Charles de Gaulle (a pretty forward thinking guy) disbanded/downsized all French SOF units after the Algerian war ended.

What happened after that? Well, it turns out it's actually pretty tough to do that whole Françafrique thing without SOF!

So guess what the Army did the second he was gone?

It's absolutely downstream from picking individual villains / "Named Objectives" off the battlefield

A string of spectacular tactical successes that meant almost nothing in either war once aggregated.

Do you think this idea is downstream of the SOF mission creep over the last few decades? I think a lot of people‘s impression now is that all these different units just do night raids and that’s the only thing you’d need them for.

They’re also the most conventional of the SOF units in the Army.

They also rotate O ranks in and out of the conventional Army regularly which keeps them less culturally isolated.

You can’t really replicate that capacity with SEALs or AF SOF.

For those guys they’re the only game in town.

It varies, but this is why the Rangers are the best overall unit

Lots of money, difficult training, high standards, and a rigid heirarchy that lets people be thrown out back to the line

I think it’s more that a lot of people (not Eric) view them as equivalent, usually because they don’t have any idea what SOF entails beyond what the Seals look like

Serious question: is there a reason you're treating "disband the SEALs" as equivalent to "eliminate SOF"?

Did they become the only game in town while I wasn't looking?

There’s a vast array of what a “better DoD” can resemble, and that discussion among Ds is absolutely necessary right now,

but eliminating SOF is just about as dumb as eliminating the F-35.

It’s Muskism, but vaguely leftishly.

Again, infantry can’t do it and you can’t build SOF in a crisis.

Like “Physical Prowess is Overrated” I’d take “SOF isn’t important” off the national security discussion right this very moment.

It’s amateurish. It’s like saying submarines are ungentlemanly infernal machines in 1912.

Just quit it and figure out what reform requires, then reengage.

Buddhism thinks eating meat is bad karma.

Why was meat effectively banned?

Before the Meiji reforms, Japanese food was famously bland and the consumption of meat was effectively banned.

Like, half of you are older than ciabatta, and many of you are older than tiramisú, to look at a different country.