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Warrior-Mentor

05-10-2007, 17:00

From: Brown Bryan D. GEN
Subject: New SOCOM CG

SOF Leaders - I am pleased to inform you that today at approximately
1300 hours the President will announce Adm Eric Olson has been nominated
to be my relief. Eric embodies all that is SOF and has been a unifying
force in the SOF community. He is a warrior who understands our
operational missions and the needs of the men and women who carry them
out. He also understands both indirect and direct actions and how they
will contribute to winning the war on terror. He knows programs and can
handle the title 10 issues with ease. He has been on the ground floor of
the growth of SOCOM in resources and authorities. He is the right
leader at the right time. Please join me in congratulating VADM Olson.
v/r Doug Brown

82ndtrooper

05-10-2007, 17:27

The Reaper

05-10-2007, 18:44

I saw this on Michelle Malkins blog this morning. One of the readers, supposedly military,commented saying "It's proof that the SEAL community is the prominent SOF ground force in the war on terror" :rolleyes:

No doubt.

Now SOCOM can drop any pretense of supporting anything other than infil platforms and DA and go for it.:rolleyes:

After all, SF is just a bunch of housecleaners for JSOC.:mad:

TR

SF18C

05-10-2007, 19:06

On a good day that is!

x-factor

05-10-2007, 19:22

Pete

05-10-2007, 19:31

How is it that the DA crowd (generally speaking) has all the influence in terms of leadership and budget when SF is the largest component? Is it just because of six years of Rumsfeld's direction/priorities?

Boots cost a lot less than platforms.

You can oufit a lot of A Teams for the cost of a mini sub or fixed hull swift boat.

A dirty guy in cammies just ain't as sexy as a shiney new machine.

Jack Moroney (RIP)

05-10-2007, 19:34

How is it that the DA crowd (generally speaking) has all the influence in terms of leadership and budget when SF is the largest component? Is it just because of six years of Rumsfeld's direction/priorities?

It is quite simple actually. DA shows immediate results where as UW & FID are long term actions that can last more years than any particular voting cycle where no one sorry politician or political party can benefit in terms of getting votes from their constituents. UW & SR also require close hold over the operations that no politician can get any mileage out of them without putting the players, the surrogates, and/or national (both ours and the target/host country) in jeopardy. Lastly, the complexities of both UW and FID take years to master, train for, and grasp that very few outside of the SF community have any clue as to what it really takes to plan and execute.

D9 (RIP)

05-10-2007, 19:39

I saw this on Michelle Malkins blog this morning. One of the readers, supposedly military,commented saying "It's proof that the SEAL community is the prominent SOF ground force in the war on terror" :rolleyes:

I recall a certain incident involving a Tuff-book....

Oh well, one more Navy SEAL "lesson-learned" I suppose. One of these days the whole community may do itself a favor and circulate copies of the Ranger Handbook among themselves.

:rolleyes:

The Reaper

05-10-2007, 19:46

How is it that the DA crowd (generally speaking) has all the influence in terms of leadership and budget when SF is the largest component? Is it just because of six years of Rumsfeld's direction/priorities?

We are the largest because of the broad spectrum capabilities and global demand for SF. We speak the language, work to accomplish US objectives with the HN military, and live with the indig, keeping a low profile when we do it. Most Ambassadors would love to get more SF into their countries. Not sure they would say the same about a battalion of Rangers, Marines, or a couple of boatloads of SEALs.

JSOC does not have the peacetime engagement or FID/UW capability of SF. But they are the headhunters and have the ear of the bosses right now, so they are enlarging at huge expense. The problems in Iraq are largely the result of a misguided conventional effort, poor planning, political pressure without political solutions, and a lack of patience for the UW approach to the war.

Not saying we are better, just different from the "hammer only" DA options some of the other branches present.

At the same time, the other branches of SOF are loved by their parent services and/or SOCOM, and SF is not.

Just the truth as I see it.

TR

Books

05-10-2007, 20:23

For the sake of accuracy, the exact quote from the Malkin blog is:

A military reader sends along a message from the current SOCOM (Special Operations Command) Commanding General: "He is to be relieved by a Navy SEAL, three star, who will add a fourth star with this promotion. Both of those things are firsts. Resounding evidence of the prominent role that SEALs have assumed during the War on Terror."

NousDefionsDoc

05-10-2007, 20:34

smp52

05-10-2007, 23:25

It is quite simple actually. DA shows immediate results where as UW & FID are long term actions that can last more years than any particular voting cycle where no one sorry politician or political party can benefit in terms of getting votes from their constituents. UW & SR also require close hold over the operations that no politician can get any mileage out of them without putting the players, the surrogates, and/or national (both ours and the target/host country) in jeopardy. Lastly, the complexities of both UW and FID take years to master, train for, and grasp that very few outside of the SF community have any clue as to what it really takes to plan and execute.

Sir;

I don't have much faith in politicians who have a seat and elections to worry about. Obviously their interest goes as far as winning the next election. Everything else takes a back seat, but what about the senior military in the DOD and bureaucrats whose responsibility it is to prepare these politicians? Is there any effort on their part to educate congressman/senators about the capabilities of Army Special Forces? Or are there simply too many rice bowls and layers preventing the flow of such information?

From my limited reading, it seems time and time again SF is treated as an unwanted step child. I don't know if any other nation field units with the same mission as SF, but it seems we're definitely the largest, most developed, and have put considerable resources in mastering these abilities. Not to say time/money/effort hasn't bee put into SEALs, Rangers, Marines Force Recon etc. for good reason, but it's about achieving an objective. Keeping that in focus (winning), I would think it would naturally occur to those with information that Army SF is perfectly suited to wage the war we fight today and set other units (conventional and SOF) up for success in their fights.

x-factor

05-11-2007, 00:07

Warrior-Mentor

05-11-2007, 01:21

Also, I don't mean to get back to Rumsfeld, but isn't the imbalance towards DA a symptom of the same attitude that saw PSYOPS and CA moved out of SOCOM and the increased tasking of FID missions to regular Army brigades? And doesn't that attitude trace right back to civillian leadership who, after OEF, became enamored with special operations without really understanding them in the necessary depth? Are we moving towards a SOCOM thats completely dedicated to HVT hunting (in the narrowest sense)?

