An element of American military brainwashing?

[Lt_Bromhead]

Hey guys,

I was just surfing around the internet and came across this description on Urbandictionary concerning the US Navy SEALS;

"simply are the badest military group in the world. Delta Force and SAS simply do not compare. Delta is an ARMY branch, meaning they are not NAVY, and SAS is brittish, meaning they don't match up to AMERICAN levels."

Ingoring the horrific grammar and racist slight here, I think the author is somewhat blinkered.
Simply because the SAS are British means they are immediately disqualified from being the best military group in the world? Despite the fact that the SEALS train with methods developed by the British SAS and Commandos during the Second World War? Despite the fact that their training and selection processes are nowhere near as tough or gruelling as those used by the SAS? (NOTE: the author's name was "Navy SEAL in future")

This, for me, shows that there is a certain amount of brainwashing on the "America is the greatest" and "Democracy 4 eva" fronts. The US special forces seem to be so blinkered that it's impossible for them to see the wider picture. For this, I refer to both the case of Linda Norgrove (the lady killed by her US rescuers) and Pfc Josh Abblar (the "We brought democracy to Iraq!" guy). Look them up if you don't know them - I'm not gonna waste space here.

Such a level of blinkered-ness is what makes me feel that US forces should actually be ranked pretty low on the grand scale of things, behind the British, Israelis and French special forces at least. I would be willing to throw the Spetznas and Norwegian Special Operations units in there too. It just seems to ensure that Amercian soldiers aren't as disciplined, calm and professional and are of the attitude that every one of them is a whirling, paramilitary, death machine.

I'll try my best to sum it up in one sentence; to my mind, US special forces seem to treat war more like Call of Duty than a real-life combat situation.

Now I've re-read what I've put and I can tell someone is going to get riled. This is the way of things. I probably could have phrased certain sections better, or just not said one or two things. I know it could seem like I'm just trying to make the US special forces look bad, but I assure you I'm not. (Covering my ass in case any US soldiers happen to glance at this) So apologies if anyone feels offended.

 

[Squidden]

I think he's trolling, and you shouldn't take him seriously. I know that America certainly does not have the best Army in the world, nor the best special ops.

 

[Lt_Bromhead]

I think he's trolling, and you shouldn't take him seriously. I know that America certainly does not have the best Army in the world, nor the best special ops.

If I was trolling, I wouldn't try to apologise so profusely in the last paragraph...

You missed the point entirely. I wasn't trying to settle who the best soldiers are, I was trying to highlight that US troops seem to have their priorities a little skewed.

 

[manythings]

Everyone knows the Israelis are best, that Krav Naga shit is INSANE.

Also all military training is a form of brainwashing from bootcamp to advanced training to field command exercises, it's designed to make you think in a way that makes you receptive to taking orders.

 

[Jonluw]

It's Urban dictionary, dude.

Look, here's what it says about my name; Jonas.

"Life its self, also the new god."

 

[zHellas]

It's Urbandictionary.

ANYONE can put up a definition.

It's not brainwashing or propaganda.

Most likely just an idiot on the Internet or a troll.

 

[Lt_Bromhead]

I think he's trolling, and you shouldn't take him seriously. I know that America certainly does not have the best Army in the world, nor the best special ops.

If I was trolling, I wouldn't try to apologise so profusely in the last paragraph...

You missed the point entirely. I wasn't trying to settle who the best soldiers are, I was trying to highlight that US troops seem to have their priorities a little skewed.

He might be referring to the Urbandictionary poster, not you.

Oh, crap.
Didn't think of that...
:/
Paranoia strikes again!

 

[Lt_Bromhead]

It's Urban dictionary, dude.

Look, here's what it says about my name; Jonas.

"Life its self, also the new god."

Yeah, I know - it was just the fact that this guy was a hopeful SEAL.
That worried me a tad.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Your statements are largely unfounded. Special Operations elements of the United States perform their duties quite well. The vast majority of the time, you don't every hear about such operations simply because, while they might be important, they are not likely to draw media attention. It is the classic story of any covert operations: people generally only find out about the things you screw up.

And, for the record, a great many of the screw ups in recent memory have been the result of a misuse of a special operations unit. While a unit is, all things considered, comprised of people who possess near superhuman abilities in small scale combat, the units are quite small. Thus, while a Navy Seal platoon can deliver a similar quantity of effective fire as an infantry company (a unit at least three times the size of the platoon) they are still limited in to the ammunition they can carry. A notable recent examples of screw ups were in Afghanistan where a Seal unit was all but annihilated due to a lack of readily available supporting assets when they encountered a superior force that they could not maneuver to disengage from. A different example was in Panama when Seals were used to seize an airfield in the early hours of the operations. They sustained heavy casualties because they were sent against a prepared enemy.

