By Scott Prater
Mountaineer staff
Col. Scott Jackson, commander, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, explains details about the brigade’s mission and structure to Fort Carson Soldiers during a recruitment briefing at McMahon Auditorium June 12, 2017. (Photo by Scott Prater)
Col. Scott Jackson, the first commander of 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB), visited Fort Carson June 12, 2017, in an effort to recruit Soldiers for the Army’s newest formation.
Jackson called the new brigade, “a specially trained, specially selected, specially equipped formation” with the primary mission to train, advise and assist foreign security forces.
“If you want the chance to do what you joined the Army for, to be a master at arms, this is the opportunity for you,” Jackson said as he spoke to more than 70 Fort Carson Soldiers at the recruitment briefing. “If you volunteer for this mission, you will deploy to the (U.S. Central Command area of responsibility).”
The secretary of the Army approved the creation and progression of SFABs in 2016 to provide an expressly designed force for security-force assistance, but also to preserve brigade combat team readiness.
“The SFAB is a long-term solution to a long-term problem,” Jackson said, referring to the Army’s typical practice of pulling segments of Soldiers from standard combat brigades to deploy and serve as trainers and advisers, while their units remain stateside.
Jackson explained that a typical SFAB will include more than 500 Soldiers comprising of more than 160 officers, a dozen or so warrant officers and nearly 350 enlisted members.
Those who desire to volunteer for SFAB assignment must be proven leaders with high promotion potential, have demonstrated proficiency in their career field and have successful operational experience. Volunteers must be staff sergeant or above, obtain a secret security clearance, have a Defense Language Aptitude Battery score of 85 or above and be medically deployable among other requirements.
Soldiers who volunteer must commit to a two- to three-year assignment, which includes a year of security force assistance-specific training so that they can train, advise, assist and assess foreign security forces. Training includes in-depth cultural, language and foreign weapons courses, and those selected will begin their training at the new Military Adviser Training Academy at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Incentive measures have been built into the recruitment process as well. For instance, those who are selected for SFAB assignment will be eligible for a follow-on assignment of choice as well as a $5,000 incentive bonus.
Ultimately, the Army plans to form up to six SFABs to handle the security-force-assistance mission.
“Future SFABs will deploy to areas that have never seen a U.S. Soldier,” Jackson said to attendees. “This is your chance to shape the structure of the Army. This is your chance to write history.”
Soldiers interested in joining an SFAB can contact their unit S1 for more information.