Niger Operation Punishment(s)

[Basenshukai]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Did someone miss the "Commander is responsible for everything..." lesson from Army Day One?

Looks like the SecDef is going to hold people accountable. What a novel concept.

TR

That's the sad part here. When I found out that the SFODA CDR was being reprimanded but the BC was not, I was confused.

If the SFODA had somehow nabbed some major player within an extremist group, I f-ing GUARANTEE that the BC would have placed that in his OER.

[Eagle5US]

Originally Posted by miclo18d

Ok, so the same thing happened to a team in Afghanistan in 2006. They went on a mission to kill a bad guy that had killed one of their terps. The mission went terribly wrong. 2 guys killed (1 was Tom Maholic the TmSgt), 1 wounded severely (medically boarded later).

Their punishment?

Silver Stars and a 60 Minutes interview.

I knew Tom - Was a sad day...

[Basenshukai]

Originally Posted by Eagle5US

I knew Tom - Was a sad day...

The wounded one either nearly lost his arm or lost it outright. I knew him and his spouse (a Paraguayan he met on deployment in 2005). I wonder whatever became of him. He was such a great guy.

[miclo18d]

Originally Posted by Basenshukai

The wounded one either nearly lost his arm or lost it outright. I knew him and his spouse (a Paraguayan he met on deployment in 2005). I wonder whatever became of him. He was such a great guy.

I have not heard from Matt since probably 2007. I always hope he’s doing well. He took my position on 765, when I went to 764.

The bullet wound pretty much destroyed his shoulder, even after recovering, he could barely lift his arm up to shake your hand.

And yes such a beautiful family!

[tom kelly]

After reading the postings about this incident I am dismayed about the leadership in the US ARMY Special Forces Regiment. I wonder if the BHO presidency and the move to the left caused a degradation of the quality of personnel who came into the SF Regiment and their focus on the MISSION FIRST ACCOMPLISHMENT sunk to the state it seems to be mired in. SAD to see a fine organization led by incompetent, self-centered elitist who are not the best and the brightest. tom kelly

[Basenshukai]

Originally Posted by tom kelly

After reading the postings about this incident I am dismayed about the leadership in the US ARMY Special Forces Regiment. I wonder if the BHO presidency and the move to the left caused a degradation of the quality of personnel who came into the SF Regiment and their focus on the MISSION FIRST ACCOMPLISHMENT sunk to the state it seems to be mired in. SAD to see a fine organization led by incompetent, self-centered elitist who are not the best and the brightest. tom kelly

Honestly, I am not surprised. When I arrived to my first unit after the Q Course, my high-speed, low-drag, elite SF company commander was a disgusting fat f_ck who could barely complete a four mile run. On top of that, he was incompetent and I had no idea how this guy had gotten this far. We are talking about a time way before Obama (2003). Anyway, we did not have to suffer this fool for more than six months after my arrival, and he changed command with a much better officer.

The only leader worse than this incompetent SF officer was the company sergeant major whom we nicknamed "Donkey" ("Shrek" was the name we reserved for the CO). This senior NCO had zero business that high in the food chain in SF. All the team sergeants hated him. On top of that, he had a two accidental discharges while I was in the unit (one in JRTC and the other in SFAUCC). I was told he had two others prior to his time with us, but I was not there when these happened so I can't vouch for the veracity of those claims.

Then, we can't forget about General Parker and his BS? When I was on a deployment, we were working with a JSOC NCO from one of the SMUs. When on the subject of these leaders that we kept seeing on the SF side of the house, he summarizes the whole thing like this: "The Army keeps promoting these, generally out-of-shape, not too bright officers in SF to general rank and it is likely that they only overcame their shortcomings by virtue of politics. In that case, what do you expect?" I wish we could just blame the issue on the Obama era. Then, we could take heart in the hope that each year that passes (after Obama) there is hope that things will get better. But, our problem is far deeper and well beyond Obama or any other politician.

I'd like to see if we can discuss where the actual problem lies and what can be done to rectify it. From everyone I've spoken to in the unit, I keep hearing about all of the disciplinary issues that are so common today. Is this so? Was it better before? Why? What has changed?

[WarriorDiplomat]

There were turds no doubt and discipline issues prior to Obama but their was still a stronger sense of brotherhood at the team level.....my first company SGM was considered a dipshit and we had some fat lazy team sergeants.....could it be SFAS is a failed experiment? Could it be social media has exposed something to a level of visibility that we have never seen before and therefore we have nothing to compare it to?? I suspect this is it as I stated about CSM Rarey's 7th Group debacle technology has outpaced our leaders strategic thinking.

However I think I personally can say that the post Parker and Obama era has been significantly worse in many ways, discipline being one and liberal leftist ideology being another however the number one thing that has sped up the degradation is the sycophant culture that became prevalent with the expansion of social media from SJW's.....have they ever had so much influence of the military?.....the code to getting ahead is there if you have the drive and lack of character to take advantage.

I would suspect the rise of the popularity of SMU's has robbed us of talent even students today are already thinking about the SMU's once they are eligible. The culture of SF does not feel like a culture of excellence. The real disappointment to me has been how easy SF has been changed culturally in a rather short period. All the issues in SF are interrelated issues that are like cells splitting and growing like cancer....as long as we stay compartmentalized into our own team rooms and pretend their is no consequences for bad GB's we will always have this issue.

I am not surprised at all that our leaders went this far but what is shocking is a unit prized for the intelligence and long term thinking to control the messaging in a bad situation this is about as loud of a signal as can be at our incompetence in handling politically sensitive situations.

[Eagle5US]

I have previously relayed the story of Gordon Smith, my first Company SGM fresh out of the Q. 2 weeks in, Practice wife #1 levels an atomic $h!t ton of serious charges against me. Cliff notes: He called me into his office, asked me "the truth", told him she was a liar - he went in front of the judge and defended me. With strength, pride, and unwavering conviction. Why? Because I was his "brother". I had earned my tab, wore my beret proudly (albeit for only 2 weeks at the time) - but he felt my character had been tested, and I had earned a seat at the table.

25 years later I retired, out of an SFG (A), in a GP Command level position. I knew of not a single SGM who would have done that for a new guy - because the new guys are "different", and SO are the SGMs. I cannot TELL you how many times I heard "I got the hat, I'm good. Once my stint is up I'm out - and it wasn't that hard".

There is a lack of "heart" - and the "fuck up move up" mentality for those who choose to stay PUSHES that percentage who really CAN AND DO perform at a level expected of an SF Soldier OUT to the SMUs...who are now doing what SF did, while we are doing what the 82nd did, who are doing what 2ID did, who are doing what COSCOM did...etc...

The "slippery slope" has out us in a wadi that flash flooded and washed away our history, our legacy has turned verbal - and the stories told are how to save your ass and move up the chain.

Sad times. Unfortunately... I am glad that I retired.