Unique Capabilities of Women in Special Operations Forces

Abstract

Congress mandated that U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) adopt gender-neutral occupational performance standards by 2016, meaning that females will no longer be barred from applying to SOF’s rigorous pipeline. In recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, female enablers made significant, unique contributions to both conventional ground combat and SOF missions. Many of these unique contributions, such as the ability to interact with indigenous children and female adults forbidden by local customs or religious beliefs from interacting with male service members, were critical to mission success. In addition, women have been employed successively in SOF units worldwide. In other nations’ militaries, the record has been more mixed—but mostly due to failures to effectively recruit and utilize women, not due to their inability to perform the required roles. Military leaders should therefore embrace lessons learned from these experiences and examine the unique capabilities female SOF enablers have demonstrated via their contributions to special operations core activities, thereby enabling the Armed Services and U.S. Special Operations Command to more effectively identify, efficiently train, and appropriately incorporate women into SOF.