FORT BRAGG, North Carolina – The Army is working to overcome recruitment and retention issues at a time when the nation is facing new geopolitical challenges.
Those recruitment issues are many and come with consequences, including how the Army’s special operations forces recruit, select, train, and man units with important ongoing overseas missions and commitments.
The Special Operations Recruiting Battalion, or SORB, is currently assisting the United States Army Special Operations Command, or USASOC, with navigating this recruiting challenge. This article discusses the obstacles to recruiting, the SORB mission, and a growing initiative that will benefit the special operations community and the wider Army as we train and fight together to stay ready to protect the nation.
RECRUITING IN THE CURRENT OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Years of recruiting challenges have culminated in the Army’s current manning mission being more strained than it has been in long time. One consequence of the recruiting challenge is that Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) now pull from a smaller pool of qualified active-duty Soldiers and officers. An additional issue is that ARSOF’s in-service recruiting previously benefited from over 20 years of the Global War on Terror (GWOT).
Soldiers from the conventional force were frequently collocated and interacted with ARSOF units across Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Inherent Resolve theaters of operation. Those Soldiers, and future assessment and selection candidates, were naturally inspired to pursue ARSOF career paths upon redeployment.
The end of that unit interaction produced a knowledge gap that current in-service ARSOF recruiters are forced to overcome. More than ever, Soldiers in the conventional force seem to know less about who ARSOF is, what they do, or the value of pursuing an ARSOF career path.
THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS RECRUITING BATTALION
The SORB, headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the only U.S. Army recruiting organization specifically designed, manned, trained, and equipped to recruit in-service Soldiers and officers to attend ARSOF assessment and selection courses.
The SORB’s in-service recruiting portfolio also includes the recruitment and processing of candidates who seek to join the Army warrant officer (WO) and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) ranks.
While the SORB mission focuses on in-service recruitment, the United States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) focuses on initial entry and civilian service contract options including: 18X (Special Forces Candidates), 37F (Psychological Operations Specialists), OPTION 1 (160th SOAR Candidates), and OPTION 40 (75th Ranger Regiment Candidates).
The SORB comprises over 160 military and civilian personnel globally dispersed across 18 Army installations. Each SORB station is tasked with facilitating engagements between Special Forces (SF), Civil Affairs (CA), Psychological Operations (PO), 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), WO, and EOD recruiters and the Soldiers stationed within its sub-divided areas of responsibility.
Ultimately, the goal is to send qualified candidates to assessment and selection courses or boards. The SORB companies, A through D Company, are led by senior Special Forces majors (O-4s) aligned with four, of the five, active-duty Special Forces Groups (SFGs:1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th).
When a Soldier is interested in applying to an ARSOF assessment and selection course, SORB stations assist candidates with completing their individual packets for submission — to include assisting the candidate with any waivers they may need.
The SORB recruiters also organize and run numerous ARSOF assessment and selection preparation events for both enlisted and officer candidates that include: physical training programs, key leader engagement, cognitive practical exercises, ruck packing classes, packing list layouts, and land navigation training events.
SORB & THE OPERATIONAL FORCE: MUTUALLY SUPPORTIVE
To combat the current lack of awareness across the Army and joint force about the ARSOF mission, capabilities, and organizations, SORB — using its broad reach — has begun to expand interactions between ARSOF and conventional forces by funding ARSOF training events with conventional force units at various locations.
These engagements allow interested soldiers to see and experience a “day in the life” of an operator by walking through one of the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) ARSOF footprints, team rooms, training facilities, or unique equipment locations while learning the history of certain ARSOF units and being immersed in the lifestyle of an ARSOF Soldier firsthand.
SORB can provide funding for an ARSOF unit event or a small group of ARSOF officers and noncommissioned officers to support recruiting initiatives. If you or someone you know would like to support a SORB-funded event, contact a SORB Recruiter.
CONCLUSION: HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Everyone in the ARSOF community needs to act as a recruiter to improve the readiness of our force. Only 25 total Special Forces non-commissioned officers and six Special Forces officers serve within the SORB globally. Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations only have 18 noncommissioned officers recruiting for their branches.
Each member of the ARSOF community needs to work to encourage our fellow Soldiers in the wider Army to physically visit one of the eighteen SORB recruiting stations and talk to a recruiter. Mentor those civilians you meet that do not have prior service experience and encourage them to aggressively pursue 18X, 37F, Option 1, or Option 40 contracts with their local Army recruiting stations.
All future candidates for ARSOF selections can follow GOARMYSOF on social media and visit www.GoArmySOF.army.mil to learn more about the ARSOF tribes and their unique missions.
Finally, we encourage ARSOF Soldiers to apply to serve. This important mission needs officers willing to serve in SORB at the O-4 rank (SORB CO CDRs, SORB S3, SORB XO, SORB Chief Marketing Officer) by applying in the AIM 2.0 Marketplace and through your respective ARSOF chain of command. The force also needs our best ARSOF NCOs (E-6, E-7, E-8) serving as SORB Recruiters.
These ARSOF NCOs are often the first impression of the ARSOF Regiment for those interested and inquiring for the first time. For those unable to move over to SORB, it is still possible to contribute by volunteering for a “Hometown Recruiting” engagement in conjunction with TDY and leave.
The Army is facing many challenges, and the Army’s challenges are ARSOF’s challenges. Recruiting the next generation of ARSOF Soldiers is a responsibility we should all pursue aggressively. We owe this to ourselves, and we owe it to our nation.
If you have any additional ARSOF recruiting questions, Contact a Recruiter.
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