Coalition SOF

German Naval Commando’s Kampfschwimmer Turns Fifty!

Interview with Captain Thorsten Mathesius, German Navy. Captain Mathesius currently serves as Chief of the German Armed Forces Staff in Potsdam. Q. The German naval commandos’ Kampfschwimmer Company celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on 1 April. You have been an active Kampfschwimmer naval commando for twenty years. You have served in the Kampfschwimmer Company as a […]

GROM and SEAL Joint Operation: Umm Qasr Offshore Oil Terminal

In their first combat outside Polish borders since the end of World War II, the Polish Army took part in combat on Iraqi’s territorial waters in March, 2003. The secret mission was a joint operation of SEAL and GROM operators. Just before the attack on Iraq, Polish GROM was to take over the oil terminal […]

Inside The FSK – Norwegian Special Forces Command: Interview with Tom Bakkeli

Tom Bakkeli is a Norwegian writer and journalist who has written extensively about Norway’s Special Operations units, MJK and FSK. Unfortunately, his books are not available in English, but Tom was gracious enough to spare SOFREP a few minutes of his time to answer some questions about Norway’s allied Special Operations units, which have been […]

Changes in POLSOFCOMM

Amidst the largest reorganisation of the Command structure in the Polish Armed forces in recent years, the Special Operation Forces Command also went through some changes. With the new year, the Branch Commands have been disbanded and substituted by the General Command of the Armed Forces. A new Special Operation Forces Command went operational on […]

Sweden’s SOG Takes Down the Taliban

We hear little about the Special Operations units of Scandinavian nations, but in recent days the veil has been lifted, if only just a little, to give us a small look at what our allied SOF units have been up to in Afghanistan.  Policy-makers in Sweden have refused to confirm or deny any operations that Swedish […]

The Future of Drones in Canada

Everyone who has deployed in a combat zone understands the utility of both intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) drones and strike drones. We could also add other possible roles the drone could have, such as communication relay, electronic warfare, target designation, CBRN drones and so on. Canada has eight different types of UAVs that are either […]

Bending The Minimum Medical Standards: RCAF Pilot Shortage & How It Affects SOF

How does lowering pilot standards affect SOF forces? If you’ve ever been pinned down by gun fire or an overwhelming enemy force in some dark corner of the earth then you know how important air support is, and how much good piloting is appreciated. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is now looking into bending […]

SOF Adventure Sports for Civilians

A time comes in every person’s life that he may no longer do his job to a degree that would satisfy him or his superiors. Special Operations Force (SOF) units are no different and eventually all posts need new men to fill in and keep up the fight. It’s no secret that finding the right […]

JTF2 : Canada’s SOF Part 2

With the Canadian Special Operations Regiment article done, I am now moving towards Canada’s most elite group of soldiers: Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2). JTF2 was created on April 1, 1993 right after the acceptation of federal counter-terrorism by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Before that, the RCMP had a team called Special Emergency Response […]

CSOR: Canada’s SOF part 1

This is a 4-part article about the Canadian Special Operations Command (CANSOFCOM). First one is all about the Canadian Special Operations Regiment. While this is only an introduction of CSOR, I will closely monitor the news about them and write more as the information becomes available to the general public as most of their actions are […]

Living Combat and Dealing With The Afterwards: Part 1

With the conflict in Afghanistan coming to an end for Canada, an alarming percentage of combat veterans suffer from operational stress injuries (OSI) due to combat related events. In fact, about a quarter of the Canadian soldiers who deployed to Afghanistan have some sort of OSIs. I was diagnosed with PTSD with heavy anxiety in […]

PTSD & The Need For Community Support in Canada

Last week, 3 Canadian soldiers committed suicide due to post-traumatic stress injuries. These incidents have raised many questions within the Canadian Armed Forces, or CAF, regarding the availability of treatment and the quality of them. I also just learned that a friend of mine took his life here in base. He deployed two times in […]