I agree, with you. The GWOT definitely exposed the fact the commanders are very poor at utilizing assets. LRS units caded colors and now RSTA's are next to be chopped. I also see Rangers going back to just being a really good infantry unit that can conduct quick strike and time sensitive strikes better than along with other airborne units.
Very true, GWOT had a lot of units doing stuff they’re not even designed for really, including SF doing the bulk of DA, never really made a whole lot of sense.
I see Rangers as transitioning more into assault specialists who can break strong points in defense lines. The VDV kinda proved the airfield seizure mission is pretty much suicide.
@@gardnert1Airfield seizure is still a very much viable mission set, Hostomel was a success truth to be told and they managed to secure the airport. It was a failure because they couldn’t send in fixed wings with follow on forces with armor nor could the convoy from Belarus link up with the VDV in time which is the entire point.
@@parusol235 Wow, what universe are you in? They dropped on the airfield, sure. They were only able to do that because they had complete surprise. Then they immediately lost the airfield. They only got it back because of the guys coming in from Belarus, but the airfield was useless since it was being hit with artillery. So the idea of siezing the airfield was a complete waste. The VDV was basically destroyed because of that. Turns out inserting by helicopter only works when it's unopposed, otherwise you'll never have enough ammo.
@@gardnert1In what universe are you in brother? The Russians held the airport and parts of Hostomel for a month and were actively engaged in and around the area. They were utilizing absolutely every single piece of air they could cobble together and were consistently ferrying in troops and sustainment by air and on land. It was by far the only modern textbook semi successful air assault/airfield seizure in recent memory until they couldn’t feasibly land Il-76s and An-124s onto the runway due to to damage, contested airspace and yes being within the WEZ of indirect fire assets.
Ranger Battalion is a different animal all together. They are essentially structured as a conventional army infantry unit. One of their main objectives is Joint Forcible Entry Operations( JFE) to seize and hold airfields and key terrain in preparation to support the deployment of following ground forces. Because of the high tempo in Iraq and Afghanistan they were force to pick up the slack and assist with SOF missions. There are structured like a regular infantry battalion with 3 line Infantry companies, 1 heavy weapons company and support company. There are not going anywhere!!
Coming from an Army Scouts point of view is the conventional and SOF units lost their traditional mission set in GWOT. SF doing a lot of DA stuff. Seals doing a lot of fighting outside their traditional skill set of UDT and more land based fighting. Rangers supporting SOF. Instead of seizing airfields and key terrain. MP going on combat patrols Scouts not focusing on R&S. Tankers doing everything but tanking. Etc. Basically everyone needs to go back to their core mission sets. Fighting high intensity conflict in a pear fight everyone has their place. It’s just not the same one that we’ve been doing in GWOT.
Australian SASR and commandos were being used for the majority of Australia’s DA in Afghan because the government didn’t want a bunch of dead Aussie kids coming home. Commandos took heavy casualties.
Ranger regiment did more direct action targets than any other unit during GWOT, the whole “support” mission was only during the first few years of thee conflict, Ranger regiment as a whole basically took over in Afghanistan as the primary strike force
@@ViktoriousDead old Ranger Bat 1sg I had a while back said everyone’s a bunch of Delta wannabes in battalion and they need a rebluing because they lost their identity of why Ranger Bat exists. Not my opinion but his. I don’t have much experience working with bat besides the occasional 11C or senior leader that makes his way to the conventional force.
@@Recon-n-Force old Ranger batt 1st sgts been saying that since the dawn of time, lol. There was a big push back against the CQB-centric training that started getting pushed as well as DA heavy side of things, the old timers really didn’t like that. Course most Ranger 1st sgts now have 10-15+ deployments over GWOT and don’t really hold that outdated opinion anymore. I’m sure there’s gonna be another restructuring of the regiment again soon, alot of 90’s rangers grew up during peacetime and were bitter that dudes who’d been there three years or less were suddenly in the thick of it, and the reason for regiment taking over operations for primary strike force over Afghanistan was in large do to gen McChrystal It would be cool to see SOF return to form and have actual differences in what everyone did instead of a homogenization where you have three-four units that became virtually indistinguishable
Respectfully, I'm not convinced this take gives quite enough credit to the aerial side of the forces. GWOT, there were basically few sophisticated targets. Had there been, I'm sure we would have employed resources to engage them. The war in Ukraine shows that Russia would have been unprepared for fight for air supremacy in a way that would have been hard to imagine years ago. China would be a tougher engagement but Vietnam was brutal in the skies early on too, and we went at that for 20 years. I see the tech bringing some operational changes but SOF will have a role and conventional ground forces are going to be adapted alongside the heavily anti-drone skew that modern warfare is forced to abide.
@@ValhallaVFT Russia doesn't seem to have effective SEAD capabilities and Ukraine lacks resources. Both lack experience. We don't have that issue. Either way, I'd prefer we didn't have to test it but as you highlighted the market will eventually demand it.
I’ve been drawn to your channel ever since you covered going to selection in the Army in my 30s. I had initially gone to the Navy to be a SEAL but caught SIPE, and because I was a med drop I was allowed to try out for another of the Navy’s Special Programs which in my case was becoming a Rescue Swimmer which I’m glad I was able to make it through. However, despite letters of recommendations and good screening scores (PST scores) my packages kept getting denied on a count of some administrative reason referred to as my “year group” not being allowed to reapply at that time. So, I got out, did well in college, stacked a bunch of disability claims with the VA over little issues that became bigger since they are “so quick to take care of veterans health.” However, as messed up as this may be to actually say the current state of things in the world (like low record levels in recruitment) has been like the best thing for someone in my case. Since guys aren’t exactly rushing recruitment offices to be Green Berets. Plus now that good guys like you are making podcasts I see that it’s the SOF unit I should have gone in considering my history as a child fleeing Cuba’s communist dictatorship in a raft with my family and the fact that liberating the oppress is the motto of the Green Berets it’s almost like the universe has decided to give me another shot at a dream I had thought to be long gone. However, back when I was 19 I didn’t have a clue what Army SF did nor did many others so as messed up as it may sound like I’ve already said these chaotic situations around the world may just be my shot at a dream that looked dead and gone… I know it’s still a long shot, but it’s literally the only way that dream of mine has been able to reawaken once more… I know it’s down right horrific that I see the mayhem that’s going on around the world like this door opening to the possibility of achieving my dreams in SF but there really is no other way to put it so please accept my deepest apologies for seeing things such a manner, sir…
@@ValhallaVFT Thank you so much for replying considering how busy you must be 🙏! Definitely, going to take a screenshot of this, print it, and post it on my wall for motivation! Regardless of how things workout I’ll always be grateful for this inspiring reply! 🙏🇺🇸👍
Was just reading a book about the "Activity" and it touches on this a little giving examples of post Vietnam and Iran Hostage situations. Seems like manpower and budgets fluctuate depending on current events. Pretty self explanitory.
