Category: Featured

Odin All Father, King of the Aesir, in his quest for Wisdom drank from the Well of Urd amongst the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. He whispered these words of wisdom into the ears of the warrior poet Archilochus that “We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the […]

On June 28, 2005, Navy SEAL LT Michael P. Murphy would perform heroic actions that would result in his being awarded the Medal of Honor. It would also cost him his life in the process, in one of the bloodiest days in the history of the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the SEALs. Murphy […]

For those of you who aren’t closely following the daily ebbs and flows in the ongoing culture wars, I envy you. Unfortunately, I regularly find myself analyzing the tit for tat engagements that are defining our cultural landscape and politics. If you haven’t seen it, tennis great John McEnroe has recently stirred controversy after an […]

Operation Red Wings – June 28, 2005 – Never Forget My first impressions of the Matt Axelson Tribute Knives when I unwrapped them was, “Holy crap! These are no joke; they’re heavy and strong, bad-ass weapons.” The combat version is clearly not meant to be kept in its sheath; it’s meant to be abused. Pictures […]

“No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Sometimes having a reputation can work against you and then there are others when you just do your job and move on. And then there are those times you get treated like a rock […]

One of the key outdoor skills you need to master is starting a fire. Obviously if you are evading an enemy, fire may not be feasible, but in a survival situation, it may save your life. You need to have items in your fire kit that are considered sure-fire items—supplies that will give you a flame in any […]

Following my late night attendance of General Sabban‘s birthday party in Zamboanga, I met the general the following morning at the airport to catch a plane to Tawi-Tawi.  I was pretty exhausted, but Sabban looked none of the worse for wear.  I had been invited down to Tawi-Tawi for the activation anniversary of 2nd Marine […]

An MH-53E Sea Dragon assigned to the “Vanguards” of Helicopter Mine Countermeasure Squadron (HM) 14 conducts an aerial refuel off the coast of North Carolina. Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252 performed the air to air refueling exercises with HM-14 in a joint effort to improve interservice readiness. – US Navy Watch: Mid-air Refueling Up […]

Most of what we write here at SpecialOperations.com deals with the training side of the house. What you’ll need to do to pass the Selection and Assessment courses. But today we’ll leap ahead to the second phase of the Special Forces Qualification Course or SFQC for Special Forces students and talk about SERE training. Since […]

Ranger Proof is a bold statement.  It’s even more bold to name a company Ranger Proof.  The company has set some high standards for itself as one should expect with such a name, “Our mission is simple. We will provide the absolute best gear, made with the best components at the most fair price we […]

Bullet path, from 0 to 1000yds,of a 175gr HPBT Sierra Mach King bullet,fired at 2700fps of muzzle velocity. We started off this long range shooting series with an introduction to some important terminology. Now we’re ready to apply those terms. Let’s start with an introduction on a key external ballistics concept that directly relates to […]

Someone asked me the other day what knife I brought with me to Ranger school. I completed Ranger school back in 2012 and with me I had a Benchmade Griptilian. The criteria of a solid knife in school is pretty limited. First Is it light enough that you would be willing to carry it? This […]