Head of Special Forces Aims to Change Army Doctrine

Key Leader at the Army’s Special Warfare Center and School wants Special Forces to return to original mission

The stereotype that the Special Forces are just designed for killing does not rest well with Maj. Gen. Bennet Sacolick.

Sacolick is head of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg. In an interview last month with military.com, he is making it a priority to clear up misperceptions about Special Forces by proposing changes to Army doctrine.

"It was absolutely so apparent that he had no idea what SF guys do," Sacolick said, referring to a civilian professional who spoke off the cuff about the Special Forces as a whole. "The fact is, we're the only force specifically trained and educated to train and work with indigenous forces. Not hunting them down and killing them, but working with them to build partner capacity."

Thanks to many movies, the average person might have the impression that since the 9/11 conflict, the sole purpose of the Special Forces is to snag high-value targets and confront terrorists and insurgent leaders in lightning raids at any cost.

"I hate analogies like the pointy end of the spear. We're not designed to hunt people down and kill them," Sacolick said. "We have that capability and we have forces that specialize in that. But ultimately what we do that nobody else does is work with our indigenous partner nations."

Sacolick is no stranger to the special operations community. He hopes to transform the image of the Special Forces by getting back to basics by proposing change to the Army’s doctrine.

"Somehow over the last 10 years we maybe became a little too disengaged with the Army," Sacolick said. "So now we are reengaging with the Army . . . and talking about [what we do] outside the battlefield."

During the past decade, the Army has gone from deploying Special Forces to 91 countries to around 45 today. Sacolick conveyed he would like it to drop further. 

"I have a generation of young men who are about to assume command of Special Forces battalions that know nothing but Iraq and Afghanistan," Sacolick said. "We're going to have to retrain a whole generation of officers."

"I'm pretty comfortable that once we get relief from Iraq and Afghanistan . . . we'll start sending these guys out to [other] countries and they'll pick up that mission again," Sacolick said.

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Big Army Getting Special Forces Capability

                        

Big Army is about to join its Special Operations brethren in being able to fingerprint or optically scan a suspect on the battlefield and positively identify them within minutes. The capability, called SEEK II, comes in a 3 lb. box with a camera and a fingerprint pad made by Crossmatch Technologies.

The Army has long relied on the Biometrics Automated Toolset (BAT) and Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIDE) biometric systems, which have been very successful at logging people into biometric databases, but at times have seen complaints from soldiers that have limited value in bright sunlight. But with SEEK II, which is under evaluation here at the Army’s Network Integration Evaluation exercise, soldiers on the ground will be able to fingerprint a suspect, and receive an answer back within five minutes whether or not the suspect is already in the system.

The Army is sending 54 handheld systems to Afghanistan in July, says Michael Piesen of the Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center, along with six vehicle-mounted, and four fixed-site networking boxes that allow the handhelds' 3G connectivity to the database. Soldiers can be up to 5 km away from the box and still connect. Special Operations forces have been using the SEEK II in the field for some time, Craig Archer, chief of the identity and intelligence branch of the U.S. Special Forces Command said recently, and have found that 40 percent of the suspects they scan in the field are already in the database.

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‘Mini-surge’ of U.S. Special Forces to hit Afghanistan

                     

A Navy SEAL communicates with teammates during recent immediate action drills that are a part of the SEALs pre-deployment training. John Scorza/Courtesy U.S. Navy

U.S. military leaders are working to replace some of the exiting American conventional forces from Afghanistan with a “mini-surge” of U.S. Special Forces, a measure to soothe commanders’ fears that the withdrawal of troops might put at risk military gains, according to the Times out of Australia.

Military sources told The Times that 16 special operations personnel are considered to be worth the equivalent of 100 conventional troops.

In June, President Obama announced plans towithdraw 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. The remainder of the surge troops, about 23,000, would be withdrawn in 2012, leaving about 70,000 troops in Afghanistan until 2014.

Defense analysts have said of late that the reduction of conventional troops likely will place a heavier burden on clandestine units, such as SEALs, and Army Rangers and Green Berets.

The Times reports there are more than 7,000 U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan and about 3,000 in Iraq, with many of the latter expected to be moved to Afghanistan.

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It's Raining Commandos and Dogs

Special operations troops are enthusiastic users of military dogs, and train some of them to parachute with the troops into enemy territory. Special operations troops (often called "operators") are often used for reconnaissance mission in hostile territory, and the best way to get in is via parachute, at night. Dogs are often very useful on these recon missions, as the animals can detect people, explosives and other useful stuff better than any human of sensor.

