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Special
Operations Glossary > C
The Special Forces community and the military
services in general use a multitude of words, phrases, and acronyms in its
vocabulary, documentation, correspondence, and publications. This
glossary is intended to aid those unfamiliar with specific special
operations terminology.
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C
C2. Command and Control.
C2PC. Command and Control
Personal Computer. A computer application that is used in OPCENS,
TOCs, and JOCS that displays a Common Operating Picture (COP) to include
Blue Force Tracker icons.
C4I. Command, Control,
Communications, Computers, and Intelligence.
CA. Civil Affairs. See
Civil Affairs below.
Cache. In the conduct of
special operations or personnel recovery operations, caches are used to
supply operators or evaders with food, medical supplies, water,
communications gear, and survival aids. Caches are waterproofed and
prepositioned in secure and hidden locations usually by burial,
concealment, or submersion.
Cal. Caliber.
CALL. Center for Army
Lessons Learned.
Campaign. A campaign is
joint and can be described as a series of major operations aimed at
achieving an objective (strategic or operational) within a given space or
time.
Campaign plan. "A plan for a
series of related military operations aimed at accomplishing a strategic
or operational objective within a given space or time". (JP 1-02).
CARVER. An acronym for
criticality, accessibility, recuperability, vulnerability, effect, and
recognizability.
CAS. Close Air Support.
Rotary or fixed-wing air support conducted against hostile forces in close
proximity to friendly ground forces.
CASEVAC. Casualty
Evacuation.
CAT-A. Civil Affairs Team A.
CBRNE. Chemical, Biological,
Radiological, Nuclear, and high-yield explosive.
CBT. See Combating Terrorism
definition below.
CCIR. Commander's Critical
Information Requirements.
CCP. Casualty Collection
Point. Where you bring wounded for medical attention and evacuation
during and immediately after a battle, firefight, or engagement.
CCT. Combat Control Team.
CCTV. Closed Circuit
Television.
CD. Counterdrug.
Activities taken to detect, monitor, and counter the production,
trafficking, and use of illegal drugs. Special Forces units have
long been engaged in CD operations in Central and South America.
CDR. Commander.
CENTCOM. U.S. Central
Command.
CEOI. Communications
Electronics Operating Instructions.
CF. Conventional Forces.
As in not Special Operations Forces. See Conventional Forces
definition below.
CFACC. Combined Forces Air
Component Command.
CFLCC. Combined Forces Land
Component Command.
CGRS. Common Geographic
Reference System.
CF / SOF I3. Conventional Force
and Special Operations Interdependence, Interoperability, and Integration.
. . . OMG! This acronym could only have been invented at Fort Leavenworth!
CI. Counterintelligence.
See definition below.
CIA. Central Intelligence
Agency.
CIG. Central Intelligence Group,
forerunner of the CIA.
Circuit. Name for a SOE or OSS
team attached to an underground network in Europe during World War II.
Civil Affairs. Abbrievated
to CA in some cases. Forces and units organized, trained, and
equipped to conduct civil affairs activities and to support civil military
operations.
Civil Affairs Activities.
Activities performed and/or supported by civil affairs that enhance the
relationship between military forces and civil authorities.
Activities will involve application of civil affairs functional specialty
skills that normally is the responsibility of civil government.
Civil Military Operatoins.
Abbreviated to CMO. Activities that establish, maintain, influence,
or exploit relations between military forces, governmental and
nongovernmental civilian organizations and authorities, and the civilian
populace.
CJCMOTF. Combined Joint
Civil-Military Operations Task Force.
CJSOTF-A. Combined Joint
Special Operations Task Force Afghanistan.
CJSOTF-AP. Combined Joint
Special Operations Task Force Arabian Penisular.
CJSOTF-HOA. Combined Joint
Special Operations Task Force Horn of Africa.
CJTF. Commander Joint Task
Force.
Clandestine Operation. "An
operation sponsored or conducted by governmental departments or agencies
in such a way as to assure secrecy or concealment. A clandestine operation
differs from a covert operation in that emphasis is placed on the
concealment of the operation rather than on the concealment of the
identity of the sponsor. In special operations, an activity may be both
covert and clandestine and may focus equally on operational considerations
and intelligence-related activities". (JP 1-02).
CLS. Combat Life Saver.
CMO. Civil Military
Operation. See CMO definition above.
CMOC. Civil-Military Operations
Center.
COA. Course of Action.
COI. Coordinator of Information, a
World War II intelligence organization.
Combat Advising. There are many
other terms that usually mean almost the same thing as combat advising;
such as 'combat FID', 'operational advising', and others. U.S. Special
Forces have a long history and deep experience in
combat advising.
COFEE. Computer Online Forensic
Evidence Extractor. For more on Microsoft COFEE see
Intelligence: October Surprise, Strategy Page, March 6, 2015. See
also a Microsoft
news release (Oct 13, 2009) and Wikipedia
page.
COIN. Short for
counterinsurgency. See counterinsurgency definition below.
Combat Control Team.
Abbreviated to CCT. An Air Force team that operates navigational and
terminal guidance equipment in support of airborne operations.
Combat Search and Recovery.
Also CSAR. The recovery of isolated personnel from hostile
territory. Usually referring to the search and rescue of downed
pilots. CSAR involves the tasks of detection, location,
identification, authentification, extraction, transportation, and en route
medical care of isolated personnel.
Combat Talon. Air Force Special
Operations C-130 transport used to transport and infiltrate SOF teams.
