Team Liddell et al is a volunteer genealogical research group that aims to provide worldwide support for family genealogists who are interested in the surnames thought to derive from Liddesdale, a Scottish Border country glen.
The team provides research assistance on each of the surnames, of which all are accepted as at least informally related, even though for some this type of relationship is only a courtesy because of genealogical DNA test results. The team also provides a "digital round-table" on which participants can display their charts and genetics test results and compares each to the other in a nurturing familial environment.
Team Liddell et al is the world's first genealogy group to be enrolled in The National Geographic Society's "Origins of Mankind" genographic study. It provide a large array of public and Team Member services, including two allied and important genetic genealogy studies
Team Liddell et al has no dues, no assessments, no work assignments, no corporation underpinnings or by-laws, no officers, and owns no property other than its copyrighted materials, of which it freely gives away a sizable portion when asked.
History
One of the world's newest family genealogy and genealogy-genetics groups, Team Liddell et al, 'just happened'. (The members of the team consider that it is also one of the most innovative such groups.) There was no design or strategy behind the process that created this now-worldwide group of volunteer family genealogists.
It was originally a small, casual cluster of close relatives in the central southern region of the United States but is now a sizable and reputable worldwide organization with self-assumed responsibilities for more than 100 surnames thought to be derived from the ancient valley of Liddesdale.
In late 2002, three cousins who descend from a common Liddell ancestor who lived in New Albany, Mississippi during the second half of the 1800s and first quarter of the 1900s, and whose own ancestors came from Abbeville, South Carolina in the early 1800s following the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit, accidentally found each other on popular genealogy surname boards on the World Wide Web. These cousins were Angela Davis of Colorado, Catherine Liddell Skapura of California and James Wallace Liddell of Georgia.
They are the nucleus of what was to become -- in fewer than 36 months -- a worldwide group of nearly 100 family genealogists dedicated to the study of the Liddesdale-derived surnames and their genealogical and genetic kinships and providing a large array of new and innovative services.
These initial Liddells' postings to each other over several months were noticed by several more-distantly related Liddells in Texas and California who were related to the original band of cousins further back on their common tree through common ancestors who definitely had arrived in the New World in the early 1700s in the upper Chesapeake Bay and possibly as early as the mid-1600s in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. These newly discovered relatives were welcomed into the initial circle, which then began rapidly growing during 2003.
In early-2003 an increasing number of obviously unrelated Liddells in the Southern United States began joining the circle in hopes their ancestor research could be advantageously served by the group, and even a few Liddles asked to become part of the circle since they had no organization of their own.
By mid-year, this then still casual group of Liddells and Liddles--about 18 in all at this point--began receiving email traffic from even more-distantly related and previously unknown cousins of several lines represented in the group asking to become part of whatever was beginning to happen.
Structure
It was at that point that the original members of the group decided that the Web presented a very good opportunity to form a larger circle of Liddell and Liddle relatives, perhaps including even relatives who had no interest at all in family genealogy but who might be friendly to the idea of a Liddell-Liddle organization. This idea had scarcely entered development when Gary Wayne Liddell of Texas suggested in early-March 2004 that the group be named Team Liddell, an identity that was immediately adopted and put into general use.
Word began to spread about the Mid-South Liddells and their huge accumulation of Liddell-related genealogy files that had been preserved from generation to generation in dozens of small Southern towns, and then elsewhere in the United States as the Southern Liddells began to migrate and settle in other areas of the nation.
Growth
In mid-2003, David Dale West of New York State, who had been viewing the 'Southern' Liddells with envy for years because he had been unable, despite his great skills and vast files, to resolve his Lydell wife’s surname ancestry in the New England area, visited the aforesaid Liddells’ in-boxes one day with an 'earliest' Liddell chart he had researched on his own and asked what the Liddells thought of it.
West's chart of the primary Southern Liddell lines that were known to him closely matched those of the Mississippi-cousins' own ancestral records, and this growing friendship led West to suggest that the Liddells look into a possible connection to the de Soulis (French Norman) family of Scotland as a possible source of origin.
David Dale West reasoned that since the Liddell surname in a variant spelling began appearing in the few Scotland records of the late-1200s about the same time and in the same locale (Liddesdale) that the de Soulis lines began disappearing during a time of considerable social stress and international war in Scotland, that the Liddell surname might be a simple product of a place-name adoption, modification or creation by the then-royally-harried de Soulis family. (The family had been particularly harried since William de Soulis attempted to assassinate Robert the Bruce (King Robert I) in an attempt to seize the Throne of Scotland for an ally).
A new genealogical direction
David Dale West's visit led to Team Liddell’s contacting Frank Flint Soule of Illinois, the (2003-05) president of the Soule Kindred in America family association—a Mayflower family—about his knowledge of the de Soulis. Soule knew little of the Scot branch of his lines since his own is English and the de Soulis were Scottish, even though both branches have common ancestors in 11th-Century Normandy in the northeast of France and, by consequence, in William the Conqueror's armies.
While he could help only to a slight degree with the Scottish de Soulis lines, Soule and his association provided some rare reference material and books to Team Liddell, the study of which happily led to several genealogical breakthroughs and reinterpretations of the history of the now apparently extinct de Soulis lines of Scotland, and a final determination that Liddells did not evolve from the de Soulis lines.
During 2003, word about the then-still-forming Liddell group continued to spread through still-unknown web pathways to other individuals with (probably) related surnames based on Liddesdale. They began contacting Team Liddell members to ask to see their files or for help with their own. These included not only Lydell but also Lidell and Lyedelle. During early-2003, Team Liddell began producing the irregularly issued but generally monthly 'The Liddell Collection', which was a compiling of interesting current research contributed by members of the organization.
The Liddell Collection was distributed as an attachment to a groupwide email. But its rapid file-size growth quickly brought the realization by its third edition—the April 2004 one—that the files were getting too big for use as attachments to email messages sent to the members.
It was also at this time that a Team Liddell member volunteered two files of suspected Liddesdale-related email addresses he had gathered over several years which could be used to inform others that Team Liddell was breaking through long-existing genealogical barriers. The preliminary use of these files caused Team Liddell to triple in size to more than 60 members and extend its presence into seven nations and three continents in a mere 10 days.
Today, the Team includes two and perhaps three distinct Liddell lines and a yet-to-be determined number of Liddle, Lydell, Lidell and Lyedelle lines. As many as six other surname groups have expressed interest in the Team's activities, including some Little/Lyttle forms.
The Team sponsors and supports a Leyton-Leighton genetic study and a Northern-USA Perry study as a courtesy to their members and the world of genealogy. Both group are expected to be spun off as independent studies once they obtain six or more participants.
The Team in mid-2005 has approximately 100 members on four continents and in eight nations and temporarily has ceased aggressive membership building activities in order to consolidate its past gains and to have to time further develop a number of important projects. Membership remains open at all times to qualified applicants, however.
Evolution of the Team's public identity
The 'Old-Line Southern Liddell' cousins gradually realized during late-2002 into early-2003 that since the Liddell-surname possessors were obviously the largest group by far of the Liddesdale variant-surname groups, they had a responsibility to assist the smaller groups, just as they had been assisted by the Soules. This direction also was inviting because the considerable work of their own ancestors who had compiled large genealogy holdings pertaining to their histories had reached the point there was little left for them in genealogy other than to update the archives and to assist others.
In this manner, the previously nameless cluster of cousins became Team Liddell, and then Team Liddell et al was developed out of Team Liddell to represent the largest 'family' the Team had become. At this point, the group was dedicated to a larger service as a data-collecting, meeting place, and a form of communal 'digital hearth' for all Liddesdale variant-surnamed families to gather at from throughout the world.
Today, Team Liddell et al recognizes that the Liddell surname, itself, is nothing more than just another of the surname variants thought to be derived from Liddesdale and that the Liddell-surname bearers now have no special place in the growing mutual history of the combined Team. It is still used solely because the majority of the Team Liddell members have this surname connection and also because a sizable number of Web-based relationships originally were based on the use of Liddell which would be highly inconvenient to change to another at this late point in time.
A meaningful name-change offer by the Team remains open.
Genealogical assets
In early 2004, while the name Team Liddell was first being used by the group, the modern Liddell genealogists in it learned of a relatively obscure “History of Liddells” that was nearly 400 pages in length and covered the various lines coming from four reputed brothers including Thomas, William, John and James Liddell.
