United States Special Operations Command South

United States Special Operations Command South - SOCSOUTH -
Emblem of SOCSOUTH
Lineup	4th August 1986
Country	United States of America
Armed forces	United States Armed Forces of America
Type	Composite command ( Sub Unified Combatant Command )
Homestead Air Reserve Base	Florida
Former locations	Quarry Heights, Panama
Commander, Special Operations Command South
Current commander	Brigadier General Sean P. Mulholland, United States Army [1]
Deputy Commander, Special Operations Command South	Colonel John E. Poast III [2]
Command Sergeant Major	CSM Thomas E. Wall [3]

The Special Operations Command South ( SOCSOUTH ) is a group command ( Sub Unified Combatant Command ) that unites and leads the Special Operations Forces of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). It is stationed at Homestead Air Reserve Base in the US state of Florida . The SOCSOUTH via 200 Einzeldislozierungen per year with an average of about 42 missions in 26 countries in the area of responsibility.

The current commanding officer is Rear Admiral Thomas L. Brown II .

assignment

The SOCSOUTH is responsible for providing, commitment, coordination and management of all special operations forces in the territorial responsibility of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). It advises and supports the commander of SOUTHCOM in all matters relating to special forces. It is also responsible for civil affairs (military civil administration and development aid) and psychological warfare .

The area of ​​responsibility SOCSOUTH

The core tasks are:

• Leadership of all special operations forces of SOUTHCOM
• And command of a United Special Task Force ( Joint Special Operations Task Force )
• Provision of a rapid reaction force on constant alert ( theater contingency response force )
• Support of the strategic planning of SOUTHCOM.

There are, however, other areas of responsibility for which SOCSOUTH is responsible. It coordinates and supports the War on Drugs together with other federal agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the CIA . As a higher-level command structure, it is responsible for all operations of the Green Berets , which provide military advice to the USA on the South American continent and support the possible guerrilla warfare of friendly liberation movements.

organization

As a composite command, SOCSOUTH is responsible for the special forces of all branches of the US armed forces within the area of ​​responsibility of SOUTHCOM. Depending on the order situation, the individual contingents are put together, form a task force for the duration of the assignment and then become active again in other constellations.

• The numerically largest component is naturally the Army with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) , an organization in brigade strength , which, however, due to the particular structure of the Green Berets (Army Special Forces) has only one man strength of about 1,400 soldiers. The headquarters of the 7th SFG is located in Fort Bragg , North Carolina , but one company (C Company, 3rd Battalion) is always in an advanced position in Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico along with D Company 160th SOAR ( Army Aviation ) stationed.

• The Navy's Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSOC) provides units of the Navy Seals . Which units in detail and in which strength is secret . The exception is the Naval Special Warfare Unit FOUR , which is also permanently stationed in Puerto Rico .

• The same goes for the Air Force contingent . But one can assume that in any case a Special Tactics Squadron of Pararescue jumpers for Combat Search and Rescue - or Search and Rescue missions will be there.

• It is not known which units and in what strength troops of the recently established Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) of the Marines are subordinate to SOCSOUTH .

history

The SOCSOUTH emergency services are adapted to the special conditions of the Latin American continent. The special geostrategic location in the backyard of the USA traditionally ensures that the US government pays special attention to this region. Characterized by an abundance of economic, social and also demographic problems, the states within the area of ​​responsibility of SOUTHCOM are constantly exposed to destabilizing factors.

Since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, ideological guerrilla wars have also taken place in various states , which have led to both critical examination and the radicalization of certain governments. The USA has always tried to influence this, its own regional area of ​​interest with all available means in its own way. A key element was providing military and security advice to friendly states in order to stabilize them and enable them to take care of public security and order themselves. Of course, efforts were also made to convey the basic principles of the Western understanding of democracy, but a number of dictatorships and designated torture states were supported as long as they were only suitable as a bulwark against communist liberation movements. This development culminated in the Iran-Contra affair in the mid-1980s , when Central America resembled an American army camp.

Area of ​​responsibility of SOUTHCOM

After the end of the Cold War and the democratization of many states, economic and specific aspects of curbing drug cultivation and trafficking have come to the fore. Members of SOCSOUTH are regularly involved in the fight against drug cultivation and trafficking by training security forces in the growing countries on site and providing support in direct operations.

Today the USA gets around a third of its oil needs from the region. Given the importance of a smooth import of oil for an industrialized country, this already illustrates the special strategic importance of the region.

The SOCSOUTH is also involved in many civilian development projects to the problems of the most unequal distribution of wealth that exist in most Latin American countries to mitigate and thereby contribute indirectly to their political stability.

SOCSOUTH's permanent rapid reaction force provided humanitarian aid in a number of natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Georges ( Dominican Republic ) and Mitch ( Honduras ) in 1998, and coordinated international relief efforts in El Salvador , Guatemala and Nicaragua .

In December 1999, when Venezuela also suffered severe floods, killing over 30,000 people, SOCSOUTH responded with evacuation measures and aid deliveries only hours later.

In the same year, the US government intensified its fight against drugs, so that a SOCSOUTH unit was permanently stationed in Colombia to instruct the local authorities on how to combat the cultivation and export of narcotics. It was possible to set up a Colombian special unit, which was almost free of the corruption customary in the country and was able to record a number of successes in curbing drug exports. This unit was trained and equipped by SOCSOUTH . The permanent littoral patrols of the Navy Seals and Special Boat Units were and are particularly effective .

The SOCSOUTH organizing the international year Counter-terrorism Tactics and Techniques Symposium (CTTTS) ( "anti-terrorist tactics and technology Symposium") in the Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico, the outposts of SOCSOUTH . This event brings together experts from relevant units from all over the world for a professional exchange.

The SOCSOUTH regularly produces expert to maneuver optimization of SOUTHCOM and thus contributes to the fight in the composite of various branches of the armed forces is constantly adequately and effectively improved in regular joint exercises and understanding of the specific applications of the special forces will be expanded in conventional units. The same effect is being pursued through the development of maneuver parameters in a number of host countries. SOCSOUTH emergency services regularly take part in international maneuvers such as Blue Advance , Unified Endeavor and Fuertes Defensas .

References

Web links

• Official website of SOCSOUTH (English)
• Official 2009 SOCOM Factbook (pdf), p. 41 ( Memento of March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English; 4.29 MB)
• The SOCSOUTH at globalsecurity.org (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The command manages over 200 SOF deployments per year with an average of 42 missions in 26 countries at any time at socso.southcom.mil ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed May 8, 2008)