AFSOC’s combat controllers, integrated into SF ODAs, allowed bombers carrying heavy loads of precision-guided munitions to destroy enemy bunkers in close proximity to friendly troops – something unimaginable only a few years before. AFSOC Combat Talon tanker/transports flew some of the most difficult and dangerous flight profiles in aviation history. AFSOC AC-130 gunships delivered incredibly accurate fire on point targets, while helicopters like the venerable MH-53J Pave Low IVs (which entered service back in 1987) hauled teams and supplies over high mountain passes and were first responders for medical evacuation.

U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM) joined in the fight also, with Harward’s C/JSOTF-S composed of SEALs, an SF battalion, Special Boat Teams, and SOF contingents from six allies (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, and Norway). C/JSOTF-S conducted operations in southern Afghanistan, along with sealing the maritime routes in and out of the region. Operating for only six months, from October 2001 to March 2002, the unit earned the coveted Presidential Unit Citation, awarded by Bush in December 2004, on the very day Hamid Karzai was sworn in as president of Afghanistan.

Some lesser-known components of USASOC were key to the success of the mission, such as the 160th SOAR and the 112th Signal Battalion. At one point, C/JSOTF-N’s entire lift capability into Afghanistan consisted of just six MH-47E Chinooks, the only U.S. helicopters able to haul useful payloads over the mountain passes. At the same time, the 112th Signal Battalion provided critical communication and data links back to the rest of the world. Finally, civil affairs and psychological warfare units helped prepare Afghans for the arrival of American forces, laying the groundwork to rebuild their ravaged country. Within three months of the Taliban surrender on Dec. 8, coalition forces secured control of Afghanistan. Vicious battles with the Taliban and al Qaeda followed in the mountains along the Afghan/Pakistan border. Despite losses, including eight SOF warriors during Operation Anaconda in March 2002, Afghanistan moved haltingly toward stability, with NATO taking control of the effort in 2006.

 

Operation Enduring Freedom: Other Fronts

In January 2002, SOCOM began to supply SOF units for anti-terrorist operations in the southern Philippines. Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic militant group affiliated with al Qaeda, had been kidnapping American businessmen and tourists and bombing commercial aircraft for some years. Supporting the government of the Philippines, the United States initiated Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines (OEF-P, also called Operation Freedom Eagle) in January 2002, commanded by then-Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, USAF. Initially run as Exercise Balikatan 02-1, OEF-P grew into a Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF) of almost 1,200 U.S personnel.

The OEF-P JSOTF included NAVSPECWARCOM personnel, SF soldiers from the 1st Special Forces Group (SFG), helicopters from the 160th SOAR, and support and communications personnel. Based at Zamboanga City on Mindanao, JSOTF-P trains and advises Philippine troops on the island of Basilan and surrounding waters. Under the existing status of forces agreement and Philippine law, U.S. personnel are officially not allowed to engage in “direct combat.”

OEF-P is a quiet and unqualified success, with active Abu Sayyaf fighters reduced from more than 1,000 to perhaps fewer than 300 to 400 today. A subsidiary effort, Operation Smiles, provides medical treatment to more than 18,000 Filipino civilians.

Similar operations include Operation Enduring Freedom-Horn of Africa, (OEF-HOA) based in Djibouti; Operation Enduring Freedom-Pankisi Gorge (OEFPG) in Georgia; and Operation Enduring Freedom-Trans Sahara (OEF-TS) in sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel. The largest of these, OEF-HOA, run under Joint Task Force Aztec Silence, combats terrorist activities in Somalia and Kenya. Under European Command (EUCOM), these efforts quietly work to break up terrorist networks.

 

Operation Iraqi Freedom

Bush declared Iraq a member of the “Axis of Evil” in his 2002 State of the Union address, making it America’s top target following the Taliban surrender. By the spring of 2002, SOCOM was preparing for a new challenge. Along with a flood of new equipment, weapons, vehicles, and aircraft, SOCOM units also received the most important resource: new people. An infusion of newly selected, trained, and qualified SOF warriors began to arrive at units in mid-2002, filling out teams that had fought since 9/11 with what had been on hand.

For Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the United States and its allies assembled the largest collection of SOF ever committed, even bigger than the effort for Operation Overlord in 1944. This included most of SOCOM, along with units from Great Britain, Australia, and Poland. In OIF, SOF forces would undertake the following missions:

• locate and destroy or capture suspected Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and their delivery systems;
• screen and support heavy conventional forces entering Iraq from Kuwait and Turkey;
• seize and protect critical Iraqi infrastructure: oil production, refining, and transportation facilities and bridges, dams, and public utilities;
• capture and/or eliminate Iraqi leaders, including Saddam Hussein, his family, and tribal members; and
• support and advise anti-Saddam militias and train/advise Free Iraqi Force units.

To accomplish these tasks, on Jan. 7, 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld established unprecedented new authorities. For the first time, SOF officers would be allowed to command Joint Task Forces (JTFs), as well as JSOTFs. In addition, conventional units could be assigned to JSOTFs, taking orders from the task force commander.

By early 2003, SOF forces had deployed to friendly nations in Europe and the Middle East. But before the Iraqi invasion could begin, the plan began to come apart. On March 1, 2003, the new Turkish parliament voted to deny U.S. access to Turkish ports, airspace, and territory. Then, on March 19, Bush ordered a preemptive strike against Saddam Hussein and his sons in Baghdad, which failed. The carefully crafted SOF infiltration plan was in a complete shambles.