With a mandated boost in special operations forces manpower imposed by Congress over the past couple of years, the services are predictably having a tough time getting the right people in the numbers they require.
What the Virginian Pilot reported today about the difficulty the SEAL community is facing finding frogmen to fill out their teams isnt really all that new. But theres a line in there that should raise some concerns and some interesting questions — over the roles and missions of the SEALs.
The article noted the SEAL community cant meet its recruiting goal, and for good reason. The demanding nature of BUD/S comes with an exorbitant wash-out rate: only one in four will make it through. That, coupled with the expansion of the special operations ranks throughout the services has made it tough to pin on more SEAL badges.
The 14 young men gathered in a parking lot at Little Creek
Naval Amphibious Base came in two basic shapes: thin and muscular, and thick and muscular. Huddled on a patch of grass, they stretched backs, legs and arms as they braced for a physical and mental onslaught intended to test their bodies and psyche.The calm erupted when a chiseled special operations sailor dashed toward the group with the speed and malice of an NFL linebacker.
“You’re going to fail!” he screamed.
But why is it that the Navy needs more SEALs?
According to the report, its because the SEALs most crucial mission of training foreign militaries is causing a strain on the Teams, leaving them less time to train and sending veterans out of the service for more predictable and lucrative assignments with private military companies.
SEALs are stretched so thin and strained by the most vigorous deployment schedule in their 45-year history that defense experts warn about their readiness and ability to contain hot spots around the world. These days, nearly 90 percent of Special Forces deployments are focused in the Middle East, leaving other volatile areas unchecked.
Special Forces are needed to train small foreign units to quell terrorist threats within their national borders, Vice Adm. Eric Olson, deputy commander of Special Operations Command, told senators during an April hearing.
It’s perhaps the commandos’ most crucial mission, he said: “We know that we cannot kill or talk our way to victory.“
Now, I understand that training foreign troops — whats known in the spec ops world as foreign internal defense — to head off the rise of insurgencies and extremist alternatives is a mission for all commandos, including SEALs. But Army Special Forces was founded on this mission and is one of their key strengths.
That mission, coupled with unconventional warfare raising insurgent armies and employing them to meet U.S. national security goals have been the Green Berets stock in trade since the 60s.
While they are acutely trained to play in a wide realm of spec ops missions, the SEALs are undoubtedly one of the most skillful direct action forces in the U.S. military. If you want to take down an oil platform or execute a raid in the maritime realm, its the SEALs you call. I know theyve played a not insignificant role in training foreign militaries, but to call that their most crucial mission in the global war on terrorism seems like overkill.
The Marine Corps has a new cadre of special operators trained specifically to work low-risk foreign internal defense missions. The so-called Foreign Military Training Units have deployed to Africa, South America and Eastern Europe and as they continue to stand up, should be able to take the strain off of other special operations communities so others can concentrate on the hard cases and on hunting bad guys.
If the SEALs continue to suffer such potential mission creep, stand by for more hardship in recruiting and lets hope the pressure from on high doesnt result in a relaxation of standards. SEALs are finely-tuned instruments and its worrisome if their optempo is suffering for jobs others could do with less strain.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Frogmen of the Desert.
Just doesn’t roll of the tongue.
i think that would be “toadmen”, which also does not roll off the tongue
Lizardmen?
Seems that the Marines need to pick up some of the SEAL mission. Since it appears that most SEAL missions are traditional Marine missions anyway.
At least in every other fleet in the world.
When a SOCOM flag officer talks about Special Forces doing something I’d tend to assume that he means exactly what he says. Is there any evidence when he talked about Special Forces he didn’t mean Army Special Forces? Unlike some journalists he probably can remember just what each is called, what they do and can probably use the terminology correctly.
It’s possibly that he can’t (which would be interesting in itself) but assuming that the deputy commander of SOCOM is an idiot seems like a pretty big assumption.
As I haven’t been hired to write this stuff I don’t have time to go look up exactly what he did say to the Senate, but you might consider that instead of taking a 3rd hand interpretation of what someone claims he said it might make sense for those who are doing this professionally to LOOK IT UP before writing stories based on the assumption that the guy doesn’t know the difference between SF and SEAL missions.
Army Special Forces (aka Green Berets) are the folks supposed to be training foreign militaries. That’s been one of their core missions since the early 1960s.
SEALS, unless something’s changed, are more of a special-mission force for specific “shooting” tasks.
But this is another case of how our SOF capabilities are being misused in the so-called GWOT: The Army SF is being used as “door kickers” and the SEALs are used for military training. Talk about role-reversals!
Good old Leathernecks!
I recall an incident at Patilla Airfield during Operation Just Cause, highlighting the problems of mission overlap.
http://www.specwarnet.net/miscinfo/patilla.htm
.
Wasn’t USSOCOM created to define such boundary’s & coordinate SOFs to prevent mission overlap? I wonder if this story should be more about force management by USSOCOM & the branch services. Or maybe it’s just that everyone wants to be ‘Special’ these days.
Judging by what’s in the public domain over these past fews years since the beginning of the GWOT training foreign militaries aka FID is mission somewhere between bottom and bottom-last of publicly acknowledged SEAL missions. The primary cause of burn-out in the SEAls, as in other branches of the US military involved in the “bayonet-point” of the GWOT, is the very high op-tempo this new type of war has engendered.
After 35 years of being swift,silent and deadly
old school force recon.I can say with certainty
that idiots at the top is not that big of an assumption.The huge budget that these ready action forces have and the fact that their all
dressed up and have no place to go and whinning
about it,they need to earn their keep,they need to work or its wasted talent and dedication.We can
not afford to water down the training,we cannot in good faith waste their talents.Have not said this much since the last butter bar I ate for lunch! Guns Gone
Maybe relive the WW2 movie DIRTY DOZEN- use Convicts for Spec Forces
Problem: Gang ties & other issues.
Otherwise Ideal for SEAL Ops.
Have implant for Tracking
NO Leave or Liberty
Or under tight control.
Same training as other SEALs.
Dine seperate from Main SEAL Units.
Might help Manpower alone.
Empty some US prisons of inmates alone.
Do the Mission & Live OR Die.
Very interesting reading. Both our Army Special Operations Forces and our Navy Special Operations Forces (SEALs) needs more soldiers too.
Seems like there just isn’t a way to suddenly produce twice as many SOF operators as the year before?
I’d say one of the biggest causes of attrition is that once you’re a SEAL, re-enlisting could literally cost you a million dollars in salary differential from working for a PMC. Even a consulting job from Halliburton or any of thousands of security conscious countried could be deep into 6 figures without the risk that your family never gets to see you again.
My brother is a Naval Nuclear Engineer, think he’s re-enlisting? He can make 150k a year in any nuclear power plant in the country when he gets out.
The SEALS are the invincible. THey’re like ghosts you don’t find them unless they decide to let you. They are suffering from low recruitment, stress and mission creep bit they don’t need much men to get the job done. The government can’t take any more SEALS because they are very high upkeep.
im trying to become a seal but the asvab is whats hurting me. any advice?