PHOENIX

Meet Demon, the Phoenix Bird of Pineland:

Demon is the mascot of my buddy JD's guerrilla unit. As a part of Exercise Robin Sage, JD provides training to Special Forces candidates by a combination of of challenging dilemmas and psychological cruelty.


Pineland:

The Special Forces Qualification Course ("Q-Course") is culminated by Operation ROBIN SAGE, a 4 week long large-scale unconventional warfare exercise conducted by the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and over 50,000 square miles of North Carolina. For more than half a century, around a third of North Carolina has served as the fictional "People's Republic of Pineland" for the 28-day exercise which culminates in the 19-day Robin Sage. During this unconventional warfare training exercise, the Special Forces students are required to apply and exercise the skills taught in the Special Forces Qualification Course.

The 15 counties of North Carolina that make up the People's Republic of Pineland include: Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Guilford, Hoke, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly and Union.


The students are put into 12-man Operational Detachments 'Alpha', (ODA's). Students are isolated for 5 days and issued an operations order. They begin their planning process and study material required to execute their detachment's mission during the exercise.

On the last day of isolation the detachment presents its plan to the battalion command and staff. This plan will explain how the commander intends to execute the mission. The next day, the students make an airborne infiltration into the country of Pineland. They then make contact with the guerrilla forces and begin Robin Sage. Students will then begin their task of training, advising, and assisting the guerrillas. The training will educate the guerrillas in various specialties, including weapons, communications, medical, and demolitions. The training is designed to enable the guerrillas to begin liberating their country from oppression. It is the last portion of the Special Forces Qualification Course before they receive their "Green Berets".

ROBIN SAGE involves approximately 100 Special Forces students, 100 counter-insurgent personnel (OPFOR), 200 guerrilla personnel, 40 auxiliary personnel, and 50 cadre. The local communities of North Carolina also participate in the exercise by role playing as citizens of Pineland. Many of the OPFOR and guerrilla personnel are North Carolina residents who are financially compensated for their participation. The role of the guerrilla chief, or "G-Chief," is played by a retired Green Beret.

Bob Snyder, also known as Pineland Bob, right, maps out a transportation plan with a soldier during the Special Forces' Robin Sage exercise in Ramseur, N.C.

There is nothing like Exercise Robin Sage - on such a scale at least - in any other military organization in the world. Since my retirement from active duty I have been involved in two major corporate security organizations, working side-by-side with fellow Special Forces veterans, and the principles and truisms of guerrilla warfare learned in Robin Sage are constantly referenced. The corporate suits in the boardrooms are never able to outflank us with their office politics and agendas. We know the battle before it is fought; if we can prevail, we engage and overcome. If there is no tactical victory to be achieved; combat is declined.

The SEALs and the MARSOF are trying to replicate Robin Sage; my advice to them is why re-invent the wheel? Come over to the Dark Side - Pineland already exists - use the existing training lanes and G-networks that are already in place; there's plenty of contractors coming back from the Sandpile who are willing to plus-up the cadre.

The Anthem of Pineland is as follows:

This is the Land of the of the Tall Pine Tree

Where All of Us used to Live so Free

THIS IS PINELAND

A Place to Live and a Place to Play

But the UPA took it All away

THIS IS PINELAND

A Place where We are all Free to Work Together

Where our Crops can Grow and the Sun will Shine Forever

A Beautiful Land with Much to Give

This is where We'll Always Live

THIS IS PINELAND

ZIGGY ZOGGY ZIGGY ZOGGY OY! OY! OY!

ZIGGY ZOGGY ZIGGY ZOGGY OY! OY! OY!

ZIGGY ZOGGY ZIGGY ZOGGY OY! OY! OY!

PINELAND! PINELAND! PINELAND!

Speaking of Birds, today's Mystery Bird is HERE

LIBYA - Now What?

