MARSOC recently had an award ceremony where the awardees were running around in SPARTAN replica headgear.
Interesting considering the fact that the Spartans didn't create special units and simply raised their entire force to elite standards...something that was once the hallmark of the Marine Corps. I digress. Persia...I mean Iran is reportedly sending 4000 of its troops to help defend Syria.
Pentagon planning has it that SOCOM is ready to conduct strikes to seize weapons of mass destruction (read that to mean chemical and certain conventional weapons ... more than likely MANPADS).
Which means that we could see the first real deal meeting between Iranian and US Special Operations (and I'm not counting reports that I've heard that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were advising rebels in Afghanistan).
This mission set (if it gets green lighted) will fall to the Rangers and MARSOC. Special Forces would turn down a raid of this type without second thought (Its not their thing--not their mission set...and they won't plus up a mission just to satisfy planners or Flag rank if history is a guide). MARSOC and Rangers would jump at the chance (Rangers especially train to conduct Battalion sized operations---MARSOC started off doing Battalion sized ops in Afghanistan but switched to the SEAL model after the first deployment)...which leaves me wondering about SEALs.
For the fanboys, memory is short, but SEALs had a very spotty record in the Special Ops game until recently. In previous years, they had been mauled on several occasions when conducting platoon sized missions. Additionally when going up against conventional forces they suffered an alarming mission failure rate that was often chalked up to poor intel/greater resistance than expected.
Syria is starting off as the war that no one wanted except for the extreme left (humanitarian hawks) and extreme right (global interventionist all the time--McCain and his cronies). I'll be interested to see how McRaven, MARSOC, Rangers, SEALs and the aviation assets of SOCOM (along with the obligatory MV-22 that Amos will demand on at least a few missions) perform.
This is the fuse that could light the whole thing off...and with a President needing a distraction, and an economy that needs revving...maybe a large scale regional war is exactly what the policy makers actually want.
UPDATE: Required reading. Bob (thanks!) provided a couple of links that makes me wonder if this isn't further along in planning than even I thought. Take a few minutes, digest it and ponder exactly what it means...
http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/06/10/the_us_has_5000_troops_in_jordan_for_an_air_defense_and_disaster_relief_excercise
http://www.army.mil/article/104693/1st_Armored_Division_troops_aligned_with_CENTCOM__ready_for_Eager_Lion_kick_off/
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121021/DEFREG02/310210010/U-S-Israel-Kick-Off-Austere-Challenge-Missile-Exercise
The US is moving in and everybody sees it except the American public: http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/06/10/the_us_has_5000_troops_in_jordan_for_an_air_defense_and_disaster_relief_excercise
ReplyDeleteThe pieces are falling in to place via the planners:
http://www.army.mil/article/104693/1st_Armored_Division_troops_aligned_with_CENTCOM__ready_for_Eager_Lion_kick_off/
This made the news last year and is pretty well in place:
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121021/DEFREG02/310210010/U-S-Israel-Kick-Off-Austere-Challenge-Missile-Exercise
No need to make a FOB to stage out of:
There is a lot going on here: http://www.kasotc.com/KASOTC_Site/Home.html
Thanks for stating the limits of the SEALS. Great guys, but with an outsize PR effort. You are right that that Iran and the US is playing cat and mouse in Afghanistan. It has been going on for years. Guess who is right over the border from the Fahar and Harat PRTs?
good info...no, great info. what caught my attention more than anything else is the Big Army's movement of personnel. kinda undercover with that info aren't they?!
DeleteNo, it is not undercover; it is hidden openly in daylight. Many soldiers are being mobilized or deployed to Jordan or the CENTCOM AO and being shuffled around as the mission changes. What is surprising is the lack of news or good OPSEC on the part of the three letter or other governmental agencies (OGA) support or direct actions assets. In addition, the coordination of allies with US NCA assets is not being mentioned.
ReplyDeleteReasons we should sit back eating popcorn while we watch them go at it:
ReplyDeleteAs Tony Badran, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writes in NOW Lebanon, “If the casualty rate stays this high even for another week, it could prove devastating.” Badran explains that many of those killed in the first day of fighting were ambushed during the initial assault and “cut down by landmines and IED’s prepared by the Syrian rebels.” The rebels, writes Badran, “received assistance from certain Palestinian factions in planning the defense of the town.” Unconfirmed reports suggest that those Palestinian factions may include Hamas. In other words, two militias trained and armed by Iran—one Sunni, one Shia—may now be shooting at each other, with the side that the Islamic Republic has invested in most heavily losing.
This is perfect
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hezbollahs-heavy-losses_729079.html#