Could you do a video on the other Special Operations groups like MARSOC, SEALS, AFSW, and maybe even Rangers. Maybe explain a bit of their missions from what you know and experienced? Also include which Special Operation you would want to be a part of if you had to do your career over again but COULD NOT do Special Forces. Thanks for your content, learning a lot.
Great vid and answer. The conflict will shape the fighting force just as GWOT did. This includes conventional dudes, too. Just for fun. SOF in a near peer war will be recce, line breakers, infiltration, force multipliers, enablers, and security for higher ups. Maybe hostage rescue. Conventional will be DA all the way. Armor, infantey, and artillery of every kind, drones too, will win the near-peer war.
I came in USAF in 1980 and SOF was highly competitive. It seemed everyone in the military wanted to join a SOF unit in their respective service. The Reagan years 80-88 saw the U.S. military perhaps at it’s biggest and strongest it has ever been. Now days it seems citizens don’t even want to join the military 😮
Something close to 80% of the American population can’t even meet physical and intelligence standards to even join, so it’s getting even more difficult to recruit.
I liked the MIC analysis. The biggest change for USA since 9/11 is that a lot of Americans no longer believe the military is actually "fighting for USA" anymore, which they did before 9/11. That's why enlistment is so low. I got out in 08 after Iraq, I could see the writing on the wall way back then. The role of special operations has morphed quite a bit since the inception. They have developed effectiveness in unintentional ways. The biggest role they play in usefulness is three fold, classic SOF guerilla advisory (like you mentioned), recruitment and promotion of the branches, and as a development and evaluation attrition pipeline of new doctrine and equipment that gets pushed out into conventional use later.
I think I remember Jack Murphy on the Team House saying that the “enablers” are becoming more used and relied upon over the operator? I’m assuming he was referring to the counter terrorism/ proxy insurgency warfare stuff.. not so much the near-pear threats . I did love that episode you did with Jack while back btw.. I find the 18 echos and SOT-As super interesting in terms of what you guys offer to the teams.
I could see a future where SOF becomes more important and conventional military assets being too easy to target in peer to peer. I could also see SF starting down a line of security for national resources in a neocolonialism sense.
Well that’s currently the world we were living in, SOF pretty much exclusively has been fighting the war for the last decade as is. In reality large scale war, SOF becomes more of an enabler for the larger force as a whole, but who knows what the future really holds.
I think it’s far more likely that the mission set will change rather than the units being phased out, so essentially yes, I see that being how it plays out.
Simply look how much the ranger batt evolved from 02/03 to 07, during the early gwot. went from there typical bread n butter airfield seizures, key infrastructure/ terrain etc.. with several hundred rangers, to just a couple short yrs later there doing capture/kxll hits for legitimate HVT's with small teams fully capable of either lock picking doors or doing simultaneous dynamic breach entries. to answer, hopefully further ur question regarding the regiments adaptability, A 15 yr ex 160th pilot has an interview that i can link you where he and another nightstalker personally flew 2 small teams of rangers to conduct a hostage rescue that the rangers only got wind of 1 HOUR before take off. trusted Local came in off the street with some information on several civilians who were going to shwacked on camera in roughly in hr or so in possibly 2 different areas but same general location, and the group of rangers devised a hasty plan, geared up, took of, executed the simultaneous hit flawlessly n saved every hostage, kxlled all the guys named terri with no casualties, The 160 pilot said as he was flying to a "safer" distance to weight for jackpot they could see his team taking this building down and expertly flowing thru it and just as he was about to start circleing, he got the "jackpot" over the comms. He said couldnt have been more than 90 seconds. the reson he told that situation was because only 2 yrs prior when he last worked with rangers was at the battle for haditha dam, and the ranger reg WAS DEFINITLY not on that type of level. basically in 2 yrs rangers went from essentially elite light infantry using large unit tactics to seize key infrastructure with a high command who didnt want "his rangers" emphasizing CQB, to 2 yrs later successfully conducting a complex HR op with 1 HOURS notice and hostage rescues WAS NOT what rangers did, but they adapted to the situation.
I’d respectfully disagree on the Parr about Ranger regiment, in the sense that Direct Action would go away, I agree it’s possible maybe the way it was done in the GWOT like you stated but I believe a unit such as Ranger Regiment would just go back to their roots and still do “direct action “ in a sense, as in basically a more traditional open combat /Infantry combat as really that what they are is a high speed infantry unit , so I believe they might have the easiest adjustment. If I’m making sense hopefully.
In a world that is increasingly "unconventional" special forces operators and their unconventional skills will always be needed. In the future, certain technology will probably be part of their "toolbox."
While true, I think the military industry argument is an oversimplification. At its core, the reason for war is always economic, but the MIC is simply a cog in the overall machine. When you look at america through the lense of the british empire or roman empire our actions make a lot more sense. We may be benevolent or even the "best" but we're very much a world empire.
Weren’t the Rangers designed with conventional war in mind? Like I realize in the GWOT they were being used in small units to do direct action and support SOF but in a conventional war couldn’t they just roll back to being a super high speed infantry force doing ops more so as a company rather than squad/platoon?
When it comes to DA, would near peer conflict prioritize RR for DA due to their numbers advantage or no? I have ranger buddies but i was only ever in the 82nd and cadre at Benning, so I may be ignorant to how much personnel they actually go out with. I do figure the numbers and their dedicated mortar elements help with the firepower capabilities. I could see it shift to accomodate technology being used, and perhaps manuver elements playing roles traditionally given to air power.
