By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
TAMPA, Fla., June 14, 2013 – Maintainers across the military take
pride in keeping aircraft, vehicles and weapons systems well-oiled and
ready to go whenever the mission calls. A major initiative is underway
at U.S. Special Operations Command here to better maintain what Navy
Adm. William H. McRaven, the Socom commander, calls the most important
system of all: the operator.
An
Air Force special operations pararescueman gets hoisted off a ship by
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Kurt Leisenring during the Emerald Warrior
2013 exercise off Florida’s Gulf Coast, April 24, 2013. U.S. Special
Operations Command’s Preservation of the Force and Family Task Force is
implementing a holistic program to promote operators’ physical,
psychological, spiritual and social performance to support mission
readiness. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Quinton Russ
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. |
|
“Humans are more important than hardware” is the first of the
“truths” McRaven espouses for the nation’s special operations forces.
This fundamental recognizes that what makes the “tip of the spear” so
sharp is the education, rigorous training and experience of the
operators themselves.
But shortly after arriving at his
headquarters in 2011, McRaven received sobering confirmation that the
special operations community was in trouble. An extensive study directed
by the previous commander, Navy Adm. Eric T. Olson, found “the SOF
force as a whole was frayed,” McRaven told a forum of defense industry
representatives and special operators who gathered here last month.
The study revealed that the current operational environment has been
more difficult than operators and their families expected, leaving
little time for them to adjust to the daily strains of perpetual
absences. The study noted troubling consequences, with increases in
domestic and family problems, substance abuse and self-medication,
risk-taking behaviors, post-traumatic stress, and even suicides.
With continued high operational demands, the fraying continues, McRaven
lamented. “I would say, in the last 20 months, the force is fraying at a
rate I am not comfortable with at all,” he said at the SOF Industry
Conference.
So as McRaven implements his Special Operations
Forces 2020 vision to posture Socom for the future, he has made
“preservation of the force and family” one of the key pillars.
“That is my No. 1 mission,” he told the forum. “It is a moral imperative
that we do all that we can to preserve the force and care for their
families.”
While seeking ways to increase predictability in
special operations forces’ schedules, McRaven has charged what he
renamed the “Preservation of the Force and Family Task Force” to come up
with innovative, holistic approaches to deal with the pressure on the
special operations community.
The task force is working to build
performance across four interconnecting domains: human, psychological,
spiritual and social, explained Navy Capt. Thomas Chaby, the task force
chief.
The idea is not to duplicate programs already being provided
through Defense Department and military services, he emphasized. Rather,
it builds on them, filling in gaps and increasing accessibility for
operators and their families.
“If there was one word you would
say the [task force] is all about, it is readiness,” Chaby said. “It is
all about being ready for our battlefield requirements, and taking care
of our people helps them be as ready as possible.”
Building
resilience in the force helps to set operators up for success, Chaby
said, adding, “It’s all about building their capacity. It is readiness,
readiness, readiness.”
Yet the special operations community
didn’t always recognize that. Chaby remembered his first visit to SEAL
Team 3’s fitness center in 1990 after graduating from basic underwater
demolition/SEAL training. Despite requirements to work in challenging
and often unforgiving environments, the SEALs had limited fitness
equipment and were basically on their own to figure out the best way to
physically train for it.
As a result, many SEALs were injured
during missions or while training for them. Chaby has had eight
operations since becoming a SEAL, and considers himself fairly
representative of his contemporaries.
“Is that the best way to
prepare the primary weapon system? Probably not,” he said. “There was no
thought, science or planning put into [physical training]. The
[Preservation of the Force and Family Task Force] is changing that.”
Today, Socom has a human performance program designed to meet special
operations forces’ unique physical needs. It includes training that aims
to prevent physical injuries through strength and conditioning,
nutrition and physical therapy.
The program also looks at other
ways to maintain the body: teaching operators how to mitigate the
effects of operational demands through everything from hydration to
psychological and social support.
“Putting some thought into it,
applying some science, and backing it up with resources is just common
sense,” Chaby said. “This is a small investment that I believe will reap
itself two-, three-, four-, who-knows-how-many-fold benefits.”
