“Big dumb Ranger stomping through the woods,” a retired Sergeant Major from 5th Special Forces Group said with a smirk to me after an After Action Review in Robin Sage. Robin Sage is the culmination exercise at the end of the Special Forces Qualification Course, basically your final exam prior to donning the Green Beret.
I rolled my eyes at Kevin as I shook my head. I was pissed, but not because Kevin was breaking my balls, rather I was irritated with myself because I knew that he was right. We were instructed to conduct an ambush in the fictional nation of Pineland (actually located in North Carolina) and I was walking point. Getting angry with some of the junior guys on the team because of a land navigation error, I told them to shut up and follow me. I charged off through the woods and made enough noise that the role players guarding the road we were supposed to ambush heard us.
What happened after that was everything not described in the Ranger Handbook. Blank fire was popping off every where and I ordered Kevin, playing an Arab foreign fighter attached to our team, to fire his AT4 Anti-Tank rocket. In real life, the rocket would not have even armed because we were so close to the “enemy,” but I figured it would scare the hell out of them if nothing else.
When we maneuvered up to the road, there were “bodies” laying everywhere. We were supposed to ambush an enemy supply truck at a specific time, but with our patrol compromised and the shootout that ensued, it didn’t look like we would be completing that objective anytime soon. Big facepalm moment for yours truly.
It was the youngest guy on our Robin Sage team that suggested to me that we just hide the “bodies” in the bushes and set up our own checkpoint, masquerading as the enemy when the supply truck came through. He was an 18-Xray, one of the kids who was able to come in right off the street and into the Special Forces pipeline. While I was still thinking Ranger School, this guy grasped the unconventional warfare mission faster.
Damn, that was a good idea! It worked perfectly. We stashed the “dead” role players in the bushes, set up a checkpoint, and captured the supply truck.
Kevin’s words stuck with me. Being a Special Forces soldier requires a very different mentality than being a Ranger but I still had a hard time shaking off old habits. In Ranger Battalion everything is usually dress right dress, and done to THE STANDARD. When you attempt to graft this work ethic onto the unconventional warfare mission it simply does not work. Yelling at indigenous troops and demanding that they behave like Americans will get you no where. Expecting them to perform like American Light Infantry is also ridicules.
Stomping off into the woods while on patrol isn’t a good idea regardless of what unit you are in, but being a hot head is even less effective while running Special Forces missions.
The point of this article isn’t to ask which unit is better or make some childish comparison. The Ranger Regiment and Special Forces are different, and what I hope to point out is that they have to be different. This difference stems from the fact that they have different missions that require different approaches.
More to follow on that later…
Image courtesy of DoD
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majrod JackMurphyRGR I could argue that large scale unilateral Direct Action missions is not an SF mission and that the CIF is basically unnecessary. You'll see some people running around with their hair on fire after that though...
JackMurphyRGR It's pretty common issue to ODAs now Jack. OPR
JackMurphyRGR Tango9 JackMurphyRGR ah. got it. I also want to track down that "backblast area NOT clear" rpg video. That one is always good for a laugh.
majrod JackMurphyRGRDA is seriously not the bread and butter of any ODA (ever). Even CIF teams are lulled into a false sense of confidence by either spending time at Range 37 or by having enough former batt boys in our ranks. We spent way to much time learning how to conduct UW mission to even begin to perfect the skill set needed to focus entirely on DA missions (I have a lot of faith and respect for the RGT in this regard). Even when I did Robin Sage we did a total of 12 or 13 recon patrols and only did 4 assaults of varying sizes. Most of the time I think the assaults were used just as Jack explained, to test our ability to think on our feet when shit hits the fan. As an 18-x of sorts I appreciate the shout out Jack. While over all we were good at thinking outside the box, none of us were prepared for the bureaucratic BS that happened inside the group/battalion/company (especially the CIF Company).
DonovanE i was a fast marine in the 90s, before marsoc. the old company commander from fast became the co of marsoc when it formed. as a former marine i dont mind admitting the marine corps is a bit schizophrenic. they HATE "special" forces and during ww2 were forced to have the marine raiders. they got rid of them and said never again. fast got started by reagan after beirut. the marines hated fast. when afghanistan kicked off the corps was told spec ops only and panicked at the thought of missing a war. marsoc was born. alot of fast marines were shunted over. the BIGGEST problem is the corps doesnt know what it wants. it wants a traditional marine unit AND special operations capable. both have strengths and the corps seems to pick the worst out of both and combine in one. example: fast had really well trained young marines who had all the special schools. above them - nco's on their b-billets. an a-billet is your REAL job. a b-billet is a temporary job you have to take to get promoted beyone about e-5 or so. its a year or two at most; drill instructor, recruiters, etc arent meant to be that forever. so .. the guys in charge of these well trained young marines were hopeless. either fixed mentality infantry (this is how we do it in the infantry and all this special training isnt worth anything) or administrative paperpushers (whats a compass). any junior marine promoted was promoted out of the unit due to organizational tables. the middle and lower upper leadership sucked. marsoc got rid of the b-billet idea but hasnt embraced the completely unconventional. to the marine corps its more important that marsoc be closer to a traditional marine unit than it is that marsoc do a really good job. its not that they want marsoc to fail, they dont. but ... they want marsoc to succeed following marine doctrine and if they cant or wont follow marine doctrine than no one minds seeing them fail. thats the feel i get from talking to people who are in, have been in, etc.