Army: 6 New Security Force Assistance Brigades

Marauder06 said:
But then I read the article and it says that this is an "olive" beret (vs. SF's "hunter green") and it's a real thing in this unit? :-o:rolleyes::mad:
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It is so outlandish I think it is a hoax. It has to be, right?

Il Duce said:
I listened to a podcast (spycast from 25 July 2017) the other day interviewing James Stejskal, who served in and wrote a book about detachment Berlin - the SF unit assigned to stay behind and organize/conduct sabotage/insurgency in the event of a Soviet invasion. The unit is really interesting and a lot of what they did in terms of tradecraft has served other SMU elements well (even though they were not an SMU). One of the things he talked about was the hardest for some members - causing them to leave - was having to forgo wearing their SF tab, green beret, and special skill badges - instead having to wear the uniform and pretend to be MPs. That esprit shit can cut both ways.
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There's a book about the Det., I wrote a short review in the book section. That unit is fascinating and I wish more were available. They were so unique it would be hard to place them in a modern "box." SMU? CIF? Somewhere in between? They were such a unique unit with a unique mission they defy any label.

"In the event of Armageddon, we totes need you to stay WAY behind the lines and cause damage."
"For reals. I'm in."

Our country, any country, is practically doomed when we can't find such men and women.
 
Il Duce said:
One of the things he talked about was the hardest for some members - causing them to leave - was having to forgo wearing their SF tab, green beret, and special skill badges - instead having to wear the uniform and pretend to be MP
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Huh. Completely believable. What fun is it to be special, if no one know you are special.
 
AWP said:
How would it end if I snatched an EGA from a Marine's uniform?

Sometimes badges aren't a status symbol for an individual, they are a mark of a brotherhood/ club/ clan/ gathering.
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That's what I'm saying - you can get incredible effort from people based on the narrative/story/esprit you build around symbols (see flag/confederate monument/elite infantry discussions) but there can be costs associated too. Should the symbol ever really outweigh the mission? If we could win in Afghanistan by letting everyone where berets, scrolls, globe & anchor would it be ok to do it?
 
AWP said:
Sometimes badges aren't a status symbol for an individual, they are a mark of a brotherhood/ club/ clan/ gathering.
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To be clear....I'm not criticizing. I wear an EGA on my finger everyday, it is part of my identity.
 
Ooh-Rah said:
Huh. Completely believable. What fun is it to be special, if no one know you are special.
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Exactly. It's no fun to be part of a secret club if no one knows you're in it.

Ego is a hard thing to keep in check. Just look at the discussion for what a "green tag" means here on the site. People want to be part of something different, and special, and more importantly, they don't want "you" to be a part of it.

In the Task Force, we wore semi-sterile uniforms with no unit patches, badges, or tabs when we were downrange. Sometimes we didn't wear name tags or rank. The reasoning was because we wanted to "blend in" with the conventional units. But the real reason was ego. Not wearing patches, and especially not wearing name tapes, made you different and therefore special. My argument was always that if we wanted to blend in we'd wear a COSCOM patch and E6 rank, and no one would ever give us a second look. ...but then we wouldn't be "special" anymore so that idea got shot down.
 
Il Duce said:
I agree, and I guess if you're a boss it's a cheap way to give it to them - uniform changes. Setting standards and resourcing 'special' units is extraordinarily expensive - this is a way to make a unit 'elite' without spending much. Makes me think of the 'an elite infantry' discussion.

I listened to a podcast (spycast from 25 July 2017) the other day interviewing James Stejskal, who served in and wrote a book about detachment Berlin - the SF unit assigned to stay behind and organize/conduct sabotage/insurgency in the event of a Soviet invasion. The unit is really interesting and a lot of what they did in terms of tradecraft has served other SMU elements well (even though they were not an SMU). One of the things he talked about was the hardest for some members - causing them to leave - was having to forgo wearing their SF tab, green beret, and special skill badges - instead having to wear the uniform and pretend to be MPs. That esprit shit can cut both ways.
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Here's the thing though...

