Special Forces Successful Tactics

The U.S. Army Special Forces tactics have proved successful, and are now becoming even more popular in the war on terror. These techniques involve going in and making friends with as many people as possible, and then waiting for those people to reciprocate with information, or even actively joining your efforts to track down terrorists.

The army Civil Affairs battalions actually belong to the Special Forces, and specialize in working long term with locals to improve living and economic conditions. Something as simple as having a veterinarian tend to local herds, flying in equipment to drill wells, or passing out battery powered radios builds long term good will. The Special Forces know what goods and services will be most useful, and appreciated by the locals. Once the good will is established, the Special Forces then have an invaluable intelligence tool; the ability to go to villagers and just sit and talk…and ask questions that will be answered.

The first thing to do is make an assessment, and this is why Special Forces training includes learning the languages of the area they will specialize in. The five active duty Special Forces groups (brigades) each specialize in a different region of the world. Going around to villages or neighborhoods to make introductions goes over well. The Special Forces are exotic visitors who speak the language, know the customs and are very respectful. Two men in each twelve man Special Forces team are medical specialists, a huge asset to get “in the door”. Since they know the culture, the Special Forces operators know when it is polite to offer something, how to do it, and when to keep quiet. The people in these poor countries know of America as a rich, generous country, so it’s not difficult for the Special Forces to offer assistance. The Special Forces will usually say why they are there, to catch terrorists who threaten the United States. For that reason, the Special Forces will encourage friendships with locals who are not Islamic radicals; establishing relations, and maintaining them.

The Special Forces training also makes it easier for the operators to detect when they aren’t making progress. To detect when they are being lied to or patronized. This is important, because the Special Forces and Civil Affairs troops might be working an area for months, or years, before the locals decide that the foreigners are trustworthy, and spoken to freely and frankly.

The war on terror is being fought, and won, with thousands of good deeds. These are tools that are utilized before the bombs and bullets become necessary to eliminate the dangerous leaders of the enemy imperialists… as was the case recently when Special Forces achieved an important success by taking out the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

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Soviet Special Operations & Urban Assault

A bit of history on Soviet Special Operations and City Fighting:

On June 14, 1995, Chechnyan Muslim terrorist leader Shamil Basaev entered Gronzy with about 200 terrorists. The muslims first tried, and failed, to seize a police station. They were more successful in capturing two bank buildings and the city administrative center. Basaev’s forces positioned machine guns on the roofs of the captured buildings and then seized the local hospital. There, they took hostages and booby trapped the area. The rebels promised that the hostages would be released if the Russians agreed to cease hostilities in Chechnya and withdraw their forces from the region. If the Russians refused or made any attempt to resolve the situation by force, the hostages would die.On June 17, as negotiations continued, Russian MVD and Spetsnaz forces attempted to recapture the hospital. Spetsnaz troops fired at the front windows of the hospital to create a diversion while elite Alpha group forces advanced unseen from another direction. While the Russians succeeded in temporarily capturing part of the first floor, freeing some hostages and eliminating some enemy snipers and machine gun crews, the rest of the hospital remained under Basaev’s control. Two hours later they tried again, with similar results. After this second failure, Russian negotiators stated that theRussian troops were acting independently of central government control. This ended efforts to recapture the hospital and negotiations concluded on June 19. Basaev’s forces may not have gotten what they initially demanded, but they were able to return to Chechnya unimpeded, leaving behind 150 dead civilians.

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