Stolen from another place:
Here is an article written by a long time SF Officer. He expresses a lot of things I agree with and many things that make me wonder about them. I have my own reservations about some of them. I place it here to stem some lively discussion on the merits of some of his proposals.
OUR MILITARY MUST END ONEUPSMANSHIP!
When I teach martial arts, my main concern is teaching my students how to protect themselves from attack, rape, kidnapping, or abuse, so consequently I teach very functional self-defense techniques, but I also believe they should become “martial artists” and not just “partial artists.” So, in that regard, when teaching aesthetic things such as kata (forms), I employ traditional forms which have been passed down from generation-to-generation with very little change. This balance of martial arts instruction is a microcosm of what also works in the real world.
For balance, we must have tradition in our lives, but we must also have a functional lifestyle. By that same regard, but on an even much higher plain, so does our military. The US military is full of great, rich tradition, but it is also the toughest most functional fighting force in the history of the world. That however may soon end, if we continue to eat our own young, and then we will not suffer defeat from an external enemy, but simply implode from within. What I propose transcends political parties, and it is neither conservative or liberal, republican or democratic. It is simply common sense, practical, and pro-American.
Politicians talk smack, but few, if any, have the actual courage and fortitude to say out loud what many of us will say privately, and what some of us think but do not verbalize. Right now our military tradition is far outweighing the functionality of our armed forces, which costs us billions, but more importantly it makes our military less efficient and consequently less powerful. By making the tough decisions to actually change, like so many politicians like to talk about but never really do; we can make a more cohesive, less costly, and much more functional fighting force than the world has ever seen, but without tossing our hallowed, rich, military tradition out the window. We simply need to overcome our own fear of change. With an upcoming Presidential and congressional election looming, I think it is time to present this very controversial but cost-saving and efficiency-producing solution to our military, which may make some people angry at me, but hopefully it will make some leaders think.
The general overview I suggest will shock and outrage some, but it is what will work. In the very broad look, here is my proposal in a nutshell:
• 1. The US Army should be the one military fighting force that is in charge of and solely responsible for fighting on land.
• 2. The US Navy should be the one military fighting force that is in charge of and solely responsible for fighting on water.
• 3. The US Air Force should be the one military fighting force that is in charge of and solely responsible for fighting in the air.
That is the simple general solution, but let me get into more specifics before loading your firearm, donning your cammies, and looking for my house on Mapquest.
One of the main reasons I have been so proud that two of my sons followed my footsteps into the US Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) was because I naively thought that our military leadership had actually grown by lessons-learned from the Vietnam War, but we have not. We still make some errors in command.
We spend billions of dollars to train company grade officers (lieutenants and captains) and senior NCOs (Sergeants) how to properly deploy and protect troops in battle and accomplish unit missions, and then in the Global War On Terrorism, instead of trusting that small unit commander with “boots on the ground” and who knows the situation, we have “Chairborne-Rangers” sitting in air-conditioned offices and briefing rooms in places like MacDill AFB, the Pentagon, Qatar, Fort Bragg, Eglin AFB, and many higher headquarters all over the world micro-managing the war. That has previously been proven time and again to be a surefire formula for disaster in war, but nobody has the guts to tell flag officers, “Back off, General (or Admiral). Give a captain or a sergeant a job, and then do NOT tell them how to do it, especially when they, or their men and women, are the ones risking earning the Purple Heart (given for wounds or death), and they know the enemy situation on the ground.”
Now, in the Special Operations Command, the new big thing is MARSOC, the Marine Special Operations Command. After 50 years of the US Army Special Forces (Green Berets) learning more than any other fighting force about how to successfully conduct Unconventional Warfare, they now want the Marines to take over and do the same thing. This is after five decades of success by USA Special Forces, which has had its operators (Green Berets) learn to speak virtually every language in the world, the customs of every country, and of its indigenous citizens thereof. Befriending folks in remote villages all over the globe, learning how to infiltrate behind enemy lines and interact, co-exist, and actually train and equip those indigenous forces to fight their own battles, so United States troops do not have to be needlessly sacrificed fighting for those countries, Green Berets have become synonymous with successful Unconventional Warfare.
