Crunch time for Special Ops forces

"Tanks!" the American sergeant yelled.

From out of a thick haze and tall grass on the northern Iraqi highlands, obscured by three trucks feigning surrender, an Iraqi armored company was bearing down on a small band of US Special Forces.

"For about 15 seconds we were in awe - nobody even fired a shot," said Sgt. 1st Class Frank Antenori of the surprise attack. Moments later, a T-55 tank shell exploded just behind his Humvee. "We all knew we were in big trouble," he said.

One year ago, with quick wit and good aim, 31 Americans and 80 Kurdish fighters rolled back an Iraqi armored force of hundreds in an abrupt showdown known as the "Alamo," aimed at gaining a key crossroads.

But the success of such handpicked, highly trained forces has a downside: Today, as their missions grow exponentially, they're in shorter and shorter supply. "This is the highest [operational] tempo Special Operations ever had," says Gen. Bryan Brown, head of the Special Operations Command (SOCOM). While manageable now, "it's not sustainable forever."

From Iraq to the Horn of Africa, the 49,000-strong command is spearheading a global campaign against terrorists and the hunt for "high value targets" like Osama bin Laden. As a result, over the past year the elite force - including Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and Civil Affairs, Navy SEALs, and Air Force Special Tactics - has seen its biggest deployment ever. In Iraq, US Special Operations Forces (SOF) controlled operations in two-thirds of the country. Some 100 Special Forces teams took part, compared with 85 to 90 in Vietnam, says Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, commander of Army special operations.

But SOCOM may no longer be able to meet all requests for from US regional commanders, says Thomas O'Connell, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. Topping his list of concerns: "Are we going to be able to continue to support the combatant commanders with Special Operations Forces that are working for them?"

SOCOM gained new authority as a fighting command in 2003, including control over where its troops deploy. Before, it served mainly to train forces for missions directed by regional commanders. "In many respects, force management is the most critical problem facing SOF," Mr. O'Connell says. "SOF cannot be mass produced."

In the post-9/11 world, demand for the commandos is not only soaring within the military. Private firms and government organizations - including the CIA - are luring away troops with bigger salaries.

"It is a very lucrative opportunity right now for special operations folks to get out and take very high-paying jobs" with private security firms, says General Brown. A 20-year veteran leaving Special Operations receives about $23,000 in retirement pay, but can earn $100,000 to $200,000 in private industry, military officials say.

With no end to the demand in sight, the military must carefully allocate SOF while increasing their ranks. To fill the current gap, it is accepting added risks with less experienced forces.

Some Special Forces troops are now recruited directly from the civilian population, as drawing candidates from a stretched Army gets harder. So far, 120 of the "off-the-street" recruits have undergone schooling, and 38 are deployed abroad.

Special Forces teams are also being assigned outside the regions of their language and cultural expertise to meet the needs in the Middle East and Central Asia.

The strains have required SOCOM to step up the pace of rotations. For example, a recent surge in the deployment of Navy SEALs - from 25 percent to 34 percent of the force - means that SEALs now spend six months abroad every 18 months rather than every two years. "I worry about sustaining the force as we move through these multiple marathons," says Navy Capt. Robert Harward, who commanded SOF forces in Afghanistan and southern Iraq.

Finally, SOCOM has handed off some missions, like training foreign troops in Georgia and Afghanistan, to the Marine Corps and Army.

In the longer term, SOCOM seeks to ease the stress by ramping up training capacity. Schooling for a Special Forces soldier still takes 18 to 24 months, but with greater capacity the number of graduates annually has gone from 450 to 550.

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