The men of US special operations are nothing but professional warriors. This does not make them invincible and it does not make them perfect. Each of the nations you have listed has delivered similar failures, from the death of hundreds of hostages during a botched rescue attempt in Russia less than a decade ago (115 hostages were killed in the rescue attempt), to the myriad failures of IDF forces in Lebanon in 2006. Special Operations elements the world over represent the scalpel to the hammer that is the rest of the military. Like a scalpel, if it is not delivered at the right place and time, all you're going to do is make a mess.

 

[Zinkraptor]

...Why are you taking something you read on Urban Dictionary seriously?

That's pretty much the exact opposite of the point of Urban Dictionary.

And besides, even if it WAS serious, you're still over-reacting just a little bit. Just because someone has a misinformed opinion doesn't mean that brainwashing is the only possible cause.

 

[Squidden]

I think he's trolling, and you shouldn't take him seriously. I know that America certainly does not have the best Army in the world, nor the best special ops.

If I was trolling, I wouldn't try to apologise so profusely in the last paragraph...

You missed the point entirely. I wasn't trying to settle who the best soldiers are, I was trying to highlight that US troops seem to have their priorities a little skewed.

No no no, not you, the urban dictionary guy is trolling.

 

[Palademon]

Once on a chat room an American pointed me out saying he hates me because I'm british because of our supposed attitude of thinking we're the best. I then pointed out how that's what we believe the stereotype for America is. He then responded saying "Yeah, that's because we are."

 

[Redratson]

In a way I can see where you are coming from, and gj covering your ass lets see them trolls get you now XD, but Jonluw is right. its urban dictionary, you can probably find a more accurate statement via wiki. I'm an American and yes I do think SEALs are "the shit" but I do respect SAS, Spetnaz, the Israelis, and so on. I dont think we have the best army in the world, I believe we are a force that should not be triffeld with, and yes I probably spelled that wrong and used it wrongly don't like sry. All in all, blow it if man its the internetz

 

[blind_dead_mcjones]

Yeah, I know - it was just the fact that this guy was a hopeful SEAL.
That worried me a tad.

key word there is hopeful

besides the training regimen used by defence forces is specifically geared to weed people like that out

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

...Why are you taking something you read on Urban Dictionary seriously?

That's pretty much the exact opposite of the point of Urban Dictionary.

And besides, even if it WAS serious, you're still over-reacting just a little bit. Just because someone has a misinformed opinion doesn't mean that brainwashing is the only possible cause.

pretty much this. and i'd say it's less brainwashing than nationalism in general. kinda like loyalty to a sports team. such things are very rarely rational.

 

[kokirisoldier]

That was probably written by a fat guy who cant even make the minimum weight requirements to join any of the U.S armed forces. We call them "couch commandos" "Airsoft fags" "pogues" "nasty girls" "reservists" and other idiots who think playing a video game and buying Multicam and chest rigs from websites makes them some sort of "expert" on military forces.

First off I'm in the army. Second I've been training to go to SFAS for about 2 years and I still dont think I'm ready. I have met SEAL's when i was in Afghanistan and they are incredibly humble guys. The ones I met did not hesitate to talk to even the lowest private or play cards with Soldiers.

Plus who ever wrote that needs to take into consideration that the United States Special forces work together all the time. The group we had on my FOB were a mix of a few Green berets, some marine recon, a hand full of SEAL's and a few Airforce PJ's.

 

[Lt_Bromhead]

Sorry, it's clear now I didn't make what I was trying to say at the start very clear.

Forget the fact this came from urbandictionary - that wasn't the point.
Nor was I saying that the US special forces aren't effective. They're damn good soldiers in damn good units. I want to make that clear - they are exceptional men and they do a bloody good job.
I suppose I didn't phrase this very well, and for that I'm sorry.

It was simply that reading what that dude had put made me think of a couple of screw ups that might be linked to the brainwashing thing. Nothing to do with simply making mistakes here and there, every military force across the globe makes mistakes, I know this.
I don't even think brainwashing is the right word, (but unfortunately I can't find another), it's just the mindset of the American soldiers I was trying to reference. They just seem a little too...I dunno..."America is the greatest" for my taste.

Apologies if I caused any consternation or offence.

 

[Bearjing]

It's Urban dictionary, dude.

Look, here's what it says about my name; Jonas.

"Life its self, also the new god."

Yeah, I know - it was just the fact that this guy was a hopeful SEAL.
That worried me a tad.

I have bear in my online name... doesn't mean I'm an actual bear.

 

[Lt_Bromhead]

In a way I can see where you are coming from, and gj covering your ass lets see them trolls get you now XD,

Well, at least I got that bit right...
Now I just need to learn how to type what my brain is thinking...!
-.-