This blog actually should have been part of yesterday's blog on our war against ISIS. However, I didn't want to get the blog too long and also didn't want to drift off the main topic. But, seeing as how the subject of Special Operations is bandied about so much today when Syria and Iraq are in discussion, I thought it would be a good idea to give a brief run down on just exactly what constitutes our Special Operations.
The United States Special Operations Command is a fairly new creation, something that came about in the late 1980s. Prior to that there was the U.S. Army 1st Special Operations Command, but no combined, inter-service command. The United States Special Operations Command (USSOC) encompasses the U.S. Army Special Operations, which is made up of the Army Special Forces, the Army Rangers, and the Army Special Warfare Aviation. It also includes the US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Warfare Command (USACAPOC). Of all these units, the ones that are actually on the ground doing the fighting are the Special Forces and Rangers. That is not to say that aviation units or USACAPOC units are not in harms way, they are very much in the midst of it, especially the aviation units. But by their very nature, it is the Special Forces teams and Rangers that are mostly facing direct ground fire.
The next component of the USSOC is the U.S. Navy Special Warfare of which the SEALs are probably the best known and are the ones mostly engaged on the ground. Then there is the Air Force component of USSOC which is composed of different squadrons all specializing in various combat and transport aircrafts. There is a very small component of the Air Force personnel who act as air/ground controllers and are on the ground either with Army Special Forces units or on their own.
Then there is the Marine Special Operations Command, the MARSOC, which consists of a Marine Raider Regiment, a resurrected World War Two unit (in name only!) which has three Raider battalions. The Marine Raiders are primarily light infantry type unit but also capable of providing training and advising friendly nation military, somewhat similar to Army Special Forces. That is the gist of our Special Operations forces, a total of about 60,000 personnel, give or take a few here and there.
Like all military organizations, the preponderance of personnel in a given unit are in a support role. So, out of that 60,000, we can only safely assume that about 20,000 are actually engaged in combat on land, air and sea. Only one third of personnel in a given unit are actually involved in combat! The Army Special Forces consists of five regular Army groups and two National Guard groups. The entire Army Special Forces is about the size of a large conventional regiment, in fact, it is referred to as the Special Forces Regiment! The Army Rangers are composed of five battalions, two of which are training battalions, so there are only three in the 75th Ranger Regiment that are involved in fighting.
The Navy SEALS consist of eight SEAL teams. Each SEAL team is made up of about 150 men, three troops of 40 or so men. The entire eight team Navy SEAL component is about the size of a small regiment! The Air Force ground component is too small to be included in this calculation. The Marine Corps side, the MARSOC is made up of one Raider regiment, three Raider battalions of about 600 men. When you add up all of the numbers, what you basically have is a total of three regiments of ground forces that is made up of: one beefed up regiment of Army Special Forces, one small Army Ranger regiment, and one small Marine Raider Regiment, and a two battalion size Navy SEAL component. In all, they would make up three regular size regiments!
In short, what we have available to do all the fighting against ISIS in Syria, Iraq and the rest of the world on the ground is a Brigade size combat unit, not even a division size! When you consider that the Army Special Forces, the Marines, and Navy are also openly involved in Philippines and other locations, and Delta and SEAL6 in all sorts of classified missions, that leaves less than a brigade size component to deal with ISIS on the ground! The only way that the Special Operations can be successful is if they are backed up by conventional forces. The Marine Raiders backed up by Force Recon (which is actually just too small, only five companies and in fact are a part of Marine SOC!) and the regular Marine expeditionary force! The Army Special Forces, Rangers, and Navy SEALs backed up by army units such as the 82nd Airborne, 173rd Airborne, 101st, etc. You see what I am getting at? Once you put boots on the ground, you better have enough troops to do the job, to back up those that are in the thick of it.
Sending a small Special Operations unit to conduct raids, etc., is fine. But you cannot win a war conducting small raids and ambushes, you have to take ground and hold it. To do that, we need more boots on the ground. I have no doubt the Peshmergas, the Kurds will continue to fight well. But we can't rely on them only, we have to have Syrians and Iraqis that are other than Kurds who will fight!
In movies and video games small Special Operations type units, which the media has taken to calling "commandos" (an improper and inaccurate naming), win wars and defeat much larger enemy forces through use of martial arts and weapons that never run out of ammunition. In real life, Special Operations do work when raids and ambushes are conducted properly. But, they are not set up to engage in large battles nor are they capable of winning entire wars! Special Operations worked wonderfully in World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, and in both Iraqi Wars, because they were also backed by conventional forces and bigger operations and battles. By themselves, Special Operations can do tremendous damage and harass the enemy, but to win the war, that has to be handed over to a much larger force!
In Afghanistan, our initial success with Special Operations was because the Special Forces teams led the Northern Alliance, a large force that took the place of conventional army. They helped to win ground and the Northern Alliance forces held the ground. In Syria or Iraq, who is going to hold the ground? The "moderate" rebels? One of the reasons all that territory fell to ISIS in the first place was because no one could hold the ground!
If we are going to commit U.S. ground troops in Syria and Iraq, even if it is just a small number of Special Operations troops, let's make sure that they will get the needed support, back up, if the need arises. That means U.S. ground troops, not Iraqis or Syrians. If we are engaged in conducting raids, etc., you can be sure that sooner or later there will be a much larger battlefield confrontation where our small forces will need support and back up from a larger force. Let's hope there will be help!
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