What is Special Ops?
--Sky and Water, M. C. EscherI don't wanna do your dirty work
No more
I'm a fool to do your dirty work
Oh yeah
--Dirty Work, Steely Dan
For a fee, I'm happy to be
Your back door man, hey
--Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, AC/DC
Neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring
--John Heywood
_________________
Since Osama bin Laden was killed by Special Operations Forces (SOF) earlier this month, Ranger's been mulling over the meaning of Special Operations.
He took a trip down memory lane to 1970, when he was awarded the flash to his Green Beret. It was then an outward sign that we were MOS qualified; today's equivalent is being tabbed-up. Historically, SOF refers to SEALS, SF and Rangers, with supporting air assets. These are usually lumped under SOCOM and JSOC.
Today's focus is Black Operations ("Black Ops"), a sub-specialty of these two organizations. The question is: "How did the U.S, go from snake eaters and Sneaky Petes to hired guns and assassins?"
Seal Team 6 (ST6) is the group credited with killing OBL. They are described as --
"a Special Black Ops unit made up of the top soldiers from each of the other nine SEAL units, operating under a cloak of secrecy outside of military protocol and often international law. . . . The unit's members specialize in targeted assassinations, . . ." (SOF: Elite Killing Commandos, The Week).
While a correct description of Special Ops today, if they do operate outside of military protocol why are they in the military establishment? Militaries operate well when constrained by strict protocol. If these Special Ops members are not bound to international law, how are they upholding their oaths to uphold the Constitution (as treaties and international laws ratified by the U.S. operate at the same level). Extra-legal actions are not military in nature.
Why add another layer of soldiers to the Department of Defense roster when the Army SOF assets are slap-full of specially trained soldiers? Why does the Navy need these special soldiers when they have an entire U.S. Marine Corps to fill the niche?
The answer may be that we want units that conduct illegal activity; if so, why have a Central Intelligence Agency with paramilitary capabilities? The CIA would seem to fit the bill better since they are neither military nor constrained by distracting oaths of fealty to the rule of law.
After the Vietnam War and the Desert Storm I fiasco, there was rightly seen a need for a SOCOM/JSOC type reorganization. However, somewhere along the way these military assets crossed over to the Dark Side, and we cheered, giving our imprimatur to the monstrous conversion. The death of Special Forces came when SF became too comfortable doing CIA dirty work, thereby losing the confidence of the regular Army. After RVN, SF reorganized and tried to lose the stigma by reintegrating into the larger picture by becoming a branch specialty.
Prior to SF's becoming a branch specialty, Ranger's personal experience was one of an Infantry Officer who was shunned by his basic branch for his Sf affiliation. Infantry distrusted his loyalty, and SF had no power to promote or reward his special contributions. The creation of a dedicated SF branch was supposed to alleviate this rift; instead, it created a monster.
Tomorrow: Pt. II, "What is Special Ops?"
Labels: JSOC, SF, SOF, special operations command, special operations force, special ops
posted by rangeragainstwar at 12:44 PM
10 Comments:
highwayman...
Hi Jim & Lisa,
Reading this post, I couldn't help thinking about the movie "Predator". The damnedest things pop into my head.
Dutch: [Dillon is losing at arm wrestling] What's the matter? The CIA got you pushing too many pencils? Huh? Had enough?
Dillon: Make it easy on yourself, Dutch.
[begins to loose further]
Dillon: OK, OK, OK!
What is the difference between military and paramilitary? I tried "The Google", but couldn't find a clear distinction. The spokesman for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police says theirs is a paramilitary organization. Cops there can ride roughshod over the Mundanes, no problem, but if they disobey an order from their superior, they get canned.
Jim,
You buried me under an avalanche of acronym letters. I don't know what half of them mean. Good post, nonetheless.
Ghost Dansing,
Another good pick!
Dave
Bureaucratic turf and controling/limiting who needs to know.
avedis
I think that we could work the SOA in there somewhere as a contributing factor.
cholo,
Yes, let's don't forget the SOA which just added another layer denial
Dave,
What acronyms did you not get?
I'll gladly disclose their meaning. I apologize since i assume that after all these years of writing that i'd have you trained.
Seriously i'll try to alleviate this in the future.
jim
.
Dave,
The difference of mil/paramil is the GC's. IMO.
The CIA paramil types are not covered,even if they wear a uniform, which they often do. They are not belligerants per GC.
When they go thru SFOC-officers course, they wear exactly what we wear WITHOUT a USARMY tape or identifiers.
Also they are more focused on uw/gw with less focus on direct action.
They clearly have a chain of command etc..., but no protections.
That's my quik answer to your question that i assumed you wanted clarified.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the clarification on Paramilitary/Military. I have zero military experience. Everything I know about the military I learned on your blog.
What is SOCOM/JSOC? MOS/tabbed-up? uw/gw? These Acros come naturally to you, but I have to puzzle over what the letters stand for. And beyond my unfamiliarity with them, I can be incredibly dense.
Word Verification: davessur
Dave
Dave ,
On the side bar i have 3 tabs displayed.SF/Ranger/Airborne. Tabbed up usu refers to SF and Ranger since Airborne is a req for these fields. Rangers can be non airborne, but not in 75th Ranger units, all these dudes are on jump status.
MOS means -military occupational specialty. SF is 18 series. When i was infy i was 11 series. In the old days my 11 series mos carried special skills identifiers for my Ranger and SF quals.ie 11A5G. Then later was changer to 31542 which meant infy unit ldr sf qual.
, the 3 was the sf id. This stuff is history and hard to explain.
In a way the tabs are just eye candy since the mos and branch insignia id the wearer. If i have cross arrows or rifles on my uniform then that means that i am SF or infantry.
In VN SF officers were basic branch to our sourced branch, most of us were infy, BUT all branches were assigned to the SF groups. We even had an Aviation Co. asgnd at Group.
UW/GW are the basic/classic SF skills/missions= unconventional war and geurilla war. The others are direct action and strategic recon/intel.
SOCOM is Spec Ops Cmd, and JSOC is Joint Spec Ops Cmd. Your homework asgnmt is to google these with quiz to follow.
If u pass the quiz then you have to eat a worm and jump off a foot locker and this will branch qualify you.
jim
Dave,
My defin of paramil and mil is my own take and may not reflect doctrine.
jim
Hi Jim,
Damn! How can a mind keep all of that straight? I'm going to print out your comment, study it and Google for further info. Then I'll be able to pass the quiz. I've sampled tree bark and deer shit, so eating a worm is no problema.
As a carpenter, there are no ranks or classifications. If I nail boards together correctly and fast enough, I get a check at the end of the week. If not, I get a check at the end of the day and am asked not to return. :-)
Dave
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