Quote:
Originally Posted by SaintessHeart
I don't think they are simply fighting pirates anymore. Usually they don't send such high-end forces against pirates; that would be a job for the regular boarding parties on the ships; and they would only call in the troopers if the boarding parties are forced to evacuate or captured (which could be more common since they aren't extensively trained in tactics like the Dozier Drill).
...
|
Imo, if you want to fight the root cause of piracy you have to fight it on land.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaintessHeart
Drones are not as useful as having a human team on the ground; more often than not a LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol) team with SRR (Short Range Recon - basically crawl up to the sentry and taking photos while he is looking away) specialists can acquire more intel than a simple drone.
|
That may be so. But you need to balance the risk involved and the gained intelligence. In certain cases, a higher ratio of "colateral damage" might be acceptable if the victims are just low profile enough or cannot defend their claim of innocence. In a region like Somalia it is easier to justify deaths (more importantly there is not much news coverage - because the whole region is just too instable).
I am not defending such an approach, but I can very well imagine why someone would operate like that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaintessHeart
The article talked about specifically adding commandos, but a 200% surge sounds a little atrocious for a military wanting to keep a low profile.
|
Which is why I seriously doubt it to be actual commando units. Thats all I was trying to hint at. The article was only giving an example. It could host 800 more commando. That does not mean that author actually knows which units will be deployed there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaintessHeart
On non-lethal missions (rescue or intel), commandos don't need as much backup other than that evacuation because their profile isn't to blow as many things up as they can. Smaller teams to infiltrate and secure whatever they need are enough - slip-in-slip-out is the key.
That is what SERE training is for. Though it would be interesting to note what jungle can they live off in Africa.  |
Somalia is a desert region, you cannot easily hide in a desert. I am aware what those units are capable of. And I do not think the most important issue in Somalia is warfare intelligence. If we were talking about espionage and undercover operations than the CIA would be a better choice (Now I don't know about the internal structuring of MENA but I don't think there is a unit that could be called a commando unit either).
The best usage for the commando units would be the freeing of hostages and the elimination of highly important targets. Which is certainly needed in the region, but not in these numbers.