Due to RR being more of an infantry size element, yes they would definitely find use in boots on the ground type combat, probably more than any other SOF unit in a peer to peer ground conflict.
There are more SF than Rangers Currently, and has been for some time, As far as raids we typically went out with anywhere from 25-35 rangers and one squad of Afghan Commandos (KKA)
Personally I do, which is why I said toward the end of the video all this “end of SOF” talk is going to disappear once the next large conflict kicks off.
Love your content mate, been tuning in religiously from a while ago haha Would you consider making videos on just random military stories? Doesn't have to be anything "cool" or whatever, hell I'd love to hear some funny stories from y'all
I’ve actually been thinking about doing that exact thing for awhile, start a series where I tell my favorite stories from my time in. Probably launch that next week.
Fucking solid video brother. I’m going to Army option 40 contract. I wear contacts. Is there a contact waiver or will I most likely be issued glasses & try and get Lasik or Prk surgery maybe after Basic? Or when I get lucky enough to get it done asap. Asking this question on the comment section because you’re my favorite on TH-cam lol.
So based on all this information, would you still recommend the younger guys join up? And if so, would taking the army ranger then green beret path still be good or would you just recommend one or the other? Because like you said, some of these SOF units are most likely gonna have a change in overall mission roles due to technological advancements in war
Yes, they are needed. Certain videos out there on Reddit say sof (in this case Spetznaz) are still very effective even in a war like the one in Ukraine where it’s a real conflict with both sides having trained conventional armies with air support, artillery support etc.
From a civilian POV, I would guess that special operations will only grow bigger, and not just in the US but within other countries as well. Technology is rapidly advancing and is expensive to distribute on a large scale quickly, so it makes more sense to priortize putting the best tech in the best hands first because they'll make better use of it.
Its another lap around the same track that we have been running on for decades. During every war (even before every war sometimes) SOF forces are in high demand. After, leadership starts questioning the need for SOF, funding drops, etc. Then when a war starts, the authorities expect us to just step up and hop right in, as if the lack of funding and assets over however many years wasn't a thing. And no matter what, US SOF has a world-wide mission, and SF is a perfect example of this. The US has partnerships world-wide. From 2001-2021, our missions still continued in every geographic theater on the planet. 7th group teams continued to deploy to SOUTHCOM when they were not in afg. Most people had no idea 3rd group was involved anywhere in africa until those guys got messed up in that ambush in mali. You 1st group poeple continued to do things all over asia during GWOT. The idea that SF doesn't have a DA mission is ridiculous- a major phase of FID is for USSF to accompany indigenous forces on operations, and when a ODA finds itself in a gunfight anywhere just due to unrest in whatever AO they find themselves in, they just got inserted into a DA operation- the fact that they are just defending themselves is irrelevant, all that matters is that they are trading bullets with... whoever.
Nice intro, in your opinion do you think the public opinion being much more negative towards getting involved in overseas conflicts, and the newer generations not joining the military due to their understanding of the cycle you talked about in the video, will affect the duration of time till the next war or prevent it?
No, look at Vietnam, we’ve still never seen anti war sentiment like that, and we still went right back to war, just took a little bit longer. They’ll use some false flag operation to stir up approval from the populace.
@@ValhallaVFTspeaking of false flags, I'm legit curious if the older guys who volunteered in gwot are fine with or approve of their government attacking it's own citizens for a fake casus belli against whomever, and wether or not they'd willingly volunteer again with full knowledge of the fact that it was the reason they are being sent to do x,y,or z to country a,b,c, etc, or if it's simply not part of their personal situational assessment as to figuring out who a real enemy of their country is?
@ValhallaFirearmsTraining speaking of false flags, I'm legit curious if the older guys who volunteered in gwot are fine with or approve of their government attacking it's own citizens for a fake casus belli against whomever, and wether or not they'd willingly volunteer again with full knowledge of the fact that it was the reason they are being sent to do x,y,or z to unrelated country a,b,c, etc, or if it's simply not part of their personal situational assessment as to figuring out who a real enemy of their country is?
I just don’t see how any kind of AI could ever out fight a team of spec ops dudes on the ground. I think humans are being highly underestimated right now. A special operator’s cunningness and ability to make decisions, adapt and overcome is next level shit. I just can’t imagine how any future machine of any type could ever outperform pissed of determined humans. I dunno. Maybe I’ve seen Terminator one too many times. Now the AI shit as far as air support goes…that’s a different story.
Most likely it will just enhance the operators ability to fight rather than replace it, at least for the foreseeable future when the terminator robots finally show up.
3:15 just answered your own question. Tf are those gun still up, if only they had specialized teams going behind enemy lines to give accurate info for a strike and then making it back home. SOF is going no where, the are units made to do the most creative plans of a commander and do it well only thing is they are going to die alot faster that in iraq or Afghanistan.
Truthfully it gives me hope to believe there will always be a need for men who can hump the gear, shoot the guns, train the locals, pilot the drones, hack the system, snatch the bad guy, and get the intel. Whether that's on land or in the sea is why we have the Army and Navy, right? What I've been told by smarter and more qualified men than me is; what's going away are those specific missions like what you were talking about, the DA stuff, and those GWOT missions that would get folks killed in near-peer wars. However, if the need were ever that dire and they were taking in old farts who can still run, hump, and shoot, I would sign up again immediately. Thanks for sharing your perspective and wisdom. It is greatly appreciated.
I think air force sof will retain relevancy due to the global access, forward air power projection and command & control of aircraft mission set crucial in attaining air superiority between near peer air forces. Agree or disagree.
Wow, wasn’t expecting this response, interesting perspective….**ironic side note: you know what *isn’t* obsolete-growing/sourcing your own food locally and having a farm! if anything, with all the government/technocratic control of all necessary resources, that style of living is even MORE important than ever before tbh
Ukraine’s implementation of fpv drones came directly from our SF “consultants”. Green Berets been utilizing fpv since 2017… on the low. Ask your fpv buddies about their gear, they still run unify evo for video trans? Tasteful choice for vehicle interdictions 😂 🚘 🌃 🦅
We filmed one a few months back but the sound quality got all messed up. We actually just refilmed it last Friday, he should have it out in the next week or two.
