Specialoperations

Three of the biggest issues that stop candidates from being selected are Physical Fitness preparation, Rucking, and Land Navigation

Recently we touched on a subject that is in the news about how junior NCOs (E-4 – E-6) aren’t doing well overall with navigation with a map, protractor, and compass. As we mentioned prior, Land Navigation is a critical skill that every Special Operator must possess and if you are an aspiring member of the […]

When attempting to pass the various Selection courses in the military, we tend to lean towards the physical preparation but speak about the courses being mostly mental in nature. Well, the two definitely go hand-in-hand as the more physically prepared you are, the more confident you will be when tackling the next obstacle in your […]

We publish a daily workout regimen that we post for all of the aspiring Special Operations candidates to properly prepare themselves physically for the various Selection courses. And Sunday was supposed to be a long rucksack march. But Mother Nature decided to throw us all a curve here in the Northeast. Our first major winter […]

Thanks to the film “300”, the Spartan lifestyle and their iconic Hoplite helmet has become a popular one among military age males and is frequently used ad campaigns or on t-shirt designs. But what was life like, as a Spartan male who would eventually become part of their military? We’ll take a quick look at […]

Just five weeks after the horrible events that unfolded on 9/11 back in 2001, the United States answered. Coalition air forces were already hitting targets in Afghanistan, taking out terrorist training centers and key government installations. But on that day, the first Special Forces troops infiltrated into Afghan territory from Uzbekistan over the Hindu Kush […]

We frequently get a lot of questions about the Selection part of the training pipeline, what the candidates for the various Special Operations units in the SOF umbrella must pass. Selection, as we say is just the first step, but it is a continuous process and never really ends. Candidates during Selection will be assessed […]

During the Holocaust, it wasn’t just the Jews who suffered at the hands at the Nazis although they bore the brunt of the racism and extermination at the hands of the Germans and their allies during World War II. The Gypsies were also persecuted during the reign of Hitler and his henchmen. The Nazis at […]

The MP5 sub machine gun is one of those guns that even non gun enthusiasts can easily recognize. It was a trailblazing cutting edge serious piece of military hardware when it was released in the mid 1960’s. Even though over 40 years has passed and it’s been largely replaced by reliable short barreled rifles like […]

Cry havoc… Since the time of Greece and the Roman Empire, the dog has been a valued and trusted member of the military. The Romans used a breed of Mastiff that is now extinct. Then, they covered their canines in armor with spiked collars and used them to wreak havoc on their enemies. The use […]

There were 600 of them.  All belonged to Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway’s 9th Parachute Battalion, and were cramped aboard thirty two transport planes winging their way over the English Channel on this momentous night of June 6, 1944.  They’d gone over their assignment during maneuvers, studying maps, and photographs and replaying everything they could remember […]

“…We are what we repeatedly do, Excellence then is not an act but a habit” Aristotle One of the biggest questions we get here at SpecialOperations.com and over at SOFREP for the aspiring SOF candidates is, “What do I have to do to get Selected?” It is a legitimate question if a bit simplistic. There […]