Now, after 50 years of that great experience by the elite Special Forces, the US Marine Corps are being transformed to try to duplicate what Special Forces has done so successfully for decades. How ridiculous, arrogant, and short-sighted! I cannot believe the Pentagon has even allowed it to be a discussion let alone a reality.
Semper Fidelis! The US Marine Corps, I personally believe, has not only the coolest-looking dress uniforms of any of our armed forces, but also by far and away the very best esprit de corps. Marines have always been hard-charging, fire-breathing, butt-kicking, mission-accomplishing warriors, who distinguished themselves with a legacy of courage and honor in many wars at places like Tarawa, Bougainville, Iwo Jima, and beachheads all over the west and east. Do not think I want to do away with the Marine Corps.
However, I suggest that we no longer attack on beaches with Navy ducks or other amphibious craft. That was in the distant past, and this is now. So what is the solution? I think the US Marine Corps is the finest infantry force in the world, but the US Navy, in my opinion, has zero business possessing their own army. The solution is very simple: The US Marine Corps stays the same but simply becomes a branch of the US Army. However, MARSOC, I propose, would be changed to what it actually should be for function: The only Special Operations mission the USMC should ever have is Direct Action, such as Force Recon or Sniper teams, but not UW, unconventional warfare.
Yes, I said it and many, many of us have whispered it for years, because it is efficient and common sense.
So let’s say we have made the USMC part of the Army, now what happens to the US Army Rangers? That is simple: It becomes a reinforcing direct action force for the US Army Special Forces, and the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force), which it is already doing effectively now. Ranger School can also specialize in Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) training and execution, which is what happened with the original Roger’s Rangers. No units will have LRRP members who have not first earned a Ranger tab.
Okay, Swabbies, I know. To be fair, the army has to lose something, right? Well, it’s not going to actually lose them, in my proposal, but just like the Navy, the US Army, US Navy, and US Marine Corps will turn over all of its aircraft to the US Air Force. Well, in actuality, all helicopter pilots on naval ships and with the US Army, including the USMC branch, will be part of and trained exclusively by the US Air Force, and then will be attached to Army or Navy units.
No more naval and marine aviators or army chopper jockeys. They will all be US Air Force pilots, with both rotary and fixed wings. As mentioned earlier, the US Air Force will be in charge of the skies and any craft that goes into them. Naval aircraft mechanics will still be responsible for maintenance of craft and all flight deck operations, because they do operate on a ship. Likewise, helicopter and fixed wing army mechanics will maintain aircraft on the ground unless a USAF airbase is within close proximity, but all pilots and all aircraft will be USAF, attached to army and navy units.
So, now we might ask what about Navy Seals. Again, I believe that US Navy SEALs have indeed proven their worth and have a legacy of valor. But like the Marines and Rangers, they should only be used for direct action missions, but their missions should only be adjacent to or on the waterways of the world. They will still do the shore-launched sabotage missions, submarine lockout, many underwater missions. Like now, they will be like UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams) on steroids in a sense. The BUDS training qualification for SEALs should still be there to challenge young sailors to the maximum. Navy SEALs however, in my opinion, have no business fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan or sand-blown cities of Iraq, unless they are carrying out a mission on a seaport or coastline.
The US Army Special Forces and 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force) would still use SCUBA and HALO-SCUBA infiltration methodology in lakes and rivers and on oceans only where a SEAL mission would not be applicable. In other words, if it is a UW mission that should only be performed by USASF or Delta Force, such as a hostage rescue on a cruise ship, then a SCUBA infiltration could be used where apropos.
Now, I have suggested taking from the Navy a bit herein, so what about adding to them? Fine, that is simple and common sense. Since it is dealing with oceans, seas, and other large waterways, it will also be efficient, and cost-effective for the US Coast Guard to become a branch of the US Navy. They are their own little Navy already, but would become part of the real deal, but their mission will not change.
