Secrets of Special Ops Leadership

William Cohen

• Publisher: AMACOM
• Year: 2005
• ISBN:
  9780814429143
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

Can commando techniques really work in business? If you can inspire and lead your employees to work at peak performance, they will accomplish fantastic feats for you -- just as fighting commandos do in battle situations.

The Navy SEALs. The Green Berets. Delta Force. These are a few examples of what are known as "special ops" -- unique fighting forces trained to beat overwhelming odds on every mission. Using principles like speed, purpose, repetition, surprise, and simplicity, elite units such as these have throughout history accomplished extremely challenging tasks against vastly superior forces.

Secrets of Special Ops Leadership reveals the essential methods commando leaders employ, using dramatic real-life stories of commando leadership from biblical times all the way up through Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005, and showing how similar techniques are used by present-day business leaders.

You'll learn the fourteen core practices of special ops leadership, including how to:

• Create the Best - If you think you can just call some of your regular employees together and give them a pep talk and an impossible task to do, you're wrong. Your first task as a special ops business leader is to recruit, select, train, and motivate the right people.
• Build a Commando Team - Using models such as Carlson's Raiders, who fought for the U.S. Marines during World War II, the book explains how to work with different personalities, agendas, priorities, and motivations to create a team that works efficiently and effectively to get the job done.
• Dare the Impossible - Like the Sayeret Mat'kal, the Israeli Special Ops unit that staged the miraculous raid on Entebbe to free hostages on an Air France plane hijacked by terrorists in 1976, successful business ops must aggressively seek out opportunities and know when to transcend conventional thinking to stage an assault and act.

When they've got the right problems to work on, business commandos can do many times the work of normal employees, accomplish more with less, complete projects against looming deadlines, and create innovative new products and strategies. Secrets of Special Ops Leadership gives you the ammunition you need to get a business commando unit up and running and achieve the impossible for your organization.

PART 1 PRINCIPLES

WHY ARE SPECIAL OPS SPECIAL?

THE FIRST TIME I personally heard about commandos was when I was a five-year-old during World War II. Commandos were the superheroes of the day. They eagerly accepted death-defying missions and routinely accomplished what others considered impossible. They operated behind enemy lines and wrecked havoc with enemy lines of communication. They attacked the enemy even when he was unreachable by conventional forces or aircraft. They raided enemy strongholds and captured high-ranking officers. They provided on-the-ground reconnaissance and intelligence that spelled the difference between victory and defeat. My dream was one day to become a commando.

Air Commandos in the U.S. Military

When I became an Air Force officer in 1959, I didn’t hear much about commandos. Yet during World War II, air commandos existed and supported Britain’s General Orde Wingate and his “Chindits” in battles against the Japanese in the China-Burma-India theater of operations. In fact, one famous air commando leader, Colonel Philip Cochran, was the basis of the “Flip Corkin” character in Milton Caniff’s very popular Terry and the Pirates comic strip of the day.

Of course, by 1959, the U.S. Army did have its Special Forces or “Green Berets” unit, and although Ranger units had been mostly deactivated, infantry officers were encouraged to volunteer for Ranger training and to become “Ranger qualified,” which entitled them to wear the coveted “Ranger tab” on their uniforms. The U.S. Navy had its underwater demolition teams or “frogmen.” Their role in an age of nuclear weapons was unclear. Marine Corps commando units were no longer in existence. All of this was soon to change.

The new air commandos came into existence about the same time that I completed flying school. President John F. Kennedy recognized a growing threat of communist guerrillas subverting a country through armed insurgency, as had already happened in Eastern Europe, although in some countries, such attempts had been defeated. In most cases it was some sort of “special forces,” not regular military units, that defeated them. This was the primary mission of the new commandos: nonregular warriors who trained the local populace, lived off the land, put down insurgents, were capable of harassing an occupying force if necessary, and could also operate in their more traditional roles of raiding and operating behind enemy lines with little or no direct support. Later, the missions of the new American commandos in all services were to be greatly expanded.

