Special Operations Forces in Conventional Armies: 'Salvation Army' or 'Dirty Dozen'?

War Studies Conference 5-6 October 2000 at Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario

16 Pages Posted: 28 Jun 2014

See all articles by David M. Last

David M. Last

Royal Military College of Canada - Department of Political Science

Date Written: 2004

Abstract

It is strange to find separate worlds in a shrinking force as small as Canada’s. I am not even referring to the visibly separate worlds of army, navy and airforce, resurrected (some would say regressively) after an innovative experiment with unification. The separate worlds are those of special and conventional forces. In Canada, they may be subject to more mutual suspicion and misunderstanding than even the three clusters of tribal mentalities that we call maritime, land and air environments. In this paper, I suggest means of reconciling the separate worlds of “special” and “conventional” forces. My central premise is that in a small force like Canada’s, we have no room for an independent and sustainable Special Forces community. But neither can we afford to be conventional. In fact, the navy and air force have already put down markers that would bankrupt the defence budget to preserve vestigial conventional capabilities. Space control, National Missile Defence (NMD), and the next generation of fighter aircraft loom ominously on the budgetary horizon, while statutory obligations to quality of life, regional benefits, and equality of opportunity all make inroads on budgets and personnel ceilings that are unlikely to expand. Canada’s situation is not unique. Armies, navies and air forces of many middle powers are being asked to do more with less, and to take on new and unusual tasks. What are “special” forces, what are “conventional” forces, how do the two relate, and how do we integrate them for the future? I’ll begin with a discussion of some of the definitions and conceptions in circulation that, I feel, have led us into a dead end. Then I’ll consider our current understanding of operations necessary to enhance our security, and some of the challenges that the future might hold. There are those who would meet these challenges with a “salvation army” of well-meaning humanitarian workers and non-offensive international peacekeepers, leaving the dirty business of killing to others. My contention is that the capacity for precise and carefully calibrated violence will be essential in our future tasks, but that these tasks will also be unachievable without a “salvation army”. The odd image of laser-guided bombs and meals-ready-to-eat being dropped on Afghanistan by the same airforce in October 2001 is both harbinger and symbol; both sorts of bombs fell short of the desired impact. Our challenge will be to balance the lighter and darker aspects of a small army intimately linked to other departments and agencies at home and abroad in which every soldier and civilian is “special”, but conventional weaponry is still necessary.

Keywords: Special forces, military, terrorism

JEL Classification: N4

Suggested Citation

Last, David M., Special Operations Forces in Conventional Armies: 'Salvation Army' or 'Dirty Dozen'? (2004). War Studies Conference 5-6 October 2000 at Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2459452 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2459452

David M. Last (Contact Author)

Royal Military College of Canada - Department of Political Science ( email )

P.O. Box 17,000, Station Forces
Kingston, ON K7K 7B4
Canada

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
51
Abstract Views
439
Rank
693,387
PlumX Metrics