r/worldnews • u/DevineDoja • 28d ago

Ukraine sent special forces to Syria to attack Russians there, revealing a new front to the war: report Russia/Ukraine

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-special-forces-syria-attack-russians-new-war-front-report-2024-6
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u/jareyjareyjareyjarey 28d ago

More bang for buck?

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u/errorsniper 28d ago

The technical term is force multiplication. The right guy, at the right place, at the right time, with the proper tools. Can do more damage than a force many times larger for a fraction of the cost.

edit: scrolled down after I submitted and saw someone already explained this lol

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u/Optimized_Orangutan 28d ago

Special forces are a Force Multiplier. 10 dudes doing something 1000 couldn't.

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u/metalconscript 28d ago

Well 10 dudes doing something you can’t spare a 1000 regulars on and only need the 10 dudes to accomplish the task at hand to an acceptable end state.

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u/Tiss_E_Lur 28d ago

More like 10 dudes that can choose where and when to strike, it will therefore be necessary to bind orders of magnitude more men to protect whatever they don't want wrecked.

SF has very limited actually critical mission use cases in peer warfare, their biggest contributions by far is the potential threat they pose and the imbalanced resources spent on countering it. An opponent simply cannot choose not to dedicate a ton of manpower to guard anything vital in the rear areas, ignoring that fact is guaranteed chaos when SF eventually strikes critical infrastructure.

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u/Functionally_Drunk 28d ago

Gotta keep those Nazi's from manufacturing heavy water somehow.

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u/Flangepacket 28d ago

Those 10 dudes have worked their way through extreme selection with heavy fail rate and countless niche, pinpoint exercises that the 1000 dudes have not. Specialized, accurate and deadly.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

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u/projectsangheili 28d ago

Which is why you want them on these kinds of ops, no on the main frontlines.

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u/vaginal-prolapse 28d ago

Obviously. The point of special forces is to avoid being in a situation where the enemy knows your location.

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u/hikyhikeymikey 28d ago

Special forces are training to do different things than the regular infantry. “Force multiplier” isn’t accurate.

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u/haveanairforceday 28d ago

The phrase "force multiplier" is specifically associated with the US Army Special Forces (Green Berets). Their primary function is traditionally to train and lead non-US forces (military and paramilitary). In this way they "multiply" the amount of resources committed by the US Military

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u/tittysprinkles112 28d ago

They aren't green berets

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u/ghoulthebraineater 28d ago

Technically Green Berets are Special Forces. Things like Navy Seals, Delta Force, etc are special operations.

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u/runtheplacered 28d ago

He didn't say they were, he said "associated with". But he's implying that this term can be used for other special forces as well, because, why not?

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u/haveanairforceday 28d ago

You're correct. But I'm just explaining why "force multiplier" always comes up when people talk about special forces of any sort

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u/ic33 28d ago

The concept of a force multiplier is something that you use that makes other, conventional forces more effective.

Special forces are the classic example of a force multiplier; for a small, fixed investment, they can deny enemy forces important resources and cause the use of tactics and procedures that eat up manpower to prevent outsized losses; in turn all of the forces on the side that are employing special forces productively become more effective.

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u/Dwayne_Gertzky 28d ago

The Green Beret Foundation® (GBF) harnesses the legendary Special Forces concept of Force Multipliers.

https://greenberetfoundation.org/force-multipliers/#:~:text=The%20Green%20Beret%20Foundation%C2%AE,solve%20their%20country's%20internal%20defense.

Just about anything other than a generic infantryman with a rifle is a force multiplier. When I was a light machine gunner I was considered a force multiplier. When I was a radio operator, I was considered a force multiplier. When I was a heavy weapons squad leader, I oversaw a squad of force multipliers. Special operators are very much considered a force multiplier.

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u/VagueSomething 28d ago

Ah the military, where Sports Bros snd DnD nerds combine to give us technical terms that everyone can misunderstand.

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u/rockbautumn 28d ago

Clone Force 99 at the ready

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u/Falsus 28d ago

It isn't that simple. On the frontlines against Russia the 1000 regulars would be more valuable than the 10 special forces, but in a spec ops scenario where they are meant to get in sabotage and cause disruption then pull out having a small but highly capable group is way more important. Sending 1k people there isn't a spec ops, it is opening a new theatre for the war.

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u/SnarkMasterRay 28d ago

"Special Forces" is a US specific term. There are many types of Special Operations missions and "force multiplication" is one of many, but only if the situation is right. One can't really do force multiplication if there are no indigenous ground forces to augment and train up.

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u/Optimized_Orangutan 27d ago

Training indigenous force is an example of force multiplication, not the definition.

Force multiplier — (n.) any activity or equipment which increases the combat effectiveness of a military grouping without actually increasing its firepower. A force multiplier is anything that will help the Soldier at the frontline get more done with less time or expense.

Combat activity outside of the warzone striking weapons and supplies to prevent them from ever making it to the battlefield. Meaning the soldier at the front line doesn't have to get shot or blown up by it. These activities are very clearly qualified as a force multiplier.

Edit:

A mess hall is considered a force multiplier simply by making the distribution of food more efficient.

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u/myvotedontcount 28d ago

can't believe the world doubted twenty good men

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u/whatproblems 28d ago

they’re the ones attacking here so they don’t need a lot of troops for selective attacks while russia needs more to defend everywhere

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u/evilbunnyofdoom 28d ago

Indeed. Or maybe a different bang for a small buck.

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u/DookieShoez 28d ago

Why use lot soldier when few do trick?