Finally, to go into even more detail, the primary unit in the US Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) is the ODA, or 12-man Operational Detachment-A, often called “A-Teams.” It is commanded by a Captain, with a Warrant Officer as Executive Officer, or second-in-command, who come from SF NCOs who attend Warrant Officer school.
This is good in that the XO has experience as a team non-com; however it hurts the US Army Special Forces significantly. One of the reasons I left the army as a young Captain was because my entire commissioned time as a Special Forces-qualified Infantry officer was spent serving in 4 Special Forces Groups, including the 5th Group in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. I used to write suggestions and pass them up the chain of command and one suggestion, which many others wrote as well, was to make a new branch of the army called the Unconventional Warfare branch or Special Forces branch. Then it could attract young officers, like I was, who loved and believed in the role of Special Forces with a deep and abiding passion and could develop an entire career in that elite unit. In those days, with 4 SF Groups under my belt, my career was essentially ruined.
I had become a “guerilla leader” in the minds of the brass; “too unconventional” was the term often used. Like in my day, and still to this day, conventional military commanders do not understand the US Army Special Forces, or there is professional jealousy, or both. We were and are the soldiers who were and are taught and encouraged to think outside the box and color outside the lines. When you get right down to brass tacks, conventional generals and admirals cannot easily control such men, so they want to destroy and develop something else that they can control. Brilliant! The same type of thinking had lines of British soldiers marching to drums towards our independent-minded fledgling continental army, which they killed by the thousands until we started thinking outside the box and actually won the Revolutionary War by shooting from ambush, firing from behind rocks and trees, and using hit and run tactics.
The British commanders simply wanted to keep marching, halting, aiming, and firing on command. That, the protection of God, and our American fighting spirit were the primary reasons that the British sailed home, heads- hanging, and we became the United States of America.
A few years after I left the army, somebody actually thought and acted outside the bounds of military-thinking, and the branch like some of my contemporaries and superiors and I had proposed, the Unconventional Warfare Branch, was indeed created, but unfortunately we still have not learned, and it is now only a stop-off point for many young career captains. No longer are First Lieutenants ODA XO’s (Executive Officers) and Second Lieutenants ODA XO’s in-training. The USA Special Forces does not have 2nd or 1st Lieutenants anymore, none.
You must be a captain to even try to qualify for Special Forces, but then after qualifying many captains try to do just one tour on an ODA. Not wanting to get stuck in staff jobs, they move on to other units such as the Rangers or airborne infantry outfits so they can still command troops and see action. Most of the good lieutenants who want to go to SF when they are promoted are simply kept with the conventional units where they have served. Worse yet, many young qualified men, like my sons, have no desire to go to Officers Candidate School (OCS) and become officers, because they cannot even get into Special Forces until they reach Captain, if they are even then allowed to go to Selection (SF qualification).
SF Warrant Officers can only become Chief Warrant Officers and can only make more money, but they can never become Captains or higher. They can never command ODA’s or go on to become majors, colonels, and so on. Utilizing the same theory as the SF warrant program, I strongly suggest changing the process, and experienced Special Forces NCOs can apply for a direct commission to First Lieutenant if they are a Sergeant First Class(SFC E7) or higher, and they become an ODA XO, eventually making captain and becoming an ODA commander. Additionally, experienced Special Forces Staff Sergeants (SSG E6) can apply to become second lieutenants. Or already commissioned second lieutenants can go through Special Forces qualification and continuous training like I did, to get them ready to become an A-team XO and eventually CO. This gives young leaders actual incentive. Higher pay is not an incentive to them; Having an opportunity to advance and take on greater challenge is.
This will attract many more young officers to make a career out of Special Forces and not pursue command time in other units. It will also, like the current Warrant Officer program, afford Special Forces NCOs who wish greater advancement but actually keep being promoted to higher rank. Upon direct commission, the new officer will attend a short UW branch officers course. Current Special Forces Warrant Officers can also apply for commission to lieutenant and will be given priority.