Bro you mentioned Delta doing sensitive ops, but not DEVGRU. Do you feel any different about DEVGRU doing sensitive ops? Do you feel like they’re too similar to white-side SEALs?
Well, here is my perspective and take from 38B point of view. I think after 20 years of COIN and restructuring of task org and Army especially when Milley created the SFAB. You are going see more SFAB and more CA/Psyop enablers from conventional doing the force multipliers. From change of warfare SOF or Green Berets did most create of force and kicking doors, now you see conventional creating more small units or tactical units to do that. I could be wrong but from word on street what I am seeing especially when GB and merging with 38B/37F.
Eh, ya you’d think that. In practicality those units just haven’t demonstrated any ability to actually accomplish the mission set they’re suppose to be handling. First had experience, SFAB and pysop have a LONG way to go to be effective.
@@ValhallaVFT Well... word on street is y'all being merged or mixing conventional planning with everyone to the degree. Next fight is a Peer-to-Peer fight. Its not going to be a tier 3 below army like Iraq.
@@Jupiterxice there is talk about merging a lot of enabling units like SOT-A, Pysop, CA, EOD etc all under the SF umbrella, not sure how realistic that’s going to turn out yet or not though.
I mean to be honest they already got phased out, haven’t done anything substantial in 15 years. But if a massive war were to break out, large forces will be necessary again.
@@ValhallaVFT Yeah it sucks man. Frankly I love being regular infantry. Green berets are a completely different type of person and have a different mindset than I. I love being a ground pounder I’m just so disappointed we don’t get any funds to even do our jobs. At this point I just have to drop a rasp packet and get the hell out, I’m just upset that I never got what I signed up for. But I know the grass will be greener.
SOF becoming irrelevant? Not likely. The 75th needs to be expanded but it's probably hard due to recruiting. All major conflicts with a first world country would be all about the numbers though, you would need a draft.
what do you make of the military industrial complex cycle you explained then? would you say the wars are justified and the industrial side capitalizes on them to make more money? or are the wars unjustified and started just to create an opening for private entities? My impression is it's more the first, but I have 0 qualifications and wanna hear your thoughts
I’d say there’s a little both of both, I think the wars used to be more justified then they are now, so it’s becoming more of a profiteering operation.
@@ValhallaVFT would this affect your thoughts on military as an option for young men? seems morally conflicting if tryna avoid supporting the profiteering-mixed bag I guess, and limited choice on what kinda war/effort u end up playing a role in?
@@SodaPrezsing it is in an Army Email I received about a month ago about MOSs being switched around because of manning issues in certain jobs and which MOSs that are no longer needed or being recycled, like for example an 18B being recycled back to an Infantry Unit or becoming an MOS they never were. Believe it or not it is happening. It is retarded to get rid of the most highly trained professionals in the Army just because other MOSs are hurting.
@@heathennomad2539 I read that and they're not reducing the actual Operators, just the Enablers/Support in the SOF units. The Army isn't sooo stupid to not recognise that Special Operators cannot be Mass Produced.
SOF - across all services - are just too capable and punch too far above their weight to be discarded. They'll always be relied upon. Delta and Rangers are now joined at the hip - Delta isn't going away and Rangers aren't going away, either.
@@ValhallaVFT I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. From what I've been hearing, there's a lot more joint training and as the GWOT progressed, more complex joint ops beyond the occasional cordon work. The British Army has now stood up its own Ranger regiment to support the SAS.
@michaelkent2203 The Ranger regiment in the British Army has a mission closer to the Green Berets rather than the US rangers. A closer equivalent to US rangers would be Special Forces Support Group, made up of Parachute Regiment, RAF regiment and Royal Marines
Special operations should ALWAYS lead from the front in unconventional warfare. However, naturally SOF will see a drastic drop in optemo in the upcoming wars that will more than likely be fought in the near future. I do see SOF recon and sniper teams being utilized in a conventional war.
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A well trained mind is never irrelevant. The tools and methods may change, but warriors are never going away as long as mankind exists.
Very good outlook, definitely a ton to be gained from the job in that regard.
Your there will be a emergence with sof sf with tech a new breed of operators....
Or
I agree, with you. The GWOT definitely exposed the fact the commanders are very poor at utilizing assets. LRS units caded colors and now RSTA's are next to be chopped. I also see Rangers going back to just being a really good infantry unit that can conduct quick strike and time sensitive strikes better than along with other airborne units.
Very true, GWOT had a lot of units doing stuff they’re not even designed for really, including SF doing the bulk of DA, never really made a whole lot of sense.
I see Rangers as transitioning more into assault specialists who can break strong points in defense lines. The VDV kinda proved the airfield seizure mission is pretty much suicide.
@@gardnert1Airfield seizure is still a very much viable mission set, Hostomel was a success truth to be told and they managed to secure the airport. It was a failure because they couldn’t send in fixed wings with follow on forces with armor nor could the convoy from Belarus link up with the VDV in time which is the entire point.
@@parusol235 Wow, what universe are you in? They dropped on the airfield, sure. They were only able to do that because they had complete surprise. Then they immediately lost the airfield. They only got it back because of the guys coming in from Belarus, but the airfield was useless since it was being hit with artillery. So the idea of siezing the airfield was a complete waste. The VDV was basically destroyed because of that. Turns out inserting by helicopter only works when it's unopposed, otherwise you'll never have enough ammo.
@@gardnert1In what universe are you in brother? The Russians held the airport and parts of Hostomel for a month and were actively engaged in and around the area. They were utilizing absolutely every single piece of air they could cobble together and were consistently ferrying in troops and sustainment by air and on land. It was by far the only modern textbook semi successful air assault/airfield seizure in recent memory until they couldn’t feasibly land Il-76s and An-124s onto the runway due to to damage, contested airspace and yes being within the WEZ of indirect fire assets.
Ranger Battalion is a different animal all together. They are essentially structured as a conventional army infantry unit. One of their main objectives is Joint Forcible Entry Operations( JFE) to seize and hold airfields and key terrain in preparation to support the deployment of following ground forces. Because of the high tempo in Iraq and Afghanistan they were force to pick up the slack and assist with SOF missions. There are structured like a regular infantry battalion with 3 line Infantry companies, 1 heavy weapons company and support company. There are not going anywhere!!
