Unconventional Warfare (United States Department of Defense Doctrine) - U.S. Department of Defense UW Mission

U.S. Department of Defense UW Mission

UW was the first mission assigned to United States Army Special Forces when they were formed in 1952; they now have additional missions, including foreign internal defense (FID). In the United States, "special forces" refers specifically to the United States Army Special Forces (SF), as opposed to the usage in most other countries, where "special forces" refers to the range of unit types that the U.S. calls "special operations forces" controlled by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). SF units are tasked with seven primary missions: :*unconventional warfare (United States Department of Defense doctrine) (UW)

  • foreign internal defense (FID)
  • special reconnaissance (SR)
  • direct action (DA)
  • counter-terrorism (CT)
  • counter-proliferation (CP)
  • psychological operations (United States) (PsyOps)
  • information operations (IO).

SF may be given other missions including warfare and support, combat search and rescue (CSAR), security assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining and counter-drug operations; other USSOCOM units or other U.S. government activities may be the specialists in these secondary areas

The UW mission assumes that U.S. forces will work with troops in another country and possibly with other allies; UW is always multinational. Depending on the particular situation, their role may be from pure training all the way to leading a joint force in combat. Over more than fifty years, roles and missions have continued to evolve, based on the history of operations.

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