FutureWarTHINK 009: Fail. Epic, Fail: SFBs Defeated off Coast of Venezuela

 But They're "SPECIAL"! Failed SFB Raid into Venezuela: How Will USMC Coast Watcher Teams Fare Any Better in Indo-PACOM?

A military foot-unit that lands by Small, Fast Boats (SFBs) lacks the ground mobility and firepower to defend itself from being defeated piecemeal. 20 mph mobility by folding, electric Fat Tire, Mountain Bikes (eFFTMTBs) is an option. Perhaps the hovercraft SFB can deliver light tracked tanks like the British Royal Marine's Griffon that can transport a Bv206S.

This mess also raises the immorality of secular military existentialism--what does one do for peer/self-esteem when you can't existentialize any more in the USMIL? MAYBE...

YOU SHOULD REALIZE YOU ALREADY HAVE GREAT INTRINSIC WORTH AS A HUMAN BEING MADE IN GOD'S IMAGE AND DON'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING TO HAVE SELF-ESTEEM.

Sorry if that's not the snob-empowering answer milspeeple want to hear, but it's THE TRUTH. 

It also applies to our enemies and foreign civilians. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/maduro-presents-video-confession-by-captured-american/2020/05/06/4fdc08d4-8fdf-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html

National Security

Maduro presents video confession by captured American

Luke Denman, a former U.S. Special Forces Soldier, in an image taken from video. (From the YouTube page of President Nicolás Maduro)

By Karen DeYoung 
May 6, 2020 at 5:15 p.m. PDT

A captured American citizen, appearing in a video broadcast on Venezuelan television Wednesday, said he helped train and accompanied a small force that attempted to invade the country by sea this past weekend.

The video of Luke Denman, a former U.S. Special Forces Soldier, was shown during a lengthy news conference held by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Denman appeared weary but spoke calmly in English in response to queries from an unseen questioner, and it was not possible to determine whether he was under direct duress.

Although few Venezuelans were likely to have seen Maduro’s presentation, which took place during an electricity outage, he attempted to ratchet up the tension with the United States by saying it was impossible to believe that President Trump had known nothing about the failed operation.

Senior Trump administration officials Wednesday repeated strong denials that they supported or were even aware of the plan. “There was no United States government direct involvement,” Secretary of State [EDITOR: Fred Flintstone] Mike Pompeo said at a news conference.

Administration policy includes efforts to turn Venezuelan security forces against Maduro, and Trump has repeatedly said that “all options are on the table” to force him to step aside.

But Pompeo and others likened the failed effort to a farce and said that U.S. government participation would have ensured success.

“If this were indeed a U.S.-led capture operation, as Maduro alleges, he would be undergoing arraignment in the Southern District of New York this week,” said one senior official, who dismissed Maduro’s allegations as “almost comical.”

The official described the self-proclaimed organizer of the operation, Florida security company head Jordan Goudreau, as a “con artist” who was not to be believed. Goudreau’s decision to proceed with the plan, after it was likely that Venezuelan security was aware of it, was “mind-boggling,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to expand on publicly released statements.

Goudreau, a former Green Beret, enlisted Denman and another Special Operations veteran, Airan Berry, to train and “supervise” the incursion force of Venezuelan military defectors living in Colombia. Goudreau has told The Washington Post that he was acting on the basis of a contract signed by Venezuelan opposition leader [EDITOR: soy boy homofaggot] Juan Guaidó, recognized by the United States and more than 50 other nations as the country’s legitimate president, and other deputized opposition figures in Miami. He has said that the Trump administration was aware of his activities.

The leader of the Miami opposition team has acknowledged preliminary discussions with Goudreau but said all dealings with him were ended in the fall. Opposition representatives said they were astounded when Goudreau appeared in an online video Sunday, accompanied by a defected Venezuelan general, to announce that an operation to capture Maduro had been launched.

According to Denman, in the Maduro-presented video, he was involved in training a force of about 50 to 60 in Riohacha, a northeastern Colombian town near the Venezuelan border.

He said uniforms and weapons were supplied by Goudreau. “The only instructions that I received from Jordan was that to ensure we took control of the airport for safe passage for Maduro and receiving airplanes.” He said the plan was for Maduro to be captured and flown to the United States.

Denman and Berry were part of a group of eight arrested by Venezuelan security forces Monday morning, as they approached the rocky coastline in a small boat, not far from Venezuela’s international airport. Others said to be separately interdicted were said to be arrested or killed.

