SOF

Trump’s Advisors Taking Longer Than Expected With Afghanistan Plan

The Trump administration’s plan for Afghanistan as well as their policy toward Pakistan is taking “longer than originally announced and intended,” said Laurel Miller, the former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Miller said to the media that, “there are no easy answers, there are no easy solutions. After 16 years, a lot of different approaches have been tried or at least considered,” this week in an interview with Voice of America (VOA). She added that President Trump and his security team may be finding that they need more time to establish a new way forward, she said.

News reports yesterday were stating that Trump was extremely disappointed in both the lack of a plan and the conduct of the General John Nicolson the commander in charge of the troops in Afghanistan and was actively considering having him replaced.

Miller, a Rand corporation foreign policy expert, served as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, or SRAP, for nine months, until June 23 of this year.
The idea of replacing military troops and government employees with a team of private contractors wouldn’t be practical, Miller said. For one thing, she said, it’s unlikely that the Kabul government would accept the idea.
Additionally, there are legal issues regarding what contractors can and can’t do for the U.S. government, while hiring companies to do the government’s work often isn’t cost effective. But her key concern is that bringing in contractors wouldn’t necessarily bring new success.

Simply reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan would only be effective if done gradually Miller said. The coalition will have to support the stability of the of the Afghan government, the economy will have to be fixed. Simply withdrawing the troops now and leaving the Afghans to weather the storm alone will simply result in chaos. And it sends an all-too-familiar message in the region that the US will not see issues through, which will weaken the US image for other countries and potential allies.

To read the entire article from The Voice of America, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 8.3.2017

We’re going to do a smoker this morning of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches that you can either do at the gym or on the ground and then head back out on the rucking trails. Let’s pump these out as quickly as possible, understanding that there isn’t a time limit but to build up your endurance.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

100 pushups (no time limit)

100 sit-ups (no time limit)

100 crunches

Rucksack March: Go as hard and as fast as you can for 1 hour. Do this without running. See what your distance is and make a notation. This will give you a goal to achieve in later training sessions.

Stretch well after completion

Iraq Special Forces, Rebuilding After Mosul Battle, Must Keep Standards High

The Iraqi Special Forces, the best troops in their military are looking to rebuild and re-arm after the nine-month bloody battle for Mosul. The joint US-Iraqi trained “Golden Division” suffered losses reportedly as high as 40 percent during the siege to oust the Islamic State fighters from the city, which was effectively razed to the ground. Now, they must resist the political pressure to pump up their numbers, which would result in a lowering of the standards that the two allied countries have worked so hard to build. Thus far they are resisting the urge to artificially inflate their numbers.

The government called for volunteers to replenish the ranks of the Iraqi SF back in May while the battle for Mosul was still in full swing. They got a staggering response, almost 300,000 volunteered to be candidates for the training course.

But after screening the volunteers, the government narrowed the list down to 3000, only one in a hundred in a preliminary screening. Of those, only 1000 will join the rigorous training program that selects the best of the best for Iraq’s counter-terrorism unit. The training is long and tough, only about 2000 candidates successfully navigate the course each year. With the current strength of the Iraqi SF to be about 10,000, they’ll have a hard time reaching the goal of 20,000 put forth by the Department of Defense, by 2020, especially considering the losses that they’re suffering in combat operations.

The joint US-Iraqi Special Forces program was started in 2004 and has now progressed to where the Iraqi cadre are teaching up to 95 percent of the course with the US SF just monitoring the courses and helping their counterparts hold the standards as high as they’ve been.

The Iraq SF was the backbone of the force that held the country together after conventional Army units and police units collapsed and were slaughtered by Islamic State fighters. But the political considerations are driven by the fact that the other successful units in fighting the IS have been the “Popular Mobilization Units” which are militias armed and closely aligned with Iran. These Shiite militias, which have also been effective in combating the ISIS fighters, operate without Iraqi government control. The US is trying to counter Iran’s growing presence in the region and having this unit answering to Tehran is unacceptable in Washington.

