The article argues that U.S. Army Special Forces are not obsolete but underutilized, because the decisive terrain of modern great-power competition has shifted to the cognitive domain—where influencing perception and decision-making matters more than physical control. SF's core strengths—cultural immersion, human-network engagement, and “by, with, and through” operations—give them a latent advantage in this domain, but current professional military education (PME) fails to develop the right mindset, treating complex human systems as if they were merely complicated. The proposed solution is not to eliminate SF, but to reform PME around four capacities so leaders can operate effectively in cognitively contested environments.