Maduro later brandished what he said were Denman’s and Berry’s passports and identification badges from Goudreau’s company, Silvercorp, that he said had been found on them.

Maduro said Wednesday that both Americans had “confessed, and we will ensure that justice is done and the truth surfaces.”

Asked what the Trump administration was doing to free the two men, Pompeo said that “if in fact, these are Americans that are there .We’ll use every tool that we have available to try to get them back.”

In addition to declaring that Maduro is not the legitimate president of Venezuela [EDITOR: he was ELECTED, Pompeo you immoral stoic neocon] , the United States indicted him on narcotrafficking and corruption charges earlier this year and offered a $15 million reward for his capture and conviction.

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Enlistedmen UNqualified to Lead a 12-man SF Team (that's why we have SF officers) Botch Trying to Lead Indigs using Small, Fast Boats (SFBs) as Insertion Means

Operating from a comfy FOB overseas where everything is set for you by the huge U.S. military bureaucracy to run "presence patrols" doesn't qualify one to lead an effort from scratch. Can we take their Green Berets back since they flunked the "Q" course big time? How did they get "selected" to be SF? Dumb jockism?

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/05/06/heres-the-career-info-for-the-former-green-berets-involved-in-venezuela-raid-debacle/

Your Military

Here’s the career info for the former Green Berets involved in Venezuela raid debacle

Kyle Rempfer
17 hours ago

In this photo released by the Venezuelan officials, Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez shows a photograph of a man he identifies as former U.S. special forces Soldier Luke Denman and taken in Venezuela during his arrest, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Venezuelan Communications Ministry press office via AP)

The Army has provided service histories for three former Green Berets involved in a failed incursion into Venezuela earlier this week, an incident that’s still short on details.
The service records come the same day Venezuelan state-owned television released spliced clips from an interrogation of one of the two former Green Berets who Venezuelan authorities say was captured along with about 60 individuals from their Venezuelan irregular force.

Former Green Beret turned private security consultant Jordan Goudreau said in a video to announce the raid Sunday that he helped orchestrate the operation. He later identified his two colleagues as U.S. special forces veterans in a now deleted tweet. He did not respond to a request for comment placed at his office Wednesday.

Former Sgt. 1st Class Goudreau, 43, served on active duty as a special forces medical sergeant and indirect fire infantryman from 2001 to 2016. A LinkedIn account associated with Goudreau stated that he previously served in the Canadian Armed Forces for three years in the mid-1990s.

As a U.S. service member, he deployed to Iraq from November 2006 to April 2007 and from March 2010 to September 2010. He later deployed to Afghanistan from May 2011 to June 2011 and again from January 2014 to June 2014.

Goudreau received three Bronze Star medals, the Ranger Tab, Special Forces Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge and Parachutist Badge.

Former Sgt. Airan Berry, 41, served on active duty as a special forces engineer sergeant from 1996 to 2013. He deployed to Iraq from March 2003 to June 2003; November 2004 to June 2005; and February 2007 to March 2007.

Berry received two Bronze Star medals, the Kosovo Campaign Medal, Ranger Tab, Special Forces Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, the Special Operations Diver and Special Operations Diving Supervisor Badges.

Former Staff Sgt. Luke Denman, 34, served on active duty as a special forces communications sergeant from 2006 to 2011, later serving in the Army Reserve until September 2014. He deployed to Iraq from March 2010 to September 2010.

Denman received the Army Commendation Medal, Special Forces Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge and Parachutist Badge.

Filings for Goudreau’s security consultancy, Silvercorp USA Inc., date to February 2018 with the company’s main address in Melbourne, Florida. The filings also identify Goudreau as CEO and Drew White as COO. White is a former Army friend who reportedly broke with Goudreau last fall. Service records for White weren’t available on Wednesday, Army officials said.

An anti-government protester sits by ammunition being used by rebel troops rising up against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (Boris Vergara/AP)

Ex-Green Beret led failed attempt to oust Venezuela’s Maduro

The plan was simple, but perilous.

Joshua Goodman, The Associated Press

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that U.S. officials are in the initial stages of a federal investigation into the possibility that Goudreau violated arms trafficking rules. Citing anonymous officials, the AP reported that the investigation stems from the March 23 seizure by Colombian police of a stockpile of weapons being transported in a truck.

