Over at Intel Dump, Phillip Carter points out some more interesting potential problems with Kerry’s plan for the military. The post is really about the speech, so move on down a little further and you’ll find this:

Anyway, that’s nitpicking. The real issue is this: can we double the size of America’s special operations forces while retaining their qualitative edge? I’m not so sure. The reason why our SOF do so well in places like Afghanistan and the Philippines is because of their experience, tough training, tough selection, and rigorous Darwinian ethic. Given the current size of the military, there is a limit to the size of the special forces if we want to retain this elite level of quality. There may be room for expansion, and there may be room for some direct recruiting of soldiers for things like civil affairs and psyops. But I’m not sure that we can boost the ranks of the Green Berets, SEALs and other SF units with the kind of speed and largess that Sen. Kerry suggests. Doing so will require a ramping up of recruiting efforts, retention efforts, and the institutional training base for the production of special operations soldiers. The latter will be the most difficult, because the current training systems (e.g. U.S. Army’s Special Forces Qualification Course, or “Q” course) are only capable of a certain throughput. Requiring these systems to produce too many special ops soldiers, too quickly, may do irreparable harm to the quality of special operations forces — turning them into non-elite forces with special jobs, instead of the elite soldiers and units they are today.

It’s an interesting problem. We want more SF units but does that make them, well, less special? It’s going to be interesting to hear military people react to this request. It will also be interesting to see how much this will cost overall.

I wonder if there’s not a middle ground, however. Are the fact that they’re special forces significant or is it the fact that they’re well versed in small unit tactics? In other words, do they have to be Green Beret’s or SEALs or can they be Rangers– or Marines++ with the appropriate language and combat training? I have no idea what I’m talking about in this area, not being anything more than a fan of the old Clancy books. So, I shall posit the question to Mr. Carter once I get settled in.

I do wonder how he will improve recruiting, though. Not to be too biased about this, but it would be nice if going into the military were more appealing for wealthier kids and for college grads. One of the most interesting parts of °F9/11 was the discussion of recruiting practices of the military, and it’s unfortunate, not just because of class issues involved, but because many good candidates don’t have an incentive to go in (GI bill won’t really draw them in).