The argument would be you won’t need infantry at all either, so that would just make it more likely the phase out of usefulness.
@@ValhallaVFT there is a massive skillset between regular infantry and Rangers. Rangers are best among the infantry.
Coming from an Army Scouts point of view is the conventional and SOF units lost their traditional mission set in GWOT.
SF doing a lot of DA stuff.
Seals doing a lot of fighting outside their traditional skill set of UDT and more land based fighting.
Rangers supporting SOF. Instead of seizing airfields and key terrain.
MP going on combat patrols
Scouts not focusing on R&S.
Tankers doing everything but tanking.
Etc.
Basically everyone needs to go back to their core mission sets.
Fighting high intensity conflict in a pear fight everyone has their place. It’s just not the same one that we’ve been doing in GWOT.
Pretty much spot on.
Australian SASR and commandos were being used for the majority of Australia’s DA in Afghan because the government didn’t want a bunch of dead Aussie kids coming home.
Commandos took heavy casualties.
Ranger regiment did more direct action targets than any other unit during GWOT, the whole “support” mission was only during the first few years of thee conflict, Ranger regiment as a whole basically took over in Afghanistan as the primary strike force
@@ViktoriousDead old Ranger Bat 1sg I had a while back said everyone’s a bunch of Delta wannabes in battalion and they need a rebluing because they lost their identity of why Ranger Bat exists.
Not my opinion but his. I don’t have much experience working with bat besides the occasional 11C or senior leader that makes his way to the conventional force.
@@Recon-n-Force old Ranger batt 1st sgts been saying that since the dawn of time, lol. There was a big push back against the CQB-centric training that started getting pushed as well as DA heavy side of things, the old timers really didn’t like that.
Course most Ranger 1st sgts now have 10-15+ deployments over GWOT and don’t really hold that outdated opinion anymore. I’m sure there’s gonna be another restructuring of the regiment again soon, alot of 90’s rangers grew up during peacetime and were bitter that dudes who’d been there three years or less were suddenly in the thick of it, and the reason for regiment taking over operations for primary strike force over Afghanistan was in large do to gen McChrystal
It would be cool to see SOF return to form and have actual differences in what everyone did instead of a homogenization where you have three-four units that became virtually indistinguishable
Thanks. Videos getting better and better. Keep it coming.
Respectfully, I'm not convinced this take gives quite enough credit to the aerial side of the forces. GWOT, there were basically few sophisticated targets. Had there been, I'm sure we would have employed resources to engage them. The war in Ukraine shows that Russia would have been unprepared for fight for air supremacy in a way that would have been hard to imagine years ago. China would be a tougher engagement but Vietnam was brutal in the skies early on too, and we went at that for 20 years. I see the tech bringing some operational changes but SOF will have a role and conventional ground forces are going to be adapted alongside the heavily anti-drone skew that modern warfare is forced to abide.
Ya, first world wars you don’t get to use aerial force, as we see in Ukraine/Russia. So no.
@@ValhallaVFT Russia doesn't seem to have effective SEAD capabilities and Ukraine lacks resources. Both lack experience. We don't have that issue. Either way, I'd prefer we didn't have to test it but as you highlighted the market will eventually demand it.
SOF isn’t going anywhere. When the GWOT started there weren’t enough operators hence the beginning/addition of MARSOC.
I’ve been drawn to your channel ever since you covered going to selection in the Army in my 30s. I had initially gone to the Navy to be a SEAL but caught SIPE, and because I was a med drop I was allowed to try out for another of the Navy’s Special Programs which in my case was becoming a Rescue Swimmer which I’m glad I was able to make it through. However, despite letters of recommendations and good screening scores (PST scores) my packages kept getting denied on a count of some administrative reason referred to as my “year group” not being allowed to reapply at that time. So, I got out, did well in college, stacked a bunch of disability claims with the VA over little issues that became bigger since they are “so quick to take care of veterans health.” However, as messed up as this may be to actually say the current state of things in the world (like low record levels in recruitment) has been like the best thing for someone in my case. Since guys aren’t exactly rushing recruitment offices to be Green Berets. Plus now that good guys like you are making podcasts I see that it’s the SOF unit I should have gone in considering my history as a child fleeing Cuba’s communist dictatorship in a raft with my family and the fact that liberating the oppress is the motto of the Green Berets it’s almost like the universe has decided to give me another shot at a dream I had thought to be long gone. However, back when I was 19 I didn’t have a clue what Army SF did nor did many others so as messed up as it may sound like I’ve already said these chaotic situations around the world may just be my shot at a dream that looked dead and gone… I know it’s still a long shot, but it’s literally the only way that dream of mine has been able to reawaken once more… I know it’s down right horrific that I see the mayhem that’s going on around the world like this door opening to the possibility of achieving my dreams in SF but there really is no other way to put it so please accept my deepest apologies for seeing things such a manner, sir…
One of my teammates was actually a navy rescue swimmer then came into the army as an 18x, so it’s a doable route.
@@ValhallaVFT Thank you so much for replying considering how busy you must be 🙏! Definitely, going to take a screenshot of this, print it, and post it on my wall for motivation! Regardless of how things workout I’ll always be grateful for this inspiring reply! 🙏🇺🇸👍
Was just reading a book about the "Activity" and it touches on this a little giving examples of post Vietnam and Iran Hostage situations. Seems like manpower and budgets fluctuate depending on current events. Pretty self explanitory.
Could you do a video on the other Special Operations groups like MARSOC, SEALS, AFSW, and maybe even Rangers. Maybe explain a bit of their missions from what you know and experienced? Also include which Special Operation you would want to be a part of if you had to do your career over again but COULD NOT do Special Forces. Thanks for your content, learning a lot.
Great vid and answer.
The conflict will shape the fighting force just as GWOT did. This includes conventional dudes, too.
Just for fun.
SOF in a near peer war will be recce, line breakers, infiltration, force multipliers, enablers, and security for higher ups. Maybe hostage rescue.
Conventional will be DA all the way. Armor, infantey, and artillery of every kind, drones too, will win the near-peer war.
