Foreign Internal Defense

Combat Aviation Advisors all call the 6TH Special Operations Squadron home; it is the only Combat Aviation Advisory Organization in the Air Force. Though its mission is Foreign Internal Defense (FID) and Combat Foreign Internal Defense (CFID), those aren’t the preferred AFSOC catchwords. They use phrases like “combat aviation advisory unit” and “non-standard aircraft squadron” […]

I retired 180-A, Special Operations Technician and spent the majority of my Special Forces time working in Central and South America. I earned a CIB in Operation Desert Storm prior to my retirement in 1992 and was a member of the coveted P.I.G Team, also known as a “Green Light” Team in 7th SFG. I […]

The Islamic State relies on religious precedence to absolve responsibility for the individual and group. As such, they’re finding authority to run from the battle. Nearly everything that the Islamic State does, in their view, has some kind of canonical precedent. They wish to create their own currency, based on the Quranic meaning of currency, […]

The president of the Philippines just asked for US forces to leave his Southern region. Duterte cites security concerns for both his people and US forces. Duterte also claimed that peace in the Southern portion is unlikely as long as there is a military presence. Relations in East Asia are becoming more complicated all the […]

The point is you get to do something almost no one else in a society gets to do. Service is awesome – it just is. There’s heartache that does and can go along with it.

One thing is for sure: Americans are terrified of the refugee crisis. With some good reason when we dissect and look at the actors in the Syrian war. When it comes to Syrians, it’s hard to decipher who is who.

Iraqis quietly expressed their concern to me that Iran was taking over Iraq, and no one was doing anything about it. The distrust of their comrades ran so deep that some would stop talking to me the second another soldier entered the room, regardless if the other one was a friend.

The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) are proving their worth and showing the incredible work done by Special Forces. The ISOF was in real danger of losing its effectiveness, because we left them hanging, as a nation. The result of our abandonment was a hopeless, not hopeful Iraq. The warfighters felt that hopelessness. The mission was […]

The United States will continue to deploy trainers and advisors worldwide as part of its building partnership capacity (BPC) efforts. It appears that we will be committed to advisory efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan for some time to come.

This type of arrangement is hardly unprecedented, as Delta Force also worked in the shadows during the search for, and eventual killing of, Pablo Escobar in Colombia. They’ve also served in advisory capacities during hostage-rescue missions in places as diverse as Sudan and Peru.

The point is that when conducting FID, your job is not to create a mirror image of American forces, but rather to give your host-nation counterparts some basic skills to help them rise above their opposition and help effect tactical victories on the battlefield.

I’d like to continue the FID tips series by writing about how your status as an American factors into how you engage with host-nation partners. Being a cheeseburger-eating, barrel-chested, freedom-fighting American has both pros and cons as you try to build a relationship with indigenous forces. One of the major drawbacks is that you probably […]