Shameful Scapegoating Of Africa Failure Underscores Unchecked Pentagon Incompetence
American men and women are still being sent to far-off lands, under-trained and under-equipped, to fight in conflicts that have little congressional oversight and little payoff for U.S. strategy.
By Ellis Domenech
February 11, 2019
Over the past year there have been numerous leadership failures at the highest levels of the military in regards to the October 2017 ambush of a Special Forces unit in Tongo Tongo, Niger. The latest is the reinstatement of a reprimand for the team leader, Capt. Michael Perozeni.
Since the ambush, four-star general officers have done everything in their power to avoid taking any responsibility for their command’s failures. Instead, they push blame down to the lowest possible levels, desperately searching for scapegoats to deflect blame from their careers and systemic failures within the services. The solution is not to fault soldiers under fire, but to fix the universal problems in higher commands.
Army Command Policy states, “Commanders are responsible for everything their command does or fails to do. However, commanders subdivide responsibility and authority and assign portions of both to various subordinate commanders and staff members. In this way, a proper degree of responsibility becomes inherent in each command echelon. Commanders delegate sufficient authority to Soldiers in the chain of command to accomplish their assigned duties, and commanders may hold these Soldiers responsible for their actions. Commanders who assign responsibility and authority to their subordinates still retain the overall responsibility for the actions of their commands.â€
The Pentagon seems to believe that responsibility only rests on the shoulders of the lowest-level commanders. In Niger, it was Perozeni who told his superiors his unit was not properly equipped or supported to take on the mission. He subsequently followed his orders and had four of his soldiers killed. He was also shot. He performed admirably in a terrible situation and has been submitted for the Silver Star.
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http://thefederalist.com/2019/02/11/shameful-scapegoating-africa-failure-underscores-unchecked-pentagon-incompetence/
First of all,it wasn't a "Special Forces Team". It was a bunch of non-SF qualified people who were assigned to SF SUPPORT UNITS that were out on a non-combat mission to do what they were trained to do,and some butthole in the rear got intel on enemy troops nearby,so he got a brain fart that told him to order these guys to form up and go after them.
This is pretty much the slow-motion suicide equivalent of ordering them to fly helicopters if they don't know how to fly. ONLY bad things could have happened,and that IS what happened.
Now the brass,who are either minority,female,protected,or maybe all three,that was looking to gain some fame and a promotion from ordering this action is playing "cover my ass" by blaming it on a lowly Captain that had the misfortune of being on the scene,and who had no other options than to say "Yes sir,right away sir!"
Special Forces soldiers are Special Forces BECAUSE they have special training and a ton of experience that typical soldiers don't have and will never receive. You can't replace them by just snatching someone in uniform out of a chow line,and what happens when you do is a LOT of US soldiers get killed due to inexperience.
IMNSHO,whoever the Rear Echelon Commando was that organized this cluster bleep need to be brought up on charges of manslaughter in addition to dereliction of duty charges.