This is the conundrum that the Iraqis find themselves in. They recognize how well their joint US-Iraq Special Forces have been in combat. But they don’t want to lose more influence in the many cities and towns still under Islamic State control to forces that don’t operate under their control and are loyal to Tehran.

Trying to push more troops thru the course and lowering of the standards isn’t the answer. While it may artificially inflate the number of troops in the short term, it creates more problems than it solves in the long term.

Iraq’s issue is no different than the same thing that was tried to be rammed down the throats of the Special Operations Forces here in the United States time and time again. The SOF Truths that USSOCOM lives by pertaining just as much to the Iraqis as it does to their American partners. “SOF Cannot Be Mass Produced.” “Quality is Better Than Quantity.”

By pushing unqualified and unworthy troops thru the training pipeline, it just puts more stress on the individual units and their commanders. They will ultimately have to weed out the ones that don’t belong while trying to conduct combat operations against a determined and tough enemy. It will weaken the entire force. They must resist the temptation to inflate the numbers artificially and trust in the process that they along with their US SF counterparts have had in place since 2004. It is working. Is it perfect? Of course not, but very few things generally are.

The Iraqi SF are recruiting right now in much the same manner that the US units conduct the screening of qualified candidates. And they’re picking the best and the brightest from the conventional local security forces in the nation. The choice of implementing an “off the street” recruiting programs such as the recent call for volunteers and the low rate of candidates chosen thru just the initial screening highlights the highly selective and discriminatory nature of Special Operations.

This is a similar approach to the controversial 18X program in the US Special Forces. Why is it controversial? Because some of the Special Forces men in the groups believe in it and see it as a very successful program. And then there are others who are adamantly opposed to it. Why? Some feel that the 18X candidates don’t have the experience and maturity level that the rest of the Regiment possesses. And those anti-18X troops feel like the unit will have to eventually weed those out when they fail to measure up to the standards….Sounds familiar.

But in Iraq, the army and the US advisors, thus far have said they’ll resist any efforts to lower the course standards. But politicians have a way of interjecting a “cookie cutter” mentality into the mix where they want the same percentage of troops passing the course to increase as if there is a magic elixir that the cadre can sprinkle on the candidates to make them Special Operations Forces’ material. It doesn’t exist.

Keep the standards in place… SOF Truths work for the Iraqis too.

Photo Courtesy: DOD

New CBS Military Drama SEAL Team, “Transcends Party Politics”

With the arrival of President Trump into the White House this winter, Hollywood is responding by kicking out three new military themed shows for its September lineup. Coincidence? Some critics are crying foul, saying that the shows are more flag-waving patriotic, conservative propaganda.

But the producers of one of these new shows, SEAL Team claim that isn’t true. They claim that there is nothing overtly political about their show and that the SEALs depicted, serve regardless of who is in power in the White House.

“Their sense of duty and honor transcends partisan politics,” executive producer Sarah Timberman told reporters Tuesday at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour.
Added exec producer and series creator Benjamin Cavell: “They do that work no matter who’s in the White House and whether they voted for them or not.”
SEAL Team, set to premiere Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 9 p.m ET/PT, follows the professional and personal lives of the most elite unit of Navy SEALs as they train for, plan and execute the most dangerous, high-stakes missions our country can ask of them.
While several military shows were already in the mix before Trump’s surprising presidential victory (see: USA Network’s Shooter and History’s Six), several were put into development on the broadcast networks after he was sworn in as the Big Four networks attempted to reach the middle of the country that may have otherwise been ignored previously.
“When we were developing this, it was anyone’s guess where we were going to be politically,” Timberman said. “I don’t think the show is about this current moment in politics.”
If anything, she pointed to real-life armed service members whom she met while working on SEAL Team who hadn’t supported the war in Iraq, but helped fight it in various ways nonetheless. “People who put their lives on the line and fulfill the duty when they may not even agree with a goal — there’s an opportunity to look at all that,” Timberman said. “We’re going to reflect the geo-political reality of the world we live in.”
Regarding the creative team behind SEAL Team, “We come from different parts of the political spectrum, but what we are united in is our deep regard for the people we’ve met from the seal community,” she continued. “I think we’ve learned a lot from them.”
The drama boasts several technical advisors who formerly served in Tier 1, just like the main characters on the show. In addition to keeping the details authentic and true, the advisors told the producers just how much (or in this case, how little) of a role politics should play in the series at large.
“Their main concern was [that] we be doing the thing that we feel such responsibility to do, which is tell their stories honestly and to not make it about politics, but to make it about the lives of these guys,” Cavell said. “What it’s like to try hold to a family together and try maintain a personal life.”