At a higher command level, when I was in Special Forces, one problem was that senior SF officers had to deal with being the lowest rank there in command structure in theater during war. For example the head Green Beret in Vietnam, the 5th Special Forces Group commander, in charge of all A-Camps, special projects, and B and C team headquarters all over Vietnam was only a full colonel, while affiliated military divisions were being commanded by brigadier and major generals. I could not believe that still has not changed after all these years. I suggest that Special Forces Group command structure should change the TO and E (Tables of Organization and Equipment) so that Group commanding officers will be brigadier generals.
Since a Special Forces battalion is much different than a conventional battalion, SF battalion commanders, under my proposal, will be full colonels, unlike the rank of lieutenant colonel now.
We are most definitely winning the Global War on Terrorism, and “the surge” has positively shown it is working much better than ever expected. We have the finest and toughest fighting force in the world, but the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have also shown us our weak areas where we can and should significantly improve. If US military command truly wants to improve, and if congress truly wants to cut costs, I hope someone will actually read this editorial and give it some thought. These are suggestions, not cast in concrete, but written in pencil so they can be revised and improved upon.
The problem with my proposal and what faces us, is two-fold: will professional jealousy, Pentagon politics, and competition between military branches eventually destroy us from within, or will we become smarter than that and learn it is also okay to shoot from behind trees and rocks, use hit and run tactics, and even let some of our elite troops color outside the lines.? The second question is: Aside from General Petraeus, do we still have any flag officers with the guts to think and act against the grain, or have so many of our senior leaders only developed the courage to speak out against their own chain of command on national politics because of a promised political position after retirement, then wonder why their own troops will not even follow them to the mess hall let alone to hell and back?
To me, a true warrior is willing to grow and innovate. The American fighting spirit and initiative that created Roger’s Rangers, defeated a much stronger, more highly-trained, and much larger army and navy that could only think and act the way it had previously performed . . . for centuries. It was not just our fighting spirit and valor, but by actually thinking and acting outside convention, that we became the United States of America and not South Canada, a proud but subservient British possession.
Don Bendell
http://www.donbendell.com/index.php
Here is an article written by a long time SF Officer. He expresses a lot of things I agree with and many things that make me wonder about them. I have my own reservations about some of them. I place it here to stem some lively discussion on the merits of some of his proposals.
OUR MILITARY MUST END ONEUPSMANSHIP!
When I teach martial arts, my main concern is teaching my students how to protect themselves from attack, rape, kidnapping, or abuse, so consequently I teach very functional self-defense techniques, but I also believe they should become “martial artists” and not just “partial artists.” So, in that regard, when teaching aesthetic things such as kata (forms), I employ traditional forms which have been passed down from generation-to-generation with very little change. This balance of martial arts instruction is a microcosm of what also works in the real world.
For balance, we must have tradition in our lives, but we must also have a functional lifestyle. By that same regard, but on an even much higher plain, so does our military. The US military is full of great, rich tradition, but it is also the toughest most functional fighting force in the history of the world. That however may soon end, if we continue to eat our own young, and then we will not suffer defeat from an external enemy, but simply implode from within. What I propose transcends political parties, and it is neither conservative or liberal, republican or democratic. It is simply common sense, practical, and pro-American.
Politicians talk smack, but few, if any, have the actual courage and fortitude to say out loud what many of us will say privately, and what some of us think but do not verbalize. Right now our military tradition is far outweighing the functionality of our armed forces, which costs us billions, but more importantly it makes our military less efficient and consequently less powerful. By making the tough decisions to actually change, like so many politicians like to talk about but never really do; we can make a more cohesive, less costly, and much more functional fighting force than the world has ever seen, but without tossing our hallowed, rich, military tradition out the window. We simply need to overcome our own fear of change. With an upcoming Presidential and congressional election looming, I think it is time to present this very controversial but cost-saving and efficiency-producing solution to our military, which may make some people angry at me, but hopefully it will make some leaders think.
The general overview I suggest will shock and outrage some, but it is what will work. In the very broad look, here is my proposal in a nutshell:
• 1. The US Army should be the one military fighting force that is in charge of and solely responsible for fighting on land.