Read PENTAGON'S NEW MAP or BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION by Thomas P M Barnett.

Or Search Thomas P M Barnett on YouTube.

He wrote Rumsfeld's manifesto...read it and you'll see the direction he's taken us and where he was going...

Ret10Echo

05-11-2007, 04:33

Read PENTAGON'S NEW MAP or BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION by Thomas P M Barnett.

Or Search Thomas P M Barnett on YouTube.

He wrote Rumsfeld's manifesto...read it and you'll see the direction he's taken us and where he was going...

I saw Barnett speak and then bought the book.....interesting read. I'm not 100% sold, but there are some good parts.

Interesting note concerning all this talk of DA and SEALS. This is an extract from a Defense Tech article posted on the 7th of May. Of note in the comments of the VADM to senators would, at least on the surface, indicate sensitivity to the issue of FID and UW and who is best at accomplishing that mission:D

The Title of the article is SEAL MISSION CREEP.

*****According to the report, it’s because the SEALs’ “most crucial mission” of training foreign militaries is causing a strain on the Teams, leaving them less time to train and sending veterans out of the service for more predictable – and lucrative – assignments with private military companies.

SEALs are stretched so thin and strained by the most vigorous deployment schedule in their 45-year history that defense experts warn about their readiness and ability to contain hot spots around the world. These days, nearly 90 percent of Special Forces deployments are focused in the Middle East, leaving other volatile areas unchecked.

Special Forces are needed to train small foreign units to quell terrorist threats within their national borders, Vice Adm. Eric Olson, deputy commander of Special Operations Command, told senators during an April hearing.
It's perhaps the commandos' most crucial mission, he said: "We know that we cannot kill or talk our way to victory."

Now, I understand that training foreign troops - what’s known in the spec ops world as “foreign internal defense” - to head off the rise of insurgencies and extremist alternatives is a mission for all commandos, including SEALs. But Army Special Forces was founded on this mission and is one of their key strengths.

That mission, coupled with unconventional warfare – raising insurgent armies and employing them to meet U.S. national security goals – have been the Green Berets’ stock in trade since the ‘60s.

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003478.html

Jack Moroney (RIP)

05-11-2007, 05:10

Sir;

but what about the senior military in the DOD and bureaucrats whose responsibility it is to prepare these politicians? Is there any effort on their part to educate congressman/senators about the capabilities of Army Special Forces? Or are there simply too many rice bowls and layers preventing the flow of such information?

.

The senior military and bureaucrats in DOD did not all just suddenly appear, they are products of their experience and agendas followed throughout their career. While you can call anyone with a medical degree a doctor there is a vast difference between a proctologist and a brain surgeon, although in the case of understanding the intracacies of what SF is all about they both would often have to work in tandem to help extract many of these senior folks heads' from their fouth POC. It is a continuous process and those with access to these politicians sell what they know and what they can fall back on to make their point. So when you have aviators, SEALS, or others from the SOF community with limited experience or low comfort zones about UW and FID they sell what they know. For instance, when I took command of a classified organization my first step was to education the two star that was the DCSOPS and his four star boss concerning the roles and missions with which we were going to be tasked. I entered their conference room in mufti appropriate for my assignment, which alone was an attention getter, and started by telling them that I knew that they were concerned about what we might do to bring unwanted attention to them but first I would tell them what we could do to make them look like heroes. I had to do this every time there was a change in the command structure and as a result I had advocates for my troops because they were not only educated but we performed as advertised. There is no difference here, the things you can show a politico or VIP are those with flash and violence of action in a short period of time. There are many ways to breach a target, but the politico only witnesses the flash, bang, and smoke. It is over in seconds. There are many more variables when it comes to FID/UW because you are dealing with personalities and dynamics presented by the enemy, weather, terrain, time, etc, etc, etc. Not to mention the dynamics of the SF organizations involved and those SOF imperatives that drive what goes on. You cannot see this or encapsulate it for a show and tell. It is only the end result that is judged by history as shaped by ever changing dynamics over the course of the effort and without being area oriented, culturally attuned, and educated in the complexities of that particular mission most just cannot grasp what happened nor why. It is a continuous education process that requires fine tuning for folks with attention spans of insufficient capacity to handle or process the information. That is as simple as I can make it.

Jack Moroney (RIP)

05-11-2007, 05:23

[QUOTE=x-factor] Isn't it somewhat of a false distinction between DA and UW? Aren't both usually necessary to a mission? QUOTE]

What exactly are you talking about? There are DA missions, UW missions, FID, missions, etc. Within a UW campaign their are DA mission, SR missions, and a variety of collateral activities and interactions with agencies and organizations. Within FID there can be DA, SR and a variety of missions. The missions within any theather of operation are based on the overall strategy to achieve success and may include any mix of types of missions and forces. Like your metaphor of the eggs and the flours arguing over the cake, there are many other ingredients missing from your receipe.

mswilliams

05-11-2007, 06:44

Gentlemen,
To be quite honest with you, if you step back from fray and look at the situation, you see that VADM Olson was by far the best choice for the job. Look at all the other SOF 3 stars, you have a pilot, 2 infantrymen, and a SEAL. There are a couple of other SOF 3 Stars but both have already announced their retirement.

Another plus in his favor is that he gets it, he understands that the main effort in this war is the indirect approach: the Security Cooperation engagements, the FID missions, the UW campaign. He understands that every time you whack a mole another one pops up to take his place, unless you do something long term about the environment that allows and fosters the growth of moles.

my two cents worth.

