About this episode

The episode discusses the evolution of the Green Beret Noncommissioned Officer and their impact on military strategy and operations.

Green Berets are built over time. Special Operations Truth #3: SOF cannot be mass produced. America’s most elite warriors are developed through experience, through leadership, and through the responsibility of developing others. This is the job of the Special Forces Noncommissioned Officer. In this episode, Fran Racioppi sat down with retired Command Sergeant Major Rob Abernethy to dissect the evolution of the Green Beret NCO, and their officer counterparts, to show how that development shapes the effectiveness of Army Special Operations and national strategy. CSM Abernethy served nearly four decades in the Army and across special operations from a junior 18E communications sergeant, to the Command Sergeant Major of US Army Special Operations Command and United States European Command. Rob breaks down the role of the NCO as the backbone of the Regiment, the importance of regional alignment in building partner forces, and where Special Forces fits into military strategy from the pre-9/11 period, through the Global War on Terror and into today’s Large Scale Combat Operations. We also explore the rapid evolution of technology and the challenge of integrating new tools without losing…

People in this episode

Host: Fran Racioppi

Guest: Rob Abernethy

Topics covered

• Green Berets
• Special Operations
• NCO development
• military strategy
• technology in warfare
• leadership

Keywords

• Green Beret
• NCO
• military leadership
• technology
• Special Forces
• Global War on Terror
• combat operations

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: US Army Special Operations Command, United States European Command

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