These four and the families of two and perhaps three of the assumed brothers entered the future United States of America at New Castleton at the upper point of Chesapeake Bay in the early-1700s in an area disputed by of the colonies of Delaware, Maryland, the old "West Jersey Colony" and Pennsylvania. John and James later settled prior to the American War of Independence in Abbeville South Carolina and gave rise to that is today called the 'Old-Line Southern Liddells'. All four brothers were earlier of Scotland—probably from Roxbourghshire, with John likely to be born in 1708 and James in 1712.
The 'History of Liddells' attempts to report on the various lines descending from two of the four brothers (and perhaps a third as one brother, Thomas, is likely without descent and William's perhaps raised following his apparent death in Maryland as fosters in John or James' homes, to approximately 1958 when the author ceased writing and released his work to a few close cousins.
The book was compiled principally by James Thomson Liddell of Louisiana following his retirement and the death of his wife. He extensively used countless genealogy files from private holdings provided to him, but principally those of Ximena Liddell Parsons of Atlanta, Georgia and, for a time in the 1950s of Tupelo, Mississippi.
The Team's research during late-2004 indicates that the book is, to an indeterminable degree, also based on the reputedly extensive genealogy records of Ann Liddell who was the head librarian for Louisiana State University for most of her career and who was last known living in Hammond, Louisiana in the 1970s.
The History has a sizable number of errors and omissions, and several Team members are working on correcting these shortcomings, but it will take the Team an estimated decade or more to complete this project. An uncorrected and un-updated early version of this book is available on microfilm in the Family History Centers maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
During 2003, the Team also established contact with several sizable Liddell and Liddle genealogy archives and obtained access to them. Today, the Team undoubtedly has the largest Liddell-Liddle genealogy assets of any organization in the world, and has useful accumulations of Lydell and Lidell material as well.
The Team's still-growing, in-hand family genealogy and genealogy-related assets currently total more than 500 megabytes in approximately 4,500 individual digital, on-line files, which are largely reserved for membership use only and are stored in nearly a dozen restricted-access/members-only websites, each designed to be little more than filing cabinets that every Team Member can access and download from for personal use.
The Team also provides several specialized on-line libraries for its membership addressing genealogy, genetic genealogy, and digital equipment and storage devices. It also provides a number of secure on-line files-storage vaults for preserving its members' genealogy files under restricted-access agreements.
Innovative public and Team-Member services
In addition to its extensive files and sizable libraries on the Web, the Team offers a growing number of other free services to its membership and is gradually adding variants on these services for no-cost, free use by the world at large.
A two-gigabyte "Team Super Website" is currently in the development stage (mid-2005) under the direction of Team Webservant William Albert (Bill) Liddle of Washington to bring all these assets together in one on-line location. The 'Super' will feature a number of innovations for a genealogy group, including a music page with on-line recordings of the Celt and Scot music of Moira Kerr, a noted Scot songtress and composer, extensive family photo albums and a three-dimensional animation theatre that will trace out the complex history of Liddesdale. Approximately 30 percent of the site will be open to the public when it opens before the end of 2005.
A Team-supported public website was opened in March 2005 for the membership to use in any fun way they wish. Current interest focuses on family-photo scrapbooks, book reviews section, a growing recipes collection and the Scotland Pilgrimage accountings of Team Members' trips to their ancestral towns in Scotland. The JustUsCousin website has become highly popular with both the Team and public.
Some Team Members are still struggling to find their way back to Scotland or northern England from within the United States and/or Canada, and even from other places on the globe, while other members have succeeded in getting back to Scotland but once there, they have run into the barrier for all of the variant surnames of the great destruction of public and church records during three-hundred years of rebellion, war and conflict. Still others are just starting out in genealogy and are doubtful of their own grandfather’s parents. For these reasons, the Team has established a limited on-line self-education course in basic genealogy, and several Team Members provide personal coaching to 'newbies' in the use of genealogy tools and procedures.
The Team also offers to its members a free computer, digital device, web security and software advisory service.
A special public website was opened to the public in September 2005. This marked the first time that the Team allowed its genealogy files to be publicly available. The contains a sizable collection of genealogy records pertinent to New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. The Amazing Sea Chest has nearly 20 megabytes of files and 15 megabytes of photographs pertaining to the history of the Liddell lines that opened up New Zealand in the early 1820s, long before those islands became a British colony.
These Liddell lines also were important to the founding of Victoria and New South Wales in Australia. The Sea Chest collection has become a focus of American Liddell attention as well after a genetic connection was revealed during genealogy-genetics testing.
Genetic genealogy research
At the suggestion of Angela Davis, one of the members of the initial cluster of cousins that would later become the Team, several of her relatives began a study into genetic genealogy as a means to get around the absence of records in pre-1600s Scotland and to assist Team Members in their individual document research.
After a 18-month study of the then- and still-new, rapidly growing genetic genealogy market, Team Liddell et al decided to adopt FamilyTreeDNA as its exclusive genealogical DNA testing service. This company has since been selected by the National Geographic Society as a partner-administrator and comprehensive testing service for its landmark 'Origins of Mankind' Genographic Project. The NGS action included an adoption without modification of the genetic-marker arrays of FamilyTreeDNA and its lab procedures based at the University of Arizona.
There now are two allied Team-administered studies, the "Team Liddell et al YDNA/mtDNA Study for Males and Females" for the USA in which only senior-level genetics tests are accepted (37-YDNA, YDNA-Plus and mtDNAPlus), and, for the rest of the world, the Liddesdale YDNA/mtDNA Study for Males and Females. This newer study was established by the Team in mid-2005 to enable the study participation of non-USA-residing genealogy-genetics testers with limited incomes. The latter study offers both the most basic FamilyTreeDNA tests (12-YDNA and mdDNA) as well as the senior tests required in the Team Liddell et al Study.
The two studies are explained and discussed at the Team's website and at specialized webpages provided by FamilyTreeDNA within its own website.
Well-administered genetic testing procedures and conservative interpretations have subsequently richly rewarded the Team and its members from this massive effort, given its limited manpower and complete lack of a treasury.
The Team's first study was launched 15 Oct 2004. Within eight months, and in conjunction with the later-established Liddesdale YDNA/mtDNA Study, the testing produced results leading to the reuniting of a R1b haplogroup Liddell line with known representatives on two continents for the first time in more than two centuries.
This line, which entered the United States via New York harbor about 1790 now is attempting to understand its close genetic relationships to a Carr line and what previously was thought to be a pair of French Norman lines.
The Team Liddell et al study also has established that a J haplogroup Liddell line was most likely founded by a Roman Army auxiliary, a Syrian (Hamian) archer, who was assigned for several years to Hadrian's Wall starting in A.D. 250. A second R1b haplogroup Liddell line. which entered the United States from Canada in the mid-1800s has been very tentatively identified in the Team Liddell et al Study as possibly related to the other R1b-halogroup Liddell line, and is awaiting further research developments along with several lines not bearing a Liddell surname.
A western-USA Liddle male is currently (mid-2005) undergoing testing in the Liddesdale Study and another Liddle male in the U.S. New England area will soon join the Team Liddell et al Study. A Mid-West Liddle female will soon join the Team Liddell et al study as well.
The Lydell members of the Team currently are searching for a pair of third-cousin males in their lines for USA-resident testing.
Also, the rapidly growing Team genealogy archives has compiled several documents that indicate a kinship between some of the North American Liddle lines and an Australian Liddell line, and a genetic-matching will be attempted.
The first Liddell-line female Team Liddell et al Study participant, a H haplogroup who now is using the most recent sub-H tests at FTDNA, will be joined in late-2005 by two Liddle females.
The team accepts no other testing services' results into its studies unless the reported data has been converted by FTDNA or is otherwise accepted by FTDNA as equivalent to its own, and derives no income or benefits of any type from the testing procedures of or purchases of testing kits from FamilyTreeDNA.
The Team has formed a mutual-advice partnership with the Reivers Genetics Study, which is administered by James V. (Jim) Elliott, a leading amateur genetic genealogist, and provides reference material and Web-development advice to the Soule Kindred in American association.
In June 2005, Team Liddell et al became the world's first family genealogy group of any type to be enrolled in The Genographic Project of the National Geographic Society.
In August 2005, the Team founded a medical-theme study group, the "Family Medical History Project", for the study of inheritable diseases and tendencies to develop certain diseases within specific families, and how family genealogists can track these illnesses and tendencies, and how to assist physicians in making forecasts and otherwise providing compiled family medical histories for living members of each family. This trailblazing study is expected to be completed by the end of 2006, with the results given to the world without restrictions of any type at that time.
Conclusions
Team Members plan that the organization become permanent but to keep it in its present form with no dues or assessments, nothing to sell, with no formal structure including a complete absence of by-laws, officers and incorporation and to always firmly established on the Web exclusively.
