User:RufusXSarsaparilla/sandbox

TEAM SWANDOG
Team Swandog is an American private, paramilitary NGO (non-governmental organization) the sole mission of which is to destroy Daesh (sometimes called the Islamic State, ISIS, or ISIL) and eradicate the ideology of radical fundamentalist Islam from the face of the planet. Team Swandog was created in August 2014 by a group of 27 former special operators and National Clandestine Service Paramilitary Operations Officers holding a retreat at Lake Ouachita near Royal, Arkansas, for the purpose of finalizing a strategy to destroy Daesh that they could present to the public. At this meeting, it was determined that:

1. The Obama administration is either unwilling or unable to formulate and carry out an effective strategy to destroy Daesh and combat radical fundamentalist Islam; 2. Daesh is an urgent existential threat to the United States and the American way of life, and we cannot afford to wait for the election of the next President; 3. Convincing any President that Team Swandog's strategy is the only way to destroy Daesh and combat radical fundamentalist Islam is a long shot at best, due to the egos involved; and 4. Given the existence of a state of war between Daesh and the United States as a matter of fact and of law, the people - the American citizens - have the inalienable right to defend themselves by organizing and taking the fight to the enemy on the enemy's ground.

The group further resolved that the people should have an organized militia not a militia of any state and not beholden to any President and that that militia should and indeed must take the fight to Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

On the final day of the retreat, the members set about to elect from among them a commander for this militia and choose a name for it as well. The youngest member of the group, a 42-year-old expert in intelligence, special operations,, psychological warfare and unconventional warfare, call sign Swandog, was elected. The group decided it should be known as Team Swandog as a sign of their confidence in and loyalty to their new commander. They decided that their team tattoo and patch should be based on a swan in fighting stance with the head of a vicious dog.

Swandog
Very little is revealed about Swandog. He never served in the military, but he evinces extensive military or paramilitary training. He will neither publicly claim nor deny any government service in any capacity whatsoever., but sources close to Swandog indicate he was in some way a long-time intelligence community asset with extensive military training including Army SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), Army Jump School, Army Special Forces Jump School, Army Combat Diver, Army Jungle Warfare, USMC Close Combat, USMC Scout-Sniper, USMC Mountain Warfare Training, Navy BUD/S, and Navy SEAL Qualification Training. He is known to wear patches with the insignia of various special operations units as well as the National Clandestine Service, and his left arm bears tattoos indicating a connection to the National Clandestine Service. He is known to have a full-scale WAIS-IV IQ in the 93rd percentile with comprehension skills in the 99.7th percentile. He is very highly educated in psychology, political science, economics, and philosophy & religion. He is a Christian who adheres to New Covenant Theology and displays a large cross tattoo on his upper right arm. He considers himself both an Arkansan and a Vermonter.

Team Swandog Strategy
Team Swandog reveals the broad strokes of their strategy to destroy Daesh and eradicate radical fundamentalist Islam, but the specifics are a closely guarded secret. The strategy is based on a knowledge of what radicalizes people who join groups like Daesh and why they fight. There have been numerous post-9/11 attempts to explain radicalization and the desire to fight western powers, but Team Swandog feels they are all heavily influenced by personal ideologies or political agendas. Team Swandog bases its understanding of what radicalizes these people on an earlier work by Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. The Crusades are still a very fresh and deep would for a large part of the Muslim World, and there is a hatred of the West born of a contrived cultural sense of religious persecution. According to Team Swandog the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the manner in which they have been prosecuted has greatly fed into this victim mentality and served to create far more radicals that it has killed. This is evidenced by the phenomenal growth of the radical fundamentalist Islamic ideology and its associated militant groups over the last 13 years. Team Swandog feels that large occupying armies kicking in doors and the leveling of cities by air power in order to liberate them are just seen by the majority of the Muslim world as a continuation of the Crusades. Team Swandog's understanding of how Daesh and similar groups are able to recruit vast numbers of fighters to the jihad is informed not only by an understanding of the deep cultural sense of religious persecution but on the principles found in the Chris Hedges book War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.

Team Swandog's strategy, therefore, is one which is the exact opposite of current world strategy, which it considers to be quite ignorant. Instead of a large occupying army kicking in doors and a massive air campaign that turns cities into rubble in order to liberate them, Team Swandog has a strategy that can be rapidly executed by a light, mobile guerrilla force. It is a strategy of relentless attrition which will quickly destroy Daesh by eroding its morale, frustrating its recruiting, and undermining the legitimacy of the movement. Daesh cannot legitimately be seen as the soldiers of Allah in the Muslim world if they are being defeated by a small number of infidels. The swift destruction of Daesh will help to undermine the legitimacy of the ideology as a whole, and once Team Swandog moves on to other groups such as Boko Haram and AQIM, the ideology will wither on the vine.

Team Swandog Structure and Operations
Team Swandog is composed of an intelligence apparatus, 2-man sniper teams (both shooters), 12-man recon teams, 30-man combat teams, and a support element. Team Swandog is actively recruiting and projects a force strength of 7,000 with 10,000 volunteers in noncombat roles by July 2015. The force will have the capability of striking Daesh in 30-40 locations around the theater of Operation simultaneously. Team Swandog has had two advance teams on the ground since October 2014 and now has six advance teams in the theater conducting unspecified noncombat operations as of mid-February 2015. Team Swandog is funded by patriotic individuals, churches, and small and big business in the U.S. If full funding is achieved, they expect to be able to destroy Daesh in nine months of operations, though the team is prepared to prosecute its war on a lower level of funding if necessary, in which case, it projects total victory in approximately two years of operations.

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