A giant portrait of Moamar Gadhafi is bullet-riddled on the wall of a building in the Bab al-Aziziyah district in Tripoli, Libya


The professional soldiers of the world and students of irregular warfare have just enjoyed a rare opportunity: ringside seats of a successful guerrilla insurgency, fully documented via the modern electronic media phenomenon of the Information Era. I say 'students of irregular warfare' and not 'experts' because I was taught that there are no experts in anything, only serious students.

Mao Tse-Tung, the father of modern guerrilla warfare, wrote of “Strategic Defensive,” “Strategic Stalemate,” and “Strategic Offensive.” U.S. Army Special Forces acknowledges these concepts in the doctrine of Unconventional Warfare:


The Three Developmental Phases of an Insurgency:


Phase I - Latent and Incipient

This when an insurgency is most vulnerable. Insurgent leaders are focused primarily on two things: organization and the population. Subversive activities such as establishing funding and external support mechanisms; infiltrating government and other key organizations; psychologically preparing the population; and arranging resistance struggles (such as boycotts and strikes) take place.

Outside of government intelligence organizations, it is unknown how extensive these activities were within Libya prior to the outbreak of street riots in the "Arab Spring" of 2011. Likewise, we are not aware of any activities by resistance cadre or political entrepreneurs such as recruiting, training, group structuring, and unit development. The confusion that appeared to exist within NATO throughout the entire continuum of this conflict suggests that no "shadow government" existed prior to the Arab Spring. Instead what we witnessed appears to be an insurgency that swiftly and successfully progressed to Phase II; Guerrilla Warfare, and almost immediately thereafter to Phase III; War of Movement.


Phase II - Guerrilla Warfare

This phase is characterized by offensive operations intended to grind the Regime’s capabilities to a halt; these are the most obvious indicator of an insurgency’s progress. Successful guerrilla operations force the Regime to choose between defending what it knows - its infrastructure, symbols, associations, and representatives - and attacking what it doesn’t know - the endlessly mobile and seemingly ubiquitous enemy that prefers to vanish rather than stand and fight. These operations overtly challenge the Regime’s capabilities.

On the military side, limited offensive actions engage resources, symbols, and representatives of the regime. Guerrilla leaders decide to either “fight” or “flee” based upon their capability of either holding ground or decisive engagement. Extensive reconnaissance and preparation in the planning phase and speed, surprise, and innovation typify their rapid and short attacks. At the same time, the insurgency’s political machine is also functioning: propaganda and economic activities occur as the shadow government agitates the political, social, and economic grievances of the population.

Again, we have no outside indications that any kind formal resistance to the Ghadafi regime existed prior to the street demonstrations of Arab Spring. My experience suggests that nothing occurs by coincidence. Simply because we in the West were not aware of a Libyan shadow government does not mean that one did not exist - it is quite possible that representatives of an embryonic insurgency movement sponsored by al Qaeda in the Maghreb (a.k.a. al Qaeda in North Africa) trained and prepared for for years to make their move, and the opportunity came in the historic regional uprisings of Arab Spring.


Phase III - War of Movement

This occurs when the insurgency has developed an effective military organization capable of conventional warfare and (doctrinally) a Resistance organization that has an effective shadow government capable of administering to the population’s needs. Because of the mind-boggling speed which the events in Libya proceeded from Phase I to Phase III - due in large part to the NATO-imposed No Fly Zone - there is little evidence that any kind of shadow government that may or may not have existed was capable of any kind of administration whatsoever.

Because of the NATO NFZ, the Ghadafi regime rapidly exhausted it's military resources fighting the insurgency. In the wake of the Gadafi regime's inevitable collapse, the immediate concern is the construction of a new regime.

If the Resistance has managed its strategy well, then moving directly to reconstruction is now possible. There is, however, little evidence of a well-organized insurgency leadership capable of managing itself even, let alone reconstruction and the establishment of a new Libyan government. A brief window of opportunity exists for the Western nations to step in and preclude the Muslim Brotherhood and/or al Qaeda from establishing a fundamentalist Islamic Republic a la Iran, or Afghanistan under the Taliban.


