JSOC

March 4, 2002. Takur Ghar, Afghanistan. As the sun shyly emerged, a SEAL Team 6 reconnaissance element was about to get in the fight of its life. Designated as MAKO 30 and led by Senior Chief Petty Officer Britt Slabinski, the reconnaissance team was part of a Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) task force that […]

Over 40-years ago, Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and took 98 hostages. The majority of them would be held for 444 days until they would be freed just before Ronald Reagan became President.  The events that unfolded during the crisis would put in motion the creation of the United States Special […]

Despite the cooling of tensions between Iran and the United States, the Pentagon has deployed a number of strategic bombers to the Indian Ocean as further deterrence against additional Iranian actions. The Air Force has deployed an unspecified number of B-52 Stratofortress and B-2 Spirit strategic bombers to the Naval Support Facility (NSF) Diego Garcia, […]

Is this it? Is this all you can conjure, Iran? That’s what everyone must have thought this morning. The Iranian response to the killing of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the secretive Quds Force and arguably one of the most powerful men in Iran and the Middle East, was feeble, to say the […]

After days of waiting, Iran has finally responded to the killing of its top covert operations general with a mass ballistic missile attack against U.S. bases in Iraq and Jordan. On Tuesday night, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Corps (IRGC), an elite branch of the Iranian military, unleashed dozens of missiles targeting three U.S. bases in […]

In the early morning hours of Friday, a historic U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s top covert operations general. Major General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, was killed by an MQ-9 Reaper as he was leaving Baghdad International Airport. The Quds Force is a rough equivalent of a combined CIA […]

The officer, who commanded the Delta Force raid that killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, is now in charge of all Green Berets. Last month, Major General John Brennan replaced Major General E. John Deedrick Jr at the helm of the 1st Special Forces Command. The 1st Special Forces Command oversees the seven Active […]

MH-6 Little Birds and MH-60 Black Hawks helicopters buzzed downtown Los Angeles this week as a part of a Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) training exercise. Spectators observed the helicopters landing operators on building rooftops, then later setting down to pick them up at street level. Presumably, the training scenario involved the operators assaulting from […]

For the first time, an Air Force officer has been nominated to command Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) the go-to maneuver element for the National Command Authorities, President Trump and Secretary Mattis, which includes units such as Delta Force and SEAL Team Six. As an Air Force pilot, Lt. Gen. Scott Howell has a background […]

The night of April 17th, New Yorkers were rattled by the sound and sight of low flying helicopters buzzing around southern Manhattan. In this case, there was nothing to be alarmed about; New York City had announced that the flights would occur and the gents flying the helicopters are the best in the world: The […]

On this day: October 5th Iran-Contra scandal goes public — 1986 Believing any further encroachment of Communism in the western hemisphere to be a direct threat to the United States, from the beginning of his time as president, Ronald Reagan supported the Contras, a paramilitary group who opposed the communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. However, […]

President Obama’s recent decision to grant Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) expanded authorities in the fight against terrorism likely came as welcome news to many. Anything that means we move more quickly and nimbly in hunting the enemy has to be welcome. Here is the reality, however. We are in this war for the long […]