Bumperplate,

What makes SOF special beyond the personnel selection? In my view it is their organization (very flexible) and special tactics. As you said once the Army actually starting picking some good guys to man th MITTs the program made an impact. The Marines did fairly well with their CIDG equivalent in Vietnam with platoons. If conventional force leaders are willing to power down and detach units and give them greatr automony many will be very successful, but then the big boss can't micromanage them, and the big boss also assumes more risk that many conventional officers in the senior ranks aren't willing to accept, so while your idea is good in theory, unfortunately weak spined senior leaders will find a way to avoid doing it. They could do it now if they wanted, and I'm pretty sure some of the Marine units are. It would be pretty powerful if we decentralize more and more of our forces so we could deny freedom of movement to the Taliban more and more, but I think there are some poles in the tent that need to be addressed, such as the number of terps and how we sustain the forces logistically. Air dropping water and MREs shouldn't be too much of a problem, hell we may even be able to do with it drones in the near future.

But still, E7s and LTs making tactical decisions without Bn and Bde oversight! Simply unheard of