Pete Nealen

In a statement released online, Al Qaeda’s senior leadership (sometimes simply referred to as AQSL) officially disowned the Islamic State of Iraq and as Sham, led by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.  In the statement (which does not name any of the AQ senior leadership, not even Zawahiri), it is said that the ISIS has repeatedly […]

The Marine Reconnaissance Foundation finally received its 501(c)3 status on January 8, 2014.  So now any donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible as charitable donations.  Money donated to the Foundation goes toward supporting wounded Recon Marines and Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsmen, their families, and strengthening the legacy of the Reconnaissance community.   You can donate […]

The Kurds have been a third side to the Syrian civil war since the beginning.  While the majority of the conflict appears to be turning primarily into a Sunni-Shi’a slugging match, with overtones of proxy war between Iran and Russia on one side and Saudi Arabia and Qatar (with some half-hearted support from the West–SecState […]

The majority of the video below is a speech by a Kosovar who is now in Syria fighting for The Islamic State in Iraq and as-Sham. If you remember, we put a lot of effort into keeping the Serbs off the Albanian Kosovars back in the ’90s. A great deal has been said (most of […]

For most of its institutional life, the Marine Corps has prided itself on being the poor bastard child of the US military.  For decades, its equipment was the Army’s castoffs.  Marines were still using bolt-action Springfield 1903s into 1942, and still using the M1 Garand after the Army had adopted the M14.  Marine helicopters are […]

On Jan 13, Private First Class Joshua Islam died while taking the Recon screening at Pulgas Training Tank, Camp Pendleton, CA.  He was 18.  No details of the circumstances of his death have yet been released, as it is under investigation, as always happens with a death in training. There have already been many people, […]

While most of the commentary on the recent ISIS push in Fallujah and Ramadi has focused on Obama’s culpability and how all the men who died there died for nothing, a lot has gotten lost in the noise.  Nothing in warfare, least of all 4GW, is that simple. ISIS has had a rocky year.  From […]

Following the Iraqi government breakup of a Sunni protest camp in Ramadi on Dec 30, fighting erupted in Fallujah, with the Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham seizing the southern half of the city.  The black Al Qaeda battle flags now fly from government buildings in Fallujah.  The Iraqi government is saying that the […]

While it doesn’t seem to be showing up on the news much in the last few months, unrest and violence have continued in Egypt.  In September, the Egyptian government, dominated by the military after the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi in July, banned the Muslim Brotherhood from any activity in the country.  The Brotherhood hasn’t […]

There’s a lot of talk, in all branches of the military and the defense/firearms industry, about situational awareness, and appropriately so.  If you don’t know what’s going on around you, you can’t react appropriately to an emergency.  But there are elements of situational awareness that haven’t been cultivated, especially in the military, to the detriment […]

The US military has, especially over the last couple of decades, become convinced that high-tech is the solution to all problems.  Any battlefield or tactical problem can be solved with the latest piece of kit.  The result has been the F-22 (only 195 built at a unit cost of $150 million, and a program cost […]

“X” was not the only target that the MCSOCOM Detachment One Marines took down in May.  On May 17th (though it had been discussed for several days prior), Objective “Rambler” went on the target board. The information for Objective Rambler came from 2nd Bn, 5th Special Forces Group.  The target was actually three individuals, an […]