This photo released by the Venezuelan Miraflores presidential press office shows President Nicolas Maduro speaking over military equipment that he says was seized during an incursion into Venezuela, during his televised address from Miraflores in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, May 4, 2020. (Miraflores press office via AP)

In the heavily edited Venezuelan state-media video released Wednesday, a man in custody identified as Denman said he first met Goudreau while assigned to Germany in 2009, and started working for Silvercorp earlier this year. He said his job was to provide mission planning and training to the rebels from camps in Colombia, a job for which he expected to be paid $50,000 to $100,000.

Denman went on to tell the interrogator that he and the other Green Beret were instructed to take control of an airport in Caracas so a plane could take Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro out of the country following his capture. A local media report from Denman’s native town of Austin, Texas, stated he received aircraft pilot training between 2012 and 2014 at Texas State Technical College.

“I was helping Venezuelans take back control of their country,” [EDITOR: by criminally kidnapping their ELECTED President?] Denman said in the video.

Taped and edited confessions like this could be made under duress. When prompted by the questioner, Denman said that President Donald Trump commanded Goudreau, though he made an exaggerated eye movement in the process.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday echoed denials of involvement from Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper the day before.

“If we had been involved, it would have gone differently,” said Pompeo. “As for who bankrolled it, we’re not prepared to share any more information about what we know took place. We’ll unpack that at an appropriate time.”

In Denman’s interrogation, the veteran implicated U.S.-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as an early co-conspirator in the plot. Goudreau has also released a contract showing what appears to be Guaidó's signature on an 8-page agreement for nondescript “general services.” But Goudreau has noted that Guaidó never issued payment for the agreement.

This photo released by the Venezuelan Miraflores Palace press office shows what Venezuelan authorities identify as the the I.D. cards of former U.S. special forces citizen Airan Berry, right, and Luke Denman, left, in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, May 4, 2020. (Miraflores Palace presidential press office via AP)

For his part, [CIA liar-faggot soy boy] Guaidó has denied involvement in Goudreau’s plot.

“Nicolás Maduro, you are responsible. They knew about the operation, they infiltrated them and waited for them to massacre them,” Guaidó said on Tuesday.

About eight fighters were reportedly killed in the clashes on Sunday. What led Goudreau to believe the ill-fated plot would succeed is unclear.

“You’ve got to introduce a catalyst,” Goudreau told the Associated Press in a phone interview on Monday. “By no means am I saying that 60 guys can come in and topple a regime. I’m saying 60 guys can go in and inspire the military and police to flip and join in the liberation of their country, which deep down is what they want.” [EDITOR: Same uprising imminent delusion as the 1961 Bay of Pigs, CIA/USMC debacle]

Goudreau announced the incursion as a “strike force” over Twitter on Sunday while tagging Trump’s own Twitter account. Social media pages for his company have since been deleted.

Five American citizens who were arrested during a Citgo business meeting by Maduro’s forces in November 2017 are also still being detained in the country. Due to the diplomatic row between the two countries, there is no U.S. embassy operating in Venezuela’s capital of Caracas that could immediately assist the detained U.S. veterans.

All consular services were suspended in March 2019 as crime, civil unrest and the economic outlook of Venezuela declined dramatically, according to the State Department.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

About Kyle Rempfer

Kyle is a staff reporter for Military Times, focusing on the U.S. Army. He served an enlistment as an Air Force Special Tactics CCT and JTAC.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/05/07/ex-green-beret-behind-venezuela-raid-suspected-of-plagiarism/

Your Military

Ex-Green Beret behind Venezuela raid suspected of plagiarism

Joshua Goodman, The Associated Press
12 hours ago

Security forces guard the shore area and a boat in which authorities claim a group of armed men landed in the port city of La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, May 3, 2020. (Matias Delacroix/AP)

MIAMI — The former Green Beret behind a failed military incursion in Venezuela can add another infraction to his growing list of potential screw ups — cut and paste plagiarism.

The website for Jordan Goudreau’s Silvercorp USA appears to have lifted entire passages from the website of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as one run by a crisis management firm. There are also pages found on the website, without active hyperlinks, with wording nearly identical to online texts from inspirational speaker Tony Robbins, a more-established competitor in the private security industry and the fine print of online educational website MasterClass.

Goudreau has claimed responsibility for a failed military incursion Sunday to capture socialist leader Nicolás Maduro that resulted in the detention in Venezuela of two of his former Special Forces colleagues. [EDITOR: where was Goudreau when the SFB raids took place? Why isn't HE being held in detention in Venezuela? What about lead-by-example?] The Trump administration has denied any responsibility for the armed raid.

