This blog is about the 2024 Modern Warfare Week, which took place in and around Ft. Liberty, NC, from 19 – 22 NOV. Read on to learn more about the event (and read Part 1 first if you missed it)!
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The Thursday Sessions
The second and final day of symposium sessions was expertly led by our Master of Ceremonies–Mr. Jim Tully of GDIT. He guided us through a busy day of keynotes, panels, and senior leader conversations.
The morning kicked off on a high-note, with Lieutenant General Jonathan P. Braga, Commanding General of U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). He spoke of the innovation culture at USASOC, and that “whoever has the most successful innovation cycle will win the next great war.”
He shared that USASOC is looking for ideas on how to improve processes to field capabilities more quickly to solve the world’s toughest problems. We know there were almost 1,300 attendees this week willing to play a role in supporting that goal and are very hopeful that it can be achieved!
Next up was a panel focused on, “Exploring ARSOF’s Roles in Irregular and Unconventional Warfare.” It featured a stage-full of amazing speakers:
- Brigadier General Kirk Brinker, Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Special Operations Command
- Dr. Lyla Kohistany, President, PROMOTE Leadership and Advisor, Global SOF Foundation
- Dr. Erin K. McFee, President, Corioli Institute and Professor of Practice, NDU
- Colonel (Ret.) Brian Petit, Director, National Resistance Course, Joint Special Operations University
- CSM David Waldo, 1st Special Forces Command
- Ms. Jessica Yahn, CEO & Co-Founder, AllTru
The panel was followed by a Senior Leader Conversation with VADM Frank “Mitch” Bradley, JSOC Commander, which was moderated by GSOF’s Chairman (among many other titles, but that’s our favorite one)–Mr. Peter Bergen.
Bergen and VADM Bradley spoke about the evolution of U.S. counter-terrorism efforts, the role of SOF in great power competition, and what advanced technologies like AI mean for operational planning.
The networking lunch following the morning sessions was packed–so much so that we nearly ran out of food! 😱 And yes, we saw some of you eating 3 people’s worth… save it for Thanksgiving!
Luckily, our planning proved its worth and we had enough to feed the lines of attendees who then browsed the exhibit hall to learn more about the displayed technologies and capabilities… and get a teaser of what to expect the next day at Demo Day.
After lunch, we hosted a Senior Leader Conversation focused on “New Combined Irregular Warfare Effects in Nation State Competition.” This panel came with some heavy-hitters:
- Dr. Lisa Costa
- Colonel Stephan Cummings, SOCOM SPACEFORCE Component Lead
- Colonel Nathan Iven, Interim Deputy Chief of Space Operation, Cyber and Data, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer (Acting), HQ U.S. Space Force
- Colonel Christopher Putman, SPACEFORCENT
They spoke about the parallel experiences of both SOCOM and Space Force–both had to deal with Services that didn’t want them to exist and a lack of funding to complete their missions. Similarly, they both face challenges of public mission awarenes–”the general public doesn’t have a good understanding of what the Space Force does.”
By the time they left on the stage attendees had a much better understanding of what lies ahead for the Space Force, especially when it comes to its relationship with special operations..
We ended the formal symposium with a session focused on action: “Show Me the Money: Creative Contracting for Those That Want to Get Things Done.” Speakers included:
- Ms. Cathleen Rush
- Ms. Stephanie Wilson
- Ms. Bonnie Evangelista
They shared a lot of ideas about how government can work faster and more effectively, including:
- Don’t look for perfection, start solving your problem even if it’s just a 60% solution
- More transparency in laying out problem sets and collaborating with industry throughout the process
- More competitions and fewer decisions based solely on paper proposals
It was refreshing to hear these ideas coming from a government perspective, and it’s invigorating to hear that there could be more, faster solutions to SOF problems in the future!
While the day was over, Modern Warfare Week was not! We pulled chocks at the Iron Mike Conference Center, but turned right around to get set up for Friday’s big activity… Demo Day!
The Demo Day
Demo Day is a special event that we currently ONLY host at Modern Warfare Week–it’s a hands-on opportunity to allow our attendees and local units to try out weapons systems, ammunition, vehicles, comms equipment, autonomous platforms, medical equipment, and more.
Every year is different, as we bring in different companies based on the current needs of the force, but this year’s highlights included:
- UAV/UAS: GPS Denied Navigation | Quadcopter controlled via Assured HMI RF link | Non-RF emitting TeUAS | Universal Unmanned Systems Controller | FPV endurance UAS with payload | eVTOL Fixed Wing UAS w/ AI capabilities
- Static Displays: Unified Multi-path Connectivity | Mesh network w/ BLOS communications | Edge Deployable Tactical Analytics Kit | Manned/Unmanned Tactical Jet Board | AI Friendly Data Structuring| Precision-Engineered Inflatable Solutions
- Live-Fire Range: 6MMCarbine and Suppressor, 5.56mm carbines | Smart Garment vitals transmitter through ATAK | Suppressors | Thermal/Night Imaging Sights | Autonomous Robotic Training Systems
One highlight for the Global SOF team was a joint demonstration that featured 5 different organizations with complementary capabilities: Draxxon, AgEagle, goTenna, Zignal, and Legionarius. They put together an hour-long scenario simulating current mission sets in Ukraine and showcased the interoperability among their capabilities.
