Pineland Role Players Show Importance of Popular Support in Unconventional Warfare

The final training in Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) is the Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise “Robin Sage”, which we went over in detail in an earlier post, that you can read here. The prospective Green Berets put all their training together and infiltrate into the fictional country of Pineland via an airborne operation. The SF […]

Special Forces Detachment Korea: The Det gets orphaned in Korea! (Part 8)

Read Part 7 Here As a Confucian society, one of the problems that many in the South Korean military faced was, and continues to persist, that they are not free thinkers. Their Special Forces are task organized like 12-man American Special Forces teams but their mission is more direct action than unconventional warfare. This makes […]

Special Forces Detachment Korea: South Korea deploys to Vietnam (Part 6)

Read Part 5 Here In order to understand North Korean thinking, it must be stated that they have a guerrilla mindset derived from state-sponsored propaganda about the Kim family. Kim Il-sung positioned himself as an anti-Japanese guerrilla who served in a sniper unit, killing the oppressors of the Korean people—a claim that is historically dubious […]

Three Green Berets murdered in Jordan, now the families speak out

Today the families of SFC Matthew Lewellen, SSG Kevin McEnroe and SSG James (Jimmy) Moriarty held a press conference to demand accountability from the Jordanian government after one of their soldiers identified as Muarek Abu Tayeh brutally murdered the three 5th Special Forces Group soldiers during a routine checkpoint stop outside a military facility. Part of the […]

Inside the Green Berets’ hunt for wanted warlord Joseph Kony

HAUTE-KOTTO PREFECTURE, Central African Republic — The helicopter settles in the elephant grass, rotor wash flattening the six-foot-tall fronds. The first man on the ground is Travis, a brawny Green Beret with a solemn demeanor. He scans the treeline, carbine at the ready, and the rest of the soldiers follow. Three Ugandan troops lead the […]

Never underestimate your opponent

I retired 180-A, Special Operations Technician and spent the majority of my Special Forces time working in Central and South America. I earned a CIB in Operation Desert Storm prior to my retirement in 1992 and was a member of the coveted P.I.G Team, also known as a “Green Light” Team in 7th SFG. I […]

Detachment A: Green Berets play cat and mouse with communist agents (Part 2)

Read Part One HERE Det A was the Army’s clandestine Special Forces unit stationed in Berlin during the Cold War.  Charged with the “stay behind” mission, these Green Berets would prepare to conduct acts of sabotage in Berlin in the event that the Soviets ever invaded.  When new members arrived at Det A, they would […]

Why US Special Forces should recruit refugees and immigrants

In 2006, a group of senior sergeants in 3rd Ranger Battalion began growing out their beards on Fort Benning, Georgia.  It was an unusual sight within a unit famed for its “high and tight” haircuts.  The group of Rangers was being detailed to a secret mission in Pakistan, one which would attempt to relaunch the […]

Until Dawn: The Battle of Boz Qandahari

After landing in a flooded field outside Boz Qandahari Village, Kunduz Province, Afghanistan on the night of Nov. 2, 2016 and as they trudged a mile toward their target through mud up to their waists, Army Sgt. 1st Class Morrison, the senior medical sergeant , 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), remembered thinking, “Alright, yeah, that’s […]

Green Beret Combat Divers play as Russian Spetsnaz

I was with 1st Group of the Green Berets (GB) Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 155 at Aleutian Island chain Naval Air Station (NAS) Adak, Alaska. We were the combat dive detachment in my battalion. We were been given a most unusual mission to execute in Adak as part of a training exercise: mimic a Russian Spetsnaz […]