In this photo released by the Venezuelan officials, Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez shows a photograph of a man he identifies as former U.S. special forces Soldier Luke Denman and taken in Venezuela during his arrest, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Venezuelan Communications Ministry press office via AP)

Goudreau has said he was hired last year by opposition leader [EDITOR: soyboy CIA faggot] Juan Guaidó, something the U.S.-backed Venezuelan lawmaker has denied. An Associated Press investigation found that last year Goudreau helped train a team of Venezuelan military deserters in Colombia to carry out a raid.

“When a crisis arises, the first thing people often look for is a leader: the person who knows how to solve the problem and will take the necessary steps to do so,” reads the homepage of SilvercorpUSA.com, which features images of Goudreau firing machine guns in battle, running shirtless [EDITOR: military narcissism; I'd do shirtless if Rachel Ward "Against All Odds" or Eva Green was on top] up a pyramid and flying on a private jet.

Except for the substituted word Silvercorp, the five-sentence blurb is identical to a passage on the website of Tucker/Hall, a Jacksonville, Florida-based PR firm that specializes in crisis management.

A section of the website promoting his firm’s expertise on “Natural Disaster Mitigation” lifts three sentences verbatim from the Homeland Security website.

Goudreau’s apparent intellectual property theft was first detected by an anonymous social media sleuth who published his findings under the handle @Zedster on Twitter. “That #SilvercorpUSA site is special,” the person wrote.

“If anyone was doing business with him, this should’ve raised some serious red flags,” @Zedster said in an interview on what he said was a burner phone, after first being reached via a direct message on Twitter. He declined to provide his real name or location but said he is a system administrator with a degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [EDITOR: civilian normie libtard hedonist coward wanting to find examples of immoral stoicism to try to justify his never-served-in-the-military pussyhood. We don't condone immoral stoicism or immoral hedonism.]

Zedster achieved renown in 2017 for discovering former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort may have used the online password “Bond007.” [EDITOR: such a research genius of the likely obvious!

Goudreau hung up when contacted by phone on Thursday. David Volk, whose Melbourne, Florida-based law firm represented Goudreau in his past dealings with Guaidó aides in Miami, declined to comment or even confirm whether he represents the special forces veteran with three Bronze Stars.

“Please stop contacting our office,” Volk said in a response to an AP email.

This photo released by the Venezuelan Miraflores presidential press office shows President Nicolas Maduro speaking over military equipment that he says was seized during an incursion into Venezuela, during his televised address from Miraflores in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, May 4, 2020. (Miraflores press office via AP)

Befitting Goudreau’s own James Bond-like aura, he had a gmail account ending with “007” that Zedster found. A friend of Goudreau confirmed that the account belongs to the ex-Green Beret. A photo icon associated with that account matches one of a U.S. combat Soldier peering through a long-lens camera in mountainous terrain that has appeared on Silvercorp’s website, according to Zedster.

The friend, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said he believes Goudreau designed the website himself. The domain was registered in February 2018 by a former business partner. A copy of the site was downloaded by AP on April 12, indicating the plagiarized passages existed before Goudreau was at the center of a major U.S. foreign policy crisis.

In one sloppy mistake on the Silvercorp website, Goudreau appears to have even copied the small print of MasterClass, leaving a trail of 37 citations of the popular educational website in the privacy terms of his website. The link to the privacy terms was not active.

“Anyone embarking on a personal journey toward higher achievement and deeper fulfillment needs a strong core, a foundation on which to build their new life,” reads a sentence on the “Ask Jordan” section of the Silvercorp website that is identical to an “Ask Tony” on Robbins’ website. The section remains on the Silvercorp website but is no longer active.

Sean McFarte, a former U.S. Army Paratrooper who worked as a private military contractor, said Goudreau’s behavior should raise serious concerns about the lack of enforcement of U.S. laws requiring Americans who conduct private military training abroad to obtain U.S. government licensing.

“Charlatans and amateurs have always haunted the mercenary business,” said McFarte, who is the author of “The New Rules of War” on the foreign policy implications of privatized warfare. “But Goudreau finds the new bottom. Silvercorp is literally ‘the gang that can’t shoot straight.’”

AP Technology Writer Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.

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https://sofrep.com/news/army-releases-more-information-about-ex-green-berets-involved-in-venezuela-coup/

ARMY RELEASES MORE INFORMATION ABOUT EX-GREEN BERETS INVOLVED IN VENEZUELA COUP
by Stavros Atlamazoglou
May 7, 2020

"At 1700 hours, a daring amphibious raid was launched from the border of Colombia deep into the heart of Caracas. Our men are continuing to fight right now.”

