Niger ambush

Senior Officer Who Approved Niger Ambush Mission Gets Denied General rank

Following the deadly 2017 Niger ambush that resulted in the loss of four U.S. Special Forces troops, Colonel Bradley D. Moses, who approved the ill-fated mission, has been permanently removed from the promotion list to Brigadier General, highlighting the ongoing scrutiny and accountability faced by officers involved in the operation.

Honoring the Niger Special Forces team this Memorial Day

Inconvenient fact: If you peel back the onion and focus on the facts, you will see that the most vocal military veterans on the internet, the ones who scream the loudest, triggered by their own insecurities as they fall into full Budweiser induced retard mode, likely didn’t serve so well. And some didn’t serve at […]

Senate halts promotion of senior Special Forces officer related to the Niger Ambush

Colonel Bradley D. Moses, formerly the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) Commander, is the only officer involved in the 2017 deadly Niger Ambush to have escaped some form of punishment. The ambush resulted in the deaths of three Green Berets and one support soldier. The lack of appropriate training has been the main reason cited […]

US strike kills terrorist leader behind the deadly Manda Bay attack

Last week, a series of U.S. airstrikes killed the terrorist leader behind the attack on the joint American-Kenyan base in Manda Bay. According to the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), the senior al-Shabaab leader was killed inside Somalia, which borders Kenya from the north and provides a safe haven for the Jihadist organization. His wife, also […]

Watch what happens when airborne ops go wrong

Last year, during the annual exercise Flintlock, we wrote an article about the dangers of airborne operations. As this year’s iteration of Flintlock is upon us, it’s prudent to review what went wrong when some Special Operations troops from an African country decided to conduct some airborne training. Bad exits or landings during parachute operations […]

Who we are, where we stand

SOFREP (Special Operations Forces Report) How did we get our name? It was inspired by the military’s use of acronyms in formal communication traffic. We formed in January 2012, due to a general lack of authentic military content in the world and after we recognized an increased online interest in the post-9/11 realm of Military […]

Diplomacy with a big stick: New spec ops chief for Africa faces a hard task

Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAFRICA) welcomed its new chief, U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson, on June 28th. The departing commander, Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Marcus Hicks, said in a statement: “To the men and women of Special Operations Command Africa, you have accomplished so much with so little, so quickly and […]

Niger ambush review: Senior leadership accountability debacle or just burying the facts?

During a U.S. House Armed Services Committee hearing last Tuesday, Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told lawmakers the long-awaited Niger ambush report will go through yet another review. The report concerns the botched Niger operation that took place in October 2017 and cost the lives of four Americans. Justifying his decision, Shanahan said his […]

Special operations gone wrong: Watch this year’s ugliest parachute jump

Bad exits or landings during parachute operations aren’t uncommon. Throwing people, often laden with dozens of pounds of equipment, out of an aircraft inevitably invites trouble. Parachuting is inherently dangerous, whether the jump is static line (the parachute opens automatically as the paratrooper exits the aircraft) or free fall. Naturally, parachute training is complex and […]