• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Loadout Room

The Loadout Room

Professional Gear Reviews

Hardcore Gear and Adventure

Menu
  • Shooting
        • Pistol
        • Pistol Accessories
        • Rifle
        • Rifle Accessories
        • Shotgun
        • Machine Guns
        • Air Guns
        • Ammunition
        • Optics and Sights
        • Weapon Lights
        • Tips & How-To
        • Concealed Carry
        • Holsters
        • Suppressors
        • Precision Rifle Shooting
        • Firearms Training
        • 1A Gun to Ride the River With: The Smith & Wesson 686
        • The Tristar folding shotgun is ready for your wilderness adventuresThe Tristar folding shotgun is ready for your wilderness adventures
        • maxim defense cqb stock (8)The Maxim Defense CQB Stock: Short and Sweet
        • Perfecting your zero | A little help goes a LONG wayPerfecting your zero | A little help goes a LONG way
    • Close
  • Gear Reviews
      • Mission Gear
      • Camping Gear
      • Survival Gear
      • Medical Gear
      • Adventure & Travel
      • Knives & Tools
      • Overland
      • Disaster Preparedness
      • Footwear
      • Womens Gear & Clothing
        • RIP-MVehicle Preparedness: Fast access to essential items | Grey Man Tactical RIP-M
        • Midland radioOverland Essential | Midland Radio MXT275 | GXT1000
        • ppGrab your gear and go | Here’s everything you’d need to build an adventure go bag
        • Scrubba Washbag: Keep your clothes clean in the fieldScrubba Washbag: Keep your clothes clean in the field
    • Close
  • Men’s Lifestyle
      • Fitness
      • EDC
      • Eyewear
      • Watches
      • Electronics & Technology
      • Downtime
      • Mens Clothing & Accessories
      • Manly Skills
      • Style & Grooming
      • Gentleman Drinks
      • Crate Club
        • The Outdoor Edge ParaClaw: A concealed stingerThe Outdoor Edge ParaClaw: A concealed stinger
        • How to determine how long you have before the sun setsHow to determine how long you have before the sun sets
        • fireWilderness survival expert breaks down how to build a fire
        • 5.11 Tactical Expedition Long Sleeve Shirt5.11 Tactical Expedition Long Sleeve Shirt, SWAT Tested and Approved
    • Close
  • News
  • Video Demo
  • Shop
News

Deception and Low-Visibility Ops: Here are the three most interesting SOF courses

August 6, 2019 by Loadout Room Guest Authors Leave a Comment

One of the indirect benefits of being a Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit member is getting the chance to attend a series of interesting schools. Such schools aim at improving the participants’ craft, whether he’s a shooter or an enabler (support guy).

Each component command has a number of schools tailored to the needs of its units. For example, Naval Special Warfare Command’s (NSWC) schools are mostly geared toward Navy SEALs. However, there’s a certain level of overlap, as both NSWC and the Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) have a sniper school. And it’s fairly common to see operators from a sister service while attending a course taught by a specific command—the Special Operations Combat Medic (SOCM) course is a paragon of this, as each class is certain to include SEALs, Rangers, Green Berets, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment flight medics, and sometimes even Pararescuemen.

Here’s a list of the top three interesting courses offered by USASOC.

ARSOF Military Deception Planner’s Course

Taking place in Fort Bragg, the course is exclusive to Active Duty personnel with the rank of:

  • Sergeant First Class or Master Sergeant for non-commissioned officers
  • Chief Warrant Officer 3rd Class or Chief Warrant officer 4th Class
  • Captain or Major for officers

Classes last three weeks, with each course capped at a maximum of 24 students. Participants must have top secret clearance. There are three iterations of the course every year.

According to the course’s description, the scope of the class is to present students with the “knowledge to execute the deception cycle as the military deception officer of a special-operations force staff/conventional force staff during the conduct of an irregular warfare scenario in a problem-centered, active-learning environment.”

