Ten years gone: A 160th SOAR crew lost

Ten years gone: A 160th SOAR crew lost

Editor’s note: This article was written by Matthew Gardner in 2014 and is being republished on the 10th anniversary of this tragic incident. I began October of 2009 as I had many other months of the preceding few years…beginning a 60 day rotation in Afghanistan, flying the MH-47G for special operations forces across the country. […]

This is why Navy SEAL training is the toughest in the world

This is why Navy SEAL training is the toughest in the world

If America was to survive the bloody deed of taking fortified beaches would have to be mastered. This would require the toughest of men to be trained to the most demanding of standards and that’s what we did. Eight months after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the Amphibious Scouts and Raiders school was established to train […]

Trump lifts sanctions on Turkey as he declares ‘permanent’ ceasefire with the Kurds

Trump lifts sanctions on Turkey as he declares ‘permanent’ ceasefire with the Kurds

President Trump announced on Wednesday that he would be lifting sanctions placed on Turkey over their military offensive against U.S.-partnered Kurdish forces in Northern Syria, following the establishment of what he called a “permanent ceasefire” between the two groups. The president went on to declare that, despite receiving harsh criticism from officials on both sides […]

US forces bombed their own base in Syria to keep Turkey from getting to their ammo

US forces bombed their own base in Syria to keep Turkey from getting to their ammo

Shortly after President Donald Trump ordered U.S. troops out of Northern Syria, a pair of U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles carried out an airstrike against the LaFarge Cement Factory base in the region, which had served as a joint U.S. Special Operations and Syrian Democratic Forces installation since it was liberated from ISIS control […]

Shorter and easier? Big, controversial changes are coming to the Special Forces pipeline

Shorter and easier? Big, controversial changes are coming to the Special Forces pipeline

There recently was a story published that has the entire Special Forces community abuzz. The title stated that “big changes” were coming for the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC). And whenever change comes to a qualification course it always draws heavy scrutiny from the members, but especially the former members of the Regiment who worry […]

Watch: Russian mercenaries take control of abandoned US camp in Syria

Watch: Russian mercenaries take control of abandoned US camp in Syria

Videos surfaced on Twitter in the past week that appear to show Russian mercenaries contracted to the Syrian government via the paramilitary Wagner Group assuming control of an abandoned American installation in Northern Syria. American troops left the base willingly after President Trump issued an order to withdraw from the region, providing Turkey with the […]

War Stories: Navy Survival and Prisoner of War School

War Stories: Navy Survival and Prisoner of War School

After nearly a year out east, I returned to California in January of 1994 with orders to report to HS-10, the helicopter training squadron in San Diego where I would spend six months learning the ropes before finally deploying as part of an operational squadron. But there were a few more hurdles to clear first, […]

Active duty Green Beret to receive Medal of Honor for 2008 Afghanistan raid

Active duty Green Beret to receive Medal of Honor for 2008 Afghanistan raid

The White House announced on Thursday that President Trump will present the nation’s highest award for military valor, the Medal of Honor, to Master Sgt. Matthew Williams for his heroism in combat during a raid in the mountains of Afghanistan in 2008. Williams, who was assigned to Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 3336 during the […]

Artificial Intelligence and SOF Selection: How MARSOC is looking for its future operators

Artificial Intelligence and SOF Selection: How MARSOC is looking for its future operators

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 […]

War Stories: Navy SEAL Sniper School

War Stories: Navy SEAL Sniper School

In the spring of 2000 our eighteen-month work-up concluded with an Operational Readiness Exam (ORE), conducted off San Clemente Island, in which a small group of us simulated a covert tagging and tracking op on an enemy vessel. There were some tricky issues with water currents on the way back in, and things got sketchy. […]

The Rhodesian SAS Files: What was the Rhodesian SAS?

The Rhodesian SAS Files: What was the Rhodesian SAS?

In this SOFREP exclusive interview, we sat down with Keith Nell, the Rhodesian Special Air Service operator who was assigned to hunt down and eliminate the terrorists responsible for what has been called “Rhodesia’s 9/11.” By 1978, the Rhodesian Bush War between ZIPRA and ZANLA communist terrorists had terrorized the local villages in the area. […]

How to think and reason like a Special Operator

How to think and reason like a Special Operator

This is probably an article that would better suit my own personal blog, as it isn’t an opinion piece, expert analysis, and certainly wouldn’t be considered special operations or intel. It’s simply a rant about society and the plague of conspiracy theories we’re faced with daily, coming from a soldier who has simply had enough. […]