McKiernan replaced

[IntelTrooper]

This is very good for Afghanistan. I know a lot of people who will be very happy to hear this news.

[selil]

I keep wondering how a force build up will look, if it will happen, if the mix will be substantially different, and how leadership will effect change in the "Afghanistan is like a poor version of Iraq" narrative being played in the press.

[BayonetBrant]

FYI - there is the inevitable criticism...

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009...n-afghanistan/

[Entropy]

So what on-the-ground changes can we expect to see in Afghanistan? I haven't followed Astan as closely as I used to, but it didn't seem like Gen. McKiernan was doing a terrible job, expecially since there were a lot of assets not under his direct command.

[jcustis]

I was briefing ADM Olson a few months ago on a separate topic, and asked him then about getting senior SOF generals into these Theater Command positions. He paused, and said calmly: "Frankly there isn't much appetite for that."

When he mentioned appetite, did he mean that not enough guys with the experience would want the job?

[Uboat509]

I have been doing some reading about Lt. Gen McChrystal. He is JSOC guy. He apparently did the minimum time as a Team Leader in SF before "moving on." Given his background I would not be surprised see a lot of emphasis on a kinetic approach. I would rather see an SF officer rather than a SOF officer moved into that command.

SFC W

[RJ]

I picked this off the Marine Corps Times today.

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command is redesignating two of its companies as battalions, officials said in a news release.

During a ceremony Monday at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Companies A and B of the Marine Special Operations Advisor Group will be renamed 3rd and 4th Marine Special Operations battalions. The battalions will become the group’s two primary subordinate commands.

This redesignation is part of the command’s overall plan to standardize its four battalions, the release said.

Could this expansion of two MARSOC Companies to Battalions coming out of units that were designatied Marine Special Operations Advisor Group indicate the Marines are expanding their Advisory Role to do a lot more Training for special operations units in the Afgani Army?

There was a story in the NY Times on May 1 (front page and page A-10) about a Marine E-4 Cpl. and a E-3 Lance Cpl. advising a 30 Man Afgan Arimy platoon.

The firebase they are defending in the middle of a controlled Taliban region in Afganistan has beaten back 70 assualts in the past few months.

An interesting application of Marine frugality? Or an indication they are getting into the Advisory business big time. I found a copy of it in my local library. Tough duty and two gutsy young men.

[Bob's World]

When he mentioned appetite, did he mean that not enough guys with the experience would want the job?

quite clear the powers that be had not up to that point been willing to recognize the need for SOF leadership for such operations.

[Ken White]

quite clear the powers that be had not up to that point been willing to recognize the need for SOF leadership for such operations.

Based on what you said, ADM Olson could've taken over Afghanistan...

I'm with U Boat509. The DA stuff is over emphasized and it's as much about spaces and flags as it about missions and campaign success. Putting a SOF guy in there is no different that putting in a Light Infantry guy -- who would be a better choice than a Heavy Infantry Guy, a Tanker or an Artillerist.

I understand what you mean in the SEAL comment. Both your and their enthusiasm is to be commended (though I know a couple and they aren't that enthusiastic about a mission that is not their bag of worms...) but pinniped out of water and all that...

[Mark O'Neill]

quite clear the powers that be had not up to that point been willing to recognize the need for SOF leadership for such operations.

clarify in an objective sense what you mean by 'SOF Leadership'. Compared to what?

Notwithstanding your claim for Fridovich (which I concur with), what is it that you think SOF leaders will bring that big Army guys (such as Petraeus, Odierno recently,and further back Kitson) cannot? One of the best COIN thinkers I have ever met was a SANDF/ SADF Brig Gen who was a 'conventional' para.

If we go by the recent record of SF in Iraq, at least whilst I was there, I am even less sure why we would think that SF leadership is necessarily a 'COIN winner'. An overwhelming focus on DA, with a trg focus on indigenous units that will execute further DA, does not equate to COIN 'best practice' - it is, at best, only an element of it. Fridovich (and Krawchuk) pointed this out in an article about OEF-P in JQF in '06. Your doctrine (FM 3-24) confirms this view.

If the SF are the solution, why is it that one of primary LOO - develop indigenous capacity, has, for the most part been filled by a 'heinz variety' of elements from across the US services, rather than SF elm? (For god's sake, in Basra during Charge of the Knights I met a Navy O6 nuclear dude on a MiTT task ...). Why is the JCISFA at Leavenworth largely a big army org?

Please don't take this the wrong way - I am not at all critical of the SF or its efforts, I am just trying to understand why your posts suggest that the recent appointment reflects a 'SF' thinking triumph rather than , perhaps, the appointment of a good GO who has the confidence of the Secretary and others.

Cheers

Mark