Rethinking the SF company—can smaller teams, more support staff, and less admin free Green Berets to focus on what matters: training?

SOFREP’s newest weekly columnist, former Green Beret Curtis Fox, is diving deep into Army Special Forces, OSS history, and much-needed DoD reforms. Buckle up!

From Shanghai’s ‘Gutter Fighting’ to modern special ops, CQB evolved through grit, innovation, and a relentless spirit to adapt and survive.

The roots of special operations forces can be traced back to the strategic challenges of World War II.

Explore the Green Beret’s history, weapons, and key battles in this definitive guide by former SOCOM members.

During World War II, many of the best operatives of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), were women. They worked undercover, putting their lives at risk in occupied France, and running agent networks, conducting sabotage, and training the French Maquis.  Many lost their lives or went sent […]

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was an intelligence-gathering and paramilitary organization created during World War Two, one that was so successful that it led to the creation of both the CIA and Special Forces after the war. To this day, many intelligence professionals look back at the OSS in admiration and with nostalgia for […]

General Donovan motivated the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) research and development branch to fabricate weapons in-house for officers in the field. These weapons ranged from the amazingly complex to the remarkably fundamental. OSS guns and blades were intended for simple but effective use. American servicemen going into harm’s way had a variety of ingenious places to hide small, even miniature, compasses for […]

As a former Special Forces soldier, I love reading books about the Special Operations Forces of not only the United States but other countries as well. But after devouring everything I could get my hands on about Special Forces during the Vietnam war especially those men from SOG some of whom trained me when I […]

The story of Virginia Hall reads like the script of a Hollywood spy film, except that her exploits were true. She was an operative for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), later the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and finally the CIA. Despite the loss of her lower leg in a hunting accident, Hall […]

The CIA and the US Army Special Forces’ heritage is linked directly from the World War II OSS (Office of Strategic Services). Many of the operators who pulled classified missions for the OSS later became intelligence professionals or the original Special Forces troops. One such operator was William Colby who commanded Jedburgh teams in France […]

During World War II, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), Special Operations Branch had recruited foreign language speakers who would volunteer for hazardous duty behind enemy lines and parachute into denied territory. The Jedburgh teams were born. Wanted: Volunteers for immediate overseas assignment. Knowledge of French or another European language preferred; Willingness and ability to […]

Just a few short months after Pearl Harbor, the United States was locked in a global war with both the empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. And the country had no formal intelligence gathering apparatus. So, in July 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and appointed BG William “Wild […]

OSS – UNDERCOVER | SPY TRAINING FILM – ca. 1942 – ca. 1945: Analyze preparation, arrival, establishment, and “prevalent cover” for secret agents by presenting one movie within another, as introduced by Colonel Robertson, chief of Schools and Training at Office of Strategic Services. R.1: Gives examples of agents discovered because of inattention to details, […]

In February 1945, a small group of personnel assigned to the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime spy agency, scrambled to prepare for a particularly risky mission: inserting a team of agents deep behind Nazi lines with the goal of gleaning crucial enemy information. For a host of reasons, the proposed operation seemed like a suicide mission. […]

In a previous article, I wrote about the Office of Strategic Services Congressional Gold Medal Act (HR 3929) which was introduced in 2015 by the OSS Society with the hopes of awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in recognition of their superior service and major contributions during […]

The legacy of this tough group of volunteers is being carried forward by members of the 75th Ranger Regiment, whose crest is the Merrill’s Marauder patch, which has never officially been authorized.

Soon she’d been dispatched to the Adriatic coast to analyze aerial photographs of concentration camps and plan troop drops. She was 21.

A spy-vs.-spy race to secure naturally enriched uranium from Congo to fuel the Manhattan Project and keep the rare mineral out of Nazi hands.

The Legion of Merit was formally presented at Rader’s funeral.
“Stephanie chose the life of a warrior,” said U.S. Army Capt. Azande Sasa, the presiding chaplain at the ceremony. “She has earned her place among those honored here.”