Norforce is actually an RFSU - Regional Force Suirveillance Unit - from memory there are three RFSUs (Norforce, The Pilbara Regiment and the Far North Queensland Regiment). For some reason Norforce is the best known of the three and Norforce is sometimes used interchangeabely with RFSU. The RFSU are army resrrve units with a pretty much operational role in peacetime, they operate accross the north of Australia their main role is surveillance, although obviously they have other roles and in the north of Australia they need to have some offensive capability as the would soemtimes be the only force for hundreds, perhaps thousands of kilometers. They are not (at least publicly) really sleeper units per se although they may end up as stay behinds. They are uniformed, based in well known locations etc just like any other army reserve unit. SASR's main role has always been stratgic reconaissance, although they also had oyther roles - essentially they were Australia's only regular (as in full time) special forces so they also undertook other roles, both officially as well as unoffcially. During the late 90s Australia developed a full time commando regiment. Priot to the raising of that commando regiment the only other special forces in Australia - at least officially - were two reserve commando companies one in Sydney and one in Melbourne (Australia's two main population centeres) which had a fairly high nunber of ex SAS personel in them - guys who'd lived in Perth for their regualr career, then moved back east and wanted to server on a part time basis, keep in touch with their mates etc. The reserve commando companies and the full time battallion's main roles are strike direct action, raids etc, although they do have a reconnaissance capability and since maybe the late 90s early 2000s the regular commands also provide the special recovcery (countert terrorist) capability for eacstern Australia - i.e. the vast majority of the Australian populations. But before the full time commadno regiment was raised strategic reconaissance was the main and classis SAS role. I believe strategic reconnaisasance still is the main tole and perhaps is even more so now that we have regular commandos to underake direct action,raids etc. Ben may have been deployed with Austrlaian Special Forces but it is apparent that he knows little about the Australian Army or even the histories of the regiments he was embedded in. Which I think is fine if your just reporting on them with news stories, but if you're publsiching a book you really need a bit more depth. The biggest issue with the way the Afghan "murders" has been handled in my view is that it is only the soldiers that have been charged. The OC (officer commanding - the squadron leaders) the CO the regimental commander, the dir=ectory special forces (if they have a positon in the chain of command) and all the way up needed to be charged. Commanders are resposible for the acvtions of their troops. Thats why German and Japanese officers were executed after world war to. They are responsible to know what is happeneing and to put in place mehcanisms - including culture - to know what is happneng and resposnible to prvide training and support so that soldiers can commit crimes - or unsanctioned killing - without know about. The responsible parties - and I mean legally and morally are the commanders. If they didn't know there was a culture where kills were celebrated the way it has been protrayed they were celebrated was happneing, if they were turning a blind eye or being willfully ignborant - which reports in the media and first hand accounts suggest was the case - then the commanders are respionsbile - including the civillian chain of command e.g. the minister and the prime minister. I'm all for charging the soldiers if there was a crime, but I object strenuously to the way these killings were handled because the morally, ethically and legally responible parties were not charged. In my view lawyers need to be embedded in every deployed sub unit and particiapate in operatons on the ground maybe 1 lawyer for every platoon or troop in conventional units and 1 per patrol for special forces. It would be interesting to see the rules of engagement and the interpretations if that were the case. That scale would never be met, but I do think lawyers who advise the comanders of ROE should be involved in operations on the ground on a regular basis and should when deployed should be required to advise the actual commanders on the ground. As opposed to the commanders sitting in the FOBs or regional HQs. It's ridiculous to give legal protection to every one except the guy getting shot at adn blown up for months on end.

