This is not an initiation for an elite unit...

It's a felony.

Most elite groups (military, police, university or high school sports) have formal and informal entry requirements. An American soldier must pass the Special Forces Qualification Course and earn the Green Beret. He will then be assigned to a Special Forces Group, but his fellow soldiers in the group will have "other" qualifications for him.

Frat house hazing is good fun. However, if this is true, it's no joke. It's murder.

Australia reveals slaughter of helpless Afghans

MELBOURNE, Australia — They were the elite of the elite among this nation’s soldiers, with the confidence and competitiveness to match. But on the battlefields of Afghanistan, their win-at-all-costs attitude devolved into a “self-centered warrior culture” that encouraged killing helpless Afghans and covering it up.

Commanders ordered junior soldiers to execute prisoners so they could record their first “kill.” Adolescents, farmers and other noncombatants were shot dead in circumstances clearly outside the heat of battle.

Superior officers created such a godlike aura around themselves that troops dared not question them, even as 39 Afghans were unlawfully killed.

These are among the findings of battlefield misconduct released Thursday in a public accounting by the Australian military in a rare admission of abuses that often remain hidden on the battlefield...

...The inspector general’s inquiry, which examined the period from 2005 to 2016, stopped short of calling the killings war crimes. But the highly redacted report singles out “possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia’s military history” and calls for the criminal investigation of 19 soldiers.

The country’s military chief, Gen. Angus Campbell, said he accepted the findings and would eliminate an elite unit at the center of the investigation. The report also recommends that the Australian government compensate the families of the Afghan victims...

...The investigation was initiated in 2015 by Jeff Sengelman, the commander of the special operations forces at the time, who commissioned a confidential “cultural review...”

..Disturbing revelations of unlawful killings, “competition killing” and “blood lust” prompted the army chief in 2016 to request that the inspector general conduct a formal inquiry..."

Again, if there is probable cause, present these men to a court martial and upon conviction, punish them. In my years, I’ve learned to not accept what’s in a paper at face value. But if true, this is bad. A disgrace to the men who have served in those units, and Australia in general.

Her Majesty's Royal Marines are having a change of life...

When I visited my friend Bill in England, March of 2006, we saw a couple of Royal Marine recruiters on a stand. Wished them well, it's a tough sell, and the weather was miserable. But no ones questions that is a force to be reckoned with.

Found this and it looks like the Royal Marines will adjust for the 21st Century. Hopefully it's a good fit.

Royal Marines to be equipped with new weapons and to undergo a complete rebrand

THE ROYAL Marines are to undergo a complete rebrand, with a new maritime role and fresh combat uniform

Eric Sof·Military·Nov 4, 2019

The need for a full rebrand of the British Royal Marines comes as commanders of the 350-year-old Corps seek to end the blurring with Army counterparts and adopt a more “commando raid” approach, with smaller units using hi-tech kit.

The future Royal Marines plans will see the green berets provide more direct support to British Special Operations Forces. A very first move should be positioning of units onboard of the pre-positioned motherships, ready to strike in areas such as the Mediterranean and the Gulf. Other plans should include the wider integration of autonomous platforms, such as remote-controlled vessels and drones, while, at the tactical level, they are to be issued with a new digitally-enhanced camouflage combat uniform which will be distinctive to them...

“...The scale and ambition of our transformation is significant. Nothing is off-limits and we aspire to be at the cutting edge of defence,” said Royal Marines Commandant General Major General Matt Holmes.

Senior sources confirmed that the new “force distribution” policy was inspired by recent US Marine Corps guidance. Ironically, however, it will mark the green berets’ return to their original “commando” roots. Currently, the regiment uses concentrated force to pit its strength against an enemy’s weakness.

Further plans include adoption of a more “special operations” approach by using more and smaller units, complemented by technology such as the use of remote-controlled boats to set up a decoy while another unit speeds ashore with a remote-operated UAV to help identify their targets. This has to be reached within the next three years.

The other major change is related to the basic Royal Marines unit, a Troop. It will be reduced from 30 operators to 16.

The regiment currently operates one specialist maritime unit, 42 Commando, which is deployed in small groups in areas such as the Gulf and mounts maritime interdiction operations against piracy and to protect shipping from potential Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz...

