05-14-2007, 08:05
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#1
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Quiet Professional
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HASC Wants to Move UW Ahead of DA
Occasionally, you actually believe that Congress gets it.
I see a whole lot of ways this can go sideways, even if passed, but at least it is acknowledgement.
TR
Panel Urges Change In Socom's Priorities
By RICHARD LARDNER The Tampa Tribune
Published: May 14, 2007
TAMPA - The House Armed Services Committee, signaling its discontent with the Bush administration's use of special operations forces, wants more emphasis placed on unconventional warfare and less on the "direct action" missions aimed at killing or capturing individual terrorists.
In the committee's version of legislation that would fund the military in fiscal year 2008, the committee is proposing to change a 20-year-old law listing the activities handled by the special operations community.
Topping the list is direct action, which is defined as "short duration strikes" intended to cause damage or seize objects in areas off-limits to U.S. troops.
According to the committee, direct action should fall to a "lower priority" while unconventional warfare would rise to first place.
More: http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBZZYU8O1F.html
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The Reaper is offline
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05-14-2007, 08:17
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#2
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BANNED USER
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Change in policy
Congress probably see's this as a way to get conventional troops out of the theater while maintaining low visiblity operations with SOF forces.
Perhaps they dont "get it" but it sounds better than having 150,000 DA conventional troops on the ground. Maybe it's a way to acknowledge the SOF capabilities with the agenda of getting the coventional troops back state side.
Just a guess, but I dont trust Congress to understand much military. 
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82ndtrooper is offline
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05-14-2007, 10:44
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#3
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Maybe someone on the Hill has been reading posts on this site......??????
Jim
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"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." [Samuel Adams]
Jim
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incommin is offline
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05-14-2007, 11:23
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#4
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I don't think so.
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Originally Posted by incommin
Maybe someone on the Hill has been reading posts on this site......??????
Jim
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While some here argue the FID, UW and DA missions and their "weight" in activities one thing is sure SF does them all good.
Why would an anti war, anti military congress want to limit SF in DA operations? That is the question.
Could it be that SF, where employed in DA, is gitting a good bang for it's buck and doing it on the low key? Could it be that some in congress would like to change that? Change that to what?
I never take anything at face value.
UW, and to a lesser extent FID have perishable skills but again I ask myself why now?
Pete
Edited to add. The report lists Special Operations Forces - That includes the Rangers. Rangers are DA.
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Pete is offline
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05-14-2007, 14:06
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#5
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Pete
I never take anything at face value.
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I totally agree. Do they even understand what they are saying and what exactly is their definition of UW? I would love to think that they are looking at deployment of pilot teams for UW assessments, pyschological preparation of target audiences and subsequent development of future battlefields ,but I know better.
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Jack Moroney (RIP) is offline
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05-14-2007, 20:37
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#6
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jack Moroney
Do they even understand what they are saying and what exactly is their definition of UW?
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i understand this as a rhetorical question...never the less, my response is this...Congress is looking for a way out of a situation they consider untenable...UW, in their limited understanding is a silver bullet...by calling for a greater emphasis on UW over DA, they are attempting to appear resolute and informed...it is nothing more than rhetoric...it is nothing more than a smoke screen to cover the withdrawal they are demanding...but damn, they called for action....
IMNSHO...
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lksteve is offline
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05-14-2007, 20:45
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#7
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Well, IMNSHO, if we had commenced action in Iraq by supporting UW based insurgencies in the north and south, in conjunction with precision airstrikes, with a plan for a minimum of three to five years of military efforts, we would be on our way out as victors now instead of looking for ways to call "running away" something more palatable that we can live with.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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The Reaper is offline
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05-14-2007, 20:48
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#8
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by The Reaper
Well, IMNSHO, if we had commenced action in Iraq by supporting UW based insurgencies in the north and south, supported by airstrikes, with a plan for a minimum of three to five years of military efforts, we would be on our way out as victors now instead of looking for ways to call "running away" something more palatable that we can live with.
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no argument here...unfortunately, we had to have another couple cavalry charges...
__________________
""A man must know his destiny. if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder. if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.""- GEN George S. Patton
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lksteve is offline
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05-14-2007, 20:51
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#9
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by The Reaper
Well, IMNSHO, if we had commenced action in Iraq by supporting UW based insurgencies in the north and south, supported by airstrikes, with a plan for a minimum of three to five years of military efforts, we would be on our way out as victors now instead of looking for ways to call "running away" something more palatable that we can live with.
TR
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And just think we could have put all that saved money into a nice 4yr CD and made intrest 
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7624U is offline
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05-14-2007, 21:11
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#10
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by lksteve
no argument here...unfortunately, we had to have another couple cavalry charges...
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The only ones that could - did.
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Originally Posted by Colonel Sir
I totally agree. Do they even understand what they are saying and what exactly is their definition of UW? I would love to think that they are looking at deployment of pilot teams for UW assessments, pyschological preparation of target audiences and subsequent development of future battlefields ,but I know better.
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Sir, this continued advocating of pre-event preparation will not be tolerated... 
When I read you guy's comments on things like this, at all seems so simple and easy to understand. And it makes me wonder why we have think-tanks and study groups and what not and they still can't see the light.
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Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimal food or water, in austere conditions, training day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon and he made his web gear. He doesn't worry about what workout to do - his ruck weighs what it weighs, his runs end when the enemy stops chasing him. This True Believer is not concerned about 'how hard it is;' he knows either he wins or dies. He doesn't go home at 17:00, he is home.
He knows only The Cause.
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NousDefionsDoc is offline
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05-14-2007, 21:14
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#11
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by The Reaper
Well, IMNSHO, if we had commenced action in Iraq by supporting UW based insurgencies in the north and south, in conjunction with precision airstrikes, with a plan for a minimum of three to five years of military efforts, we would be on our way out as victors now instead of looking for ways to call "running away" something more palatable that we can live with.
TR
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Preach it Brother!
__________________
Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimal food or water, in austere conditions, training day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon and he made his web gear. He doesn't worry about what workout to do - his ruck weighs what it weighs, his runs end when the enemy stops chasing him. This True Believer is not concerned about 'how hard it is;' he knows either he wins or dies. He doesn't go home at 17:00, he is home.
He knows only The Cause.
Still want to quit?
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NousDefionsDoc is offline
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