A plan to establish a permanent depository of its records and archives at a minimum of two major universities is presently under study by the Team.
The Team's earlier and current names, its slogan--"No Longer Separated by Oceans and Centuries", and its emblem composed of a frosted outline of the British Isles set over its slogan were copyrighted in early 2004.
Team Liddell et al's primary email-address is TeamLiddell@Yahoo. Com. Currently James Wallace Liddell is the Team's facilitator, which is an informal position and title only. The Team's 'Webservant' can be emailed at bill_liddle_webservant@yahoo.com.
The team provides research assistance on each of the surnames, of which all are accepted as at least informally related, even though for some this type of relationship is only a courtesy because of genealogical DNA test results. The team also provides a "digital round-table" on which participants can display their charts and genetics test results and compares each to the other in a nurturing familial environment.
Team Liddell et al is the world's first genealogy group to be enrolled in The National Geographic Society's "Origins of Mankind" genographic study. It provide a large array of public and Team Member services, including two allied and important genetic genealogy studies
Team Liddell et al has no dues, no assessments, no work assignments, no corporation underpinnings or by-laws, no officers, and owns no property other than its copyrighted materials, of which it freely gives away a sizable portion when asked.
History
One of the world's newest family genealogy and genealogy-genetics groups, Team Liddell et al, 'just happened'. (The members of the team consider that it is also one of the most innovative such groups.) There was no design or strategy behind the process that created this now-worldwide group of volunteer family genealogists.
It was originally a small, casual cluster of close relatives in the central southern region of the United States but is now a sizable and reputable worldwide organization with self-assumed responsibilities for more than 100 surnames thought to be derived from the ancient valley of Liddesdale.
In late 2002, three cousins who descend from a common Liddell ancestor who lived in New Albany, Mississippi during the second half of the 1800s and first quarter of the 1900s, and whose own ancestors came from Abbeville, South Carolina in the early 1800s following the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit, accidentally found each other on popular genealogy surname boards on the World Wide Web. These cousins were Angela Davis of Colorado, Catherine Liddell Skapura of California and James Wallace Liddell of Georgia.
They are the nucleus of what was to become -- in fewer than 36 months -- a worldwide group of nearly 100 family genealogists dedicated to the study of the Liddesdale-derived surnames and their genealogical and genetic kinships and providing a large array of new and innovative services.
These initial Liddells' postings to each other over several months were noticed by several more-distantly related Liddells in Texas and California who were related to the original band of cousins further back on their common tree through common ancestors who definitely had arrived in the New World in the early 1700s in the upper Chesapeake Bay and possibly as early as the mid-1600s in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. These newly discovered relatives were welcomed into the initial circle, which then began rapidly growing during 2003.
In early-2003 an increasing number of obviously unrelated Liddells in the Southern United States began joining the circle in hopes their ancestor research could be advantageously served by the group, and even a few Liddles asked to become part of the circle since they had no organization of their own.
By mid-year, this then still casual group of Liddells and Liddles--about 18 in all at this point--began receiving email traffic from even more-distantly related and previously unknown cousins of several lines represented in the group asking to become part of whatever was beginning to happen.
Structure
It was at that point that the original members of the group decided that the Web presented a very good opportunity to form a larger circle of Liddell and Liddle relatives, perhaps including even relatives who had no interest at all in family genealogy but who might be friendly to the idea of a Liddell-Liddle organization. This idea had scarcely entered development when Gary Wayne Liddell of Texas suggested in early-March 2004 that the group be named Team Liddell, an identity that was immediately adopted and put into general use.
Word began to spread about the Mid-South Liddells and their huge accumulation of Liddell-related genealogy files that had been preserved from generation to generation in dozens of small Southern towns, and then elsewhere in the United States as the Southern Liddells began to migrate and settle in other areas of the nation.
Growth
In mid-2003, David Dale West of New York State, who had been viewing the 'Southern' Liddells with envy for years because he had been unable, despite his great skills and vast files, to resolve his Lydell wife’s surname ancestry in the New England area, visited the aforesaid Liddells’ in-boxes one day with an 'earliest' Liddell chart he had researched on his own and asked what the Liddells thought of it.
West's chart of the primary Southern Liddell lines that were known to him closely matched those of the Mississippi-cousins' own ancestral records, and this growing friendship led West to suggest that the Liddells look into a possible connection to the de Soulis (French Norman) family of Scotland as a possible source of origin.
David Dale West reasoned that since the Liddell surname in a variant spelling began appearing in the few Scotland records of the late-1200s about the same time and in the same locale (Liddesdale) that the de Soulis lines began disappearing during a time of considerable social stress and international war in Scotland, that the Liddell surname might be a simple product of a place-name adoption, modification or creation by the then-royally-harried de Soulis family. (The family had been particularly harried since William de Soulis attempted to assassinate Robert the Bruce (King Robert I) in an attempt to seize the Throne of Scotland for an ally).
A new genealogical direction
David Dale West's visit led to Team Liddell’s contacting Frank Flint Soule of Illinois, the (2003-05) president of the Soule Kindred in America family association—a Mayflower family—about his knowledge of the de Soulis. Soule knew little of the Scot branch of his lines since his own is English and the de Soulis were Scottish, even though both branches have common ancestors in 11th-Century Normandy in the northeast of France and, by consequence, in William the Conqueror's armies.
While he could help only to a slight degree with the Scottish de Soulis lines, Soule and his association provided some rare reference material and books to Team Liddell, the study of which happily led to several genealogical breakthroughs and reinterpretations of the history of the now apparently extinct de Soulis lines of Scotland, and a final determination that Liddells did not evolve from the de Soulis lines.
During 2003, word about the then-still-forming Liddell group continued to spread through still-unknown web pathways to other individuals with (probably) related surnames based on Liddesdale. They began contacting Team Liddell members to ask to see their files or for help with their own. These included not only Lydell but also Lidell and Lyedelle. During early-2003, Team Liddell began producing the irregularly issued but generally monthly 'The Liddell Collection', which was a compiling of interesting current research contributed by members of the organization.
The Liddell Collection was distributed as an attachment to a groupwide email. But its rapid file-size growth quickly brought the realization by its third edition—the April 2004 one—that the files were getting too big for use as attachments to email messages sent to the members.
It was also at this time that a Team Liddell member volunteered two files of suspected Liddesdale-related email addresses he had gathered over several years which could be used to inform others that Team Liddell was breaking through long-existing genealogical barriers. The preliminary use of these files caused Team Liddell to triple in size to more than 60 members and extend its presence into seven nations and three continents in a mere 10 days.
Today, the Team includes two and perhaps three distinct Liddell lines and a yet-to-be determined number of Liddle, Lydell, Lidell and Lyedelle lines. As many as six other surname groups have expressed interest in the Team's activities, including some Little/Lyttle forms.
The Team sponsors and supports a Leyton-Leighton genetic study and a Northern-USA Perry study as a courtesy to their members and the world of genealogy. Both group are expected to be spun off as independent studies once they obtain six or more participants.
The Team in mid-2005 has approximately 100 members on four continents and in eight nations and temporarily has ceased aggressive membership building activities in order to consolidate its past gains and to have to time further develop a number of important projects. Membership remains open at all times to qualified applicants, however.
Evolution of the Team's public identity
The 'Old-Line Southern Liddell' cousins gradually realized during late-2002 into early-2003 that since the Liddell-surname possessors were obviously the largest group by far of the Liddesdale variant-surname groups, they had a responsibility to assist the smaller groups, just as they had been assisted by the Soules. This direction also was inviting because the considerable work of their own ancestors who had compiled large genealogy holdings pertaining to their histories had reached the point there was little left for them in genealogy other than to update the archives and to assist others.
In this manner, the previously nameless cluster of cousins became Team Liddell, and then Team Liddell et al was developed out of Team Liddell to represent the largest 'family' the Team had become. At this point, the group was dedicated to a larger service as a data-collecting, meeting place, and a form of communal 'digital hearth' for all Liddesdale variant-surnamed families to gather at from throughout the world.
Today, Team Liddell et al recognizes that the Liddell surname, itself, is nothing more than just another of the surname variants thought to be derived from Liddesdale and that the Liddell-surname bearers now have no special place in the growing mutual history of the combined Team. It is still used solely because the majority of the Team Liddell members have this surname connection and also because a sizable number of Web-based relationships originally were based on the use of Liddell which would be highly inconvenient to change to another at this late point in time.
A meaningful name-change offer by the Team remains open.
Genealogical assets
In early 2004, while the name Team Liddell was first being used by the group, the modern Liddell genealogists in it learned of a relatively obscure “History of Liddells” that was nearly 400 pages in length and covered the various lines coming from four reputed brothers including Thomas, William, John and James Liddell.
