US commander: Special operations forces stressed

Article

WASHINGTON – The elite troops of U.S. special operations forces are showing signs of fraying after nearly 10 years at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, their commander said Tuesday.

Olson said the demand for the specialized units in Afghanistan is insatiable, forcing troops to deploy to war at a rate that is off the charts. And he said he does not see that demand declining in the next several years.

As an example, he noted that while 100,000 regular forces have been pulled out of Iraq, leaving about 47,000 there, just 500 or so special operators were part of that withdrawal, which was just a fraction of the elite force there.

Altogether, about 12,000 special operations forces are deployed, and those not in Iraq and Afghanistan are scattered in other hotspots around the globe, such as Yemen.

Does this mean that our special forces are getting tired?

From the article, it sounds like the need of special forces in Afghanistan is growing. The article called the demand for them "insatiable", and their deployment rate is "off the chart." At the end of that paragraph, he said that he dosent see the demand falling in the next several years.

How many years? Im not sure.

Olson says that more mid-grade forces are opting out of service this year than previous years.

The challenge, said Olson, is to stem the loss of the mid-grade troops, so that over the next 20 or 30 years the U.S. will still have a high-quality special operations force.

Perhaps one day they really will have a war, aqnd nobodyll come to it.....
Meantime, the need for spec ops troops in low intensity warfare is paramoun.
These are the troops who actually do speak the languages and that have askill sets which can save as well as take lives.
They are the training backbone of these guerrilla armies tat wanna make national status.
They are the quick reactionn forve that pulls the spys out of the soup.They akso have better rapoire with the natives usually, and can get things done efficiently if not by the books.
We will definately see a cruching need for this kind of soldier for some time to come if we continue to persue these small warfighting situations.
Yemen and somalia are cases in point.
But the afghanistan and iraq wars will continue to draw these forces.
The focus now should be on how to make these guys more lethal.
yet still portable and black.