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Misreported or Mispoken…Kim Jung-un Will Take It – Duffy Sends
Hope all had a safe Memorial Day weekend. I am been quite lax with my sendings, no excuse really. I was at SOFIC last week which was an excellent time of seeing old friends, making a little rain, and raising some money for the Green Beret Foundation. While there, controversy erupted after an article by David Axe was posted on the attributed remarks by BG Neil Tolley, SOCKOR CG. Now, I was not present for the remarks so not able to shed light on what was said or in what context. Really doesn’t matter at this point as the damage is done. Below is an email I received from my good friend, former Green Beret COL (ret) Dave Maxwell. Dave has served with 1st Group guys and has had a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Defense Policy, Intelligence, Politics, Special Forces
Duffy Sends 18 April 2012 – IMPORTANT!!! Read Before Invasion…
I chose Roger Carstens article on considerations before intervening in Syria mainly as it lays out a checklist on requirements prior to any decision to enter the fray. While not necessarily a fan of check lists as each conflict is different, at least Roger lays out a model to consider where I’m not aware of one existing. Dr Rebecca Johnson does lay out nicely the tenets for justifiable war in her draft remarks here http://endeavortopersevere.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/some-thoughts/, but in our ADD world I think Roger’s bumper sticker approach will at least remind folks that there should be at least some sort of guideline before engagement. Every pundit should have these simple rules tacked up on their cubicle, in particularly the UN to temper R2P (responsibility to protect) desire that would have intervention ongoing in … Read entire article »
Filed under: COIN, Defense Policy, FID, Special Forces, UW
Duffy Send – 26 Mar 12: The Best Doctrine Never Read…SOF FID
As Afghanistan winds down (and not fast enough) I look for our OCONUS engagements to return to pre 9/11 models with foreign internal defense (FID) being the dominate engagement method for all of DoD, in particular SOF. It is encouraging that SOF has excellent doctrine on FID, although I really wish people would read it. It was surprising to learn that within the past year USASOC had briefly considered changing the UW definition yet again to include SOF FID somehow. I would have been curious to see how that would have turned out, but fortunately common sense prevailed and Special Warfare was deemed to be the more apt term to describe USASOC activities. Nevermind that the new UW definition barely has the ink dry and that USASOC just spent a year … Read entire article »
Filed under: COIN, Defense Policy, FID, Special Forces, Training
Support the Green Beret Foundation
NEK is soliciting for donations in support of our action fund raiser for the Green Beret Foundation. Auction is conducted during SOFIC in Tampa this May. If interested in contributing, contact Bonnie Moss at bonnie.moss@nekasg.com. This is one of the primary ways we raise money and good gear is always appreciated. We will work hard to ensure that you or your organization/manufacturer gets credit for what is donated at each event, lending additional visibility and goodwill to the donor. Thank You, Dave Duffy … Read entire article »
Filed under: Special Forces
Duffy Sends 14 March 2012 – 100 Ways to Say the Same Thing…
I chose this article from King’s College’s “Kings of War” web site as it describes a huge pet peeve of mine, the neverending creation of terms to describe Irregular Warfare (which is in itself a new term since ’06). This article barely scratches the surface on the plethora of terms used to describe everything related to conflict beyond what DoD and the greater Defense Industrial Complex thinks of as conventional war. Which is ironic since our history shows that the preponderance of our military engagements is anything but “conventional”. While DoD and TRADOC have a long history of coming up with new terms (read OER Support forms are due so need to contribute something), thanks to the explosion of blog sites and think tanks an entire industry has been created from … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, COIN, Defense Policy, Special Forces, UW
Duffy Sends 1 Mar 2012 – Time for a Draft
I believe it is time to Congress to reinstitute the Draft. I don’t base this on the historical reasons ensuring that there are enough uniformed troops to wage our countries wars. On the contrary, I am amazed and incredibly proud that after a decade of war in two theaters that our All Volunteer Force has not broken and continues to uphold the highest traditions of service and valor. In fact, I believe because of their great performance that this contributes to our Congress and President, and by extension society, viewing our military engagements in the abstract since less than one percent of our citizens serve. Thus I feel that there should be a greater burden placed on society for going to war beyond wearing a ribbon and flying a flag. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Defense Policy, Politics
Duffy Sends 16 Feb 2012 – Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado about Nothing I figured with the announced defense budget cuts that are perceived to bypass SOF that there would be an outbreak of anti-SOF rhetoric hitting the media. However, it is still surprising the amount of disinformation being published about SOCOM and ADM McRaven. A multitude of articles have been published recently running the gamut from allegations of a SOCOM power grab for more authorities to SOF is out of control and needs more oversight. I’ll address the former, for the latter I find that such accusations are made by those who do not understand the chain of command, the orders process and how execution of missions are based on proper authorities in all operations, SOF and non-SOF alike. I don’t know if the leaks and smear campaigns are … Read entire article »
Filed under: Defense Policy, Politics, Special Forces
Duffy Sends 14 Feb 2012 – State Department Requests Budget Increase by Josh Rogin
A bit of a recycle of older Sends, but topical as funding at State remains woeful. Chose this article as I believe it remains a critical issue to increase funding for State and USAID, regardless of cuts to DOD or the USG. The requested increases are statistically insignificant, yet critical to maintain US engagement abroad to expand our diplomatic national power and presence. An increase also shows Administration commitment to Diplomacy and Soft power as the wars drawdown. Current funding levels are incredibly disproportionate between Defense and State, little wonder that our default engagement methodology of national power has been the Military. With pending defense cuts, there will be less means to intervene militarily so I recommend that in addition to the “Asian pivot” we do a “State pivot” as … Read entire article »
Filed under: Politics
Duffy Sends 3 Feb 2012 – Putting the Afghans in Charge – Roger Carstens
I chose this article by Roger Carstens today as it gets to the heart of the myriad of challenges facing our BCTs as they transition from direct combat to an advise and assist mission supporting the Afghan gov’t in countering an insurgency. Let’s be clear, this is not the end of combat operations for our forces, if anything, this will compound the challenges facing our troops and leaders as they must adopt more than an Afghan “face” on engagements. It is well beyond time to leave this theater and transitioning to Afghan led and executed operations is the way ahead to get the troops home. As Roger alludes to, this will be a difficult shift for leaders that haven’t been trained or won’t by in to this scheme, instead adopting … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, COIN, Defense Policy, Training
Duffy Sends 27 Jan 2012 – US special operations expanding as wars recede – Kim Dozier
I chose this article by Kim Dozier for a few reasons, mainly because it is topical given the Strategic Guidance emphasis on SOF engagement and emerging budget cut guidance that seems to “spare” SOF. So, the article below has created a lot of interest as it lays out what life after Iraq/Afghanistan might be like for the SOF community, and thus DoD. Bemusing to me though is the way this anonymously leaked story is being reported. I’ve seen it as a “plot” by ADM McRaven, thus indicating something nefarious. Even in the article below it opines for SOF that this plan “would enable them to launch splashy, unilateral raids” seemingly at will I guess. The crux of the matter is that the TSOCs were gutted by GEN Brown post 9/11 in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Defense Policy, Special Forces
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