SOF

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 […]

Interview with Stu Bradin, President of the Global SOF Foundation

The face of war has changed in the past two decades. While the world’s bad guys and the terrorists have been continually morphing and popping up around the globe, as they’re stomped out in one place and reappearing in another, the “good guys” of the world need to network, innovate, and operate, globally.  That’s why […]

Winning hearts and minds the Special Air Service way

Read part 2 here “For all their limitations, I don’t believe we could’ve won the war without the firqats,” says Ian Gardiner, a former Royal Marines officer with extensive service to include deployments in Oman, Northern Ireland, and the Falklands. Before we delve into what the firqats, literally meaning a company, were and their operations with the SAS, […]

Pararescueman recognized for his role in the Thai Cave rescue operation

A Pararescueman (PJ), who played a key role in the rescue of a boys soccer team from a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018, was chosen as one of the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year. Technical Sergeant Ken O’Brien, who is assigned to the 320th Special Tactics Squadron (320th STS) out in Kadena Air […]

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 […]

Pentagon releases new Artificial Intelligence guidelines

The U.S. Department of Defense released a set of guidelines for how artificial intelligence (AI) should be deployed on the battlefield. These guidelines are intended to provide for the ethical use of new technologies that are increasingly defining modern warfare. Among the principles laid out was the call for personnel to “exercise appropriate levels of […]

The UBRR Test: Designed by Delta Force for the SOF community

A few years ago, we wrote a piece about preparing our candidates for Selection and, in regards to the Physical Fitness test, training for the Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) rather than the old, outdated 3-Event Physical Fitness test. The Army is finally ditching the antiquated 3-Event PT Test, for the new 6-Event Combat Fitness […]

The Winds of Change Blow in Africa: 101st Paratroopers out, Security Forces in

The Pentagon’s decision to replace elements of an infantry brigade of the 101st Airborne with elements of the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) has long been in the works.  This will accomplish two tasks: Firstly, it will provide better continuity in training missions with a unit designed to train foreign troops, thereby freeing up […]

American SOF kick off Operation Flintlock in the Sahel

Operation Flintlock: American special operators have teamed up with Special Operations Forces from 30 other countries to hone their tactics and intelligence-gathering capabilities in the Sahel region. This exercise, which has been ongoing since 2005, has been designed to bring special operators together so they can talk, communicate and build better cohesion among the units […]

MSG Hasenbein fights back and files charges against his command

MSG Hasenbein, a U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, is being charged with assaulting a roleplayer employed by F3EA during a training exercise. Master Hasenbein’s attorney has filed a Defense Motion to Dismiss his court-martial for Unlawful Command Influence (UCI) and moves that the court dismiss all charges and specifications with prejudice. The charges against […]

Army offers huge bonuses to Special Forces Warrant Officers

$100,000. That’s what the Army is offering to Special Forces Warrant Officers in case they reenlist. Special Forces (SF) warrant officers are combat leaders and staff officers. They are experienced subject-matter experts in unconventional warfare, operations, intelligence fusion, and planning and execution at all levels across the operational continuum. Special Forces warrant officers advise commanders […]

Special Operations base in Syria attacked by rogue Iranian militias

What has been described as a “rogue Iranian-led militia” has breached the 55 km deconfliction zone around the U.S Special Operations base at al-Tanf and attacked MAT, an anti-ISIS unit trained by the U.S. Maghaweir al-Thowra (MAT) is a group that has been trained, equipped and led by American and coalition SOF operators in the […]