The Special Operations Association (SOA) is a fraternal organization of American and foreign participants of special military operations in combat theaters, primarily during the Southeast Asian conflict. The group includes World War II, and Korean Veterans as well as those from the more recent conflicts; membership is limited to Free World force who aided or took part in missions deep inside hostile territory in a combat capacity.

SOA is composed of US Army Special Forces personnel, Air Commandos; Navy SEALs, Force Recon Marines and veterans of other elite military and civilian organizations, who were a part of Special Operations. The Special Operations Association is recognized by the Department of Defense and by the IRS as a non-profit veteran's organization operating on tax deductible donations.

Proceeds generated by the SOA fund scholarships, humanitarian aid, memorial programs, and assistance to SOA members in hardship.

The purpose of the SOA scholarship(s) is to perpetuate the memory of those personnel who served in a Special Operations Unit during the Vietnam War, and who were prisoners of war or missing in action (POW/MIA) and are still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia...and, to honor the late Colonel George C. Morton, an original Commander and innovator of special operations in Southeast Asia.