It's not every day you get to interview your boss's boss's boss. We review the main mission of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, how the organization has continued to evolve and uphold standards through the past two years, and what is on the horizon.

About the guests:

Brigadier General Guillaume “Will” Beaurpere has served for the last two years as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, the Special Operations Center of Excellence. He previously served as the Deputy Commanding General for Operations at Army Space and Missile Defense Command; and before that as Commanding General for Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. 

Command Sergeant Major Lionel A. Strong is a native of Fort Myers, Florida and enlisted in the United States Army July 9, 1998 as a 63B Light-Wheel Vehicle Mechanic. Upon completion of Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training, Command Sgt. Maj. Strong was assigned to Schofield Barracks Hawaii from December 1998 thru March 2001. Command Sgt. Maj. Strong attended Special Forces Assessment and Selection in September 2000 and the Special Forces Qualification Course from June 2001 through December 2002.

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gary Ostrander was the Command Chief Warrant Officer for 2nd Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne) at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School from 2021 to 2023. He most recently served as chief operations warrant at the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) from 2020 to 2021.

For more about the command team, visit: 

https://www.swcs.mil/About-Us/Command-Group/

About the hosts:

Maj. Ashley "Ash" Holzmann is an experienced Psychological Operations Officer serving in the re-established PSYWAR School at the United States Army JFK Special Warfare Center and School.

Sgt. Maj. Derek Riley is one of the most experienced Civil Affairs Noncommissioned Officers in the Army Special Operations Regiment. He has incredible deployment experience and serves within the Civil Affairs Proponent at the United States Army JFK Special Warfare Center and School.
 

From the episode:

The CG mentioned "continuous transformation"; you can read more about the Army's efforts here:

https://www.army.mil/article/275040/army_futures_command_general_lays_out_continuous_transformation_plan

FM 3-0: Operations:

https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN36290-FM_3-0-000-WEB-2.pdf

The tenants of Army modernization:

https://www.ausa.org/publications/tenets-army-modernization

The re-establishment of the PSYWAR School and PSYOP Commandant:

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-psywar-school/

The establishment of the Irregular Warfare Academy:

https://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/special-warfare-magazine-january-2024-psywar-school-and-irregular-warfare-academy

Information Advantage:

https://www.army.mil/article/271932/army_publishes_first_doctrinal_manual_dedicated_to_information

If you want to learn more about the Robotics Unmanned Systems Integrator Course (RUSIC), check out our episode covering the course: 

https://pineland-underground.simplecast.com/episodes/rusic-NNFqsUWn

The Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center (JSOMTC), previously known as Special Warfare Medical Group (SWMG):

https://www.swcs.mil/Schools/SWMG-A/

The SWCS Language Center is the 2nd largest in the DoD:

https://www.army.mil/article/275805/starting_from_beginning_part_3_second_largest_language_school_in_dod_strengthen_foreign_partnerships

Moving the Total Army School System's 6th Brigade to Fort Liberty and co-locating them with SWCS:

https://www.swcs.mil/SWCS-2030/

SWCS's Heritage Week is an annual event:

https://www.army.mil/article/275724/swcs_celebrates_2nd_annual_heritage_week_honoring_past_present_future

SWCS partnered with National Defense University's College of International Security Affairs (CISA), and the Irregular Warfare Center to host the Spring Symposium Irregular Warfare (IW) Forum in May:

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/471706/do-you-do-with-idea-swcs-cisa-co-host-irregular-warfare-forum

The SWCS Newcomer's Guide mentioned information about CAC-SOD:

https://www.swcs.mil/Portals/111/NewcomersGuide.pdf

National Defense University, a fully funded Master's program for officers (which is Intermediate Level Education qualifying) and NCOs:

https://cisa.ndu.edu/jsoma/

Army Special Operations Recruiting:

SOF Recruiting Page (soc.mil)

https://www.soc.mil/USASOCHQ/recruiting.html

GoArmySOF Site:

https://www.goarmysof.army.mil/

The Official Podcast of the United States Army Special Warfare Center and School!

USAJFKSWCS selects and trains all Army Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations soldiers. 

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