LoD 86, Military Elites

Copyright (c) 2016, 2024 Thomas Kratman

LoD 86

Military Elites

One of the more worrisome trends in the modern US Armed Forces – indeed, it’s happened almost all across the west – has been the expansion of “elites.”  “Elites” may, in this case, be taken as pretty much equivalent to “Special Operations Forces.”  Note, here, that while I will concentrate on the Army, what I have to say is approximately as true of the other services.

This expansion has taken several forms.   The first step, dating to well before the current war, was the creation of USSOCOM, United States Special Operations Command, in 1987.  We can call that “SOCOM” for shorts. While it has never really been admitted to, SOCOM is the fifth uniformed combatant service, along with the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps, being independent of other services, having direct links to the highest command authorities, having its own – perhaps not always open – budget, having the unique distinction of being the only unified combatant command ever created by act of congress, and having the political wherewithal to place its own candidate in position to be selected as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  It is not entirely clear to me that the creation of SOCOM has been justified by events nor that the committee approach to dealing with military problems is superior to the “designate who is in charge and give him UCMJ and rating authority” approach.  Still, that’s an arguable point and I’d be willing to listen to arguments to the contrary.[1] 

The second way in which elites have expanded has been, in effect, by sleight of hand.  By this I mean redesignating run of the mill organizations, especially run of the mill reserve organizations, as “Special Operations Forces.”  The only real problem with this is that it’s a lie.  An Army Reserve civil affairs company, in the 80s, redesignated as a battalion, in the 90s, but with no more real civil affairs capability on the ground than it had before, doesn’t become either an elite nor a special operations force simply by calling it that. Rather, it remains the same collection of usually somewhat portly politicians, judges, lawyers, engineers, doctors, RNs, police officers, public health folks, linguists, and suchlike as it always was.  Good folks?  Yes.  Elite, in any military sense? No.