Special Forces face down impacts of war on terror
Jack Detsch July 22, 2019
Article Summary
The Pentagon’s Special Operations Command is planning to study the impacts of the 17-year war on terror in the Middle East on the force.
The Pentagon’s Special Operations Command — known as SOCOM — is looking into how brain trauma from the 17-year war on terror in the Middle East has impacted elite US troops.
First led by former SOCOM chief, Gen. Tony Thomas, the command is examining whether trauma suffered by special operators, including brain fatigue and abnormalities in the visual cortex, impact the ability of elite troops to make snap decisions in the field.
@rangerrebew And the answer is a resounding "NO!" Not only does the selection process to even enter SF training take care of that,but so do the teams. The instant any team member starts to stumble to the point of being unreliable,he is replaced and given a job in the rear.
And "No,it does NOT matter who it is,from the team leader all the way down to the "new guy" brought onboard to replace someone wounded or killed. "The Team" is it's on little world,and "outsiders" (anyone NOT on THAT team) leave them alone to deal with their own team problems themselves. Any senior officer who thinks he can just start giving orders to teams and telling them how to operate and how to manage their teams will soon find himself wearing web gear and stepping out of a helicopter because there is no one else available to do it. These guys volunteer to do so much stuff on a regular basis that they CAN'T be ordered to do,that you have to treat them VERY carefully if you want them to continue to operate at their normal levels,which is so far above normal army levels it is shocking.
Trust is a two-way street. To get total trust,you have to give total trust. Any teams you have remaining after proving yourself to be a pompous ass will be manned by (mostly) less experienced NCO's who are considering their futures while hanging in there for the time being and doing the absolute minimum because they don't trust you,and waiting to see if you are relieved of your command.
Or at least this applies to the US Army Special Forces. I have no idea how it works in the USMC,USAF,and US Navy "Special Operation Forces". The only USMC "Special Operations Forces" I have ever death with were the USMC Force Recon people,and I am here to tell you those guys have their "stuff" together. If they tell you they are going to do something,they do it. The Air Commandos are some pretty solid people,too. Wouldn't hesitate to go anywhere with either them or the USMC guys.
On the other hand,EVERY SEAL I have ever met was an egotistical Schiff Head that thought the world revolved around them and they were so good they didn't need any advise. In all fairness,this may have changed by now. When I was sometimes bumping into them was back in the days when they only went on "Hollywood Mission" raids,and never stayed out overnight. I suspect by now most of them are used to spending a lot of time sleeping in the bushes,and that's the kind of thing that will broaden your outlook. I am also guessing losing that whole team while swimming in on the invasion of Granada taught them a few lessons about broadening their outlook,also. I sure hope so,because they really are some intellectually sharp people. Not a dummy in the bunch,other than at command level.
