2RHPZ
07-30-2004, 01:24 AM
Special forces face special problems
CLIVE FAIRWEATHER
PLATFORM
AMID the welter of changes being proposed by the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, last week, was the welcome news that the role and size of special forces are to be expanded.
Indeed, at the weekend it was further revealed by one newspaper that an entirely new 600-strong special forces regiment is to be created.
Apparently, this new regiment would be geared to infiltrating Islamic terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. Volunteers for it, both male and female, would be taken from all three branches of the armed services.
Though it is hard to determine how much judicious leaking or spin was involved in this article, priority is to be given to those of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance, as well as Muslims and members of ethnic minorities.
Hopefully, however, this will be the last we hear of this new unit, as the less said about its almost certainly top-secret work the better.
Yet these are testing times for the armed forces, as service chiefs attempt to procure more - and much-needed - hi-tech equipment.
Some of this will be extremely expensive. There are only limited resources available, and in addition to manpower levels being rebalanced for the conflicts of the future, some elements, including the infantry, are also being cut in order to balance the Treasury’s books.
At the same time, there is no let-up in commitments which have left many sailors, airmen and soldiers seriously over-stretched.
What Mr Hoon’s advisers will have been careful to brush over is the fact that the reduction of 20,000 in the MoD manpower budget could seriously impact on the ability of special forces to recruit from the much-reduced manpower pool which will result.
This pool will soon be the smallest that special forces have ever had to contemplate - at a time when it is required to expand.
This is not an impossible task, but it may prove to be an uphill one to maintain, especially as a high failure rate in selection and training - as much as 90 per cent - is almost inevitable, at least in units such as the SAS and SBS.
In my day, as SAS Second in Command, more than 20 years ago, we were lucky if more than 30 recruits made it through selection each year, let alone the further attrition rate that occurred during the lengthy continuation course that followed, not to mention the odd casualty in battle.
That was at a time when the pool of manpower from all three services was considerably larger than it is today, and the pool is now being greatly reduced.
All this, combined with rumours that many current special forces members are seeking their fortune with private security firms in Iraq and elsewhere, points to their capital services manpower agencies having to really think out of the box, not only to maintain current SAS manpower but, now, to increase it.
There may have to be a much greater degree of interchangeability between Territorial and regular special forces members - and it is said the TA is already heavily engaged on operations in several fronts. No-one should be too proud to take back in former soldiers of fortune either.
However, for the first time, direct recruitment from civilian agencies - or even other nation’s forces - may also have to be considered. Nevertheless, extreme care will have to be exercised, particularly in the costly but vital vetting arrangements.
For this reason, in the past special forces always demanded evidence of at least three years’ previous continuous military service, in order to reduce the possibility of being infiltrated by the very enemy they were trying to defeat.
That threat - along with many others - is even greater today.
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=871262004
CLIVE FAIRWEATHER
PLATFORM
AMID the welter of changes being proposed by the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, last week, was the welcome news that the role and size of special forces are to be expanded.
Indeed, at the weekend it was further revealed by one newspaper that an entirely new 600-strong special forces regiment is to be created.
Apparently, this new regiment would be geared to infiltrating Islamic terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. Volunteers for it, both male and female, would be taken from all three branches of the armed services.
Though it is hard to determine how much judicious leaking or spin was involved in this article, priority is to be given to those of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance, as well as Muslims and members of ethnic minorities.
Hopefully, however, this will be the last we hear of this new unit, as the less said about its almost certainly top-secret work the better.
Yet these are testing times for the armed forces, as service chiefs attempt to procure more - and much-needed - hi-tech equipment.
Some of this will be extremely expensive. There are only limited resources available, and in addition to manpower levels being rebalanced for the conflicts of the future, some elements, including the infantry, are also being cut in order to balance the Treasury’s books.
At the same time, there is no let-up in commitments which have left many sailors, airmen and soldiers seriously over-stretched.
What Mr Hoon’s advisers will have been careful to brush over is the fact that the reduction of 20,000 in the MoD manpower budget could seriously impact on the ability of special forces to recruit from the much-reduced manpower pool which will result.
This pool will soon be the smallest that special forces have ever had to contemplate - at a time when it is required to expand.
This is not an impossible task, but it may prove to be an uphill one to maintain, especially as a high failure rate in selection and training - as much as 90 per cent - is almost inevitable, at least in units such as the SAS and SBS.
In my day, as SAS Second in Command, more than 20 years ago, we were lucky if more than 30 recruits made it through selection each year, let alone the further attrition rate that occurred during the lengthy continuation course that followed, not to mention the odd casualty in battle.
That was at a time when the pool of manpower from all three services was considerably larger than it is today, and the pool is now being greatly reduced.
All this, combined with rumours that many current special forces members are seeking their fortune with private security firms in Iraq and elsewhere, points to their capital services manpower agencies having to really think out of the box, not only to maintain current SAS manpower but, now, to increase it.
There may have to be a much greater degree of interchangeability between Territorial and regular special forces members - and it is said the TA is already heavily engaged on operations in several fronts. No-one should be too proud to take back in former soldiers of fortune either.
However, for the first time, direct recruitment from civilian agencies - or even other nation’s forces - may also have to be considered. Nevertheless, extreme care will have to be exercised, particularly in the costly but vital vetting arrangements.
For this reason, in the past special forces always demanded evidence of at least three years’ previous continuous military service, in order to reduce the possibility of being infiltrated by the very enemy they were trying to defeat.
That threat - along with many others - is even greater today.
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=871262004