Second Navy SEAL charged with war crimes, goes to court

The second Navy SEAL implicated in war crimes allegations in Iraq has gone to court. Lieutenant Jacob “Jake” Portier, who commanded Alpha Platoon, SEAL Team 7 in a 2017 deployment in Iraq—the same unit to which Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher belonged—has been accused of dereliction of duty because he didn’t properly supervise Chief Gallagher […]

Warriors needed: Special Operations units offer bonuses to boost ranks

Despite the astounding success of America’s Special Operations Forces (SOF), decades of conflict and consecutive high-tempo deployments have taken their toll. Army SOF units are having trouble filling their ranks. In an attempt to alleviate this conundrum, the U.S. Army is offering financial incentives to applicants willing to try out for SOF units. Although far […]

Army’s search for a new combat boot reveals shortcomings with current designs

In an attempt to improve the soldiers’ well-being and effectiveness the U.S. Army is testing prototypes for its new Army Combat Boot (ACB). The U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Soldier Center settled on a number of prototypes. Over the span of the next four months, the Army will issue them to recruits […]

Propaganda leaflets that talk and listen: The future of psychological operations?

Always striving to increase its effectiveness, the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is aiming to produce leaflets that can talk and listen. Part of a drive for more effective psychological operations (PSYOP), the project is in the early stages of development. SOCOM has managed to create a prototype that is capable of the above. But […]

Lawmaker intervenes in SEAL’s war crimes case

In the latest development to Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher’s court-martial over alleged war crimes, U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California, has intervened and asked President Donald Trump to dismiss the case. “I am significantly concerned that this is another example of the over-aggressiveness of the Navy JAG Corps showing its bias against […]

Indiana Jones and Monuments Men: Meet the British Army’s newest special unit

Archaeologists, art dealers, art crime investigators, and linguists. These are some of the professions to which the British Army is looking in order to fill the ranks of its newest special unit: the Cultural Property Protection Unit (CPPU). Creation of this new unit comes as a result of the British government’s decision in 2017 to […]

Two British SAS Operators Wounded in ISIS Rocket Attack

The fighting in Syria with the U.S. led coalition has claimed more Allied casualties. The British press has reported that two British Special Operations troops were seriously wounded in a missile attack by Islamic State fighters in eastern Syria. The two British troops who are reported to be members of the British 22nd Special Air […]

Two Americans fighting for ISIS have been captured by Syrian Democratic Forces

Two American citizens fighting for ISIS have been apprehended in Syria after Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) special operations units raided an Islamic State compound near the Syria-Iraq border on Sunday. Warren Christopher Clark, a 34-year-old originally from Texas who goes by the name Abu Muhammad al-Ameriki, was arrested along with another American expat—Zaid Abed al-Hamed, […]

Navy SEAL court-martial underway: What’s at stake?

The court-martial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher began on Friday. All in all, Chief Gallagher is charged with four different violations of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). More specifically, the SEAL is accused of murdering a captured teenage ISIS fighter by stabbing him in the neck and body, shooting at unarmed civilians, […]

Hubris or rehearsal? Iran to deploy naval task force close to the US

The Iranian government has announced its intention to deploy a naval task force in the Atlantic Ocean in the next few months. The decision is intended as a response to American and Western belligerence in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. According to the IRNA state news agency, the naval flotilla will depart for […]