These four and the families of two and perhaps three of the assumed brothers entered the future United States of America at New Castleton at the upper point of Chesapeake Bay in the early-1700s in an area disputed by of the colonies of Delaware, Maryland, the old "West Jersey Colony" and Pennsylvania. John and James later settled prior to the American War of Independence in Abbeville South Carolina and gave rise to that is today called the 'Old-Line Southern Liddells'. All four brothers were earlier of Scotland—probably from Roxbourghshire, with John likely to be born in 1708 and James in 1712.
The 'History of Liddells' attempts to report on the various lines descending from two of the four brothers (and perhaps a third as one brother, Thomas, is likely without descent and William's perhaps raised following his apparent death in Maryland as fosters in John or James' homes, to approximately 1958 when the author ceased writing and released his work to a few close cousins.
The book was compiled principally by James Thomson Liddell of Louisiana following his retirement and the death of his wife. He extensively used countless genealogy files from private holdings provided to him, but principally those of Ximena Liddell Parsons of Atlanta, Georgia and, for a time in the 1950s of Tupelo, Mississippi.
The Team's research during late-2004 indicates that the book is, to an indeterminable degree, also based on the reputedly extensive genealogy records of Ann Liddell who was the head librarian for Louisiana State University for most of her career and who was last known living in Hammond, Louisiana in the 1970s.
The History has a sizable number of errors and omissions, and several Team members are working on correcting these shortcomings, but it will take the Team an estimated decade or more to complete this project. An uncorrected and un-updated early version of this book is available on microfilm in the Family History Centers maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
During 2003, the Team also established contact with several sizable Liddell and Liddle genealogy archives and obtained access to them. Today, the Team undoubtedly has the largest Liddell-Liddle genealogy assets of any organization in the world, and has useful accumulations of Lydell and Lidell material as well.
The Team's still-growing, in-hand family genealogy and genealogy-related assets currently total more than 500 megabytes in approximately 4,500 individual digital, on-line files, which are largely reserved for membership use only and are stored in nearly a dozen restricted-access/members-only websites, each designed to be little more than filing cabinets that every Team Member can access and download from for personal use.
The Team also provides several specialized on-line libraries for its membership addressing genealogy, genetic genealogy, and digital equipment and storage devices. It also provides a number of secure on-line files-storage vaults for preserving its members' genealogy files under restricted-access agreements.
Innovative public and Team-Member services
In addition to its extensive files and sizable libraries on the Web, the Team offers a growing number of other free services to its membership and is gradually adding variants on these services for no-cost, free use by the world at large.
A two-gigabyte "Team Super Website" is currently in the development stage (mid-2005) under the direction of Team Webservant William Albert (Bill) Liddle of Washington to bring all these assets together in one on-line location. The 'Super' will feature a number of innovations for a genealogy group, including a music page with on-line recordings of the Celt and Scot music of Moira Kerr, a noted Scot songtress and composer, extensive family photo albums and a three-dimensional animation theatre that will trace out the complex history of Liddesdale. Approximately 30 percent of the site will be open to the public when it opens before the end of 2005.
A Team-supported public website was opened in March 2005 for the membership to use in any fun way they wish. Current interest focuses on family-photo scrapbooks, book reviews section, a growing recipes collection and the Scotland Pilgrimage accountings of Team Members' trips to their ancestral towns in Scotland. The JustUsCousin website has become highly popular with both the Team and public.
Some Team Members are still struggling to find their way back to Scotland or northern England from within the United States and/or Canada, and even from other places on the globe, while other members have succeeded in getting back to Scotland but once there, they have run into the barrier for all of the variant surnames of the great destruction of public and church records during three-hundred years of rebellion, war and conflict. Still others are just starting out in genealogy and are doubtful of their own grandfather’s parents. For these reasons, the Team has established a limited on-line self-education course in basic genealogy, and several Team Members provide personal coaching to 'newbies' in the use of genealogy tools and procedures.
The Team also offers to its members a free computer, digital device, web security and software advisory service.
A special public website was opened to the public in September 2005. This marked the first time that the Team allowed its genealogy files to be publicly available. The contains a sizable collection of genealogy records pertinent to New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. The Amazing Sea Chest has nearly 20 megabytes of files and 15 megabytes of photographs pertaining to the history of the Liddell lines that opened up New Zealand in the early 1820s, long before those islands became a British colony.
These Liddell lines also were important to the founding of Victoria and New South Wales in Australia. The Sea Chest collection has become a focus of American Liddell attention as well after a genetic connection was revealed during genealogy-genetics testing.
Genetic genealogy research
At the suggestion of Angela Davis, one of the members of the initial cluster of cousins that would later become the Team, several of her relatives began a study into genetic genealogy as a means to get around the absence of records in pre-1600s Scotland and to assist Team Members in their individual document research.
After a 18-month study of the then- and still-new, rapidly growing genetic genealogy market, Team Liddell et al decided to adopt FamilyTreeDNA as its exclusive genealogical DNA testing service. This company has since been selected by the National Geographic Society as a partner-administrator and comprehensive testing service for its landmark 'Origins of Mankind' Genographic Project. The NGS action included an adoption without modification of the genetic-marker arrays of FamilyTreeDNA and its lab procedures based at the University of Arizona.
There now are two allied Team-administered studies, the "Team Liddell et al YDNA/mtDNA Study for Males and Females" for the USA in which only senior-level genetics tests are accepted (37-YDNA, YDNA-Plus and mtDNAPlus), and, for the rest of the world, the Liddesdale YDNA/mtDNA Study for Males and Females. This newer study was established by the Team in mid-2005 to enable the study participation of non-USA-residing genealogy-genetics testers with limited incomes. The latter study offers both the most basic FamilyTreeDNA tests (12-YDNA and mdDNA) as well as the senior tests required in the Team Liddell et al Study.
The two studies are explained and discussed at the Team's website and at specialized webpages provided by FamilyTreeDNA within its own website.
Well-administered genetic testing procedures and conservative interpretations have subsequently richly rewarded the Team and its members from this massive effort, given its limited manpower and complete lack of a treasury.
The Team's first study was launched 15 Oct 2004. Within eight months, and in conjunction with the later-established Liddesdale YDNA/mtDNA Study, the testing produced results leading to the reuniting of a R1b haplogroup Liddell line with known representatives on two continents for the first time in more than two centuries.
This line, which entered the United States via New York harbor about 1790 now is attempting to understand its close genetic relationships to a Carr line and what previously was thought to be a pair of French Norman lines.
The Team Liddell et al study also has established that a J haplogroup Liddell line was most likely founded by a Roman Army auxiliary, a Syrian (Hamian) archer, who was assigned for several years to Hadrian's Wall starting in A.D. 250. A second R1b haplogroup Liddell line. which entered the United States from Canada in the mid-1800s has been very tentatively identified in the Team Liddell et al Study as possibly related to the other R1b-halogroup Liddell line, and is awaiting further research developments along with several lines not bearing a Liddell surname.
A western-USA Liddle male is currently (mid-2005) undergoing testing in the Liddesdale Study and another Liddle male in the U.S. New England area will soon join the Team Liddell et al Study. A Mid-West Liddle female will soon join the Team Liddell et al study as well.
The Lydell members of the Team currently are searching for a pair of third-cousin males in their lines for USA-resident testing.
Also, the rapidly growing Team genealogy archives has compiled several documents that indicate a kinship between some of the North American Liddle lines and an Australian Liddell line, and a genetic-matching will be attempted.
The first Liddell-line female Team Liddell et al Study participant, a H haplogroup who now is using the most recent sub-H tests at FTDNA, will be joined in late-2005 by two Liddle females.
The team accepts no other testing services' results into its studies unless the reported data has been converted by FTDNA or is otherwise accepted by FTDNA as equivalent to its own, and derives no income or benefits of any type from the testing procedures of or purchases of testing kits from FamilyTreeDNA.
The Team has formed a mutual-advice partnership with the Reivers Genetics Study, which is administered by James V. (Jim) Elliott, a leading amateur genetic genealogist, and provides reference material and Web-development advice to the Soule Kindred in American association.
In June 2005, Team Liddell et al became the world's first family genealogy group of any type to be enrolled in The Genographic Project of the National Geographic Society.
In August 2005, the Team founded a medical-theme study group, the "Family Medical History Project", for the study of inheritable diseases and tendencies to develop certain diseases within specific families, and how family genealogists can track these illnesses and tendencies, and how to assist physicians in making forecasts and otherwise providing compiled family medical histories for living members of each family. This trailblazing study is expected to be completed by the end of 2006, with the results given to the world without restrictions of any type at that time.
