Posted on 06/05/2002 4:52:02 AM PDT by gunnyg
Evans Carlson, Red Mike Edson and Lew Walt were great examples.
Marines are given the best training in our 4 branches of service.
But it takes a special individual to use a knife to kill his enemy... quietly.
The old Raider battalions had a lot of southern boys who knew how to shoot before they were weened.
They could sneak up on you from behind without stepping on a twig.
It was a good concept then... it's a good concept now.
But I can't tell you how many times my Uncle would complain that the "heavy" officers (as he called them) would not know how to properly deploy or utilize him or the Recon teams. I feel that it takes a different view point and understanding of combat at the command level to effectively utilize unconventional troops.
An example of this would be the failed hostage rescue attempt in Iran. My sister was working the White House Communciation staff at the time so I'm privy to some of the details. The force was thrown together, the intel was poor, the training was uncoordinated, the force was composed of troops that had not worked together, etc, etc, etc. The list of "Murphy's Laws" goes on.
This is one of the main reasons that I feel unconventional forces need to be organized as units that work together with their own command structure.
He would go out and lay in ambush with another guy.
A special sniper rifle, .50 caliber w/scope and silencer.
At long range the big round would tumble and make a mess of its target.
I gave his book away to a friend so I'm doing this from memory.
Correct me if I'm wrong gunnys.
This has a lot to do with the junk that loads them down. Most conventional officers work from the mind set of better carry it just in case you might need it. I've seen officers order their troops to carry 60 lbs rucksacks loaded down with cold weather gear (it was summer), tents, sleeping bags, etc. for an assault on a hill that would take at most 2 hours of movement and 1 hour of assualt and fortification. This, dispite having trucks available to carry their duffle bags for excess gear.
Few if any conventional officers see the need to train their troops for stealth or close combat. Stand back and let the artillery and Air Force pound the enemy to pieces and then we will pick through what is left is the motto of most officers today. While that works in a hot and heavy war, it often does not work with unconventional forces. Just my .02
Dick Gaines, GySgt USMC (Ret.)
1952-72
You said a mouthful. First: It is unfortunate that the command structure does not contain more officers with unconventional backgrounds. You can't train/plan/do what you don't have a background for. Second, there is such fear of the viet-PR backlash of losing men that the commanders recoil at the suggestion of using troops where bombs will do. I suspect that more covert stuff than we need to know about is going on in the new theater but I also believe that there should be more. I think we could have accomplished more with well trained SO forces (including RECON) than has been accomplished with billions of $ in bombs. Especially when it comes to getting hands/blades on particularly slippery turbans.
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