Quote Originally Posted by max161 View Post
I would be interested in reading your analysis on why it was an ignorant article.
Not speaking for Bismark bit my take on it would be the premise -- that FID is new is shall we say unaware, naive, uneducated, or ignorant as in unknowing in the classic sense. The irony is that the author then uses "Hollywood-style raids" as his fall guy when he has already demonstrated a rather screenplay understanding of what SF does.

That aside, I would not apply ignorant to Eric Olson whom I would describe as a no-bull####, unpretentious, thinkerwith little patience for flash but a quick wit and great sense of humor. We shared a 20x20 classroom at DLI for modern standard Arabic in 1982-1983. I also believe that since its inception, SOCOM has tended toward direct action more than FID and if Eric is steering the ship more toward the middle channel, he is doing the right thing.

I was not impressed with mid-level SF leadership when I had 'em on the ground with me in Rwanda and 2 of 'em had to go home. The teams were great but the leadership did not seem to get that working indigenous forces meant adapting rather than dictating. My own SF contacts tell me that the post 9-11 has been a great shakedown and that is good thing.

Tom