The voices in my head

Some of you know I have many voices in my head, all usually competing for my attention.  Some are good voices telling me to do good things.  Some - need to be duct-taped.

I hope this comment doesn't upset our tactical, professional war-fighters in the community.  I do not think RevWarIII will be fought by professional war-fighters, and will certainly not be won by such brave men.  I have the utmost respect for the professional Warriors in our midst, and I commend to you with all my being - get with them and learn what you can, while you can.  But the reason professional soldiers will not win RevWarIII is because, quite simply, we don't have enough.

The American populace today is much more like the populace leading up to WWII.  Of course you have to subtract the societal losers we have today, and that is a large percentage. But the average guy who will fight RevWarIII has much in common with the guys who went to war in WWII.  They were family men, they worked for a living in non-fighting trades and professions.  They had no desire to leave home and hearth to die in some foreign land to kill monsters who had, literally, become existential threats to life on Planet Earth.

Of course many of the guys going into WWII had WWI experience, but they did not have volunteer exposure to war the way Americans have since Vietnam.  Nor did they have any cadre of significance of Special Warfare Troopers who could help the average GI.  Our Special Forces were birthed, for the most part, in WWII.  A very, very overwhelming amount of that credit lands squarely on the shoulders of one William J."Wild Bill" Donovan.  Bill Donovan was a natural spy, a natural commando, a man who knew how to lead men.  He was a trained lawyer from Columbia.  He was a self-starter - when he saw a need, he acted, he did not bother with asking permission - he'd risk having to apologize later.

Jedburgh Team practicing with 1911s

Donovan, of course, created the OSS, the father of American Intelligence and American Special Forces today.  Here is the difference we face today, and it is the same challenge faced by Donovan: America needs (and needed) men and women who had the grit to spy, to assassinate, to kidnap, to sabotage, and to do all of these things with almost ZERO help from military logistics and there was no cavalry.  Patriots today need the same men and women - and if you look around at the men and women in your tribe, they have much more in common with the men and women Donovan had at his disposal than the guys Mosby and other modern SF had (have) at their disposal.

Winning RevWarIII will require guys and gals just like you, primarily the same pool of talent Bill Donovan had with which to work.  You may get seriously lucky and have a grizzled SF Warrior in your Tribe, or a tough old Sergeant who has been under fire.  But those are the exceptions.  You'll work with what you've got, you'll ask too much of those men and women, many will die.  Someone may ask too much of you, and you may die for it.  Donovan did it.  Now it is your turn.

I do not speak much of the III 300.  Nor will I.  I won't speak much publicly about III Jedburgh Teams.  But some of us will...

There are two teams Donovan created under his OSS that are relevant to this post. I'll begin with his "Operational Groups".  The basic OG unit had 2 Officers and 13 enlisted.  They would be dropped behind enemy lines to keep the enemy busy.  This group most directly remains alive in US Special Forces, especially of the Special Forces of the Vietnam Era.

The second set of Donovan's Teams I want to discuss have a very special place in RevWarIII, I daresay a fundamental task, staffed by the men and women of our Tribes, who know they will likely die.  These are the Jedburgh Teams.

These will be our III Jedburgh Teams.

First: the word Jedburgh came from a map of Scotland, it has no more meaning than that.

Jedburgh Team Ian

Second: Jedburgh Teams were 3-man cells.  There was the Commander, the XO, and the radio operator.  They were all cross trained.  Often the teams were mixed nationalities so if operating in France, they had a Frenchman to smooth the way, etc.

Third: Mission - The Jedburgh Teams were to get deep behind enemy lines - and parachuting wasn't always an option, and facilitate the OSS Special Operations Teams and assignments.  The Jedburghs usually arrived first, acted as liaison, and helped pave the way for the OSS SO troops.  Additionally, they were to help organize and arm the resistance, arrange supply drops, procure intelligence, provide liaison between the Allies and the Resistance, and to take part in sabotage operations.  They helped run the Underground.

Why am I speaking of Jedburgh Teams as we enter RevWarIII?  Why do I point out the original Jedburgh Teams were staffed by regular people, with much in common to our existing talent pool today?

Well, my friends, if you can't figure that out, you're not RevWarIII Jedburgh Material...

Read more about the Jedburgh Teams. here.

Kerodin
III