Category: History

The Taliban has been touting their “Special Forces” unit for quite some time, however with recent attacks on Afghan government police and conventional military units, they’ve been pushed to the forefront in the news. Reports of the Taliban using night vision equipment and laser aiming devices have the Afghans worrying. On November 13, Taliban units […]

Frequently, we get emails or tweets here at SpecialOperations.com in the realm of questions about the training and the qualification course. Many of course deal with Selection and I have to tell people that the Instructors don’t actually kill anyone during the events and one doesn’t have to be 10-feet tall to pass. But one […]

  On November 14, 1965, the 1st Bn. 7th Cavalry landed with 457 men in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam. They would soon be surrounded by over 3000 regulars of the North Vietnamese Army. The resultant, bloody battle would mark the first large-scale American involvement in the war and forever change how the soldiers […]

Russia was playing double speak on Monday, on one hand stating that it was still in talks with the United States about the ongoing inquiry by the U.N. Security Council into the Syrian governments use of chemical weapons on their own people, but the US countered that the Russians have refused to engage on the […]

After months of bloody, hard fighting, the Syrians trying to take back their territory from the Islamic State wanted the fighting to be over. Especially so in the self-styled “caliphate” of Raqqa. The Syrians entered into a deal with ISIS to allow their fighters and families to escape Raqqa. The agreement was supposed to forbid […]

First of all, a belated Happy Veterans Day to all of those who serve, have served and especially for those who are about to serve. Last week was a very busy one for the veterans in our small town in Central Massachusetts. Members of our local Veterans Council, the VFW, and the American Legion were […]

During World War II, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was the United States first foray into the intelligence business. Prior to the war, the intelligence services for the US didn’t exist, much to the chagrin of their British allies just as the war began. It had no overall direction, planning or control and was […]

Since the announcement in August that the Trump Administration has committed to Afghanistan, the U.S. military’s numbers there continue to grow. There could soon be 16,000 troops in the country as the Army is gearing up to deploy hundreds of Army trainers there early in 2018. In his August speech, President Donald Trump said that […]

The events of November 9-10, 1938 in Germany sealed the fate of the Jewish population in Germany and set the stage for the horrible, unspeakable events that were to follow in what we now call the Holocaust. Hitler’s henchmen all had a deep-seated hatred of the Jews and on the flimsiest of pretenses, they organized […]

The son of Osama bin Laden has called on the followers of his father to “rise in rebellion … against the agents of the Americans” and “to incite the masses … until the preparations are complete & the masses are ready for an uprising.” Hamza bin Laden has been being groomed for a larger role […]

In a move that supports President Trump’s message that Pakistan must do more about allowing the Taliban sanctuaries in their country, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Taliban bases in Pakistan pose a “big challenge” to efforts aimed at bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan. Stoltenberg said that he regularly brings this issue up to Pakistan’s […]

The fall of Mazar-e-Sharif on November 9, 2001, was the first major defeat of the Taliban and was taken by the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (Northern Alliance), along with US Army Special Forces A-Teams and precision Air Force bombardment. The taking of the city was somewhat of a shock for both […]