I came in USAF in 1980 and SOF was highly competitive. It seemed everyone in the military wanted to join a SOF unit in their respective service. The Reagan years 80-88 saw the U.S. military perhaps at it’s biggest and strongest it has ever been. Now days it seems citizens don’t even want to join the military 😮
Something close to 80% of the American population can’t even meet physical and intelligence standards to even join, so it’s getting even more difficult to recruit.
A question you didn’t ask, an answer that you expected.
I liked the MIC analysis. The biggest change for USA since 9/11 is that a lot of Americans no longer believe the military is actually "fighting for USA" anymore, which they did before 9/11. That's why enlistment is so low. I got out in 08 after Iraq, I could see the writing on the wall way back then. The role of special operations has morphed quite a bit since the inception. They have developed effectiveness in unintentional ways. The biggest role they play in usefulness is three fold, classic SOF guerilla advisory (like you mentioned), recruitment and promotion of the branches, and as a development and evaluation attrition pipeline of new doctrine and equipment that gets pushed out into conventional use later.
Yep part of me regrets not signing up after high school but I don’t see how anyone would want to fight for a country that hates us now
I think I remember Jack Murphy on the Team House saying that the “enablers” are becoming more used and relied upon over the operator? I’m assuming he was referring to the counter terrorism/ proxy insurgency warfare stuff.. not so much the near-pear threats .
I did love that episode you did with Jack while back btw.. I find the 18 echos and SOT-As super interesting in terms of what you guys offer to the teams.
I have thought it this way, great explanation. Man that’s one fucked up economical strategy, war economy is brutal but it is an undeniable true.
@@LRRPFco52 If it is false why does the US keep doing it nevertheless? If the reason is false the wars are very real.
I could see a future where SOF becomes more important and conventional military assets being too easy to target in peer to peer. I could also see SF starting down a line of security for national resources in a neocolonialism sense.
Well that’s currently the world we were living in, SOF pretty much exclusively has been fighting the war for the last decade as is. In reality large scale war, SOF becomes more of an enabler for the larger force as a whole, but who knows what the future really holds.
In the next major conflict do you think rangers and seals will adapt to be more technologically efficient?
I think it’s far more likely that the mission set will change rather than the units being phased out, so essentially yes, I see that being how it plays out.
Simply look how much the ranger batt evolved from 02/03 to 07, during the early gwot. went from there typical bread n butter airfield seizures, key infrastructure/ terrain etc.. with several hundred rangers, to just a couple short yrs later there doing capture/kxll hits for legitimate HVT's with small teams fully capable of either lock picking doors or doing simultaneous dynamic breach entries. to answer, hopefully further ur question regarding the regiments adaptability, A 15 yr ex 160th pilot has an interview that i can link you where he and another nightstalker personally flew 2 small teams of rangers to conduct a hostage rescue that the rangers only got wind of 1 HOUR before take off. trusted Local came in off the street with some information on several civilians who were going to shwacked on camera in roughly in hr or so in possibly 2 different areas but same general location, and the group of rangers devised a hasty plan, geared up, took of, executed the simultaneous hit flawlessly n saved every hostage, kxlled all the guys named terri with no casualties, The 160 pilot said as he was flying to a "safer" distance to weight for jackpot they could see his team taking this building down and expertly flowing thru it and just as he was about to start circleing, he got the "jackpot" over the comms. He said couldnt have been more than 90 seconds. the reson he told that situation was because only 2 yrs prior when he last worked with rangers was at the battle for haditha dam, and the ranger reg WAS DEFINITLY not on that type of level. basically in 2 yrs rangers went from essentially elite light infantry using large unit tactics to seize key infrastructure with a high command who didnt want "his rangers" emphasizing CQB, to 2 yrs later successfully conducting a complex HR op with 1 HOURS notice and hostage rescues WAS NOT what rangers did, but they adapted to the situation.
@@danielcampbell9457
honestly most realistic outlook on it
I’d respectfully disagree on the Parr about Ranger regiment, in the sense that Direct Action would go away, I agree it’s possible maybe the way it was done in the GWOT like you stated but I believe a unit such as Ranger Regiment would just go back to their roots and still do “direct action “ in a sense, as in basically a more traditional open combat /Infantry combat as really that what they are is a high speed infantry unit , so I believe they might have the easiest adjustment.
If I’m making sense hopefully.
In a world that is increasingly "unconventional" special forces operators and their unconventional skills will always be needed. In the future, certain technology will probably be part of their "toolbox."
While true, I think the military industry argument is an oversimplification. At its core, the reason for war is always economic, but the MIC is simply a cog in the overall machine. When you look at america through the lense of the british empire or roman empire our actions make a lot more sense. We may be benevolent or even the "best" but we're very much a world empire.
Weren’t the Rangers designed with conventional war in mind? Like I realize in the GWOT they were being used in small units to do direct action and support SOF but in a conventional war couldn’t they just roll back to being a super high speed infantry force doing ops more so as a company rather than squad/platoon?
Their missions set was more involved in things like airfield seizures, GWOT everybody became a DA force.
What Shawn Ryan show was he talking about?
When it comes to DA, would near peer conflict prioritize RR for DA due to their numbers advantage or no? I have ranger buddies but i was only ever in the 82nd and cadre at Benning, so I may be ignorant to how much personnel they actually go out with. I do figure the numbers and their dedicated mortar elements help with the firepower capabilities.
I could see it shift to accomodate technology being used, and perhaps manuver elements playing roles traditionally given to air power.
Due to RR being more of an infantry size element, yes they would definitely find use in boots on the ground type combat, probably more than any other SOF unit in a peer to peer ground conflict.
There are more SF than Rangers Currently, and has been for some time,
As far as raids we typically went out with anywhere from 25-35 rangers and one squad of Afghan Commandos (KKA)
Don’t you think you’re always gonna need a maritime commando DA/HR capability though?
Personally I do, which is why I said toward the end of the video all this “end of SOF” talk is going to disappear once the next large conflict kicks off.
Love your content mate, been tuning in religiously from a while ago haha
Would you consider making videos on just random military stories? Doesn't have to be anything "cool" or whatever, hell I'd love to hear some funny stories from y'all
I’ve actually been thinking about doing that exact thing for awhile, start a series where I tell my favorite stories from my time in. Probably launch that next week.