SF18C

05-11-2007, 06:59

While you can call anyone with a medical degree a doctor there is a vast difference between a proctologist and a brain surgeon...

Col, it just seems like we always get the proctologists trying to do brain surgery!!!;)

Snaquebite

05-11-2007, 07:27

SOCOM, PACOM, CENTCOM, SOUTHCOM - all Navy 4 stars.

Are we really running out of good Army/SOF three stars, or just political ones?

The Reaper

05-11-2007, 08:10

To a certain extent, isn't all this the eggs arguing with the flour about the cake?

By that I do not mean to disagree with either TR or Col JM, but rather to put a finer point on it. Isn't it somewhat of a false distinction between DA and UW? Aren't both usually necessary to a mission? It was my experience (VERY limited compared to some of you men here) that most DA actions (no matter who carried them out) were built, at least partially, on intelligence gleaned through UW and FID activities.

Reminds me my community's inane arguments over which INT is superior. The truth (at least as I see it) is that there is no intrinsically better INT and any one who advocates one doesn't really understand the business...its all just a question of context. As you say, its not about a one-size-fits-all solution, but rather whats the right tool (or combination of tools, usually) for the job at hand?

Also, I don't mean to get back to Rumsfeld, but isn't the imbalance towards DA a symptom of the same attitude that saw PSYOPS and CA moved out of SOCOM and the increased tasking of FID missions to regular Army brigades? And doesn't that attitude trace right back to civillian leadership who, after OEF, became enamored with special operations without really understanding them in the necessary depth? Are we moving towards a SOCOM thats completely dedicated to HVT hunting (in the narrowest sense)?

x-factor:

Your apparent ignorance of UW and FID makes it difficult to explain this to you.

SF can do those sorts of operations as well, you have to in order to do FID and UW. The problem is when these DA only organizations become preeminent and see all problems as having ballistic solutions. DA is a subset of UW, but the reverse is not true. You need no foreign language training, social skills, cultural awareness, or area immersion to be able to do DA. You will not get very far in UW without them.

We have killed a bunch of AQ and other terrorists, but the fact remains, the indig know where they all are, to include OBL, and they are not talking to the units who are running around shooting people in the face.

We are engaged in a gigantic game of whack a mole, when we should be working on marginalizing radical Islamists and preparing HN governments to take care of these threats in their own countries. Leadership has deferred to SOF's version of the "air power can do it all" strategy, and has thrown support and funding to the DA only units.

Watch next time you see someone from SOCOM or USASOC testifying in front of Congress or speaking with the media. They will brag about the foreign language training, social skills, cultural awareness, and area immersion of SOF personnel. But if you check the training, only SF and to a lesser extent, PSYOPs meets these requirements. SF has the lead when they are bragging about SOF or asking for funding, but is the largest organization in SOCOM and gets one of the smallest slices of the pie (less than 5%, IIRC). The real money goes to JSOC and infil platforms, and they do not support SF. Good thing we spent all of that money on the mini-subs, they have been very valuable in OEF and OIF. Why does an ODA have fewer NVGs than a Ranger squad? Follow the money, and see what SOCOM thinks is important.

TR

Snaquebite

05-11-2007, 09:03

The problem is when these DA only organizations become preeminent and see all problems as ballistic ones. DA is a subset of UW, but the reverse is not true.

Exactly why I always tried to be on a UW team and later fought the mindset of having seperate DA and UW teams in SF....

If all teams are FID/UW then you have the expertise to do DA when needed and plenty of teams to choose from.

x-factor

05-11-2007, 09:29

WM - I see your point. I read PNM, but haven't gotten to BFA yet. I thought he diagnosed the problem fairly well, but was a long way off on the solution. He completely ignored the human/cultural factors in security.

COL JM / TR - You both expressed what I was trying to (the need for different mission capabilities in balance/concert) better than I did.

CPTAUSRET

05-11-2007, 10:49

SOCOM, PACOM, CENTCOM, SOUTHCOM - all Navy 4 stars.

Are we really running out of good Army/SOF three stars, or just political ones?

Also NORTHCOM.

mswilliams

05-11-2007, 12:58

Also NORTHCOM.

General Gene Renuart, USAF is the commander of NORTHCOM

CPTAUSRET

05-11-2007, 13:08

General Gene Renuart, USAF is the commander of NORTHCOM

Well then, I apologize, I thought it was still Admiral Tim Keating.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051211/news_1e11qnda.html

CPTAUSRET

05-11-2007, 13:11

mswilliams:

I stand corrected!

http://www.norad.mil/newsroom/photos/people/Renuart_new_commander_23mar07_hi.htm

incommin

05-11-2007, 13:31

This same thing is happening in LE..... door kicker (SWAT) get the $$$$$ and the toys...... Patrol is usually next and Investigations and labs come last.

It must be the thrill of flashes, bangs, splintering wood, and gun shots in the early morning hours that does it (attracts the money)!

Jim

TF Kilo

05-11-2007, 14:36

Given that my experience is from a different perspective (Ranger BN)...

SF soldiers are invaluable in the current type of warfare we are engaged in.

SF can do DA, and do it well.

I believe SF needs to be at the forefront of this war. No questions about it.

I don't think that SF needs to be "risked" in terms of DA type operations... I didn't know of any DA operations done by the ODA that was colocated in afghanistan with my unit... either because they didn't tell us about it, or they handed off that stuff to us.. we were right there, co-located, trained, equipped and mobile enough to be able to do the job with a 2 minute heads up and briefing enroute to the obj...

Since joining this site, interacting in further depth with the QP's both on the net and in person, i'm appalled at the level that things apparently are with SF groups across the board.

My interaction personally with SF in an operational capacity was limited due to my position, but we inter-operated... support of both beans and bullets was increased for them simply by the fact that we were there... they definately appreciated the assistance with different things that we were able to provide simply by having more bodies to do things with.

