Written by THE FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER

We have seen the military's future here, and it is a good one. We can thank the special-operations community for that.

While the rest of the military is shrinking - in some cases, dramatically, as Pentagon plans show - special ops funding continues to grow.

As a Newsweek cover story puts it, special operations (especially Navy SEALs of late) has become President Obama's go-to weapon in the war against terrorists. "Obama has come to rely more and more on 'special operators' for many types of missions," reporter Daniel Klaidman wrote. "In an era of dwindling budgets and dispersed, hidden enemies, when Americans have become fatigued by disastrous military occupations, the value of pinprick operations by elite forces is clear."

Special ops gained importance after 9/11. Special operators played a key role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and pulled off the signature events in both struggles: the capture of Saddam Hussein and the killing of Osama bin Laden.

With that growth comes money. While special ops is still a small slice of military personnel and budget, its numbers in both accounts are growing rapidly. Since 9/11, special operations troops have doubled from 33,000 to 66,000 and their funding has tripled, from $3.3 billion to $10.4 billion.

All of that is significant for Fort Bragg, and by extension, the communities around it. Almost all Army Special Forces troops trained here, at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. The Army Special Operations Command is here. So is the Joint Special Operations Command, from which Adm. William McRaven directed the hunt for bin Laden.

The staffing in special operations will continue to grow. The special operators are trained to do exactly what is needed in today's global conflicts, which includes tracking down terrorists, rescuing hostages and working with local forces to combat insurgencies.

This means more special ops troops at Fort Bragg, and more building as well. While other parts of the Defense Department's construction budget face radical cutbacks, the Pentagon plans to spend more than half a billion dollars on special operations projects at Fort Bragg in the next five years. That much new infrastructure is a likely indicator of the sort of growth we can expect to see here.

Military salaries and spending cushioned this region's journey through the hard times of the recession. Now it appears that the growth of special operations will continue to bring benefits our way.