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Special Operations

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Small Wars Journal analysis of special operations forces: doctrine, employment, and the practitioner experience behind direct action, civil affairs, psychological operations, unconventional warfare, and counterterrorism.

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230+Articles
2007Coverage since

Featured Reading

Featured

The Third Option: How the CIA’s Paramilitary Arm Shapes the Battlefield

04.20.2026
Featured

US House Armed Services Committee Hearing: Special Operations Forces and Command Posture for FY27

03.19.2026
Featured

The Last A-Team: Special Forces Aren’t Special Anymore

06.03.2026

Recent Articles

Who We Are, What We Do: Framing the Special Forces Identity Debate

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09.19.2025 at 02:17pm

Advancing the SOF Warrior Mind: Essays from the Academic Year 2025 JSOU Call for Special Operations Papers

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09.19.2025 at 01:36pm

Beyond Resilience: A Nuanced Framework for Conceptualizing Resistance Networks

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09.19.2025 at 06:00am

Eastern Philosophy and Influence on the Special Forces Soldier

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09.12.2025 at 06:00am

Integrated yet Autonomous: How Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces Have Mastered Cooperation with Conventional Forces

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09.05.2025 at 06:00am

The Sanctuary-Vulnerability Tradeoff: Analyzing Hezbollah’s Organizational Degradation Under Multi-Domain Pressure (2023-2025)

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08.29.2025 at 06:00am

The Answers are in the Mountains: Countering Chinese Aggression with Irregular Warfare

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08.29.2025 at 06:00am

AI Enhanced Risks to Irregular Warfare

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08.27.2025 at 06:00am

Unconventional Warfare: Solving Complex Political-Military Problems and Creating Dilemmas for Adversaries

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08.26.2025 at 06:00am

Hybrid Autonomy Sabotage: Innovation Anchored in Tradition

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08.25.2025 at 06:00am

Survivability Drift Theory and Attrition Mitigation in Special Operations Forces

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08.21.2025 at 06:00am

The Enlightened Warrior: Applying Reason and Critical Thinking in Special Forces

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08.18.2025 at 06:00am
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From the Archive

Archive · 2026

CIA Special Activities Center and Global Response Staff

Archive · 2025

Ukraine Special Operations Forces

Archive · 2025

Semper Paratus and Special Forces

Archive · 2026

Robin Sage: Unconventional Warfare and Special Forces

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