Ultimately, the American public will be the final judge on whether any of these shows survive long enough to be popular. It wouldn’t be surprising if “SEAL Team” gets big ratings in its first weeks. People are enthralled with and get enough of the exploits of their Special Operations commandos. If the story lines can stay interesting, then the show could be a hit.

To read the entire article from Hollywood Reporter, click here:

Photo courtesy CBS

How Will the Venezuelan Military Respond to the Constitutional Vote?

With many touting the recent vote for a Constitutional Assembly as rigged, Venezuelan soldiers are increasingly stuck in the middle between the regime of President Nicolas Maduro and the people. With government protests and rioting a constant threat, the military is growing weary of the backlash against their role in quelling these anti-government protests.

Now there are questions as to see if it will remain loyal to President Maduro. Maduro has already been purging the military of those he deems disloyal and there are those who wonder if the military will once again rebel and remove Maduro from power.

Nearly five months of demonstrations failed to stop Maduro carrying out a weekend vote for a Constitutional Assembly that opponents say will cement his dictatorship in the OPEC nation.
The opposition is now looking towards the military to see if it will turn against the government and pressure Maduro to enact its demands, which include presidential elections.
More than 120 people have been killed in the protests, drawing international condemnation of the security forces’ heavy-handed tactics.
In an unofficial referendum last month, the opposition asked Venezuelans whether the military should defend the current constitution and the National Assembly – which is expected to be dissolved by the Constitutional Assembly – in an apparent attempt to exert public pressure on the armed forces.
There are signs of fatigue and division among troops who face constant street confrontations that frequently include volleys of rocks, Molotov cocktails and even human excrement. Soldiers chafe under the negative public opinion of the security forces caused by the crackdown.
“If we do not defend the regime, we are traitors and our careers are ruined. If we defend the government, we become enemies of the people,” said a 40-year-old army sergeant major in the border city of San Cristobal with 18 years of service under his belt, asking not to be identified for fear of reprisal.
Protests appear poised to intensify after 10 people were killed in the weekend vote for the new legislative superbody expected to give the ruling Socialist Party sweeping powers.
Like many others in the once prosperous South American country, members of the security forces struggle to eat properly because they earn just a few dollars a month, which is barely enough for a week’s food.
Splits within the armed forces have been made evident since protests began with the detention of 123 members, including high-ranking officers, on charges ranging from treason and rebellion to theft and desertion.
“In the past, a soldier was respected but now, after this period of degeneration, a soldier gets the contempt of the whole population,” said a 33-year-old Air Force major, also asking his name not be revealed for fear of reprisal.
At least publicly, military leaders such as Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino remain firmly behind Maduro, appearing alongside him at near-daily political events and military parades.
The military has played a key role in government since former socialist leader Hugo Chavez – himself a former military officer – swept to power in 1999 promising to bring greater equality to the economy of the oil rich nation.

Venezuela was once South America’s most prosperous nation but failed policies of the Socialist government have thrust the nation into despair. And with people starving and many fleeing their borders, something has got to give.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

SOF Selection PT Preparation 8.2.2017

Back to the gym today, with our Wednesday work out and then practice our shuttle run to build up some explosion and lateral quickness in your legs. It will improve your overall running times. Try to limit the time between sets to 30 seconds or less.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Lat Pull downs, behind the neck (go as heavy as possible)

3 x 12 Lat Pull downs, front

3 x 10 Barbell Deadlift

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Arnold Shoulder Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

4 x 25-meter Shuttle Run (x3)

Stretch well after completion

Civic Action Projects Very Important in Special Operations Missions

When mentioning Special Operations missions, the talk generally centers around those direct action missions, the raids on suspected terrorists’ locations, and the like. Everyone likes those linear, tangible missions and the results are much easier to gauge the success or failure from. But in the Unconventional Warfare or Counterinsurgency environment, the results are harder to pinpoint and the missions are of a much longer duration. Here is where Civic Action Projects are a tremendous boost to mission accomplishment.

