Combat Controller gets Silver Star for saving Special Forces team

A Special Tactics Combat Controller (CCT) has been awarded the Silver Star for saving the Special Forces team he was attached to from being overrun by Taliban fighters. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Chris Grove received the Silver Star in a ceremony on November 15. The Silver Star is the nation’s third-highest award for valor […]

Exclusive: Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher was also alleged to have committed murder in Afghanistan

Green Berets assigned to a 3rd Special Forces Group Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) crept forward and took control of the compound ahead of them. The American Special Forces soldiers moved in with Afghan soldiers assigned to the 6th Kandak Commandos, Afghanistan’s frontline counter-terrorism unit. The commandos were not tethered to any one region in Afghanistan […]

US Special Operations Command rolls from the TALOS boondoggle into another with Hyper-Enabled Operator

Four years ago, NEWSREP reported that United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) developed the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS)—a hardened exo-skeleton suit for special operators—and it was really a sham, but promising technologies emerged in the process. From 2015’s “TALOS: Special Operations Powered Armor or Just Another Boondoggle?” Initiated under Admiral William H. McRaven […]

‘Murphy’s Law:’ Culture shock crossfire in Iraq

An excerpt from the new book, “Murphy’s Law: My Journey from Ranger and Green Beret to Investigative Journalist“ When we took that platoon into Mosul, it was a clusterfuck. The Iraqis left their breaching equipment on the Humvees because it was too heavy and they didn’t want to carry it, so our senior Charlie, Mike, […]

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 […]

Kalashnikov unveils new kamikaze drone, already being used by Russian military

During the international defense exhibition known as IDEX 2019, the Kalashnikov Group, the famous rifle manufacturer, revealed a kamikaze-style drone. Judging from the limited information available, the KUB-BLA Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) is very small, with dimensions of 1210 х 950 х 165 mm. “This is an extremely precise and very effective weapon, incredibly hard to […]

BREAKING: US Special Forces attacked in Somalia by Al-Shabab

A U.S. Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) came under attack today in the Bar-Sanguni area near Kismayo in Somalia. The U.S. Special Forces team was in the process of constructing a new Forward Operating Base (FOB) with a large local partner force when they came under sustained mortar fire and machine gun fire from […]

Anti-ISIS operations in Iraq, next stop Tal Afar

With ISIS pushed out of Mosul, the next phase in the campaign is to rid the terrorist organization from the nearby city of Tal Afar.  Located smack dab between Mosul and Sinjar, Tal Afar is a medium-sized city inhabited by both Sunni and Shia but dominated by the Turkmen ethnic group rather than Arabs. As […]

Life in the Green Berets

Special Forces soldiers are grouped into 12-man Operational Detachment Alpha teams or ODA. In this manner, they are organized for unconventional warfare, the only unit in the military specifically designed to fight the type of counter-insurgency operations that America finds itself in today. Because of their task organization and inherent decentralization, each ODA has its […]

Special Forces Small Unit Tactics, More Range Time, and Better Overall Training

The Special Forces Small Unit Tactics portion of the SFQC (Special Forces Qualification Course) is a 13-week program that will provide SF candidates in the SFQC the basic-level tactical combat skills required to successfully operate on a Special Forces A-Team (ODA). The candidates will learn advanced marksmanship, small-unit tactics; mounted operations, Special Forces common tasks, […]