Exploring efforts to integrate women into combat forces in the military, we investigate how resistance to equity becomes entrenched, ultimately excluding women from being full participants in the workplace. Based on focus groups and surveys with members of Special Operations, we found most of the resistance is rooted in traditional gender stereotypes that are often bolstered through organizational policies and practices. The subtlety of these practices often renders them invisible. We refer to this invisibility as organizational obliviousness. Obliviousness exists at the individual level, it becomes reinforced at the cultural level, and, in turn, cultural practices are entrenched institutionally by policies. Organizational obliviousness may not be malicious or done to actively exclude or harm, but the end result is that it does both. Throughout this Element we trace the ways that organizational obliviousness shapes individuals, culture, and institutional practices throughout the organization.

In Powerful Peace, J. Robert DuBois takes on a crucial, unprecedented mission for a U.S. Navy SEAL: the relentless pursuit of interpersonal and international peacemaking. With gut wrenching candor and surprising moments of comedy, he narrates a personal journey through decades of conflict, its often-absurd origins, its ever-present innocent victims, and its potential solutions. Most importantly, Robert delivers practical recommendations for private citizens and policy makers alike. He offers rare context for students of international relations, community leaders, and soldiers bound for unfamiliar lands.

Powerful Peace is the unvarnished ground truth on face-to-face engagements worldwide. Robert DuBois demonstrates that prevention of hostile intent is far more necessary to genuine security than the race for tactical or technological superiority. Whether countering Soviets, terrorists, insurgents or improvised explosive devices, he observes and reports on the fundamental similarities behind hatreds. Ignorance and misunderstanding poison human potential. Dignity and respect are powerful antidotes.

Powerful Peace is the fascinating story of human beings--in war and peace and school and work and play--learning to better understand others to avoid unnecessary conflict and enrich the world. Seasoned by professional experience in more than thirty countries, Robert has plainly "been there, done that..".yet his insightful conclusions on fighting may surprise you.

In New York Times bestseller Level Zero Heroes, Michael Golembesky follows the members of US. Marine Special Operations Team 8222 on their assignment to the remote and isolated Taliban stronghold known as Bala Murghab as they conduct special operations in an effort to break the Taliban's grip on the Valley. What started out as a routine mission changed when two 82nd Airborne Paratroopers tragically drowned in the Bala Murghab River while trying to retrieve vital supplies from an air drop gone wrong. In that moment, the focus and purpose of the friendly forces at Forward Operating Base Todd was forever altered as a massive clearing operation was initiated to break the Taliban's stranglehold on the valley and recover the bodies. From close quarters firefights in Afghan villages to capturing key terrain from the Taliban in the unforgiving Afghan Winter, this intense and personal story depicts the brave actions and sacrifices of MSOT 8222. Readers will understand the hopelessness of being pinned down under a hail of enemy gunfire and the quake of the earth as a 2000 lb. guided bomb levels a fortified Taliban fighting position. A moving story of Marine Operators doing what they do best, Level Zero Heroes brings to life the mission of these selected few that fought side by side in Afghanistan, in a narrative as action packed and emotional as anything to emerge from the Special Operations community contribution to the Afghan War.

This book looks at the Special Operations Forces (SOF), which are small, elite military units with special training and equipment that can infiltrate into hostile territory through land, sea, or air to conduct a variety of operations, many of them classified. SOF personnel undergo rigorous selection and lengthy specialised training. The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)oversees the training, doctrine, and equipping of all U.S. SOF units. USSOCOM has about 54,000 Active Duty, National Guard and Reserve personnel from all four Services and Department of Defense (DOD) civilians assigned to its headquarters, its four components, and one sub-unified command. Special Operations Forces (SOF) also play a significant role in U.S. military operations and the Administration has given U.S. SOF greater responsibility for planning and conducting world-wide counter-terrorism operations. The merits of cross-border raids and possible equipment and logistical support shortfalls, which are potential policy issues for congressional consideration, are examined in this book as well. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.