Conclusions
Team Members plan that the organization become permanent but to keep it in its present form with no dues or assessments, nothing to sell, with no formal structure including a complete absence of by-laws, officers and incorporation and to always firmly established on the Web exclusively.
A plan to establish a permanent depository of its records and archives at a minimum of two major universities is presently under study by the Team.
The Team's earlier and current names, its slogan--"No Longer Separated by Oceans and Centuries", and its emblem composed of a frosted outline of the British Isles set over its slogan were copyrighted in early 2004.
Team Liddell et al's primary email-address is TeamLiddell@Yahoo. Com. Currently James Wallace Liddell is the Team's facilitator, which is an informal position and title only. The Team's 'Webservant' can be emailed at bill_liddle_webservant@yahoo.com.
SOF Mafia where SOF means Special Operations Forces which include all type assets under control of the Department of Defense, and specifically the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (ASD/SOLIC) [under the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (USD(P)], and the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM, ), but also includes specialized resources belonging to other Executive activities. In fact, much of its “membership” was logically drawn from the Army’s Special Forces (proportionately the largest component of the community), but players and sympathizers came from virtually all other elements including foreign counterparts.
History
The term “SOF Mafia” appears to have originated in the early 1980s (as did the synonymous “SOF Liberation Front” later in the decade) within the Pentagon, and was intended as derisive given conflict between conventionalist politico-military thinking and the more progressive mindset associated with the “Mafia.” The decade was described as one of “internecine warfare” by several “mafiosi” and sympathizers because it underscored fundamental, essentially antithetical differences in thinking over how best to refocus and employ type assets in the future. So far as is known, the “Mafia” never had a “chief” (though certainly there were “chiefs” within it) and no formal meetings were ever held; rather, this controversial, parallel shadow group of like-minded individuals—male and female—simply coalesced.
Complexity Theory
See, for instance, Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons, pp. 76-77, where “complexity theory” is discussed . In response to the question, “How can diverse and independent intelligences function effectively without a leader or executive?” Gardner answers, in part: “A theory that does not posit an executive function has certain advantages over one that does. Such a theory is simpler; it also avoids the specter of infinite regression—the question of who or what is in charge of the executive. Nor does effective work necessarily require an executive. Many groups—be they artistic or athletic —perform well without designated leaders; and an increasing number of work teams are organized heterarchically rather than hierarchically. Complexity theory documents how well-organized entities can arise naturally, without the need for a ‘master plan.’”
Mindset of Members
Two essential features of the “Mafia” may be seen epithetically when some from the Executive and Legislative branches, and parts of the media, academia and private enterprise (so-called “think tanks,” for instance, as part of the industrial-military complex) referred to it as “the intelligentsia of the SpecWar community,” “a brain trust.” Its members, too, clearly were globalists, presenting a worldview that was not only panoramic but comprehensive. As such, the “Mafia” had a prescient ability that confounded many but its track record speaks for itself. Similarly, it was more at home with sophisticated, multi-dimensional operations than were others.
The second essential feature was its decidedly “proactive” stance on geopolitical matters. The “Mafia” typically emphasized the use of psychology against adversaries: “What message do we want to send, and to whom do we want to send it?” were standard components of operations conceptualized and designed by “mafiosi.” Such a “message” might be “We can get to you at any time, in any place, and there’s nothing you can do about it, so ….” This further suggests their penchant toward sophistication but also highlights another hallmark of the group, that of audacity but founded in intelligent reflection.
All in all, the “Mafia” had a clear desire to address problems before they became so big as to require the employment of conventional military power, thus one of its maxims that “A primary raison d’etre for maintaining a special warfare capability is to preclude the application of conventional military power/force to solve essentially political problems.” Given the evolutionary nature of the geopolitical environment and the inherent potential of this national resource, the “Mafia” believed that the SpecWar community is uniquely suited for quiet, often discreet but not infrequently long-term employment [such as in the case of Unconventional Warfare (UW)] for which the conventional force structure is neither designed or particularly adaptable, cf. symmetric v. asymmetric warfare.
Worldview
Combining their more culturally-sensitive perspectives with their more proactive nature, further evidence of the “Mafia’s” worldview was seen in its capacity to conduct sophisticated geopolitical analyses--as seen in 1986, for instance, when two of its members—with assistance from others—produced a highly-classified global threat assessment that promoted their essential perspective (1) by viewing the world along more culturally-attuned lines, (2) by demonstrating the scope and depth of their knowledge in correctly predicting and identifying potential problem areas—i.e, that could involve the United States (or its allies) at some point in the future (such as via insurgencies), and (3) by recommending appropriate courses of action to preclude the massive employment of conventional forces supra. Retrospectively, the assessment was almost clairvoyant, uncanny in its prescient accuracy. . As a group, they epitomized the “Warrior-Diplomat,” very much akin to the “Diplomat-Warrior” of COL Rudy Barnes, Jr.
Contrast with Conventional Thinking
To contrast, where conventionalists understandably tend to see the world in terms of politico-military applications, the “Mafia” looked first at sociocultural and sociopolitical potential, then at politico-military aspects thus were the social sciences a key to its vision. For example, the “Mafia” subscribed to and incorporated the general principles associated with cultural anthropology in its worldview—thus practical application—whereas for traditionalists such concerns were and are more ancillary or inconvenient because they may not appear to be applicable to the direct-combat operations the conventional force structure is designed to prosecute. Another controversial characteristic of the group was that it saw “bureaucracy” as anathema, and often railed against it in efforts to streamline process.
Women in Special Warfare
Still another example of its more progressive vision was seen in calls by some that women be admitted to the community and given substantive operational roles as was seen in its antecedent Office of Strategic Services, the vaunted OSS and Special Operations Executive (SOE) of WWII fame. .
The “Phoenix Paradigm
Heritage also suggests both an intellectual and operational tradition and legacy contemporarily born of the OSS, but since “Mafia” thinking may be found in many political and sociopolitical activities, the mindset associated with it endures thus its influence is still felt, and feared in some circles. In July of 1986, for example, two of its members supra were secretly tasked by the Congress with redesigning the entire US special warfare community; they, in turn, brought in others of the group to assist.
The controversial end result, referred to by one of the principles as “the Phoenix Paradigm” , was a separate, cabinet-level Federal activity (1) that consolidated Special Forces, and other specialized type capabilities from other governmental activities, to focus on the more primary role in UW while the conventional force structure retained its specialized direct-combat capabilities such as Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, (2) that focused the nation’s strategic psychological and sociopolitical potential, and (3) that had greatly enhanced abilities in intelligence. It also called for the separation of the functions of Director, CIA (D, CIA) and then-Director of Central Intelligence (DCI, now Director of National Intelligence or DNI), 18 years before the Congress actually did so as a result of the 9/11 attacks on the United States . Another controversial feature of the proposed organization was its emphasis on networking not only with Executive peers, but with the Congress, academia, and others, in an effort to promote inclusive multilateralism and further reduce historic bureaucratic parochialism as was an intent of Goldwater-Nichols .
Political Support: Legislative
The highly classified plan had a mix of supporters (some heralded the organization as “visionary”) and detractors (some thought it a resurrection of the OSS), but in the end the Pentagon and other affected players, in order to forestall an imposed break-away, relented and USSOCOM was born in its stead in April of 1987 , given the motivation provided by Goldwater-Nichols.
Political Support: Executive
While it may be fairly said that this time period was characterized by sometimes intense conflict between majority conventionalists and those subscribing to the “Mafia” mindset, it should be noted that “Supporters for reforming special operations ‘included members of the conventional military forces, civilians in the Department of Defense, members of the press and publishing world, and members of Congress and their staffs.’ They have been called the ‘SOF Liberation Front’ or the ‘SOF Mafia.’ [See Ted Lunger, interview by John Partin, Memorandum For Record, (Washington, 1988); and COL Scott Stephens, interview, (March 1993), quoted in Marquis, Susan L., Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding US Special Operations Forces, [Washington, DC: Brookings, 1997, at 57-58, quoted in “Special Operations: Re-examining the Case for a Sixth Service,” a monograph by MAJ Douglas G. Overdeer, US Army School of Advanced Military Studies, United States Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, KS (AY 03-04, at 23)].” Indeed, at least one high-level Pentagon supporter referred to the group as “cutting edge.”
The Future
The “Mafia,” as an ideological entity, ceased being such in the early 90s but some of its number remain active both within the national security apparatus and on its periphery, while still others have passed. It did leave a footprint—doctrinally, organizationally, and through its activities, and its espoused vision was endorsed in 1987 by some veterans of the OSS during a reunion at Ft. Bragg, NC.
