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Marine spec ops12/17/2023 Some units adhere to relaxed grooming standards, wearing beards and long hair which further marks them as exempt from normal military regulations. Many of these units have their own fitness trainers and dieticians, expensive gyms and special dining facilities, and treated like elite athletes preparing for the Olympics. Even during times of tight defense budgets, special operations units have generally been protected from large cuts and continue to acquire new and expensive gadgets and weaponry. Newly assessed operators are repeatedly told that they are the best of the best, and are immersed in an environment marked by seemingly unlimited resources. From the very start of their selection and training, prospective members of special operations units are segregated from the conventional military, which is often held in barely disguised contempt. Dangerous problems with entitlement are growing throughout the force, but are particularly acute in the special operations community. Third, special operations culture is increasingly characterized by a sense of entitlement. footprint in Afghanistan may soon shrink, special operations forces will continue to operate in combat theaters that are less visible but can be just as deadly, including Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria, and western Africa. And, of the 22 Americans killed in Afghanistan during 2019, 10 were members of Army Special Forces and one was a member of the Army’s Ranger regiment. One of the soldiers killed was on his 10th combat deployment. Army Special Forces soldiers were killed and six others wounded in an insider attack in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, for example, two U.S. Second, the special operations community continues to suffer significant casualties, since it remains deeply engaged in combat operations, while most conventional forces have been withdrawn. And this problem is only likely to get worse, as the new demands of great power competition add even more to their workload while these ongoing missions continue unabated. As conventional combat forces have largely returned home, special operations forces continue to be whipsawed by these largely unconstrained demands and the never-ending stream of deployments that result. All of the combatant commanders have a substantial and often growing set of requirements for special operators in their areas of responsibility. Since 2001, special operations forces have been continuously tasked with missions as diverse as striking America’s enemies abroad, countering violent extremist organizations and insurgencies, building host-nation special operators, and conducting security force assistance. The first and most obvious is the unremitting pressure of continuous combat and operational deployments. Such clear warning signs of problems in the special operations community stem from at least three key reasons. These cases are deeply troubling, and should be viewed as the canaries in the coal mine. In July 2019, SEAL Team 7 was ejected from Iraq for drinking and debauchery. ![]() In April 2018, members of SEAL Team 10 were caught using cocaine, resulting in several being separated from the service.Another SEAL subsequently admitted to the killing in court. In January 2019, SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher was charged with murdering a captive in Iraq in 2017, and was later convicted of posing with dead enemy soldiers (and was also recently pardoned by the president).Another Raider and SEAL are charged with murder in the incident, and could face life in prison. In June 2019, a Marine Raider and a Navy SEAL were sentenced to prison terms after pleading guilty in a court martial to charges of negligent homicide in the hazing death of an Army special forces non-commissioned officer in Mali two years earlier.Despite strong evidence, the incident was dismissed with no corrective actions by the SEAL Team’s higher command. Army soldiers for allegedly beating and murdering captives in Afghanistan. In June 2012, members of SEAL Team 2 were reported by U.S. ![]() In November 2016, an Army special forces major publicly admitted to killing an unarmed captive during an interrogation in 2011 (and was recently pardoned by the president).During the last two years, special operators have been involved in an explosion of very public misconduct and indiscipline cases. Its size has more than doubled since 1999, but still includes only about 66,000 troops out of a total active force of nearly 1.4 million. ![]() Twenty years of relentless pressure on special operations forces is clearly showing.
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