Category: History

For the Trump Administration, facing a question whether to increase the US troop levels in Afghanistan, this can’t be good news. US National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said on Thursday that even if the US and its allies increase their military aid to the war-torn country, the security situation there is still likely to deteriorate. […]

For the past decade plus, Special Operations Forces have been utilized heavily on the Direct Action, (DA) side of operations including Counter-Terrorism (CT) in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. But the pendulum is swinging back toward the traditional advisory role of SOF as the allies in Syria, Iraq, and in Afghanistan begin to […]

The government of Turkey in response to the news that the Trump Administration is going to arm the Syrian Kurds with heavy weapons has threatened to take military action against them. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke to the media on Wednesday and said that the US and Turkey were having open discussions but was […]

The United States Air Force has some of the most sophisticated aircraft in the world. And some of the most feared aircraft by our enemies aren’t the sexy, sleek fighter jets, but the fat, slow converted cargo aircraft. The AC-130U gunship, “Spooky” as the pilots call it strikes more fear in the hearts of the […]

Just a few short months after Pearl Harbor, the United States was locked in a global war with both the empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. And the country had no formal intelligence gathering apparatus. So, in July 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and appointed BG William “Wild […]

The final training in Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) is the Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise “Robin Sage”, which we went over in detail in an earlier post, that you can read here: The prospective Green Berets put all their training together and infiltrate into the fictional country of Pineland via an airborne operation. The SF […]

  The US is going to raise the pressure on the al-Shabab terrorist group despite the loss of a Navy SEAL operator and two other wounded in an operation last week. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said that the battle took place in Barii, a small town 40 miles west of Mogadishu. It was reportedly a Somali-led operation, U.S. forces reportedly came […]

“Free Pineland!” This is the cry many a prospective Special Forces student will hear during their final phase of the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) that culminates in the premiere Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise in the military, Robin Sage. After many months of training, in some cases over a year, prospective Green Berets put all […]

The National Special Forces Association has collaborated with artist Rebecca Clark to honor the Special Forces men of past and present with a National Green Beret Memorial. The advisory board for this project includes five General Officers from the Regiment and officers and NCOs who have also served in Special Forces. The planned location for […]

In a not-so-amazing turn of events, the Air Force has come to the realization that they need a lighter, more cost efficient, ground support aircraft. The Air Force hasn’t had those types of aircraft in the inventory since Vietnam and has been loath to even keep the invaluable A-10, preferring the sleek, sexier F-15, and […]

“Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war.” USSOCOM is trying to upgrade the performance of its working dog component and they’re looking at pharmaceutical companies to help them do so. The value of working dog teams with the Special Operations teams with whom they operate can’t be understated. Perhaps no dog is more well-known […]

The United States’ Special Operations Forces are seemingly everywhere and that perception is not far off. In 2016, they were deployed to 138 countries around the globe or about 70 percent of the world. From battlefields in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, to Somalia and West Africa, to advising counter-narcotics units in the Andean Ridge, working […]