• 2. The US Navy should be the one military fighting force that is in charge of and solely responsible for fighting on water.
• 3. The US Air Force should be the one military fighting force that is in charge of and solely responsible for fighting in the air.
That is the simple general solution, but let me get into more specifics before loading your firearm, donning your cammies, and looking for my house on Mapquest.
One of the main reasons I have been so proud that two of my sons followed my footsteps into the US Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) was because I naively thought that our military leadership had actually grown by lessons-learned from the Vietnam War, but we have not. We still make some errors in command.
We spend billions of dollars to train company grade officers (lieutenants and captains) and senior NCOs (Sergeants) how to properly deploy and protect troops in battle and accomplish unit missions, and then in the Global War On Terrorism, instead of trusting that small unit commander with “boots on the ground” and who knows the situation, we have “Chairborne-Rangers” sitting in air-conditioned offices and briefing rooms in places like MacDill AFB, the Pentagon, Qatar, Fort Bragg, Eglin AFB, and many higher headquarters all over the world micro-managing the war. That has previously been proven time and again to be a surefire formula for disaster in war, but nobody has the guts to tell flag officers, “Back off, General (or Admiral). Give a captain or a sergeant a job, and then do NOT tell them how to do it, especially when they, or their men and women, are the ones risking earning the Purple Heart (given for wounds or death), and they know the enemy situation on the ground.”
Now, in the Special Operations Command, the new big thing is MARSOC, the Marine Special Operations Command. After 50 years of the US Army Special Forces (Green Berets) learning more than any other fighting force about how to successfully conduct Unconventional Warfare, they now want the Marines to take over and do the same thing. This is after five decades of success by USA Special Forces, which has had its operators (Green Berets) learn to speak virtually every language in the world, the customs of every country, and of its indigenous citizens thereof. Befriending folks in remote villages all over the globe, learning how to infiltrate behind enemy lines and interact, co-exist, and actually train and equip those indigenous forces to fight their own battles, so United States troops do not have to be needlessly sacrificed fighting for those countries, Green Berets have become synonymous with successful Unconventional Warfare.
Now, after 50 years of that great experience by the elite Special Forces, the US Marine Corps are being transformed to try to duplicate what Special Forces has done so successfully for decades. How ridiculous, arrogant, and short-sighted! I cannot believe the Pentagon has even allowed it to be a discussion let alone a reality.
Semper Fidelis! The US Marine Corps, I personally believe, has not only the coolest-looking dress uniforms of any of our armed forces, but also by far and away the very best esprit de corps. Marines have always been hard-charging, fire-breathing, butt-kicking, mission-accomplishing warriors, who distinguished themselves with a legacy of courage and honor in many wars at places like Tarawa, Bougainville, Iwo Jima, and beachheads all over the west and east. Do not think I want to do away with the Marine Corps.
However, I suggest that we no longer attack on beaches with Navy ducks or other amphibious craft. That was in the distant past, and this is now. So what is the solution? I think the US Marine Corps is the finest infantry force in the world, but the US Navy, in my opinion, has zero business possessing their own army. The solution is very simple: The US Marine Corps stays the same but simply becomes a branch of the US Army. However, MARSOC, I propose, would be changed to what it actually should be for function: The only Special Operations mission the USMC should ever have is Direct Action, such as Force Recon or Sniper teams, but not UW, unconventional warfare.
Yes, I said it and many, many of us have whispered it for years, because it is efficient and common sense.
So let’s say we have made the USMC part of the Army, now what happens to the US Army Rangers? That is simple: It becomes a reinforcing direct action force for the US Army Special Forces, and the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force), which it is already doing effectively now. Ranger School can also specialize in Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) training and execution, which is what happened with the original Roger’s Rangers. No units will have LRRP members who have not first earned a Ranger tab.
