Why SOCOM?

Got brass in pocket
Got bottle I'm gonna use it
Intention I feel inventive
Gonna make you, make you,
make you notice
--Brass in Pocket,
The Pretenders
__________________

Why do we have Special Forces, and why did Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) devolve from this? How did they become 4-Star commands?

Do units that have 68,000 assigned personnel -- along with an unspecified number of civilian personnel -- qualify as “special”? If Special Operations Forces are so special and their missions classified, why do we wear flashy tabs and hats advertising our existence; shouldn’t Special Operations Forces (SOF) be all gash and no flash?

The Unites States Special Forces was modeled upon World War II's Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was modeled upon the British SOE. The OSS was a theatre asset responsive to the orders of the Allied Supreme Commander. Special Forces was just that: They were assigned missions outside of the traditional force structure.

SF worked with the State Department as part of a “Country Team”, in order to ascertain what was needed to benefit the host nation (HN). In addition to direct action, SF performed Foreign Internal Defense (FID), Internal Defense and Development (IDAD), intelligence functions and unconventional and guerrilla warfare.

The Rangers, Devils Brigade, Marine Raiders and Merrill's Marauders consolidated into United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance and the Rangers. Both specialized in direct action (DA), while performing some supporting intelligence roles, as well. Both are built on the British WW II commando model and are military in function, pure and simple.

So, how have the Rangers and USMC Force Recon come to be included under the rubric of SOF, which is other than simple DA? Ditto the SEALs, who morphed from the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) of WWII. The fleet simply does not need to send hired killers around the world. How did the killing of Osama bin Laden, for example, benefit the Chief of Naval Operations (other than making of him a Mortuary Officer?)

In Vietnam, SF were trained in and performed all the classic WWII OSS functions. The CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Groups) A-teams did Population and Resource Control (PRC), IDAD and FID. The Mike Force B-teams were DA, with some focus on intel gathering. All worked for the Theatre and Corps Commanders and were responsive to the maneuver commander’s guidance. All followed the chain of command and had a clearly delineated role.

Special programs like Studies and Observations Group (SOG) were DA, strategic intel and worked directly for the Theatre Commander. All used foreign troops under U.S. command, fulfilling the “force multiplier” SF mission.

All was fine until the failure of Desert Storm I, when it was decided that the Army needed an in-house special Air Force responsive to Special Operations’ needs; thus was created the 1^st Provisional SOCOM. (It should be noted that in VN and before, SF had a prototype of SOCOM with the dedicate aviation units which had habitual relations with SF units like The Green Hornets (20th Special Operations Squadron; 20th SOS with SOG).)

The justification for the creation of SOF – SOCOM was the cry from SF commanders that Regular Army pogues did not understand SF capabilities, and therefore misutilized the assets. While that may be so, the current Special Operations empire has not ensured SF is used any better than it was in the bad old days. Instead of keeping SF special, it is now a miasma of cobbled forces and missions.

What does SOCOM do that any regular U.S. Army unit cannot do? The 10^th Mountain, 24^th and 25^th, 4^th and 3^rd Division all fight just as hard as any SOCOM unit. Any unit can be special trained up for purposes in Iraq or Afghanistan. It appears SOCOM has ceased to be a war fighting organization and instead has become a series of small units focused on non-military operations.

It seems the one new thing for SOCOM is to serve at the beck and call of a president who wishes to order assassination strikes and avoid going through the National Command Structure.

In Ranger’s day, the military distrusted SF as being Central Intelligence Agency lackeys . It looks like the hens have come home to roost as SOCOM is now functioning as the military wing of the CIA.

SOCOM and GOMORRAH

--Ranger was recently awarded the FUBAR
medal by Ranger Andy
of the Society for Dysfunctional Vets

"And you will know I am the Lord
When I lay me vengeance upon you."
I just thought it was a cold-blooded thing
to say to a motherfucker
before I popped a cap in his ass
--Pulp Fiction (1944)

They had found a can of white paint,
and on the front doors of the cab
Frank had painted white stars,
and on the roof he had painted
the letters of a granfaloon:
USA
--Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
___________________

Contrary to the views of people like Rick Santorum & Co., God rained destruction down upon the residents of Sodom and Gamorrah not because, to quote the coy Santorum, they were "do[ing] things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be." No -- they angered a tightly-strung God because they took advantage of travelers; Good Samaritans they were not:

"It is only somewhat mollifying to realize that the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality but inhospitality. You can't tell from this episode whether God is against buggery, but you can be sure he takes a dim view of raping perfectly nice strangers who come to visit" (The Gift of the Jews, Cahill, p. 77).

The next set of gods were Greek, and they emphasized the host's imperative to treat guests well. These guys learned from others mistakes (but don't look for any sexual changes there.)

So what are the rules of godly etiquette for treatment of people in their own homes, sleeping in their own bedrooms?

We in the U.S. believe a man's home is his castle. Here in the Gunshine State in 2005, our own Governor Jeb Bush signed State Bill 436, the "Castle Doctrine", into law. It basically establishes the presumption that a criminal who forcibly enters or intrudes into your home or occupied vehicle is there to cause death or great bodily harm, therefore a person may use any manner of force, including deadly force, against that person (gunlaws.com).

Reasonable enough idea: Someone does a home invasion, they are not coming to bring you cupcakes. However, the Castle Doctrine was violated when god created an unclassified critter cataloged as the SOCOM (Special Operations Command) WARRIOR. A SOCOM warrior breaks into people's homes, usually under cover of darkness, and violates their very existence, defying the sacredness of the home.

The biblical god allowed the Angel of Death to kill Egyptian babies in their cribs, but SEALs are not god's angels of death. Sadly, even many otherwise informed people think that SEALs are "kill teams".

RangerAgainstWar will call this sin, SOCOMY. Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do. Thinking is not their purview.

As the the poet Tennyson wrote, "Theirs not to reason why / Theirs is but to do and die."