The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Can't Get Enough Special Forces
by James Dunnigan
October 1, 2003
The war on terror is tougher on some types of troops than others. While
most of the news coverage features reservists sent over to do a year in Iraq,
the people who have spent the most time overseas in the past two years are the
Special Forces. In particular, the 5th Special Forces Group has been
particularly hard hit. Most members of the 5th Group have been state side for a
total of maybe six months since September 11, 2001. Each Special Forces group
has three battalions (about 1200 troops altogether). The 5th Group is now
keeping two battalions overseas and one back in the states for rest and
training. On top of the heavy work load, the 5th Group is also about twenty
percent understrength. Each of the five Special Forces Groups specializes in on
region of the world, and the 5th has responsibility for the Middle East and
Afghanistan. The other four Groups have been helping out, even though they don't
have the language and cultural awareness talents of the 5th Group. That said,
the Russian speakers of the 10th Group (specializing in Europe) find lots of
people in Afghanistan and Iraq who speak Russian. The two National Guard Groups
(the 19th and 20th), have also been called up, as these groups are full of
Special Forces veterans who retired or got out to get away from the frequent
overseas duty (and make more money). These men have experience and skills,
although they can now expect to see a lot more time overseas than the average
reservists. There are only seven Special Forces Groups altogether, and, with the
personnel shortages, not quite 7,000 "operators" available for action. And
several thousand of these have to be held back for possible use in Korea, South
America or Africa. Because the Special Forces troops are the product of an
exacting screening and training process, they are in big demand by intelligence
agencies as well. Recruiting efforts have been increased for over a year, but
the results of that won't be seen for at least another year. Special Forces
operators (as members of the Special Forces are called) who retired or quit in
the last decade have been sought our and offered opportunities to get back in
the business. If not with one of the five active duty groups, then with training
operations, or to work with the intelligence agencies. Most Americans tend to
forget that the U.S. Special Forces are a unique organization in military, and
intelligence, history. No other nation has anything like the Special Forces, and
never has. The idea of training thousands of troops to very high standards, then
having them study foreign languages and cultures, is unique to the Special
Forces. The war on terror is the kind of war Special Forces are perfectly suited
to dealing with. But now that this unique kind of war is under way, we find that
those soldiers uniquely suited to fighting it are in short supply. This is
largely because Special Forces set high standards, and has resisted all attempts
to lower those standards. One hard lesson the Special Forces has learned in past
fifty years is that lowering standards just increases the chances of failure,
and getting your people killed.
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