Special Operations Forces (SOF) are at their best when the build long term relationships with partner nations. They integrate and enable not only with conventional forces but interagency as well (State Department, Agency for International Development, AID) and others. Many times this type of long term planning will prevent wars before they start.

Civic Action projects are part of those long-term operations, in Afghanistan, it plays a role in Village Stability Operations, where the poverty level of Afghan civilians hovers around 80 percent.

Back in Vietnam, the role of civic action projects was key for Special Forces troops that set up Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) camps along the border regions of South Vietnam.

In the Horn of Africa and in Latin America, civic action projects work hand-in-hand with FID (Foreign Internal Defense) training, Counternarcotics Operations and nation building. In these poor, austere environments, the host nation governments have economic, social, and security problems that affect the day-to-day life of the people and the government’s ability to rule properly.

Special Operations Forces ability to operate in small independent teams, having cultural familiarity, language capability and the long-term mindset makes them perfect partners in assisting developing nations.

In Latin America, the SOF teams used civic action projects to boost the host nation and US image in many of the poor destitute countries in the region. Especially in the Andean Ridge nations where poverty rates were very high and the host nation governments were trying to combat illegal narcotics trafficking.

During the long civil war in El Salvador between the years of 1982-1992, the US MILGP helped the Salvadoran government established civic action projects, civil affairs units and ran Mobile Medical Training Team, that treated both military and civilians.

In neighboring Honduras, a latent insurgency was thwarted with the help of many civil action projects. Run out of JTF-B (Joint Task Force Bravo) at Palmerola Air Base, the US built roads and schools, dug wells, and conducted numerous medical, dental and veterinary clinics. Special Operations Forces had a constant presence in providing training and assistance of the Honduran military.

After the conclusion of combat operations in Operation Just Cause in Panama, the follow-on mission, Operation Promote Liberty continued for five years as the US helped the new government of Panama conduct refugee operations, road building (Fuertes Caminos), reconstruction and medical activities that boosted the host nation friendly government’s image for the people.

Our own experiences with civic action projects were included in almost every mission during that era. They were never glamorous but were big-time rapport builders with both our host nation troops and the civilian populace that live in very close proximity to the bases (cuartels) in Latin America.

Often, it was improving their fresh water supply, digging a new well or improving the system that was in place. Special Forces engineers were masters at building things on a meager budget and many a well or school was put in place using an SF engineer NCO leading a project of host nation troops and/or civilians.

Two particular projects stand out, on the first, my partner Dave Ortiz and I were training CN (Counter-Narcotics) troops in the Chapare Valley. In one area, the entire economy of the region operated mainly on the river. The locals had small boats, houseboats and every contraption known to man to haul goods up and down the river.

During rainy season and the expected flooding, a number of trees washed downstream and had blocked the river. The locals, who due to the CN efforts of the Bolivian troops and the DEA were not on good terms with the Americans. But they reached out and asked if “the gringos” could help.

Taking a boat to the area where the trees had choked the river, we decided that it could be done but would be a good mission for our demo students (luckily teaching a course at just the right time). Dave showed the troops how the use C-4 (explosives) packed in the right spot with det cord wrapping around what they could reach. A Bolivian TV news crew pulled up in another boat and was filming the entire thing. More and more C-4 was wrapped up in the trees and the look I got was “don’t ask no questions!”

A fuse was lit and we retreated to a sandbar that was much too close for comfort. The explosion blew the trees and limbs high into the sky with a deafening roar. A tree trunk about three feet in diameter flew in the air just past us sounding like a freight train.

So the two”gringo DEA men” as the tv station reported blew the obstruction in the river and were helping the poor Campesinos after all. We got a call from the Ambassador who watched it on television and asked, “You think Dave used enough explosives?” On the small screen, it was even more impressive.

