John F . Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School The U . S . Army John F . Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School ( USAJFKSWCS ) – known informally as SWCS ( pronounced " Swick " ) – primarily trains and educates United States Army personnel for the United States Army Special Operations Command ( USASOC ) and United States Special Operations Command ( SOCOM ) , which includes Special Forces , Civil Affairs , and Military Information Support Operations personnel . Its purpose is to recruit , assess , select , train and educate the U . S . Army Civil Affairs , Military Information Support Operations and Special Forces Soldiers by providing training and education , developing doctrine , integrating force - development capability , and providing career management . History . The command originated in 1950 , when the U . S . Army developed the Psychological Warfare ( PSYWAR ) Division of the Army General School at Fort Riley , Kansas . The U . S . Army Psychological Warfare Center and School , which included operational tactical units and a school under the same umbrella , moved to Fort Bragg in 1952 . The center was proposed by the Army ' s then - Psychological Warfare Chief , Robert A . McClure , to provide doctrinal support and training for both psychological and conventional warfare . In 1956 , the PSYWAR Center and School was renamed the U . S . Army Center for Special Warfare / U . S . Army Special Warfare School . The school was given the responsibility to develop the doctrine , techniques , training and education of Special Forces and Psychological Operations personnel . In 1960 , the school ' s responsibilities expanded to counterinsurgency operations . In 1962 , the Special Warfare Center established a Special Forces Training Group to train enlisted volunteers for operational assignments within Special Forces units . The Advanced Training Committee was formed to explore and develop methods of infiltration and exfiltration . On 16 May 1969 , the school was renamed the U . S . Army Institute for Military Assistance . The curriculum was expanded to provide training in high - altitude , low - opening ( HALO ) parachuting and SCUBA operations . The institute comprised the SF School , Psychological Operations , Military Assistance Training Advisors School , Counter - Insurgency School , Unconventional Warfare School and Department of Non - Resident Training . On 1 April 1972 , the U . S . Army Civil Affairs School was transferred from Fort Gordon , Georgia to Fort Bragg , to begin operating under the center ' s umbrella . In 1973 , the center was assigned to the new U . S . Army Training and Doctrine Command ( TRADOC ) . On 1 June 1982 , the Chief of Staff of the Army approved the separation of the center as an independent TRADOC activity under the name U . S . Army John F . Kennedy Special Warfare Center ( SWC ) . The SWC integrated special operations into the Army systems , training and operations , becoming the proponent school for Army Special Operations Forces . In 1985 , SWC was recognized as the U . S . Army John F . Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School ( SWCS ) . The major change at this time was the establishment of six training departments : Special Forces ; Special Operations Advanced Skills ; Survival , Evasion , Resistance and Escape ; Foreign Area Officer ; Civil Affairs ; and Psychological Operations . A few years later , the Noncommissioned Officer Academy was instituted . On 20 June 1990 , SWCS was reassigned from TRADOC to the U . S . Army Special Operations Command . This designation gave USASOC control of all components of SOF , with the exception of forward - deployed units . Overview . The U . S . Army John F . Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School ( SWCS ) at Fort Bragg , N . C . manages and resources training , education and growth for Soldiers in the Army ’ s special - operations branches . Special operations forces ( SOF ) training is grounded in the SOF Truths : On any given day , approximately 3 , 100 students are enrolled in SWCS training programs . Courses range from entry - level training to advanced war fighting skills . SWCS also maintains the Special Forces Warrant Officer Institute and the David K . Thuma Noncommissioned Officer Academy . While most courses are conducted at Fort Bragg , SWCS also has facilities and relationships with outside institutions . In all , SWCS offers 41 unique courses , including assessment & selection and qualification courses for Civil Affairs , Military Information Support Operations , Special Forces and Cultural Support . Advanced skills courses include combat diver training in Key West , Florida , sniper training at Fort Bragg and military freefall training in at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona . Regional studies and education constitutes Phase II of the three branches ' qualification courses . This phase lasts 18 to 24 weeks depending on the language category ( CAT ) assigned them . Students who are assigned to CAT I or II languages such as Spanish , French and Indonesian spend 18 weeks of study with the end goal being to achieve a score of 2 on the Interagency Language Roundtable Scale ( ILR ) . Students spend 24 weeks studying CAT III or IV languages such as Arabic , Chinese Mandarin , Tagalog , Persian , Korean , Thai , Pashto and Urdu with the end goal being to achieve an ILR score of III or IV . Students of all languages must pass an Oral Proficiency Interview ( OPI ) before moving to the next phase of their qualification course . SWCS offers intermediate and advanced language classes where students are expected to develop advanced skills in the language such as reading and listening . To achieve that , they take intensive courses sometimes administered by language detachments from the Defense Language Institute ( DLI ) with the goal of achieving a score of 2 to 3 in the Defense Language Proficiency Test ( DLPT ) .