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| The Worrisome future of Special Operations Forces. |
| 2014-03-31 |
| [Daniel Pipes Middle East Forum] Lengthy, but revealing. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #9 I spent 3 years on a country team. It was enlightening to say the least. The contempt and hate for the military war ever present. They felt the same way about the RA but their fear kept them silent. The head of USAID wore an Islamic head dress and told two Christian NGO's to, "Leave your credit cards on the table and leave" "This is no place for Christians" And we were in a 90% Catholic country. State was a mixed bag at my post. First Charge of affairs wore burkenstocks to the embassy. So you know how that went. It was painful and miserable. The second was a hawk. Things got good and we had a lot of freedom to maneuver. State did not like it and sent in DOJ. Then killing terrorists became extra judicial killings and assignations of local political leaders. The country team is supposed to be a microcosm of our government in DC. I became depressed, disillusioned, and understood we lost most the most precious democracy in the history of mankind and that our nation was doomed. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2014-03-31 23:53 |
| #8 Roger Roger Pan. Fly in the ointment has always been the Country Team compromise. The Klingon's in AFG pretty much had US/UK SOF in their back packet with the kill/capture effort. They had FSU SOF out in the sticks with no real mission. Local FOB Klingon reps rode heard on separate battalions and brigades. Nobody moved with the "State Dept" thumbs up. Brigade commanders quickly caught on to the game, sat back and tried to survive with minimal casualties. It sucked. Yes, this is MAJ Dunnington [best British accent]. We flying in tomorrow to interview your detainee Mooktar. Yes, I know this is rather short notice, but you'll be getting a call from folks on the other side of your FOB to confirm. Yes, those folks. See you just after brekkie, OUT. SINE PARI |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-03-31 17:31 |
| #7 The author misses the larger point of SOF. Yes we capture and kill our enemies. But this has only been one of many missions. SOF has always been about shaping and changing indigenous peoples. Working with French Partisans, Montagnards, Antis Sandinista's, etc... are a solid part of the SOF history. It was with Iraq that all the groups wanted to be door kickers only because the DA mission is the sexy mission. FID and the other missions are dirty, slow, invisible to glory, and extremely difficult. If all the SOF guys were doing only hunt and kill missions we would be better served with beefing up the Rangers and Force Recon units. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2014-03-31 15:37 |
| #6 " Branch manager told me, "If you accept a position with them we will never accept you back into conventional forces." Yup, no love between forces." Is that how it works? I wondered why they wanted to put me in a turtle hut. |
| Posted by: newc 2014-03-31 14:39 |
| #5 Branch manager told me, "If you accept a position with them we will never accept you back into conventional forces." Yup, no love between forces. |
| Posted by: Albemarle Joluns4706 2014-03-31 12:33 |
| #4 Spot on P2k. The 'Big Green' never has cared for Bragg or the guys at the stockade. If it were not for Goldwater-Nichols [separate budget line], SF would be history today. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-03-31 09:59 |
| #3 Don't forget to include in the mix the resistance of the 'old regime' institution in the services. The "let's refight WWII" heavy division crowd have taken a sizable hit in force structure these last dozen years of a real war. Now its time for take back during the down sizing. Where better than the area that grew? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-03-31 09:51 |
| #2 I'll go with commenter Doug Mayfield's assessment below: Submitted by Doug Mayfield (United States), Mar 24, 2014 at 17:24 I must disagree with Robin's assessment that this change in SOCOM's mission is insane. Vicious? Yes. Self destructive at a national level? Yes. But not insane. In fact, it is not only completely expected but is fully consistent with everything Obama and company are doing to reduce America's position and participation in world affairs to that of a 3rd world country and to cripple our military. This nauseating change is exactly what one would expect from socialists/nihilists such as the current occupant of the White House and his deceitful cronies. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-03-31 09:10 |
| #1 They're just talking about returning Specops to it's root concept. Basically, you have two groups: specialty trainers, and recon guys (sneaky pete's). Special Forces have suffered from mission creep, not unlike SWAT cops. ("We have these well trained guys just standing around over here: why don't we use them to [insert bad idea here].") |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2014-03-31 08:44 |