John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School

John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center shoulder sleeve insignia

The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS) — known informally as "Swick" — trains United States Army personnel for the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) and Army Special Operation Forces (ARSOF) which includes Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations personel. According to its mission statement, its purpose is to train Special Forces through development and evaluation of special operations concepts, doctrines and training. It is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The school began in 1951 as the psychological warfare division of the Army General School at Fort Riley, Kansas. The Army's Psychological Warfare Center was created at Fort Bragg in May 1952 and the following month the school was co-located as the Psychological Warfare School.^[1] The center was proposed by the Army's then Psychological Warfare Chief, Robert A. McClure, to provide doctrinal support and training for both psychological and conventional warfare.^[2]

Units

• Center and School Training Group
  • 1st Battalion is responsible for:
    • Phase I: 19 day Special Forces Assessment and Selection course
    • Phase III: Small Unit Tactics training
    • Phase III: Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape course
    • Phase V: Unconventional warfare exercise ("Exercise Robin Sage")
  • 2nd Battalion is responsible for:
    • Special Operations skills in weapons training
    • Military Free Fall training
    • Combat diving training
    • Special Forces Warrant Officer course
    • Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant’s course
  • 3rd Battalion is responsible for:
    • Phase II: language training
    • Civil affairs and psychological operations training
  • 4th Battalion is responsible for:
    • Phase IV: Weapons, Engineer, Communications and Medical Sergeant’s courses
    • Officer Qualification course
  • Support Battalion is responsible for:
    • A Co - SWCPAC - in-processing of student and permanent party personnel
    • B Co - Transportation
    • C Co - Rigger, Electronics, and Weapons needs
• Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center
• Noncommissioned Officer Academy

References

1. ^ "Special Forces - History". Website of Fort Bragg. http://www.bragg.army.mil/specialforces/History.htm. 
2. ^ Paddock, Alfred H., Jr (November 1979). "Psychological and Unconventional Warfare, 1941-1952: Origins of a Special Warfare Capability for the United States Army". http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA086801. 

External links

• USAJFKSWCS at www.soc.mil
• USAJFKSWCS at GlobalSecurity.org
• USAJFKSWCS Special Forces Unconventional Warfare Operations field manual FM 3-05.201

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