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The position of Special Forces intelligence sergeant, or 18F, is finally beginning to get the recognition and the attention that it deserves.
For many years, some members of the community have viewed the position as the weakest on the SF detachment for several reasons, including the timing of training in the life cycle of an SF Soldier's career, problems with career management, and the mindset that the position was merely an additional duty rather than an essential function of the detachment.
Recent changes initiated by the JFK Special Warfare Center and School, or SWCS, have greatly enhanced the 18F position, but more can and needs to be done to ensure not only stability and continuity but also effective training for this key position.
In September 2002, for example, SWCS took the first step toward bringing more stability and appropriate prominence to the 18P position by creating the 13-week Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant Course, or SFISC. Before the SFISC was created, an SF NCO had to meet only two prerequisites in order to reclassify to the military occupational specialty, or MOS, 18F: graduate from one of the three operations-and-intelligence, or O&I, courses1; and serve an assignment to the single 18F billet on an SF detachment. The SFISC now focuses its curriculum on training the intelligence-specific aspects of the 18F position, with most SFISC graduates receiving MOS 18F as a primary MOS.2
The SFISC lays the foundation for producing competent SF intel sergeants, but it is not the only way to address the underlying problems inherent with the SF detachment's only dedicated intelligence position. With additional resources, SWCS could transform the new course into one that is focused on properly preparing what could become one of the most critical members of the detachment.
Education alone does not make one an expert, and the training provided by the SFISC is no exception Only through extensive experience, usually gained over considerable time, can an SF intelligence sergeant gain and refine the skills necessary for him to be fully effective and productive for the detachment. The same can be said of the other SF MOSs. Unfortunately, SF intel sergeants have rarely had sufficient opportunity to acquire intelligence-specific experience.
Before the creation of the SFISC, the SF intel sergeants not immediately...