Like most CIA folks, don’t believe everything they say, but John Kiriakou is at least easy to listen to and entertaining.
Podcasts.
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@amlove21 I don't know this guy, and Air Force stuff is outside my area of expertise.
However, I thought this article was interesting, and it reminded me of some of the topics discussed in Ones Ready. Potential future guest?
Foxhole Norman
However, I thought this article was interesting, and it reminded me of some of the topics discussed in Ones Ready. Potential future guest?
Foxhole Norman
I'm part of a new podcast produced by West Point's Modern War Institute. It's called "5 Questions for a General" and it's pretty much what the name implies. The plot twist is that it's cadet led. The cadets compose the questions, they run the interviews, the whole deal.
The first episode is now on the streets. There is a very special dynamic inherent in a candid conversation between aspiring professionals, like cadets, and long-term experts in the fields, like general officers. And I think that really comes through in this series., which is going to run by-weekly on Fridays from here on out.
Give it a listen and let me know what you think.
Five Questions For A General Podcast: General Martin Dempsey and General Walter Sharp - Modern War Institute
The first episode is now on the streets. There is a very special dynamic inherent in a candid conversation between aspiring professionals, like cadets, and long-term experts in the fields, like general officers. And I think that really comes through in this series., which is going to run by-weekly on Fridays from here on out.
Give it a listen and let me know what you think.
Five Questions For A General Podcast: General Martin Dempsey and General Walter Sharp - Modern War Institute
Devildoc
Verified Military
I don't know the man from Adam but have listened (well, watched, YT) a few times. Seems very smart, also seems like he has an axe to grind. I'll award 4/5 conspiracy theorists.
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Devildoc
Verified Military
First, that article was well-written, cerebral, and logical.
Second, same article could have been written about former Navy CNO ADM. Franchetti. At least the acting CNO seems likes he is a) competent, and b) gives a rip.
Love it- I’ll connect and thanks brother. When do you have time for an AF guy on your show? I got a crappy one (me) ready to roll!
Operation RED WINGS was one of the most famous events in American military history. Lots of misinformation out there about a lot of different things- so we got the guy that initiated and commanded the PR event, took Marcus Luttrells initial interview, and personally escorted him back to friendly control.
I rarely ask, but if you could please like, comment, share this one I’d appreciate it (only if you like the episode).
Ep 454: Combat Rescue Officer #8 J Harmon - Rescuing Marcus Luttrell (Part 1)
I rarely ask, but if you could please like, comment, share this one I’d appreciate it (only if you like the episode).
Ep 454: Combat Rescue Officer #8 J Harmon - Rescuing Marcus Luttrell (Part 1)
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
Real question, back in the day the Air Force had actual commando MOS and those dudes wore bush hats. You still have "commando" squadrons, but there is no "commando" MOS anymore. What are the specific MOSs that would be the successor of this?
I'll call you bro. Definitely want you on.
Also, I listened to a recent ep of Ones Ready that talked about "dumb intel people." Good episode, and God knows we do have some done ones.
If you want to have an intel SOF guy that's (presumably) not dumb to talk intel support to SOF, or the support side in general, I might know a guy...
Podcast Episode
STOP THREATENING ME WITH A GOOD TIME
Man, don't get me started on the "Air Commando" initiative. I was actually optimistic about the move (it started around 2015), and then, as all things military, the leadership got ahold of it, and it was watered down, bastardized, and spread too thin.
From the team level, it just never got out of the gate.
Devildoc
Verified Military
For those of us with no context, can you explain? What was it, what was it suppose to become, what did it become, and what happened to it?
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
Me learning how to not be super aggro on everybody...
Ok here we go. This is very inside baseball and I am trying not to reference stuff only AF dudes would know, @SpongeBob*24 please provide context as a guy that knows if able.
The AF and AFSOC have been in this constant state to find their identity forever, seemingly. It started with the AFSOC GSU (this is the unclassed and only name that shall be uttered in the world referring to the unit in NC) in the early 2010s and wanting a bigger piece of the mission as opposed to just throwing a couple of of dudes on other SMU rotations as enablers. They even re-org'd their structure into what they called "Commando Troops."
Famously, this came to a head with the "Unilateral Mission Set" initiative/move, to which the SOCOM commander said, quite infamously- "I don't give a shit about your little pet project, if I want JTACs and PR for those teams, you're going to shit out those capes for the teams and you'll shut the fuck up about it. No one is asking you for this capability, that's not how the military works." Sometimes, a little pee-pee slapping goes a long way. Basically, the GSU wanted to engage in all parts of F3EA process just like the "big boys" in the Army and Navy, and SOCOM wasn't having it, because as we all know, "joint" is spelled "A-R-M-Y". When they heard that the AF wanted to source, develop, find, fix, finish, exploit, analyze and dissemintate on their own? Bridge too far. Way too far. IMO, they (GSU) outran their headlights.
Fast forward to 2012 ish, (this is a true story, I know the guy that did it)- in a town hall/open sort of meeting with the CSAF, one of the GSU dudes, a TSgt, basically stood up when asked "How can we be better for you guys" and said point blank, "The way you train and task organize our teams is stupid, you should get back to a logical team composition with synergistic capes- just like the Air Commandos of old did." He even had the cajones to follow up and send him an email/pitch deck with exactly how to do it. Respect the NCO backbone, for sure. This then morphed into "Ground Force Next" (thanks you disgraced POS Jim Slife) and now "ST Next/St 2.0". In the CAF, they're calling it "Multi-Capable Airman". The general idea- you're not just a fuels guy, you gotta know bare base fuels and FAARP and hub-and-spoke ops. Island hopping. Setting up airfields with minimum folks, CAF and SOF working in concert. More on that in a second.
