It’s time for a third special operations revolution

Very interesting and probably on mark.

This is not my cross to bear, or my hill to fight on...but I feel seriously compelled to comment. Here goes.

We are "weak" society defended by a very small number of very "strong" persons. I placed quotation marks around each of these words because neither mean what we think they mean. "Weak" people are often some of the best in terms of being compassionate, rational, intellectual, artistic, and moral. By contrast, "strong" people can often be uncompromising, absolute, extreme, and flexible when it comes to questions of "right" vs. "wrong". Before anyone starts sharpening their knives for me... realize that I'm not suggesting a "weak" person cannot/will not defend what's important to them... or that "strong" people cannot be kind, creative, and ethical (in my experience, when they are... they are EXTREMELY so) . We're speaking in generalities here; so please bear with me.

In general... all combative service components contain some element that is perhaps "stronger" than others; let alone society as a whole. It takes great skill, intelligence, and dedication to be a maintainer, a medical services member, engineer, a technician, pilot, surface sailor, submariner, etc., etc.... but there are very good reasons why not everyone (even among those who desire it) ends up in infantry, airborne, or special operations. There is something "different" about these service members... and I think a great deal of it centers on things that are distilled to a more "refined" aspect within special operations organizations.

I've heard it called, "big boy rules"... I've heard it called, "secret sauce". Whatever it is, it's most likely NOT what most of us outside of these communities believe it to be.

Discipline is crucial to large, conventional operations... it would appear that from the SAS and OSS in WWII, through the inception of the Special Forces and Navy SEALs, right down to our most modern iterations of these outfits today... they are looking for people who possess a rare balance between individuality and collective identity (often expressed in discipline). I don't think DEVGRU is looking for "cowboys" who make their own rules... but neither do I suspect they have much use for people who cannot think and act "outside" of what is "acceptable" for the public's consumption when the mission, and orders require it.

It's just my opinion, but I feel these people have the "issues" they have because they are routinely being asked to do things that push the envelope of human physical, intellectual, and emotional capacity. Their training alone can be lethal. Successfully entering into this life means setting aside personal priorities such as family and long-term health. Given the arduous nature of the work; many understand that should they make it into "retirement"... they will enter early middle-age with significant challenges ranging from injuries to psychological damage. Their professional lives are ever about competing for a very small number of "slots"... whether it be making it into the "teams", Tier 1, contracting, or successfully converting their military experience into viable civilian careers and family lives afterwards.

They play very long odds as a force of habit.

Again, wading into waters I'm not really qualified to work in... "we" on the outside may be seeing things from the wrong perspective. Maybe we're focusing too much on the failures, and not enough on the successes. Perhaps we're only seeing the defeats... and not the victories. I'm not advocating that we "turn a blind eye" to the accusations of drug use, criminality, or other negative behaviors... but perhaps we should tread with special caution when contemplating changes to the "recipe" for maintaining these critical forces.

There may indeed be times when the perspective of an on-scene tactical commander far outweighs any of the chain of command, or even national command authority. The lives of many may indeed come down to the momentary decision of an "operator". I would be very surprised if this is not a key reason why so few "make the cut". I fear these are traits that cannot be "mass produced"... neither dispensed with.

SSG Robert Mark Odom Interesting!