I have some pictures for you guys today from a buddy of mine who trained Malian “Special Operations” soldiers.  His impression of them was that they were horribly unorganized with a severe lack of leadership.  Family status determined who got to be an Officer rather than who was qualified. Much like I saw in Iraq, […]

This Tuesday, White House Counter-Terrorism adviser John Brennan will sit down for the closed door classified portion of his confirmation hearing.  Brennan brings a lot of baggage to the table and has taken some fire from both the Left and the Right for his support of para-military activities and so-called Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.  This last […]

The new debate about women in combat positions is an argument that few seem to be able to think clearly about.  This post will contain some harsh language.  Consider it a part of the selection process  if you are a woman.  If you can’t handle it then you might want to look at another career […]

I am saddened to have to announce the tragic loss of another one of our own.  This has been a hard year for the Special Operations community, perhaps the SEAL community most of all. Today Chris Kyle was shot and killed at a shooting range at the Rough Creek Lodge in Texas, murdered along with […]

Looks like Rangers and 160th Special Operations Aviation doing some dry runs for the full blown hit which will probably happen during the night time today or tomorrow. Of course this will bring with it the usual accusations that the military is training for martial law but the reality is that these are some of […]

By the 1600’s it is known that caravans crossed the Sahara to Tripoli to Timbuktu.

I recently found this article written by anthropologist Bruce Whitehouse who lived and worked in Bamako for five years as a Fulbright scholar.  Bruce hits it on the head with his point by point analysis of Western intervention in Mali.  The reality is that there really is no strategic value of Mali to the United […]

A while back I had to write a term paper for one of my history classes. I really wanted to do a cross-historical comparison between the Trans-Saharan trade routes of the past and the modern smuggling routes used by drug traffickers and terrorists. One of the limitations of academia (or strength depending on your perspective) […]

I have a long series about trans-Saharan smuggling and terrorism en route but this is one of those times when reality has jumped the gun on me.  The fear is that the Jihadists will carve out a belt of terrorism in the Sahel (Arabic for shore) just to the south of the Sahara desert.  One […]

The Regiment isn’t interested in taking a victory lap, but performance has a way of speaking for itself.  We were not going to advertise it here but also knew that news this big could not be kept under wraps forever.  On the 3rd of January, the Congressional Research Service released a report called U.S. Special […]

Thanks to Matt Fanning for pointing me towards this video.  While not necessarily “new” it is emblematic of the new generation of suicide attacks which rather than relying on human beings as a platform for terminal guidance, will instead use drones to vector in on their targets.  I’ve been told previously that the Colombians were […]

As a former Special Operations soldier, Deckard freelanced as a mercenary and got more than he bargained for. Now, as the commander of a Private Military Company called Samruk International, Deckard finds work as Mexico begins its final decent into chaos. Hitting the ground with a small recon element, he will first have to rescue […]