The parachute training for the dogs is not that time-consuming. That's because the dog goes in strapped to the chest of one of the troops. Normally, the dogs don't seem to mind this at all, but a few practice jumps are made to make sure. Some of the dogs appear to enjoy the jumps, and all are ready to go to work once they reach the ground and are released from the chest harness. Some dogs have even made high altitude (10,000 meters) jumps. 

Over 600 military dogs are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. military has used specially trained dogs in all its wars in the last century. Dogs have been used by troops for thousands of years. Military dogs proved to be particularly useful with Arabs, who consider dogs somewhat "unclean" and particularly repugnant. American military dogs are kept pretty clean, but they are scary, and one military dog can control a lot of otherwise hostile Moslems, although the main use of the dogs is not crowd control, but detecting hidden explosives or people. That's what the dog sent on the bin Laden raid was apparently there for (to find explosive traps, or people trying to hide.)

SOCOM (Special Operations Command) includes U.S. Army Special Forces, U.S. Navy SEALs, as well as U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force operators. All are trained to use dogs. SOCOM has  developed special equipment for their military dogs. One of the more recent items was a special camera system that is incorporated into a vests often worn by their combat dogs. The camouflaged vest weighs 571 grams/20 ounces and the camera 314 grams/11 ounces. The dog handler has a handheld viewer/recorder with a 76mm/3 inch screen. 

The camera has night vision and the batteries on the camera and viewer last 30 minutes. The range of the camera/viewer data link is 1,000 meters in the open, or 200 meters if there are a lot of walls to go through. This enables operators to send their dog into a building or cave and see what the dog sees. The vests also include a small loudspeaker that enables the handlers to give their dog commands. These special dog vests cost about $22,000 each.

In the last decade, the United States military has used several thousand military dogs in combat zones. There has been a lot of new gear developed for the military dogs. Some of the new gear is just updates of existing stuff. For example, war dogs have long been equipped with non-armored vests. These vests are inexpensive (under $100) and just provided protection from the elements and a way to identify the dog. More recent vest designs come with many special features. 

Some vests have compartments on the inside for the insertion of cold packs (soft, flat plastic bags containing a chemical that, when activated, becomes very cool). Since dogs do not deal with heat as effectively as humans (dogs don’t sweat), and Iraq and Afghanistan can be very warm in Summer, the cold packs can prevent heat stroke. There are also attachments on the vest to enable the dog to be dropped by parachute, or hauled up via a rope. 

Vests now allow identifying badges to easily be added, and more of them have various grips for the handlers to pick up an injured dog. One vest design even has straps so that a handler can carry the dog on his back like a pack. The vests hinder the dogs' mobility a bit, especially when they are jumping. But the dogs have quickly adjusted. The armored vests, depending on the degree of protection, cost from $500-$1,000. Some handlers prefer unarmored vests, because they are lighter (about a pound/.5kg) than the armored vests (up to 3.5kg/7 pounds), and less constrictive.

Normally used for sniffing out explosives, crowd control and other police type work, the dogs are also trained to work while wearing custom made Kevlar body armor. These vests will protect the dogs from stab wounds, shell fragments and some bullets. While the heaviest Protective Vests weigh about 3.5 kg, for a 41 kg (90 pound) German Shepard, this is about the same burden as the 7.7 kg/17 pound vest worn by soldiers and marines. The expense of the vests is justified because of the value of the dogs. The dogs take over a year, and some $60,000, to train. So spending some money on life saving equipment for the dogs is a good investment.

There are currently over a thousand of these dogs in U.S. military service. During World War II, some 10,000 dogs were taken into military service, and in the Vietnam war, some 4,000 dogs were trained and sent overseas, where 281 were killed in combat. The marines used 327 dogs in the Pacific during World War II, and 29 died in battle. The marines found the dogs particularly useful for detecting Japanese troops, who were expert at camouflage, and setting up ambushes.

Until 2000, when the law was changed, military dogs were used until they were about ten years old, then killed. It was thought that the retired military dogs could not adapt to family life. But decades of police, and some military experience, with dogs living safely with their handlers and family members, finally caused the policy to be changed. Dog handlers had long urged that retired dogs be allowed to stay with their handlers, or be put up for adoption.

