---
title: "CENTCOM Gen Votel Is Basically Col Guile From That Awful 1994 ‘Street Fighter’ Movie"
date: "2017-08-03"
modified: "2017-08-03"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/centcom-votel-guile-street-fighter/"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "Humor"
tags:
  - "central command"
  - "Leadership"
---

# CENTCOM Gen Votel Is Basically Col Guile From That Awful 1994 ‘Street Fighter’ Movie

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/19041821-1.jpg>)

U.S. Army Gen. Joseph Votel is a four-star general, current commander of U.S. Central Command, and former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. Col. William F. Guile is a fictional Air Force commander of the multinational forces looking to oust insane Gen. M. Bison from the fictional Southeast Asian nation of Shadaloo City in the beloved 90s video-game-staple *Street Fighter*. What do they have in common? They both fucking love stealth boats.

On July 27, CENTCOM tweeted a [sweet photo](<https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/890555686576427009?ref_src=twsrc%255Etfw&ref_url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.thedrive.com%252Fthe-war-zone%252F13142%252Fu-s-navy-stealthy-specops-boats-are-zooming-around-the-middle-east>) of Gen. Votel cruising around the United Arab Emirates in a Combatant Craft Assault boat, the multi-mission stealthy speedboat designed for “inserting and extracting SOF in low-to-medium threat environment” and lauded as a “modern, clandestine, agile, adaptive, and operationally capable maritime craft” in a [unclassified SOCOM briefing.](<https://ndiastorage.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/ndia/2012/SOFIC/WednesdayMaritimePortfolioKelly.pdf>)

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image-placeholder-title-3428.jpg>)

Army Gen Joseph L. Votel, commander United States Central Command rides in a Combatant Craft Assault (CCA) boat, July 21, 2017. Votel participated in the Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) component commanders demonstration, where he had the opportunity to ride on a CCA boat and participate in a small arms firing session.U.S. Army/TSgt Dana D. Flamer

[Unveiled](<https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/this-is-the-navy-seals-shadowy-new-multi-mission-stealt-1655361180>) by defense contractor Oregon Iron Works Marine in 2014, the CCA boat was designed to [replace](<https://ndiastorage.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/ndia/2012/SOFIC/WednesdayMaritimePortfolioKelly.pdf>) the smaller MkV Special Operations Craft and Naval Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boats. [According](<https://www.twz.com/13142/u-s-navy-stealthy-specops-boats-are-zooming-around-the-middle-east>) to The War Zone, the little jaunt was likely part of a small task force assigned to SOCOM Central to advise member nations from the Gulf Cooperation Council.

A small stealth craft … loaded up with special operations forces … flitting around a geopolitically unstable area? Sounds almost exactly like this bit from the god-awful 1994 live-action *Street Fighter* movie where the late, great Raul Julia *uses a fucking arcade-style video game booth* to blow Guile, Cammy, and T-Hawk out of the waters of Shadaloo. Don’t play dumb — you know exactly what I’m talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXOjc3b_FZ8

Upon closer inspection, Votel *does* sort of look like Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Guile — if the Muscles from Brussels spent less time focusing on his biceps and more time building a [reputation for both candor and loyalty](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/01/07/lt-gen-tony-thomas-the-shadow-soldier-tapped-to-lead-americas-commandos/?utm_term=.c4ba688bf9b2>).

GIF via the fucking Street Fighter movie

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image-placeholder-title-325.gif>)

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## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

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