The official USAJFKSWCS website will migrate at the end of October 2026.

Please note that only minimal updates will be made to the current site during this transition. For any questions or assistance, please contact the Public Affairs Office at pao_swcs@socom.mil.

Special Warfare Journal Banner

Banner illustration for An Institutional Home for ARSOF Robotics:  Establishing a SORD-Training Company for Standards, Training, and Doctrine (Illustration by Special Warfare Journal staff.)An Institutional Home for ARSOF Robotics:
Establishing a SORD-Training Company for Standards, Training, and Doctrine

ARSOF requires a dedicated institutional organization to develop, standardize, and sustain robotics training, doctrine, experimentation, and Special Operations Robotics Detachment (SORD) support. Currently, these functions are scattered across schools, MOS pipelines, ad hoc initiatives, and unit-level efforts. Each group builds SORD capabilities independently with its own standard and its own assumptions, which means the force has many versions of "trained" and no agreed definition of it. Standardization of institutional training is an explicit role at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS). A SORD Training and Integration Company (SORD-T) within SWCS would provide the missing connective tissue between MOS pipelines, advanced robotics courses, operational detachments, and emerging technology. This article is not focused on any singular course it presents a force-design proposal, focusing on a sustainable, neutral, institutional home for robotics capability generation.
Results:
Tag: WWII

June 15, 2026

The Joint Force in the Jungle: The Alamo Scouts Blueprint for Special Forces in Large Scale Combat Operations

Over the last 20 years, the U.S. military has been highly focused on counterinsurgency operations as we engaged in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). This focus, along with expertise in irregular warfare and partner force operations, enabled Special Forces to take a predominant role in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today we face a different world. Competition among the great powers is increasing, requiring the U.S. military to shift focus to prepare for LSCO undertaken against a peer enemy. This transition is a natural fit for the conventional force as tankers prepare for armored clashes, naval officers plan fleet engagements, and pilots contemplate a world without airspace supremacy. For Special Forces, this shift can be more confusing. As divisions and corps become the units of action, where does a small team of Green Berets fit?

May 1, 2026

General James Van Fleet: Lessons for Modern Special Operations Soldiers

One can be forgiven for not associating Gen. James Van Fleet with special operations or Special Forces. He is best known as the commander of the U.S. Eighth Army from April 1951 to February 1953 during the Korean War. The majority of Van Fleet’s career was spent in traditional infantry roles, as a machine gun battalion commander in World War I and as a regimental, division, and corps commander during World War II. However, his assignment as head of the Joint United States Military Advisory Group, Greece (JUSMAG-Greece) in 1948, and his leadership and design of “Operation Rat Killer” during the Korean War, should grab our attention.

July 10, 2025

Book Review: Patton’s War: An American General’s Combat Leadership, Volume 1

George S. Patton, Jr. remains one of the most renowned leaders in American military history. This is the narrative any student of history will find, emblazoned by Patton’s own memoirs, the seminal works of Martin Blumenson, Carlo D’Este, and Stanley Hirshon, and autobiographies of Patton’s peers and superiors. Historian Kevin Hymel seeks to contextualize this narrative through the lens of another Patton, “the man mentioned in the letters and memoirs of the many soldiers he led into battle.”

Special Warfare Journal Logo