Basically, you can break it down to building a house... you need the hammers and nails, but without planning in advance as to the lay of the land, neighbors, what they do and how they do it, what looks best with regards to the neighborhood, and what the neighbors will THINK depending on what you end up building... your overall end result can differ vastly from what your intended result is...

I believe there needs to be more J in JSOC, and SF needs a bigger slice of the pie both tactically, strategically, and fiscally, in order to accomplish the end result that our foreign policy and global strategic desires are dictating.

SF soldiers are combat multipliers to an extreme, but I believe better utilized in the other roles ONLY they are trained for... DA is probably the easiest mission SF knows how to do (IMO) and risking such an asset on the battlefield when other elements can accomplish it just as well...

I may be talking out of my 4th point, but it's just what I think nowadays...

smp52

05-11-2007, 14:44

but first I would tell them what we could do to make them look like heroes. I had to do this every time there was a change in the command structure and as a result I had advocates for my troops because they were not only educated but we performed as advertised.

Sir, thank you for the run down. I find some lessons applicable to what I do in Ammunition Quality Assurance, particularly the approach you state above. It is very relevant to my field. As QA personnel, we are constantly working against the inertia pushing for production over quality. Schedule, cost, then quality is the order of business. It, in many ways, has always been this way. Nothing new, especially in wartime. Problem with this approach is that lessons taken during wartime don't filter down into peace time. Either the contractor is under too much 'pressure' to produce, or in peacetime there isn't enough money for the contractor to 'justify' improvement in quality. As much as I'd like to blame private industry, it is the government's responsibilty to set the agenda and my job to educate as many as possible.

QA gets blamed as the boogey men in such situations; we're trying different tactics/strategies in trying to sell abilities of QA to ensure the warfighter gets stuff that was paid to be in Condition Code "A". Thank you for the life lesson.

SOGvet

05-12-2007, 16:06

SOCOM, PACOM, CENTCOM, SOUTHCOM - all Navy 4 stars.

Are we really running out of good Army/SOF three stars, or just political ones?

Don't forget that the Navy also sits at the helm at CJCS and SOCEUR.

Lessee..
The Navy has the five 4-banger billets listed above, plus SOCEUR...
The Army has EUCOM, SOCSOUTH, SOCPAC, SOCCENT
The Air Force has JFCOM and NORTHCOM

I'd say someone inside the beltway must not have a lot of trust or confidence in senior Army leadership.

We are so phucked..

(I'd have to say that Adm Olson will do us better than Stan the man would... Just my .02 cents)

x-factor

05-12-2007, 16:50

I read an article (as I recall it was a major publication...I wish I could find it online, I'll keep looking) from about the time that Fallon took over CENTCOM that asserted that Navy officers are preferred for major command billets because the Navy has a better tradition of educating their officers in a "strategic mindset" (incorporating diplomacy and long-term interests) whereas an Army officer's education focuses more on operational acumen (commanding ever larger formations) and an Air Force officer's on technical knowledge (mastering new techonolgy).

Does anyone (especially COL JM) think there's any truth to that?

Jack Moroney (RIP)

05-12-2007, 19:35

Does anyone (especially COL JM) think there's any truth to that?

No idea, but isn't it interesting that the USMC is either not considered or is considered part of the Navy in this category. I also think that this is a rather rediculous characterization as the appropriate selection for theater commands should logically fall to the service that has the preponderance of the responsibility under roles, functions and missions. What is also interesting is that because most conflicts are fought to secure land, resources, or require subjugation of belligerents or removal of irritants that encourage/support belligerents it would seem that both the Navy and the Air Force would play supporting roles to land forces more often than the other way around and since when was a supporting commander in command of the supported force for very long. There have been many strategists that have argued for one service over the other but when all the nut cutting is done it usually is not resolved until the man with the bayonet stands on the ground over which the conflict was fought. But it is getting too late for me to even think about making my hair hurt over this so just chalk this up to an knee jerk opinion with this last final thought, show me the results with concrete examples to support your position as this is way above my last pay grade or interest level. You also have to put this in perspective and that is at the level you are talking about the selection for assignments here are more political than you can imagine, grooming and education aside. Never really worried about the education, care or feeding of flag officers as I never wanted to be one and realized when I was but a wee 2LT that the only time in my life that I would ever want to wear a star would be if I chose to pump gas for Texaco.

CPTAUSRET

05-12-2007, 20:41

Don't forget that the Navy also sits at the helm at CJCS and SOCEUR.

Lessee..
The Navy has the five 4-banger billets listed above, plus SOCEUR...
The Army has EUCOM, SOCSOUTH, SOCPAC, SOCCENT
The Air Force has JFCOM and NORTHCOM

I'd say someone inside the beltway must not have a lot of trust or confidence in senior Army leadership.

We are so phucked..

(I'd have to say that Adm Olson will do us better than Stan the man would... Just my .02 cents)

Rumsfeld served as a Naval Aviator...54-57, I think.

NousDefionsDoc

05-12-2007, 20:59

I wonder how much those such as Eaton, Batiste et al have to do with this perceived lack of confidence in Army senior leadership on the part of the pols?

Jack Moroney (RIP)

05-13-2007, 04:52

I wonder how much those such as Eaton, Batiste et al have to do with this perceived lack of confidence in Army senior leadership on the part of the pols?

Hell, don't stop there. Weasely Clark tops the list of many just for starters. What is even worse are those folks all of whom had it within their grasp and stand up and be counted while they were wearing the trappings of service suddenly seem to have grown a set of balls after retirement. They must have had their leg straps crossed for their entire time in the harness because what comes across is not constructive but whiney little high pitched sniveling.

The Reaper

05-13-2007, 08:11

It was easy for Clark when he was working for his buddies the Klintons.

I had to work with him when I was at SOCOM. It was during the SL's attack on the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Peru. We were a force provider and had asked for daily SITREPs from our deployed troops. After the first 24 hours, we were getting no reports. When I called and asked the SOCSOUTH J3 why, he said that GEN Clark found out about it and went through the roof, telling them that anyone passing a report outside of his HQs would be UCMJed.

