Showing posts with label district-support-teams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label district-support-teams. Show all posts

Saturday, March 23, 2013

District Stability Operations (DSO) In Afghanistan

The concept of Village Stability Operations or VSO has been around for a year or two. VSO is a very successful program run by the Special Operations Joint Task Force - Afghanistan (SOJTF-A) - with the lead agency being the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A). VSO integrates the parallel and complimentary efforts of security, development, and governance to further the reach of the Afghan government and security organizations at the district level. The implementation involves committing a special operations team (SFODA, MARSOC, or SEAL) against a village to first establish security (primarily through the ALP) and then governance and development.

To assist the ODA (or Marines or Seals) SOJTF-A usually assigns one or two individuals to work as a District Augmentation Team (DAT) or Provincial Augmentation Team (PAT) to help coordinate and facilitate the governance and development lines of operations. The DAT or PAT works within the framework of the district or province headquarters coordinating with Afghan governmental, ministry, and security officials as well as other enablers present such as the State Department, DEA, NGOs, and others.

One Special Forces Warrant Officer presents the case that Special Forces should transition from Village Stability Operations (VSO) to District Stability Operations (DSO). His suggests that in certain regions of Afghanistan (RC East) DSO would be more effective. Read his online article in "VSO versus DSO", Small Wars Journal, March 19, 2013.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

District Support Teams (DST) in Afghanistan Making a Difference

District Support Teams (DST) are operating throughout Afghanistan.  The goal of these DSTs is to help Afghan government officials at the district level to establish civic improvements and increase government services to the Afghan population.  Projects include clean water, medical facilities, and formation of the Afghan Local Police (ALP).  Read about one DST located in Paktya Province.  See "Civil Affairs Soldiers, district support teams partner with GIRoA for progress", CJTF 101.com, December 18, 2010.