New Way the U.S. Projects Power Around the Globe: Commandos
By Michael M. Phillips
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These days, the sun never sets on America’s special-operations forces. Over the past year, they have landed in 81 countries, most of them training local commandos to fight so American troops don’t have to. From Honduras to Mongolia, Estonia to Djibouti, U.S. special operators teach local soldiers diplomatic skills to shield their countries against extremist ideologies, as well as combat skills to fight militants who break through.
President Barack Obama, as part of his plan to shrink U.S. reliance on traditional warfare, has promised to piece together a web of such alliances from South Asia to the Sahel. Faced with mobile enemies working independently of foreign governments, the U.S. military has scattered small, nimble teams in many places, rather than just maintaining large forces in a few.
The budget for Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., which dispatches elite troops around the world, jumped to $10 billion in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, from $2.2 billion in 2001. Congress has doubled the command to nearly 70,000 people this year, from 33,000 in fiscal 2001. The Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force provide further funding. Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets, for example, are stationed in the Baltics, training elite troops from Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia for the type of proxy warfare Russia has conducted in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
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U.S. special operators roam the forests of the Central African Republic, alongside Ugandan troops, hunting the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony . The rebel group, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., has forcibly recruited children into its ranks. But the vast majority of special-operations missions involve coaxing and coaching foreign forces to combat extremists the U.S. considers threats.
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Driving the idea are 14 years of fighting in Afghanistan, and the on-again-off-again battle in Iraq, expensive land wars that have sapped the political support of many Americans. At the same time, the U.S. faces threats from such free-range terror networks as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in Mali; al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen; Islamic State in Syria and Iraq; al-Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria. Most of these militants have no borders, instead concealing themselves among civilians disaffected with their own corrupt or inept rulers.
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The allied nations included the U.K., Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and others that over the past decade have forged a global special-operations network, primarily by training local forces together in Afghanistan. Lithuania and Latvia sent observers to Chad this year, raising the possibility the nations will join next year’s exercises in Senegal.
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U.S. special operators are encouraged to learn local culture, language and politics as they report on a country’s vulnerability to extremists... The work draws soldiers with more than a hint of Peace Corps aspirations. The leader of one Special Forces team in Chad grew up in neighboring Cameroon, the son of missionaries. He speaks both French, the colonial language of Chad, and West African pidgin English, a skill that surprised Nigerian commandos at his camp. He rarely starts a conversation with African counterparts without first politely asking whether they’ve had a good night’s sleep, an approach that signals respect in the region.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/sun-never-sets-on-u-s-commandos-1429887473
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