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Bailaviborita,
I see your points. Dually noted. I see, now, how my thought about SOCOM might have not been clear as to how it was written. I was only raising the proposition that UW, which I believe is SF centric, would require more "brains' and a focus on the "MAN". I poorly posed a thought that perhaps with much of the SOCOM forces are selected and/or assessed on physical/mental toughness and not necessarily though process evaluating or training. If true (which is why I was posing the thought...for enlightenment by you all), this may leave much of "SOF" ill-equipped for that job.
Rest of my post was not meant to down play the role of fitness or appearance...to the contrary I feel they are very important for both mission success and for establishing credibility. My point there related to how the "conventional military mind" does not have a grasp on UW or the employment of SOF.
Wearing a watch cap when it is cold outside is usually deemed too unconventional to be an option to most of these units. With that mindset I fail to see how a UW situation can be approached by many of these units- when each AO has different factors and requires a different approach- indeed many times a different approach daily- a conformists and "hyper-uniform" attitude in my opinion is counter-productive.
Your above quote is where I was beginning my though process. Reason being is that I have found that many NCOs that are focused on a conformist and "hyper-uniform" in the conventional Army tended to "hide" behind PT score, pressed uniform, and highly shined boots. As well, these leaders tend to be willing to through their guys under the bus to save their own reputation. Each being a sub-category of the last...not mutually inclusive. Perhaps "many NCOs" is an over-statement. However, that behavior occurred often enough for me notice a distinct pattern of common and recognizable traits.
As a way to recognize professionalism, it is my opinion, a lazy analysis. This is common with officers that are more focused on themselves than their men...from what I have seen. An "as long as the men look good, they won’t see my warts" attitude.
My response was an attempt to gain incite through discussion, nothing more. Unlike many of you who have been around longer than me, I was posing thoughts based off of observances for you to respond to. I was not making statements of fact.
Having said that, I fear that many leaders in SF are also woefully lacking in UW historical knowledge/attitude. I don't see many in SOCOM advocating a UW-centric and SOF-centric approach either.
I did not take your above quote as a statement regarding senior or General Officers...my bad. To me, this could have been O's all the way down the rank structure and non-team level SNCOs . That was why I gave my observation regarding dealing with O's that do not understand the very mission sets they are assigned to and the decisions they make due to that lack of understanding.
Thank you for the clarification.
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