Since most of
those in special operations forces are recruited from within the services, the
average member is older and has a larger family unit than those in other
military occupations, according to Special Operations Command Europe commander
Maj. Gen. Michael S. Repass."
Officials are attracted to these well-rained, real-plife "action figures" They like the idea of having "badasses" at their beck and call. Like New York's Mayor Bloomberg, they see special units as their "private army," but, unlike Mayor Mike, usually don't say so.
JFK gave us the "Green Berets" who were glamorized in movies, with a pop song of their own, only to be later ground up in the Vietnam War like our other forces.
There is a growing fusion between intelligence ops and the military. To watch how this works, just follow Leon Panetta's career from CIA to The Pentagon.
This command is an army within the army. It has doubled in size since 2001 with an official budget of $10.5 billion that is probably understated. They have at least 12,000 operatives in the field with 66,000 in the command itself and operate in more than 70 countries.
Can you name those countries? I didn't think so.
The new Denzel Washington flick, Safe House, shot in Cape Town, South Africa, takes us into the nether world of assassins and secret jails at the heart of the Special Ops mission. It's not pretty.
McRaven is very media savvy with a degree, no less, in journalism He was the go-to guy by Obama used to put bin laden on ice through an extrajudicial killing. They don't call it assassination or liquidation, but that's what it was.
According to the New York Times, "In February, Mr. Panetta called Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, commander of the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command, to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia , to give him details about the compound and to begin planning a military strike.
Admiral McRaven, a
veteran of the covert world who had written a book on American Special
Operations, spent weeks working with the C.I.A. on the operation, and came up
with three options: a helicopter assault using U.S. Navy SEALs, a strike with
B-2 bombers that would obliterate the compound, or a joint raid with Pakistani
intelligence operatives who would be told about the mission hours before the
launch."
Wikipedia reports, "t he day before the assault, "Mr. Obama took a break from rehearsing for the White House Correspondents Dinner that night to call Admiral McRaven, to wish him luck." Thus blessed, he became a runner-up for Time's Man of the year. He even played football for the NFL.
What a perfect resume to
get the full General Petraeus treatment, our latest "hero" in the making
In the media world, including in many Hollywood films and the latest video games, Special Ops gets the Full Monte treatment, despite their well cultivated mad dog, wild man image. Many of these "counter-terrorists" become, in fact, terrorists.
This idealization of killer commandos is nothing new. Back in 1910, Theodore Roosevelt, known for his exploits as a "rough rider" in the Spanish American War, was ecstatic about their role:
"It is not the critic who
counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the
doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually
in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives
valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great
enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at
the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst,
if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never
be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
While The NY Times reports the Admiral wants a freer hand, Fox reports it is already happening with the Pentagon's Afghan role likely to be expanded with more special ops warriors. (Even, as we are told, troops there are being "drawn down"!)
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