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Old 09-13-2018, 13:26   #1
angel
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NEW ARTICLE SPEC OPS BOOM YEARS OVER?

Article i found ..


https://www.yahoo.com/news/special-o...090019994.html
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Old 09-13-2018, 16:07   #2
Astronomy
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"It doesn’t help SOCOM’s cause that neither the defense secretary nor the Joint Chiefs chairman is viewed in some quarters as a big proponent of special operations forces. 'General Dunford and the secretary, they’re old Marines and they don’t really care much for special operations,' said the former senior special operations officer. Ryder, Dunford’s spokesman, strongly rejected this description."

Denials aside, this is a major factor at play when it comes to grand SOF planning at the Pentagon. Anyone who believes otherwise is on crack. There's a definite USMC hand gripping the DoD throttle these days. They are not (by inclination or experience) enthusiastic cheerleaders for SOF. It is what it is.

"Critical to these efforts has been the positive impression made on the Senate Armed Services Committee by the current assistant secretary, Owen West, a former Marine officer."

I'm sure he's a great guy and impeccably credentialed, but he's not SOF. He doesn't come from a SOF background. He comes from a straight-up, company-grade officer, 10 year, vanilla USMC background. Compare that to someone like Michael Vickers. ASDSOLIC from 2007 -2011. Served 40+ years of deeply operational CIA/SF/DoD Intel background. From team level enlisted/commissioned SF shooter to CIA Paramilitary Officer to DoD Undersecretary for multiple agencies. A veritable SOF Yoda figure.

The USMC has never even liked their own "elite" units... much less the concept of Joint Service SOF. They were dragged kicking and screaming into contributing forces to SOCOM back in the early-2000s. Nothing has changed since except for one thing. Some very conventional Marines have now gravitated to the highest echelons of DoD.

That's good (in some ways) for the entire military, but not especially so for SOF forces. Lack of patronage.

The linked article is more about the food fight at the top for control of SOF rice bowls & competing civilian/military authorities. It neglects to mention the insatiable & continuous demand by Combatant Commanders for SOF assets in their respective theaters. The SOF world is not just about CT work. Although umpteen movies, video games, TV series, books, documentary videos, and other media would have you believe it so. That's what you get after a decade and a half of glamour focus on All-DA, All the Time... by certain publicly celebrated outfits. Ones whose support requirements & missioning habitually dominated SOCOM focus.

The truth of the matter is that, were our recent wars actually winding down, there'd be a push from the Pentagon to fold up certain SOF tents and draw down the force. As was done after the SEA conflict, circa 1970s.

I don't see that happening this time. SOF has a recent successful combat track record and 4-Star SOCOM top cover. They have a popular image in the consciousness of most politicos, media, and average citizens. Things they did not enjoy at the end of the Vietnam conflict. US SOF formations also provide a politically palatable & convenient means of engaging in foreign entanglements without riskily impacting voter sensibilities. There's more current world-wide demand than SOF can even service. Business is Good. Even with an already expanded in-size SOCOM. That equation is unlikely to change without an epidemic of universal World Peas suddenly breaking out.

Figure the Odds...

Last edited by Astronomy; 09-13-2018 at 18:35.
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Old 09-13-2018, 18:17   #3
scooter
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The US is fighting two wars right now, one in Afghanistan and one in Syria. SOF are being used almost exclusively to fight both. SOF isn't going anywhere. The model of limited involvement using SOF to accomplish national objectives on the cheap is too attractive to too many people inside the beltway to change anything.
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