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.
Bolivia unveils new Anti-Terrorist Unit against “threatening foreigners”

Bolivia unveils new Anti-Terrorist Unit against “threatening foreigners”

More changes are unfolding in the Andean country of Bolivia, since the ouster of former leftist President Evo Morales after allegations of election fraud. The country’s interim government has unveiled a new anti-terror unit that is designed to dismantle foreign groups “threatening” the country. Members of the interim government, including Interior Minister Arturo Murillo, were […]

Mexican drug cartel shootout on the US border leaves 21 dead

Mexican drug cartel shootout on the US border leaves 21 dead

Mexican state police and army units clashed with Mexican drug cartel gunmen on Saturday in the town of Villa Union in the northeast Mexican state of Coahuila, near the Texas border town of Nueva Laredo. The resulting violence left at least 21 people dead.  The violence began when truckloads of armed gunmen, estimated between 70-150, […]

China bans US ships From Hong Kong, sanctions US non-government organizations

China bans US ships From Hong Kong, sanctions US non-government organizations

The Chinese have a big problem with Hong Kong and its ongoing democracy movement, and they’ve decided that certain elements from the United States are to blame. So on Monday, they announced that U.S. military ships and aircraft won’t be allowed to visit Hong Kong, and also announced sanctions against several U.S. non-government organizations (NGOs) […]

Another senior Guatemalan officer indicted for genocide

Another senior Guatemalan officer indicted for genocide

The senior Guatemalan human rights prosecutor, Judge Jimmy Bremer, has indicted another senior military officer for genocide and crimes against humanity during the country’s civil war.  Luis Enrique Mendoza Garcia, who was a senior operations officer under the former regime of General Efrain Rios Montt, will go on trial in March for his role in […]

‘The Irishman’ a masterpiece for the old lions of mob films

‘The Irishman’ a masterpiece for the old lions of mob films

The Irishman is not your typical Mob film; but when you have Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and director Martin Scorsese, then you have a must-see film. The film has it all, crime, the Mafia, politics, and history as it touches on Washington with the Kennedy election and assassination, the Bay […]

‘No Gringos in our country’: Mexico refuses US troops

‘No Gringos in our country’: Mexico refuses US troops

Thanks but no thanks, is the message the Mexican government is sending to the Trump administration after Washington vowed to designate the Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations and offered to send the military across the border to help defeat them. In a radio interview with Bill O’Reilly, President Trump was asked if he was […]

France reappraising military commitment in Mali after deadly helicopter crash

France reappraising military commitment in Mali after deadly helicopter crash

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, speaking on Thursday about the death of 13 French soldiers in Mali this week in a counter-terror operation, has ordered his military to assess its operations against Islamist militants in West Africa. Macron, in his first public address since the collision of two helicopters that killed 13 French troops […]

State Deptartment probes whether US weapons ended up in the wrong hands in Yemen

State Deptartment probes whether US weapons ended up in the wrong hands in Yemen

The State Department and the Pentagon are looking into allegations that U.S. military hardware, sold to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, has ended up in the wrong hands in Yemeni civil war.  The State Department has already sent questions to both of its allies over these allegations but has received “insufficient responses” to the questions […]

Pecky, a K-9 Belgian Malinois for the Border Patrol retires with honor

Pecky, a K-9 Belgian Malinois for the Border Patrol retires with honor

Drug smugglers and traffickers are no doubt breathing a sigh of relief in El Centro, California with the news that one of the Border Patrol’s most successful officers is retiring on November 30.  Pecky, an 11-year old Belgian Malinois with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s Canine Program has been a key part of the […]

Thanksgiving: Plenty to be thankful for, but mostly for each other

Thanksgiving: Plenty to be thankful for, but mostly for each other

Ah, Thanksgiving. The thought of delicious aromas emanating from the kitchen: turkey, stuffing, a lot of vegetable dishes and a vast variety of pies. Sitting with family at the dining room table and then retreating to the living room to watch football non-stop until the tryptophan coma calls and we drift off to nap — […]

French helicopters collide, killing 13 soldiers in Mali

French helicopters collide, killing 13 soldiers in Mali

A deadly mid-air collision between two French military helicopters has turned into the worst loss of life for the French military in nearly four decades, since the death of 58 French paratroopers in an attack in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday expressed “deep sadness” at the news of Monday’s evening […]

Heading to selection? Identify your weaknesses and take them on

Heading to selection? Identify your weaknesses and take them on

This is for the young troops heading to Spec Ops Selection. It doesn’t matter if it is for the Ranger Regiment, Air Force Special Operations, Navy SEAL or SFAS. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Nobody does everything perfectly, well some very rare guys do, but even they started from somewhere.  When preparing for […]