As of 2006, it is unclear if the Pentagon again may be re-considering Special Forces as fated in favor of the conventional impetus toward more specialized direct-combat capabilities such as commando operations, and less on the more sophisticated, longer-term requirements associated with UW, Foreign Internal Defense, Internal Defense and Development, and other Civil Affairs-type activities [per a 2007 public ltr entitled “The Long Farewell” from MG James A. Guest, (USASF, Ret.)]. While the trend toward more specialized combat units actually began to manifest in the early 90s, during and incidental to “Desert Shield/Desert Storm,” and in spite of the suggestion in the public version of USSOCOM’s 2006 "Capstone Concept for Special Operations" that the Command is keenly aware of the both the sociocultural and sociopolitical environments in which it must function, and the demands thereupon (for instance UW or other forms of security assistance), Direct Action missions/operations will probably continue to dominate, likely due to the emphasis on the Global War On Terror. It provides another example of the contentious, oppositional nature of the relationship between conventional thinking and the more progressive, socially-conscious focus of the “Mafia.”
Bibliography
Bank, COL Aaron, From OSS to Green Beret: The Birth of Special Forces, , and http://en. .org/wiki/Aaron_Bank
Barnes, COL Rudolph C., Jr., Military Legitimacy: Might and Right in the New Millennium, and
(Unclassified) "Capstone Concept for Special Operations," United States Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, FL, 2006
Gardner, Howard, Ph.D., Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons,
“Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986” http://en. .org/wiki/Goldwater-Nichols_Act
Guest, MG James A., “The Long Farewell,” 2007
"Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004" http://en. .org/wiki/Intelligence_Reform_and_Terrorism_Prevention_Act_of_2004
Marquis, Susan L., Ph.D., Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding US Special Operations Forces, and
Overdeer, MAJ Douglas G., “Special Operations: Re-examining the Case for a Sixth Service,” and [http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verbgetRecord&metadataPrefixhtml&identifier=ADA429891]
Title 10, United States Code, §167
For a discussion of “Complexity Theory,” see also http://en. .org/wiki/Application_of_complexity_theory_to_organizations
For more discussion on “Unconventional Warfare,” see also http://en. .org/wiki/Unconventional_Warfare and, for instance, Bernard Fall (http://en. .org/wiki/Bernard_Fall), and Lt. Col. Sir Thomas E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and http://en. .org/wiki/T.E._Lawrence
History
The term “SOF Mafia” appears to have originated in the early 1980s (as did the synonymous “SOF Liberation Front” later in the decade) within the Pentagon, and was intended as derisive given conflict between conventionalist politico-military thinking and the more progressive mindset associated with the “Mafia.” The decade was described as one of “internecine warfare” by several “mafiosi” and sympathizers because it underscored fundamental, essentially antithetical differences in thinking over how best to refocus and employ type assets in the future. So far as is known, the “Mafia” never had a “chief” (though certainly there were “chiefs” within it) and no formal meetings were ever held; rather, this controversial, parallel shadow group of like-minded individuals—male and female—simply coalesced.
Complexity Theory
See, for instance, Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons, pp. 76-77, where “complexity theory” is discussed . In response to the question, “How can diverse and independent intelligences function effectively without a leader or executive?” Gardner answers, in part: “A theory that does not posit an executive function has certain advantages over one that does. Such a theory is simpler; it also avoids the specter of infinite regression—the question of who or what is in charge of the executive. Nor does effective work necessarily require an executive. Many groups—be they artistic or athletic —perform well without designated leaders; and an increasing number of work teams are organized heterarchically rather than hierarchically. Complexity theory documents how well-organized entities can arise naturally, without the need for a ‘master plan.’”
Mindset of Members
Two essential features of the “Mafia” may be seen epithetically when some from the Executive and Legislative branches, and parts of the media, academia and private enterprise (so-called “think tanks,” for instance, as part of the industrial-military complex) referred to it as “the intelligentsia of the SpecWar community,” “a brain trust.” Its members, too, clearly were globalists, presenting a worldview that was not only panoramic but comprehensive. As such, the “Mafia” had a prescient ability that confounded many but its track record speaks for itself. Similarly, it was more at home with sophisticated, multi-dimensional operations than were others.
The second essential feature was its decidedly “proactive” stance on geopolitical matters. The “Mafia” typically emphasized the use of psychology against adversaries: “What message do we want to send, and to whom do we want to send it?” were standard components of operations conceptualized and designed by “mafiosi.” Such a “message” might be “We can get to you at any time, in any place, and there’s nothing you can do about it, so ….” This further suggests their penchant toward sophistication but also highlights another hallmark of the group, that of audacity but founded in intelligent reflection.
All in all, the “Mafia” had a clear desire to address problems before they became so big as to require the employment of conventional military power, thus one of its maxims that “A primary raison d’etre for maintaining a special warfare capability is to preclude the application of conventional military power/force to solve essentially political problems.” Given the evolutionary nature of the geopolitical environment and the inherent potential of this national resource, the “Mafia” believed that the SpecWar community is uniquely suited for quiet, often discreet but not infrequently long-term employment [such as in the case of Unconventional Warfare (UW)] for which the conventional force structure is neither designed or particularly adaptable, cf. symmetric v. asymmetric warfare.
Worldview
Combining their more culturally-sensitive perspectives with their more proactive nature, further evidence of the “Mafia’s” worldview was seen in its capacity to conduct sophisticated geopolitical analyses--as seen in 1986, for instance, when two of its members—with assistance from others—produced a highly-classified global threat assessment that promoted their essential perspective (1) by viewing the world along more culturally-attuned lines, (2) by demonstrating the scope and depth of their knowledge in correctly predicting and identifying potential problem areas—i.e, that could involve the United States (or its allies) at some point in the future (such as via insurgencies), and (3) by recommending appropriate courses of action to preclude the massive employment of conventional forces supra. Retrospectively, the assessment was almost clairvoyant, uncanny in its prescient accuracy. . As a group, they epitomized the “Warrior-Diplomat,” very much akin to the “Diplomat-Warrior” of COL Rudy Barnes, Jr.
Contrast with Conventional Thinking
To contrast, where conventionalists understandably tend to see the world in terms of politico-military applications, the “Mafia” looked first at sociocultural and sociopolitical potential, then at politico-military aspects thus were the social sciences a key to its vision. For example, the “Mafia” subscribed to and incorporated the general principles associated with cultural anthropology in its worldview—thus practical application—whereas for traditionalists such concerns were and are more ancillary or inconvenient because they may not appear to be applicable to the direct-combat operations the conventional force structure is designed to prosecute. Another controversial characteristic of the group was that it saw “bureaucracy” as anathema, and often railed against it in efforts to streamline process.
Women in Special Warfare
Still another example of its more progressive vision was seen in calls by some that women be admitted to the community and given substantive operational roles as was seen in its antecedent Office of Strategic Services, the vaunted OSS and Special Operations Executive (SOE) of WWII fame. .
The “Phoenix Paradigm
Heritage also suggests both an intellectual and operational tradition and legacy contemporarily born of the OSS, but since “Mafia” thinking may be found in many political and sociopolitical activities, the mindset associated with it endures thus its influence is still felt, and feared in some circles. In July of 1986, for example, two of its members supra were secretly tasked by the Congress with redesigning the entire US special warfare community; they, in turn, brought in others of the group to assist.
The controversial end result, referred to by one of the principles as “the Phoenix Paradigm” , was a separate, cabinet-level Federal activity (1) that consolidated Special Forces, and other specialized type capabilities from other governmental activities, to focus on the more primary role in UW while the conventional force structure retained its specialized direct-combat capabilities such as Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, (2) that focused the nation’s strategic psychological and sociopolitical potential, and (3) that had greatly enhanced abilities in intelligence. It also called for the separation of the functions of Director, CIA (D, CIA) and then-Director of Central Intelligence (DCI, now Director of National Intelligence or DNI), 18 years before the Congress actually did so as a result of the 9/11 attacks on the United States . Another controversial feature of the proposed organization was its emphasis on networking not only with Executive peers, but with the Congress, academia, and others, in an effort to promote inclusive multilateralism and further reduce historic bureaucratic parochialism as was an intent of Goldwater-Nichols .
Political Support: Legislative
The highly classified plan had a mix of supporters (some heralded the organization as “visionary”) and detractors (some thought it a resurrection of the OSS), but in the end the Pentagon and other affected players, in order to forestall an imposed break-away, relented and USSOCOM was born in its stead in April of 1987 , given the motivation provided by Goldwater-Nichols.
