More Special Ops Troops Will Better Answer Global Needs, Official Says

American Forces Press Service ^ | John J. Kruzel

[SandRat]

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 27, 2007 – Special Operations forces will grow by 17,000 active-duty members over the next six years, a senior military official said today at the 18th annual Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Symposium here.

“We are fielding … the largest growth in special operations history without sacrificing quality along the way,” Navy Vice Adm. Eric T. Olson, deputy commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, said.

The admiral said SOCOM’s role has been enlarged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In 2003, “the secretary of defense said, ‘I hereby designate special operations the lead combatant commander for planning, synchronizing and, as directed, conducting defense activities against terrorists and their networks,’” Olson said. “This was a huge charter for us.”

Military planners are using a carefully vetted threat model to develop direct and indirect strategies in combating terrorism, he said.

“The direct approach is the one that gets the headlines,” he said. “It’s often kinetic and sometimes violent; it’s about finding terrorists and engaging them directly in order to render their networks less effective.

“Most importantly,” he said, “the direct approach buys us time for the other, longer-term, indirect approach.”

The indirect approach changes the environment by building U.S. partners’ capabilities, reducing local support to prevent terrorist safe havens, and eroding underlying conditions that contribute to terrorism, he said.

Olson cited the Jan. 28 battle in Najaf, Iraq, that reportedly killed 200 insurgents, to illustrate special operations’ direct and indirect approaches. “The Iraqi military forces attacked on their own and fought for 45 minutes before the arrival of the first U.S. forces, which was the Special Forces A-Team,” he said.

“That A-Team commander took charge of his piece of it and contributed as best as he could,” Olson said. “He posted snipers, called in fixed-wing air support (and) began to turn the tide of what had been sort of an inconclusive fight.”

Snipers picked off targets, a quick-reaction force arrived, and the A-Team coordinated what became a more complex fight that “ultimately became a significant victory,” Olson said.

“The Iraqi forces provided most of the manpower and most of the fighting forces,” he said. “It was Iraqi forces that had been trained by U.S. forces; (they) responded quickly, took initiative to launch their own assault; … and they were there as the victors.

“The beauty of this is that it all worked,” Olson said. “That is a complex international incident that we would not have thought possible not too long ago.”

Efforts to deny terrorists safe havens in Iraq and Afghanistan are important, Olson said, but the global threat is not limited to those two countries.

“Direct and indirect activities must be carefully synchronized to be most effective,” he said. “To help synchronize these efforts, SOCOM, other agencies in departments of our government and our partner nations are beginning to build a global combative terror network.”

The admiral cited the 2002 U.S.-Philippine combined action against the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group as an example of the international cooperation needed to effectively combat the common threat.

“Terrorists in the southern Philippines associated with the al Qaeda network (were) an intimidating presence for many years until the arrival of American forces led by Army Special Forces,” he said.

U.S. Special Operations Forces there trained and assisted Filipino forces, Olson said. “At the end of the day, through persistent military training and local humanitarian efforts, Abu Sayyaf was essentially run off Basilan Island, and they’re struggling now to make their presence known in other areas of the Philippines.”

The struggle there continues, but it was “a great local success of a different flavor and another powerful demonstration of how this is coming together as a synchronized global effort,” he said.

[SandRat]

FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News at Home and Abroad You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

Or if they do report it, without the anti-War Agenda Spin!

[MNJohnnie]

Yes but good Special Ops troops take time and effort to create. There is the danger in the striving for quantity you dilute the quality.

God bless their efforts. We surely need both the most, and the best, we can get.

[Turborules]

That is why the Admiral said: it will take 6 years to field the +17,000 SF Hoorah...nobody wears a Green Beret that can not perform their mission...or they are lets say asked to leave!

[Turborules]

That is why the Admiral said: it will take 6 years to field the +17,000 SF Hoorah...nobody wears a Green Beret that can not perform their mission...or they are lets say asked to leave!

[Turborules]

That is why the Admiral said: it will take 6 years to field the +17,000 SF Hoorah...nobody wears a Green Beret that can not perform their mission...or they are lets say asked to leave!

