Being a outsider I'm a bit at a loss, what would be the point of attaching a PSYOP's group to a SOF unit that focuses on DA/raids? That kind of says "get in, get the bad guys/kill em all, get out" to me. Granted, again, this is a outsider looking in, so I suppose I'm looking for some enlightenment.
Hummm, occasionally I asked myself exactly that same question... Our primary mission was not to kill anyone or nor everyone. We wanted to; (1) apprehend, secure and recover 10 suspected Taliban personnel at a target location (2) conduct searches of multiple compounds for additional hostile persons and munitions / weapons (3) speak with surrounding leaders Mullas, key personnel and asses the civil populations welfare, water and general safety (4) hand off specific items to specific persons (5) arraign later delivery HA items to the inhabitants of the area (6) record and photograph everything and everybody. Additionally I was tasked with CAS as required because the aircraft were manned by English speakers (Brits out of Kandahar). On the team I was on I was routinely responsible for calling air if needed by the French commander. Of course we had a back up guy on our team as well. I was also tasked with calling in SITREPs via my commo which was separate from the French at that time to my US Commander.
During this mission and others I was a CA asset and not part of a TPT (that came several years later in my career). My job was as an embedded support, the tasking comes from and was above my pay grade for these types of operations. You know sometimes you get missions and you really wonder why I'm here and someone is not telling me everything. This happens just about the same and exact time you hear your ass slam shut. I was assigned as the sole support US CA asset for these teams during these types of operations among other types. On occasion there were other types of assets that accompanied us. My boss was US SF and had US SF elements. They were chopped out as well to the French via US SF LNO to support them and I supported them as well. That's another really great part about CA and Pysop you never know at times where you will end up, hence again the need for this type of training. They needed a US SOF CA asset among several other things to conduct village, population, tribal assessments in the region / AOR. There are also certain reporting requirements, stats, funding accountability and numerous other things that we are responsible to record to support US commander. Not to mention we fund things with US money and give credit with full recognition to our foreign partner forces. These were pretty routine and still are as I understand it happening. And on occasion you have to bait the hook with meat.
DA was not the primary or only focus of this unit, there are many other missions and objectives inclusive and sub-taskings. It's not always that clear cut, pretty and or clean (
Chopper ride to the objective, hit the target, PUC HVT, load up, knuckle bump and hit the road). I never saw anything go down that smooth, cool or high speed. It was always a shit sandwich with many working parts, dated or poor actionable intel, equipment break downs and fog combined with friction. These are multi-faceted multi-disciplined forces with strategic and tactical operational objectives. At times we operated in the field for up to two weeks with numerous types of missions on our plate. Recently some forces have more clearly delineated responsibilities and singular focus with the addition of key personnel campaigning for the change at the top levels. But still the SOF units are multi-dimensional and multi-faceted forces with numerous objectives.
I hope this lends a clearer view of the operational requirements, concerns and responsibility of the CA and Pysop personnel. Although my assignment was somewhat abhorrent and unique it is not unheard of or highly unusual. The job requires an open mind, adaptability and a solution oriented individual who can think beyond the moment or his /her comfort zone.
I also give further opinion relative to this MOS / stuff on this thread more in depth;
Civil Affairs Qualification Course: Week 1 in Review
Conclusion; these guys need more and better Warfare training hence I think the solution of the course in this thread is way over due.
This Vid reminds of more missions than I care to remember. Same AO but none of the cool chopper support or bling. All work no play...
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