From the commandant.

On Dec. 12, in the auditorium of the JFK Special Warfare Center and School, the 3rd Special Forces Group held the largest Silver Star Medal ceremony since the Vietnam War. Eighteen SF Soldiers received the Silver Star Medal for their actions in Afghanistan, 10 of them for a single battle in Afghanistan's Shok Valley in April 2008. The account of that battle, printed in this issue of Special Warfare, is a story of courage, coolness under fire and self-sacrifice.

Self-sacrifice encompasses the qualities that have defined special-operations Soldiers throughout our history. It places the needs of the unit over the needs of the individual and manifests itself in a number of ways. Loyalty, excellence, duty, honor, integrity and personal courage all require a person to give of himself. In another article in this issue, the SWCS deputy commanding general, Brigadier General Bennet Sacolick, discusses the demands of our Special Forces training and the need for character in our training and in our missions, but the need for the Special Forces values applies equally to our Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Soldiers.

The actions in the Shok Valley and the Soldiers' comments also demonstrate the complexity of the environment we must prepare ARSOF for. One of the Soldiers commented that their normal contact with the populace was to sit and drink tea with them and find ways that they could help them. But when the Soldiers were ambushed by a large group of insurgents, they had to be prepared for a much different type of contact.

I am proud of the fact that the SF Soldiers involved in the action in the Shok Valley were trained at ...