Between Barry McCaffrey and Wes Clark, I have never seen two egos that big. In retrospect, I guess I would have to take McCaffrey, since he had more than proven his personal valor in combat.

What utter asses they both are, and horrible people to deal with.

TR

CRad

05-13-2007, 18:05

We are engaged in a gigantic game of whack a mole...

Follow the money, and see what SOCOM thinks is important.

TR

I love that analogy. Excellent, Excellent job of putting a name to it.

aricbcool

05-13-2007, 19:13

More like "whack a mullah". ;)

--Aric

The Reaper

05-14-2007, 08:10

Well, the Navy may not be working out as well as planned.

Strategic thinkers?:rolleyes:

TR

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271933,00.html

Admiral Fallon's Tactful Touch in Iraq Troubles U.S. Senator
Sunday , May 13, 2007
WASHINGTON —

Admirers of Adm. William J. Fallon salute his reputation for deft diplomacy. Judging from his first weeks as top commander of American forces in the Middle East, a talent for tact has served him well in many countries of the region except, perhaps, the one that matters most — Iraq.

Fallon is off to a quiet start as President Bush's surprise choice to succeed Army Gen. John Abizaid as head of Central Command. He is overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while managing military relationships with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other nations at the center of Bush's strategy in fighting terrorism.

About the biggest splash he has made was deciding to retire the phrase "Long War," which is how the Arabic-speaking Abizaid described the global conflict against Islamic extremists.

The term was used frequently by Pentagon officials but Fallon apparently was concerned it alienated Middle Eastern audiences.

The white-haired admiral is concerned, too, about alienating Iraqi leaders, and that troubles some in Washington.

Fallon told a Senate panel this month that his chief priority is securing Iraq. He described himself as "guardedly optimistic," but he tread lightly on the question of how to push the fractious Iraqi government into the political compromises deemed necessary to stabilize the country.

Push too hard, he warned, and Iraqis will lose confidence in the durability of U.S. support.

"If they get the perception that we are ... going to walk away from them, then this just encourages the factional militias," he said. So Fallon was reluctant, when pressed, to say explicitly that the Iraqis have not lived up to their promises.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was troubled that Fallon seemed unwilling to use tough talk with the Iraqis.

"I think your message is very much weakened, and it's troubling to me because you meet with the leaders of Iraq," Levin said, adding that Fallon had "let them off the hook."

Sinister

05-15-2007, 07:18

Tampa Tribune
May 13, 2007

Socom Nominee Is 'Quiet Warrior'

By Richard Lardner, The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Nearly 14 years ago, a Navy special warfare officer named Eric Olson arrived in the slum-choked African city of Mogadishu, Somalia, to join an American military task force hunting down a local warlord.

Not expecting to see action, Olson didn't have a weapon or flak vest. He was in Mogadishu as an observer, to become more familiar with the people he would be working with in his next stateside assignment.

Olson would leave Somalia a combat hero, a key figure in one of the deadliest urban battles since the Vietnam War. Yet you won't find his name in any of the unclassified accounts of a two-day battle most have come to know through the book and movie "Black Hawk Down."

The layers of secrecy blanketing the clandestine world in which Olson has worked for more than 30 years are partly responsible for the anonymity. The culture of the special operations community frowns on self-serving war stories, particularly in public settings.

The main reason, though, is Olson's disdain for attention. Those who know him say he maintains a level of discretion remarkable even for those who spend their careers in the shadows.

"He's a humble person," said retired Adm. Vern Clark, chief of Naval Operations from 2000 to 2005. "He's not a hoorah kind of guy. That's not the way he does it. He's a quiet warrior."

On Thursday, the Defense Department announced that President Bush had nominated Vice Adm. Olson to lead U.S. Special Operations Command, a rough-and-tumble confederation of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who tackle the most dangerous assignments in the worst conditions.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the command has emerged as one of the principal players in the Bush administration's terror war. Convinced that stealthy, surgical strikes are the best way to catch or kill terrorists, the administration has vested Socom with more people, more money and more authority to go after them.

Once confirmed by the Senate, Olson will receive a fourth star and become the first SEAL to make that rank. He will also be the first Navy officer to run Socom, an assignment that has been mostly the province of Army generals since the command was formed 20 years ago.

The current commander, Army Gen. Bryan "Doug" Brown, is retiring after four decades in the military.

Olson, 55, won't have to move far from his office at MacDill Air Force Base. For the past three years, he has been the deputy commander at Socom, a post Clark urged his civilian bosses to put Olson in.

"I thought that he was the perfect guy to serve down there as the No. 2," Clark said. "He was the most experienced special operations leader [the Navy] had."

Those who grew up with Olson in Tacoma, Wash., marvel at the upward trajectory of his career. Former classmates at Stadium High School remember an easygoing and popular teenager who lived in a big house in a nice part of town.

As a senior at Stadium in the late 1960s, Olson was on the varsity wrestling team, a member of the school's House of Representatives and co-chairman of the Senior All-Night Party.

He also was one of the school's two male cheerleaders. The other was John Winskill, now a dentist who still lives in Tacoma.

"He could do his share of partying back then," Winskill said. "We both thought at the time it was more fun to lift girls than weights."

Winskill recalled being surprised when he learned years ago that his friend had become one of the Navy's Sea, Air and Land commandos, commonly known as the SEALs.

"He was small, disarming and quick to laugh. That's not how you picture Navy SEALs," Winskill said. "You wouldn't know he had the potential for that killer instinct."

To meet Olson is to understand the contradiction. He's of average height, has a slender build, hard blue eyes and light-brown hair that is cropped short and parted to the right. He comes across as serious but not the type who needs to pound the table to make a point. Without the Navy uniform, he could be a bank executive or a company president.

