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2-4. UW, like all of the SF principal missions and collateral activities, is normally planned and executed in five phases. The phases are predeployment, deployment, employment, redeployment, and postdeployment. These phases have long been the standard within the SO community and are self-explanatory. In UW, these phases are continuous in nature and can overlap.

SF may conduct activities associated with any or all of these phases simultaneously. When conducting UW, the following phases take on unique aspects:

• Predeployment. The preparation and development of the joint special operations area (JSOA) occur during the UW predeployment phase.

Preparing and developing the JSOA occur as a continuous process, conducted throughout full-spectrum operations. The process is integrated into day-to-day SF activities. During predeployment for UW, SF units conduct area assessment to focus regional orientation. SF units develop supporting plans to CINC theater engagement plans, concept plans (CONPLANs), and operation plans (OPLANs) and may develop required contacts and infrastructure within the JSOA. Due to the sensitivity of some of the UW predeployment activities, the plans must be fully coordinated with, and authorized by, the appropriate authorities, most commonly other government agencies (OGAs). Many UW predeployment activities may be conducted by OGAs, or in conjunction with them, in response to SF-identified requirements. In some instances, OGAs may lack the resources to meet identified requirements. SF may then be tasked to conduct the activity in close coordination with the OGAs. Many UW predeployment activities

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conducted by SF are incidental to other principal missions (such as FID) and collateral activities (such as HA and coalition support), or they are in combined training exercises supporting the CINC’s theater engagement plan. Unless specifically authorized, however, these UW predeployment activities do not involve SF varying from the mission taskings of the CINC’s theater engagement plan. The UW aspects of these activities represent the SF mind-set. Preparation for UW includes designating JSOAs within a CINC’s geographic AOR.

Designating JSOAs may also take place outside predeployment activities. These JSOAs are based on CINC guidance, an initial assessment of CINC requirements, and a variety of geographic, demographic, and political-military considerations. SFODs are assigned to JSOAs to develop the level of area orientation required to perform UW effectively. SF commanders and planners determine the resource requirements allocated to a specific JSOA on the initial assessment and CINC priorities. Continual area assessment refines the initial assessment. JSOAs and SF allocations are adjusted periodically to accommodate changing CINC priorities, the refined assessments, and changing conditions.

• Employment. During the employment phase of UW, SF continues with the development of the JSOA and performs operational UW mission taskings. These taskings may include any of the activities mentioned in the UW definition and discussed later in this section.

They may also include unforeseen operational mission taskings that fully exploit the UW-related capabilities of SF and the unique force-positioning and activities arising from or required by the conduct of UW, such as sabotage, subversion, and UAR. The nature of UW is such that—depending upon the duration of the employment phase, resources available, and nature of the conflict—SF may conduct multiple UW activities simultaneously or sequentially. As a final aspect of employment, SF performs UW activities to facilitate transition to a stable and politically acceptable set of conditions. Examples of specific actions include demobilizing or reorienting indigenous and surrogate forces, providing foreign HA, or evaluating newly established security forces.

• Postdeployment. Postdeployment activities overlap the preparation and development of the JSOA and seamlessly transition back to the process. SF updates all records and imagery contained in area studies and assessments to reflect the data and information collected during employment within the JSOA.

2-5. SF may perform UW in support of, and in synchronization with, conventional operations, or may conduct UW independently. UW may be conducted in any environment and at any point throughout the spectrum of conflict. Therefore, SF performing UW provides a unique and versatile capability for the Army’s efforts to achieve dominance in full-spectrum operations.

2-6. A CINC, in conjunction with policy makers, may exercise the option to achieve specific objectives through UW without conventional forces. This option can be executed due to resource, political, or other considerations. SF

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operations in El Salvador during the 1980s are an example of this scenario.

In this instance, UW operations are conducted during what would appear to all but the UW participants to be operations to promote peace, never progressing through operations to deter aggression and resolve conflict or actual combat. SF participation in such independent UW operations is often in support of an OGA and within very specific constraints.

2-7. UW may be conducted in support of conventional operations.

Synchronizing UW with future conventional operations requires that conventional unit commanders and JTF planners fully understand—

• The relationship of UW to the spectrum of conflict.

• The Army’s goal of dominance throughout full-spectrum operations.

• The continuous activities associated with interagency operations to promote peace.

2-8. While operations carried out to promote peace, deter aggression, and resolve conflict are ideally suited to the protracted, long-duration nature of UW, the lethality of modern conventional forces, among other factors, has generally decreased the duration of conventional operations. This shortened duration of conventional employment has led many conventional planners to dismiss UW in support of conventional operations as infeasible. This mistaken dismissal of UW stems from a failure to recognize and leverage the opportunities SF offers under these conditions. By properly executing SF capabilities before large-scale involvement of conventional forces during operations to promote peace, deter aggression, and resolve conflict, SF can support and facilitate subsequent conventional operations.

2-9. Recent operational experience has provided lessons indicating the value of UW as an added dimension to conventional force operations. These lessons come from positive experience where the use of UW was feasible and provided a significant benefit to conventional operations and from negative experience where inadequate UW preparation and resources existed to exploit UW opportunities.

2-10. SF UW operations can enhance the efficiency of conventional operations. SF has enabled the United States to involve indigenous forces and governments in coalition operations. These operations have been executed to recover downed aircrews, enhance situational awareness, provide conventional commanders and policy makers with ground truth, and enable SF to act as force multipliers in a variety of ways. SF contributions to these operations have outweighed the investment of resources.

2-11. Effective and timely application of UW can dramatically enhance future conventional operations. As the number and geographical dispersion of potential asymmetric adversaries increase, the difficulties inherent in rapidly responding to crises with conventional forces increase as well. Both recent operational experience (for example, Kosovo or Kuwait) and future war-gaming results indicate that adversaries are likely to conduct offensive operations into contiguous territory. The adversaries will also likely attempt to consolidate gains rapidly and present the United States and its allies with few options for response. These types of offensive actions give the United States and its allies the option of abiding with the adversary’s action or

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mounting a significant and resource-intensive operation against an entrenched enemy.

2-12. While the Army’s organizational and operational plans for the future reduce strategic deployment timelines, the burdens of time and distance cannot be totally negated. Even air component operations started in advance of deploying ground and sea forces require, or are enhanced by, pre-positioned personnel recovery, force protection (FP), target acquisition, battle damage assessment (BDA), and air defense suppression capabilities. The time between an adversary’s initial offensive actions and the point at which an overwhelming conventional response can be mounted is a critical period.

During this period, the only available U.S. capability to preclude enemy consolidation is SF performing UW, either unilaterally or with indigenous resistance forces.