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SOCOM Leads the Way?
TWO WEEKS AGO, Admiral Eric T. Olson, former Navy SEAL and commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), complained in an interview that U.S. special operations forces are overcommitted and stretched too thin. "We are going to fewer countries, staying for shorter periods of time, and with smaller numbers of people than historically we have done."...So what is the answer? The Marines may have hit on the solution: rather than lowering the quality of special operations troops in order to increase the size of the force, they are raising the quality of their line troops to take on some of the missions currently performed by special operations forces. This has been done by training certain Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) to be "Special Operations Capable"; such units are now designated as "MEU(SOC)s." A typical MEU(SOC) is built around a Marine rifle battalion reinforced with an artillery battery, an amphibious assault vehicle company, a reconnaissance platoon, and other support elements, with a total of 1,200 men. The MEU(SOC) also has an aviation element with transport and attack helicopters, and its own logistic support element. Members of the ground combat element--specifically the rifle battalion and the reconnaissance platoon--receive training in infiltration and assault tactics, urban warfare, and basic special operations tasks (hostage rescue, raiding, indigenous force training, etc.) They obviously do not have the same level of training in each of these disciplines as dedicated special operations forces, but they may be "good enough" for lower-end tasks, which are thus off-loaded from the over-committed special operations troops. If MEU(SOCs) can take up perhaps 15 percent of the burden, that would be the equivalent of some 7,500 men to SOCOM. The Army could and should follow the lead of the USMC by training some of its light infantry battalions in the 82nd Airborne and 10th Mountain Division to be "special operations capable" as well, further reducing the stress on high-end special operators... Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-05-21 |
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