Political Support: Executive
While it may be fairly said that this time period was characterized by sometimes intense conflict between majority conventionalists and those subscribing to the “Mafia” mindset, it should be noted that “Supporters for reforming special operations ‘included members of the conventional military forces, civilians in the Department of Defense, members of the press and publishing world, and members of Congress and their staffs.’ They have been called the ‘SOF Liberation Front’ or the ‘SOF Mafia.’ [See Ted Lunger, interview by John Partin, Memorandum For Record, (Washington, 1988); and COL Scott Stephens, interview, (March 1993), quoted in Marquis, Susan L., Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding US Special Operations Forces, [Washington, DC: Brookings, 1997, at 57-58, quoted in “Special Operations: Re-examining the Case for a Sixth Service,” a monograph by MAJ Douglas G. Overdeer, US Army School of Advanced Military Studies, United States Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, KS (AY 03-04, at 23)].” Indeed, at least one high-level Pentagon supporter referred to the group as “cutting edge.”
The Future
The “Mafia,” as an ideological entity, ceased being such in the early 90s but some of its number remain active both within the national security apparatus and on its periphery, while still others have passed. It did leave a footprint—doctrinally, organizationally, and through its activities, and its espoused vision was endorsed in 1987 by some veterans of the OSS during a reunion at Ft. Bragg, NC.
As of 2006, it is unclear if the Pentagon again may be re-considering Special Forces as fated in favor of the conventional impetus toward more specialized direct-combat capabilities such as commando operations, and less on the more sophisticated, longer-term requirements associated with UW, Foreign Internal Defense, Internal Defense and Development, and other Civil Affairs-type activities [per a 2007 public ltr entitled “The Long Farewell” from MG James A. Guest, (USASF, Ret.)]. While the trend toward more specialized combat units actually began to manifest in the early 90s, during and incidental to “Desert Shield/Desert Storm,” and in spite of the suggestion in the public version of USSOCOM’s 2006 "Capstone Concept for Special Operations" that the Command is keenly aware of the both the sociocultural and sociopolitical environments in which it must function, and the demands thereupon (for instance UW or other forms of security assistance), Direct Action missions/operations will probably continue to dominate, likely due to the emphasis on the Global War On Terror. It provides another example of the contentious, oppositional nature of the relationship between conventional thinking and the more progressive, socially-conscious focus of the “Mafia.”
Bibliography
Bank, COL Aaron, From OSS to Green Beret: The Birth of Special Forces, , and http://en. .org/wiki/Aaron_Bank
Barnes, COL Rudolph C., Jr., Military Legitimacy: Might and Right in the New Millennium, and
(Unclassified) "Capstone Concept for Special Operations," United States Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, FL, 2006
Gardner, Howard, Ph.D., Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons,
“Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986” http://en. .org/wiki/Goldwater-Nichols_Act
Guest, MG James A., “The Long Farewell,” 2007
"Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004" http://en. .org/wiki/Intelligence_Reform_and_Terrorism_Prevention_Act_of_2004
Marquis, Susan L., Ph.D., Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding US Special Operations Forces, and
Overdeer, MAJ Douglas G., “Special Operations: Re-examining the Case for a Sixth Service,” and [http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verbgetRecord&metadataPrefixhtml&identifier=ADA429891]
Title 10, United States Code, §167
For a discussion of “Complexity Theory,” see also http://en. .org/wiki/Application_of_complexity_theory_to_organizations
For more discussion on “Unconventional Warfare,” see also http://en. .org/wiki/Unconventional_Warfare and, for instance, Bernard Fall (http://en. .org/wiki/Bernard_Fall), and Lt. Col. Sir Thomas E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and http://en. .org/wiki/T.E._Lawrence
Wake
"Wake" is an instrumental track on Linkin Park's 3rd and latest studio album, Minutes to Midnight. It is the first track and the shortest. It starts out with a needle to vinyl sound (as mentioned in the booklet) and then goes into a whole band song idea ending with a barely noticeable synchronize to Given Up.
As it says in the included booklet with the album This short song was created near the end of the album writing process. The dual-meaning of the word "wake" seemed an appropiate introduction to the record.
Wake is the first instrumental song on any of Linkin Park's studio albums to start the album (with the exception of Foreword on Meteora). It is also the first instrumental to not be at least 2 minutes long (once again with the exception of Foreword).
Given Up
Main article: Given Up
Leave Out All The Rest
Main article: Leave Out All The Rest
Bleed It Out
Main article: Bleed It Out
Shadow of the Day
Main article: Shadow of the Day
What I've Done
Main article: What I've Done
Hands Held High
"Hands Held High" is a rap song by Linkin Park from their 3rd studio album Minutes to Midnight.
There is a feeling of religious/church because of the organ. It criticises politics and the rich in relation to the war in Iraq. The song was also known as the working title "Song Q" and was an instrumental.
This is the first song on the album that has Mike singing solo (with an exception of the "Amen" chant that also includes the entire band singing) and the second and last to have Mike rapping.
No More Sorrow
No More Sorrow is the 8th song on the Minutes to Midnight album by Linkin Park.
It originally began as part of the solo to The Little Things Give You Away, but was replaced by the current version and the leftover piece became this song.
In this song, Brad uses an e-bow to play his guitar riffs in the verses and outro. Producer Rick Rubin wanted the band to use e-bow for The Little Things Give You Away, but the band eventually decided that it sounded better in this song.
It has a very lengthy intro. Chester starts singing only after almost a minute goes by. After the intro, there is hard riffing and loud hollow drumming. Described as a war/protest themed song, it is aimed at the government, evident in the "Thieves and Hypocrites" interlude.
Valentine's Day
"Valentine's Day" is the 9th song on the album Minutes to Midnight by Linkin Park.
Contrary to popular belief, Valentine's Day is more or less used as a metaphor, the song speaking about losing the one you love; verses "And the clouds above move closer, looking so dissatisfied, and the ground below grew colder as they put you down inside" picturing a funeral scene.
Most of the song is a low piano ballad, except at the end, when the whole band plays while "On a Valentine's Day" is repeated.
It features a piano solo by Mike Shinoda.
In Between
In Between is the 10th song on 3rd album Minutes to Midnight.
This song is very soft and features much usage of synthesizers. Mike Shinoda mostly sings solo, with Chester Bennington singing some backing vocals. As the song progresses more layers of music are added.
It is the first song where Mike Shinoda sings his vocals rather than rapping. It starts with his vocals and an upright bass line. It expands with synthesizer effects during each verse and chorus in the song. There is virtually no drumming in this song.
While making the song, Chester sang the song at one point, but voted for Mike's version instead.
It is the same length as its preceding song, Valentine's Day.
The song is stated to be one of the band's favourites.
In Pieces
In Pieces is the 11th song from Minutes to Midnight, the latest album from Linkin Park.
The song is mostly made of a keyboard and beat loop. There is fast solo guitar in the second verse. This is the third of four songs to contain a guitar solo for Linkin Park. The other songs in which we can listen to solos are Shadow of the Day, What I've Done and The Little Things Give You Away.
The Little Things Give You Away
The Little Things Give You Away is the final song in the base track listing of the Linkin Park album Minutes to Midnight. It is by far the longest Linkin Park song to be recorded to this point, at six minutes and twenty-four seconds. This song was not released as a single.
The Little Things Give You Away had gained to working title as "The Drum Song" until release due to it's original creation by Linkin Park percussionist Rob Bourdon as a steady drum beat. Reportedly, Chester Bennington's lyrics to the song were completed shortly after the band's visit to New Orleans, Louisiana during the aftermath of the deadly Hurricane Katrina.
The Little Things You Give Away has been interpreted, mainly in facts due to it's completion after the band's tour of a devastated New Orleans, as a subtle means of criticism on United States President George W. Bush's and FEMA's late reaction to the Katrina disaster as from the point of view of the residents who stayed to ride out the storm.
No Roads Left
No Roads Left is a B-Side track from Linkin Park. This track was only given to those who preordered the band's 3rd album, Minutes to Midnight, from iTunes.
This is Mike Shinoda's third solo song, but the only solo where he gets no background chanting like in Hands Held High and In Between. He sings in a more aggressive tone then in his other solos.
The song deals with someone who has no idea what to do, no paths to take. It uses a lot of metaphors, such as "And no roads left to run".
"Wake" is an instrumental track on Linkin Park's 3rd and latest studio album, Minutes to Midnight. It is the first track and the shortest. It starts out with a needle to vinyl sound (as mentioned in the booklet) and then goes into a whole band song idea ending with a barely noticeable synchronize to Given Up.
