After reading a comment by Astronaut Mark Kelly speaking on behalf of SEAL Team 6 Alumni stating the arming of schools to be ridiculous, something struck me. (Yes, it struck me as odd Commander Kelly would speak for SEAL’s instead of “all” the Astronauts… but whatever.)
What struck me is that everyone seems to be either a Marine or a member of SEAL Team 6.
It has reached the level of bizarre.
Let me preface these comments by saying that in my view these men are super-human. They are exceptional in ways almost all of us will never comprehend.
That being said… not everyone is a member of SEAL Team 6. Nor is every member not serving on SEAL Team 6 a Marine. (Not that being a Marine prohibits one’s membership on a Team. Anyway…)
We have an extraordinary number of specialized troops in all the branches who see combat at the tip of the spear… among other places.
We also have a number of Specialized Marine Units… as we do SEAL Teams 1-5 and 7-?.
While I love that our troops enjoy the positive press I believe they deserve… I’m tired of the marketing push that has the public thinking we have two branches of the Service… the SEAL’s and the Marines.
In fact we have Green Beret’s, PJ’s, Rangers, Force Recon, SEAL’s and many others. (Forgive me if I left you out… you know who you are.) In supposition we have a number other individual and cooperative teams. This doesn’t even begin to address other foreign service departments such as CIA, NSA, DIA etc.
No… I’m not a disgruntled Ranger chowing on sour grapes.
Actually, I’m a Fan of the Rumsfeld Doctrine… which has been a top down revision of how the U.S. views world conflict since WWII and has been embraced by Presidents Bush and Obama alike. This Doctrine necessarily requires many specialized war fighters with greater flexibility and mobility than the traditional “2 Major War” doctrine allowed. (Read: Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife which this doctrine is based upon.) This “new approach” has made a large number of Generals whose power and prestige was based on the amount of men and material they controlled very upset. It’s worth noting that Bush was endlessly hammered regarding Rumsfeld’s approach to the military… yet we hear nothing about Obama’s identical embrace of Rumsfeld… He’s still at the Pentagon… Are those crickets I hear?
My point is that there are a number of very interesting groups of people out there doing things most of us cannot comprehend. (When I say you can’t comprehend it… you cannot comprehend it. Seriously. We have all done things we consider extreme, but you cannot understand. There is a reason some of these guys have earned the nick-name Jedi Knights.) And, we would all be better for sending a little credit their way once in while.
And now the REAL point…
Once we learn a little about our military we can then address why the State Department feels they need their own heavily armed paramilitary force, which it has been building for over 5-years now…
It’s worth asking. Because it brings us back to Benghazi… and where are the survivors… you didn’t know there were survivors? Surprise.
Where is the Testimony from those in the State Department who had a finger on any rescue effort. Why have we adopted a policy that demonstrates to the world that we don’t care if you kill our diplomats? Not only do we not care, we’ll remove any reasonable protection of them to assist in their demise, because we don’t want to appear “hostile”…. yet build a brand new, unique, army answerable only to the State Dept… only to not be used.
All I’m asking is for all of us to make an effort to know a little more about those we profess to admire… and every once in a while ask “I wonder what SEAL Team 2 is doing?” or “How are the PJ’s holding up?” or “What the hell is the State Department doing and why?”.
Cheers to all of those doing what I cannot, or will not, do on my behalf!
Thank you.
Except the State Dept. at the moment… I’m a little upset with what’s going on over there. Good thing they don’t write my check.
makeaneffort 