In Olson's case, appearances are misleading. He has held some of the military's most demanding jobs, including a three-year tour during the mid-1990s as commander of SEAL Team Six, the Navy's clandestine antiterrorism unit.

Howard Wasdin, a former member of Team Six, remembered Olson as the kind of boss who wouldn't "ask anyone to do anything that he's not going to do himself."

"He is literally the type who's going to jump in front of that bullet for you," said Wasdin, who left the Navy in 1995 and lives in Georgia. "And there's no doubt in my mind that he would."

Through a command spokesman, Olson declined to be interviewed for this article, saying it would be inappropriate to comment before the Senate has approved his nomination.

Young Innovator

Eric Thor Olson was born in Tacoma in January 1952, the second of Paul and Dawn Olson's three sons.

His father, who died nearly 30 years ago, was an oil industry executive whose parents came from Norway. His mother was brought up on a farm in Washington's Yakima Valley and became prominent in the state and local Democratic Party.

The Olsons lived comfortably and were well-connected. Dawn Olson was the youngest delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention, where she met and befriended Hubert Humphrey, then the mayor of Minneapolis and later vice president of the United States.

She ran for Congress in 1962, losing to Republican incumbent Thor Tollefson. Two years later, Floyd Hicks, a fellow Democrat and a family friend of the Olsons, defeated Tollefson. The relationship proved helpful a few years later.

Dawn Olson has remarried; she's now Dawn Lucien. She lives in Tacoma, where she remains an active member of the community.

"I was raised to think that anybody could do anything they wanted to do, and I guess I tried to impart that to my children," she said.

Eric Olson took to the water at an early age, Lucien said, and soon wanted a wet suit to bear the frigid temperatures of Puget Sound's channels and estuaries.

Lucien said no because he would outgrow it and soon need another. Then Olson came across a scuba diving magazine with an article about making your own wet suit. The key materials were a special glue and enough scraps of rubberized material.

His mother drove him to a wet suit manufacturer in Seattle. With money he earned as a paperboy, he bought a bag full of remnants. At home, he spread them out over the pingpong table in the basement and patched them together.

"And you know, it lasted him until he was old enough to get a real, honest-to-goodness wet suit," Lucien said.

Olson graduated from Stadium High in 1969. Congressman Hicks, knowing of Olson's interest in the ocean, nominated him for an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Olson was accepted, and his Navy career was under way.

'Hell Week'

After finishing at Annapolis in 1973, Olson entered the SEAL training course, a brutal and lengthy regimen designed to put candidates under enormous physical and mental stress.

The idea is to simulate as closely as possible the hurdles they will probably face when deployed on a combat operation. Nearly 70 percent of those who begin the course fail to complete it.

One portion of the training is known as "Hell Week," which is 5 1/2 days of continuous training, much of it on or under the ocean. Candidates are allowed only a few hours of sleep during that period.

Another exercise called "Drown Proofing" requires would-be SEALs to bob in pool water over their heads with their feet bound and their hands tied behind their backs. The idea is to make them comfortable in the water, even under duress.

Paradoxically, the most successful candidates aren't the muscle-bound commando stereotypes Hollywood pushes on the public. Brains matter more than brawn, said Rear Adm. Joe Maguire, the top officer at the Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego.

"It is without a doubt the most demanding physical program in any military," Maguire said. "But I would also say it is by far more of a psychological program than it is a physical program because it really tests a young sailor's mental toughness and his ability to perform every single day."

Olson completed the SEAL program in 1974 and was assigned to a team that operates special minisubs that deliver troops and equipment for clandestine missions.

Over the next decade and a half, Olson globe-trotted between assignments in SEAL units and overseas postings that took him to Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

In 1990, after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Olson was handpicked by then-Navy Capt. Ray Smith, who led the naval special warfare troops shipped to the Middle East as part of the U.S. response.

"I felt strongly enough about his maturity and judgment [and] I wanted him with me," said Smith, who retired in 2001 as a rear admiral.

Less than 48 hours after the first Iraq war started in January 1991, Olson's unit captured more than 100 Iraqi troops who had taken over Kuwaiti oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.

"That was quite a deal," Smith said. (continued)

Sinister

05-15-2007, 07:20

Urban Warfare

Olson took over as commander of SEAL Team Six in 1994. Established by the Navy in 1980, Team Six was to be the oceangoing equivalent of the Army's Delta Force. Delta would be primarily responsible for going after terrorists on land, and Team Six would mainly attack by sea.

Team Six and Delta are "special mission units," and the military does not publicly discuss what they do. Once deployed, both fall under control of the equally mysterious Joint Special Operations Command, which is based at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina.

The JSOC (pronounced "jay-sock") is described euphemistically in Socom publications as a think tank for the special operations community. Yet the command, which is a component of Socom, manages the secret, door-kicking missions aimed at what the military calls "high-value targets."

Before assuming command of Team Six, Olson's superiors wanted him to spend time in a combat setting with the JSOC staff. So in the fall of 1993, Olson headed to Mogadishu, where Task Force Ranger was based in a rundown hangar at an airfield on the outskirts of the city.

The task force, led by Army Maj. Gen. William Garrison, then the JSOC's top officer, was a blend of 450 Army Rangers, Delta Force commandos, Navy SEALs, Air Force combat controllers and specially trained helicopter pilots.

The force had been assembled to capture Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his key lieutenants. Aidid's militia had been violently opposing an international effort to bring order to the war-ravaged country.

On Oct. 3, 1993, about a third of the task force launched a daylight raid at a Mogadishu hotel where two of Aidid's top aides were meeting.

The midafternoon mission was expected to take about an hour. Instead, it turned into a long, violent street fight that stretched deep into the next morning. Two Army Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, and nearly 100 troops were trapped in the center of the city by heavy enemy fire.

Garrison and other task force officers were watching the action unfold on video monitors at their makeshift operations center. Once an observer, Olson suddenly became a participant.