Upon graduation, students will be familiar with a range of concepts, such as the five-phase deception cycle, SOF targeting Psychological Warfare, psychological operations deception and denial, precision influence targeting, and social network analysis/dark networks. Graduates will also be able to plan, execute, and terminate joint military deception operations in the conventional and SOF level.

Special Forces Physical Surveillance Course (SFPSC)

The course takes place at both Fort Bragg and the National Capital Region. The SFPSC is open to Special Forces operators—who must be pre-selected—other U.S. SOF members, as well as selected allied forces. Class size is limited to 22 students, and there are four courses per year, each lasting eight weeks. American participants must have at a minimum secret clearance.

The course scope states that students are to “be trained and practice physical surveillance techniques to understand the capabilities and limitations of adversarial physical surveillance teams in both urban and rural environments. This training is designed to increase survivability, situational awareness, and the force protection posture for SOF personnel.”

Essentially, participants learn the dark arts of close-target reconnaissance, a highly-sensitive SOF mission that requires special traits—foremost the ability to blend in the environment and culture of the region they’re operating in. Because the course also takes place in the National Capital Region suggests that students conduct low-visibility surveillance and counterintelligence exercises, a practice pioneered by Delta Force during its early years.

Special Operations Civil Affairs Medical Sergeant (SOCAMS)

This course is designed for Civil Affairs active-duty operators with the ranker of Sergeant to Sergeant First Class who’ve already completed the notoriously difficult SOCM course. Lasting eight weeks, the course focuses on “the assessment, planning, collaboration, and execution of routine, emergency, veterinary, and preventive medicine civil-military operations as a Civil Affairs (CA) team medic in collaboration with host-nation government and security forces, non-governmental and civil society organizations and other U.S. Government agencies.”

The course is comprised of eight modules:

  • SOCAMS Operations
  • Public Health
  • Arthropod
  • Food
  • Veterinary Science
  • Water
  • Laboratory Knowledge
  • Agriculture

Often shunned, CA is a hidden weapon in USASOC’s arsenal. Its role is to support conventional and SOF commanders by working with local nation civil authorities and civilian populations. CA operators are deployed during peacetime, contingency operations, and war, and their main role is to identify critical needs in the local population—for example, power or clean water shortage— and try to ameliorate them. Essentially, hearts and minds.

There are a few courses with most intriguing titles, such as Advanced Special Operations Techniques or the Special Warfare Touchstone, but their coursework and details are classified and thus, couldn’t be added to this list.

 

Feature image courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

This article was written by Stavros Atlamazoglou at NEWSREP

Share This

More From The Loadout Room

Comments

Primary Sidebar

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive email updates daily and to hear what's going on with us!

Find Us on Facebook

The Loadout Room

Recent Comments

  • berniyin on Gear in the Wild: Astronaut uncovers relic aboard the International Space Station
  • berniyin on Gear in the Wild: The right gear for chemical attacks (or for when you forget your gym bag in the trunk)
  • berniyin on Gear in the Wild: Divers work to recover bodies of lost WWII bomber crew

Tags

9mm AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPERATIONS AR-15 arms guide CCW concealed carry defense EDC Erik Meisner everyday carry firearms fitness GBGuns gear Glock Guns Handgun Headline loadout room LONG TAB MARSOC Military Navy Seal pistol preparation preparedness PT PT PREP Rex Nanorum Rifle Selection self defense sfas Shooting socom SOF SOF PT sofrep Special Operations SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES Survival TAG thearmsguide Training US ARMY SPECIAL FORCES

Latest From SOFREP

World

Navy SEAL Travel Tips: My 10 Days In Bogota, Colombia

Army

Commanders Issue “VACCINATED” BRACELETS; Violates EO Policy

Security

Increased US Military Presence in Germany Will Not Deter Russia

Expert Analysis

The Derek Chauvin Trial: Why Is an Acquittal Likely

© Copyright 2021 SOFREP Media Group · All Rights Reserved.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertisers