7th SF Group Commander steps down.

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Published on Thursday, December 06, 2007

Reeder says winning will take time

By Kevin Maurer
Staff writer
Col. Edward Reeder is going to miss the soldiers the most Friday when he leaves command of the 7th Special Forces Group.
“They never complain about anything, and they do what you tell them to do,” Reeder said in an interview last week. “They are lethal as the day is long, but they are also as compassionate as the day is long.”
Reeder will relinquish command of the 7th Special Forces Group on Friday at Fort Bragg. In his 28 months in charge of 7th Group, every battalion in the unit deployed to Colombia and Iraq. The group headquarters, support battalion and several of the companies also deployed twice to Afghanistan.
Reeder completed his last eight-month deployment with the group in the fall. The latest rotation to Afghanistan was one of its most successful, he said.
Reeder’s soldiers were able to balance combat mission with reconstruction. The soldiers killed nearly 4,000 Taliban fighters and captured 67 out of 125 top leaders. They also stood up several radio stations and built mosques, roads and schools.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the soldiers from this organization,” he said.
After Friday’s change of command, Reeder will become executive officer to Adm. Eric Olson, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base at Tampa, Fla.
Reeder is looking forward to his new job but admits that it won’t be as exciting as commanding 7th Group.
“If I had to hang up the cleats at the change of command, I’d be a happy man,” Reeder said. “It has really been a good tour of duty.”
Staff writer Kevin Maurer recently spoke with Reeder about his last deployment to Afghanistan. Here are excerpts:
Q: What are some of the highlights of your deployment to Afghanistan?
A: This was really just an outstanding rotation. There were a lot of things that we could have done better on the last rotation and we applied them on this trip. A major highlight is having been a major contributor to the disruption of the Taliban during their 2007 campaign. We did this, I believe, by really looking at our targeting methodology. Instead of developing targets based on the intelligence on one guy, we actually looked at the cellular piece in total and was able to prosecute the whole cell instead of individual guys.
Q: You seem to have found a real balance between combat and noncombat missions.
A: The way we went into this thing strategywise is we looked at three lines of operations — security, governance, economics and infrastructure support.
On the security side of the house, we were absolutely dedicated to building the capacity for the Afghan Security Forces. We conducted over 5,000 combat operations and never conducted one unilateral operation. I challenged the guys. If you don’t build the capacity of the Afghan National Security Force we are going to be doing this for years and years to come.
On the governance side of the house, you have to look at how the Taliban operate. They do so by co-opting tribes. You have to understand tribal dynamics to be successful in Afghanistan. And what the soldiers were able to do was talk with the tribal elders. What we are trying to do was alter the perception of the population — the guy that sits on the fence (or) the guy can’t make up his mind to support the legitimacy of the government. We are trying to influence that guy.
Finally with reconstruction, we had about $50 million dollars. We balanced the projects with the security situation. We dug the wells. We built the mosque. We built the schools. We built the soccer fields. We did all that, but I thought we did a really good job of balancing it with the security situation in the area.
Q: What kind of feedback from the Afghans did you get back on the strategy?
A: The feedback we got back from the Afghans was tremendous. There is a lot of goodness that comes out of Afghanistan, but it just doesn’t make the papers. We’ve seen situations early on in the summer where the Afghans in the northern Helmand province rose up and fought against the Taliban.
Q: Is the Taliban threat as bad as reported? Are you seeing more Taliban fighters?
A: People will say that there is more Taliban activity than there was a couple of years ago. I would tell you that there are more forces in key locations in Afghanistan. Personally, I think the activity you see is when we are bumping up against more Taliban because we have more forces in the right areas. By following Gen. (Dan) McNeill’s campaign plan, we are taking the fight to the enemy. Therefore, you are seeing a lot more activity.
Q: There were reports of friction between NATO and Special Forces teams this summer. Can you talk a little bit about it and where it came from?
A: I personally think that was overstated. There was a British officer that went home on leave and said something derogatory about U.S. Special Forces, and it made it onto the BBC. We were getting derogatory press for dropping airstrikes. What people need to understand is how good the Taliban are at information operations (and) what masters they are at disinformation. If you get into a major engagement with the Taliban, you probably have 90 minutes before the spokesman for the Taliban is talking to the international press. The key was getting the facts early. They are going to come back and say that you killed women and children.
The guys know that. They are very methodical when they call air strikes. They are very deliberate, and the Air Force (controllers) are very good at what they do. So what we started to do was provide the video tape of the airstrikes as to exactly what was destroyed. We use guided munitions to minimize collateral damage. There were many cases where we didn’t engage targets because there were women and kids on the target.
Q: What is your predication for the future of Afghanistan? Can the U.S. win the war there despite reports that there are more Taliban?
A: It is winnable. It is a very difficult and complex insurgency, and it is going to take some time.

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Published on Friday, December 07, 2007

Mulholland takes command of 7th Special Forces Group

a staff report
Col. Sean Mulholland took command of the 7th Special Forces Group on Friday replacing Col. Edward Reeder.
Before taking over the 7th Special Operations Group, Mulholland was the Special Operations Command South Forward commander in Colombia.
The ceremony took place under a slate gray sky on Meadows Memorial Field next to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Reeder said commanding 7th Group was the highlight of his career.
“To say that you’ve done well is a monumental understatement,” Reeder said. “You are the greatest fighting force on Earth.”
Reeder’s new assignment takes him to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. where he will become executive officer to Adm. Eric Olson, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.