Posted on May 7, 2015
Major Jim Gant, on the right path to winning in Afghanistan, or a degenerate criminal?
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Special Forces Major Jim Gant was winning over Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan by going "native" with them. He was praised by his chain of command for his successes, and ultimately charged and removed from command for transgressions he engaged in while in theatre. What do you think? http://news.yahoo.com/top-green-beret-officer-forced-resign-over-affair-190327213--abc-news-topstories.html
Crime
Heroes
Posted >1 y ago
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Everyone, don't believe the hype! This man was incompetent, delusional, and negligent for starters. The things he were doing were NOT sanctioned and he is SHUNNED in the Special Forces community. This is a clear cut example of "going native" in the sense of Apocalypse Now. He was knocked down and had his tab revoked on his way out. That is the community saying "you are no longer a part of us".
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His commanders charged in confidential files that he had "indulged in a self-created fantasy world" of booze, pain pills and sex in a tribal village deep in Taliban and al Qaeda country with his "wife," journalist Ann Scott Tyson.
Maj Gant says... “I never left the battlefield defeated. I never lost a man. Well over 20 awards for valor for the men that I fought alongside. We went after ‘em every single day. I brought all my men home. That’s it,”
Of Gant, Gen Petraeus says... “He clearly had grit. He had guts. He had intelligence,” Petraeus, who became the Afghan war’s commander in 2010, told ABC News in a rare on-camera interview. “He is one to whom we owe a debt of gratitude, even recognizing how things ended for him. Folks make mistakes, obviously.”
Again, Petraeus.... “[Gant] did go native. You go native so that the natives feel that you respect them and are comfortable with them and trust them, above all. And he really was adopted as a son by Sitting Bull... there was no question about the relationship between these two individuals. And that's what you want,” Petraeus said.
Maj Gant says... “I never left the battlefield defeated. I never lost a man. Well over 20 awards for valor for the men that I fought alongside. We went after ‘em every single day. I brought all my men home. That’s it,”
Of Gant, Gen Petraeus says... “He clearly had grit. He had guts. He had intelligence,” Petraeus, who became the Afghan war’s commander in 2010, told ABC News in a rare on-camera interview. “He is one to whom we owe a debt of gratitude, even recognizing how things ended for him. Folks make mistakes, obviously.”
Again, Petraeus.... “[Gant] did go native. You go native so that the natives feel that you respect them and are comfortable with them and trust them, above all. And he really was adopted as a son by Sitting Bull... there was no question about the relationship between these two individuals. And that's what you want,” Petraeus said.
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SPC Angel Guma
I read Major Gant's book actually. Absolutely excellent reading. This man was so out of the box from the very beginning, I only wonder how come he didn't get shit-canned for something else much earlier in his career. Its people like him that are going to be feared by peers and superiors. At some point, someone tried putting him back in the box to tidy him up, and he wasn't having it. But, look at the results. He did far better with the tribes in Afghanistan than anyone else we know of. And, whatever they say about him going native, he took many an enemy's life. He did what he had to do to out maneuver the Taliban, honestly, winning battles and winning the war are what good officers should do.
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SSG Gerhard S.
Indeed, the results cannot be argued with. So, his downfall was more of a potential PR concern, or was it something more personal.
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SSG Gerhard S.
Clearly unconventional, but also clearly effective. Aren't our "Special" Forces SUPPOSED to be unconventional?
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SPC Angel Guma
You speak to the heart, SSG Gerhard Seidel. 100% correct he was unconventional and lived up to being out of the box, which is ostensibly what SF is all about. And that's why he got shit-canned.
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