Gen David Petraeus leaves command in Afghanistan

[Farnan]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226097364199

This also marks the first time in history that a Marine has been the theater commander of a major war.

[NotYetRegistered]

John Allen.. I wonder how well he will do.

[mrmouth]

Gen Allen has a broad base of school taught and operational national security knowledge, which is why the choice was kind of odd to some. And he hasn't served in Afghanistan until now. But he is also considered one of the very best at running large intelligence operations, which is what this war is moving towards.

The heavy kinetic operations are all but over; where you would have individual commanders run highly compartmentalized area or even province wide intel operations. It is all being sourced through intelligence/SF teams now in most every area, with Petraeus/Allen on the ground level of decision making.

And he certainly has a lot of experience in this kind of fighting given he was part of the command chain in Al Anbar during the toughest time period. And actually played a huge part in turning the Sunni insurgency on its head, which was not only the first domino, but the most important. It was get with us, or die. So we could see some of that.

Perhaps the biggest thing is how the transition will effect our allies. But we wont see much of it.

Petraeus garnered immense respect from everyone, most importantly the Brits. He ultimately commanded the SAS in Iraq as they were part of whatever that task force was called. There was a lot of understanding built up and he leaned on them heavily during the surge as a good portion of JSOC was acting in Syria and elsewhere trying to shut down the rat lines into Iraq.

So there will be a feeling out period.

[Captain Jin]

Petraeus garnered immense respect from everyone, most importantly the Brits. He ultimately commanded the SAS in Iraq as they were part of whatever that task force was called. There was a lot of understanding built up and he leaned on them heavily during the surge as a good portion of JSOC was acting in Syria and elsewhere trying to shut down the rat lines into Iraq.

So there will be a feeling out period.

Mmm no that was not Petraeus. Task Force Black fell under JSOC in a weird sort of way, but the ultimate commander of JSOC was Stanley McChrystal. For most of the time that the SAS was operating in high gear along with other JSOC elements General Casey was actually the commanding General MNF-Iraq. Petraeus came in later. I'm sure the British had respect for him, but at that point the whole Basra thing was unnecessary and the operations with the SAS in regards to JSOC participation came more from respect of McChrystal and mostly the working relationship established between the SAS and Delta who lived right next door to each other as well as the rapport built up between McChrystal and the British DSF and Lt. Colonel Richard Williams, the commanding officer for the SAS; additionally there was a desire by the SAS to avoid getting into the same mode that was present amongst their conventional forces in Southern Iraq-- which they felt was severely lackadaisical.

[mrmouth]

Mmm no that was not Petraeus. Task Force Black fell under JSOC in a weird sort of way, but the ultimate commander of JSOC was Stanley McChrystal. For most of the time that the SAS was operating in high gear along with other JSOC elements General Casey was actually the commanding General MNF-Iraq. Petraeus came in later. I'm sure the British had respect for him, but at that point the whole Basra thing was unnecessary and the operations with the SAS in regards to JSOC participation came more from respect of McChrystal and mostly the working relationship established between the SAS and Delta who lived right next door to each other as well as the rapport built up between McChrystal and the British DSF and Lt. Colonel Richard Williams, the commanding officer for the SAS; additionally there was a desire by the SAS to avoid getting into the same mode that was present amongst their conventional forces in Southern Iraq-- which they felt was severely lackadaisical.

I guess that is what you get for leaning on a very recent British article describing the relationship that Petraeus had with the SAS. Ill try to find it. Made is sound as if he was ultimately calling the shots for that TF. It had some genuinely odd bits in it that made me chuckle.

Not in Sangin.

Word.

Ive been meaning to PM you since you mailed me last. Everything got erased.

[Captain Jin]

I guess that is what you get for leaning on a very recent British article describing the relationship that Petraeus had with the SAS. Ill try to find it. Made is sound as if he was ultimately calling the shots for that TF. It had some genuinely odd bits in it that made me chuckle.

If you're talking about Task Force Knight then what I said remains pretty much the same. The operations being conducted by JSOC weren't under the control of General Casey or General Petraeus when they took over. McChrystal handled all of that. Sure, he reported to Casey/Petraeus and they advised him on as much 'keep it up' or 'redouble your efforts' etc., but the tempo and operations were set by JSOC and its commanders. Mission packages were almost completely created by the SAS commanders on the ground as they went on the framework of the rest of JSOC. Britain's DSF had much to do with crafting how the SAS was utilized and he worked closely with McChrystal in that regard. Even when Petraeus did come in making comments about "Not being able to kill your way out of an insurgency" it was Britain's General Graeme Lamb, the senior British Rep in Iraq that came up with the idea of the squeeze box, where on the right side you had Iranian influence etc., and on the other you had Al Qaeda in Iraq and the middle, or part being squeezed, being the ordinary citizens. He came up with the idea of two different Task Forces that would each tackle those individual problems while protecting the middle from the extremes for the most part. Lamb had a very good working relationship with McChrystal and it's through his efforts and that of the SAS commander Lt. Col. Williams that the SAS was able to operate so integrated with JSOC.

Petraeus did a lot in Iraq, but the whole black ops campaign of raids, kills, and captures was McChrystal's baby and that of his subordinate commanders including the SAS personnel.

[Ahlerich]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226097364199

This also marks the first time in history that a Marine has been the theater commander of a major war.

dont major wars require a minimum of two opposing armies?

[Farnan]

There are more than two armies:

In the Afghan Theater: ISAF, ANG, OEF-A (not ISAF international forces in Afghanistan) vs. Al-Qaeda, Haqqani Network, Taliban, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Lakshar-e-Taiba, Hezb-e-Islami

In the Philippines Theater: Philippines and US vs. Abu Sayaaf vs. MILF

In the Yemen Theater: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, US vs. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Pennisula

In the East African Theater: US, China, ROK, EU, Ethiopia, Dijibouto, Federal Government of Somalia, Kenya, Russia and various others vs. Al Shabaab vs. Somali Pirates

In the West African Theater: United States, United Kingdom, Algeria, Chad, Morocco, Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal vs. Al Qaeda is the Islamic Maghreb

[Ahlerich]

ok its like the war on drugs then. police/secret service work blown out of proportion

[Farnan]

ok its like the war on drugs then. police/secret service work blown out of proportion

Um no....

Those are all areas with active military conflict.

I didn't include any of the police or secret service only areas.

[Adar]

ok its like the war on drugs then. police/secret service work blown out of proportion

You mean like the war on drugs where drug dealers attack the Police with battalion size forces?

[Farnan]

You mean like the war on drugs where drug dealers attack the Police with battalion size forces?

Or ambush military forces? Or launch attacks on the United States? Have a standing army and control territory? Or wage an insurgency to overthow the government?

[s.rwitt]

The heavy kinetic operations are all but over;

For the most part. Not in Sangin.

[Farnan]

BTW I hope GEN Petraeus' retirement is a happy one. He deserves it, he spent 5.5 years (longer than the length of WWII post Phoney War) of the last 10 years deployed to Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. That is not including his many trips and movements as Commander of CENTCOM.