So, the "Air Commando Initiative" was born. Hard crew the teams (for a long time deployments were "pick up games", where you'd just sort of do a quick spin up and deployed with dudes you might not have trained with for a long time), cut down extemporaneous crap, and run hard. If you get a new guy their learning curve was really high, but our CC at the time, a good friend I had deployed with and a guy that went on to be a commander of the NC unit's most secretive section, basically wanted to prove a point to the other ACC commanders and took all the other squadron's deployments for 4 years (I deployed 4 times in 4 years out of Vegas, and my two sister Troops did the same), essentially giving the other squadrons a break. "You guys are tired? Need to take a knee? Fine. The Cowboys got it." He got laughed at- the other ACC commanders thought it would break us.
It was crazy busy, but it worked in proof of concept. That time was lightning in a bottle. Right mix of people, events, and outcomes. I even briefed the senior leaders as a TSgt on how we could serve all our masters (training, deployments, AF minutiae) while maintaining just barely under a 1:1 deployment ratio. Again, we got laughed at.
So that brings us to around 2021, with fits and starts amongst AFSOC on how to best task-organize. We joke about SR, but that career field came out of the very real need for new capes from a refurbished old career field to fight future wars, not GWOT.
Slife had "Ground Force Next" as a problem statement- "Make me ST teams with X capabilities... but they aren't going to be PJs and Controllers." Capabilities are Strike, Recovery, Global Access, and Battlefield Surgery, teams that can self support and fit into the larger AF push for Multi-Capable Airman, but make it SOF. Trim down all these employment methods- why do we need dive, at all? Maybe the J's for recovery, but when was the last White SOF Controller dive infil, again? When Slife got in the seat, what did he do? Deleted dive from the pipeline. Now, if that sounds confusing and driven by ego, a healthy distaste for ST and throwing away the legacy of AFSOC- it's because it was. "Air Commando" was now a dirty word.
And here we are. Just like the business term "meatball sundae", it was a righteous idea rooted in the rich history of the Air Commandos, guys that could do everything with nothing, making magic out of lunchmeat like no one else that turned into an abomination. Too many good idea fairies, not enough people making decisions.
I attended the ST Next conference in '22 where the most intelligent, most capable, most experienced leaders in AFSOC worked 16 hour days locked in a secret room for a week to come up with... something that was presented to a General via email from a ballsy TSgt in 2012. The crazy thing about that is we gave all this input and came up with this great plan, and then the 2 leaders of this conference presented a plan that wasn't what we came up with- like, at all. They offered exactly what Jim Slife said he wanted and looked just like "Ground Force Next". It was a made game from the beginning. An O-5 (one that I have zero love for) actually stood up afterward in front of all of us and said, "Why did you have us come here and waste our time just to present exactly what the boss wanted?" I will give him credit, he was proper and righteous and correct.
This is where all the "One Beret" nonsense came from. "We want a competent SOF medic with knowledge of PR, but not a PJ. We want a JTAC that also does terminal control of aircraft but not a controller. Weather sucks and they're weird- send them to sniper school, give them drones, and say they do Recon." It was fucking gross. And the baseline? "PJs and Controllers aren't diverse enough, we lose a lot of people at dive (so we will delete it)." I shit you not, behind every capability that was on the chopping block, there was a clear narrative. Everything from the women in service review of 2015, the new fitness test, lowering standards, forcing candidates through that quit MULTIPLE times- all of it. It was all part of a bigger push.
So, here we are. In concept, it's awesome- small teams of AF Special Warfare Airmen doing necessary and vital missions that are AF-centric from a ground perspective- ground based SEAD, as an example. Really hard problems that benefit the entire military structure, not just AF. Task organized from a problem statement ("How do we penetrate into an IADS environment in INDOPACOM when the shit pops off?"). Really interesting and dangerous shit, alone and unafraid. And what it turned into? Arguments about Beret colors, meetings without action, and lip service all seemingly to stop Controllers and PJs from daring to say they're "elite" because the normies hear "elitIST".
And that's my ted talk about the Air Commandos. Thanks for coming.
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ThunderHorse
Verified Military
Beret Colors are cool and all, but you could have gone back to Bush Hats lol.
Devildoc
Verified Military
Thank you, very much. That was extremely informative, and despite not being SOF (or AF), I can read between the lines. I am alternately pissed as hell and unsurprised.
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
So for anyone who has read Lone Survivor (I have), I also knew Marcus on some level that is more than just I saw the guy once. I wouldn't say I KNOW Marcus today at all. I haven't spoken to him in YEARS. I also never spoke to him about this shit. But one thing I know about writing books and these PR exercise books. Lone Survivor is a fun book, very rah rah. But it's not detailed enough to tell you actually what happened. But we know that Dietz, Axelson, Murphy, are all dead.
Jonathan brings incredible perspective to the discussion.
Jonathan brings incredible perspective to the discussion.
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SpongeBob*24
Verified Military
Thanks for the time and effort put into that! In my opinion, it was the best episode yall have made to date. Everyone is more comfortable sitting around a table joking then behind a camera wearing a headset.
Hopefully, the 4K Team Room VIBE making great movie references is the new NEW for One's Ready!
And for the record my last Desk Pop was in September....
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