Army Standing Up New “Security Force Assistance” Brigade, Shake and Bake SF?

The US Army is moving forward with their new Security Force Assistance Brigades and has published the requirements that will be needed to be selected and are offering a $5000 bonus for any of the soldiers that re-enlist for the new unit.

Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley has stated that he wants to field the newest Brigade by October 2017 to advise and assist partner nations with their security force capabilities.

The 529-man Brigade will field officers and NCOs and while the Army falls short of calling it an “elite unit”, they’ve instead taken to calling this a “premiere assignment.”

“Our EP (Enlisted Personnel) and OP (Officer Personnel) divisions have been busy identifying Soldiers that meet all of the stringent requirements outlined by Gen. Milley, and then making the necessary phone calls to pitch the SFAB to them,” said Lt. Col. Corey Brunkow, HRC Enlisted Personnel Management Division Infantry Branch Chief.

“We’re looking for branch qualified noncommissioned officers. That is, we’re looking for former squad leaders as Staff Sergeants, and former platoon sergeants as a Sgt. 1st Class to fill advisor roles which will broaden their horizons and experiences in the Army,” he said.

Basic qualifications include an 85 or better Defense Language Aptitude Battery for primary advisors, a minimum of 240 or 70 points in each event on the APFT, possess a secret security clearance, and maintain a deployable status.

In addition, a Soldiers Physical Profile Serial System, or PULHES as it is commonly referred to as, must be 111221 with only a minor inability in the hearing and ears, and eyes portion.

The training for the SABs is slated to cover six weeks and then the units will be deployable. The Army says it hopes to have six of the SABs fielded by 2024.

This isn’t anything new, the Big Army has been trying to chip away at the FID mission of Special Forces for the past 30+ years. While there should be some conventional military deployments to support the FID mission and ease some of the burden on SF, this isn’t it. Trying to squeeze over a year’s worth of training into six weeks and make a shake and bake Special Forces group isn’t going to work.

And in the process, they’ll rob the conventional Infantry and Armor units of their experienced NCOs and officers. But again, this isn’t particularly new.  It will be interesting to see how long this will last before conventional commanders ask to pull the plug because of the drain on their own leadership.

To read the entire article from the US Army website click here:

Photo courtesy DOD