U.S. Special Forces: culture warriors
Authors
Hill, Joshua L.
Subjects
culture training
cultural proficiency
cultural understanding
defining culture
historical best practices
pre-deployment training
advisor skills
cross-cultural competence
localization strategy
ARSOF 2022
cultural proficiency
cultural understanding
defining culture
historical best practices
pre-deployment training
advisor skills
cross-cultural competence
localization strategy
ARSOF 2022
Advisors
Gregg, Heather S.
Date of Issue
2014-12
Date
Dec-14
Publisher
Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
U.S. Army Special Forces (SF) are consistently called upon to work by, with, and through indigenous forces to conduct special warfare. Current SF doctrine reflects an increasing desire for SF operators to be culturally proficient in order to work closely with locals, advise foreign militaries, and build relationships with host-nation counterparts. Despite the doctrinal emphasis on cultural proficiency, SF doctrine offers little concrete direction as to how to become culturally competent, or how to measure levels of cultural proficiency. This thesis aims to provide insights into cultural competency by investigating academic literature surrounding culture, and by looking outside of SF at examples of cross-cultural competency from historic cases: the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II, Military Transition Teams in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the McDonald’s restaurant franchise. By looking at historical examples of military operations and international businesses, SF can gain insight into the best practices and common pitfalls that come from working with foreign cultures. This thesis finds that cultural proficiency can be increased by following the best practices of the McDonald’s Corporation and the OSS, and by placing top-down emphasis on cultural training and normalizing that training at the tactical level.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Defense Analysis (DA)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.