Snake Eaters: How an Unconventional Fighting Force Effected U.S. Foreign Policy from 1957 to 2017

Abstract

From 1957 to 2017, the United States had Special Operations Forces including U.S. Army Special Forces (SF) in multiple locations that would be impacted or were under current threat of either ethnic cleansing or full-blown genocide. This study explores the importance of the unique perspective provided by Army SF present in these locations in understanding not only the origins of the conflicts but also the impact for the populations that worked alongside them. It seeks to answer the question: How have U.S. Army Special Forces harnessed their forged adaptability mindset, honed over time to respond to the changing conflict picture and best respond to instances of ethnic cleansing and genocide, as they uncover genocidal factors through their work on the ground? This thesis is grounded in interviews with former SF operators that were present at key events being studied including multiple operators from the Vietnam era, the Balkan conflict, the War in Iraq, and the Syrian fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The interviews reveal the importance of adaptability, a trait in many cases cultivated due to the circumstances of the operators’ backgrounds and fostered further through their experiences in Special Forces. This adaptability would be key amid the shifts seen in SF over time through the impact of predecessors, Branch creation in 1987, as well as the creation of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) impacting mission and future influence of SF as the conflicts continued to change. While working alongside local populations and indigenous groups, they witnessed occurrences in line with genocidal factors found in modern scholarship and moved this information from the ground through the government. Though the exchanges of information may have shifted through the time period, these close relationships with civilians were often the driving forces for SF within the region. Even with the changing nature of conflict and the picture of genocide, SF’s adaptability has allowed them to change alongside it. Through their work with these local populations, they have been able to harness this adaptability to deal with the complicated picture of genocide and provide insight into the situation directly from the source. The oral histories align with genocide scholarship in their confirmation of these on-the-ground factors pointing to the potential for genocidal violence or ethnic cleansing to occur, even if the record provided by historical governmental documents shows that in certain cases this information was ignored or did not lead to action. In certain cases, concern for these groups led SF to take action for these people of their own accord. While this work confirmed the presence of these genocidal factors in these specific areas, it opened up the potential for further future study in order to explore how this data on genocide factors provided by Special Forces can be interpreted and synthesized by U.S. policymakers to lead to an effective response.