Special operations has an entitlement problem

I have posted several threads about misconduct in our special operations forces. These include alleged war crimes, drug use, and murder of fellow operators.

I also posted a thread about the Navy and SOCOM investigations to determine WTF was up- and I said the high OP-tempo was the cause. This article discusses those findings.

Personally, at least for the Army, I am against the enlistment track into SF. SF should only recruit from Soldiers who have completed at least one enlistment tour. I won't speak for the Navy- they have always started with enlistees and although I think that is a mistake, the Navy really doesn't have other ratings that can give Seal recruits real combat training.

After news reports broke that a SEAL team’s raucous 4th of July party had gotten them sent home from an Iraq deployment, the head of Special Operations Command had enough. He ordered an extensive review of the command, tasked with discovering what was eating away at the professionalism special operations had touted for decades.What they found, according to a 69-page report released Tuesday, is that an obsession with tactical skill and deployments over everything has eroded leadership across the command. Coupled with an insidious sense of entitlement, the environment across SOCOM’s components has fostered the rash of misconduct scandals that have plagued the organization over the past few years.
“Knowing what is right requires a leadership presence and commitment and understanding,” SOCOM boss Army Gen. Richard Clarke told reporters Tuesday.

“And most importantly, training the leadership that is junior to them on those same things.”


There are 16 specific recommendations laid out in the report, but the larger issue will be changing a deep-seated and closely-protected culture that values engagement of enemies in direct combat to the detriment of nearly all else.


“Sometimes character is not held in as high regard as competence,” Clarke said. “And the two have to be linked.”



The breakdown in conduct can be traced to the high operational tempo of units across the special operations forces, according to the report, but the conclusion is not that operators are burnt out and thus lacking judgement.


Rather, the hunger to close with and kill the enemy has overtaken not only the wide range of missions operators are trained for, but the organizational fortitude that is supposed to keep all military units humming along, regardless of their expertise.