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Special operations growth expected after Iraq and Afghanistan

Special operations forces will be among the growth areas in the military even as funding dwindles, the Pentagon's No. 2 civilian leader says.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/speci...rfJPQY.twitter

BMT

This is really good news and only makes sense. Thanks for the post BMT {Salute}

That will not save Army programs and civilian personnel who support SOF.

If Big Army has been paying for it, expect to see it get cut to some degree.

USSOCOM funds only part of Army SOF. The rest is Army money, and a big chunk of it is going away.

We are also going to be recruiting SF soldiers from a significantly smaller Army. Expect another assault on standards in the near future.

TR

Transcript and QA here, video there.

The transcript suggests that the growth will be in "the newest things."

Quote:

Now to the force that we want. First thing, the president -- [the President of the United States], one of the things he was very insistent on the whole way is, he said just -- "You're in a budget stringency, make sure that you protect, and go out of your way to protect the newest things, because they have the shallowest roots. And they're the easiest thing to pull out bureaucratically, and I don't want you to do that." So he made sure that we didn't eat our seed corn in a budget reduction. And so that meant continuing to invest, and in fact we are growing the special operations forces, actually growing them.

We are increasing our funding for cyber, even in this environment. Same for electronic warfare, and electronic protection, very important field. New capabilities to counter weapons of mass destruction, space. All of these areas that are so important for the future. Our science and technology base, and of course new capabilities, novel capabilities that we haven't revealed yet. All of those things, keep those investments going despite the cut. Very important principle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sigaba (Post 477708)

Transcript and QA here, video there.

Too much talk about preserving newer, high-tech SOF capabilities for my liking.
My $0.02. YMMV.

Sigaba:

Follow the money.

USSOCOM is a very platform centric HQs. That trends to have Congressional support as well.

Lots of money for new ASDVs, choppers, and planes, even if the units are down to six or seven guys per team and local training only due to funding cuts. It has happened before, it will happen again.

Do not count on USSOCOM to do much for SF soldiers.

TR

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper (Post 477711)

Spoken by someone who has picked up pine cones along Yadkin Road in the late '70's and early '80's. Mess duty on support cycle. Yep, I agree. We have seem that all before. TR is right. When the war "is over," priorities and funding gets "adjusted." We'll have to see how this shakes out.

Well, the way folks have been talking to us at the Group, you'd think we'll have to rely on bake sales to get funded.

I am afraid TR is absolutely right. I wish he wasn't. But, he is.