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USASOC Reveals FNH-USA Mk20 Plan

  

So a couple of you have asked about the status of the FNH-USA-built Mk20 Sniper Support Rifle in last week’s post and I thought I’d put out what I know and don’t know (which is a lot).

First off, I’ve pinged SOCOM for an official update, but I also wanted to share with you a slide I obtained that shows Army Special Operations Command’s plan for their sniper rifle inventory. All I’m doing at this point is reading tea leaves, but here goes.

According to the slide, USASOC plans to divest itself of the Mk11 (7.62)-Mk12 (5.56) rifles in their inventory beginning in the last quarter if this fiscal year (which is now). They will replace them with the Mk17 SCAR Heavy and the Mk20 SSR through Q3 of 2017.

Now, what’s confusing to me is that in paralell to the USASOC initiatives on the SCAR and SSR, the Army is also running its own M110 upgrade and is replacing all Mk11s with M110s. If the M4 is good enough for USASOC to cancel its Mk16 purchasing plans, then why isn’t the M110 and the newly modified M110 A1 good enough? Honest question, not being critical at all.

(Check it out after the jump!)

SOF Warrior - Sniper Rifle

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US Naval and Troop Movements Toward North Africa, Middle East Reported As Syrian Destabilization Escalates

Washington DC – US Special Forces units based at Fort Hood, Texas, have been told to prepare for deployment to Libya no later than July, according to a US military source. The Special Forces would then be followed in September or October by heavy armored units of the First Cavalry Division, currently located in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with other components of the US III Corps. This report was broadcast today on the Alex Jones radio program, and comes against the backdrop of escalating US destabilization operations against Syria and sharpening US condemnation of Damascus and its ally, Tehran.

Observers point out that US Special Forces have been in Libya since February. They also note that, while the Libyan destination is highly plausible, some of these units may also find themselves on the way to Yemen, Syria, or beyond.

Another anonymous military source speaking on the Alex Jones broadcast reported that US stocks of depleted uranium (DU) munitions are currently very low. This may be the reality behind outgoing Defense Secretary Gates’ complaint last week that NATO is “running out of bombs” in Libya, and similar remarks by French NATO General Stephane Abrial in Belgrade.

A source at US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that US forces are being lined up for new foreign missions, and added that his unit had recently processed two deceased US Army soldiers and three deceased US civilians, possibly mercenaries. The source attributed these cases to Libya, although US operations in Libya are widely thought to be controlled by the new US African Command (AFRICOM).

These reports should be taken together with the energetic protests from the Russian Foreign Ministry over the presence of the US Aegis cruiser Monterrey (a vessel with anti-ballistic missile capabilities) in the Black Sea, along with the arrival of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan off the coast of Syria.

According to the Israeli site DebkaFile, which often reflects the views of the Mossad, “Western sources additonally report a build-up of ship-borne anti-missile missile strength in the Mediterranean basin. This huge concentration of naval missile interceptor units looks like preparations by Washington for the contingency of Iran, Syria and Hizballah letting loose with surface missiles against US and Israeli targets in the event of US military intervention to stop the anti-opposition slaughter underway in Syria. Moscow, Tehran and Damascus, in particular, are taking this exceptional spate of American military movements in and around the Mediterranean as realistically portending American intervention in Syria.” Debka also says that Hezbollah is in the process of moving some of its formidable missile assets from northern Lebanon to the central regions of that country, closer to Israel.”

The Obama administration is thus on a collision course with the Congress over the War Powers Act, which requires legislative approval of the Libyan war. If Obama continues to bomb Libya, or compounds his air assault with a ground invasion, he will be impeachment bait.

Source: Tarpley.net, June 15 2011

By: Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.

Six-hour fight disrupts Taliban meeting

An infantry soldier currently serving in Helmand province has written in his latest blog about a battle with insurgents that lasted six hours, disrupting an enemy shura.

Lance Corporal Roberts and one of his men look out over the Green Zone from the roof of a compound

[Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

Lance Corporal Roberts is a Section Second-in-Command in 4 Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion The Mercian Regiment (3 MERCIAN). He is currently based at Check Point Attal on Route 601, the main road to Lashkar Gah. He has previously served in Iraq, but this is his first tour of Afghanistan.

Recently 4 Platoon have been involved in operations alongside multiples (half-platoons) from the Royals Scots Dragoon Guards (SCOTS DG) and 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.