@@ValhallaVFT Hell yeah! I'll keep tabs on it then!
@@ValhallaVFT do it brotha im interested
Fucking solid video brother. I’m going to Army option 40 contract. I wear contacts. Is there a contact waiver or will I most likely be issued glasses & try and get Lasik or Prk surgery maybe after Basic? Or when I get lucky enough to get it done asap. Asking this question on the comment section because you’re my favorite on TH-cam lol.
So based on all this information, would you still recommend the younger guys join up? And if so, would taking the army ranger then green beret path still be good or would you just recommend one or the other? Because like you said, some of these SOF units are most likely gonna have a change in overall mission roles due to technological advancements in war
Ya of course, this could all begin to massively change within the next year. You never really know. I’ve done videos recently on exactly that.
Why would you want to serve a government that hates you?
After the Bin Laden raid it was said that the future was the operator and large conventional military would be obsolete.
Yes, they are needed. Certain videos out there on Reddit say sof (in this case Spetznaz) are still very effective even in a war like the one in Ukraine where it’s a real conflict with both sides having trained conventional armies with air support, artillery support etc.
Couple of my favorites and because I know guys in them, Lions of Kandahar, and American Spartan by Ann Scott Tyson.
From a civilian POV, I would guess that special operations will only grow bigger, and not just in the US but within other countries as well. Technology is rapidly advancing and is expensive to distribute on a large scale quickly, so it makes more sense to priortize putting the best tech in the best hands first because they'll make better use of it.
Its another lap around the same track that we have been running on for decades. During every war (even before every war sometimes) SOF forces are in high demand. After, leadership starts questioning the need for SOF, funding drops, etc. Then when a war starts, the authorities expect us to just step up and hop right in, as if the lack of funding and assets over however many years wasn't a thing. And no matter what, US SOF has a world-wide mission, and SF is a perfect example of this. The US has partnerships world-wide. From 2001-2021, our missions still continued in every geographic theater on the planet. 7th group teams continued to deploy to SOUTHCOM when they were not in afg. Most people had no idea 3rd group was involved anywhere in africa until those guys got messed up in that ambush in mali. You 1st group poeple continued to do things all over asia during GWOT. The idea that SF doesn't have a DA mission is ridiculous- a major phase of FID is for USSF to accompany indigenous forces on operations, and when a ODA finds itself in a gunfight anywhere just due to unrest in whatever AO they find themselves in, they just got inserted into a DA operation- the fact that they are just defending themselves is irrelevant, all that matters is that they are trading bullets with... whoever.
Well said. Agree with you on all of that.
Nice intro, in your opinion do you think the public opinion being much more negative towards getting involved in overseas conflicts, and the newer generations not joining the military due to their understanding of the cycle you talked about in the video, will affect the duration of time till the next war or prevent it?
No, look at Vietnam, we’ve still never seen anti war sentiment like that, and we still went right back to war, just took a little bit longer. They’ll use some false flag operation to stir up approval from the populace.
@@ValhallaVFTspeaking of false flags, I'm legit curious if the older guys who volunteered in gwot are fine with or approve of their government attacking it's own citizens for a fake casus belli against whomever, and wether or not they'd willingly volunteer again with full knowledge of the fact that it was the reason they are being sent to do x,y,or z to country a,b,c, etc, or if it's simply not part of their personal situational assessment as to figuring out who a real enemy of their country is?
@ValhallaFirearmsTraining speaking of false flags, I'm legit curious if the older guys who volunteered in gwot are fine with or approve of their government attacking it's own citizens for a fake casus belli against whomever, and wether or not they'd willingly volunteer again with full knowledge of the fact that it was the reason they are being sent to do x,y,or z to unrelated country a,b,c, etc, or if it's simply not part of their personal situational assessment as to figuring out who a real enemy of their country is?
Space Force brother! 💪🏽
It's becoming the normal training. It will inevitably be seperated by geography and warfighter knowledge.
I just don’t see how any kind of AI could ever out fight a team of spec ops dudes on the ground. I think humans are being highly underestimated right now. A special operator’s cunningness and ability to make decisions, adapt and overcome is next level shit. I just can’t imagine how any future machine of any type could ever outperform pissed of determined humans. I dunno. Maybe I’ve seen Terminator one too many times. Now the AI shit as far as air support goes…that’s a different story.
Most likely it will just enhance the operators ability to fight rather than replace it, at least for the foreseeable future when the terminator robots finally show up.
3:15 just answered your own question. Tf are those gun still up, if only they had specialized teams going behind enemy lines to give accurate info for a strike and then making it back home. SOF is going no where, the are units made to do the most creative plans of a commander and do it well only thing is they are going to die alot faster that in iraq or Afghanistan.
Truthfully it gives me hope to believe there will always be a need for men who can hump the gear, shoot the guns, train the locals, pilot the drones, hack the system, snatch the bad guy, and get the intel. Whether that's on land or in the sea is why we have the Army and Navy, right? What I've been told by smarter and more qualified men than me is; what's going away are those specific missions like what you were talking about, the DA stuff, and those GWOT missions that would get folks killed in near-peer wars. However, if the need were ever that dire and they were taking in old farts who can still run, hump, and shoot, I would sign up again immediately.
Thanks for sharing your perspective and wisdom. It is greatly appreciated.
I think air force sof will retain relevancy due to the global access, forward air power projection and command & control of aircraft mission set crucial in attaining air superiority between near peer air forces. Agree or disagree.
Wow, wasn’t expecting this response, interesting perspective….**ironic side note: you know what *isn’t* obsolete-growing/sourcing your own food locally and having a farm! if anything, with all the government/technocratic control of all necessary resources, that style of living is even MORE important than ever before tbh
100%
Ukraine’s implementation of fpv drones came directly from our SF “consultants”. Green Berets been utilizing fpv since 2017… on the low. Ask your fpv buddies about their gear, they still run unify evo for video trans? Tasteful choice for vehicle interdictions 😂 🚘 🌃 🦅
Where’s your interview w Jay @greenberetchronicles ?
I saw him upload a convo with you once and deleted it I think..
