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Updated March 25,2021
Army Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs)
What Is Security Force Assistance (SFA)?
Security Force Assistance (SFA) is defined as unified
action to generate, employ, and sustain local, hostnation or
regional security forces in support of a legitimate
authority. By definition security forces includenotonly
military forces, but also police, border forces, and other
paramilitary organizations, as well as other local and
regional forces. SFA involves organizing, training,
equipping, rebuilding, and advising foreign security forces
(FSF).
Background
The Department of Defense notes military operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan and many future operations will
center on developing capability and capacity ofhost nation
(HN) or other FSFs. SFA activities have and are occurring
in Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America. In the past,
Special Forces units handled the majority of SFA missions,
but the growing requirement for SFA over time has resulted
in conventional forces assuming a more active role in
conducting these missions. Conventional forces SFA
mis sions were normally as signed to a Brigade Combat
Team (BCT), the Army's principal warfighting
organization. Because of the nature of SFA missions, BCT
leadership-officers and senior and mid-grade
noncommissioned officers (NCOs)-were typically
deployedto conductSFA missions, with most juniorNCOs
and soldiers remaining at their home station. This situation,
while practical froma resource perspective, created a
number ofreadiness concerns for the BCT soldiers
remaining at home station. One suchconcernis with
leadership strippedout of the BCTs for the SFAB mission,
the remaining soldiers were limited to training at individual
and squad levelonly, resulting in a low level of unit
readiness.
The Army's Plan to Establish SFABs
SFABs are to be capable of conducting SFA at the tactical
(brig ade and below) level. In May 2018, the Army
announced it would establish sixSFABs -five in the
Active Component and onein the Army National Guard
(ARNG). SFABs were originally planned to consist of
about 500 soldiers (BCTs consist ofbetween 4,400to 4,700
soldiers depending on type: Armo redBCT [ABCT],
Infantry BCT[IBCT, or Stryker BCT [SBCTJ), primarily in
senior grades and encompassing a range ofMilitary
OperationalSpecialties (MOSs). TheArmy also planned to
establish a Military Advisor Training Academy at Fort
Benning, GA, to conduct a six-weekcourse on relevant
topics and skills.
The Army also plans for SFABs to be expanded, if the need
arises, into fully operationalBCTs capable of conducting
major combat operations. In this case, SFAB personnel
would serve as cadres who would accept the expansion of
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personnel and equipment required to transformthe SFAB
into a BCT. Thes e newly manned and equipped BCTs
would then be trained up to conduct their respective conbat
missions.
SFAB Stationing
Accordingto the Army, SFABs are stationed at
* 1S SFAB-Fort Benning, GA;
* 2d SFAB-Fort Bragg, NC;
* 3rd SFAB-Fort Hood, TX;
* 4th SFAB-Fort Carson, CO;
* 5th SFAB-Joint BaseIwis -McChord, WA; and
* 54th SFAB (Army National Guard)-battalions in
Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Texas.
The Army has also established a command element-the
Security Force Assistance Command (SFAC)-within U.S.
Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) at Fort Bragg, NC, to
conduct training and readiness oversightof the SFABs.
SFAB Organization
According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan
Reconstruction:
SFABs consist of about 800personnel organized in
36 multifunctional advisor teams each composed of
12 advisors andeightsecuritypersonnelassignedto
support the development of a partner nation's
military. According to the U.S. Army, each advisor
team would be staffed with a commander, NCO in
charge, two maneuver advisors, a medic, a joint
force operator, a communications officer, a
mechanic, an intelligence analyst, and specialists in
logistics, operations, and explosives-all tasked
with advising their Afghan counterparts while also
providing sustainment for the SFAB. An SFAB can
also employ 18 functional advising teams
specializing in logistics, engineering, or field
artillery. Each SFAB is led by a one-star general
responsible for coordinating all SFAB operations in
a partner nation.
Current SFAB Mission and Role in Operations
According to the Army:
SFABs are uniquely capable of advancing
America's relationships across the globe. During
competition, SFABs build trust, interoperability,
and partner capacity. In crisis, SFABs enable the
Joint Force and interagency team to quickly
respond by enhancing coordination efforts. In
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