Special Operations News Update – Monday, May 3, 2021
May 3, 2021 SOF News Update 0
Editorial Note: Due to travel requirements and other priorities SOF News will not publish any articles for the next week. We will return on Monday, May 10, 2021.
SOF News
Navy SEALs – From CT to GPC. Lolita Baldor informs us that the SEAL community is undergoing a major transition – providing them the ability to better contribute to the ‘great power competition’ that involves Russia and China. A new screening process is being instituted for recruits to include upgraded psychological assessments. SEAL platoons are being reduced in number but the platoons will have more personnel and become more lethal. The SEALs will be leaving the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq behind and focusing more on the seas and coastlines of the world. Also receiving more attention from the SEALs will be the cyber, intelligence, and electronic warfare fields. “Navy SEALs to shift from counterterrorism to global threats”, Navy Times, April 28, 2021.
SOCCENT Twitter Hacked? Not Really. Last week Special Operations Command Central reported that its Twitter account had been hacked. Apparently this is not the case. A Twitter user for SOCCENT was searching for information on the internet when he / she accidently entered the search terms, “Afghanistan” “Islamic State”, into the Twitter feed.
‘Tab Culture’. A Lieutenant serving with the 4th Infantry Division explains the importance of having ‘tabs’ and ‘badges’ in “Lieutenant Land’ where experience is in short supply. He has concerns that the Army tends to value officers who have attended Airborne and Ranger school and have earned badges such as the Expert Infantry Badge (EIB) or who wear the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB) more than those officers who sport a less adorned uniform. He goes on to write that this subconscious perception and bias that affects the upward mobility of officers is something that needs to be fixed. “Where’s Your Tab and other Sad Lieutenant Stories”, The Company Leader, April 26, 2021. (Editor’s Note: The editor of SOF News is complimenting himself on his restraint in not ‘editorializing’ about this article.)
https://sof.news/update/20210503/
