Guido seemed a fitting nickname for a brother whose full name was Gaetano Cutino. I made him the butt of a number of situations that inspired cartoons through my years with Delta, his obvious ties to the Italian Mafia notwithstanding. Though he had no such ties, in reality, it was the de facto duty of men on an assault team to bond through the breaking of balls and the … [Read more...] about An Operator’s tale: Delta Force and the Italian Mafia
Greg, if you would please, can you describe your military progression up to and until such point that you decided to try out for and were accepted by the elite rotor-wing unit TF-160? I came into the Army and served time with the 101st Air Assault. I applied for and was accepted to Flight School. I was able to return to the 101st this time in the capacity as a pilot. I … [Read more...] about Exclusive: Behind the scenes of America’s elite SOF aviation unit
The debut of the SOFREP Team Room cartoon feature depicts Managing Editor Stavros Atlamazoglou clad in flamboyant pirate attire leading his mob of writers, termed his "pirate crew," forward into the resurrected SOFREP format. Against odds, "Charge!" he cries out in his native Greek language. Heavy-lift writer Alex "A-Blast" Hollings follows swinging from a (pirate ship's) … [Read more...] about SOFREP unveiled: A look at what goes on behind the scenes
By CWO4 (ret) Greg Coker Task Force 160, Special Operations Aviation Regiment, “The Night Stalkers," and Master Sergeant (ret) George Edward Hand IV, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, “The Delta Force.” You can read part I here. Greg's note: I have been considering writing some of my stories down for quite some time. I prayed about doing this and feel that … [Read more...] about The exclusive account of when a Night Stalker was shot down in Iraq
Written by CWO4 (ret) Greg Coker Task Force 160, Special Operations Aviation Regiment, “The Night Stalkers," and Master Sergeant (ret) George Edward Hand IV, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, “The Delta Force.” Author's note: I have been considering writing some of my stories down for quite some time. I prayed about doing this and feel that God approves. I … [Read more...] about Eight Seconds: The exclusive account of when a Night Stalker was shot down in Iraq
Bosnia was under the control of the United Nations (UN)s in 1996 due to the civil war-induced fall of former Yugoslavia. Civil wars are actually country-private internal affairs, supposing that under certain circumstances a country has a right to work out its own issues of internal strife. Such was not the case with Bosnia; the atrocities and crimes against humanity had more … [Read more...] about Delta Force in Bosnia: How to protect a general
Close Quarters Battle (CQB), or Close Quarters Combat (CQC) is to the effect of about 75% (maybe higher) testicles, and then 25% technique. I don’t like to over complicate things, especially CQB, one of the most absolutely horrifying things a human may ever do. It is the very nature of the degree of difficulty inherent in ‘the act’ of CQB that bids its techniques to remain very … [Read more...] about Nobody clears a room like Delta Force: A CQB attitude primer
One of the myriads of very cool things about time spent with Delta is the fact that we often had opportunities to train with our elite naval counterpart— the venerable SEAL Team Six. Such was the case with a training event we executed in the jungles of South America. A group of six brothers from SEAL Team Six linked up with us at Ft. Bragg, NC, cross-loaded themselves among our … [Read more...] about SEAL Team Six and Delta: An operator’s tale of the ‘bungle in the jungle’
Formal Drill and Ceremony (DNC) was never a thing that Delta operators are very good at -- or even ANY good at all at. In fact, I could go so far as to declare in all confidence that Delta operators are indeed ceremoniously challenged. It’s not a bragging right; it’s a simple matter of being horrendously out of practice. It is, as I came to abruptly learn, a rather perishable … [Read more...] about The time an operator made an ass of himself — and Delta Force
If you ask a boxer what the most important aspect of his punching power, he will tell you it’s his legs. The punch starts all the way from the feet, through the knees, builds immense torque in the hips and explodes through the shoulders mimicking the dynamics of a bullwhip. In Delta, we all understood that our punch was only as good as our legs under us were — our supporting … [Read more...] about The secret behind Delta Force’s powerful punch
Damn the luck; damn it all to hell. I separated from Delta and the Service on 01 January 2001. Eight months later the reason to stay in Delta materialized -- eight months too late. By that January, all I had left to look forward to was my fourth trip to the Balkans. And by the Gods and all that I hold holy, I just didn’t want to go back there. “Mission burn out” crossed my … [Read more...] about We need you to hunt these bastards down: How Delta Force tried to lure back former operators after 9/11
Chuck S. was as good as Delta Squadron commanders go. I fancy him as the boss most well-liked by the pipe-hitters of the squadron, and yet he was still the boss, and there was never any doubt about that. He spoke French, frequently carrying on a conversation with me, a sin for which he paid for dearly because of my horrid Cajun dialect. Chuck was just the coolest commander. … [Read more...] about An operator’s tale: The City of Charleston vs Delta Force
