If you possess a physical copy of , it is likely a controlled item. According to AR 25-55 (Department of the Army Freedom of Information Act Program), such outdated FOUO documents should be destroyed or decontrolled. However, many veteran SF operators retained personal copies – some of which have appeared in online auctions, only to be swiftly removed.
The late 1990s saw a significant shift in the nature of modern warfare. The end of the Cold War and the rise of asymmetric threats led to a renewed focus on urban warfare. The manual FM 31-28 FOUNO was developed to address the specific challenges faced by special operations forces (SOF) in urban environments. The manual's publication date of December 1, 1999, coincides with a period of significant change in the global security landscape. If you possess a physical copy of ,
In the annals of modern military doctrine, few documents have carried the mystique of , effective 1 December 1999 . Unlike its predecessor, the conventional FM 90-10 (Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain) , this manual was not for line infantry or mechanized battalions. It was written specifically for the green berets of the U.S. Army Special Forces (SF), the “quiet professionals” who operate in small teams behind enemy lines. The late 1990s saw a significant shift in
By 1999, the U.S. Army recognized that future wars would not be fought solely in the German Fulda Gap or the deserts of Iraq. Instead, conflicts were moving into sprawling megacities: Mogadishu (1993), Grozny (1994-95), and the ongoing Balkan peacekeeping operations. For Special Forces, whose primary mission was Unconventional Warfare (UW) – training guerrillas in denied territory – the urban environment was a nightmare. How do you run a resistance cell in a city of 2 million, under pervasive surveillance, with vertical terrain and civilians everywhere? The manual's publication date of December 1, 1999,
The following case study illustrates the application of advanced urban combat tactics by an SF team:
, dated 1 December 1999, is a critical historical and technical manual designed to provide Special Forces