Steve Balestrieri

About the author

Steve is a SOFREP Senior Editor. He has served as a Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer before injuries forced his early separation. He writes for SOFREP and covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and his work was regularly featured in the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and Grafton News newspapers.
Venezuelan insurgents attack military facility to steal weapons

Venezuelan insurgents attack military facility to steal weapons

An unknown number of armed assailants raided a military facility in Southern Venezuela early Sunday morning, killing one soldier and making off with 100 rifles before being led through the surrounding jungle by indigenous Pemon tribe members. According to local media (El Pitazo) the attack was led by a deserting soldier. The attack took place […]

Israeli Air Force whacks Iranian base in Syria

Israeli Air Force whacks Iranian base in Syria

On Sunday night, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) hit Iranian bases inside of Syria with airstrikes. Syrian air defense units have claimed to have shot down one of the missiles launched from Israeli aircraft outside of Aqraba. No casualty figures have been released. Both media and civilians have also reported that explosions could be heard […]

Taliban IED kills American soldier in Afghanistan

Taliban IED kills American soldier in Afghanistan

Details are sketchy right now, but the Pentagon has acknowledged that an American soldier was killed on Monday in Afghanistan. The Taliban have already taken credit for a roadside bombing in northern Kunduz province, where they claim the attack took place. They also tweeted a picture of the killed soldier’s ID card. The Pentagon doesn’t […]

Meet the Space Force, the military’s newest branch

Meet the Space Force, the military’s newest branch

“The Ultimate High Ground” Beam us up, Scotty. The United States now has a new sixth military service as President Trump signed the Space Force into being on December 20 at Joint Base Andrews right outside of Washington, D.C. When the President signed off on the 2020 Defense Authorization Bill, he also established the Space […]

‘Surrender to the Germans? Nuts!’

‘Surrender to the Germans? Nuts!’

On this day 75 years ago one of the most famous lines ever uttered by an American military officer was said when the Germans surrounded the 101st Airborne around Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. General Anthony McAuliffe, the acting Division Commander in the absence of General Maxwell Taylor who was in the […]

Food, drug, and bullets: How America is fighting Chinese influence in Africa

Food, drug, and bullets: How America is fighting Chinese influence in Africa

The United States is looking to further strengthen its ties with the country of Djibouti. At the request of the Djiboutian government, the U.S. is helping the small Horn of Africa nation build an elite Special Forces infantry unit, the Rapid Intervention Battalion (RIB). The unit will be trained and equipped by the U.S. The […]

The Afghanistan Papers: Lessons learned or lost?

The Afghanistan Papers: Lessons learned or lost?

The Washington Post spent a lot of time and made many of Freedom of Information Act requests to dig up what they hoped would shed some light on what we’re doing in Afghanistan, why we’re still there and whether it is worth the lives of 2,400 — and counting — American military members and the […]

Pakistan Ex-President Musharraf sentenced to death in absentia

Pakistan Ex-President Musharraf sentenced to death in absentia

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been sentenced to death in absentia for high treason after a prolonged and contentious legal case. Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled Pakistan until 2008.  Musharraf was convicted on Tuesday by a special three-person court in Islamabad of violating the constitution by unlawfully declaring […]

Landmark decision allows military members to seek medical malpractice

Landmark decision allows military members to seek medical malpractice

Green Beret SFC Richard Stayskal called it a “Christmas Miracle.”  The Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act with an 86-8 vote on Tuesday. However, inside the bill is a provision, initiated by Stayskal, which will allow service members who have been victims of negligent medical care to finally be allowed to hold the government […]

Erdogan threatens closure of US military bases in Turkey

Erdogan threatens closure of US military bases in Turkey

The handwriting was on the wall and now the ongoing flap between the United States and Turkey over the U.S threatening to impose sanctions on Ankara, for buying a Russian missile system, is reaching a tipping point. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close two strategic U.S. airbases at Incirlik and Kurecik over these […]

Rest in peace Edgar Britt: Green Beret CSM, Son Tay Raider

Rest in peace Edgar Britt: Green Beret CSM, Son Tay Raider

The Special Forces Regiment lost a great link to its past when retired CSM Edgar Britt passed away on December 14. Several of the SF Facebook groups reported that he was in hospice care and was very ill and that he passed on Saturday. He will be missed.  Britt was born in 1931 in Chelsea, […]

US Embassy accountant in Haiti stole “hundreds of thousands” in cash

US Embassy accountant in Haiti stole “hundreds of thousands” in cash

In the second scandal that rocked the U.S. Embassy in Haiti in the past month, an accountant who had been assigned to the United States’ mission in Port-au-Prince from 2001 to 2018, was charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Department of Defense. Roudy Pierre-Louis was issued an arrest warrant by a […]