Getting Small: Institutionalizing Split-Team Operations for Large Scale Combat Operations
Check out this article from the US Army’s Special Warfare Journal!
Urbanski, an active-duty US Army Special Forces Warrant Officer, argues that Special Forces should treat split-team employment as the default for large-scale combat operations in sensor-saturated and Electronic Warfare-contested environments. Small, dispersed detachments and even singleton operators give SF the persistence, stealth, and deep-sensing needed to coordinate joint fires behind enemy lines. He traces the logic through a century of combat, from World War One to Vietnam, and even on today’s battlefield in Ukraine.
Across these cases, success rests on empowered detachment leaders, disciplined fieldcraft, and signature control, along with a clear view of the sustainment constraints imposed by the deep fight.
