FIRE AND ICE:  ICELAND’S ELITE, “VIKING SQUAD” SWAT TEAM

“Never walk away from your home ahead of your axe and sword. You can’t feel a battle in your bones, or foresee a fight.” —     The Hávamál (Viking book of knowledge), circa 1000 A.D. Occasionally here at SpecialOperations.com we get article submissions from authors, that we believe that our readers will enjoy. And this one […]

Air Force Special Operations Opens New Career Field Special Reconnaissance

The Air Force is making its own Special Operations Forces more independent by creating a Special Reconnaissance (SR) career field. The Air Force will be changing the Special Operations Weather Technician (SOWT) to SR. According to the Air Force’s afspecialwarfare.com, the new SR operational role: Special Reconnaissance (SR) operators will be operating under the AFSOC […]

SAS Selection in Australia, Lesson in Perseverance

We’ve shared many of our Selection anecdotes here on the pages of SpecialOperations.com  the past two years and it is always refreshing to see someone else’s perspective especially if the person is in one of our allies Special Operations units. This one account is a really close look at one officer’s Australian SAS experience. It […]

Maduro Uses Greed to Maintain Loyalty of Top Military Leaders

Opinion: When the facade comes off, these leftist Socialist leaders who decry the evils of capitalism usually live in an opulent lifestyle that would make Bernie Madoff green with envy. Venezuela is a prime example. Nicholas Maduro has a tenuous, illegal hold on the Presidency but he, like his predecessor, Hugo Chavez knows, that as […]

Military, LEO Family Life Shape New England Patriots Success

Military Service, Law Enforcement  A Common Thread to Success The New England Patriots have enjoyed unparalleled success during the past two decades and have reached the last three Super Bowls under coach Bill Belichick. And four of the past five,  winning six in the past 18 years. And a common thread that links part of […]

5000 Troops to Colombia? It’s Probably Not What You Think

Opinion: Like everyone else, we all saw the yellow notepad that John Bolton may or may not have inadvertently showed to the press during a Monday briefing. On it was two hastily scrawled notes about supporting the Afghanistan peace talks and the other was the “5000 troops to Colombia” alleged bombshell. Immediately alarms began going […]

Two Ranger Bns Wiped Out at Cisterna, Jan. 30, 1944

On January 30, 1944, two U.S. Army Ranger Battalions, the 1st, and the 3rd were wiped out in an assault on the German-held town of Cisterna in central Italy. The Germans were aware of their advance and conducted an excellently planned ambush. Only 6 men of the 767 Rangers walked out of Cisterna. This resulted […]

USSOCOM Selects Sig Sauer Optics For New Sniper Rifle Scope

The United States Special Operations Forces are getting a new rifle scope for their sniper rifle systems. And it is being made by one of the most well-known arms manufacturers in the U.S. Under this five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity, firm-fixed-price contract for $12 million dollars, Sig Sauer will furnish the rifle scopes until the completion date […]

BG James Dozier is Rescued By Italian Special Operations Police in 1982

Brigadier General (later Major General) James Lee Dozier was kidnapped by the Red Brigades terrorist group in December of 1981 in Verona, Italy. He was held hostage in an apartment for 42 days. Then a team of Italian Special Operations police stormed the apartment, freed Dozier and arrested six terrorists without firing a shot on […]

Prosecutors Grant Immunity to Seven SEALs in Gallagher Case

The military court-martial trial of Navy SEAL Edward Gallager took a surprising turn on Friday during the motion hearing phase. The Navy’s prosecutors have granted seven Navy SEALs immunity to testify for the prosecution at the upcoming trial Gallagher, a chief special warfare operator alleged to have murdered a wounded teenage ISIS combatant by stabbing […]

SAS Hits Back Hard Against ISIS Terrorists in Syria

The SAS got a bit of payback this week it seems. The British special operations unit earlier this week hit an ISIS-controlled village in eastern Syria. And in doing so, they dispatched 20 of ISIS fighters as they ran from the battlefield, scurrying away in vehicles. While the British make it a point not to […]

RIP to the Army Reflective Belt, You Won’t Be Missed

Opinion: Sometimes, common sense IS an uncommon virtue. And sometimes the Army, despite all evidence to the contrary actually gets one right. Just recently, the Secretary of the Army, Mark Esper signed a memorandum that states the simple, yet hard to understand for some truth. That the hated reflective belt was not needed in the […]