SPECIAL OPERATIONS: Call In A Specialist For Instant Relief April 16, 2021: U.S. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) once again leads the way in problem solving innovation. A recent success was the developing of a system that determines when the best solution to a problem is to send a data or OR (Operations Research) specialist to a SOCOM unit overseas. This occurs when SOCOM unit overseas has encountered obstacles in dealing with intel, Information Warfare or organizational problem they have been unable to solve quickly enough. For over a decade it was believed problems like this could effective be solved using “reach back” techniques that involved consulting with these senior or very specialized problem solvers back in the United States or some regional headquarters via email, chat or even video conference to work out as a solution. Finding that these communications techniques, while effective in many cases still took a lot of time (days, weeks or months) that was often too late for situations that needed a solution much sooner rather than later. Applying problem solving techniques to this problem eventually found a solution. This was done by analyzing the types of problems that took longer than expected to solve using reach back and determine which ones, in retrospect, could have been solved in hours or days if a specialist with the right Operations Research or related analytical skills were sent to the unit overseas to more quickly isolate the core of the problem and “reach back” with more effectiveness to find and try one of more solutions until the right one was found and implemented. These solutions were added to a database of “lessons learned” and the solution was often added to training or procedure update materials that got the new technique into wide use. Some SOCOM units were unsure if sending one of the “Geeks With Guns” to a combat zone would be worth the effort of supporting another person in small SOCOM units that relied on everyone in the team operating at a high level of skill and experience to survive and succeed. SOCOM operators gave the new techniques a chance because they knew from past experience that such apparently radical solutions often worked. That’s because for decades special operations troops had come up with unusual new solutions because they had proven time and again capable to selecting new concepts that did work when tested in the combat zone situations. At first this was mainly about new equipment or tactics. After 2001 it increasingly involved new tech that the military had not tried, much less adopted, yet.