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Papers on Advising
2025
Cutting SFABs: A Bad Decision. In May 2025, DOD announced it was planning to cut two of the Army's six security force assistance brigades and downsize the Security Force Assistance Command. This action ignores the history of ad hoc advisory efforts and how the SFABs were designed to professionalize the advisory efforts of the U.S. Army. SFABs shape the battlespace before, during, and after a conflict and have strategic value. Read more in "The Consequences of Cutting the Army's Security Force Assistance Capability", Modern War Institute at West Point, July 22, 2025.
Military Advising. The Pentagon is dismantling one of the U.S. military's most effective tools at a time that is becoming increasingly important in today's contemporary operating environment. Military advising has had many successes (and failures) and it needs substantial changes in order to be more consistently effective. Military advising is a cehap but effective way to strenghten security partners and preserve U.S. interests around the world. Plans to deactivate two of the Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs) are a step in the wrong direction. "How to Reform Military Advising", Lawfare Blog, June 29, 2025.
Rose, Maj Robert, "Awake Before the Sound of the Guns", Military Review, May-June 2025. Citing the example of the Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) during the onset of the Korean War, Rose argues that time is one of the most limiting factors in advisor success and effectiveness.
2024
CRS, Army Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs),
Congressional Research Service, CRS IF10675, PDF, 3 pages.
https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/IF10675.pdf
2023
Shackelford, Elizabeth et al, "Less is More: A New Strategy for US Security Assistance to Africa", Council on Global Affairs, August 21,2023.
Fleming, Alissa et al, Team Measures for the Military
Advisor Training Academy, U.S. Army Research Institute,
June 2023, PDF, 18 pages.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD1203050.pdf
King, Iain, Five Lessons on Advising from the First Five Years of NATO Mission Iraq, Modern War Institute at West Point, September 27, 2023.
2022
"Deepening a Culture of Military Professionalism in Africa", Africa Center for Strategic Studies, December 20, 2022.
NATO, Insights on Strategic Advising for Security Force
Assistance, NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of
Excellence, Rome, Italy, 2022, PDF, 188 pages.
https://www.nsfacoe.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/INSIGHTS-ON-STRATEGIC-ADVISING-FOR-SFA-book.pdf
2020
Byrd, Aaron R., Ph.D., PE and Mechille Braden, "A
Culture-Independent Conceptual Model of Organizational
Leadership for Advisors", Small Wars Journal, October
22, 2020.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/culture-independent-conceptual-model-organizational-leadership-advisors
Tishman, Jon, "Who Gets a Brown Beret? Rethinking
Assignments to the Security Force Assistance Brigades",
Modern War Institute at West Point, June 29, 2020.
https://mwi.westpoint.edu/gets-brown-beret-rethinking-assignments-security-force-assistance-brigades/
Waxler, SFC Michael, "Emotional Intelligence and the Modern
Military Advisor", NCO Journal, Army University Press,
April 24, 2020.
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/NCO-Journal/Archives/2020/April/Emotional-Intelligence-and-the-Modern-Military-Advisor/
Grazier, Dan, Preventing Train and Defeat in Future
Conflicts. Institutionalizing the lessons learned during
Afghanistan to prevent another two-decade exercise in futility.
POGO, April 8, 2020.
https://www.pogo.org/report/2020/04/preventing-train-and-defeat-in-future-conflicts/
Murray, Michael G. II and Major Kirk Johnson,
Information Paper: The Application of Psychology and the
Behavioral Sciences in Advising, January 2020. Two members
of the Marine Corps Security Cooperation Group (MCSCG)
co-authored a 7-page paper that explores a change in training
of advisors that will produce better critical thinkers.
https://sof.news/pubs/Application-Psychology-Behavioral-Science-in-Advising-Murray-Johnson-Jan-2020.pdf
2019
"Marine Corps Advisor Company (MCAC)", SOF News,
June 13, 2019.
The Marine Corps Advisor Company or MCAC is a new unit that has
been established to provide trained and capable military
advisors to work with foreign militaries and security forces of
partner nations. The MCAC units will focus exclusively on
training, equipping, and deploying military advisor teams that
will operate around the world.
https://sof.news/sfa/mcac/
Milnor, Burton, The United States
Army and Security Force Assistance: The Shortcomings of
Advisors Conducting Security Force Assistance and the Future,
Air University, Maxwell AFB, AL, June 2019, PDF, 81 pages.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD1107509.pdf
2018
Brown, Edward E., "The Definition of Advisor: Comprehending
the Mission to Advise Foreign Security Forces", Small Wars
Journal. An Army officer with significant advisor
experience defines the roll of an advisor.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/definition-advisor-comprehending-mission-advise-foreign-security-forces
Dreyer, John, "A Brief History of the Military Advising
Misson", Small Wars Journal.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/brief-history-military-advising-mission
2017
"Military Advisor Training Academy - MATA", SOF News,
December 9, 2017.