[CPT Clay]

Geting more of these troops is easier said than done.

[MNJohnnie]

Excellent point.

[Dick Vomer]

well, hell, just go to supply and order "special operators"...

I mean he's an admiral in charge of SOCOM and is fighting tooth and nail for every dollar in the upcoming budget fights...

He should make it say... a half a bajillion special forces ....

How about paying the operators we've got now that have been "blooded" and are salty to stay in. Naw, that would make to much frickin sense.

this guy sounds like the democrat candidates that want blah, blah, blah special forces to "surgically" remove terrorists...

well , from what I've been told, when special forces or teams go in to do something.... well the job gets done but it doesn't ever look like surgery.... unless it's the type that happens if you forget to close the incision.

I suspect he's spouting for upcoming budget fights.

[Dick Vomer]

Geting more of these troops is easier said than done.

..ya got that right... guys that end up in SEAL, Force "whatever number", Delta and even Force Recon (my personal favorite)...you just don't find walking down the street of every campus or city...very good soldiers, with very stout hearts, fail to make the grade and wash out.

there is no disgrace, just the facts. It's all about the mission and what you're willing to do in order to put the mission and your brothers ahead of yourself...and knowing that they are thinking the exact same way....

for any lurkers, think of all the guys you know....all of them and tell me what number of them could even go through Boot camp....or Basic....then do BUD's....

scratch that... how many guys can put up with sleeping out doors and jumping into ice cold water for a couple of months then running till you feel like your legs and lungs will explode..... and somebody informing you that "it's only pain...... and NOBODY dies of pain!!" ....and doing it without sleep..... and if you'll only quit, then you can sleep all you want, eat some hot chow and even get warm. .......

sounds kinda sucky to me as a lifestyle....or should I say a "war of living the warrior life"...of all my current friends ...... none of them, ok maybe one. Multiply that by the population in total that want to be in the Armed Forces... well, I just don't see special forces candidates just washing out guys that CHOOSE to live the "warrior life". Not a lot of people can make it.

I thought that's why it was "elite", only the best of the best soldiers..... the "special" part I thought was because of the training...

of course that's just me ....and I could be wrong.

[corlorde]

In the combat MOS's (11B, 11C, 11M, 11H etc) and spread around the various Infantry, combat engineer, Mech brigades, are guys who meet the physical qualifications. In the majority of light Infantry battalions, there is a huge pool of team and squad leaders who are already Airborne and Ranger qualified as well.

As an Airborne Infantryman, you spend a hell of a lot of time in the field under harsh conditions. There is a decent pool of people to pull from. Where the problem lies for a good deal of these guys, around the Spc and above ranks, is that they have families and joining Special Forces, even going to Ranger Battalion, is very hard on family life. People still do it but at the SSG level, there is an unwritten understanding that your wife may not be around for long, if you sacrifice for Special Forces. The Army has combated this perception by allowing families to accompany soldiers to Fort Bragg during training phases etc

Trying to get Combat veterans who have been deployed here and there away from their families for extended periods to go back into serious training mode, is extremely difficult. That's not to say it can't be done, it can, and usually it is by the military playing up the financial rewards of the sacrifices and accelerating promotions.

If your a Spec (E-4) and make it through Selection and Assessment, you can be fast tracked through the promotion process. Especially if you already have PLDC under your belt.

[Dick Vomer]

you and I are on the same page..... you can WANT special forces, but I want a lot of stuff.....doesn't mean I'm gonna get it.

It's a hard life and lifestyle. Not many chose it after they find out it ain't like the "movies", which all the libs and Hollywood think it is..... a couple of weeks of training, some neat "mission", montage video with music, lots of fireworks, some male bonding, a death and the hero goes home with a whimsical look and strong jaw.....

It's a LIFE of being constantly preparing for war and keeping your mind and body ready for war. If you snooze, you die and others die.

In reality its just like being a priest in a way, lonely but spiritually fulfilling. Or so I've been told.