Soldier Systems Daily said:
Additionally, candidates for the unit must pass a selection and Advisor Academy as well as SERE training. SFAB candidates must also score an 85 of better on the Defense Language Aptitude Battery becuase the Army plans on offering language training for unit personnnel. However, unit members are eligible for a $5,000 Assignment Incentive Bonus.
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I think filling this unit is going to be extraordinarily expensive to fill...and they want to stand up 6 of them:
1. DLAB
2. Selection
3. SERE
4. Language Training
 
Il Duce said:
That's what I'm saying - you can get incredible effort from people based on the narrative/story/esprit you build around symbols (see flag/confederate monument/elite infantry discussions) but there can be costs associated too. Should the symbol ever really outweigh the mission? If we could win in Afghanistan by letting everyone where berets, scrolls, globe & anchor would it be ok to do it?
Click to expand...

This is a great question. You and I were in Korea together and were in the first Army division to field the black beret. The idea was that we'd create some kind of Ranger-like mystique and morale by taking that symbol and applying it to the whole Army. Or something.

What we learned with the beret debacle was that you can transfer the trappings of a unit but you can't transfer its ethos.

I'm still not entirely convinced that this green-ish beret and the USASFC-looking unit patch and everything are legit, or at least that's not how the'll end up. But then again, we have the black beret...

Bottom line, "SF-lite" isn't going to win the war in Afghanistan for us, no matter what color their headgear is and no matter how hard they try to copy SF. At the end of the day they are MiTT 2.0 and will probably be as successful as the last time we tried it.
 
ThunderHorse said:
Here's the thing though...

I think filling this unit is going to be extraordinarily expensive to fill...and they want to stand up 6 of them:
1. DLAB
2. Selection
3. SERE
4. Language Training
Click to expand...

$5000 signing bonus and a green beret without having to go through the trouble of becoming a Green Beret! Sign me up! /sarc.
 
Ocoka said:
NO FUN AT ALL!
View attachment 20108
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aE5xQb1.jpg
 
Have no fear, Change.org is here!

Sign the Petition

The United States Army has designed and trained a new "specialized" unit known as the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade who's core mission is to advise and assist the training of foreign partner military forces in counter-terrorism and host nation security operations.

The U.S. tax payers spent millions of dollars for the U.S. Army to develop this new unit and capabilities. The problem is, this mission and a unit designed to conduct these mission already exists.

They are known as the elite U.S. Army Special Forces, or "The Green Berets"

The 1st SFAB command has stolen our heritage by co-opting the legendary "Recondo" patch from our Vietnam era Green Berets, stolen the U.S. Army 5th Special Forces Group's unofficial name of "The V Legion" and made as their own.
 
Ooh-Rah said:
The United States Army has designed and trained a new "specialized" unit known as the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade who's core mission is to advise and assist the training of foreign partner military forces in counter-terrorism and host nation security operations.
Click to expand...

Formerly known as MiTT teams;-)
 
ThunderHorse said:
Here's the thing though...



I think filling this unit is going to be extraordinarily expensive to fill...and they want to stand up 6 of them:
1. DLAB
2. Selection
3. SERE
4. Language Training
Click to expand...
There is an obvious counter argument. The Army Special Forces, an expensive unit to fill and maintain, are Foreign Internal Defense experts that largely abdicated this role (training the indigenous GPF, not indigenous SOF) to big Army during OIF and OEF. The Army, and the Marine Corps, formed mobile training teams out of hide to perform a doctrinally SOF mission while SOCOM focused on raids and training indigenous commandos that no one needed. Please refer to the implosion of the Iraqi military after OIF ended if you need a FID measure of effectiveness.

BLUF: Big Army can’t task the SF and needs an organic force to fill this FID gap in the future. It’s a no brainer to me. Stealing SF uniform items is weird but that seems to be Army SOP.
 
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