance of NCOs to SOCOM especially. As one of them yourself, can you give our readers some sense of how you view the quality of your NCOs and their value to the command?

I can’t say enough about the quality of our SOF NCOs. They are specially selected and highly trained to accomplish each component’s assigned mission. It is so humbling to be amongst such an incredibly motivated and skilled force. In special operations, we talk all the time about how we conduct tactical operations that have a strategic effect, and this is true. However, for most of the American public, these operations are the highly publicized and visible direct action and hostage rescue operations. Those actually are such a small part of what SOCOM accomplishes every day. Don’t get me wrong, they are a core mission of SOF and they are exactly the capability our national leadership and public expect of SOF, but the unheralded work of our force building partner-nation capacity is truly strategic.

One only has to examine the long years spent implementing Plan Colombia or our work in the Philippines to see the true nature of SOF and its ability to achieve national objectives as well as empower our partners’ capability to handle their own security and sovereignty issues. SOF is a key component to the whole-of-government approaches as seen in these two cases. Looking at Plan Colombia – a campaign developed in concert with the interagency and approved by the Department of State – in a decade we were able to empower Colombia to essentially defeat the FARC [translated as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] and bring down internal transnational criminal organizations [TCOs].  As such, Colombia is experiencing an unprecedented period of stability and prosperity. Colombia, of its own initiative, is a contributor to peacekeeping operations around the globe, and is assisting its regional neighbors in their efforts to combat TCOs.

In the Philippines, a decade of SOF support, training, and advising along with efforts by the interagency have brought renewed stability and prosperity to the southern area of Mindanao. Yes, there is still work to be done, but these types of efforts are enduring as local populations develop local solutions. In both cases, this is long grueling work by our Special Forces Operational Detachment Alphas, Naval Special Warfare SEAL platoons, Marine Special Operations Teams, Civil Affairs and Military Information Support Operations, Army and Air Force aviation, and all of those who support them. There is no immediate gratification or results, but our men and women remain focused and dedicated because they know the potential outcomes of these campaigns are strategic. At the heart of all of this effort lies our NCO corps. Without their drive, experience, and continuity, none of this could be achieved. This is why the philosophy of “SOF for Life” is so key. If one truly takes the time to understand what so few have accomplished around the globe, then, and only then, can you truly appreciate the quality of our NCOs.

 

As SOCOM’s senior enlisted adviser, you help act as McRaven’s eyes and ears with respect to the enlisted personnel of the command. How do you personally stay in touch with them, and how are they holding up?

The force is tired and the force is frayed, but it remains capable and ready. We are at an interesting point in SOCOM’s history as we balance the reset of the force while entering the 13th year of war and maintaining mission accomplishment. A balance must be struck, though, and I am confident that leaders at all levels understand this, but it does not mean that the work is over. In fact, it has just begun truly in earnest. As we see a rise in suicides and disciplinary incidents involving substance abuse, we can’t just view this as a simple lack of discipline or professionalism in the force. We have to truly understand the toll the war has and is taking on our force and families.

I can’t emphasize the families enough, either. They have paid as heavy or perhaps a heavier price as our service members supporting them. For too long we have not appreciated the burden of worry and fear coupled with the responsibilities of raising children as single spouses. We have come a long way in removing the stigmas associated with admitting that we are not superhuman but simply human. As such, we are all affected by the duration of this conflict and the unprecedented personnel tempo this has created.

I am on the road constantly to every location that SOF occupies. I have so far made a total of 38 trips totaling a cumulative 6.5 months on the road during my first 17 months of this assignment. I have discussions with both the force and the families. Being at the units and talking to troops and their families at all echelons is the key to getting an accurate and holistic view of the command. One can’t sit in Tampa and truly believe that you can either know or judge what is going on. You have to hear it from them. More importantly, the force has to see that you are listening and you are taking action to correct issues that affect our readiness.

 

The Pressure on the Force and Families Tiger Team (POTFF) was created by McRaven’s predecessor at SOCOM, Adm. Eric Olson, to take a continuing look at the status of SOCOM’s personnel and their families. What have you been learning from the POTFF, and what sorts of conclusions have you been drawing from their reports?

Adm. Olson was correctly concerned about the health of the force and the impacts of the war and the high PERSTEMPO [personnel tempo], and formed the Pressure on the Force and Families Tiger Team to travel throughout the command and talk with them. Their final report landed on Adm. McRaven’s desk as he assumed command. Adm. McRaven then transformed that entity into what is today the Preservation of the Force and Families Task Force. The task force implements the requirements of the various components of SOCOM to meet the readiness requirements of the force and families as it pertains to their mental, spiritual, and physical health.

Each component has a POTFF representative that interacts with the task force here in Tampa. As the requirements are articulated, the SOCOM POTFF acts as the action officers to coordinate with the SOCOM staff, the commander and myself, to either get approval of initiatives or coordinate the resourcing of approved initiatives.

Key tenets of the POTFF that I think are making it successful are, first, that Adm. McRaven directed that we would not study issues ad nauseam. We will waste time trying to objectify subjective issues. Second, the POTFF is not directive in nature. It is foolish to think that a POTFF program created in Tampa could be a one-size-fits-all solution. Each component and its sub-elements are too unique in missions and culture for that to work, and they must be creative in their solutions to get after their challenges. This applies down to the 0-6 command level. Last is the emphasis on communication and providing direct lines into all levels of the chain of command.

As I stated earlier, I am seeing a huge sea change across the force in terms of acknowledgment and recognition of the issues. This is the key. Without that, all the programs in the world will not prove effective. It was interesting as Adm. McRaven and I first came into SOCOM and we visited the units and rolled out POTFF how often we were challenged that “we hear you talking the talk but are you going to walk the walk?” Seventeen months later, the force does see that we are walking the walk and that we are serious, and they are as well.

While we are a long way from resetting the force, and I think as we draw down our combat operations we have yet to see the toughest times, POTFF and the commander’s emphasis are certainly setting the foundation for a healthy and more resilient force.