DefenseAlert

Admiral: SOCOM 'Fraying Around The Edges'

Posted on InsideDefense.com: February 8, 2011

Combatant commanders' record-setting demands for the military's most elite

troops are outstripping U.S. Special Operations Command's resources,
according to SOCOM chief Adm. Eric Olson.

In the last nine years, SOCOM has roughly doubled the size of its force,
tripled its budget and quadrupled its overseas deployments, he told a packed
ballroom today at the National Defense Industrial Association's annual
conference on special operations.

“So we are doing more with more, but the more we're doing it with doesn't
match the more we've been asked to do,” he said. “And so we are frankly
beginning to show some fraying around the edges that we are addressing in a
number of ways.” Though SOCOM forces are “doing great,” the challenge is
ensuring that SOCOM maintains the quality and sufficiency needed for decades
to come, Olson said.

“When I say fraying, I mean that . . . we are seeing a few more this year
than in years' past of sort of mid-grade people leaving the service,” he
said, noting that about 60 percent of the command's troops came in after the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “This is all they know in their military
service,” he added. “They were inspired by the events of 9/11 to serve their
country and now eight or 10 years later they are satisfied with what they
did and they feel like they were . . . part of something important, but what
seems good for eight to 10 years maybe doesn't seem as good looking ahead to
18 or 20 years.”

Elite troops are spending more time than ever deployed, he said, noting the
“employment ratio” within special operations forces is “off the charts.”
These troops and their families have proven “far more resilient than we
predicted,” he added. But like the rest of the military, though not on the
same scale, SOCOM is seeing “indicators of pressure” that impacts personnel
both on and off duty, he said.

“So when I say we're taking measures to address it, we realize that there is
no single solution to this,” Olson said. “It's a thousand different
approaches that will ultimately relieve some of this pressure on the force:
being more predictable in what it is we do, being more committed to the
schedules that we present our people, present them with far fewer surprises
over time, provide them additional training . . . particularly to families
so they understand what resources are available to them.” For those who are
wounded, ill or injured, SOCOM has enhanced its Care Coalition, he said.

Asked what additional hardware SOCOM would like that it does not have now,
Olson said there is a “long list” that might be discussed in another forum.
But he ticked off new efforts SOCOM is already pursuing, including revamping
undersea mobility; developing a replacement for the Mark V surface craft;
and developing remotely piloted capabilities for the air, ground and
maritime domains. He also said SOCOM recently developed and deployed a
prototype “field-level” capability to power systems using solar power.

Inside the Pentagon reported Feb. 3 that an unannounced element of Defense

Secretary Robert Gates' efficiency initiative shifts $2 billion within
SOCOM's budget, a major slice of the funding that supports the Pentagon's
most sensitive missions worldwide. Olson did not broach that subject during
his talk at the conference; as he was leaving the event, he declined to
comment on the $2 billion in efficiencies.

-- Christopher J. Castelli