The value of rest

The value of rest

“I slept like, three hours last night. Studied ALL night,” lied the college student, who still doesn’t understand the material even though they are plenty smart enough and allegedly spent their night “studying.” “Just be glad you got any sleep at all. I was up all night watching TV. Didn’t get a minute of sleep,” […]

How to throw a punch like a Marine

How to throw a punch like a Marine

The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program has been the basic hand-to-hand combat system employed by the United States Marine Corps since 2002, and as I’ve written about in the past, it tends to get dragged through the mud by young guys with limited experience and a lot of bravado. In order to complete recruit training, […]

Saudi Arabia may send armed forces to Syria

Saudi Arabia may send armed forces to Syria

With the United States and coalition forces mission to eradicate the Islamic State caliphate in Syria coming to a close, the Trump administration is looking to fill the void with neighboring forces should coalition troops pull out. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, addressed the topic during a press conference in Riyadh held at the United […]

Nerds in SOF

Nerds in SOF

About three years into my career as a Ranger, I was assigned a team and therefore a fellow team leader. We had crossed paths several times in the past, but he was coming from another platoon so I had never gotten to know him all that well. He was a relatively normal guy, a good […]

Peshmerga deny they are being sent back to Kirkuk

Peshmerga deny they are being sent back to Kirkuk

The Secretary-General for the Ministry of Peshmerga, Jabar Yawar, has refuted the claims that the Kurdish Peshmerga will be deployed to the disputed area of Kirkuk to assist Iraqi Security forces. Yawar stated during a press confrence that, “So far there has been no official meeting between KRG’s Ministry of Peshmerga and Iraq’s Ministry of Defense or between […]

Two Kurdish security officers injured in Turkish airstrike

Two Kurdish security officers injured in Turkish airstrike

Two members of Iraqi Kurdistan’s secret police, the Asayesh a organizations tasked with national security, were wounded by a Turkish airstrike in Semalka. Semalka is a Syria/Kurdistan border crossing outside of Duhok that has now been closed in the aftermath of the strike. Heavy bombardments from artillery and Turkish war planes have been experienced with […]

Manbij prepares for the Turkish military’s attack

Manbij prepares for the Turkish military’s attack

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has now begun threatening to conquer the Kurdish city of Manbij in northern Syria. Manbij is the staging area for a large portion of the Syrian Democratic Forces as well as the United States military. Two coalition service members (a Delta Force and SAS soldier) were recently killed there by […]

Hashd al-Shaabi raid ISIS terror cells

Hashd al-Shaabi raid ISIS terror cells

An Iraqi Federal Police anti-terror unit conducted a raid along side Hashd al-Shaabi forces last week against Islamic State sleeper cells in several villages near the city of Kirkuk. During the raid, one ISIS collaborator (a shepherd) was killed and  5 ISIS militants were arrested. The operation was executed at night. According to reports, Hashd al-Shaabi fighters went […]

Peshmerga look to conduct joint security operations with Iraqi forces

Peshmerga look to conduct joint security operations with Iraqi forces

The Peshmerga are prepared to conduct joint security operations alongside Iraqi counter parts according to officials with the Kurdish security forces. The move to unify their forces comes during the aftermath of the Islamic State conflict. Now that the caliphate has collapsed, ISIS forces are reverting to sleeper cells and insugency based tactics. A series […]

Coalition forces support establishing a modern Peshmerga

Coalition forces support establishing a modern Peshmerga

Nechirvan Barzani, Kurdistan’s Prime Minister, held a meeting with a delegation of British civilian and military officials this week to discuss the modernization of Iraqi Kurdistan’s military forces, specifically the Peshmerga. The meeting was attended by several KRG officials to include deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. A statement released […]

Coalition spokesman says Operation Inherent Resolve is suffering due to Turkish aggression

Coalition spokesman says Operation Inherent Resolve is suffering due to Turkish aggression

In a recent interview, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon who is a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said that the Turkish military’s incursion into Afrin was directly affecting the coalitions efforts to combat the Islamic State. The Syrian Democratic Forces have recently relocated a large amount of their forces in an effort to defend Afrin, effectively […]

A look at sexual assault in militaries around the world

A look at sexual assault in militaries around the world

Sexual assault in the U.S. military has garnered a lot of media attention in the past years, and rightfully so. Sexual harassment and assault within a military bureaucracy can make it more difficult and tedious for victims to come forward — a DOD survey found that 52% of those who came forward were retaliated against […]