It was very cool to see these organizations work together to achieve their goals, and we’re hoping to do more such scenario-based demonstrations in the future!
This was our first year switching this event to Friday (instead of Thursday) in hopes that more local folks would be able to leave the office and join us, and it seems like it paid off!
We had acquisition and R&D representatives join us from USASOC, JSOC, MARSOC, as well as Partner Nations. All in all, we had over 325 total attendees, 100+ of whom were Active Duty Military and Government Reps.
“Put me on all your mailing lists, I want to keep seeing more events like this,” said one military attendee.
We did face some challenges we couldn’t quite control, specifically that the weather, while sunny, was brisk and windy! Brisk is generous… those of us from Florida were downright frigid. However, the sun kept the day manageable, as did our handy-dandy firepit / s’mores making station.
The wind did put a damper on some of the demonstrations, but that didn’t stop those vendors from engaging and talking with attendees about what they bring to the table.
We had great feedback from green-suiters and demonstrators alike, with follow-on engagements already planned for a number of organizations (and more to come)!
See all of the companies that participated here. Thanks to all who came out to see them!
The New GSOF Era
A recurring theme throughout the week was many of the Global SOF community “OGs” noticing the growth of our team. While it’s not usually polite to tell anyone that you think they got bigger…in this case we consider it a compliment.
Due to a family emergency, our CEO and President Stu Bradin wasn’t able to attend this week–a first in the 10 years of Global SOF. A year or two or ten ago, that would have been an “event cancellation level” crisis. But, as most founders dream of, we are in a place where the show CAN go on.
One of the most challenging things you can do as an organization is grow, and we’ve jumped from ~8 to ~30 employees in less than 3 years.
This need for a deeper GSOF bench was brought on by many factors, including but NOT limited to the addition of new events (SOF Week, anyone?), our 300+ Corporate Partners, and new programs to support the community. We don’t take this growth lightly, and we were very deliberate in our hires and are very proud of our expanded team!
All of this to say, the exceptional qualities of many new members of our GSOF staff shone brightly this week!
- Kristen Dineen executed her first ever GSOF event just over three months after starting with us, taking on every hurdle and challenge like a champ
- The publicized and coveted duties of “U-Haul” driver have been transferred to our two Sales Managers, Trevor Burnett and Remi Eriksen … Stu, Chelsea, Christina, and others have hung up that hat for this round. Plus, Trevor and Remi crushed their real jobs on top of that, taking on the sales and exhibit hall duties.
- Our new Membership and Database Specialist Kim Dresser has been fully focused on GSOF Gives Back, membership promotion, and the ever essential swag sales
- The Partner Relations Manager team showed up in full force, with Shane Smith, Joe Fitterer, Jason Garo, and Dylan Nilson on site to support with VP Jenn Brooks
- Registration is at a record-level smoothness, guided by our two-person “Reg Team” of John Mickley and Tracy Becker
- Team Multimedia has doubled, with Kat Burnham joining Aggie Wojnar to take on our video and photo capture efforts
- Chloe Piazzese said A-OK to every task thrown her way, following up on a one-day-notice travel to her first event in Bratislava just a month before
- Hao Dang joined our amazing Senior Speaker Manager Maggie Howland to ensure that our speakers only had to focus on their remarks and not logistics
And that’s not all! Check out all of our staff here!
The Next Event(s)
2024 is officially the craziest year GSOF has ever taken on. At-a-glance, we hosted:
- SOF Imperatives Forum, Washington, DC
- Special Air Warfare Symposium, Ft. Walton Beach, FL
- SOF Week, Tampa, FL
- Indo-Pacific Irregular Warfare Symposium, Honolulu, HI
- GSOF Symposium Europe, Bratislava, SVK
- Modern Warfare Week, Ft. Liberty, NC
- Multiple Networking Huddles and supplementary events
Next up before the end of 2024 are two networking opportunities:
- GSOF Huddle at Orlando (2 DEC): If you’re heading to I/ITSEC (or live in Orlando??), join us at this FREE networking event. Register here.
- Joint Holiday Social in Tampa (4 DEC): Don’t miss our annual and spirited networking event in GSOF’s hub of Tampa, FL. Register here.
As always, you can see our full event listing here.
Last, but definitely not least–you can still share your opinions on the needs of U.S. SOF via our SOF Imperatives Survey. This is one of our most critical programs, and your voice matters. The survey closes on 2 DEC, so please fill it out before then.
Thanks for joining us… and see you next time!
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