We filmed one a few months back but the sound quality got all messed up. We actually just refilmed it last Friday, he should have it out in the next week or two.
@@ValhallaVFT you and Jay are doing more for SF recruiting than the Army ever could.
what about the drones taking a bigger role in the warfare machine war or robots get introduced? It seems the battle is more in the cyberspace and tech
would you still tell a young guy to go 18x or do you think there is now a better option for joining the army
Just did a video about why you should still join special forces, bout 4-5 videos back, go check that out I outline it pretty detailed.
Bro you mentioned Delta doing sensitive ops, but not DEVGRU. Do you feel any different about DEVGRU doing sensitive ops? Do you feel like they’re too similar to white-side SEALs?
They fall more under the same umbrella as delta, I just didn’t mention them.
The demand and need is still there, but its simple math, way less people are joining the military, so SOF has way fewer candidates interested.
Well, here is my perspective and take from 38B point of view. I think after 20 years of COIN and restructuring of task org and Army especially when Milley created the SFAB. You are going see more SFAB and more CA/Psyop enablers from conventional doing the force multipliers. From change of warfare SOF or Green Berets did most create of force and kicking doors, now you see conventional creating more small units or tactical units to do that. I could be wrong but from word on street what I am seeing especially when GB and merging with 38B/37F.
Eh, ya you’d think that. In practicality those units just haven’t demonstrated any ability to actually accomplish the mission set they’re suppose to be handling. First had experience, SFAB and pysop have a LONG way to go to be effective.
@@ValhallaVFT Well... word on street is y'all being merged or mixing conventional planning with everyone to the degree. Next fight is a Peer-to-Peer fight. Its not going to be a tier 3 below army like Iraq.
@@Jupiterxice there is talk about merging a lot of enabling units like SOT-A, Pysop, CA, EOD etc all under the SF umbrella, not sure how realistic that’s going to turn out yet or not though.
@@ValhallaVFT time will tell Godspeed
To add to what you said, what do you think will be the future of sfab??
They’ve struggled to find any real success or relevancy as is, so not looking great long term.
Where do you see the regular grunts going? Airborne units?
I mean to be honest they already got phased out, haven’t done anything substantial in 15 years. But if a massive war were to break out, large forces will be necessary again.
@@ValhallaVFT Yeah it sucks man. Frankly I love being regular infantry. Green berets are a completely different type of person and have a different mindset than I. I love being a ground pounder I’m just so disappointed we don’t get any funds to even do our jobs. At this point I just have to drop a rasp packet and get the hell out, I’m just upset that I never got what I signed up for. But I know the grass will be greener.
The radical increase of SOF was largely due to the Rumsfeld Doctrine being adopted. New doctrine, new look military maybe.
SOF becoming irrelevant? Not likely. The 75th needs to be expanded but it's probably hard due to recruiting. All major conflicts with a first world country would be all about the numbers though, you would need a draft.
how will sof operators cope with drones? the battlefield is changing...
what do you make of the military industrial complex cycle you explained then? would you say the wars are justified and the industrial side capitalizes on them to make more money? or are the wars unjustified and started just to create an opening for private entities? My impression is it's more the first, but I have 0 qualifications and wanna hear your thoughts
I’d say there’s a little both of both, I think the wars used to be more justified then they are now, so it’s becoming more of a profiteering operation.
@@ValhallaVFT would this affect your thoughts on military as an option for young men? seems morally conflicting if tryna avoid supporting the profiteering-mixed bag I guess, and limited choice on what kinda war/effort u end up playing a role in?
Just saw an email the other day at work that they are relieving or moving over 3,000 SOF Operators/Supporters to other MOS's which I find crazy.
This actually is exactly what happened after Vietnam ended and is exactly why my dad who was also a GB got out.
Source on this?
@@SodaPrezsing it is in an Army Email I received about a month ago about MOSs being switched around because of manning issues in certain jobs and which MOSs that are no longer needed or being recycled, like for example an 18B being recycled back to an Infantry Unit or becoming an MOS they never were. Believe it or not it is happening. It is retarded to get rid of the most highly trained professionals in the Army just because other MOSs are hurting.
@@heathennomad2539 I read that and they're not reducing the actual Operators, just the Enablers/Support in the SOF units.
The Army isn't sooo stupid to not recognise that Special Operators cannot be Mass Produced.
@@SodaPrezsing Thank you. It was un clear of what the intent was, but I completely understand to not relieve Operators.
Would you still recommend guys still join since you know yourself that war is a racket?
Just did a video on exactly that you can watch, Why you should still join SF, that one.
@@ValhallaVFT Thanks
SOF - across all services - are just too capable and punch too far above their weight to be discarded. They'll always be relied upon. Delta and Rangers are now joined at the hip - Delta isn't going away and Rangers aren't going away, either.
Well, that’s not go that far. Ranger battalion does some cordon work for delta sometimes, that’s pretty much the extent of it.
@@ValhallaVFT I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. From what I've been hearing, there's a lot more joint training and as the GWOT progressed, more complex joint ops beyond the occasional cordon work. The British Army has now stood up its own Ranger regiment to support the SAS.
@michaelkent2203 The Ranger regiment in the British Army has a mission closer to the Green Berets rather than the US rangers. A closer equivalent to US rangers would be Special Forces Support Group, made up of Parachute Regiment, RAF regiment and Royal Marines
@@sharkwolf7788 Ah! Thanks for clarifying!
Well who is gonna do UFO crash retrival then?
Absolutely drones is where modern warfare is at .
18x or infantry officer to sf o?
Not sure what your question actually is here.
As enlisted you get more team time but as an officer you get autonomy, and unique opportunities after team time.
Anybody play the video game Crysis? I think thats the next step with special units augmented with some kind of suit technology.
Do we think 10th group is in Ukraine ?
Why not recruit foreigners like the young men crossing the border? We need SF to help law enforcement to disarm the little people.
Special operations should ALWAYS lead from the front in unconventional warfare. However, naturally SOF will see a drastic drop in optemo in the upcoming wars that will more than likely be fought in the near future. I do see SOF recon and sniper teams being utilized in a conventional war.
The next war will Surely be different,more drones then operators for sure