Coalition SOF

We talk often here about how Special Operations Forces are not athletes but tactical military members. That’s not to say that SOF troops aren’t athletic but that training an operator is much different than training a football or baseball player. However, certain aspects of each’s workouts have bled into one another’s training regimen. Some of the […]

Against my better judgment today, I decided to throw caution to the wind and go rucking despite having an injured calf/ankle. Last weekend I was shooting a high school football game for one of the newspapers I work for. Yes, that O&I photography class is still paying dividends after all these years. So, near the […]

In the 1960s, Che Guevara was an iconic figure, especially among those who thought that the young revolutionary was hip, chic and achieved almost rock star status. He was young, handsome and very well educated. In fact, Che is now probably more popular in the country responsible for his death, Bolivia, by people who have […]

As we frequently do here at SpecialOperations.com, we post pieces on what ma Special Operationsny times are based on our messages or messages on Twitter. And this week I’ve gotten a few messages and questions concerning rucking. And when it comes to rucking, we get about 50/50 with our messages and/or questions regarding that or […]

On Monday, President Trump decorated former Green Beret medic and SSG Ronald Shurer II with the Medal of Honor for outstanding heroism and bravery during a combat mission in Afghanistan in 2008. Amazingly enough, Shurer was once rejected by the military for a medical condition before he joined and was accepted shortly after 9/11. Shurer […]

In our daily Special Operations PT Preparation workouts that we publish, Sunday is our ruck day, just like going to church, it is our weekly ritual before the sun comes up kind of like paying homage to the Special Forces gods before we get on with our regularly scheduled Sunday activities, like coffee (Black Rifle […]

The U.S. Army Special Forces built a number of camps to defend South Vietnam from Communist infiltration during the war in Vietnam. These would be manned by a typical Special Forces A-Team and manned by paramilitary Montagnard tribesmen, called camp strikers, in the Civilian Irregular Defense Program (CIDG). Special Forces camp A-109 at Thuong Duc […]

The United States involvement in Vietnam began long before the 1960s as most U.S. citizens tend to believe. Most don’t know that at the end of World War II, the United States sent several Office Of Strategic Services (OSS) operatives into then French Indochina, to facilitate the release of American pilots. LTC Peter Dewey was […]

To our readers who are attempting for a career in Special Operations, you’ll meet all kinds of interesting people everywhere you go. Some societies are eclectic, like our own.  Others are very regimented, but one thing that will never change, no matter where you travel are kids. As Americans we have a built-in affinity for […]

For anyone who is a member of the Special Operations Forces, regardless of what service or unit, there will always be the debate over the standards, whether they changed or have been lowered, and how they “need to get tougher.” And invariably, one grizzled veteran will proudly proclaim, “I went thru the last hard class.” […]

On this day during the early 1960s, the 5th SFG (A) was activated at Ft. Bragg, NC. One of the most storied units during the Vietnam War, the 5th SFG has been the vanguard of Special Forces units in Operation Enduring Freedom and during the Global War on Terror. The 5th SFG like all of […]

And others you can’t I recently was talking to a few old friends who had either been members of the Ranger Battalions of the 75th Ranger Regiment, or attended Ranger School as a member of the Special Operations community and we got into a discussion about the ways Ranger students can be prepared for the […]