{"id":82751,"date":"2024-05-12T16:17:24","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T16:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/05\/12\/us-special-operations-leaders-are-having-to-do-more-with-less\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:10:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:10:02","slug":"us-special-operations-leaders-are-having-to-do-more-with-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2024\/05\/12\/us-special-operations-leaders-are-having-to-do-more-with-less\/","title":{"rendered":"US special operations leaders are having to do more with less"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FORT LIBERTY, N.C. \u2014 Forced to do more with less and learning from <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine\">the war in Ukraine<\/a>, U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.socom.mil\/about\">special operations commanders<\/a> are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting their overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conflicting pressures are forcing a broader restructuring of the commando teams, which are often deployed for high-risk counterterrorism missions and other sensitive operations around the world. The changes under consideration are being influenced by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, including lessons learned by British special operations forces there.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2024\/05\/09\/us-special-forces-want-longer-reach-for-rockets-snipers-robots\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/javelin.jpg_533086.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US special forces want longer reach for rockets, snipers, robots<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The new sniper rifle would replace two weapons currently in use.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which bears the brunt of the personnel cuts, is eyeing plans to increase the size of its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goarmy.com\/careers-and-jobs\/specialty-careers\/special-ops\/special-forces.html\" target=\"_blank\">Green Beret<\/a> teams \u2014 usually about 12 members \u2014 to bring in people with more specialized and technical abilities. One possibility would be the addition of computer software experts who could reprogram drones or other technical equipment on the fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But similar changes could ripple across all the military services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA 12-person detachment might be upgunned,\u201d said Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. He said an Air Force pilot, Navy ship driver, cryptologist or cyber expert may be needed as battlefields become more challenging and high tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United States is \u201ctaking a lot of lessons learned out of the experience in Ukraine, mostly through the eyes of our U.K. special operations partners, who not only have done that in their formations, but they\u2019ve also learned very quickly that they needed other elements of their joint force,\u201d he told The Associated Press in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As an example, he said British commandos needed Royal Air Force pilots to help advise on drone operations and Royal Navy teammates \u201cto help them understand, more than a SOF (special operations forces) teammate could, the way a ship in the Black Sea navigates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bulk of the cuts stem from the Army\u2019s decision to reduce the size of its force by about 24,000 and restructure its troops as the U.S. shifts from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency to focus more on large-scale combat operations. The Army also has struggled <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/army-recruiting-overhaul-college-job-hunting-cc2d8200467f3920e333197e42eee2ea\" target=\"_blank\">to meet recruitment goals<\/a> and had to reduce the overall size of its force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.soc.mil\/\" target=\"_blank\">Army Special Operations Command<\/a>, which Fenton said is absorbing about 4,000 cuts ordered over the past year and a half, is looking at bringing in people with high-tech skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think one of the questions is how much can you teach a Green Beret versus some of these specialties are extremely technical,\u201d said Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commander of the command at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. \u201cYou can teach a person about how to use a drone. But then to say, I want to have a software engineer program that drone, that\u2019s something different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cuts to Army special operations forces have triggered some congressional opposition, including during recent Capitol Hill hearings where lawmakers noted the impact at Fort Liberty. Fenton also spoke bluntly at the hearings about the growing demand for special operations forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said U.S. regional commanders around the world consistently want more and that cutting the forces means \u201cwe\u2019ll be able to meet less of what they demand. And I think we owe the secretary of defense our assessment as we go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of special operations forces and support staff grew, particularly since they were often spread out in small, remote bases where they needed additional security and other logistical help. Now, Pentagon leaders say the numbers can shrink a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2023\/11\/01\/personnel-cuts-and-a-force-redesign-ahead-for-army-special-operations\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Army-Special-Forces-live-fire.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Personnel cuts and force redesign ahead for Army special operations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Though cuts are more severe in support and enabler areas, officials say those are the vital areas needed in Army SOF to compete against peer adversaries.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fenton said a cut of about 2,000 personnel in special operations was ordered by the department about a year and a half ago, including about 750 in the Army. That was followed this year by a cut of 3,000 in Army special operations. The cuts are to be spread out across five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo the real Army reduction in totality is almost 4,000, and the remaining 1,000 will come from the joint force, SEALs, Marine raiders, other Army units,\u201d said Fenton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Roberson, the question is where to cut his Army troops. \u201cCuts have a way of crystallizing your focus and your view of, okay, what\u2019s important to me? What\u2019s the future? What do I really need to have,\u201d he said in an interview in his Fort Liberty office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He and other Army leaders said a significant percentage of the special forces cuts are in slots that are already open so would not affect existing personnel. Roberson estimated that at least 30% of the cuts are in those open jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For other reductions, he said he is looking for redundancies, including among trainers and instructors. Army leaders have also said that psychological operations and civil affairs, both part of the Army command, are facing cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt the end of 20 years of war, it\u2019s always a good time to look back and say, OK, what did I have when this started? What did I learn? What did I do, what was important to me?\u201d Roberson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And even if all teams are not boosted in size, he said the Army needs to be able to quickly augment them with specialists. In some cases a mission might need just a couple technical support members, and other times could need six or seven, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More broadly, as his forces absorb the cuts, their training must also be changed or increased to include more technology, robotics or sensors and signals intelligence information, Roberson added. Right now, he said, his troops are experimenting with the various options at the National Training Center in California and out in the field in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adaptability is the key, he said, and \u201cwe have to figure out how we\u2019re going to make the most of this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":107735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1334],"class_list":["post-82751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HQCVHEBLS5EQNFS5KECWTXJT4Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2024\/05\/12\/us-special-operations-leaders-are-having-to-do-more-with-less\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US special operations leaders are having to do more with less - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next five years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US special operations leaders are having to do more with less\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next five years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2024\/05\/12\/us-special-operations-leaders-are-having-to-do-more-with-less\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Army Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-12T16:17:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T16:10:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lolita C. 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