Episode 271 of The Team House Podcast Introductions Jack Murphy and David Park introduce Ben McKelvie, author of "Find, Fix, Finish" and "The Commando" about the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) Jack gives a shout out to their Patreon supporters and asks listeners to consider sponsoring the show Ben McKelvie's Background Getting into Journalism Ben had an aphasic stroke at age 27 while working at a magazine and boxing Went through months of recovery, rebuilding language skills Petitioned the Australian Defence Force to go to Iraq as an embed Had a heart attack while waiting on the embed request Recovered from open heart surgery and was approved to go to Iraq Went to Iraq, then worked as a freelancer in Iran, Syria, Afghanistan Working on Cameron Baird's Biography Accelerated Ben's work in the national security space Cameron Baird was a well-known, larger-than-life figure in the SASR SASR's involvement in Afghanistan was largely unknown to the Australian public due to protected identity laws Ben was shocked to learn the extent of Australia's involvement and combat when he started interviewing soldiers for the book Australians' Awareness of the War There was a failure at the public and political level to understand the nature of the conflict News reports often incorrectly refer to all Afghans as "Taliban" Ben realized how little he and most Australians knew about their country's heavy involvement Ben's Reception by Soldiers as an Embed Received better than most journalists because he put a Ralph magazine sticker on his body armor Soldiers recognized and appreciated the Ralph brand Did soldier's-eye-view stories for Ralph, West Australian newspaper, the Bulletin Took a biography/soldier's perspective approach up until writing "Find, Fix, Finish" History of the SASR Vietnam Era Earned the nickname "Ghosts of the Jungle" as an effective special forces unit Engaged in dangerous, kinetic missions Post-Vietnam Defence of Australia white paper changed their role Primarily tasked with guerrilla warfare prep for Northern Australia Worked with indigenous Australians on demolitions Took on strategic reconnaissance - long solo missions observing remote areas Not an engaging role, mostly inactive prep for unlikely scenarios Tampa Affair (2001) Afghan refugees rescued from sinking boat by Norwegian ship Tampa Australian govt refused to let sick refugees disembark on Christmas Island SASR sent to storm the Tampa based on erroneous reports refugees may be dangerous Refugees were actually exhausted and sick with gastro Marked the start of SASR being used as a political tool Post-9/11 Immediately after 9/11, SASR prepared for Afghanistan mission Among first forces in after Marines secured bases SASR in Early War on Terror Did quality reconnaissance work, going on long 50-60 day missions Worked with US Marines identifying targets for strikes Played key role in Operation Anaconda as a blocking force One team directed lots of air strikes, seen as a perfect SASR mission at the time Mission changed over time as technology like drones advanced SASR Arrival in Uruzgan Province April 2006 Australia agreed to join ISAF in Afghanistan, ended up in Uruzgan Uruzgan was a Taliban heartland area, more intense than anticipated SASR sent for ground missions, immediately faced heavy resistance from locals Massive gunfight on an initial "meet the locals" mission Defence Minister may have retired shortly after due to reservations about the mission Working with the Dutch Dutch had a "hearts and minds" approach vs SASR's "capture/kill" Dutch had anthropologists providing intel on tribal structures Believed endless attacks on a warlord's enemies would just create more conflict Australians agreed to the more aggressive American approach Controversial Operation in June 2006 Joint SASR/Dutch operation to clear Taliban-held valley leading to Tarin Kowt base Goal was to seize control and create a permissive security environment Area remained contested throughout the war despite periodic operations Ben Roberts-Smith alleged to have killed a teenager during this operation, details unclear

Great episode! I love watching new guests every week. Comments are so edgy, I can make a 3 Days Grace song outta them lmao

The fundamental issue with the GWOT is we did not align success with what we were willing to do and local conditions.

The SAS relied upon rule of war 556 which can be cross referenced with rule 762 and on occasion rule 9. It’s war mate. Taliban certainly did not play by any rules.

SASR aren't war criminals, they never lost a war yet.

Great interview, looking forward to reading the book

Good episode fellas!

Great interview gentlemen. BTW, the ABC needs to be defunded.

Let's fight!

I’ll never understand why they don’t list these as videos instead of just Lives. They would get thousands more views.

Once again guys, fantastic show. Very interesting.

Norforce a sleeper cell? Gee mate do more research

Don’t like saying this , but some of his stuff was off. Back when all this kicked off , they were like ; what will we ever do. The boys & girls 😬 rolled into town , an secured our freedoms. Now you wanna point your finger , an play Monday morning QB. Not with it. But like the podcast 💪🇺🇸🙏

A lot of people here commenting shit about this guy, but most of them are not even in the military, actually there are many former SASR who say the same about the committed war crimes

Is this guy for real? Nor force a sleeper cell training land owners in dems. Pleease your credibility out the door right there

👍

He talks about the ‘appeal’ but that case was never a criminal case, it was a civil case re defamation. Where are all the convictions for war crimes? Had to turn off and do something more meaningful. Looking forward to the next show. Cheers

This guy is typical of most journalists. He has no fucking idea.

shout out scojo

Why does everyone use the word kinetic these days? And what do they mean by it?

Love all the butthurt fanboys on the comments who can't face reality.

He talks about the ‘appeal’ but that case was never a criminal case, it was a civil case re defamation. Where are all the convictions for war crimes? Had to turn off and do something more meaningful. Looking forward to the next show. Cheers 😊

As usual the Dutch were useless 😂

This is shit I am out.

This guy gives me all the wrong vibes, like a matthew cole but with an axe to grind and much less researched. Ive seen some of the helmet cam footage before and while it is rough, these guys were being deployed at a record rate to fight a useless war for the goverments benefit while the people at home milled around like ignornant sheep. And now its ok for them to be thrown under the bus so some sort or moral high ground can be taken? The world is a very upside down place.

Ben talks as if he was there which he was not!