By the Spring of 1970 the United States found itself entering a 5th year of combat operations in South Vietnam. Richard Nixon’s pledge of turning the war over through Vietnamization – that is, making the South take over the bulk of the fighting – was underway. Yet hundreds of miles north, in cramped, filthy cells, […]
Perhaps more so than any other tool used by the clandestine services, an accurate map can mean the difference between success and failure, or life and death. The CIA, renowned for its secrecy, has long kept its maps and cartographic methods under wraps. But, in honor of the agency’s Cartography Center’s 75th anniversary, the CIA […]
As actress Jane Fonda attends more protests, this SOFREP editorial-cartoon asks a question that runs through the minds of many Vietnam veterans: Will she ever be prosecuted for her visit to Hanoi, N. Vietnam in 1972, while the United States and its ally S. Vietnam were fighting communist forces in Southeast Asia? She was photographed sitting on […]
Over the past several years, the Chinese government has been not-so-quietly building what they term “defensive outposts” by claiming uninhabited reefs across the South China Sea. This area includes a vast network of tiny underwater reefs and small islands called the Spratlys and the Paracels. These areas have long been in dispute among China, Vietnam […]
This guest post is an excerpt from “Across the Fence” by John Stryker Meyer. Christmas Day 1968 was just another day for Spike Team Idaho. Early that morning ST Idaho was loaded onto Kingbees and flown to the Quang Tri launch site. The early morning rush came to a halt at Quang Tri, as there […]
I thought you guys might enjoy this video I discovered the other day, it gives a nice peek into the world of our Vietnam-era Special Operations units: Before SOCOM: LRRPs, Rangers, UDT/SEALs, Special Forces, MACV-SOG, Force Recon… This article originally published on SOFREP 04.01.2012
When I was with the cadre at the SEAL sniper school, we often went outside of the military for ways to enhance our instruction. One lesson we did not have to go far to find, and one learned by former Prisoners of War (POWs) is the power of flow with regards to visualization. Many POWs […]
In the media of late, SEALs have been lumped in with a great many other SOF units seeming to be just another elite form of a conventional unit. However, due to their many unique assets, frogmen have an illustrious history with many noteworthy accomplishments outside of the predominantly land warfare mission of the last 15 […]
In the Special Forces pipeline, everyone goes to SERE school (Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape). One of the most powerful concepts they teach is winning small victories. If you can win even a small victory, you can stay motivated in an impossible situation. SERE school starts with classroom training on the Code of Conduct, then continues with […]
Tunneling underground is a tried and true tactic of the guerrilla fighter, one that has become especially prevalent amongst those facing Western air power which they simply cannot match. By the same token, it has also been argued that the suicide bomber is another tactic which the guerrilla, or terrorist rather, uses to a militarily superior […]
Medal of Honor recipient Richard Pittman, who traded his rifle for a machine gun to save many of his fellow Marines, has died at the age of 71. “We mourn the loss of an American hero,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said on Tuesday. “Master Gunnery Sergeant Richard Pittman’s commitment to the country and his fellow Marines […]
The Defense Department is close to naming the second director of the recently formed Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency (DPAA), SOFREP has learned. In recent weeks, reliable sources have indicated that the field of candidates has been narrowed down to three people. The wheels of change that lead to the formation of DPAA began […]
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