Afghanistan

The Pic of the Day: Meet the Navy Corpsman who won the Army’s Best Medic competition

Hospitalman Shane McGuire won the Best Medic competition at Kandahar Airfield (KAF) on August 9, 2019.  McGuire was the only U.S. Navy Corpsman to enter the competition, which consisted of 15 U.S. Army medics and Romanian contingent medical personnel. The competition was sponsored by the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, and competitors came from surrounding Forward […]

It just won’t end: Another Special Forces operator killed in Afghanistan

In what turned out to be an awful month for the Special Forces community, the Pentagon released the name of yet another Green Beret killed in action in Afghanistan on August 29. Sergeant First Class Dustin Ard was killed by small-arms fire during a joint operation with Afghan Special Operations Forces (SOF). The U.S. Special […]

How to become a Navy SEAL sniper: The only easy day was yesterday

To prove the value of mental management and rehearsal, I would often relate a true story related to the topic. A Navy fighter pilot was shot down in Vietnam, captured and imprisoned for years in the famous prisoner of war camp the “Hanoi Hilton”. The pilot was an avid golfer back home, and to get […]

Ranger killed by secretive Afghan SOF unit

On November 2018, a Ranger was killed during a raid against al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan. Sergeant Leandro Jasso, a team leader serving at the 2nd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, was mortally wounded during room-clearing operations in the Kash Rod district, Nimruz province. At the time of the incident, the Army had announced that Sgt. […]

How to become a Navy SEAL sniper: A special breed

The cold morning air hung thick in the Afghan valley. Each warm exhale would briefly fog the outside corner of my riflescope as I waited and maintained a clear view of my target. I could make out a middle-aged man, in traditional Afghan dress, with a crook in his step, perhaps a wound and story […]

SEAL Team 6: Naval Special Warfare’s elite

The public description of Naval Special Warfare’s Development Group for years has reflected its name. An organization whose primary purpose was to develop tactics and strategies supporting operations from the sea, air or land. This was the accepted description of DEVGRU. Naval Special Warfare Development Group was tasked with the management and testing of both […]

When terrorists attack, Aussie Commandos are ready

Within mere hours of a group of terrorists hijacking a passenger ferry in Sydney’s Middle Harbour, Australian commandos were already above and beside their target. Six rigid-hulled inflatable boats packed with operators whizzed toward the ship. In the sky, a flock of Blackhawk helicopters circled to fast-rope additional assault teams and provide critical aerial sniper […]

Forget China and Russia, terrorists are still a major threat

It is an undeniable fact that the U.S. military has been gradually shifting its focus from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations to near-peer threats, such as China and Russia. Navy SEALs have been practicing with increased frequency in the Pacific in anticipation of a potential conflict with the former. Special Forces teams are rotating more frequently […]