The Military Advisor Training Academy is located at Fort
Benning, Georgia. The purpose of the school is to prepare
Soldiers for a future assignment as advisors to foreign
military forces.
https://sof.news/sfa/mata-military-advisor-training-academy/
Ramaiah, Gabrielle, Determinants of
Success and Failure in US Advising of Foreign Militaries, 1945-
Present, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, May 2017, PDF, 261 pages.
https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/40046562
King, James, "New Rules for Advisers: Lessons From a Year
With the Iraqi Army", Small Wars Journal, May 2, 2017.
An Intelligence Officer assigned to a Military Transition Team
(MiTT) in Iraq provides insight on how to do military advising.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/new-rules-for-advisers-lessons-from-a-year-with-the-iraqi-army
Griffiths, Zachary, "Advising in Small Wars", Small Wars
Journal, April 12, 2017. A Special Forces ODA commander
writes on the challenges of advising a Provincial Response
Company (PRC) in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan in the 2013
timeframe.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/advising-in-small-wars
Lewis, Angela M. et al, "Joint Regional Experts: We Can Do
Better", Small Wars Journal, April 7, 2017. Three
military officers write how DoD should select, train, and
assign joint regional experts.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/joint-regional-experts-we-can-do-better
"Expeditionary Advisory Package (EAP) Concept for
Afghanistan", SOF News, January 9, 2017. Due to the
drawdown of military forces the
U.S. military has been utilizing an Expeditionary Advisory
Package (EAP) model to advise Afghan National Defense and
Security Forces (ANDSF) elements at a few of the Afghan
National Army (ANA) corps and Afghan National Police (ANP)
police zones.
https://sof.news/afghanistan/expeditionary-advisory-package/
2016
Stringer, Lieutenant Colonel Kevin D.,
"The Missing Lever: A Joint Military Advisory Command for
Partner-Nation Engagement", Joint Force Quarterly, JFQ
81, 2nd Quarter 2016, pages 86-91. Stringer argues that a joint
military advisory command is needed to make the advising
mission joint, specialized, and institutionally mainstream.
www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jfq/jfq-81.pdf
Healey, 1st Lt. Dominick, "Building
Rapport: The History and Near Future of Combat Advising",
Army Press, 2016.
http://armypress.dodlive.mil/2016/05/31/building-rapport-the-history-and-near-future-of-combat-advising/
Hammes, T.X. (2016), "Raising and
Mentoring Security Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan", Orbis.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0030438715000691
2015
Young, Wynndee, Advanced Advisor Training for the
Foreign Security Advisor, USMC Command and Staff College,
Quantico, VA, 2015, PDF, 34 pages. DTIC.mil
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD1176069.pdf
Hooker, Jr, Richard D. and Joseph J. Collins, "Raising and
Mentoring Security Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq", Lessons
Encountered: Learning from the Long War, National Defense
University, Fort McNair, DC. ADA621797, September 2015.
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA621797
2014
Hajjar, Lt. Col. Remi, U.S. Army, "What
Lessons Did We Learn (or Re-Learn) About Military Advising
After 9/11?", Military Review, November-December 2014,
pages 63-75.
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/MilitaryReview/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20141231_art013.pdf
GAO, Security Force Assistance:
Capturing Advising Experience, Government Accountability
Office, July 2014, PDF, 36 pages.
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-14-482.pdf
2011
GAO, Iraq and Afghanistan: Actions
Needed to Enhance the Ability of Army Brigades to Support the
Advising Mission, Government Accountability Office, August
2011, PDF, 34 pages.
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-11-760.pdf
2009
Brooks, Michael G., General Editor,
Eyewitness to War Volume III: US Army Advisors in Afghanistan,
Combat Studies Institute Press, US Army Combined Arms Center,
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 2009.
http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/EyewitnessToWar_VolumeIII_Brooks.pdf
2008
King, MSG Brian. Special Forces in
El Salvador and Afghanistan, USASMA Digital Library, March
18, 2008. Paper for the United States Sergeants Major Academy,
Class # 58. The paper compares and contrasts Special Forces
counterinsurgency during the 13 year war in El Salvador and the
current war in Afghanistan.
http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15040coll2/id/4436
Grdovic, LTC Mark, "The Advisory
Challenge", Special Warfare Magazine, Jan/Feb 2008,
Vol. 21, Issue 1, pages 22-28. The author discusses the
critical skills an advisor should have to include the
importance of getting to know the counterpart, trust, respect,
credibility and how to establish a relationship.
www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/8250
Binetti, Michael R. (2008).
Institutionalizing Security Force Assistance, SAMS, Fort
Leavenworth, KS, PDF, 57 pages.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA484764.pdf
2006
Ramsey, Robert D., Advising
Indigenous Forces: American Advisors in Korea, Vietnam, and El
Salvador, Global War on Terrorism Occasional Paper 18,
Combat Studies Institute Press, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 2006,
PDF, 187 pages.
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/ramsey.pdf
1996
Cale, MAJ Paul P., The United States
Military Advisory Group in El Salvador, 1979-1992, CSC,
1996. A thesis that the U.S. MAG in El Salvador helped an
emerging democratic nation combat a communist supported
insurgent threat.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/cale.pdf
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