Frank K. Sobchak, Author of Training for Victory, SFA Chapter 78’s November Meeting Featured Speaker

COL (Ret.) Frank K. Sobchak, PhD, will be the featured speaker at the SFA Chapter 78 meeting on November 16th at the Courtyard by Marriott in Cypress, CA. Dr. Sobchak is the author of the upcoming book, “Training for Victory: U.S. Special Forces Operations From El Salvador to Afghanistan,” which will be published by the U.S. Naval Institute Press on November 19th, 2024.

Overview of Training For Victory

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 were pockets of success. The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) held back the Islamic State in 2014 long enough to allow American and allied forces to flow back into the country, and many Afghan 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 (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 able to produce effective partner forces. Examining these missions for best practices and lessons learned can provide insight to improve larger security force assistance efforts.

Praise for Training for Victory

“A superbly written, extensively researched, and very illuminating examination of what most determines success in the conduct of security force assistance missions – endeavors that have become increasingly important for the American military in recent decades because, if they are done right, they can preclude substantial employment of US forces on the front lines of irregular conflicts. In Training for Victory, former Special Forces officer Frank Sobchak upends much of the conventional wisdom of security force assistance and provides a compelling explanation of how to do it right. Training for Victory clearly establishes Frank as one of the preeminent contemporary voices on how to build foreign armies. A very important book!”—Gen. David Petraeus, USA (Ret.), former CENTCOM Command, former Director of the CIA, co-author of Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.

“Training for Victory may be the most important book on military affairs to be published in recent years. The history of training and advising partner forces reveals that the United States can remain engaged in the world and advance the interests of the American people at low cost and risk. The alternative – retrenchment and disengagement—would result in high-cost wars and interventions.”—Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, USA (Ret.), former National Security Advisor and author of Dereliction of Duty

“Frank Sobchak’s excellent analysis of Special Forces partner development operations goes a long way toward explaining the factors underpinning the Green Berets’ well-deserved reputation as the preeminent trainers of foreign partners. In a discussion often dominated by dogma, Dr. Sobchak provides a welcome evidence-based study. It is particularly timely, as the US military grapples to understand its strategic failure to develop credible partners in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite an enormous expenditure in time, treasure, and lives. It is a must read for those that will be asked to attempt to do so in the future.”—Lt. Gen, Ken Tovo, USA (Ret.), former Commanding General, U.S. Army Special Operations Command

“An important examination of the handful of effective military units built during the 9-11 wars. Sobchak’s penetrating analysis and actionable recommendations are a must-read for anyone concerned about future proxy wars with China, Russia, and Iran.”—Sean McFate, Professor, Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, NDU’s College of International Security Affairs, and author of The New Rules of War

“Frank Sobchak is a scholar-practitioner of the highest caliber, and there is no one better qualified to examine the critical subject of security force assistance. His Training for Victory offers valuable lessons on how to successfully build foreign militaries that should inform policymakers on such a critical foreign policy tool.”—Richard Shultz, Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of International Security Studies, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

“An outstanding contribution to the literature on special operations and irregular warfare, one that is full of strategy and policy insights for senior leaders to consider. Bravo!”—Michael G Vickers, former Special Forces officer, CIA officer, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, and author of By All Means Available

“As both a professional historian and a Special Forces officer with multiple deployments Frank Sobchak is perhaps uniquely qualified to assess what worked and what didn’t work across multiple conflicts during which US Special Forces worked ‘by with and through’ local forces such as the Iraqi Special Operations Forces. Training for Victory is an invaluable contribution both for practitioners in the field and for those interested in the history of America’s ‘advise and assist’ missions.”—Peter Bergen, Chairman, Global SOF Foundation and author of The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden.

“Sobchak challenges one of the long-held consensus views in the American advising community, which attaches high importance to advisors knowing the language and culture of the partner nation. He makes a compelling case that a low partner-to-advisor force ratio is the key to success.”—Forrest Marion, author of Flight Risk: The Coalition’s Air Advisory Mission in Afghanistan, 2005-2015

About the Author

Colonel (Ret.) Frank Sobchak, PhD, is the Chair of 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, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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 including leading teams and companies in 5th Special Forces Group advising foreign militaries and representing U.S. Special Operations Command as a congressional liaison. He commanded Special Forces units during peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and in combat in Iraq. His final assignments included garrison command (akin to being a mayor or city manager of an Army base) and 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 having access to a similar sized set of documents and interviews that had not yet been released. The project’s culmination resulted in the publication of the 1,500-page two volume set, The U.S. Army in the Iraq War.

He has been a frequent contributor to television, radio, and print interviews for topics such as Middle East security matters, defense reform, the impact of technology on intelligence and espionage, 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 has been published in Foreign Policy, The Wall Street Journal, The Jerusalem Post, Defense One, The Hill, War on the Rocks, Newsweek, Time, the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, and the Small Wars Journal. Frank’s new book, Training for Victory: Special Forces Advisory Missions from El Salvador to Afghanistan, comes out November 19, 2024. His twitter handle is @abujeshua.