On the second a Special Forces A-Team from 7th SFG was conducting a six-month counter-narcotics mission in the Chimore base area of Bolivia. Training was going to cease for 14 days over Christmas where the SF team was looking forward to a break from the austere jungle camp and enjoy a break in Panama on the beach.

But just before Christmas, the American Ambassador had been kind of roped into agreeing to repair a school in the mountains of Sucre. The school ran around the clock with elementary school early in the day, high school in the afternoon and adult education in the evening. To do the necessary repairs USAID estimated would take close to $200,000. They had a budget of $70,000, the Ambassador asked SF to take a look and see what could be done. Having no engineering experience, I asked for my senior engineer to fly down with me and we’d take a look.

After poking around he said, the work could be done but only for the materials, the labor would be very high and the time would take at least 8 weeks. Relaying our findings by telephone to the Embassy, that is when they asked if the team would give up Christmas to fix the school. To a man the team agreed. The embassy sweetened the deal and put everyone up in the nicest hotel in town which had a pool but no beach.

We contacted the local government officials, the School’s admin staff, and the tv news again to put the call out to the civilians to help out. We couldn’t pay for labor but would furnish lunch for volunteers as the teachers cooked for everyone. The project had to be done in two weeks when training resumed.

No one knew what to expect, the US’ image wasn’t great there but this was a project that was to help everyone in town. On the first morning, we got to the school just at sunrise to see 350 volunteers to help with the labor.

The engineer NCOs were the true commanders of the project, I just ran interference and tried to stay out of their way. All of the work was done, including the re-wiring of the school which wasn’t on their list of issues to get re-worked. The classrooms were ripped out and replastered, the bathrooms were gutted and new ones put in, including a new fresh water tank. The patio which was broken up and a constant headache for the teachers as children at recess were falling and getting cut constantly was ripped out and replaced. Everything was repainted. Chairs and desks repaired, chalkboards were replaced.

And it was done for $65,000. The hundreds of Bolivian civilians who turned out to help were instrumental in getting it done. Working together with the SF team, by the end of the project, the rapport made during those two weeks would have taken years in the conventional method. Workers were bringing their families over to meet the “Norte Americanos” and no longer the “gringos.”

Our senior engineer could have run for Mayor that year and won easily. These anecdotes aren’t the exception, they were the rule that SF lived by during that era. One of the reasons 7th SFG was so successful in Latin America was because of the rapport with the local populace.

As you embark on your journey in the course, you’ll gloss over the Civic Action mentions…we all did. But it will make missions much more successful in conjunction with the typical training and advisory tasks that SOF always do. Robin Sage used to end with a day of Civic Action projects for the SF students. It was a way of giving back to the people of North Carolina who supported the course but it also taught a valuable lesson on taking care of the populace in a UW environment. I hope that they still do that. It is a worthwhile endeavor.

Photos US Army, author

Russia Celebrates Navy Day with Parades, Including in Syria

The Russian armed forces show of might during their annual Navy Day celebrations with parades and processions was a calculated move to counter US power across the globe, show the increasingly close ties with China and an affirmation of their support for Syria. The parade in the Syrian city of Tartous was a first for the Russian military. Interestingly enough it was not attended by President Assad.

Navy Day is a national holiday for Russians on which huge parades are held in St Petersburg – Moscow’s second largest city and the home of the Navy – on the last Sunday of July.
There are usually smaller processions at Russian naval bases across the vast country as well as around the world, including Crimea, annexed in 2014, and for the first time this year, the regime-held Syrian city of Tartous.
The Russian and Russian navy flags were raised in the city on Sunday as six warships and a Black Sea Fleet submarine took part in the celebrations, Russia state news agency Interfax reported, accompanied by jets from the nearby Hmeymim air base.
A deal with the Syrian government struck in January of this year will in effect solidify Moscow’s presence at the the Hmeymim air base with a lease over the next 49 years and options to renew the presence of troops there for 25-year-long periods.
It is now Moscow’s only permanent Mediterranean base after President Vladimir Putin signed it into law last week.
Russia has proven to be Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally in his now more than six-year-old war against various rebel factions; Russian bombing against Isis and moderate Sunni rebel groups has been widely credited with turning the tide of the war in Mr Assad’s favour.
The scale of this year’s parades was unprecedented. Observers believe Sunday’s huge celebrations were designed to show both Russia’s military prowess and Moscow’s ambition to reposition itself as a global power in the face of a more isolationist US.
In St Petersburg, more than 5,000 sailors took part in a parade featuring more 50 ships and submarines and flyovers by 40 jets. Two Chinese warships also took part in the St Petersburg celebrations – a sign of the increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing.

