Delta Dreamscape: The Mortar Ring

Delta Dreamscape: The Mortar Ring

(Dedication for this write goes to our SOFREP family sister Ms. Charlotte) Preface: my recent 36-day stay in the hospital began with an emergency surgery that left my entire abdomen open for a period of 3 days before surgeons were satisfied with the disposition of my sepsis to close my abdomen. Following surgery, I remained […]

The Haunting Begins: Rescue mission with James Shorten

The Haunting Begins: Rescue mission with James Shorten

[Editor’s Note: This is the sixth in a series of exclusive SOFREP stories of what led to the MACV-SOG Bright Light mission that haunts SOG Green Beret SSG James H. Shorten (Jones) to this day. It has taken him back to Cambodia twice and he hopes to return to Cambodia in 2018 to help DPAA […]

Exfil under fire: Rescue mission with James Shorten

Exfil under fire: Rescue mission with James Shorten

  [Editor’s Note: This is the fifth in a series of exclusive SOFREP stories of what led to the MACV-SOG Bright Light mission that haunts SOG Green Beret SSG James H. Shorten (Jones) to this day. It has taken him back to Cambodia twice and he hopes to return to Cambodia in 2018 to help […]

Op-Ed: Thoughts from a soldier deployed during the 2013 shutdown

Op-Ed: Thoughts from a soldier deployed during the 2013 shutdown

As Congress just passed a bill, stopping the government shutdown from happening just one day shy of their deadline, everyone seems to be talking about the implications should another government shutdown actually occur. The last such shutdown happened in 2013, and though they passed a bill to pay military personnel that year, that particular bill […]

Live or die in Cambodia: Rescue mission with James Shorten

Live or die in Cambodia: Rescue mission with James Shorten

[Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of exclusive SOFREP stories of what led to the MACV-SOG Bright Light mission that haunts SOG Green Beret SSG James H. Shorten (Jones) to this day. It has taken him back to Cambodia twice and he hopes to return to Cambodia in 2018 to help DPAA […]

JP’s Adventures in Spyland: Sightseeing and a bit of shopping

JP’s Adventures in Spyland: Sightseeing and a bit of shopping

Check out Part 1, “Room Service” here. Once I had “paper walked” — mapped — my tentative routes and filled my belly, I figured that it was time to hit the streets and do some spy sh-. OK full disclosure – “spy sh-” meant, at that point, nothing more than looking like the bumbling, lost […]

So close, yet so far: Rescue mission with James Shorten

So close, yet so far: Rescue mission with James Shorten

[Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of exclusive SOFREP stories of what led to the MACV-SOG Bright Light mission that haunts SOG Green Beret SSG James H. Shorten (Jones) to this day. It has taken him back to Cambodia twice and he hopes to return to Cambodia in 2018 to help DPAA […]

Into Cambodia: Rescue mission with James Shorten

Into Cambodia: Rescue mission with James Shorten

[Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of exclusive SOFREP stories of what led to the MACV-SOG Bright Light mission that haunts SOG Green Beret SSG James H. Shorten (Jones) to this day. It has taken him back to Cambodia and he hopes to return to there in 2018 to help DPAA officials […]

A Delta man’s message: Where is gratitude?

A Delta man’s message: Where is gratitude?

(Dedication for this essay goes to the anonymous soul who sent me the amazing gift of relaxation) Give words of gratitude? A gesture that knows no bounds; it coaxes the eager patron and gifts him immeasurable joy. I, being sound of mind and mending body, do revel in the juggernaut of compassion and support from […]

Retired Delta; My less-than-finest hour

Retired Delta; My less-than-finest hour

(with dedication to brother J.D. Stevens) Yes, I remember it well; like it was yesterday. A day largely devoid of any and all self-esteem. Yeah, self-esteem was not meant to prevail on this day of days; it was written in the stars that night. “You need to yet have a bowel movement, Mr. Hand. It […]

Finding the ‘lost’ land navigation point at Camp Mackall

Finding the ‘lost’ land navigation point at Camp Mackall

Many of the training pieces that deal with either the Selection Course or the SFQC (Special Forces Qualification Course) we write from a perspective of one of the cadre members, which I was for a time during the early days of Selection. Passing Selection and the SFQC was/is no easy task and many of the […]

JP’s Adventures in Spyland:  Room service

JP’s Adventures in Spyland: Room service

Note: The following articles in this series may have taken place during real-world events… or it may have just been a training exercise… either way, no methods, sources or secrets were or will be divulged. This is all generic stuff that you can read in any “spy” novel—so take a puff of your inhaler and […]