Stavros Atlamazoglou

Stavros Atlamazoglou

Managing Editor. Greek Army veteran (National service with 575th Marines Battalion and Army HQ). Johns Hopkins University. You will usually find him on the top of a mountain admiring the view and wondering how he got there. You can reach him at [email protected].

Is Russia unintentionally strengthening NATO?

A neutral country for decades, Sweden is edging ever closer toward NATO. In 2018, the Swedish government sent a booklet to almost five million families. Titled If Crisis or War Comes, the brochure included information and instructions on basic wartime survival and “total defence.” It also informed Swedes of other threats like climate change, cyberattacks […]

Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 operators on the loose?

How far would the CIA and the military’s elite Special Operations units go to avoid political oversight for their covert activities? To the end of the world, it seems. Congress is suspecting that the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) haven’t been transparent when it comes to briefing lawmakers about their covert operations. […]

China in Angola: A quest for oil and legitimacy

“Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world,” Napoleon Bonaparte had allegedly said. It has been quite a while since Austerlitz and Waterloo, but the former French emperor and military genius seems to have hit the nail right on the head. Long forgotten are Mao’s economic and social experiments, namely, the […]

Naval Special Warfare to get its first female operators

Naval Special Warfare might be close to welcoming its first-ever female operators. Three female sailors are currently at various stages of the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen (SWCC) selection pipeline. SWCC is the primary maritime mobility component for U.S. Special Operations Command. The three SWCC candidates aren’t the only ones who have tried out for a […]

Dozens of French Foreign Legion soldiers and commandos have become terrorists

The French military seems to be inadvertently feeding terrorist organizations with combat-hardened and well-trained recruits. According to a soon-to-be-released study conducted by the French think-tank Centre d’analyse du terrorisme (CAT), dozens of former French servicemen have joined the ranks of terrorist groups. Most of these Jihadists served in Special Operations or elite units, one of […]

NATO opens Spec Ops aviation school

Aviation and Special Operations go hand-in-hand. Whether it is rotary-wing or fixed-wing, SOF units have been using SOF aircraft to increase their effectiveness and lethality. Recognizing the lack of a dedicated SOF aviation program, NATO has decided to launch a training facility that aims to bring together the Alliance’s elite aviation units for training. The […]

War hero sues newspapers over war crimes allegations

An Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) operator and the most decorated Australian soldier alive has sued three newspapers for defamation over war crimes allegations. Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith is suing The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times and The Age for accusing him of war crimes. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is investigating Cpl. Roberts-Smith and […]

Chinese spies enter Navy base where SEALs practice shooting

Last September, two Chinese diplomats were expelled from the U.S. after they barged into a U.S. Navy base in Virginia. The base in which they illegally entered houses the shooting ranges for all the East Coast SEAL Teams. The Chinese diplomats, one of who is reported to be an intelligence officer operating under a diplomatic […]

The future of Pararescue

This year has been monumental for the Air Force Special Operations community. Early in 2019, the Air Force announced the creation of a new Special Operations job: Special Reconnaissance (SR) replaced and improved the outdated Special Operations Weather Technician (SOWT) specialty. Then, in the Spring, the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) announced that its […]

Air Force releases more information on new Special Warfare career field

The Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has released more information about the incoming changes in the new Special Warfare career field. Launched this past October, Special Warfare is comprised of the Pararescue (1Z1), Combat Control (1Z2), Tactical Air Control Party (1Z3) and Special Reconnaissance (1Z4) Air Force Specialties. Previously these were separate career fields, […]

Pararescuemen recognized for valor under fire

The Air Force’s Special Warfare community continues to cement its reputation as one of great communities that are force multipliers whenever they go and fight. Two Pararescuemen (PJ) received the Silver Star for valor under fire in two separate deployments to Afghanistan. The first PJ to be recognized was technical Sergeant Gavin Fisher, assigned to […]

SAS operators rescue British orphans from ISIS in Syria

A Special Air Service (SAS) team rescued three orphans born to parents fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS). The parents of the three children had been killed during a Coalition airstrike earlier this year. The rescue operation took place sometime during the last two months. The SAS element was accompanied by a few Foreign Office […]