As it says in the included booklet with the album This short song was created near the end of the album writing process. The dual-meaning of the word "wake" seemed an appropiate introduction to the record.
Wake is the first instrumental song on any of Linkin Park's studio albums to start the album (with the exception of Foreword on Meteora). It is also the first instrumental to not be at least 2 minutes long (once again with the exception of Foreword).
Given Up
Main article: Given Up
Leave Out All The Rest
Main article: Leave Out All The Rest
Bleed It Out
Main article: Bleed It Out
Shadow of the Day
Main article: Shadow of the Day
What I've Done
Main article: What I've Done
Hands Held High
"Hands Held High" is a rap song by Linkin Park from their 3rd studio album Minutes to Midnight.
There is a feeling of religious/church because of the organ. It criticises politics and the rich in relation to the war in Iraq. The song was also known as the working title "Song Q" and was an instrumental.
This is the first song on the album that has Mike singing solo (with an exception of the "Amen" chant that also includes the entire band singing) and the second and last to have Mike rapping.
No More Sorrow
No More Sorrow is the 8th song on the Minutes to Midnight album by Linkin Park.
It originally began as part of the solo to The Little Things Give You Away, but was replaced by the current version and the leftover piece became this song.
In this song, Brad uses an e-bow to play his guitar riffs in the verses and outro. Producer Rick Rubin wanted the band to use e-bow for The Little Things Give You Away, but the band eventually decided that it sounded better in this song.
It has a very lengthy intro. Chester starts singing only after almost a minute goes by. After the intro, there is hard riffing and loud hollow drumming. Described as a war/protest themed song, it is aimed at the government, evident in the "Thieves and Hypocrites" interlude.
Valentine's Day
"Valentine's Day" is the 9th song on the album Minutes to Midnight by Linkin Park.
Contrary to popular belief, Valentine's Day is more or less used as a metaphor, the song speaking about losing the one you love; verses "And the clouds above move closer, looking so dissatisfied, and the ground below grew colder as they put you down inside" picturing a funeral scene.
Most of the song is a low piano ballad, except at the end, when the whole band plays while "On a Valentine's Day" is repeated.
It features a piano solo by Mike Shinoda.
In Between
In Between is the 10th song on 3rd album Minutes to Midnight.
This song is very soft and features much usage of synthesizers. Mike Shinoda mostly sings solo, with Chester Bennington singing some backing vocals. As the song progresses more layers of music are added.
It is the first song where Mike Shinoda sings his vocals rather than rapping. It starts with his vocals and an upright bass line. It expands with synthesizer effects during each verse and chorus in the song. There is virtually no drumming in this song.
While making the song, Chester sang the song at one point, but voted for Mike's version instead.
It is the same length as its preceding song, Valentine's Day.
The song is stated to be one of the band's favourites.
In Pieces
In Pieces is the 11th song from Minutes to Midnight, the latest album from Linkin Park.
The song is mostly made of a keyboard and beat loop. There is fast solo guitar in the second verse. This is the third of four songs to contain a guitar solo for Linkin Park. The other songs in which we can listen to solos are Shadow of the Day, What I've Done and The Little Things Give You Away.
The Little Things Give You Away
The Little Things Give You Away is the final song in the base track listing of the Linkin Park album Minutes to Midnight. It is by far the longest Linkin Park song to be recorded to this point, at six minutes and twenty-four seconds. This song was not released as a single.
The Little Things Give You Away had gained to working title as "The Drum Song" until release due to it's original creation by Linkin Park percussionist Rob Bourdon as a steady drum beat. Reportedly, Chester Bennington's lyrics to the song were completed shortly after the band's visit to New Orleans, Louisiana during the aftermath of the deadly Hurricane Katrina.
The Little Things You Give Away has been interpreted, mainly in facts due to it's completion after the band's tour of a devastated New Orleans, as a subtle means of criticism on United States President George W. Bush's and FEMA's late reaction to the Katrina disaster as from the point of view of the residents who stayed to ride out the storm.
No Roads Left
No Roads Left is a B-Side track from Linkin Park. This track was only given to those who preordered the band's 3rd album, Minutes to Midnight, from iTunes.
This is Mike Shinoda's third solo song, but the only solo where he gets no background chanting like in Hands Held High and In Between. He sings in a more aggressive tone then in his other solos.
The song deals with someone who has no idea what to do, no paths to take. It uses a lot of metaphors, such as "And no roads left to run".
Outerweb is an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network.
Origins
The Outerweb IRC network started when an IRC channel for 's CAD Radio - an internet radio station - started up an IRC network called Xnet (now known as AfterX). This IRC network was chosen because within it was the official chat channel #ctrlaltdel.
Separation
After a short while of CAD Radio being on Xnet, it was abandoned due to network politics and stability. As it was an internet radio station, CAD Radio had servers for broadcasting the radio stream. Later on, these were set up as IRC servers running UnrealIRCd with ircservices. Soon after the creation the CAD Radio channel #cadradio soon thrived again and the CAD Radio network (irc.cadradio.net) was born.
Renaming
On the 14th of June 2004, proved successful enough at running an IRC network for a member of Xnet's staff "Xenon" moved to help out with irc.cadradio.net. The official chat channel soon followed and the network irc.cadradio.net was renamed to be the more generic CAD-Net.
CAD-Net became the official chat network for and many other CAD related channels were set up the network got a lot more notice which brought about fast expansion, including various other online comics and related IRC mergers including Sam and fuzzy, Questionable Content, Instant Classic, TalesMud, RoM, BSRF and various .box.sk channels.
Location
CAD-Net's headquarters from 2004-2006 resided in St. Catharines, Ontario (Network Services Records) with "FalconX", Syracuse, New York (Technical Record Filing and Programming) with "Em`Zee", and Cambridge, England (Network Support and Public Relations) with "Xenon". Two conventions were held in Syracuse, New York (aptly named CADcon).
OuterWeb
As of September 2005, has since dissolved their officiality due to conflicts of interest with the creator of the comic, Tim Buckley. Because the network was no longer officially supported by the creator of the comic, the network staff decided that it would be in the network's best interests to change the name of the network to "Outerweb". In April 2006, to secure OuterWeb's survival for the users still using the network, Xenon/X3N/Michael (now the only remaining staff member due to the original 2 founders having moved away) decided to merge with AthemeNet. Outerweb had since failed its trial period with AthemeNet, and only consisted of two servers run by Xenon and TIBS.
Current Status
As of early 2007, OuterWeb has shut down because of lack of user interest and support.
Links
(Currently not in service)
Origins
The Outerweb IRC network started when an IRC channel for 's CAD Radio - an internet radio station - started up an IRC network called Xnet (now known as AfterX). This IRC network was chosen because within it was the official chat channel #ctrlaltdel.
Separation
After a short while of CAD Radio being on Xnet, it was abandoned due to network politics and stability. As it was an internet radio station, CAD Radio had servers for broadcasting the radio stream. Later on, these were set up as IRC servers running UnrealIRCd with ircservices. Soon after the creation the CAD Radio channel #cadradio soon thrived again and the CAD Radio network (irc.cadradio.net) was born.
Renaming
On the 14th of June 2004, proved successful enough at running an IRC network for a member of Xnet's staff "Xenon" moved to help out with irc.cadradio.net. The official chat channel soon followed and the network irc.cadradio.net was renamed to be the more generic CAD-Net.
CAD-Net became the official chat network for and many other CAD related channels were set up the network got a lot more notice which brought about fast expansion, including various other online comics and related IRC mergers including Sam and fuzzy, Questionable Content, Instant Classic, TalesMud, RoM, BSRF and various .box.sk channels.
Location
CAD-Net's headquarters from 2004-2006 resided in St. Catharines, Ontario (Network Services Records) with "FalconX", Syracuse, New York (Technical Record Filing and Programming) with "Em`Zee", and Cambridge, England (Network Support and Public Relations) with "Xenon". Two conventions were held in Syracuse, New York (aptly named CADcon).
OuterWeb
As of September 2005, has since dissolved their officiality due to conflicts of interest with the creator of the comic, Tim Buckley. Because the network was no longer officially supported by the creator of the comic, the network staff decided that it would be in the network's best interests to change the name of the network to "Outerweb". In April 2006, to secure OuterWeb's survival for the users still using the network, Xenon/X3N/Michael (now the only remaining staff member due to the original 2 founders having moved away) decided to merge with AthemeNet. Outerweb had since failed its trial period with AthemeNet, and only consisted of two servers run by Xenon and TIBS.
Current Status
As of early 2007, OuterWeb has shut down because of lack of user interest and support.
Links
(Currently not in service)