Quote Originally Posted by reed11b View Post
Something about this and the SOF support thread has bugged me for a few days now. When the subject of CA and PSYOP soldiers was first raised by Voodoun, the immediate response was "those dirty undisciplined SF wannabe's". Yet when we learned that they are trained to use the equipment and methods that were listed as the reasons for them being "dirty undisciplined SF wannabe's" not one senior member of this council went "ah-ha, perhaps my perceptions were flawed and I need to make an effort to understand these assets better". Not a single one. I'll admit my initial perceptions of CA and PSYOPS mirrored yours, but hearing that some of what we thought was rather silly was trained, and done by the individual, makes me think "why do the soldiers trust the training even if it gets them negative attention from us ground pounder types?" Combined with some of the black and white tactical advice "Never ever ever cuff your sleeves because there is a slight chance of getting a really bad burn from hot brass" this shows a real narrow view on operational concepts (operational is the wrong word, just can't think of the right one at the moment), and we, as the front line on both thinking and discussion of fighting concepts and as professional soldiers can do better. We need to do better. This is were fallacious arguments like HIC vs COIN come from. The world is not black and white, it is grey. Voodoun, the members are very knowledgeable and always give there advice serious consideration, but you don't need to take it as gospel, trust your training and your own gut too.
Reed
I'll now go take my meds and find some good cover and concealment.
Reed, thanks, its good to see that sort of thoughtful response.

I actually brought up the cuffed sleeve thing with rather experienced NCO who has mutiple deployments since the mid 1990's with both other SOF and conventional forces. He laughed and said he could see the argument either way, but to consider that PSYOP soldiers are asked to make cerebral judgements that cannot be reflexive in nature the way that an infantryman can rely on his training to carry him through a dynamic firefight. Our brains don't work as well when we're over heated. He'd rather take a brass burn to the wrist than not be at 100% cognitively.

But I'd like to think we can move past the cuffed sleeve/uniform thing and talk about more mission-oriented ideas.