Slowpoke wrote:Drones can not snatch prisoners, nor conduct ambush, nor place explosives/booby traps. Drones are great for monitoring troop movements and taking out known targets with missiles. I know SF and Ranger Advisors had pretty good luck operating with indigenous personnel, but I do NOT trust them......especially with my life! Also, I don't see any future in training undercover enemy operatives in LRRP tactics. Other than the last chapter, the author is spot on in my opinion.
Agreed on what I believe the spirit of your post was but... I was referencing SF working with indigs as a technique to aquire strategic intel on a region not as a substitute to US forces. SF should continue to train locals in FID.
To clarify: I know and you know (and anyone else with half a brain) that the intel recieved from men on the ground is a necessary aspect of any intelligence plan.
However, the days of snatching prisoners is over and boobie traps are too indiscriminate (in point of fact the Army is moving away from even command det mines like Claymores). Also, commanders at all levels are so risk averse that the idea of risking troops when they can just send a drone appeals to them whole heartedly. Like I also said before follow the money on drone tech wnd you will see congressmen, Generals and buisinessmen.
I think the plan has merit and could/should be executed...it just wont be. Military culture just wont allow it. The very idea of a small element of troops without direct Officer oversight makes conventional commanders at best cringe and at worst become apoplectic. Though SOF forces are comfortable with the concept and embrace it as part of thier history they will be working in battlespaces where conventional commanders can provide support only if they are aware of the mission that SOF is performing. Therefore, the conventional BDE commander has a vote on how the mission is executed and I wouldn't put it past a few of them to neglect or refuse to support SOF. This problem is magnified when speaking to Corps and Div LRS elements that are not connected to SOCOM at all but do have an entire CoC that is conventional "Big Army" all the way to the top. Most (if not all) LRS units are assigned to MI higher HQ's with MI BN CDRs that have spent most of thier careers herding MI cats that think they are smarter than they actually are. I can't be sure but I don't believe any LRS units have been used in thier intended role since DStorm.
I just spent the last week working a Corps level WARSIM depicting a "stand-up" fight with great big mothering battles (they depicted a FLOT and everything) air defense assets and a near parity of combat power between the BLUEFOR and OPFOR. Not once was LRS or US SOF forces depicted as part of the Corps plans. UAV's however, were everywhere as well as NGO's like USAID (WTF they're going to do in the middle of two Armor divisions beating the shit out of each other I have no idea). These guys are going to fight the way they train and this concept isn't in the master plan.
The Army is preparing for fights against hi-tech opponents and completely ignoring the fact that after whatever delusions the country we are fighting had that they could stand up to us (after about four weeks of us kicking thier teeth in) are destroyed they will go straight to an insurgency.
Tough