This blog is part of a series about the 2025 Special Air Warfare Symposium (SAWS), taking place in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, from 25-27 FEB. Read on to learn more about this event.
Day 2 of the 2025 Special Air Warfare Symposium (SAWS) featured the official opening of the Exhibition Hall, the kick off of General Sessions, and the Exhibition Hall Networking Reception.
Read on for a summary of day 2 (and if you missed part 1, check it out here!)
Avoiding Paper Tigers
The two full days of the Symposium sessions covered topics such as force design, air power strategies, technological innovations, international cooperation, and future operational challenges…to name a few!
Wednesday kicked off with opening remarks by Ms. Juliet Funt, CEO of the Juliet Funt Group and author of “A Minute to Think,” who served as our wonderful Mistress of Ceremonies for the day (and also generously spoke during the Pro-Dev day on Tuesday)!
Brigadier General Craig Prather, the Director of Plans and Programs at U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), delivered the Symposium’s first keynote. Brigadier General Prather’s speech discussed AFSOC’s objective to design the force with a focus on supporting joint operations.
The primary development areas he focused on were:
- Adaptive Airborne Enterprise
- Enhanced Precision Effects
- Armed Overwatch
- Special Tactics Next
- Asymmetric and Modernized Capabilities
It was fantastic to hear from the senior leaders at AFSOC driving the command toward a successful future.
The next keynote speech was given by Ms. Melissa A. Johnson, the Acquisition Executive for U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). Ms. Johnson addressed the challenges and strategies surrounding acquisition and procurement in the special operations community.
She stated that industry partners have to expand, and that established industry shouldn’t be afraid to work with start ups that can shrink capability gaps.
“The acquisition community is no different from operators; get in the deep end and practice your craft to get better,” she said. “The stakes are high, but so are the opportunities.”
A panel discussion on the asymmetric advantage of air power followed, featuring some heavy-hitters from the aviation community:
- Colonel Jason Daniels, Director of Operations at AFSOC
- Major General Jasper Jeffers III, Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT)
- Colonel Adam E. Moore, Commander, 352d Special Operations Wing, AFSOC
- Chief Master Sergeant Alex J. Eudy, Command Chief Master Sergeant, 353rd Special Operations Wing, AFSOC
- Colonel Clayton W. Schuety, Division Chief of Special Operations Forces and Personnel Recovery Team, Air Force Futures, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force
The panel explored how air power can provide a distinct advantage in asymmetric warfare, focusing on leveraging advanced technologies and strategies that allow for superior operational reach and precision.
Maj Gen Jeffers noted that it won’t be easy to achieve that superiority. “The tools, tactics, and procedures we used to win the last 20 years aren’t going to work for the next 20 years.”
Col Schuety amplified the importance of maintaining those TTPs over time. “If you can’t sustain the offensive capability through logistics, then that capability turns into a paper tiger.”
(There’s the section title inspiration! 😉)
Many Connections Were Made!
While the speakers and sessions are incredibly important and a driving force behind SAWS, the room next door also contains something pretty impactful–the industry exhibition!
The 2025 SAWS Exhibit Hall included 50+ organizations showcasing their capabilities relevant to special air warfare and AFSOC mission sets. You can see the full list here, but highlights included UAV/UAS, rotary and fixed wing platforms, and comms equipment–to name just a few!
It was the bustling hub of much of the networking and all of the meals at SAWS, allowing attendees to chat, snack, and learn about all of the capabilities within.
As one exhibitor said, “This was great–many connections were made!”
Right outside of the Exhibition Hall was the SOF Community Corridor–a staple of GSOF events where we highlight other non-profit organizations supporting the special operations community. This year’s SCC exhibitors were a standout crowd with some exciting projects and programs coming down the pipeline:
- Air Commando Association
- Air Commando Heritage Foundation
- AAFMAA
- Special Operations Warrior Foundation
- Joint Special Operations University
- Cornell University
- Operation Healing Forces
- TACP Foundation
- The Honor Foundation
- Air Force Enlisted Village
The last piece of the Exhibition was a new addition this year: the ACE Showcase! ACE stands for Agile Combat Employment, and it highlighted cutting-edge industry technologies and solutions designed to enhance operational agility and readiness for the SOF Mission Sustainment Teams.
This exciting addition to the Symposium provides an interactive platform for industry leaders to display innovations that align with ACE concepts. We were happy to lead any attendees from military logistics organizations around the outdoor pavilion to ensure that they got eyes on all that the Showcase had to offer!
A huge thank you again to all of the industry enablers who participated in the event to help grow the capabilities of our special operations forces.
A Year of Irreversible Momentum
To kick off the afternoon, we started with a topic near and dear to our hearts: SOF in the Indo-Pacific region.
Major General Yoshichika Ito, Commanding General of the 1st Helicopter Brigade in the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force, provided an allied perspective on the importance of the SOF network in the Indo-Pacific region. His speech emphasized the critical role of international partnerships in maintaining stability and security in the region, particularly in light of the growing geopolitical challenges.
Shameless plug: if you haven’t noticed, GSOF launched an annual symposium in the Indo-Pacific region last summer. If you’d like to get more involved, be sure to join us in Bangkok this August…learn more here. Shameless plug over!
Next up to the stage was Dr. Marcin Andrzej Piotrowski, Senior Analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM). He spoke in detail about the turmoil in the Eastern European region and noted that his nation’s expertise on Russia comes from “18 wars in the last 500 years between Poland and Russia.”
“The Russian attitude is that hardware is more important than people,” he said, emphasizing the opposite of our community’s SOF Truth #1.
Colonel Stewart Parker, Deputy Commander of the 492nd Special Operations Wing at AFSOC, brought us back to the Indo-Pacific region and presented on Mission Command from an Indo-Pacific perspective.
Col Parker spoke in great detail about teams, leadership, and culture. He spoke about the importance of building trust in a team, and how “high trust teams are also high conflict teams; this seems counter intuitive but it’s good…it means lower level personnel can voice concerns.”
An interesting insight, and certainly something for us all to think about!
The final speakers of the day were heavy hitters from the SOCOM Enterprise: Lieutenant General Sean Farrell, Deputy Commanding General at SOCOM, and Major General Justin R. Hoffman, Deputy Commander at AFSOC.
Lt. Gen. Farrell delivered a powerful keynote address, noting that the third year of GEN Fenton’s command at SOCOM is the “year of irreversible momentum,” and that we are witnessing an unprecedented “convergence of adversaries.”
However, he emphasized that our “people are the comparative and competitive advantage,” that we must continue to grow and leverage.
To that end, he reflected on six questions that SOCOM has asked itself:
- How do we organize?
- How do we partner?
- How will our people affect others?
- How can we best position our people?
- How should we sustain our people?
- How do we evolve and continuously learn?
I think we can all agree that those are powerful guiding questions that we may all need to ask within our organizations!
The first day of the symposium concluded with closing remarks from Maj Gen Hoffman, who emphasized AFSOC’s support of the event and SOF community.
With so much to reflect on, we did what we do best and discussed with one another at the Networking Reception in the Exhibition Hall!
We look forward to seeing everyone for the third and final day of SAWS 2025 tomorrow!
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