Originally Posted by
1168
SOCOM, and SOF in general, are victims of success. They became the easy button. They were simply very good at executing the missions with minimum fallout, and quietly. Even during the Obama years, where the taxpayer didn’t want to know we were doing anything but pulling out. But, rest assured that dudes were out putting in work. All over the place. All the time. And being on recall leashes between rotations. Getting run ragged. Burnout was very real, and got studied a few years back in depth by USSOCOM, with a few changes made to try to mitigate the effects.
There were Generals and Admirals that advised the civilian leadership of this, but I’m not sure they cared. Why would they? The guys put in the work, and the politicians could pick and choose which missions they wanted to take the credit for with the voters.
All of the organizations are changed now due to the GWOT and the second and third order effects from the way they were employed. SF, SEALS, Rangers, Delta, PJ’s, the entire USMC, all shifted into roles they were not made for.
Bookmarks