BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook 16.0 MIMEDIR//EN VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH X-MS-OLK-FORCEINSPECTOROPEN:TRUE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:16011104T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=11 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:16010311T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYMONTH=3 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CLASS:PUBLIC CREATED:20250122T205818Z DESCRIPTION:THIS COLLOQUIUM WILL BE IN PARSONS AUDITORIUM\n\nJHU/APL Colloq uium - www.jhuapl.edu/colloquium \n\n TOPIC: The Outliers: Security Force Assistance Successes in an Era of Dis asters\n\nSPEAKER: Col. Frank K. Sobchak\, U.S. Army (Ret.)\n\nDespite bi llions of dollars spent\, the commitment of thousands of advisors\, and in numerable casualties\, the American security force assistance efforts in A fghanistan and Iraq failed catastrophically. Nevertheless\, among those co lossal military disasters were pockets of success. The Iraqi Special Opera tions Forces (ISOF) held back the Islamic State in 2014 long enough to all ow American and allied forces to flow back into the country\, and many Afg han Commando units fought to the bitter end as their country disintegrated around them. What made those units successful while the larger missions ended disastrously? Author Frank K. Sobchak explores five case studies (E l Salvador (1981–1991)\, Colombia (2002–2016)\, the Philippines (2001 –2015)\, Iraq (2003–2011)\, and Afghanistan (2007–2021)) where U.S. Special Forces advisors were able to produce effective partner forces. Ex amining these missions for best practices and lessons learned can provide insight to improve larger security force assistance efforts.\n\nColonel (R et.) Frank Sobchak\, PhD\, is the Chair of Irregular Warfare Studies at th e Modern War Institute at West Point and has taught at the U.S. Military A cademy at West Point\, Reichman University\, Joint Special Operations Univ ersity\, Tufts University\, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He holds a BS in Military History from West Point\, a MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University\, and a PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. During his twenty-six-year career in the U.S. Army\, he served in various Special Forces assignments includi ng leading teams and companies in 5th Special Forces Group advising foreig n militaries and representing U.S. Special Operations Command as a congres sional liaison. He commanded Special Forces units during peacekeeping ope rations in Kosovo and in combat in Iraq. His final assignments included g arrison command (akin to being a mayor or city manager of an Army base) an d leading the Army effort to publish an official history of the Iraq War. That effort spanned five years and included the declassification of over 30\,000 pages of documents and several hundred interviews in addition to h aving access to a similar sized set of documents and interviews that had n ot yet been released. The project’s culmination resulted in the publica tion of the 1\,500-page two volume set\, The U.S. Army in the Iraq War. H e has been a frequent contributor to television\, radio\, and print interv iews for topics such as Middle East security matters\, defense reform\, th e impact of technology on intelligence and espionage\, civil military rela tions\, and special operations forces. He is a senior fellow at the Glob al and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida and a contributor (Fellow) at the MirYam Institute\, and has been published in Foreign Policy\, The Wall Street Journal\, The Jerusalem Post\, Defense O ne\, The Hill\, War on the Rocks\, Newsweek\, Time\, the Jerusalem Strateg ic Tribune\, Telem\, and the Small Wars Journal. Frank’s latest book\, Training for Victory: Special Forces Advisory Missions from El Salvador to Afghanistan\, published in November 2024 and was selected for the War on the Rocks 2024 holiday reading list. His twitter handle is @abujeshua \n\ n DTEND;TZID="Eastern Standard Time":20250214T150000 DTSTAMP:20250122T205818Z DTSTART;TZID="Eastern Standard Time":20250214T140000 LAST-MODIFIED:20250122T205818Z LOCATION:Parsons Auditorium PRIORITY:5 SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:Colloquium - Frank Sobchak - The Outliers: Security Force Assistance Successes in an Era of Disasters TRANSP:OPAQUE UID:040000008200E00074C5B7101A82E0080000000010664F24F552DB01000000000000000 0100000001A216F59BBA8DC48ACF5AAE5AF86719B X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:\n\n\n\n\n \n

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THIS COLLOQUIUM WILL BE IN PARSONS AUDITORIU M

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JHU/APL Colloquium -  \;

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TOPIC: \; The Outliers: Security Force Assistance Successes in an Era of Disasters< B>

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SPEAKER: \; Col. Frank K. Sobchak\, U.S. A rmy (Ret.)

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Despite billions of dollars spent\, the commitment of thousands of advisors\, and innumerable casualties\, the American security force assistance efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq failed catastrophically. Nevertheless\, among those colossal military disasters w ere pockets of success. The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) held back the Islamic State i n 2014 long enough to allow American and allied forces to flow back into t he country\, and many Afghan Commando units fought to the bitter end as th eir country disintegrated around them.  What made those units successful while the larger missi ons ended disastrously?  Author Frank K. Sobchak explores five case studi es (El Salvador (1981–1991)\, Colombia (2002–2016)\, the Philippines (2001–2015)\, Iraq (2003–2011)\, and Afghanistan (2007–2021)) where U.S. Special Forces advisors were abl e to produce effective partner forces.  Examining these missions for best practices and lessons learned can provide insight to improve larger security force assistance e fforts.< SPAN LANG="en-us">

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Colonel (Ret.) Frank Sobchak\, PhD\,< /FONT> is the Chair o f Irregular Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point\, Reichman University\, Joint Special Operations University\, Tufts University\, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. \; He holds a BS in Military History from West Point\, a MA in Arab Studies from Geor getown University\, an d a PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Dip lomacy. \; During his twenty-six-year career in the U.S. Army\, he ser ved in various Special Forces assignments including leading teams and comp anies in 5th S pecial Forces Group advising foreign militaries and representing U.S. Special Operations Command as a congressional liaiso n. \; He commanded Special Forces units during peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and in combat in Iraq. \; His final assignments included ga rrison command (akin t o being a mayor or city manager of an Army base) and leading the Army effo rt to publish an official history of the Iraq War. \; That effort span ned five years and included the declassification of over 30\,000 pages of documents and several hundred interviews in addition to having access to a similar sized set of documents and interviews that had not yet been released. \; The projec t’s culmination resu lted in the publication of the 1\,500-page two volume set\,< SPAN LANG="en-us">< /I> The U.S. Army in the I raq War. \ ; He has been a frequent contributor to televisi on\, radio\, and print interviews for topics such as Middle East security matters\, defense reform\, the impact of technology on intelligence and es pionage\, civil military relations\, and special operations forces. \;  \; He is a senior fellow at the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida and a contributor (Fellow) at the MirYam Institute\, and ha s been published in Foreign Policy\, The Wall Street Journal\, The Jerusa lem Post\, Defense One\, The Hill\, War on th< /FONT>e Rocks\, Newsweek\, Time\, the Jerusalem Strate gic Tribune\, Telem\, and the Small Wars Journal.  Frank’s latest book\, Training for Victory: Specia l Forces Advisory Missions from El Salvador to Afghanistan< /SPAN>\, published in November 2024 and was selected for the War on the Rocks 2024 h oliday reading list. \; His twitter handle is @abujeshua

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