Posted by Ken,

We diligently ignore the fact our 'experience' shows us that trying to change other nations to our models of anything just simply does not work. This cynic says we know better but are afraid to embrace the changes required because that might be seen as an acknowledgement that we've, collectively, gotten a lot of things wrong and given the added fact that change is hard work, it's just easier to do what we've been doing.
I used to think we knew better, at least many of the older SF vets did in the late 70s and early 80s, but then we were coerced to start training foreign armies using U.S. Army Infantry doctrine, and it didn't work in most cases, because most of these foreign armies didn't have an effective NCO Corp. Being a life long iconoclast I asked why we were teaching inappropriate tactics based on the host nation's capabilities, and the response was what else can we teach other than U.S. doctrine? I suggested we study the way they do their operations now, and then recommend tweaks and improve their basic combat skills (primarily marksmenship), combat medicine, comms, etc. That was frowned upon, because obviously some bored U.S. General would show up in the middle of no where and ask why were teaching non-standard tactics, and that would destroy everyone's career from the team leader to the Bn Cdr, so just shut up and teach U.S. doctrine.

The answer really wouldn't have been that hard, based on their culture, they don't operate the way we do, so we conducted studies prior to coming on how their Army was organized, how they fight, and where their shortfalls were (especially if they were in a conflict and we could analyze their combat performance) and then suggest some changes for improving that were easy for them to adapt (and to internalize, so they would use them after we left), instead of trying to reform their Army into a mirror image of the U.S.. What General wouldn't understand that? Too many I suspect , but if SF leaders don't get this (hopefully there are still some who do, especially after a decade of pounding our heads against the wall), I sure as heck don't expect the GPF to get it. The good news is SF has produced some very capable SF and commando counter parts that are very capable in their niche missions, but we need an equally effective effort with their non-specialized security forces.