Many years ago some of us told a lot of the "We need a SO service..." types to be careful what they wanted, they might get it...
Barbwire Bob may have persuaded Nunn and Goldwater but I'm not at all sure he did the Nation any favors...
It's hard to convince someone to give you money when you have your own pot which you don't share at all well and when you imply to the folks you want to give you money that they're lesser, pedestrian beings, isn't it...That's true and it applies to SOCOM-as-service as well. However, it's as much an effect of out pathetically poor budgeting system and a venal Congress as anything. The services are not blameless but Congress creates more problems than it solves -- not least by years of overfunding DoD.I understand the inter-service rivalry. All of the services are insanely biased and self-serving. None of them want to "lose" to a sister service in the grand priority and budget competition.Nor is it good for the Army or the Marines...The Army (and the Marines, though this actually fits well within their wheelhouse) have latched onto Terrorism, Irregular Warfare, Asymmetric Warfare, Security Force Assistance, and every other bottle of snake oil they could pull of the shelf in an effort to stay in the game at a wartime footing in an era of peace. Frankly, treating peace like war may be good for the Army, but it is not healthy for the rest of the nation, and someone needs to throw the switch and side rail the crazy train.
In their defense, they have not so much latched onto it as been forced to grab it. And truth be told, SOCOM has not helped in that.
Turf protection is a people problem. It isn't beneficial and it's a by-product of poorly crafted laws, a poorly functioning Congress -- and poor leadership. It is in part funded by such massive amounts of money being made available which inculcates greed -- our boom and bust way with money does not help. It also would not be such a problem if it were not tolerated, even encouraged...True dat.As to Warden? Like all models, there is value in any model that helps one to organize their thoughts...Its a framework for thinking, and that is helpful, and that is enough.
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