As a professional shooter, it is important never to overestimate your skills, and even more unforgivable to misrepresent your skill level to commanding officers who will probably take those perceptions into account during mission planning. This is especially true of snipers preparing to conduct specialized tasks, like providing target interdiction from a helicopter based platform. […]

According to recent reports, President elect Donald Trump has been turning down the intelligence briefings that the intel community provides to incoming presidents to prepare them for the job.  Instead, Vice President elect Mike Pence is getting the intel briefings just about every day.  When questioned on the matter, Trump’s campaign manager said, “I can’t […]

Over the last twenty four hours, the Syrian Arab Army has made significant advances in Aleppo against FSA and al-Nusra rebels, specifically in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Saeed, Jabal Bastro, and Sakhour.  Widespread reports describe mass surrenders of rebel forces to government troops, as well as civilians making an exodus from rebel held East Aleppo […]

One of the favorite hobbies of many Rangers is to sit around war gaming, as many elite soldiers do, plotting and planning how they would take down various types of targets.  Some of us would engage in lighthearted speculation about the best way to rob a bank.  Smarter Rangers would suggest stealing diamonds or committing […]

In a previous article about Blue Light, America’s first dedicated counter-terrorism unit, one of the Green Berets assigned to the outfit was named Gregory Dailey.  He not only re-designed the Blue Light emblem but also went on to design the HALO jump wings which are still in use by the Army to this day. The […]

On Thanksgiving day, a EOD tech assigned to 5th Special Forces Group was killed in Ayn Issa, Syria.  US CENTCOM (Central Command) announced yesterday that a US soldier was killed by an IED blast, but withheld further details.  To understand why an American Special Forces advisor would be in Ayn Issa with the Kurdish YPG and affiliated […]

Three years ago, SOFREP reported that the People’s Republic of China was conducting gene-doping experiments on their athletes and soldiers. Although it wasn’t mentioned, around this time JSOC was also conducting an experiment with gene doping that made operators stronger. Long frustrated by American laws and medical ethics, JSOC was able to find an exemption by […]

In the 1970’s a new form of warfare was emerging: international terrorism.  Two counter-terrorist missions that America initially found itself unable to cope with were situations in which a terrorist barricaded himself inside a structure with hostages or when hostages were taken inside a tubular vehicle such as an airplane.  While the Army’s premier counter-terrorist […]

First and foremost, no one really knows how American foreign policy is going to change over the next 12 months as the Trump administration enters the White House.  Staff members are still being selected, still have to be approved by Congress, and the Trump transition team is still figuring things out, sometimes as they learn […]

Vladislav Surkov has been described as a gray cardinal, a behind the scenes puppet master working as a special advisor to President Vladimir Putin.  Surkov helps to direct propaganda via state run media outlets in Russia.  His particular brand of disinformation is designed to cause confusion and social turbulence to the point that people just […]

“If you are in the middle of a war, you are the chief of staff of the whole government and army, you don’t flee,” President Bashar al-Assad said in regards to the possibility of him stepping down and leaving his post. “If you are the captain of the ship, when you have a storm, you […]

Green Berets Matthew Lewellen, Kevin McEnroe, and James Moriarty approached the Prince Faisal Airbase in Jordan in their vehicle along with one Jordanian military officer. They were assigned the IA mission, meaning inter-agency, as a part of the CIA’s Timber Sycamore covert operation to train and arm so-called moderate Syrian rebels. At the gate there […]