President Putin spoke at parades in St. Petersburg and said “Russia’s history is inseparable from the victories of its courageous and fearless Navy,” adding that the Russian Navy will add 30 ships to their fleet.

To read the entire article from The Independent, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Chinese Military “Will Never Allow Threats to its Sovereignty”

Chinese President Xi Jinping in an attempt to assert total authority over their modernizing armed forces called on “capable, brave and virtuous soldiers with soul” to lead the nation’s armed forces. Jinping spoke in the Great Hall of the People to mark the 90^th Anniversary of the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) and warned potential adversaries that China “will never allow any people, organization or political party to split any part of Chinese territory out of the country at any time.”

It was Xi’s latest move to assert his authority ahead of the 19^th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress in the fall, a crucial five-yearly meeting when key leadership positions are chosen. It also marks what should be the mid-point of Xi’s ten-year leadership term, which has been characterized by an ideological tightening and a crackdown on free speech.
Xi’s 50-minute address on Tuesday included several calls for the 2 million-strong armed forces to rally around the Party. “Our army will remain the army of the party and the people,” Xi said. “The army should increase its political awareness … and carry forwards and implement the Party’s absolute leadership.”
It was China’s largest parade since the 70th anniversary of the culmination of World War II in September 2015. Then, Xi announced a reduction of 300,000 troops and other high-level organizational changes aimed at transforming the PLA into a modern, sleek fighting force, with significant implications for global security. More than 100 high-ranking military officers have been punished for various offenses including corruption since Xi took office in 2012. Seven PLA regional commands have been consolidated into five “theaters” and its schools cut from 74 to 43.
“The force is modernizing very rapidly, probably more rapidly than most Westerners grasp,” says Lyle Goldstein, associate professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College. “Across the board it’s hard to find any weaknesses.”
New missiles were on display in Inner Mongolia, including the road-mobile DF-31AG, a new variant of its DF-31A intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as the the DF-16G and DF-26. The HQ-22 surface-to-air missile (SAM), the HQ-9 SAM, and the YJ-12A anti-ship missiles were also eagerly examined by cooing weapons experts. New generation aircraft on display included the Shenyang J-16 strike fighter and Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter. In April, China launched its first aircraft carrier and has long been reclaiming and militarizing islands in the South China Sea.
“In the long term, they have a vision for what kind of order they would like to see in Asia, and that’s clearly one where China has regional military dominance,” says Richard Weitz, director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at Washington DC’s Hudson Institute. “Anything west of Hawaii they would like to have conventional superiority over any potential adversary.”

China’s projections beyond its borders have given them a greater piece of the pie in terms of combatting piracy and global terrorism. And as China continues to modernize and upgrade their military forces as they try to project their influence far beyond their borders. One area of the world they are quick to ignore…for now is the Middle East.

To read the entire article from Time, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

SOF Selection PT Preparation 8.1.2017

How did everyone do on their UBRR Test from yesterday? If you passed but have some weak points, you now know what needs to be worked on. If you failed any portion of it, then you have a lot of work to do.

What we’re going to do now is start back from the basics and get everyone back on the same sheet of music. Stick with us and we’ll get thru this.

Training:

Preparation for the UBRR:

Run 3 miles (record your time) “Do the best you can.” Get used to hearing that.

Then, head into the gym:

3 x Front Squat 10 reps (heavy but doable weight)

3 x Goblet Squats 10 reps (heavy dumbbell)

3 x 10 Pull-ups

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

25 x Push ups

30 x “V”ups

Stretch well after completion