SOCOM’s ‘Hyper Enabled Operator’ concept progresses

One of the more interesting items to come out of the recent vSOFIC (virtual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference) in Tampa last week was that the Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) concept for a Hyper Enabled Operator (HEO) is progressing. The two-year program, built off a failed concept program, is designed to give special operators enhanced […]

Iran embassy takeover forty years ago helped shape today’s SOCOM

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 […]

The Pic of the Day: SOCOM’s Demonstration Team

Members of the SOCOM demonstration team prepare to jump during the 2019 Fort Wayne Air Show at the Fort Wayne Air National Guard Base, Indiana on June 9, 2019. The 122nd Fighter Wing hosted a free public airshow June 8-9, 2019 featuring an aerial show by the Thunderbirds, the 122FW’s own A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft […]

No days off: Rucking early on Christmas morning

Before celebrating Christmas with the family today it was time for some exercise. I was up before the sun and since everyone was sleeping in as we had been out late visiting family on Christmas Eve, I decided to take advantage of the quiet time to get some rucking in…and to work off some of […]

SOCOM is testing a ‘mind reading’ system that can help SOF troops conduct interrogations

In the Netflix series, “Daredevil,” superhero-lawyer Matt Murdock has an, arguably, unfair advantage over criminals in court: He can use his heightened senses to measure changes in a person’s biometrics like heart rate, perspiration and temperature. Over the years, he’s developed a pretty attuned understanding of how these physiological responses correlate with things like nervousness […]

Operation Red Dawn: Saddam Hussein captured December 13, 2003

On the evening of December 13, 2003, in the small Iraqi town of ad-Dawr outside of Tikrit, elements of Task Force 121, and the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Hussein hid in a spider hole and was found by a Delta Force operator. The operation was named after the […]

Benjamin Church and the beginnings of the Rangers in Colonial New England

While the majority of people associated with our Special Operations Forces consider Robert Rogers as the father of the Ranger Regiment, his troops weren’t the true first American Rangers, that distinction, which outside of historians in New England many people don’t know, falls to Benjamin Church. Benjamin Church created the first true Ranger force, circa […]

Learn how to prepare for cold weather prior to Spec Ops selection

Because most of our military bases are in the southern United States, one area that can be neglected, especially when preparing for Special Operations training is cold weather training.  It is surprising how many young people who enter the military don’t know or understand the basics of cold weather preparation. First some of the basics; […]

The Pic of the Day: Indian Ambassador visits SOCOM

Army Col. Harold Miller, left, U.S. Special Operations Command director of J3 International, and Navy Vice Adm. Timothy Szymanski, USSOCOM deputy commander, welcome Indian Ambassador to the United States His Excellency Harsh Vardhan Shringla during his visit to USSOCOM headquarters on MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., Nov. 22, 2019, as USSOCOM reaffirms its commitment to […]

USASOC turned 29 years old this week

Time flies when you are having fun, or in the case of the United States Army Special Operations Command, when you are employed so heavily, the years, never mind the days and months fly by. In 1989, USASOC was activated and although it wasn’t that long ago, the world, as well as the command has […]