Specialoperations

With the pressure on the Islamic State growing in the Middle East, and the beating they’re taking in Syria and Iraq, ISIS is changing its recruiting tactics to gather fighters for the fighting in the Philippines. Foreign fighters are defecting by the hundreds in Syria and Iraq, so ISIS is putting the Philippines as their […]

Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, hundreds of foreign fighters for the Islamic State, seeing the writing on the wall, are massing in Syria’s Idlib province with plans to cross into nearby Turkey and find other ways to get back into the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Several dozen former fighters have already made it […]

Shoulders and back day in the gym before heading off to do the SOF (Special Operations Forces) Triathlon. A 3-mile run, a 3-mile rucksack march, and a 300-meter swim with fatigues and boots. Aim to go as fast as you can in each event. Get used to swimming with fatigues and boots. It is much […]

Yesterday we wrote about the tragedy of 9-11 and the horror that we all felt that day 16 years ago as we watched planes fly into the World Trade Center and the thousands of lives that were lost in New York City, in Washington D.C., and in rural Pennsylvania. Almost everyone in the country either […]

A new al-Qaida-inspired militant group, the Ansar al-Sharia Pakistan, whose members have grown disaffected with the Islamic State group in the country, has recently emerged in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi claims to act as a platform for militants who breaking away from the IS. The group, Ansar al-Sharia Pakistan, was reportedly formed by […]

Amazingly, sixteen years after Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, five of the accused terrorists who are still held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are still awaiting trial which isn’t expected until at least 2019. Some of the family of the victims in the attacks of that day say […]

Tuesday is Leg Day at the gym, our favorite, but we’ll begin with pull-ups and towel pull-ups for those who don’t have access to ropes for climbing. The squats and lunges build up the strength in your lower body for carrying a rucksack, which is the bread and butter of SOF. Then a four-mile run […]

It is hard to believe that the awful events on September 11th are now 16 years in the past. Much has changed since then. Our country has been in a constant state of war since that date, and we’re no closer to the end of it than we were on that fateful morning. We, as […]

With Hurricane Irma bearing down on the Caribbean, the Pentagon rushed a neurosurgery team to the Navy base at Guantánamo to operate on the spine of an al-Qaida detainee who was at risk of paralysis. Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, awaiting trial on charges he led the al-Qaida army in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 […]

With both the Syrian Army and the US backed SDF militias advancing on the city of Deir el-Zour held by Islamic State fighters, the U.S.-led coalition has said they are says monitoring the Syrians to ensure they do not cross a deconfliction zone established across the city. “We do monitor and watch where they are […]

A good way to kick the Monday morning doldrums is to get in a good workout. We’ll start with the basics of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, pull-ups, and dips before a 4-mile run. Remember to mark your progress in your workout log book. Going thru a mini-UBRR twice before […]

It is time for our Sunday morning ruck march. We’ll do a six-mile course today over varied terrain, aim for a time better than the standard of 90 minutes. Do a quick warm up of pushups and sit-ups before heading out. Stretch well both before and after the ruck march. Remember to drink plenty of […]