Bring Irregular Warfare to the Conventional Forces
by SWJ Staff
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05.18.2026 at 12:00am
Bring Irregular Warfare to the Conventional Forces Image
Libyan joint forces soldiers and Italian Special Forces 4th Ranger Regiment soldiers assault a shoreline objective during Flintlock 2026 in Sirte, Libya, April 21, 2026. Since 2005, Flintlock has served as U.S. Africa Command’s premier annual special operations exercise. This year’s exercise brought together more than 30 countries across Côte d’Ivoire and Libya to build lethality and readiness, strengthen counterterrorism skills and increase collaboration across borders. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Dylan Murakami)
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Bring Irregular Warfare to the Conventional Forces is published by the Special Operations Association of America | May 11, 2026
Mandates for Institutional Integration
The Department of Defense has issued several high-level directives intended to transition irregular warfare from a specialized niche to a joint force requirement. The 2020 IW Annex to the National Defense Strategy explicitly mandates the institutionalization of irregular warfare as a core competency for both conventional and special operations forces. This was reinforced by the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which seeks to maintain a baseline of IW capabilities across the entire force. Most recently, the 2025 DOD Instruction 3000.07 defines irregular warfare as a joint activity, yet practitioners report that these top-down mandates have not yet translated into changes in frontline operational reality.
Cultural and Structural Impediments
Significant barriers to implementation exist within the entrenched reward structures of the conventional military. Promotion and career advancement have historically depended on quantifiable kinetic metrics and success in large-scale combat operations. Retired Special Forces officers observe that success in irregular warfare often requires managing ambiguity over generational timelines, which offers few tangible outcomes for standard performance evaluations. Additionally, the presence of dedicated Special Operations Forces allows conventional units to offload IW responsibilities, reinforcing a culture that views irregular tactics as someone else’s mission.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/2026/05/18/bring-irregular-warfare-to-the-conventional-forces/
