There was something in this article about Special Air Service operators in the UK prepping to join their brothers already on station in Iraq – and yes Mookie, there does appear to be a laser dot on your turban, why do you ask? – that brought a faint smile to your correspondent’s face, weary as he sometimes gets of hearing pols and pundits whose concerns about our troops seems to correlate more closely to the political party of their commander in chief than to any sense of the importance of the mission they are embarked upon. These have lately taken to banging their spoons ever more vigorously on their high chairs in an attempt to “hurry up and bring the troops home so that they can focus on fighting al-Qaeda.” Which, well:
The SAS and SBS have been engaged in covert missions against al-Qaeda for four years, serving with American troops from the US Joint Special Operations Command under Lieutenant-General Stanley McCrystal. US military sources said the special forces teams had killed a total of 2,000 al-Qaeda fighters, carrying out missions at night.
However, despite their heavy commitments, diplomatic sources said yesterday that elements of the British special forces already in Baghdad could be diverted to the hunt for the five missing Britons because of their unrivalled knowledge of the Iraqi security environment.
McCrystal is the guy who got the congratulatory telephone call from the president after Abu mus’b al Zarqawi got JDAM’d to hell in Diyala. It’s good to know he’s also getting to tap into the expertise of the SAS and Special Boat Squadron types, they are superb operators.
And it is a target-rich environment, after all.
Plenty to go around.
I wish them good hunting.
Sometimes I really miss being a grunt in the thick of it.
Sometimes…
I say, haven’t heard much from the nine captured fellows suspected of being in on the initial snatch. Oh, but then again, maybe we have.
Why do the MSM fall on these stories, when they know that under existing treaties between the U.S. and Great Britain the SAS have been in Afghanistan and Iraq from the beginning? Well… they most likely have had units in the region since their formation…after all, their deployment schedules are for a term of five to ten years.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
“Why do the MSM fall on these stories,…”
Bush Derangement Syndrome.
A little Six Degrees of Separation for me on this.
I actually have an OER written by Stan McChrystal.
When he was a CPT(P), he was the S3 for my infantry battalion at FT Stewart, GA in 84-85. I was a very junior captain (some would say 1st Lieutenant, 2d Award) working as a shift officer in the S3 shop (I called myself the S3 Coffee).
He was a great boss to work for. One of the smartest guys I ever met. He had commanded a Ranger Company by then and been in Special Forces. I think this was his last tour in a conventional unit before the Army got smart and made a Special Operations branch. After that he went off to the dark side of the force.
He was a PT freak (as you may imagine) and we used to hate at staff PT when we heard the words “Captain MAc is going to lead the run….” For us large body, weight lifting types this meant we were going to be puking before breakfast.
His dad was also a general officer. His youngest brother was a platoon leader in our battalion as well. A really great kid. He was best friends with my comapny XO.
Albany Rifles, I second your words on LTGEN McChrystal. I got to work for him three times on a TAD basis, he still eats only one meal a day, still is a terror on the run, and still expect him to be SOCOM one day. I think we also have a common friend in a NCO who would have been assigned to your unit at that time, and who followed McChrystal over to the dark side and to a commission, T*** H****. Most intense guy I ever met, the kind who give everything they have to men like McChrystal. Can’t say enough good things about him or his whole team.
Web Reconnaissance for 05/31/2007…
A short recon of what?ǂ
Web Reconnaissance for 05/31/2007…
A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention….
Albany Rifles,
I’m watching a program on the Military Channel right now that has a Lt. Jim(I believe) McChrystal as a participant in an action somewhere in Iraq. He leads a scout platoon in a Stryker outfit. I wonder if it’s the same one you refer to?
Albany Rifles….that’s 1st Lt. Rob McChrystal and the action is in Talafar.
Guy
No…I am WAY older than that.
It may be LTG Stan’s son or nephew. The brother I referred to…same name….left the service in the late 1980s. So unless he is the US Army’s oldest 1 LT since the Civil War it would be a nephew, son, etc, if related at all.
The British SAS are known by the sinister pronoun ‘them.’
The Australian SAS are given the equally sinister nickname ‘the chicken stranglers.’
I think that says it all.
i was a squad leader in Gen McCrystal’s battalion in the 82nd in the 90s. We did 25 mile road marches once a quarter. the then LTC McCrystal always did the 25 miler the first day and the make up 25 miler the second day. Suffice it to the troops called him “Stan the Man” behind his back. Not much higher praise than that.