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Special Forces Officers

Lead elite teams that implement unconventional operations by air, land, or sea during combat or peacetime. These activities include offensive raids, demolitions, reconnaissance, search and rescue, and counterterrorism. In addition to their combat training, special forces officers often have specialized training in swimming, diving, parachuting, survival, emergency medicine, and foreign languages. Duties include directing advanced reconnaissance operations and evaluating intelligence information; recruiting, training, and equipping friendly forces; leading raids and invasions on enemy territories; training personnel to implement individual missions and contingency plans; performing strategic and tactical planning for politically sensitive missions; and operating sophisticated communications equipment.

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Related study fields

Source crosswalk connections are research leads, not required qualifications.

Special, Irregular and Counterterrorist Operations →

Intelligence, General →

Strategic Intelligence →

Signal/Geospatial Intelligence →

Explosive Ordinance/Bomb Disposal →

Terrorism and Counterterrorism Operations →

Cybersecurity Defense Strategy/Policy →

Geospatial Intelligence →

Explore all related study fields →

Source & methodology

O*NET-SOC code 55-1017.00 · Database 31.0 · Retrieved Oct 14, 2026. Dates on individual observations describe their source periods.

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Data: O*NET® 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. Used under CC BY 4.0. StudyIndex normalizes the presentation and adds exploration features; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these additions.