Okay, Swabbies, I know. To be fair, the army has to lose something, right? Well, it’s not going to actually lose them, in my proposal, but just like the Navy, the US Army, US Navy, and US Marine Corps will turn over all of its aircraft to the US Air Force. Well, in actuality, all helicopter pilots on naval ships and with the US Army, including the USMC branch, will be part of and trained exclusively by the US Air Force, and then will be attached to Army or Navy units.
No more naval and marine aviators or army chopper jockeys. They will all be US Air Force pilots, with both rotary and fixed wings. As mentioned earlier, the US Air Force will be in charge of the skies and any craft that goes into them. Naval aircraft mechanics will still be responsible for maintenance of craft and all flight deck operations, because they do operate on a ship. Likewise, helicopter and fixed wing army mechanics will maintain aircraft on the ground unless a USAF airbase is within close proximity, but all pilots and all aircraft will be USAF, attached to army and navy units.
So, now we might ask what about Navy Seals. Again, I believe that US Navy SEALs have indeed proven their worth and have a legacy of valor. But like the Marines and Rangers, they should only be used for direct action missions, but their missions should only be adjacent to or on the waterways of the world. They will still do the shore-launched sabotage missions, submarine lockout, many underwater missions. Like now, they will be like UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams) on steroids in a sense. The BUDS training qualification for SEALs should still be there to challenge young sailors to the maximum. Navy SEALs however, in my opinion, have no business fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan or sand-blown cities of Iraq, unless they are carrying out a mission on a seaport or coastline.
The US Army Special Forces and 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force) would still use SCUBA and HALO-SCUBA infiltration methodology in lakes and rivers and on oceans only where a SEAL mission would not be applicable. In other words, if it is a UW mission that should only be performed by USASF or Delta Force, such as a hostage rescue on a cruise ship, then a SCUBA infiltration could be used where apropos.
Now, I have suggested taking from the Navy a bit herein, so what about adding to them? Fine, that is simple and common sense. Since it is dealing with oceans, seas, and other large waterways, it will also be efficient, and cost-effective for the US Coast Guard to become a branch of the US Navy. They are their own little Navy already, but would become part of the real deal, but their mission will not change.
Finally, to go into even more detail, the primary unit in the US Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) is the ODA, or 12-man Operational Detachment-A, often called “A-Teams.” It is commanded by a Captain, with a Warrant Officer as Executive Officer, or second-in-command, who come from SF NCOs who attend Warrant Officer school.
This is good in that the XO has experience as a team non-com; however it hurts the US Army Special Forces significantly. One of the reasons I left the army as a young Captain was because my entire commissioned time as a Special Forces-qualified Infantry officer was spent serving in 4 Special Forces Groups, including the 5th Group in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. I used to write suggestions and pass them up the chain of command and one suggestion, which many others wrote as well, was to make a new branch of the army called the Unconventional Warfare branch or Special Forces branch. Then it could attract young officers, like I was, who loved and believed in the role of Special Forces with a deep and abiding passion and could develop an entire career in that elite unit. In those days, with 4 SF Groups under my belt, my career was essentially ruined.
I had become a “guerilla leader” in the minds of the brass; “too unconventional” was the term often used. Like in my day, and still to this day, conventional military commanders do not understand the US Army Special Forces, or there is professional jealousy, or both. We were and are the soldiers who were and are taught and encouraged to think outside the box and color outside the lines. When you get right down to brass tacks, conventional generals and admirals cannot easily control such men, so they want to destroy and develop something else that they can control. Brilliant! The same type of thinking had lines of British soldiers marching to drums towards our independent-minded fledgling continental army, which they killed by the thousands until we started thinking outside the box and actually won the Revolutionary War by shooting from ambush, firing from behind rocks and trees, and using hit and run tactics.
The British commanders simply wanted to keep marching, halting, aiming, and firing on command. That, the protection of God, and our American fighting spirit were the primary reasons that the British sailed home, heads- hanging, and we became the United States of America.
A few years after I left the army, somebody actually thought and acted outside the bounds of military-thinking, and the branch like some of my contemporaries and superiors and I had proposed, the Unconventional Warfare Branch, was indeed created, but unfortunately we still have not learned, and it is now only a stop-off point for many young career captains. No longer are First Lieutenants ODA XO’s (Executive Officers) and Second Lieutenants ODA XO’s in-training. The USA Special Forces does not have 2nd or 1st Lieutenants anymore, none.
