The Captain Ouimette "Snooze" Email

There is an email being circulated alleged to be written by a Navy Captain. It speaks of not hitting the snooze button and makes an excellent case that America came under attack in 1979, the 9/11 attacks only being the most recent and biggest "domestic" attack. The email, regardless of the source, is an excellent wake-up call, except....

I don't believe that non-traditional warfare should be answered with traditional warfare. True, it is not a "criminal justice" case, but it isn't a march-in-formation situation, either. Since our intelligence and Special Forces groups have atrophied, I suppose a "regular Army" response is all we could muster in time, but the best response is what we did in Afghanistan ... send in what spooks we had and activate the Green Beret. Afghanistan was a resounding success until Tommy Franks got his traditional feeelings hurt and wanted to send the cannon fodder in to justify their existence.

Here's how I would "get out of bed." Start bringing regular Army troops home from Korea, Germany, etc. Build the SpecFor numbers of all branches to ten times what they are today. Quintuple the CIA funding and personnel. Transfer standing Army types from regular duty to National Guard, or into the SpecFor/CIA ranks being developed.

If Red Chinese (or Mexican) land forces decide to invade us, we would be doomed, but our responses to CONTEMPORARY threats would be quick, agile, and breathtakingly effective. Our military would also be far more cost-effective. 100 Green Berets took Afghanistan in a matter of weeks.

Capt. Ouimette only went so far in his prescription for "getting out of bed." Yes, America is under attack, but it is not a standard, traditional war, and as his own article indicated, a regular warfare response is ineffective. His alarm is sound, but his method of response is outdated.