Category: History

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 […]

By September of 1943, World War II was not going well for Nazi Germany. The Russians had routed the German attack at Kursk and had the strategic initiative. The German Afrika Korps had been pushed across and out of North Africa. German cities were routinely being bombed by American bombers during the day and British […]

Like many of us, we can remember exactly where we were on 9/11, like the generation before us could recall where they were when JFK was shot in Dallas. The memories of that awful day and the days that followed will forever be burned into our memories and it shaped our national policy for years […]

The Israelis are no strangers to the counter-terrorist world of Special Operations. They arguably have the most experience in that they have been dealing with counter-terror issues in and around their own country for decades. They have developed several Special Operations units that integrated with their conventional troops, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and each […]

For the current crop of aspiring Special Operations Forces candidates that want to be part of the legacy of the different units under the SOCOM umbrella, being part of the command comes with not only great sacrifice but a great responsibility as well. The special operators have to sacrifice much of themselves in training to […]

About a year ago, we wrote a piece about preparing our candidates for Selection and in regards to the Physical Fitness test, training for the UBRR (Upper Body Round Robin) rather than the old, outdated 3-Event Physical Fitness test. We had received several questions from potential candidates asking,“Why do use the Upper Body Round Robin […]

There are times in Special Operations where you just have to stand back and say WTF just happened. And it seems to crazy that it can’t possibly be true…but it is and then you just have to laugh. He’s a funny rucking story for you guys this morning. Many years ago, while our Special Forces […]

In the never-ending search for the next best technology, both the United States and Russia are searching for armor, camouflage, and exoskeletons to carry the next generation of Special Operations Forces into battle. And as they are both working on the latest upgrades for their troops, some of the newest technology looks like it came […]

Before hitting the gym this morning, I went back out on the rucking trails and hit the woods among the hills here in Central Mass. We have a small state park called “Purgatory Chasm” nearby that has some shorter hiking trails that we could take advantage of rucking the hills before they fill up with […]