#190: Building The Unified Global Special Operations Alliance - CSM(R) Warren Soeldner

Unified Special Operations commands are critical for allied nations to maintain the advantage over our adversaries. A single command structure enables interoperability at every level, from communications and equipment to tactics and acquisition, ensuring partner forces can train together, fight together, and answer to a common mission.

From the Global Special Operations Foundation Symposium in Athens, Greece, Fran Racioppi sat down with retired Command Sergeant Major Warren Soeldner, a 10th SFG legend who now lives and works in Greece supporting the Global SOF community. 

Warren brought home the central tenet of modern allied warfare explaining that Special Operations Forces across nations solve problems together, build trust, and operate as one.

He spoke about the importance of standing up capable national SOF commands, the evolving NATO environment and the realities of today’s threat landscape. From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the long-term strategic pressure posed by China and Iran, Warren emphasized that modern conflict cannot be viewed through a single lens. War now spans diplomatic, informational, military, and economic domains, and Special Forces play a critical role in shaping outcomes long before conflict becomes visible.

This discussion returns to what Green Berets have always done best: building capability in partners, understanding history and culture, maintaining discipline and professionalism, and quietly shaping global security in ways few ever see.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:41 Welcome to the Jedburgh Podcast
• 2:48 Building Relationships Across SOF Allies
• 5:38 Joint Unified Command
• 9:15 Defining “By, With, and Through”
• 12:38 Russia-Ukraine War Impact on NATO
• 15:08 NATO Interoperability Gaps
• 17:28 NATO’s Biggest Threat
• 23:14 Students of History
• 27:50 Special Forces in LSCO
• 32:38 US Army Generations
• 41:38 Defining the Green Beret

Quotes

• “The whole theme for the week has been strength and unity.”
• “The dollar or euro goes a lot further for them when it’s a unified command.” 
• “The threat isn’t waiting on 30 nations and their parliaments.”
• “It’s important that NATO know, fight, train together.”
• “When one country is using one standard and the rest of the countries are using another standard, resupply becomes a lot harder for that country.”
• “At the end of the day, we’re all out on the same battlefield and they’re seeing what we’re doing, we’re seeing what they’re doing.”
• “Russia is a huge threat right now. We may be getting to hyperfocused on that and forgetting other threats like China and Iran.”
• “We’ve lost that edge with the adversary. They have a long term plan. We don’t.”
• “It requires our Green Berets to be students of history.”
• “I came up in an era where we did two things: Unconventional Warfare and Foreign Internal Defense.”
• “First you had to learn the culture.”
• “When I look at Large Scale Combat Operations, do we need artillery anymore?”
• “In that isolation is where you finetune the skills that you need for that mission.”
• “There’s nothing special about being a Green Beret.”
• “I’ve always been a believer that the Green Beret is a symbol and it attracts greatness.”
• “At the end of the day, the Army’s job is to close with and kill the enemy.”

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