Comments on: Tired Narratives on Afghanistan: Holy Warriors, Militias and SOF http://www.captainsjournal.com/2009/06/16/tired-narratives-on-afghanistan-holy-warriors-militias-and-sof/ News & Commentary on Warfare, Policy and Counterterrorism Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:02:46 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: SFOD http://www.captainsjournal.com/2009/06/16/tired-narratives-on-afghanistan-holy-warriors-militias-and-sof/comment-page-1/#comment-28024 SFOD Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:26:27 +0000 http://www.captainsjournal.com/?p=3141#comment-28024 Ugh, Boss Mongo has said it well. Highly trained Special Forces soldiers have to be employed correctly. CF commanders look down on unconventional forces and have neither been trained to understand their capabilities nor how to employ them. Didn't we go through this drill with Ranger-qualified personnel? We don't want Ranger units! Well, we have them again. However, if Mr. Smith is critical of the repeated use of SOF teams in direct action missions as opposed to COIN missions, I can only agree. The Army SF mission "To advise, train, and equip indigenous forces ..... " is the mission of choice for Afghanistan. It was what Army SF and the CIA did at the beginning of our Afghan war in support of the Northern Alliance. Similar, unheralded missions, were successfully conducted in Iraq. SEALs are only used in direct action missions and have gone through an extraordinary evolution to adapt their talents to the Afghan War. Army SF are trained for a different mission and should not be restricted to direct action missions that can be performed by SEALs, MARSOC, and Rangers. If you want to place somebody under a conventional commander, try the Rangers. Ugh, Boss Mongo has said it well. Highly trained Special Forces soldiers have to be employed correctly. CF commanders look down on unconventional forces and have neither been trained to understand their capabilities nor how to employ them. Didn’t we go through this drill with Ranger-qualified personnel? We don’t want Ranger units! Well, we have them again.

However, if Mr. Smith is critical of the repeated use of SOF teams in direct action missions as opposed to COIN missions, I can only agree. The Army SF mission “To advise, train, and equip indigenous forces ….. ” is the mission of choice for Afghanistan. It was what Army SF and the CIA did at the beginning of our Afghan war in support of the Northern Alliance. Similar, unheralded missions, were successfully conducted in Iraq.

SEALs are only used in direct action missions and have gone through an extraordinary evolution to adapt their talents to the Afghan War. Army SF are trained for a different mission and should not be restricted to direct action missions that can be performed by SEALs, MARSOC, and Rangers. If you want to place somebody under a conventional commander, try the Rangers.

]]> By: Herschel Smith http://www.captainsjournal.com/2009/06/16/tired-narratives-on-afghanistan-holy-warriors-militias-and-sof/comment-page-1/#comment-27718 Herschel Smith Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:28:25 +0000 http://www.captainsjournal.com/?p=3141#comment-27718 Boss Mongo disagrees with TCJ: http://bossmongo.blogspot.com/2009/06/no-no-thousand-times-no.html Interesting comments, TCJ will follow up later. Boss Mongo disagrees with TCJ:

http://bossmongo.blogspot.com/2009/06/no-no-thousand-times-no.html

Interesting comments, TCJ will follow up later.

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