Best of luck with this work gentlemen, and on your deployments. And thank you for being the one nation on Earth the USA can rely on when the going is tough.

A look at Special Forces operations in Niger.

Long time friend, fellow retired Army officer and bourbon drinker, Colonel Mike Ford, has another great article in Canada Free Press. Enjoy and comments are always welcome.

In Niger—and other African Countries, the United States Uses Smart Power, Economy Of Force.

What I’d like to do here is put our military efforts in Niger (and other locations in Africa) in their proper context and hopefully put to rest accusations of a nefarious, secretive plot to expand US combat operations worldwide. First of all, let’s begin with United States Army Special Forces, the “Green Berets,” the guys doing a lot of the heavy lifting out there. By the way, most of them don’t care for that appellation—“A Beret is a hat, not a Soldier.”

US Army Special Forces, SF for short, have 5 primary missions:

Foreign Internal Defense (FID)

Unconventional Warfare (UW)

Direct Action (DA)

Counter Terrorism (CT)

Special Reconnaissance (SR)

The last three are what most Americans (through movies, TV, and Tom Clancy novels) tend to be familiar with—Special Forces units blowing up the quintessential “critical bridge” (DA), taking out a known terrorist (CT), or locating hidden SCUD launchers for later destruction by our Air Force (SR). Due to space considerations, the above is a highly simplified description—I hope my friends in the Special Forces community will forgive me in that regard.

The real “bread & butter” of Special Forces operations are the FID and UW missions. Foreign Internal Defense or FID (what is now going on in Niger and other parts of Africa) is our effort to support friendly governments without having to deploy massive amounts of conventional or “heavy” forces—Armor, Motorized Infantry & Artillery. Unconventional Warfare (UW) is the mirror image of FID, where SF elements help anti-government (guerrilla) forces overthrow a government hostile to the US, as we did to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The basic Special Forces unit, the “A” Detachment, is composed of 2 Officers and 10 Noncommissioned Officers. These highly skilled, trained, and motivated Soldiers are capable of organizing, equipping, training, and advising or directing indigenous forces up to battalion size. This is what is going on in Niger and other parts of Africa, in support of governments friendly to the US. Multiple “A” Teams, with their supporting headquarters, are assisting friendly governments in fighting ISIS, Al Qaida, and other terrorist organizations, but without the involvement (and cost) of major US Combat Forces. That’s the “what.”

Now to the “why.” Why do we have Army Special Forces Soldiers tramping around Niger—and many other places in Africa? The answer to that comes from the US Military’s Principles of War, derived from principles promoted by 19th Century Prussian Strategist, Carl von Clausewitz. One of the most important of these, especially in these days of tight budgets and even tighter political constraints, is Economy Of Force.

The US Army Field Manual, FM 3.0 (Operations), defines and describes Economy of Force as the ability to:

“Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts. Economy of force is the reciprocal of mass. It requires accepting prudent risk in selected areas to achieve superiority—overwhelming effects—in the decisive operation. Economy of force involves the discriminating employment and distribution of forces. Commanders never leave any element without a purpose. When the time comes to execute, all elements should have tasks to perform.”

Put another way, we can use small elements to “keep a lid” on terrorist operations in Africa, while our “heavy forces” are either engaged in Southwest Asia, performing deterrence missions in South Korea, or Refitting, Re-equipping & Training back in the US for whatever other contingencies that may pop up. Using these small elements of Special Forces to train, advise, and assist Nigeran and other forces belonging to US African Allies, we are also able to avoid much of the political, economic, and human costs associated with deploying Division-sized conventional forces. Understanding that the operational tempo of today’s military has stretched Soldiers (and Sailors, Marines & Airmen too), their families, and their equipment to the breaking point, this type of operation can help ameliorate some of that.

Ultimately, it’s generally better for US taxpayers, relatives of Soldiers, and the Soldiers themselves, to help an ally help himself than to do the work (and shed the blood) for him. That—is the application of—Smart Power.

Now comes the tough part—What is Congress’s role in all of this? That, my friends, is the subject of another article.

Mike Ford is a retired Infantry Colonel who has commanded at Detachment, Company, Battalion and Brigade levels. He has experience in US FID operations in support of Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Turkey.