SOCEUR History
Special Operations Command Europe traces its lineage to January 22, 1955 with the establishment of Support Operations Command Europe in Paris, France. This headquarters provided peacetime planning and operational control of special operations forces during unconventional warfare in the USEUCOM area of responsibility.
The headquarters was reorganized as a joint task force within USEUCOM on May 4, 1955 and redesignated as Support Operations Task Force Europe. SOTFE headquarters transferred from Paris to Panzer Kaserne near Stuttgart, Germany on 9 January 1967.
To clarify SOTFE’s role with other agencies, Support Operations Task Force Europe was redesignated Special Operations Task Force Europe effective 1 September 1978 and assigned to HQ USEUCOM.
SOTFE was redesignated Special Operations Command Europe on 1 November 1983 and established as a subordinate unified command of USEUCOM on 30 May 1986. SOCEUR also functioned as the Special Operations Division of the USEUCOM Operations Directorate. SOCEUR is now organized as a joint staff with a command group and seven functional directorates. SOCEUR exercises control of one Army Special Forces battalion (1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne)), one Air Force Special Operations Group (352nd Special Operations Group) and one Naval Special Warfare Unit (Naval Special Warfare Unit 2).
SOCEUR’s highest priority is maintaining readiness to respond to crises, as reflected by its motto – Semper Preparate (Always Prepared). SOCEUR sustains its unique war fighting capabilities to successfully respond to the full spectrum of crises – from trans-national threats, through the myriad forms of smaller-scale contingencies to major theater war.