Combating Terrorism.
"Actions, including antiterrorism (defensive measures taken to reduce
vulnerability to terrorist acts) and counterterrorism (offensive measures
taken to prevent, deter, and respond to terrorism) taken to oppose
terrorism throughout the entire sprectrum. Also called CBT.
(JP 1-02).
COMSEC. Communications
Security.
COMSOCCENT. Commander Special
Operations Command Central.
COMUSSOCOM. Commander United
States Special Operations Command.
Compostion C-4. C-4 is a
military explosive made up of an explosive (RDX) and an additive that
makes it putty-like for easy molding. C-4 is used in the M112
demolition charge.
CONOPS. Concept of
Operation. How a mission will be conducted. Usually submitted
by the executing unit (ODA) to higher headquarters for coordination
purposes and approval. Can be a text document following OPORD structure or
a series of PowerPoint slides that depict the operation. Of late,
the CONOP process for Special Forces detachments has become more complex.
For more on this topic click
here.
Contract Air. The Special
Operations community contracts with civilian companies to provide
fixed-wing and rotary-wing air transport, ISR, and other services to its
SOF units around the world. Learn more about
special operations
contract air.
Conventional Forces. Forces
capable of conducting operations using nonnuclear weapons; forces other
than designated special operations forces.
COP. Common Operating
Picture. A graphical display of unit locations used in C2PC, ADOCS,
CPOF and other COP applications.
CORONA. Prior to the existence of
Google Earth, used by SF 18Fs for Intel work, and other satellite imagery
programs, most satellite photo-reconnaissance didn't exist for the public.
The very first in existence was the CORONA program designed in the 1950s
to find a way to provide broad imagery coverage of the USSR to identify
missle launch sites and production facilties. Read more
here.
Countering Violent Extremism (CVE).
A new policy paradigm that aims to address structural and social
conditions enabling recruitment and radicalization to violent extremism.
CVE focuses on prevention - identifying and alleviating the underlying
causes of injustice (poverty, religious tensions, ethnic conflict,
political issues, etc.).
Counterinsurgency. "Those
military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic
actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency. Also called
COIN". (JP 1-02). . . . . For many
years, starting in the early 1960s, Special Forces was the primary
organization for the development of counterinsurgency doctrine and
providing of instruction and training in counterinsurgency. Since SF was
the primary agency for unconventional warfare it made perfect sense for SF
to be the lead for counterinsurgency as well. In the late 1980s SF
started to loose its expertise in this area when, in search for missions
to prove itself "relevant", it embraced SR and DA missions. SF was
slow to pick back up on the primary counterinsurgent role it had played in
the 1960s through the 1980s in Vietnam, Latin America and elsewhere.
To learn more click on
counterinsurgency. See Joint Publication 3-24, Counterinsurgency
Operations, 5 October 2009 on the dtic.mil website
here.
Counterintelligence.
Information gathered and activities conducted to protect against
espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage, or assassinations
conducte by or on behalf of foreign governments or elements thereof,
foreign organizations, or foreign persons, or international terrorist
activities. Sometimes abbreviated to CI.
Counterterrorism.
"Operations that include the offensive measures taken to prevent, deter,
preempt, and respond to terrorism. Also called CT". (JP 1-02).
See Joint Publication 3-26, Counterterrorism, 13 November 2009 on the
FAS.org website
here.
Counterterrorism Partnership Fund (CTPF).
The nation needs a flexible pot of cash that can fund counterterrorism and
counterinsurgency training for our 'partner nations' but sadly a good
funding mechanism does not exist. The
Counterterrorism Partnership
Fund is one of many types of funds that are limited by strange issues
such as one-year funding restrictions, dual key authorities between State
and DoD, etc.The CTPF was initially planned for a $5 billion resource of
funds but as of early 2015 Congress only funded 25% of the requested
budget - limiting the ability of USSOCOM and Special Forces units to
conduct CT and COIN training overseas.
Country Team. A team in a
foreign country composed of U.S. personnel headed by the chief of the
diplomatic mission. Members of the country team will include the
senior members of each US department or agency.
Cover. The use of 'cover' provides
a veil with which SOF forces can conduct operations covertly. You can
learn more about 'cover' by reading DoD Directive S-5205.61, "(U) DoD
Cover and Cover Support Activities", July 15, 2014
here.
Covert Operation. An
operation that is so planned and executed as to conceal the identity of or
permit plausible denial by the sponsor. A covert operation differs
from a clandestine operation in that emphasis is placed on concealment of
identity of sponsor rather than on concealment of the operations. In
special operations, an activity may be both covert and clandestine.
CP. Command Post.
CP. Counterproliferation. A
mission of Special Forces.
CPOF. Command Post of the
Future. Displays the Common Operating Picture (COP) and is networked
within a JOC/TOC and other units and commands across the theater.
CQB. Close Quarters Battle.
CRE. Crisis Response
Element.
Crypto. Cryptography.
CS. Combat Support.
CSAR. Combat Search and
Rescue. See defination of Combat Search and Recovery above.
CSARTF. Combat Search and
Recovery Task Force.
CSEL. Combat Survivor Evader
Locator.
CSS. Combat Service Support.
CT. Counterterrorism.
A principal mission of Special Forces. See Counterterrorism
definition above.
CTPF. See Counterterrorism
Partnership Fund above.
CV. Critical Vulnerability.
CVE. See Countering Violent
Extremism above.
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