jsoc

Canadian soldier serving in a Tier 1 SOF unit kicked out of the military for theft

A Canadian soldier assigned to the Joint Task Force-2 (JTF2) will be kicked out of the Canadian military for stealing equipment worth thousands of dollars. Last August, a military court had found Corporal Pedro Collier guilty of possessing stolen property. He received a suspended sentence and one-year probation. According to the Canadian publication Ottawa Citizen, […]

Gone too soon: Delta Force legend Robert Horrigan

I’m an idiot. How many times have I told myself not to chat up the owners of the corner kiosks for language training? Pick a kiosk that you don’t have to pass to get to and from your safe house; every time you pass, they will see you and wave you down to chat. If […]

How to foster unit culture in Special Operations

The first parts of this series outlined the realities of what it means to be Special Forces. If you haven’t read those two, I suggest that you start there first. Now that you have a better understanding of what Special Operations is all about, I want you to understand what keeps things operating smoothly once […]

Meet the 5.11 Operator Axe, Spec Ops approved

Sergeant Major Kyle Lamb is the man. He served in Special Operation, primarily Delta Force, for 15 years of his 21-year career. After leaving the military, he formed Viking Tactics or VTAC. VTAC is a training company that designs and even produces numerous pieces of gear. In the design realm, they team up with more […]

How safe are US bases and outposts in Africa?

Benghazi 2012. Niger 2017. Manda Bay 2020. These are just the high-profile cases where American warfighters and diplomats have died in Africa in the last decade. For the most part of the last two decades, the Middle East has captivated the attention of the Pentagon and U.S. media. But Africa has been steadily warming up. […]

Less Blackhawks, more Chinooks for Afghanistan’s premier SOF aviation unit

Afghanistan’s premier Special Operations Aviation unit is slotted to receive an unspecified number of CH-47 Chinooks from the U.S. Established in 2005, the Special Mission Wing (SMW) is the cream of the crop of the AAF. With less than 1,000 pilots and ground personnel in its ranks, the unit was initially designed to support counter-narcotics […]

Stack the bodies and screw the rest: The issue with SOF

After months of investigation, the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has finished its comprehensive review into the professionalism and ethical issues in the Special Operations community. The 69-page report found that Special Operations units are too focused on being lethal on the battlefield and deploy as much as possible. As a consequence, what might appear […]

Op-Ed: The legal conundrum behind the definition of Terrorism

Despite numerous efforts since the 1920s, the international community has failed to define or criminalize “terrorism” in international law. There is a sizeable international disagreement on what exactly defines terrorism. This inability to come to a general agreement is the stem of many shortcomings on the international laws of terrorism. These shortcomings of international law […]

Jihadist involved in the 2012 Benghazi attacks sentenced to 19 years in prison

On the evening hours of September 11, 2012, the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, came under attack. What followed was a determined attack against the consulate, and later against the CIA compound, that resulted in the deaths of four Americans: Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department Information Officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs and CIA […]

Special Operations Tips: The Value of Bottom-up Planning

In the first three articles of this five-part series, you learned what it means to be Special Forces; how those warriors are found; and how they are groomed over time to allow them to accomplish the missions they are tasked with. In this article, I’ll explain why, even with great soldiers and great culture, there still needs to be […]

The Video of the Week: Get a taste of what Ranger candidates learn at RASP

As the military’s—and arguably the world’s—premier special operations light infantry unit, the 75th Ranger Regiment is an ideal place for competitive and ambitious soldiers to begin their career. Physical grit and mental stamina, however, are necessary not only to pass the Ranger Assessment and Selection Process (RASP) but also to remain in the unit.

How Spec Ops helicopters defeat heat-seeking missiles

The MH-47G Chinook helicopter fleet, one of the most important aviation assets of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), is getting a new countermeasure system aimed at improving its survivability on the battlefield. More specifically, the MH-47Gs are being outfitted with the AN/AAQ-24 LAIRCM. This enhancement is a Directional Infrared Counter Measures (DIRCM) system that […]