re: Green Beret Strangled in Mali - possible illicit cash scheme coverup

The PT Belt thing is still mainly an Army and Recruit Depot thing right? When I was in we never had to worry about them. Only guys in reflective vests to block traffic if we were running in a formation.

I worked on this case briefly, just as Army CID was beginning to investigate; I admit it did not look like anything other than horseplay at time, and we couldn't advise the commander on a COA leading towards UCMJ action.

I think the toxicology just changed everything, as it often times does.

Hey brother, I know I’m beating a dead horse here but what you said Gen Milley said about SFAB really got my juices flowing. So I did research and what Gen Milley actually says contradicts what you are saying he said (for background this is in reference to the first SFAB that will stand up, which will focus on Afghanistan):

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Special Forces does not train the Afghan National Army. They don’t train them now. They never have. Same thing in Iraq,” he added. “There’s a reason for that. One, that’s way beyond the capacity of Special Forces. It’s also beyond the skill set. SF teams don’t train infantry or armored brigades, Milley said. They also can’t teach artillery or helicopter flight operations. That’s where the SFAB comes in, with a brigade combat team chain-of-command and all of its mission sets.

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Special Forces has gone out and done what they’re supposed to do, and only they can do, which is train irregular forces,” Milley said, citing as examples the work Green Berets have done with the Syrian Democratic Forces, local militias, indigenous special forces, Afghan commandos, Iraqi special forces and elite police SWAT teams.

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Now Gen Milley did clarify:

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Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley stated that Special Forces had never trained conventional Afghan or Iraqi troops. Milley later clarified to Army Times that, in some cases, they had, but that both nations’ conventional forces had predominantly been trained by conventional U.S. troops.

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I understand you are a SF veteran, I don’t know how long you’ve been out. But just as recent as 2013-2014 I was blessed to work uplift for a team from first group and later 3rd group. Awesome experience but I say that to say we did exactly what Gen Milley States, we advised commandos, not so much of this is how you conduct a flank but more so we’re clearing this village, we’ll lead you to the village and we’ll cover your element as you move.

Now as recent as the past year I was a part of a BCT doing training, advising, and assisting at the conventional level, which is what SFAB will be doing. This was more so of this is how you conduct a flanking maneuver. SFAB is the culmination of military transition teams in Iraq, security force advise teams, and security force advise and assist teams. All different names, advising conducted by conventional forces, but finally the Army decided to give credence to the structure.

So what’s the so what? SFAB isn’t taking a piece of the pie from SF as previously alluded to. SFAB, as it stands right now, is just a permenant unit conducting the advising that conventional forces have already been executing.

Hopefully I don’t come off as a douche of some sort as I genuinely enjoyed our discussions and although it’s unlikely that conventional forces will take irregular advisory missions from SF, maybe one day your wish will come to fruition. Since as we’ve seen for the past 16 years the Army loves the thought of grand ideas, only to have a change of heart when the next General comes in. Hate to egg this on but it was just one of those things.

It is basic evolution.
Survival of the fittest

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Clearing a village isn't commando work, that's infantry work.

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I agree but it depends....... on the mission and level of understanding of whatever unit is conducting it. Although infantry can and do clear villages, that doesn’t mean they are allowed to. ROE, operating environment, what’s the purpose of clearing this particular village, and all that mess. It’s not that infantry aren’t able to do it, it’s that the host nation or in some cases our nation won’t allow them to do it. All commandos aren’t created equally, but it’s an appropriate term for their level compared to their other war fighters in that nation (afghan).

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Im no expert on the Russo-Georgian war but from Ive read the Russians performed pretty poorly. In fact, I believe that’s what spurned Putin into investing so heavily in his military.

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They held their ground but them expecting US forces to jump in was a bold strategy that didn't pay off.