CENTCOM

The 6,000 page Pentagon report on the ambush in which ODA 3212 was caught near Tongo Tongo, Niger, in October of 2017 is now complete; according to the Wall Street Journal, family members have been briefed and now Congressional leaders will be briefed prior to a sanitized version of the report being released to the […]

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced the commencement of the annual training exercise known as “Exercise Eager Lion 18” from April 18-26, 2018. Approximately 3,600 service members from the U.S. will work alongside their Jordanian counterparts in order to better train cooperatively for any future engagements the countries may endure together. This culminating exercise […]

In 2003, China became only the third nation in history to launch a manned mission to space, joining Russia and the United States in the elite club of orbital powers. Since then, and despite having some serious catching up to do, China’s space program has seen significant advances, including the launch of a form of […]

The Russian Ministry of Defense released a barrage of statements to state-owned media outlets this week, claiming that an American F-22 fighter was chased away from Russian bombing runs in Syria by the Kremlin’s advanced Su-35s fighter.  There’s just one problem: according to U.S. officials in CENTCOM, this first interaction between these two storied fighters […]

The United States successfully killed one of al-Qaida’s senior leaders in the Arabian Peninsula, Abu Khattab al Awlaqi, in an airstrike conducted in Yemen’s Shabwah governorate on June 16, according to Defense Department and CENTCOM releases. Abu Khattab al Awlaqi, the emir for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed alongside two of his group’s […]

According to a press release provided by U.S Central Command, American forces conducted a raid on an Al Qaeda compound on the Arabian Peninsula on Tuesday.  Initial reports indicate that the raid was a success, resulting in the death of seven terrorist combatants with no reports of U.S. casualties released thus far. The raid reportedly […]

On Saturday, President Trump congratulated the commanders of the two Navy vessels tasked with launching 59 Tomahawk missiles at an Assad-controlled air base in Syria last week.  He then followed his telephone conversations up on Twitter, extending his praise into the digital sphere. “Congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the United […]

Secretary of Defense James Mattis, accompanied by Army General Joseph L. Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, appeared before the press at the Pentagon on Tuesday to address questions that persist regarding the April 6th missile strike against the Syrian airfield reportedly responsible for a chemical attack carried out against civilians earlier in that week. […]

The Islamic State is packing civilians into buildings and baiting the United States into bombing them in order to maximize civilian casualties, a Department of Defense spokesman said. “What you see now is not the use of civilians as human shields,” Colonel Joseph Scrocca said. “Now, it’s something much more sinister. ISIS is smuggling civilians […]

President Trump has signed off on a proposal which allows the U.S. Africa Command to launch its own offensive airstrikes against militants in Somalia. The move extends authority to launch strikes down the chain of command to the regional military commander. In the Obama administration, authorization for such uses of force resided solely in the […]

CENTCOM Commander General Joseph Votel says that Iran is the greatest threat to regional stability in the Middle East, and the U.S. should look to disrupt their activities through military or other means. General Votel gave testimony before the House Armed Services Committee yesterday, where Iran and its disrupting and confrontational presence in the greater […]

Many years ago I was sitting in a hangar on a summer afternoon at Fort Benning.  I was a 19-year-old soldier going through the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP) to hopefully become a member of the Ranger Regiment.  An older gentlemen came and sat down next to me.  We were all wearing our T-10 Charlie static […]