Two-star general, Green Berets punished for deadly Niger ambush that killed 4 US soldiers...lower ranking takes the hit for bad foreign policy...

via Army Times.

The military has reportedly punished six troops, including an Air Force two-star general, for their roles in the October 2017 Niger ambush that resulted in the deaths of four American and four Nigerien soldiers, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The punished troops include Air Force Maj. Gen. Marcus Hicks, who was the commander of all special operations troops in Africa, and two members of the 11-man Army Green Beret team that was ambushed. Three others in the team’s chain of command also were reprimanded, according to the Times' report.

Those punished reportedly include Capt. Mike Perozeni, the Green Beret team leader, and his second in command, a master sergeant. Those two faced reprimands over their planning and team training prior to the mission.

The Times reported that a letter of reprimand given to Perozeni cited the team’s insufficient training and a lack of mission rehearsals. The two senior officers who approved the mission and oversaw the ill-fated operation were not reprimanded, according to the Times, while Hicks was reprimanded for not having appropriate oversight of the officers below him.

A 6,300-page investigation detailed by the Pentagon in May said that the mistakes leading up to the ambush were widespread. An unclassified eight-page summary was released for public viewing.

Story here. 

You would think that I would cheer these punishments.

I don't.

I'm also evolving on my thinking with regard to the "general's club".  Yeah they dinged a two-star and several lower ranking individuals but this isn't (at least from my chair) their fault.

The people that are really responsible still skate!

WTF am I talking about?

What about the policy makers?  What about the people that tell even the Combatant Commanders that you have x-amount of resources BUT we want you to give me y-results?

I get the impression that we're looking at shock absorbers to keep the real villains of this play from being dealt with appropriately.

Why are we even in Africa when we KNOW that Africa is just a continental mass with the same properties as Afghanistan...it eats empires alive!

Why are we playing whack-a-mole with terrorists all around the globe instead of racking and stacking them in order of importance and taking them out one by one?

Why are we still engaged in a global war on terrorists groups instead of calming regions (if EVEN THAT is our responsibility) before moving on?

Think about it like this.

There are known terrorists groups on damn near every continent with the exception of Australia.  China, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and MANY MANY MORE are all dealing with terror threats.

Yeah a two star took a hit and a couple of lower ranking Green Berets got smashed.

Nice for the public that doesn't pay attention but far from the mark to get REAL change going in our way of war.

Note.  No one is talking about it but remember the Counterinsurgency Manual re-write that Amos and another Army bubba did?  That SHIT IS TRASH!  Throw it out.  Didn't work, isn't working and we need to go back to the drawing board.  More on this later but if you want to pound walls chew on that issue for a few minutes.

Note 1.  Please, please, please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm curious about Johnson.  He's wearing the Special Forces Flash but isn't sporting a Green Beret.  Additional I believe I read that he was a Ranger. How did that work?  I thought all A-Teams had Special Forces qualified individuals.  Again!  Don't get me wrong, Rangers are good but they're not SF qualed.  How was he working with this team in the first place.  Last TIME!  I am NOT slamming this dude.  Not at all I've just wondered about this for awhile and don't know enough to answer the question.