7 Phases of a Sponsored Insurgency

Doctrinally, the three aforementioned Phases of an Insurgency develop through seven Phases of Sponsorship:

• Preparation

• Initial Contact

• Infiltration

• Organization

• Buildup

• Employment

• Transition

On the surface, the Libyan experience appears to have happened spontaneously, but I personally suspect the insurgency has an outside sponsor (other than NATO), namely the Muslim Brotherhood and/or al Qaeda.

According to the doctrinal model, the first phase involves cadres (of the sponsoring power) conducting research of the target area; population, environment, and the regime. Propaganda, psychological operations, and civil-military operations are also among preparation activities.

In the second phase, cadres initiate contact; they meet with resistance leaders, assess resistance potential, and determine capabilities.

In the third phase, political entrepreneurs infiltrate and position themselves to develop internal command and control (C2).

Libyan rebels seen training.


In the fourth phase, the embedded political entrepreneurs build rapport with the population so that the (outside) cadres may work with the Resistance leadership. C2 of the Resistance takes shape, and local leadership is developed.

The fifth phase is buildup; the resistance and insurgency expand; this phase marks the insurgency’s shift from the first developmental phase (Latent and Incipient) to the second (Guerrilla Warfare).

Offensive guerrilla activities expand in the sixth operational phase of an insurgency. This is where insurgency growth continues into the third developmental phase (War of Movement); large conventional clashes with regime forces are possible.

The movement in Libya is rapidly approaching the seventh and final phase: Transition. This is the point where for political and/or strategic reasons the cadres cease their sponsorship of the Resistance. The Resistance may have succeeded in its goals, or it may not be capable of continuing, or the Resistance may be moving in a direction that the sponsoring power does not prefer. It is during the Transition phase that the most sensitive and difficult mission occurs: Demobilization.

The U.S. State Department has spent $3 million on two international weapons teams to locate and destroy shoulder-fired anti-aircraft systems in rebel-held parts of the country. The teams have demolished nearly 30 Russian SA-7 launchers, such as the one pictured above.


It is significant to note that in the history of guerrilla warfare, a successful demobilization has never been achieved.


- S. L.

Sources:

US Army Field Manuals: FM 90-8 Counterguerrilla Operations (1986), FM 100-20 Military Operations in a Low-Intensity Conflict (1990), FM 7-98 Operations in a Low-Intensity Conflict (1992).

McCormick, Gordon. “People’s Wars.” Encyclopedia of Conflicts since WWII. New York: M.E. Sharp, Inc.

GUERRILLA WARFARE

Rule #1: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE ENEMY

Check it out! That little guy just walked into the enemy camp, acquired a weapon and singlehandedly took out an entire squad ! ! !

Promote that man to Sergeant Major of the Guerrilla Forces and give him a medal ! ! !


Today's Bird HERE

Meditations on the Way of the Warrior

A reader asks: "Sean, what is the Warrior Ethos?"

I chuckle as I recall a scene from Conan the Barbarian - during Conan's gladiator phase - where the Cimmerian is asked: "Conan, what are the greatest things in Life?"

His reply: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the cries and lamentations of their women!"

Few moviegoers realize that this is an actual quote of one of the greatest warriors of all time; Genghis Khan.

There have already been some posts on STORMBRINGER regarding the Way of the Warrior:

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - (Part 1)

and

On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs (Continued)

I wore the War Suit for twenty-five years, and I continue to serve as a security professional. Perhaps it is time to further explore this theme . . .

DUTY - HONOR - COUNTRY

The Warrior walks the Way of Power, and with this power comes great responsibility. To the Warrior class, this responsibility is known as "Duty".

For the Warrior, every act of every waking moment is guided by Honor. Honor first . . . Honor last . . . Honor . . . always.

Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz Stigler epitomized Honor in his encounter with B-17 pilot Charlie Brown during World War II

The Warrior serves. In ancient times, this service was to the tribe, the band of hunter-gatherers. Later, this service was to the King, or the feudal overlord; the Baron. In the modern era, this service is ultimately to the nation-state.

The Warrior is Loyal. Warriors perform their duty honorably at every level of our modern society; at community level as police, firefighters or other first-level responders; within the various state & national-level law enforcement and para-military organizations, the branches of the military - or as a private professionals, business leaders and the captains of industry - ultimately, duty to the nation trumps all. The Warrior must never betray his Country.

Considered amongst the greatest, most insightful American military leaders, both Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee took up arms against the United States. It must be remembered, however, that in their time a man's state was considered his country, and although Stonewall and Lee were not adherents of the Confederate cause, neither could bear going against their native Virginia.


The Warrior keeps his passions in check, never acts upon the impulse of his passions, except in the moment of actively engagement against the Threat. The Warrior channels the energy of his passion into selfless acts of service, into the driving force of physical endurance, and into outward displays of loyalty and respect to the Nation and its symbols, to the Honorable Dead, and to those who served before.

Green Berets of 10th Special Forces Group honoring World War II veterans of the Canada-America 1st Special Services Brigade

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The Warrior speaks Truthfully: to his leadership, to the Citizenry, and even to the Enemy, when representing the national leadership. The Warrior is not constrained to the Truth, however, when engaging in deliberate acts of ruse or deception, or psychological operations.

Although shrewd in his business dealings, the Warrior is an Honest Broker and a Fair Trader. The Warrior Class as a whole suffers when a single Warrior conducts himself dishonorably in barter with the Citizenry. This sentiment notwithstanding, the world is full of snakes, and the Warrior practices the ethic of "Trust, but Verify."

The days of Sack & Pillage are over; there are rules of war, codified in the Law of Land Warfare. Given the incredible lethality of modern war machines, and the professionalism of the Warrior Class, we conduct ourselves within this modern Code in order to minimize unnecessary suffering.

We treat Enemy prisoners within the Law of Land Warfare out of human decency, and to ensure humanitarian treatment of our own being held by the Enemy . . .








. . . whether or not the Enemy reciprocates:

American Prisoners of War in Japan, 1945

SS Reichsführer Himmler inspecting prisoners on the Eastern Front, 1943


The Warrior kills only when necessary, in the execution of legitimate duties. To kill indiscriminately, or outside the scope of duty, is unsanctioned murder.

To stray beyond these parameters one departs the Warrior Class and becomes of the criminal classes.









In a clandestine photograph smuggled out via underground operatives during World War II, an Australian pilot is summarily executed by an officer of the Imperial Japanese Army.

The German Wehrmacht conducts a mass execution of partisans, somewhere in Europe 1940-1944


PLANNING

Planning is a continual process; the Warrior always has a Plan, and the Warrior is always planning. Knowing that no plan remains intact once executed, the Warrior has an alternate plan - a Plan B - and an emergency plan - a "Go-to-Hell Plan."

"Be professional, be polite, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet." - Marine General James Mattis in Iraq.


The Principles of Patrolling are a good set of rules to guide you in your planning in all endeavors, civilian or military. They are found painted on Infantry barracks walls and posted on bulletin boards throughout the United States Army:


PLANNING

RECONNAISSANCE

SURVEILLANCE

CONTROL

COMMON SENSE


We will explore these concepts in detail, at a later time.


BE PREPARED

Knowing that the world is an evil place full of people who only wish to do him harm, the Warrior is never unarmed. A member of the Citizenry looks out the window and says, "Oh, it is raining; I must bring an umbrella." Whereas the Warrior looks out the window and thinks, "I don't know what's out there, I must carry something: an umbrella, a walking stick, a rolled-up newspaper - anything - so that my hands are not empty, should I encounter a Threat."

