Thanks for the reply. Always nice to get some repsonse to my postings which isn't always the case
In my effort to write my initial post, what I was trying to put across hasn't come across very well and I can see how it looks - not very accurate. What I was had attempted to intimate was that SSGN has been holding annual exercises consistently with the former countries, i.e. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and SAT (Turkey) whereas to my knowledge SSG hasn't manintained that level of continuity. That at least is what I have gleaned from the SOF community. I was therefore pointing that SSGN was not therefore sitting idle with lack of land ops. But perhaps someone out there from SSG can clarify this.
Yes there have been the usual intercations during the decades with the US SOF by both units and for one reaon or another their continuity was not maintained. As you pointed out, pne example is the Inspired Gambit series in the 90's before military contacts were broken off and once renewed in 2002, the exercises were re-initiated.
SSGN still get trained by SSG in certain aspects and have done so for the whole of its existence, as it doesnt make much sense to duplicate efforts in the land training aspect. As already mentioned, the most basic training provided is the basic/advanced commando course, followed by some specialised courses. This joint training is followed by other countries, e.g. SBS training with SAS before there then emerges a divergence of operational needs and thereby training requirments in order to hone those skills.
SSGN has apparently always had its own facilities from the outset following the commissioning of PNS Iqbal given their frogman and combat diver roles.
SSG and SSGN (as well as SSW for that matter) will continue to complement one another. SSG always has and will continue to retain a strong relationship with and provide the support framework to its sister arms in the Pakistani SOF community.
And yes, I recall the attendance by SSG as well as SSGN in Bright Star 07/08.
The aim of my initial post had merely been to balance the view of SSG being the only credible or seriously eperienced SOF unit in Pakistan. Whilst agreeing with everything that has been said about SSG, I felt the need to rootfor the SSGN camp in light of their professionalism, experience and expertise.
You do not need to root for SSG/N because they have earned their rightful place in the Pakistani Special Operations community. It is a great capability that Pakistan has available to her. One can only hope that the tasking of the Special Operations forces in Pakistan is done so centrally in the future to avoid building out overlapping capabilities and expertise.
I think the point I am trying to make is indeed what you referred to, which is that SSG/A has had the biggest footprint and also the most funding over the years. However they have been committed to operations way more than any other Pakistani unit of the Army, Navy and the Airforce. These employments have been more instructional than most of the bilateral or multilateral exs. that we get involved in. So the joint exercises have to be looked in the appropriate context just so it does not make it look like joint exercises are essential. I believe lately the trend has been to judge units and their capabilities on the basis of exposure to joint trainings (I think this is because of the recent Indian media blitz about international training exercises for their forces). The reality is that life goes on even without these exercises. What matters more is the operational experience and also when we send our officers and ORs to foreign courses which went on even during the US sanctions (we sent people to UK, Malaysia, Germany, Turkey for foreign SF courses).
By the way, most foreign exercises are familiarization cases. One exception to that case for Pakistan has been the Jinnah/Attaturk series of exercises with Turkish SF. The reason these have been more beneficial is because they have gone on regularly with the training and plans each year building over and evolving from what had gone on previously. This continuity is very beneficial.
I think the way forward is to have a more Joint Special Operations Command in Pakistan so our SF assets can be utilized more efficiently. Once you have a streamlined command, others will come to Pakistan to train with our SF (not that this is not going on, next month we have Azerbaijanis coming over for a 6 month session among others). We have also had SSG instructors in various hot-spots who have been able to bring invaluable experience back to Pakistan after their tenures.
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