As night fell, Olson and Lee Van Arsdale, a Delta Force officer, were ordered to help put together a relief team that would have to twice pass through the shooting gallery that had killed more than a dozen comrades and wounded many others.

Olson borrowed an M-4 carbine rifle and body armor.

"To go out at night in a very hostile environment, that's a tall order," recalled Van Arsdale, who retired from the military in 1999 and is now chairman of Triple Canopy, a private security company in Herndon, Va.

"I took the lead, and Eric had the harder job of taking the rear and making sure that there were no breaks in contact and that everyone kept up," he said.

Together they guided a column of 200 U.S. troops and armored personnel vehicles driven by Malaysian troops through Mogadishu's narrow, dirty streets toward the downed helicopters where the original assault force had set up a perimeter.

Olson, Van Arsdale and many of the other U.S. troops were moving on foot, using the armored carriers as rolling shields against the shower of bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.

They loaded the dead and the wounded in the vehicles and began leading the others out. The round trip became known as the "Mogadishu Mile" and didn't end until nearly 6:30 a.m. Oct. 4.

Several months later at a brief Pentagon ceremony, Olson received the Silver Star, the military's third-highest award for courage under fire. The medal citation credited him for "directing a relief column through intense hostile fire to the aid of friendly survivors."

Van Arsdale remembers Olson being unflappable despite the extraordinary stress.

"He's a natural leader, and someone I would gladly go into combat with again," Van Arsdale said.

Coincidental Connections

The battles Olson fights now are largely bureaucratic, but he remains fit and active. In February, he finished Tampa's Bank of America Marathon in three hours and 35 minutes, good enough for third out of the 40 runners in his age group.

On vacation a few years ago, Olson lost part of a finger while climbing Mount Rainier, a 14,400-foot active volcano in Washington. An ice bridge he was crossing gave way, dropping him 40 feet into a chasm. He was belayed to his fellow climbers, who pulled him out.

"He phoned me on the way back down the mountain and said, 'Mom, I wasn't going to tell you this, but I'm here and I have to go to Tacoma General Hospital because I've hurt my hand,'" Dawn Lucien recalled.

In one of those odd twists of coincidence, Lucien recently hosted a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, a Washington Democrat whose 9th Congressional District includes Tacoma. Smith is chairman of the House subcommittee on terrorism and unconventional threats, which gives him oversight of special operations.

In Olson, Smith sees an opportunity for the command to concentrate more on the indirect approach to combating terrorism.

Smith said the Bush administration has focused too much on chasing individual terrorists and too little on winning hearts and minds before insurgencies take off in troubled countries - a crucial yet underutilized special operations tool.

"They see and understand the importance of this better than anybody," Smith said of the command's leadership. "So what we need is a change in policy, and then we need to empower them to do it."

Raised in SeaTac, a town halfway between Seattle and Tacoma, Smith said he has known Lucien "for years" and met her son after he was elected to Congress.

"I think he's an enormously talented individual who has the right outlook for where Socom needs to go," Smith said.

NousDefionsDoc

05-15-2007, 10:13

There are no coincidences...

dennisw

05-16-2007, 22:16

Olson received the Silver Star, the military's third-highest award for courage under fire. The medal citation credited him for "directing a relief column through intense hostile fire to the aid of friendly survivors."

Let's see, some of the rangers were in the fray for what - 18 hours and received bronze stars or less and he directed the relief column and wins the silver star. I don't get it.

NousDefionsDoc

05-16-2007, 23:02

Let's see, some of the rangers were in the fray for what - 18 hours and received bronze stars or less and he directed the relief column and wins the silver star. I don't get it.
Perhaps you should research the criteria for awarding those medals.

Peregrino

05-17-2007, 18:48

I had the pleasure of spending time yesterday with a retired USAF MG and two others who know Adm Olson personally. All spoke well of him - and praised his grasp of the "ground fight." Interesting conversation with positive implications for the future. I'm willing to "wait & see." Peregrino

NousDefionsDoc

05-17-2007, 19:37

Brother,
You do realize the praise for "understanding the ground fight" was coming from a member of the USAF, right?

The Reaper

05-17-2007, 19:47

Water, ground, the world is all a drop zone or impact area to them.:D

TR

Ret10Echo

05-17-2007, 20:19

Water, ground, the world is all a drop zone or impact area to them.:D

TR

Yes, but it sure helps a whole lot when they are close enough to the earth to identify what the heck they are dropping their junk on. Flying up where the blue meets the black is not the best way to "support the ground fight"

The Reaper

05-17-2007, 20:24

Yes, but it sure helps a whole lot when they are close enough to the earth to identify what the heck they are dropping their junk on. Flying up where the blue meets the black is not the best way to "support the ground fight"

Name a current AF four-star who started in CAS aircraft, like the A-10 and spent most of his career there.:munchin

TR

Ret10Echo

05-17-2007, 20:46

Uhmmmmm:confused:

Probably easier to find a 4 star c-130 jock.

Sinister

05-17-2007, 20:48

Tacoma News Tribune
May 18, 2007

Stadium Grad Says He’s Ready To Lead Special Operations

By Les Blumenthal, News Tribune

WASHINGTON – Navy Vice Adm. Eric Olson, a Tacoma native who has been nominated to lead the nation’s Special Operations forces, said Thursday that the U.S. Special Operations Command was not prepared to become the lead combat command for “planning and synchronizing” the war on terror after 9/11.

“Now we have our legs under us,” the Stadium High School graduate told more than 100 South Sound business and civic leaders at a meeting on Capitol Hill.

Olson was nominated last week to head the Special Operations Command, located at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. He is currently the deputy commander. His nomination requires Senate confirmation.

Utilizing sometimes “violent” night assaults, Olson said special ops missions include “rendering terrorist organizations and their leaders incapable” and interdicting and capturing weapons of mass destruction.

Olson did not mention specific missions, but he said Osama bin Laden is likely hiding in western Pakistan near the Afghanistan border. He said it was unclear how much day-to-day influence the terrorist leader has on al-Qaida operations.