As the harvests draw to a close in Helmand, ISAF forces in Afghanistan have been witnessing a spike in insurgent hostilities, and this has been no less true of Lance Corporal Roberts' Area of Operations (AO).

In his blog, Lance Corporal Roberts explained that 4 Platoon have been continuing to push into new areas and take the fight to the insurgents in their own back yard, thus securing the AO and furthering the ongoing mission to provide security to the local population.

Lance Corporal Roberts explains what happened in one recent mission. He said:

"We were going about our daily routine of patrolling and, as is often the case, we received intelligence and an order from Battle Group Headquarters to conduct a strike operation onto an insurgent shura [meeting]."

A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II in the skies over Afghanistan (stock image)

[Picture: Master Sergeant William Greer, US Air Force]

The shura involved up to 60 insurgents to the south of Check Point (CP) Yaklang, in an otherwise unpatrolled area. At 1000hrs Lance Corporal Roberts and his multiple departed and were dropped 4km short of their objective - the location of the shura:

"With temperatures reaching 47 degrees, and with 65kg of kit per man, the going was tough," Lance Corporal Roberts said.

"As we advanced on foot towards the objective, atmospherics changed with every step. I distinctly remember turning to the Boss, Lieutenant Cook, and saying 'being point man is the loneliest place on earth', to be greeted by a wry, knowing smile.

"As we pushed on, the insurgent scouting screen was out in force, watching our every step from 1.5 to 2km away, tracking and feeding back our movements. My team went firm on a built-up natural defence line, giving overwatch as another multiple pushed past."

From this position Lance Corporal Roberts and his team tracked five men taking up positions around the northern extremity of the shura, with one moving from man to man relaying last minute orders - indicating an insurgent team commander:

Lance Corporal Roberts

[Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

"As is often the case we also saw families moving out of the area, knowing the likely outcome of this advance, as well as motorbikes sending messages and dropping men off around the area. Five minutes passed and we were on our feet, moving slowly but surely towards the objective.

"Amazingly, we made entry to the reported target building with no insurgents seen - those occupying the north of the target melting away into the surroundings.

"I moved my team onto a compound roof, utilising the height the roof offered to get a better view. From here I placed the sharpshooter, focusing on a compound cluster to our west, then having a Lance Corporal spotting for the general purpose machine guns covering the other directions as we faced a 360-degree threat.

"From this temporary bastion, the SCOTS DG pushed a multiple forward to the compounds to the west. It was then that we got positive identification on two insurgents with weapons. I radioed the SCOTS DG to get them to pull back as myself and the sharpshooter were in a position to suppress the insurgents with fire - but if the multiple pushed on, our field of view would be obscured and we would no longer be able to engage."

A British Army Air Corps Apache helicopter in flight (stock image)

[Picture: Graham Main, Crown Copyright/MOD 2006]

However, it was too late and the multiple was already in front of Lance Corporal Roberts and his team. The silence was broken by the inevitable crack and thump of the insurgents hastily-laid ambush roaring to life:

"As the exposed multiple dived for cover, the arcs opened once again, allowing me and the sharpshooter to both accurately suppress the insurgents."

The fighting continued for six more hours, with the insurgents occupying firing points to our north, south, east and west:

"We were effectively surrounded," said Lance Corporal Roberts.

But in the exchange of fire his multiple successfully suppressed the insurgents and prepared to return to their CP:

"As we prepared to extract, I witnessed the most amazing spectacle to date: two American A-10 tank busters doing a show-of-force, thundering flyby 50m overhead, giving the insurgents the fright of their lives and the lads at our location something to really cheer about.

Lance Corporal Roberts and his team take up a firing position over the wall of a compound

[Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

"Finally, on our extraction, after calling for emergency close air support, we got an Apache on station overhead. Loaded with a 30mm gun and Hellfire missiles, it created a good incentive for any remaining insurgents - who had so effectively boxed us in all day - not to mess with us anymore."

Thanks to the hard work from all the men on the ground the mission was successful, the enemy shura was disrupted, and the troops had punched into the heart of insurgent territory, further diminishing their numbers:

"We extracted a casualty with a broken ankle (a lad who fell on the way out) and survived for a prolonged period with limited supplies and no chance of a resupply; a true testament to the professionalism and tenacious character of the British Army," Lance Corporal Roberts concluded.

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