Special Operations

In recent years, the special operations community has been experiencing a noticeable withdrawal of operators from the military. This alarming pattern is being seen across all branches, proving it is not an isolated incident. The question is, why is this happening? To answer this question, the first thing that needs to be understood is what […]

The Navy found a SEAL Team 6 operator guilty of catfishing a woman online. The operator will now spend 30 days in the brig and forfeit $500 from his paycheck for three months ($1,500 t0tal). A Navy court-martial found Special Warfare Operator 1st Class (SO1) Aaron Howard guilty of trying to elicit nude pictures from […]

Have you ever heard the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? Well, this adage comes to mind when I think about the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun and the M79 grenade launcher. Both of these weapons have a very long, respected history and are still in service. They have been used by […]

On Friday, the French announced that they killed more than 30 jihadists in three separate operations over the previous two days in the Sahel. These operations come in the wake of three raids on terrorist camps earlier this year.  These operations took place in the Liptako-Gourma zone in the Sahel region where the borders of […]

Only in recent years has the European SOF community began standing up their own separate commands, such as Norway in 2014 and Denmark, which is in the process of this today.

Robert A. Trivino’s book “A Warrior’s Path: Lessons in Leadership” introduces readers to the journey of a man who would reach the pinnacle of the U.S. special operations world after serving in the U.S. Army’s 18th Airborne Corps, 75th Ranger Regiment, and as an operational member of Delta Force, the Army’s most elite special missions […]

When people hear of Navy SEALs or Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen (SWCC), most think of a scene of guns blazing, cool ass night vision goggles, and fast helicopters and boats slipping through the dark night. In reality, Naval Special Warfare has many different mission sets, including Foreign Internal Defense (FID). FID may not be the […]

Master Sergeant John “Jay” Hasenbein gets dressed for trial in his Army dress uniform, shiny, with more medals than most can imagine, his combat Infantryman’s Badge squeezed in near the top of his shoulder. MSG Hasenbein and his family come to the Fort Campbell, KY gate, and are treated like criminals. They and his vehicle […]

A Canadian soldier assigned to the Joint Task Force-2 (JTF2) will be kicked out of the Canadian military for stealing equipment worth thousands of dollars. Last August, a military court had found Corporal Pedro Collier guilty of possessing stolen property. He received a suspended sentence and one-year probation. According to the Canadian publication Ottawa Citizen, […]

The first parts of this series outlined the realities of what it means to be Special Forces. If you haven’t read those two, I suggest that you start there first. Now that you have a better understanding of what Special Operations is all about, I want you to understand what keeps things operating smoothly once […]

Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest defense contracting corporation, has added General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Dunford, less than six months after his retirement from the Marine Corps. Dunford will assist with Lockheed’s classified business and security committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee. Dunford served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) from […]

After months of investigation, the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has finished its comprehensive review into the professionalism and ethical issues in the Special Operations community. The 69-page report found that Special Operations units are too focused on being lethal on the battlefield and deploy as much as possible. As a consequence, what might appear […]