With the resurgence of the Taliban, Olson said Afghanistan remains in a precarious position.

“This is a long ways from being over,” he said. “I don’t know what the trend is. I think this is a key moment in determining Afghanistan’s future.”

Olson sought to emphasize that even though “direct action” special ops missions are the stuff of Hollywood movies, there is a “softer line” that includes training indigenous forces, engaging in civil affairs programs to “remove the motivational causes” of terrorism and assisting in other government-to-government programs.

“Most of our forces work in the softer line,” he said. “We understand fully we will not kill our way to success. It is important for us to respond to the sound of guns, but it is equally important for us to be there before the sounds of guns.”

Olson delivered his remarks to the annual 9th Congressional District meeting organized by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma. Smith is chairman of the House Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, which has jurisdiction over the Special Operations Command.

After the speech, Smith’s staff gave Olson a tin of candy as a reminder of his hometown – Brown & Haley’s Almond Roca. Asked whether he liked it, Olson smiled and said he went to high school with the daughter of the one of the company’s owners.

The son of former Tacoma City Councilwoman Dawn Lucien, Olson attended the U.S. Naval Academy and qualified as a Naval special warfare officer in 1974. He is fluent in Arabic, has been stationed in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia and served with U.N. peacekeeping forces in Israel, Lebanon and Egypt.

Olson was among four Navy SEALs who received the Silver Star for their actions in the battle of Mogadishu, Somalia, which was chronicled in the book and movie “Blackhawk Down.” Under sustained small arms, automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade fire, Olson and the other SEALs helped rescue and evacuate the wounded.

Following a failed mission to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran in 1980, Congress decided to form the Special Operations Command to coordinate training and oversee joint missions of special ops forces. The command includes Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine special ops forces.

Its missions include counterterrorism, the search for weapons of mass destruction, direct action, psychological operations and civil affairs, Olson said.

It now has one more mission – fighting terrorism.

“We synchronize the global war on terror,” Olson said. “That’s the big change for us since 9/11.”

NousDefionsDoc

06-12-2007, 21:14

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/06/ap_specops_070612/

New SOCom CO says bureaucracy hurts terror war

By Richard Lardner and Anne Flaherty - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 12, 2007 21:45:23 EDT

WASHINGTON — Two years after U.S. commando forces were given broad authority to attack terrorist networks, the elite units remain hampered by uncertainty over coordination, says the admiral chosen to head the U.S. Special Operations Command.

Vice Adm. Eric Olson said that while the command has the lead for “synchronizing” the Bush administration’s global war on terror, enforcement of that expanded jurisdiction has been difficult.

The command’s “ability to drive behavior within [the Defense Department] is limited due to unclear definition of authorities,” Olson said in a written response to a question from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The response was made public Tuesday as the committee met to consider Olson’s nomination to run the command, which is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

Olson’s brief answer indicates President Bush’s March 2005 decision to broadly empower U.S. commandos continues to be a source of friction within the military’s hierarchy.

Most of the disagreement comes from other war-fighting commands responsible for managing operations across wide but specific stretches of the globe. These commands have been concerned the new license would encroach on how they manage their own theaters.

Olson, 55, has been the command’s deputy chief since August 2003. If confirmed by the full Senate, he would receive a fourth star and replace Army Gen. Bryan Brown, who has been the top special operations officer since September 2003.

To resolve the dispute, Olson said he would work with the Defense Department’s senior leadership to clarify the issue “of influencing or conducting operations inside and across” the areas run by other commands.

Olson will become the first Navy SEAL to achieve four-star rank and the first Navy officer to lead Special Operations Command.

The command, formed in 1987, has long been the province of Army generals. Prior to Olson, the only other non-Army officer to run special operations was Air Force Gen. Charles Holland, who held the post before Brown.

There will be two Army three-star generals reporting directly to Olson at MacDill: Francis Kearney has been picked to be Olson’s deputy, and David Fridovich will run the command’s Center for Special Operations.

Under the Bush administration, special operations has grown dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The command now has an annual budget of nearly $7 billion and close to 50,000 personnel.

Olson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1973. A year later, he completed the rigorous SEAL training regimen and over the following two decades served in a variety of military assignments, including several tours overseas, according to his military biography.

In October 1993, Olson played a key role during a bloody urban battle in Mogadishu, Somalia. After a pair of Army Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by enemy fire, Olson helped organize and lead a relief team to the crash sites.

The nighttime mission became known as the “Mogadishu Mile,” a reference to the distance covered bringing the wounded and trapped American troops to safety. Olson was awarded a Silver Star, the military’s third highest award for combat valor.

From 1994 to 1997, he commanded the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the formal name for the service’s secret “SEAL Team Six” anti-terrorism unit.

In 1999, Olson was named head of the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif.

Although Olson strives to maintain a low profile, his duties as deputy commander have made him a well-known figure in Congress where he has made frequent appearances before the military oversight committees.

Five-O

06-13-2007, 04:13

You need CAS...time is of the essence. Trench/bunker complex bringing heavy MG, mortors assorted small arms down into friendlies from a village (danger close). You have AF 4 min out, Navy 6 min out and MC 9 min out...who do you want?

Ret10Echo

06-13-2007, 04:40

Hunker down and wait for the Harriers.....

Actually, maybe unfair...what are the airframes?

A-10, Harrier, etc... bring it on....others unfamiliar, by the time you work the talk-on, it may be better to have someone else in.

stanley_white

06-15-2007, 15:16

SOCOM, PACOM, CENTCOM, SOUTHCOM - all Navy 4 stars.

Are we really running out of good Army/SOF three stars, or just political ones?

Don't forget that the DNI is also a former Navy Admiral!

Add to this that the man to replace General Pace may be an Admiral as well.

Why are we putting a ship driving service in charge during a time in which our enemies don't drive ships?