With these words, Jordan Goudreau, an ex-Green Beret and mastermind behind the Venezuelan debacle, would let the world know that his men were ready to arrest the Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro.

But events ended up dictating otherwise.

Last Monday, May 4, Venezuelan authorities caught two ex-Green Berets while they were trying to infiltrate the country and arrest its president.

The two American mercenaries, Airan Berry and Luke Denman, were arrested alongside six other men as they were attempting a daylight infiltration by a fish boat. They were part of a second wave of mercenaries. The first wave had been compromised a few hours earlier, on Sunday, May 3, resulting in the deaths of six and the arrest of two men.

Dubbed Operation Gideon, the mission was organized and coordinated by Goudreau, CEO of Silvercorp USA, a private security firm based in Florida. The plan was reckless and cavalier, to say the least. On May 1, an Associated Press article had let-the-cat-out-of-the-bag. Despite this compromise, the operation continued. If that wasn’t enough, Goudreau even tweeted about the infiltration as it was taking off, making sure to list the number of personnel involved and also tagging President Trump. Operational security taken to the next level…

According to Goudreau and Denman, the mercenaries were to infiltrate Venezuela, arrest Maduro, and fly him off to the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice has a $15 million bounty on Maduro, [EDITOR: Does fat-fuck AG Barr have any bounties on DEEP STATE Illuminati peers like Obama, Hillary Clinton, Biden, Comey, Clapper et al of OBAMAGATE aka SPYGATE? Didn't think so. So much for the RULE OF LAW in America] who was labeled as a narcoterrorist a few weeks ago. Now, however, Berry and Denman are faced with an uncertain future in a Venezuelan dungeon as Goudreau has gone dark.

The U.S. Army has released some additional information about the three Americans known to have been involved in the whole affair.

Goudreau, Berry, and Denman appeared to know each other from their time together at the 10th Special Forces Group, in which they had all served in the Crisis Response Force (CRF) company. Green Berets are experts in Unconventional Warfare (UW), among other skillsets. In a nutshell, UW is used to topple foreign regimes. This is how the Taliban were defeated so quickly back in 2001. Green Beret teams infiltrated Afghanistan and worked with and through different indigenous groups hostile to defeat the much larger Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces.

CRFs, however, focus on Direct Action, Hostage Rescue, and Counterterrorism (CT), though they are still comprised of Special Forces operators. Each Special Forces Group has a CRF company. (You can read here about the Army Special Operations Command’s controversial decision to downsize the CRFs.) Operators serving on the CRFs, thus, don’t have such a good grasp of the principles and application of UW compared to their brethren in the other companies. [EDITOR: nice EXCUSE! Enlistedmen shouldn't have been in charge, period] 

Here is what information the Army released:

Jordan Goudreau

Goudreau served in the Army from 2001 to 2016 as an Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C) and later as a Special Forces Medical Sergeant (18D), eventually reaching the rank of Sergeant First Class (E-7). He had two combat deployments to Iraq and two combat deployments to Afghanistan. During his service, he was awarded three Bronze Stars and also earned the Ranger Tab. SOFREP has learned that Goudreau tried out for and successfully passed Delta Force’s Assessment and Selection (A&S). He was, however, dropped during the follow-on Operator Training Course (OTC).

Airan Berry

Berry served in the Army from 1996 to 2013 as a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant (18C), getting out with the rank of Sergeant (E-5) — with 17 years in uniform, his rank indicates that he was busted down a few ranks for some misdemeanor(s).  He took part in Operation Viking Hammer, in which the 10th SFG and Kurdish fighters attacked from the north and managed to pin down much larger Iraqi forces during the Invasion of Iraq in 2003. He completed three combat tours in Iraq. Berry had earned the Ranger Tab and was also a Combat Diver.

Luke Denman

Denman served in the Army from 2006 to 2014 (the last three years in the Army Reserves) as a Special Forces Communications Sergeant (18E). He had one combat tour to Iraq and had also received the Army Commendation Medal.

Managing Editor. Greek Army veteran (National service with 575th Marines Battalion and Army HQ). Johns Hopkins University. You will usually find him on the top of a mountain admiring the view and wondering how he got there. You can reach him at Stavros@sofrep.com.

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James Bond is REAL.