Tactics, Methods and Techniques to Improve Special Forces in-Service Enlisted Recruiting

This thesis identifies and analyzes recruiting strategies that exist outside of the military service that might be considered to increase the number of high-quality enlisted recruits for the United States Army Special Forces Command (USASFC). The thesis contains a review of the current Special Forces recruiting processes and describes how Special Operations Recruiting Command (SORC) recruits enlisted soldiers. It also analyzes goal congruency and cohesion between SORC, SWCS(A), and USASFC(A). Using recruiting process case studies obtained from five diverse civilian organizations, the thesis examines common successful tactics, methods, and techniques (TMTs) used to recruit candidates and then evaluates these TMTs to determine their applicability to the current SF recruiting model. Finally, the thesis offers three main recommendations using successful TMTs: quality control measures are needed throughout a successful organization; goal congruency is needed to reduce friction and achieve effective and efficient bottom-line results; and metrics, incentives, and defined success must be aligned with the bottom-line target. These recommendations could result in fewer candidates required for recruitment by SORC, while producing a greater number of high-quality recruits for the SF training pipeline and, ultimately, for USASFC(A) units.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Tactics, Methods and Techniques to Improve Special Forces in-Service Enlisted Recruiting', published 2002 under ISBN 9781423509431 and ISBN 1423509439.