Tag: Special Operations

After a rash of high profile incidents involving the U.S. Special Operations community, Gen. Richard Clarke, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, has ordered a comprehensive review of the culture and ethics in play throughout America’s elite war fighting institutions. Recent incidents have called our culture and ethics into question and threaten the trust placed […]

Recently, I was a guest on a podcast. One of the hosts asked me about skills that I picked up during my career as a Combat Controller (CCT) that have transferred over into my current job as a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter. Without much time to think about it, I quickly responded to him […]

Many of you have been with our community from the beginning – almost seven years at this point. While this site has always been the flagship, many don’t realize that we have several other channels in our portfolio. In addition to NEWSREP we have The Loadout Room (gear and adventure), Special Operations (spec ops history […]

World War II paratrooper Tom Rice talks about why he joined the Army, exploring the jungles of Panama, and how being a risk taker led him into the Airborne prior to the Normandy invasion. He also explains the curious history behind the jump towers at Airborne school. While training for combat, Tom also gets into some […]

Years ago we had a chance to sit down for an interview with Richard “Demo Dick” Marcinko when he was in town for an event in New York City. It was great to get his candid take on why he joined the U.S. Navy, UDT/SEAL training, combat in Vietnam, how SEAL Team Six started, women […]

World War II veteran Tom Rice jumped into Normandy with the 101st Airborne Division’s 501nd Parachute Regiment. In the first segment of our interview, Tom talks about what it was like growing up in Coronado in the 1930’s, catching gofers for 25 cents for the fire department, and then using the money to go watch […]

Recently, Stars and Stripes and several other publications have posted pieces on a proposal for renaming Fort Hood in Texas for Roy Benavidez, the Medal of Honor (MOH) recipient from Lindenau, DeWitt County, Texas. Benavidez was awarded the MOH for extraordinary heroism while rescuing several Americans during the Vietnam War on May 2, 1968.  Normally, […]

U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Collin Green has distributed a letter to the leadership within the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) command structure in which he acknowledges, “We have a problem.” CNN was the first news outlet to obtain the letter in which Admiral Green states, “Some of our subordinate formations have failed to maintain good order […]

Twenty years. That’s how long it took me to realize I’d done something unique, something different. I was young when I started my SEAL career at SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two (SDVT-2). I thought all the team guys at real SEAL teams must have known something I didn’t. They must have known there was no […]

The 75th Ranger Regiment is working with the U.S. Army Operational Test Command’s (OTC) Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate (ABNSOTD) based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to put some new rucksacks through their paces during airborne operations. The Rangers are testing out three different rucksacks that are produced by Mystery Ranch Mountain Backpacks, a […]

Sometimes you read things in the news and are thoroughly amazed and awed by some of the fantastic things people think of and make happen. Other times you can read something and be thoroughly amazed and awed for the opposite reasons and wonder, “What the hell are they thinking?” Recently, the Pentagon has resolved to […]

On the eve of the United States entering World War II, the U.S. was woefully unprepared—both militarily and in the realm of intelligence. The United States did not have a professional intelligence service, but that was about to change. President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the need for a professional global intelligence service. He was worried […]