How U.S. Special Forces Can Fight Putin Without Starting World War III

[Nevilledog]

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The Daily Beast
@thedailybeast
From gathering intelligence on the ground to training potential civilian partisans in guerrilla warfare, it’s extremely likely the U.S. and NATO will seek to influence events on the battlefield.

Here’s how that might work:

thedailybeast.com
How U.S. Special Forces Can Fight Putin Without Starting World War III
From intelligence-gathering to training civilians in guerrilla tactics, here’s what the U.S. and NATO might do to push back against the Russian invasion while avoiding escalation.
11:00 PM · Feb 28, 2022

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-us-special-forces-can-fight-vladimir-putin-without-starting-world-war-iii

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President Biden has already declared that neither U.S. nor NATO military forces will be deployed to the conflict sparked by Russian forces pouring across Ukraine’s borders. The dangers of escalation are simply too great, especially given the volatile threats Russian President Vladimir Putin has made regarding the use of nuclear weapons. Direct involvement, the thinking goes, is just too risky.

But that doesn’t mean the U.S. won’t be indirectly involved. From gathering intelligence on the ground to training potential civilian partisans in guerrilla warfare, it’s extremely likely the U.S. and NATO will seek to influence events on the battlefield. Here’s how that might work.
According to former U.S. Army Ranger Tom Amenta, there are advantages to having on-site, operational intelligence gathering in Ukraine that can’t be equaled by remote technologies like satellite imagery or radio signal interceptions.

A Ukrainian serviceman gives a thumb up riding atop a military vehicle before an attack in Lugansk region on February 26, 2022. - Russia on February 26 ordered its troops to advance in Ukraine "from all directions" as the Ukrainian capital Kyiv imposed a blanket curfew and officials reported 198 civilian deaths.

“The value of boots on the ground [in intelligence] is that you get a ‘finger tip feel’ of what is going on,” said Amenta, co-author of the book The Twenty-Year War, in an interview with The Daily Beast. Such intel gives U.S. military observers “a feel of the people and of the battle space and allows for the ability to gauge the situation, almost in real time, and see what is going on with the Russians and Ukrainians to assist commanders in planning.”

*snip*

[roamer65]

1. Afghanistan redux.

1979-1989.

Stingers included.

[argyl]

5. Russia lost 15,000 soldiers In Afghanistan. We lost 58,000 men in VietNam in almost 15 years.

The Russians will lose will lose over 58,000 men in three years or less, although hopefully this won't last that long. Between ever crippling sanctions, a Ukrainian force fiercely determined to fight with an ever increasing flow of superior weapons from the West, this will be a bloodbath for both sides.

And as things get consistently harsher, the Russian people as well as the scumbag multibillionaires, will suffer greatly for Putin's stupidity. Putin could at best be relieved of duties. If worse happens no sympathy from me.
Just hope one thug isn't traded for another. But this being Russia I wouldn't bet on it.

[ColinC]

2. Given the latest Russia casualty rates, I wouldn't be surprised if they already did this.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. We can send them as "advisors". That seems safe enough.

[Captain Zero]

6. Yes. Only to train now, mind you.

I'm not saying we shouldn't but it has a history of getting us sucked into boots on the ground.
Lots of boots.

[DFW]

4. There is a glaring precedent for this

We supported the resistance to the Soviet forces in Afghanistan without being party to the conflict itself.

Once the Soviet Union figured out it was a fight they couldn't win, they licked ten years worth of wounds, and got the hell outta there.

It took a Republican administration to ignore the lessons of 14 years before, and march right back in there, apparently thinking the coast was clear.

[Papa-Ron]

8. Was thinking along the same lines.

A-stan was tribal/resistance warfare and the Soviets and Americans (with a far superior force) lost those engagements. If the Ukranians stand fast, they too will see Russia leave, we can only hope.

[DFW]

10. The Russians are dealing with a far greater topography advantage here

Afghanistan is half comprised of the Hindu Kush with its numerous 10,000 foot Himalayan peaks. As "the bread basket of the Soviet Union," the Ukraine is comprised of a lot of flat wheat fields. Afghanistan looked like the western half of Colorado. The Ukraine looks like Nebraska.

But Putin never counted on the stiff resistance from the population. Since he has never worried about any danger that he couldn't handle from his own people, it never occurred to him (or so it would seem) that the civilian population might hate his guts for invading them, and will resist with everything on down to garbage can lids if they have to, but resist they will.

There used to be a joke circulating in Warsaw and Kyiv that if fleas could light up like fireflies, Moscow at night would look like Las Vegas.

[Chainfire]

7. I am happy to let the Commander In Chief call the shots on this.

He has all of the information and has the good judgement to deal with it. Support his decisions.

The Europeans really need to take the lead here. With Russian in control of Ukraine, they have the perfect jumping-off point to retrieve and expand the former Soviet Union. He is already threatening Finland and Sweden. If I were German, French, or especially Polish, I would be pulling out all of the stops to prepare for a conventional war to protect my country. If Putin lives, he is coming.

The sad truth is, barring something happening to Putin, that Russians are probably going to end up occupying Ukraine by overwhelming their defenses. That won't end a partisan war, but it is most likely what will happen. The world should have dealt with this when he annexed Crimea. We let the genie out of the bottle and it is going to be difficult to put it back. The Ukrainian people may bloody Putin's nose so bad that he walks away with only the new "independent states" but Putting in a few American troops, under any guise, is not going to save Ukraine.

[Happy Hoosier]

9. I'm pretty much certain we are already doing that.

If history is a guide, SOF are already there.

If they are not, we are committing strategic malpractice.