operator

The key to building an effective EDC loadout isn’t just about what you carry, but making sure it’s practical, comfortable, and tailored to your everyday life—just like Sean Ryan’s minimalist approach reminds us.

For decades, earning your way onto an elite special operations unit has largely been about your performance on aptitude tests and during physically challenging assessments, but in the very near future, the Marine Corps’ special operations unit known as the Raiders, or MARSOC, may be looking to computers to help identify the best candidates. MARSOC […]

America’s special operations units have seen a dramatic uptick in the missions sets they’ve been tasked with throughout nearly two straight decades of the War on Terror, but despite some overlap in combat operations, each specialized unit has a specific area of expertise to draw from. The Navy SEALs, as most could assume from their […]

The “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” video game series has always included scenes that are intentionally controversial. In “Modern Warfare 2,” one level sees the protagonist acting as an undercover operative in a Russian terrorist cell that raids an airport terminal and murders hundreds of civilians. The protagonist, played by the player of the game […]

Most of us have never had an air superiority fighter strafe us during a gun run. I would venture that most of us would not care to have that happen to us—not at all. Even a simulated gun run is a trouser-crapable event, especially if it catches you by surprise. Such was the case with […]

Little Bird helicopters swept down and dropped the Delta Force operators on the roof of the prison. The helicopters were so heavy with men, weapons, and equipment that some only had one pilot on board due to weight restrictions. The breacher ran forward and set the explosive charge on the door leading down into the […]

Beards are alright; you’ll notice I have one in almost every picture or at the very least a little scruff. Lord knows I hate shaving (which is, mostly, why I have one) and my wife says I look like a scary man-child with a shaved face. Beards are really cool when you’re in the military, mostly […]

“Whenever I sit down at McDonald’s, I scan for exits. I look for reflective surfaces so I can see all angles of all those who come and go. I figure out who might be the greatest threat, and I think of at least two weapons within reach that I could use to defend myself.” I’ve […]

The following excerpt is courtesy of Robert A. Trivino’s book A Warrior’s Path: Lessons in Leadership. Robert is a former member of the US Army’s 18th Airborne Corps, 75th Ranger Regiment, and an operational member of the Army’s elite special missions unit. The book humbly highlights Trivino’s own successes – and particularly his failures – […]

If any of you were wondering ‘why’ the passengers of this helicopter crash were not able to un-strap themselves and exit like the pilot did…read below for a possible explanation. Investigators recovered a flight data recorder and a GoPro camera Tuesday as they tried to determine the cause of a deadly helicopter crash in New […]

You know the trope found in secret agent films and novels alike: the Special Operator that is fluent in four languages, can track phones, build homemade explosives, is a parkour fanatic, a highly trained driver, is an expert tracker, better hacker, a master of like four variations of martial arts, and of course, is an […]

(You can read part IV here) Featured photo: author’s incision as of this writing. Dedication for this essay goes to SOFREP sister Ms. Rita Malone Paul. I surmised, with not too much effort, that the number of times I attempted to unhook from my life support systems to venture off on a more meaningful existence […]