Canada Expands Training Mission in Ukraine
The Canadians have confirmed that they will be sending 200+ troop trainers to Ukraine in a non-combat role to assist the Ukrainian defensive effort.
Coalition SOF
Canadian Government Breaks OPSEC: JTF2 Exposed in Kurdistan
The Canadian Armed Forces has released a public apology, concluding that although OPSEC was broken, the resulting risk is miniscule. I hope they are right.
Special Forces Now Lead the Australian Army
For the first time in its 114-year history, the Australian Army’s most senior staff are all Special Forces officers.
GIS and NOCS: Italy’s Law Enforcement Counterterrorism Units
The GIS and NOCS are two of Italy’s finest counterterrorism forces, both with esteemed histories and unique responsibilities in the GWOT.
How I Got Into 22 SAS: Britain’s Special Air Service Selection (Pt. 1)
I was over a week into the UK Special Forces selection course, but I’d been preparing myself for years. I was determined to join the SAS regiment.
Swiss SOF (Pt. 3): Neutral Assaulters
The Swiss ARD 10, Switzerland’s only Special Forces unit, though capable, lacks substantive combat experience compared to its European brothers.
D Squadron, SAS: Operation Barras (Pt. 2)
Note: This article is part of a series. You can read part one here. We already know the basics. The captured British troops serving with the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone were from the Royal Irish Regiment. They were originally part of a detachment that had been deployed to help oversee the evacuation of foreign […]
Swiss SOF (Pt. 2): Train As You (Would) Fight
In part one of this series, we established that the majority of the Swiss SOF community is made up of militia personnel. This means those soldiers are actually civilian professionals such as doctors, bankers, or farmers, and serve their country for a limited amount of time each year. The militia system In Switzerland, male citizens between the […]
Swiss SOF (Pt. 1): A Not-So-Neutral Pedigree
“Do you even operate?” To answer this recurring Internet meme amid the SOF community’s SOCMINT (social media intelligence) chatter, I’ve decided to write about the controversial SOF capability of a neutral country. When talking about Switzerland as a nation that employs a modern military force, most get hung up on the notion that a neutral country would even […]
Germany to form Jack Bauer’s CTU?
The terrorist attacks in Paris, Copenhagen, and most recently in Tunis have compelled the German Federal Minister of the Interior, Thomas De Maizière, to promote the idea of a new counter terrorist unit as part of the federal police. Simultaneous attacks across different locations often overwhelmed police officers and the German Police Union find that […]
An Unlikely Partnership: Australia’s 2nd Commando Regiment and the DEA (Pt. 4)
Note: This is a continuation of a series. Read part three here. This ultimately accelerated the remainder of the staff process and paved the way for our joint operations to get underway. Australia and the SOTG’s Force Element Bravo (FE-B, which was the 2nd Commando Regiment) were now given the green light to partake in […]
Commandos Gone Wild? Setting the Record Straight About “The Fist”
The first time I was made aware that one of my Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) rotation videos had been obtained by the media and was being reported on was early last year. The Sydney Morning Herald published an article on 16 March 2014 titled “DVD exposes Australian commandos at play in Afghanistan.” The […]
