John Friberg

The sniping event took place – not on a flat shooting range – but from awkward and / or precarious positions encountered in real-life situations.

The movement of people and goods in this modern, global society is extremely fluid. ISIS has taken advantage of the openness of our western societies as well as the usefulness of the Internet to spread their message and recruit members.

For those in the Special Operations community there are scenarios that have an ‘irregular warfare’ or ‘unconventional warfare’ flavor. The U.S. Army will typically send one or two Special Forces Operational Detachment Alphas (SFODA); many times to take part in a Non-conventional Assisted Recovery (NAR) scenario.

This SOF News Update is a compilation of news on special operations forces over the past several days ending 30 June, 2016.

The Afghan Air Force is poorly postured to fill this air support capability gap. One serious short-fall is the lack of aircraft that can provide close air support for the Afghan security forces. In an attempt to fill this CAS gap, the U.S. has been providing the AAF with a few CAS options.

SOCAP, also known as the Special Operations Campaign Artistry Program, prepares SOF officers and NCOs for the job of campaign planner at TSOCs.

Quite a few years later I would once again encounter NORSOF – this time on my first Afghan tour in 2002-2003. I was once again favorably impressed with their capabilities in conducting strategic reconnaissance (SR) missions in austere environments. At the time NORSOF worked as part of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A).

There are limitations to the light footprint approach. Sometimes you don’t achieve your objectives because the proxy (or indigenous) forces do not have interests that are in direct alignment with your interests.

General Mark Milley, the Chief of Staff for the United States Army, is bringing a revolutionary concept into being. He is moving forward with the establishment of advisory brigades within the U.S. Army. The United States military has a long history of advisory efforts but for the most part, except for the U.S. special operations […]

At least once a week, perhaps more frequently, I plan on providing an update on news about special operations. This will be a listing of news events relating to SOF that could be of interest to the reader with links to the source of that news. The content could be a news story, information on […]

Critics comparing the use of U.S. airpower against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and of U.S. airpower against the Taliban have noted that there is a huge disparity. The numbers of sorties flown in Iraq and Syria far surpass those flown in Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, even though ISIS may lose its base in Sirte, it could likely relocate to the Southwest of Libya in a desert hinterland. From that location it will be free to operate unhindered by local militias.