While paying more attention to operators’ bodies, the task force is
committed to boosting their psychological strength and resilience, too.
Chaby noted the mental and emotional strain of more than a decade of
continuous operations, and the need to do everything possible to
mitigate the stressors. So in addition to helping operators develop
positive ways to cope, Socom has joined the rest of the military in
working to take the stigma out of seeking help.
Gone are the days
when operators had to fear getting flagged or having their security
clearance revoked if they sought out psychological help.
“It is
not like that any more. Now, it’s not help against you if you go seek
help, and leadership is setting the example,” Chaby said. “It’s not a
negative any more, like it used to be.”
Ready access to mental
health experts is particularly important in light of Socom’s
consistently high operating tempos, he noted. “We are so dynamic in our
deployment cycles and our work-up cycles that by the time [a scheduled]
appointment comes up, you could well find yourself back on the
battlefield or training somewhere else and have to cancel it,” he said.
So to make services more available and to encourage operators to take
advantage of them, the command has started embedding mental health
professionals attuned to the needs of the special operations community
directly into its units. “The idea is, ‘Let’s give [the operator]
somebody he trusts and feels he can talk to, and let’s give him for
better accessibility,’” Chaby said.
And to ease operator’s
transition from the battlefield to their homes and families, Socom now
typically sends them to alternate sites so they can talk to a chaplain
or psychologist and “decompress” before returning home.
Meanwhile, the Preservation of the Force and Family Task Force is
helping operators get in touch with their spiritual sides as well.
Chaby emphasized that what Socom calls “spiritual performance” isn’t
necessarily about religion. “It could be for some, but that’s not what
it is about,” he said. “It is about spirituality,” which he defined as
core spiritual beliefs, values, awareness, relationships and
experiences.
These elements affect how operators live, the
choices and decisions they make, the quality of their relationships and
their overall ability to find meaning in life, Chaby said. All
ultimately affect their mission performance and their ability to deal
with the challenges of serving in special operations.
So the task
force has turned to chaplains and the wealth of programs they lead or
support to help special operations forces members address their
spiritual needs. This, Chaby said, helps to round out a holistic program
while directly supporting initiatives to build physical and
psychological resilience.
Meanwhile, the task force is exploring
ways to boost operators’ “social performance” -- the ability to
establish and maintain healthy, meaningful relationships, particularly
within their families.
The typical special operator is 29 years
old for enlisted members and 34 for officers, and is married with two
children. Chaby remembered the days not so long ago when Socom gave
little thought to family needs. “The mentality was obvious: ‘If it’s not
in your sea bag, it’s not our responsibility,’” he said.
That’s
changed 180 degrees, he reported. Socom now understands that family
members have a big say in whether a highly trained, experienced operator
will remain in the military. But even more importantly, command leaders
recognize that problems at home can distract operators, potentially
putting them and their buddies at increased risk and directly affecting
the mission.
As a result, the Preservation of the Force and
Family Task Force has made a concerted effort to help build “social
performance” within special operations forces families. The goal, Chaby
said, is to strengthen communication skills and overall resiliency to
better deal with the challenges of multiple, extended separations, many
that involve sensitive, high-risk and secretive missions.
“We are
looking for opportunities to bring families into the equation, because
we have found that the more you do that, the stronger they become,”
Chaby said. “This is empowering them to be part of the team, which in
turn increases and improves the readiness of that soldier, sailor,
airman or Marine.”
Adding up these elements -- improving
operators’ physical, psychological, spiritual and social performance --
can only result in a better force, Chaby said.
“If each element
gives a 1 percent advantage, you end up with a 4 or 5 or 10 percent
better operator, capacity-wise, resiliency-wise, readiness-wise” he
said. “You start adding these things together, and it makes such a
difference.”
It all comes back, he said, to the special
operations forces truism that people -- operators who are ready to be
effective and respond to the demands of the job -- are more important
than hardware.
“If you take care of your people, that is the
foundation of everything we do. Without them, the hardware doesn’t
matter and we are going to have mission failure,” he said. “You have to
have your people ready to go, for whatever the battlefield calls for.”
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