In fact, it appears that Syria had a robust army after all. They never received U.S. training. How much does third party training do for a nation without a strong national identity. The Iraqis do not feel as though they have a country.
One thing is for sure: Americans are terrified of the refugee crisis. With some good reason when we dissect and look at the actors in the Syrian war. When it comes to Syrians, it’s hard to decipher who is who.
Iraqis quietly expressed their concern to me that Iran was taking over Iraq, and no one was doing anything about it. The distrust of their comrades ran so deep that some would stop talking to me the second another soldier entered the room, regardless if the other one was a friend.
The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) are proving their worth and showing the incredible work done by Special Forces. The ISOF was in real danger of losing its effectiveness, because we left them hanging, as a nation. The result of our abandonment was a hopeless, not hopeful Iraq. The warfighters felt that hopelessness. The mission was […]
General Mark Milley, the Chief of Staff for the United States Army, is bringing a revolutionary concept into being. He is moving forward with the establishment of advisory brigades within the U.S. Army. The United States military has a long history of advisory efforts but for the most part, except for the U.S. special operations […]
This type of arrangement is hardly unprecedented, as Delta Force also worked in the shadows during the search for, and eventual killing of, Pablo Escobar in Colombia. They’ve also served in advisory capacities during hostage-rescue missions in places as diverse as Sudan and Peru.
The following is an excerpt from retired Special Forces Warrant Officer Jim “Smokey” West’s upcoming memoir. Learn more about Jim by checking out his website, American Extension Fighting. The village consisted of an adobe, clay, and dirt shanties surrounding the town square. The square had some restaurants around it, all featuring five-star dirt floors. There was […]
While we at SOFREP are big proponents of Special Forces and their Foreign Internal Defense mission, we should do a better job of scrutinizing who we train, why we train them, and what we train them to do. All too often we train those who can’t be trusted and train those who can in US […]
The point is that when conducting FID, your job is not to create a mirror image of American forces, but rather to give your host-nation counterparts some basic skills to help them rise above their opposition and help effect tactical victories on the battlefield.
I’d like to continue the FID tips series by writing about how your status as an American factors into how you engage with host-nation partners. Being a cheeseburger-eating, barrel-chested, freedom-fighting American has both pros and cons as you try to build a relationship with indigenous forces. One of the major drawbacks is that you probably […]
I’ve decided to start a new series on SOFREP about foreign internal defense (FID)—a topic that touches upon subjects such as unconventional warfare (UW) and espionage as it is related to source handling and eliciting information. To make a long story short, FID is a mission in which Special Forces teams deploy to an allied nation, […]
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