When circumstances preclude carrying a firearm, I carry one of these. If the distance is closed with speed and aggression, a collapsible baton will disarm and subdue an armed opponent.



VERSATILITY

The Warrior is not constrained by convention. There is a friction to Conflict; the Warrior adapts to fit the space and shape of the battlefield environment.

Years ago - another lifetime ago it seems - when I was a young Green Beret in Asia, my mentor explained: "The weapons of the modern-day ninja are the computer and the submachinegun."

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Like most of my peers, I knew nothing of computers, and an instinctive fear of the unknown gripped me. In the course of my self-education, however, I encountered Sun Tzu, the great Philosopher of War.

The Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy in the world. First translated into French language by Jesuits in 1772, it very likely influenced Napoleon. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, and General Douglas MacArthur claimed inspiration from the work.

Sun Tzu writes, "There is no difference between two armies tens of thousands strong meeting across a great battlefield, or two swordsmen facing each other in a duel."

I understood this to mean that a computer by itself is not evil or sinister, no more so than any tool or machine; it is simply a device that can be used to project power, as much as a submachinegun but perhaps more indirectly. Having arrived in the era of cyber-crime and cyber-sabotage, it is easier to understand this concept. The greater point is that the environment and the weaponry itself may change, but the Principles of War are always the same.


RESPECT THE ENEMY

The greatest folly in Conflict is for the Warrior to underestimate his opponent; and Conflict pervades every aspect of our lives. Sun Tzu also wrote: "Know your enemies and know yourself and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. But if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

In our business negotiations we apply this in seeking to know the other guy's hidden agenda. If you know your opponent's bottom line, you can quickly outflank him in negotiations or office politics.

To respect the Enemy means never to underestimate him. In modern warfare, this translates: "There aren't too many Million Dollar Men, but there are plenty of 25 cent bullets."

That little guy out there, squatting in the bush and living off rice and beans; he hates you and everything you stand for. Given half a chance, he can . . . and will . . . very realistically . . . KILL you.

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Take what I have written here and contemplate it. You will be tested - of this I can assure you.


STORMBRINGER SENDS

© 2011 Sean Linnane

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GUERRILLA WARFARE 1861-1866

Quantrill's Raiders were a loosely organized force of pro-Confederate bushwhackers who fought in the American Civil War under the leadership of William Clarke Quantrill. The name "Quantrill's Raiders" seems to have been attached to them long after the war, when the veterans would hold reunions.



William Clarke Quantrill, Confederate Guerrilla Leader



Origins

Missouri was fertile ground for the outbreak of guerrilla warfare in late 1861. Secessionists had already been organized to some extent by the proslavery "Border Ruffian" movement of the 1850s, in which Missourians crossed the border into the Kansas Territory in an effort to make it a slave state. Unionists were less well organized, but the populace was nevertheless deeply divided.



The Territory of Kansas 1854 - 1861




In 1861, pro-Union abolitionist and regular U.S. army commander Nathaniel Lyon, with the help of German immigrants living in Missouri succeeded in forcing pro-Southern forces known as the Missouri State Guard under the command of the Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson and General Sterling Price, across the state, from St. Louis to Springfield, Missouri.


Nathaniel Lyon (July 14, 1818 – August 10, 1861) was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War


Lyon and Frank Blair a St. Louis politician, also effectively cut-off all routes south, preventing Missourians from traveling in that direction to join the Confederate army. These swift actions trapped pro-Southern Missourians in the state and behind enemy lines. Missouri became occupied by pro-Union forces. Men trapped in the state fought any way they could. Loose organizations of pro-Southern men were called partisans, irregulars, guerillas, bushwhackers and rangers.



Claiborne Fox Jackson (April 4, 1806 – December 6, 1862) - lawyer, soldier, and politician. He was the 15th Governor of Missouri in 1861, then governor-in-exile for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.



Sterling Price (September 20, 1809 – September 29, 1867) - lawyer, planter, soldier and 11th Governor Missouri (1853 to 1857), also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general during the American Civil War.



Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (February 19, 1821 – July 9, 1875) American politician and Union Army general during the American Civil War.



An insurgency flared in those areas where Union forces were weakest. As Union soldiers concentrated to fight against Price's State Guard and regular Confederate forces under General Ben McCulloch, few were available to occupy the territory to the rear. It was only in late 1861, as garrisons were established in important towns, that the weaker and more poorly organized Confederate guerrillas were defeated, and stronger, more capable units came together. The most notorious of these was that led by William Clarke Quantrill.



Benjamin McCulloch (November 11, 1811–March 7, 1862) was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger, a U.S. marshal, and a brigadier general in the army of the Confederacy.



Methods and legal status



Quantrill was not the only Confederate guerrilla operating in Missouri, but he rapidly won the greatest renown. He and his men ambushed Union patrols and supply convoys, seized the mail, and occasionally struck towns on either side of the Kansas-Missouri border. Reflecting the internecine nature of the guerrilla conflict in Missouri, Quantrill directed much of his effort against Unionist civilians, attempting to drive them from of the territory where he operated.



1851 Navy Colt


Under Quantrill's direction, Confederate partisans also perfected military tactics such as coordinated and synchronized attacks, planned dispersal after an attack using pre-planned routes and relays of horses, and other technical methods, including the use of the long-barreled revolvers that later became the preferred firearm of western lawmen and outlaws alike. The James-Younger Gang, many of whose members had ridden with Quantrill, applied these same techniques after the war.



Jesse and Frank James, 1872


Quantrill claimed sanction under the Confederate Partisan Ranger Act, which authorized certain guerrilla activities, and apparently he had received a regular Confederate commission as a captain. However, like almost all of the Missouri bushwhackers, he operated outside of the Confederate chain of command.


Battle of Lawrence, Kansas


Quantrill's most notable operation was the Lawrence Massacre a revenge raid on Lawrence, Kansas in August 1863. It had been generally regarded for years as the base of operations of Unionist irregular raids by Redlegs and Jayhawkers into Missouri both before and during the war. Also, just a month prior, some of the imprisoned family members, women and children, of Quantrill's men had been killed in the collapse of the overcrowded prison in Kansas City.

According to Union records, 167 men and teenage boys were massacred in this raid. Confederate authorities were appalled; their lawless presence proved an embarrassment to the Confederate command. Yet the Confederate generals appreciated his effectiveness against Union forces, which never gained the upper hand over Quantrill.

Among Quantrill's men was a free African-American man named John Noland. He was one of Quantrill's scouts, indeed reputed to be his best one. Noland who helped in scouting Lawrence, Kansas before the raid by Quantrill's men in 1863. He joined Quantrill's Raiders because of the abuse his family suffered at the hands of Kansas Union Jayhawkers. Post-war pictures show Noland sitting with his comrades at reunions of the Raiders.



Quantrill's Raiders Ninth Annual Reunion



Dissolution and Aftermath


Quantrill lost his hold over his men during the winter of 1863-64, when he led his men behind Confederate lines into Texas. In early 1864, the guerrillas that he had led through the streets of Lawrence returned to Missouri from Texas in separate bands, none of them led by Quantrill himself as "Bloody Bill" Anderson seems to have assumed general command by this time). Though Quantrill would gather some of his men again at the very end of 1864, the days of Quantrill's Raiders were over.

Quantrill died at the hands of Union forces in Kentucky in May 1865, but his legacy would live on. Many of his men, including Frank James, rode in 1864 under one of his former lieutenants, "Bloody Bill" Anderson, who was killed in October 1864. Much of that group remained together under the leadership of Archie Clement, who kept the gang together after the war, and harassed the Republican state government of Missouri during the tumultuous year of 1866. In December 1866, state militiamen killed Clement in Lexington, Missouri, but his men continued on as outlaws, emerging in time as the James-Younger Gang.