John Black

John Black

John Black is a retired Special Forces "Green Beret" with more than 20 years of experience in the military at both 5th SFG(A) and 3rd SFG(A). Additionally, he has ten combat deployments in places such as Iraq, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, and countries throughout Africa. He has a degree in Strategic Studies and Defense Analysis and is currently working on his Masters.

Helicopter crash kills 2 Special Operations soldiers, injures 3

Two special operations soldiers were killed and three others injured on Thursday evening when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during routine training off the Californian coast, Army officials said. Their helicopter crashed on San Clemente Island, which is about 70 miles west of Coronado and San Diego. The deceased were Staff Sgt. Vincent P. Marketta, […]

Combat Controller receives the Silver Star

Last week, Master Sergeant John Grimesey was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery and lifesaving actions in Afghanistan during a 2013 battle in Ghazni province. During the battle, he was concussed and peppered with shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade blast. Then-Senior Airman John Grimesey felt Taliban bullets whiz by as he saw his Green […]

Cubic wins contract from SOCOM for satellite and baseband communications

Cubic Corporation announced this week that its Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS) business division was awarded a follow-on, single-award contract from United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The contract is for delivery of Ground Antenna Transmit and Receive (GATR) inflatable satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals and baseband communications equipment in support of Special Operations Forces (SOF) communications requirements. […]

Extortion 17: CrossFit gyms honor fallen Navy SEALs

August 6th, 2011, 40 miles south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Chinook helicopter callsigned Extortion 17 (“one-seven”) took off into the darkness and accelerated toward a destination less than 20 miles west. Extortion 17 carried 38 men, 15 of them SEALS from Gold Squadron of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, popularly called SEAL Team 6. […]

Deadly explosion in Beirut leaves 300,000 homeless, hundreds dead

On Tuesday, a massive explosion rocked Beirut, Lebanon’s capital. At least 100 have died and more than 4,000 are injured. Beirut’s governor Marwan Abboud said that some 300,000 people have lost their homes. The current estimation is that damages range from $3 to $5 billion. The explosion completely flattened the harbor front and surrounding buildings. […]

China & India: The world’s fastest growing economies

The world’s two fastest-growing major economies are China and India. In 2019, China’s per capita GDP growth was 6.1 percent, and India’s 5 percent based on World Bank data. The two countries also have the most rapid rates of growth of household and total consumption. Both China and India are growing far more rapidly than […]

The Middle Eastern influence on the world oil market

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is an intergovernmental organization founded by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela. OPEC is considered to possess majority control of the world’s crude oil production and the most considerable influence on oil pricing. OPEC also sets production targets for each member country in an attempt to […]

Coronavirus outbreak strikes Special Forces students

COVID-19 has now affected the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg. U.S. Army Special Operations Command officials announced that 90 students, who were going through Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, have tested positive for COVID-19. According to a spokeswoman, officials became aware of the outbreak after an instructor became […]

Reducing global poverty is difficult but doable

Global poverty is a complex issue that has long plagued the world. There exists no interchangeable template to fix poverty throughout the world. Strategies that work in the U.S. will not necessarily work in places like Africa or the Middle East. One could argue that the principles to combat poverty are more or less the […]