Norwood

They’re taking calculated risks and creating a global narrative. They’re shaping sentiment – and, in turn, exploiting it. It’s both impressive and worrisome for the West.

One of the funnier things I heard in Iraq while advising their counter-terror services and special operations forces – was when their commander lamented how difficult COIN was in comparison to tanks. He noted you could just plop tanks across from one another, and they go at it.

Russia is seeing their international plans come to fruition by employing a nuanced, yet bold approach to foreign policy — while the world watches.

Cancer can spread and if toxic personalities and those who otherwise probably shouldn’t have made it through, hurt the unit. There are tales of the team that had to be disbanded because a few toxic personalities infected the group. As a result, they became unreliable and a liability.

There’s a hotel in Jordan and the room service attendant memorized my order. When I returned after a four-month break, it was still memorized. Jordan has a small town feel. It’s a small country. Jordanians refreshingly have a strong national identity.

It’s called unconditional warfare, but the name isn’t as important. This is a role that A-teams are supposed to be able to execute, now. It’s not a new capability that’s never existed before. Instead, it just fell out of favor in preference for direct action. This effort will take SF back to its roots.

Why does Turkey want Assad gone? The alternative to the Assad regime would be a new Sunni government. Syria is majority Sunni. Syria could serve as an extension of the Turkish government. The Middle East is on the verge of being born anew. Borders once observed will not be much longer. Turkey is in concert with the Gulf states in their desire to bring about regime change.

The misconceptions around nuclear are profound. For example, did you know the smoke coming out of those giant tubes is just steam? You very well may have, but many believe it to be exhaust. It’s not toxic exhaust that’s going to cause fish to develop a third eye. The isotopes created by nuclear reactors that many fear – and, yet, those isotopes advance medical science and other fields.

Lebanese military aid from the U.S. is approximately $80 million. We train, advise, and assist the Lebanese to maintain security within their country. If the conflict in Syria were to spill over it would complicate the Lebanese theatre command.

The point is you get to do something almost no one else in a society gets to do. Service is awesome – it just is. There’s heartache that does and can go along with it.

We had to build everything from scratch, and nothing was easy. Our infiltration to the site took over ten hours, during which we traveled just over six miles, because of the snow and the mountainous terrain. But a senior officer briefed General David Petraeus, who had assumed command of the Afghanistan theatre, that we would be in place before the snow thawed and the Taliban, who were likely living it up on vacation in Pakistan, re-entered.

A sterile bubble, when compressed small enough to fit in truck, accompanied with enough CO2 to the fill the bubble walls to provide structure. The interior would be sterilized, collapsed and packaged for deployment and ready for re-inflation. It would need to be the size of a standard bedroom, 10 feet by 10 feet. This could deployed in less than 60 seconds. Then a team could bring in sterilized equipment while ensuring that the patient is prepared for surgery.