From the commandant.

As the new commander of the JFK Special Warfare Center and School, I am happy to be back. It has been some years since I was assigned to the schoolhouse, but in that time, it has maintained and built upon its image as the university for special-operations forces.

During the last four years, my predecessor, Major General James Parker, and the Soldiers and civilians at SWCS have done an amazing job of transforming the training pipelines, incorporating technology into our instruction and increasing the output of training courses to meet the demand for personnel in the force. Training courses are now shorter and more relevant to the current environment, and, as two of the articles in this issue of Special Warfare show, students are able in many cases to access or download materials that allow them to prepare beforehand or actually accomplish portions of their training by distributed learning.

SWCS' progress is impressive, but challenges remain. As we expand ARSOF, we need not only to train new Soldiers but also to work on retaining the experienced Soldiers we have. I am encouraged by the recent creation of the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations branches as a good step toward improving career progression and the management of personnel. The skills of CA and PSYOP Soldiers will be increasingly important in the future. We must also ensure that as we fill the force, we further qualify Soldiers with the advanced ...