On this day in history: KGB double agent breaks out of prison

On 22 October, 1966, George Blake broke out of a British prison, only 5 years into his 42 year sentence. Blake was a communist sympathizer, which was what led him to his service to the KGB against the British government.  As a child, he had spent time in Egypt with his cousin, who would go […]

Watch: Experience a 360 degree tour of a World War II shipwreck

Although the United States has remained embroiled in war of one sort or another fairly consistently since the final days of World War II, something about that war prevents it from waning out of our cultural lexicon.  War stories about later conflicts, like Vietnam and Korea, have been transposed to film and television, of course, […]

SOF Pic of the Day: The flight surgeon’s struggle

Capt. Aaron Thomas, a flight surgeon with the 1st Special Operations Medical Group, wipes sweat off his forehead during Task Force Exercise Olympus Archer at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Aug. 18, 2016. Olympus Archer focuses on maximizing training opportunities for more than 230 Air Commandos, with the 1st Special Operations Wing, emphasizing on […]

Watch: 1st Lt. Christian F. Schilt – Aviation hero you don’t know

1st Lt. Christian F. Schilt was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during an insurrection at Quilali, Nicaragua in January 1928. Schilt volunteered under extremely dangerous conditions to evacuate wounded by air and transport a relief commanding officer to assume charge of the situation. Under hostile infantry fire, Schilt took off a total of […]

British Royal Navy divers recover mustard gas canisters from lake

British Royal Navy divers had to don chemical protection suits while diving on a lake to recover mustard gas canisters left over from World War II. British police asked for the Navy’s help after several canisters were discovered in Roughton Woods, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. The still deadly gas was found by two people who were […]

SOF Pic of the Day: Special Operations Surgical Teams save lives

U.S. Air Force Special Operations Surgical Teams practiced integration operations with a special operations partner force during a Special Tactics exercise, Hurlburt Field, Fla., Oct. 16, 2015. SOST members are military medical professionals selected to provide battlefield trauma and other surgical support in a special operations mission set. SOST members often forward deploy to austere […]

On this day in history: Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Baghdad

On October 19th, 2004, an aid worker by the name of Margaret Hassan was kidnapped to be murdered weeks later. Hassan held a dual citizenship between England and Iraq, having been married to Tahseen Ali Hassan and moving to Iraq with him in the ’70s.  She taught English at the British Council of Baghdad and […]

SOF Pic of the Day: Spanish special operations forces aboard the USNS Saturn

Spanish special operations forces stand guard over USNS Saturn crew members who played the role of a hostile ship crew during a mock boarding exercise conducted as part of Exercise Sea Saber 2004. The exercise focused on the interdiction of a maritime shipment of weapons of mass destruction and related material on the high seas. […]

Weird Gun Wednesday: Elgin Cutlass Pistol

Back in the early 19th century, simple, muzzle-loaded pistols were about the best you could hope for when it came to a sidearm. And that didn’t amount to much: They generally held only one round, were smoothbore (synonymous with the word ‘inaccurate’), and slow to reload. In this regard, edged-weapons such as swords or cutlasses […]

SOF Pic of the Day: The wind through your fingers

A member of the U.S. Army 20th Special Forces Group sticks his hand out of UH-60 Black Hawk to feel the wind during Emerald Warrior 2014, Gulfport, Miss., May 5, 2014. Emerald Warrior is an annual, joint exercise to train special operations, conventional and partner nation forces in combat scenarios designed to hone special operations […]

On this day in SOF history—October 18th: Special Forces legend Larry Thorne, veteran of Finland, Nazi Germany, and the United States, is killed in Vietnam

On this day: October 18th 1965—Before Special Forces Captain Larry Thorne was tragically killed in combat in Vietnam, he had already lived a legendary career spanning multiple continents, careers, nations, and wars. Born Lauri Allan Törni in Finland, as a young man Thorne led Finnish soldiers in their war against the Soviet Union in 1939-1940, […]