Question.
The head of SOCOM has asked for more power to deploy his units world wide in the hunt for terrorist. What he hasn't asked for is the removal of conventional forces from Afghanistan so that SOCOM can take over in that country.
Why is that? Why hasn't SOCOM asked for a larger role in Afghanistan?
My theory is because they don't want to do the dirty work of training (well except for Special Forces) these forces. Afghanistan is a classic counter insurgency mission that should be the sole responsibility of Special Operations forces.
The conventional forces should be out of there. But they can't, because SOCOM only does raids now. We have an entire branch of the military that does nothing but raids.
That's unsat.
Its time for SOCOM to start pulling its weight. Its time for it to stop leveraging off the conventional forces and to stand on its own. Every where SOCOM goes it request conventional forces to "assist" it.
This really amounts to doing the work that SOCOM is now too good to do.
They establish a compound somewhere....you'll have conventional forces pulling guard duty.
They perform a protection detail...they'll be inside with the protectorate and you'll have conventional forces outside guarding vehicles and the perimeter.
They perform a rescue mission. More than likely you'll have a conventional unit loaded to the bear ready to perform quick reaction force duties.
It goes on and on.
Time for the "rock stars" of the military world to start pulling there weight. If not then how about they hand back in those Rolex watches, turn in those 1000 dollar smocks, stop buying boutique weapons that do the same damn thing that a normal weapon does and put that black budget under some sunlight so we can see exactly how much they're costing the taxpayer.
Want a startling fact?
The founder of Seal Team 6 bragged that his small unit had a budget larger than the entire Marine Corps.
With that in mind can we afford to have a branch thats the size of 3 Army Divisions that duplicates the US Army Ranger mission and only does raids? Or is it time to think about eliminating duplication, slashing personnel in SOCOM instead of enlarging it and pushing all these units back to there parent service so that these SOCOM bubbas can get some adult supervision?
THERE ARE REPORTS THAT THE SOLDIER THAT COMMITTED THE MURDERS IN AFGHANISTAN WAS GUARDING A SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMPOUND.
The head of SOCOM has asked for more power to deploy his units world wide in the hunt for terrorist. What he hasn't asked for is the removal of conventional forces from Afghanistan so that SOCOM can take over in that country.
Why is that? Why hasn't SOCOM asked for a larger role in Afghanistan?
My theory is because they don't want to do the dirty work of training (well except for Special Forces) these forces. Afghanistan is a classic counter insurgency mission that should be the sole responsibility of Special Operations forces.
The conventional forces should be out of there. But they can't, because SOCOM only does raids now. We have an entire branch of the military that does nothing but raids.
That's unsat.
Its time for SOCOM to start pulling its weight. Its time for it to stop leveraging off the conventional forces and to stand on its own. Every where SOCOM goes it request conventional forces to "assist" it.
This really amounts to doing the work that SOCOM is now too good to do.
They establish a compound somewhere....you'll have conventional forces pulling guard duty.
They perform a protection detail...they'll be inside with the protectorate and you'll have conventional forces outside guarding vehicles and the perimeter.
They perform a rescue mission. More than likely you'll have a conventional unit loaded to the bear ready to perform quick reaction force duties.
It goes on and on.
Time for the "rock stars" of the military world to start pulling there weight. If not then how about they hand back in those Rolex watches, turn in those 1000 dollar smocks, stop buying boutique weapons that do the same damn thing that a normal weapon does and put that black budget under some sunlight so we can see exactly how much they're costing the taxpayer.
Want a startling fact?
The founder of Seal Team 6 bragged that his small unit had a budget larger than the entire Marine Corps.
With that in mind can we afford to have a branch thats the size of 3 Army Divisions that duplicates the US Army Ranger mission and only does raids? Or is it time to think about eliminating duplication, slashing personnel in SOCOM instead of enlarging it and pushing all these units back to there parent service so that these SOCOM bubbas can get some adult supervision?
UPDATE:
Actually I think Marcinko was referring to his budget for ammunition
ReplyDeletei'll try and find the actual statement.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteRogue Warrior, Chapter 18 page 212. Yep, that does sound a bit weird.
DeleteI read the book about 10 years ago and recently found it on the bookshelf so I thought I'd read it again. I knew he'd said something about Team Six's budget and it had to be around the formation of the team.