It took something special to do this kind of work, and President Kennedy asked his armed forces to develop new units or expand what they had to do the job. The military services responded. The Navy converted its “frogmen” underwater demolition teams into the Navy SEALs. “SEAL” is actually an acronym standing for sea, air, and land, the three bases from which Navy SEALs operate. The U.S. Air Force reactivated the Air Commandos, which had been dormant since World War II. Both the Army and Marines increased their commando capability. Those conducting special operations were singled out from all other military organizations. They were special. They did what conventional units and their members were unable to do. I wanted to be an air commando, and I tried hard to become one.

My Struggle to Become an Air Commando

At the time, I was a navigator-bombardier on a B-52 nuclear bomber. In 1963, Strategic Air Command, or SAC, owned the B-52s and had the important mission of deterring nuclear war. Seeking these new and unique warriors, the commandos asked for volunteers from the regular squadrons. I submitted my paperwork and volunteered. However, my volunteer statement and application for the commandos was stopped at SAC headquarters. I was told that the nuclear deterrent mission had a higher priority and that I should forget the commandos. I saluted smartly and went about my business.

However, by 1965 the war in Vietnam had heated up considerably. The air commandos were engaged and badly need qualified people. Even the B-52 nuclear bomber was being refitted to drop conventional bombs in support of the Vietnam mission. I decided to try and get to the commandos by volunteering for combat duty in Vietnam. That would not mean reassignment to another B-52 squadron, but an entirely different airplane. In fact, the Air Force rules at the time were that if you volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam, you got to pick what airplane you would fly. I planned on volunteering for the A-26A “Counter Invader.” This was a modified version of a World War II attack plane. It flew like a fighter, but could carry the bomb load of a World War II B-17. Moreover, it had been fitted with all the modern bells and whistles in avionics: antiskid brakes for use on short runways, tip tanks, and props that could be autofeathered in an emergency. The A-26A could operate in the field out of relatively short airstrips and was flown exclusively by the air commandos.

Alas, the Vietnam mission might have gained in importance, but SAC still had precedence in retaining its highly trained aircrews. My volunteer application for combat duty in Vietnam was again stopped at SAC headquarters.

As a last resort, I decided to try family influence. Almost twenty years earlier, my father, an Air Force officer, was assigned to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. His best friend was a colorful young captain by the name of Harry Coleman. Captain Coleman had a remarkable career. Before the United States entered World War II, Coleman had volunteered and flown with England’s Royal Air Force. Then, after the United States entered the war, he had been incorporated into the U.S. Army Air Force. After the war’s end, he was offered a regular commission, which he accepted. Much to everyone’s surprise, when Captain Coleman became eligible for promotion to major, the Air Force failed to promote him! Now this sometimes happens, and usually an officer gets several opportunities in successive years. Captain Coleman was very discouraged and considered resigning his commission for a much higher-paying airline job. After all, he had his family to consider. It was my father who helped persuade Captain Coleman to remain in the Air Force and give it another shot. Then my father was reassigned and left Hawaii. We lost track of Captain Coleman and his family.

Ten years later, my father ran into Coleman in Washington. The only thing was, he was no longer “Captain” Coleman. Now he was Colonel Coleman, a pretty high ranking officer. Moreover, I knew he was assigned to Tactical Air Command, which was closely involved with the commandos. I called Colonel Coleman and explained my situation. He said something like, “I’m sure there’s been a mistake. We’re assigning all our best young officers who volunteer for combat in Vietnam to whatever airplane they want. What unit are you in now?”

I told him. “Great,” he responded. “I’ve known one of the generals in your command more than twenty years and was in flying school with him. I’ll see what I can find out and get back with you.”

Two weeks later he called. He was apologetic. “I would never have believed it,” he told me. “He said, ‘Harry, if we let that young officer go out of SAC, they’ll all want to go.’” At that point, I just about gave up.

