SOCOM must improve high-risk training oversight, report says

A latest report recommends U.S. Particular Operations Command take numerous actions to cut back high-risk coaching accidents and deaths, which account for the majority of non-combat accidents.

Launched this month, the Authorities Accountability Workplace report discovered that from 2012 to 2022, an estimated 80% of the three,600 reported on-duty, non-combat accidents amongst particular operations forces got here from high-risk coaching. Forty p.c of these incidents had been from both parachute or fight dive coaching.

Officers decided that roughly 86% of these incidents had been brought on by human error. Solely about 3% had been the results of tools failure, whereas one other 3% had been impacted by environmental elements like excessive warmth or chilly.

4 elements had been highlighted as sole or mixed contributors that trigger human error, together with “failure to stick to coaching requirements, normal working procedures, or different insurance policies and steering,” “overconfidence, complacency or indiscipline,” “management supervision” and “poor or improper resolution making.”

The variety of coaching incidents fluctuated yearly, starting from as little as 120 in a single 12 months to as excessive as 402 throughout one other. On common there have been about 259 reported coaching incidents annually of the research interval.

Damaged down by class, high-risk coaching accidents between 2012 and 2022 included 972 incidents that concerned parachutes, 188 involving weapons or explosives, 99 that occurred throughout dive operations and 83 involving tactical automobiles.

There have been 48 reported fatalities throughout the studied interval. One-third of these fatalities occurred throughout parachute coaching, with greater than 60% of the fatalities occurring between fiscal 2012 and financial 2015. SOCOM paused parachute coaching in 2015 in consequence, making a sequence of adjustments to coaching coverage and operations.

Military and Navy particular operations personnel carried out a median of greater than 100,000 parachute jumps annually between 2012 and 2022. Over the course of the studied interval, personnel assigned to Military and Navy models had been concerned in 685 and 237 reported parachute coaching accidents, respectively.

Throughout a median 12 months highlighted within the report, Military particular operations fired off 48 million ammunition rounds and explosives. Round eight weapons and explosives coaching incidents had been reported annually throughout that interval.

Marine particular operators fired off 7 million rounds and explosives annually, reporting roughly two associated incidents yearly.

Military and Navy particular operators drove a median of 1 million and 250,000 tactical miles, respectively, over the last decade measured. Collectively, the 2 forces averaged about three whole tactical car coaching accidents annually.

Navy particular operators averaged 40,000 dives per 12 months, in the meantime, with seven reported dive coaching incidents yearly. Air Power particular operations divers hit the water 3,600 occasions annually and reported lower than one dive coaching incident per 12 months.

In wanting into incidents, the report authors dinged SOCOM in a number of areas.

Particular Operations Command designated seven high-risk coaching areas in 2022 — airborne operations, fight dive, joint terminal assault controller, mountain operations, sniper, particular operations city fight and vertical carry operations — however has not but decided whether or not these areas account for the best danger of coaching accidents, the authors famous.

The command additionally established a coaching and evaluation program to supervise SOF coaching in 2022, but it surely has not but applied all elements of the assessments. The command has not carried out an evaluation of unfavourable security developments in high-risk coaching, the report added.

The GAO report provided suggestions to enhance particular operations coaching security. Amongst these, the report suggests:

The SOCOM commander ought to analyze unfavourable security developments when designating high-risk coaching areas in future coaching directive updates.The assistant secretary of protection for particular operations and low-intensity battle ought to reevaluate the coaching evaluation program to find out assets SOF service instructions want to realize program objectives.The protection secretary ought to make sure that companies’ corresponding particular operations forces commanders set up milestones for his or her models to finish updates to high-risk coaching insurance policies, together with SOCOM’s oversight necessities.

The Pentagon agreed with all GAO suggestions. Learn the total report right here.