You must be a captain to even try to qualify for Special Forces, but then after qualifying many captains try to do just one tour on an ODA. Not wanting to get stuck in staff jobs, they move on to other units such as the Rangers or airborne infantry outfits so they can still command troops and see action. Most of the good lieutenants who want to go to SF when they are promoted are simply kept with the conventional units where they have served. Worse yet, many young qualified men, like my sons, have no desire to go to Officers Candidate School (OCS) and become officers, because they cannot even get into Special Forces until they reach Captain, if they are even then allowed to go to Selection (SF qualification).
SF Warrant Officers can only become Chief Warrant Officers and can only make more money, but they can never become Captains or higher. They can never command ODA’s or go on to become majors, colonels, and so on. Utilizing the same theory as the SF warrant program, I strongly suggest changing the process, and experienced Special Forces NCOs can apply for a direct commission to First Lieutenant if they are a Sergeant First Class(SFC E7) or higher, and they become an ODA XO, eventually making captain and becoming an ODA commander. Additionally, experienced Special Forces Staff Sergeants (SSG E6) can apply to become second lieutenants. Or already commissioned second lieutenants can go through Special Forces qualification and continuous training like I did, to get them ready to become an A-team XO and eventually CO. This gives young leaders actual incentive. Higher pay is not an incentive to them; Having an opportunity to advance and take on greater challenge is.
This will attract many more young officers to make a career out of Special Forces and not pursue command time in other units. It will also, like the current Warrant Officer program, afford Special Forces NCOs who wish greater advancement but actually keep being promoted to higher rank. Upon direct commission, the new officer will attend a short UW branch officers course. Current Special Forces Warrant Officers can also apply for commission to lieutenant and will be given priority.
At a higher command level, when I was in Special Forces, one problem was that senior SF officers had to deal with being the lowest rank there in command structure in theater during war. For example the head Green Beret in Vietnam, the 5th Special Forces Group commander, in charge of all A-Camps, special projects, and B and C team headquarters all over Vietnam was only a full colonel, while affiliated military divisions were being commanded by brigadier and major generals. I could not believe that still has not changed after all these years. I suggest that Special Forces Group command structure should change the TO and E (Tables of Organization and Equipment) so that Group commanding officers will be brigadier generals.
Since a Special Forces battalion is much different than a conventional battalion, SF battalion commanders, under my proposal, will be full colonels, unlike the rank of lieutenant colonel now.
We are most definitely winning the Global War on Terrorism, and “the surge” has positively shown it is working much better than ever expected. We have the finest and toughest fighting force in the world, but the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have also shown us our weak areas where we can and should significantly improve. If US military command truly wants to improve, and if congress truly wants to cut costs, I hope someone will actually read this editorial and give it some thought. These are suggestions, not cast in concrete, but written in pencil so they can be revised and improved upon.
The problem with my proposal and what faces us, is two-fold: will professional jealousy, Pentagon politics, and competition between military branches eventually destroy us from within, or will we become smarter than that and learn it is also okay to shoot from behind trees and rocks, use hit and run tactics, and even let some of our elite troops color outside the lines.? The second question is: Aside from General Petraeus, do we still have any flag officers with the guts to think and act against the grain, or have so many of our senior leaders only developed the courage to speak out against their own chain of command on national politics because of a promised political position after retirement, then wonder why their own troops will not even follow them to the mess hall let alone to hell and back?
To me, a true warrior is willing to grow and innovate. The American fighting spirit and initiative that created Roger’s Rangers, defeated a much stronger, more highly-trained, and much larger army and navy that could only think and act the way it had previously performed . . . for centuries. It was not just our fighting spirit and valor, but by actually thinking and acting outside convention, that we became the United States of America and not South Canada, a proud but subservient British possession.
Don Bendell
http://www.donbendell.com/index.php
