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September 08, 2004

You wanna get froggy?

There's a new blog, Froggy Ruminations, run by Matthew Heidt, an ex-Navy SEAL. As you might expect, he's got some interesting things to say; here are excerpts from a few of his entries:

I had a great Labor day weekend at the beach away from the blog, but I have done quite a bit of thinking on the Russian school massacre. I have been a member of not only SEAL platoons, but also the U.S. Customs (now ICE) Special Response Team (SRT) in San Diego. As you might imagine, both of these experiences taught me a great deal and added quite a bit to my tactical toolbox. One of the most important distinctions between the operators, training, and leadership of these two similar, but different entities is one of mindset.

I heard CSM Eric Haney (plankowner of Delta Force) on O'Reilly today discuss the difference between this hostage situation in Russia (and Iraq for that matter) and traditional hostage scenarios that occurred prior to 9/11. He correctly pointed out that the days of negotiating, wear them down siege situations are over. Terrorists now do not threaten to kill hostages until demands are met, they just start killing them until their demands are met. This is a disturbing tactical challenge that I believe our Federal, State, and Local SRT/SWAT assets are completely unprepared for. . . .

In my SEAL platoons, we conducted assaults training in various situations always working up to live fire exercises when possible. While I can't speak for SIX or Delta, at no time in any of my assault training were the issues of negotiation, the priority of operator safety, or hasty retreat in the event of a well defended enemy brought up. We were taught to go in once we had received execute authority, dominate the house, kill the tangos, save the hotels, and patch up the wounded amongst the SEALs and hostages as needed. . . .

In SRT, I went through some outstanding training (which I did not expect) and I came away from the Customs SRT school a more well rounded operator to be sure. Our focus was performing high-risk search/arrest warrants that were usually narcotics related, but counter-terrorism was also a mission as we are part of Homeland Security. While we did have SOPs for agent rescue scenarios, there was always a focus on the principle that the mission was secondary to agent safety. We had SOPs for retreating during certain situations, and we practiced them often. This is not to denigrate SRT/SWAT operators, but to say that there is a difference. . . . Navy SEALs don't get sued. I have never been a member of a large metropolitan SWAT, but I know that they have an emphasis on negotiation and on not shooting suspects unless absolutely necessary. That is totally appropriate for what kind of job they have, and the political environment under which they work. SEALs don't have Channel 2, 4, 7, and 11 helos circling the building with big zoom lenses either. . . .

Kudos to Ann Althouse on Kerry's "I will not have my committment to defend this country questioned by someone who, blah, blah, blah". Yes, dumbass, you will have it questioned, it has been questioned, and it will continue to be questioned, because you have brought these issues into doubt with your equivocation as of late and your gutless cut and run strategies of the past. You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting. The fact that this guy cannot accept that his life in politics is the subject of discussion is bizarre. . . .

As for his 20 year Senate career, Zell Miller pointed out that not only was Kerry against nearly every military weapons program he saw, he achieved nothing of consequence as a legislator during that time. Say what you will about Ted Kennedy's policies, he has gotten quite abit of his leftist agenda passed and can proudly tout many legislative achievements. Ever heard of a Kerry-Rudman bill, or Kerry Act, or McCain-Kerry campaign finance bill? They don't exist. This guy has been sitting back riding the coattails of his liberal collegues and criticizing his conservative opponents. He's done nothing worthy of mention in a 20 year career. Only a government employee could possibly assemble a record of failure like that and seek to be promoted, I know, I've seen it done! Where's the fruit?

Head on over to his website and start scrolling and reading. There's good stuff in his archives, too. He's been online for about a month, so you don't have that much catching up to do.

Posted by Mike Lief at September 8, 2004 08:56 AM | TrackBack