However, a year later a new opportunity came up. There was a big push in the Air Force for advanced education, and when I first joined up, I was asked if I had any interest in going to graduate school. Almost carelessly, I said “yes.” My academic record at West Point was hardly one that would permit advanced academic training and I never gave it another thought. Nevertheless, after five years of flying duty I was eligible and was contacted to confirm whether I was still interested. The logic of sending folks into combat after graduate school rather than before escaped me. Nevertheless, on my completion of my MBA from the University of Chicago in 1967, I finally was assigned to A-26s as an air commando (although not before having to struggle one last time with Air Force personnel). Over the next two years, flying 174 combat missions in A-26s and one in an A-1, I was proud to be one of these unique warriors called an air commando.

Unique Warriors Equal Unique Accomplishments

In my study of commandos and special operations, I discovered that it makes little difference how these unique warriors are designated or from what country or service they operate. In the United States today we classify them under the general category of special operations (or special ops) because the operations assigned to them are sometimes so difficult as to be termed “impossible” by any rational analysis, making these operations indeed “special.” They are still commandos.

For example, during Operation Desert Storm, an eight-man Special Forces team was secretly transported 150 miles behind enemy lines by Black Hawk helicopters of the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Thousands of armed Iraqis were between these eight special ops soldiers and friendly forces. Their mission was essential. It was to learn if the enemy had spotted General Norman Schwarzkopf’s risky “Hail Mary” maneuver. If they had, Iraqi units could destroy the U.S. VII Corps and the XVIII Airborne Corps individually before they could link up. It could have turned a successful campaign into a disaster and Saddam Hussein could have won the war. General Schwarzkopf had to know the answer, and satellites, useful in many situations, could not have provided precise information. Landing after dark, the eight men built a hidden bunker at the side of the road, right next to the enemy. Before the sun rose, these and other special operators were able to provide critical intelligence to Schwarzkopf from right in the middle of the Iraqi Army. They saved thousands of lives by enabling Schwarzkopf’s calculated gamble to pay off—and potentially saving the entire campaign had the two American corps been spotted before they could link up.

America’s elite special operations units are at the forefront of the war on terror—and have played crucial roles in the U.S. invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq. Whether they are called Air Commandos, Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets, Delta Force, Rangers, or Special Operations–Capable Marines, their achievements are remarkable, but still mostly secret. What we do know is that a handful of these unique fighting men won high praise for helping to pave the way for U.S. military victories in both campaigns.

Here are a few of their accomplishments in these environments that we know about:

In Afghanistan, they were called the “primary instruments” on the ground. There were only between 200 and 300 special ops troops, but they hit the ground before anyone else and by many estimates did the work of a hundred times their number.

Their work with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan saved hundreds of lives. Special operators working with CIA teams organized offensive operations by the Afghan resistance, even taking the fight to the Taliban on horseback, although the U.S. Army hadn’t used horses in battle since before World War I.

A handful of special operators turned around a demoralized Northern Alliance in days—winning the confidence of the anti-Taliban force, which was a primary concern of American commanders and politicians.

In Iraq, operating in units of twelve men or fewer, they met secretly with indigenous peoples hundreds of miles beyond friendly lines. Alone with natives they did not know, they identified tribal leaders willing to pledge allegiance to the United States. Using high-technology lasers and getting up close, they precisely identified enemy military targets for U.S. warplanes, minimizing incidents of friendly fire.

They seized oil infrastructure, took control of airfields and other key sites in southwestern Iraq, and prevented dams from being blown; they worked with the Kurds up north and helped target and capture Iraqi leadership in key cities.

They plucked PFC Jessica Lynch from the center of an enemy-controlled area and got her to safety before the Iraqis even realized she was gone.

They nabbed the terrorist Abu Abbas, who years earlier had hijacked an Italian cruise ship and murdered an American invalid.

They cleared the way and prepared the ground for the largest military parachute landing since World War II.

They led two of three battlefronts in the war in Iraq, and in Operation Viking Hammer they took on thirteen Iraqi divisions and captured a camp believed to be harboring Al Qaeda and foreign terrorists.

They led the forces that went in and dragged Saddam Hussein from his spider-hole hideout.

And American commandos didn’t just fight enemies. They proved to be strong friends of countries that had been severely critical of America. When ...