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Saddam, Bashar, Hafez and host of other leaders in the Muslim world without beards would disagree they could not intimidate without a beard

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Lip Beards.



They have enough authority with only the lip.



Coming out of the rat hole, Saddam had a full beard.

 

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Your comment tells me you don't know what you're talking about with SOT-A. Every person in that platoon was prior ranger BN except for a prior SEAL and PJ. They do electronic surveillance for the ODA's. They aren't pogue signal.

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I don't WTF your problem is but you need to fix it and maybe do some pt after seeing that last pic.

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you're just trying to pretend to be better than everyone else.

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I know exactly what SOT-A is. LLVI with a cooler name and jump wings.  You must have been in the most high speed SOT-A platoon ever, because last year all the SOT-A's in my SOTF were tiny nerdy dudes that hung around the AOB's waiting to ferry people to and from the airfields.  I guess that's better than trying to chase LOBs with a clown wearing a microwave oven on his back.

Have you deployed in your billet as a National Guard SF SIGINT support person?




Sweet that you can tell my physical shape underneath a beard and 100lbs of stuff, but thanks though.  Just got back from the gym.  Guess I gotta raise that 285 somehow, you NG guys are pretty demanding.



Upset that im blowing up your spot?

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I love being a pogue.  Seen way more action as one than I ever did as combat arms.  Get paid more now too.

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http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k84/phatalligator/image.jpg1_zpspdqgfymu.jpg

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I have heard that quite a bit, but zero first hand experience with it.  It makes sense, as they train for very specific missions, and every day grunt shit probably isn't one of them.  When basically any Army or Marine SF type person learned to be a grunt before they learned anything else.

Don't SEALs often roll with Rangers for that reason?

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SEALs do VSO now too, just like SF and MARSOC.

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Some of our terps and us were talking about it one day.  Not only did having a beard promote fear through a presentation of strength as an immediate response, one thing I found interesting in both theaters was that the true measure of power in the middle east is if you can truly state that you are the man in charge during a meeting.  No "ill have to get back to you on that" or other circular discussion.  Locals came to understand that the guys with beards had that power and clout.  To them they are masters of their own domain for many reasons, not just the ability to groom themselves and dress as they please, but appearance plays a big part of perception in the ME.  The concept of making somebody do mundane tasks like shaving is absurd to many over there and shows a childlike lack of authority on the receiving end.



Even to those that have a grasp on western culture and are somewhat educated it is still somewhat humorous. Like an inside joke.  They don't even care if you have a beard or not, they just think its funny that you HAVE to shave, like you are scared of of the consequences of something so trivial.



In the end it also promoted a concept of integration when these mentors of indigenous troops are willing to look like, talk, live, and eat with them every day. Most conventional forces doing partnerships still have a huge barrier of separation between them and their local partners, most notably the giant walls and gates of their living areas.  It is night and day compared to the cohesion and integration performed in actual FID.   Just taking some guys to the range once in a while doesn't even come close.