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Former Green Beret Medic Still Making a Difference

As a former Special Forces soldier, sometimes you never see the final results of the hard work and sacrifice that you put into a mission. For Phil Melcher, a former medic in the 7^th Special Forces Group, he met the results of a life-saving operation face-to-face.

Melcher had served all over Latin America but found himself in a very difficult dilemma while serving in Colombia. But as SF medics have done for the past 65 years, he found a way to save two lives and got a nice surprise much later.

Melcher, an Army Green Beret, was serving in the South American country when he was woken up at 2 a.m. to deliver a baby. When he got to the mother, the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck. With no hospitals or modern technology available, Melcher had to perform the high-risk delivery without any help.
“When I delivered the child he wasn’t breathing,” Melcher said. “I had to resuscitate the baby and start CPR. After 45 seconds of CPR, the baby started coughing and screaming and spitting in my face. I was more excited about getting baby spit on me than at any other time in my life.”
Eight years later, Melcher was coming out of a commissary when a young boy ran into him. The boy’s mother yelled at the boy in Spanish, “Phillip, what are you doing?”
“And I looked and it was the mom and it was the kid,” Melcher said. “And I looked at her and she looked at me and we both started to cry and I’m like, ‘you named him after me?’ And she said yes, that she’s always told him about the man that helped him.”
He delivered 32 kids in some pretty extreme conditions. One of the other deliveries came to an indigenous tribe in Bolivia, where the baby was literally born on the jungle floor.
“I was a medic in the Special Forces before I became an operations and intel guy,” Melcher said. “In Special Forces you’re always a shooter first and you’re specialty is kind of a secondary thing, but you do whatever you need to do. Whenever a team goes into deployment, there are no doctors there. You’re the doctor.”
“The Special Forces medical course is unlike any other kind of medical training. It’s basically a cut down version of medical and physician’s assistant. You receive dentistry and animal husbandry training. It’s literally everything rolled up into one because you have to operate in any environment.”
Green Berets have to be as intelligent as they are physical. Melcher speaks three languages, helping him to fit into many cultures to operate seamlessly.
Melcher’s unit was assigned to Central and South America. His unit performed various peacekeeping operations, especially between Ecuador and Peru over Amazon River access. It also performed counter-narcotics operations, working against Pablo Escobar’s cartel.

Today he’s the Director of Security for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. “I have to make sure I’ve got everything scheduled right, making sure staffing and secondary support from city police is adequate at each game,” he said. “I make sure there are security checks around the stadium.”

And Melcher teaches Cyber Security as an Adjunct Professor at Webster University.

To read the entire article from St. Louis Today, click here:

Photo courtesy Phil Melcher

US Soldier in Hawaii Caught Passing Classified Data, Drone to ISIS

A senior NCO stationed in the US Army’s Schofield Barracks in Hawaii was arrested this weekend after allegedly attempting to provide military documents and a drone to the ISIS terrorist group.

The soldier, an Air Traffic Controller, Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang, 34, was arrested late Saturday night by an FBI SWAT team at the Schofield Barracks in Honolulu, in a statement released by the FBI.

FBI Special Agent Jimmy Chen alleged in an affidavit that Kang tried to give classified and unclassified military documents and a drone to undercover agents and informants whom he believed would pass the information on to ISIS. Kang is also accused of attempting to teach the group combat techniques.
Most notably, Chen alleged that Kang swore an oath of loyalty — known as bayat — to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Saturday, shortly before his arrest. After doing so, Kang allegedly told an undercover agent that he wanted to use his rifle to “kill a bunch of people.”
The FBI said it believes that Kang, a member of the 25th Infantry Division and a trained air traffic controller, was a lone actor and is not associated with others who may present a threat to Hawaii.
Chen’s affidavit says that Kang admitted trying to transfer classified documents to ISIS, but claimed the information was “old and no longer posed any harm to the United States.”
Kang has been under investigation by the U.S. Army and the FBI for over a year, according to Delacourt. The affidavit says the Army reported Kang to the FBI in August 2016 after “it appeared that Kang was becoming radicalized.”
The affidavit alleges that Kang had a history of “threatening statements.” At one point in 2012, Kang’s security clearance was suspended after he was reprimanded repeatedly for “threatening to hurt or kill other service members, and for arguing pro-ISIS views while at work and on-post.” The document claims Kang’s clearance was reinstated the following year after he complied with “military requirements stemming from the investigation.”
Kang also allegedly told the informant that Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed nearly 50 people at an Orlando gay bar in June 2016 “did what he had to do.” He also allegedly said “America is the only terrorist organization” and that he “believed in the mass killing of Jews.”
Kang, a Hawaii native, enlisted in the Army in December 2001, months after the 9/11 terror attacks. He served in Iraq from March 2010 to February 2011 and Afghanistan from July 2013 to April 2014.
Kang’s father, Clifford, said that his son may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his tours overseas.
“He’s a great kid. He’s not real outgoing, he’s never been, but neither was I,” Kang told Hawaii News Now. “But other than that he’s a great kid, a normal kid who grew up in Waimanalo.”

While no classified documents ever made it into the hands of ISIS, this is a serious incident and the military and FBI will handle it as such. It is possible that Kang is suffering from PTSD or some other related mental illness but that may not stop his prosecution.

He was erroneously credited with having “extensive combat training” by several news outlets. What they failed to mention that it was “Level IV Tactical Combat Instructor” status, which gives Kang the ability to serve as an instructor in combatives to other soldiers. At the time of the events in this case, skill level IV was the highest level of training available and required the completion of a 160-hour, four-week course.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Pakistan Courting China and Russia as US Ties Weaken

The governments of China and Russia have used the precarious position of Pakistan and its weakening ties to Washington to make serious inroads in their influence. The government of Pakistan, once a considered a key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, has had to face allegations that it harbors more than a dozen terrorist groups.

But with China and Russia behind the scenes playing upon the Pakistani worries about their neighbor India, Washington and the Trump administration may soon find themselves on the outs with the government of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan’s relations with three of its four neighbors — Afghanistan, India, and Iran — are at a low point. And instead of trying to rein in extremism, the government appears to be feeding the growing conservative movement with no sign of backing off a controversial blasphemy law that has led to repeated mob violence.
Experts say 13 of the approximately 60 U.S.-designated global terrorist organizations are based in Pakistan, mostly in the tribal region that borders Afghanistan.
Major militant groups include the Pakistani Taliban and the Haqqani Network, along with Laskar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Jundullah. And despite denials that Islamic State has a presence in the country, the terror group has claimed responsibility for recent attacks there.
Two U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation last September to designate Pakistan a terror state over its inability to curb homegrown militancy and the threat it poses to its neighbors. Republicans Ted Poe and Dana Rohrabacher accused Pakistan of harboring global terrorist leaders and supporting terror groups, including the Haqqani Network, which targets Afghan and U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The Pakistanis claim that allegations of harboring terror groups are nothing more than Washington blaming its failures on them. But the Pakistani’s real fears center around India. The two countries have fought three wars, and another is always a threat. Both sides have nuclear arsenals capable of destroying the subcontinent several times over.

To read the entire article from the Voice of America News click here:

Photo the Kremlin

Opinion: Even “Quiet Professionals” Need to Tell Their Stories

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SOFREP.com nor any of the writers and editors that work for it.

I had an interesting conversation the other day with someone I know and it broached the uncomfortable and difficult subject of whether Special Operations Forces should be writing books about their exploits.

It is uncomfortable because many Special Operations professionals live by the code of the “Quiet Professionals” which means that the A-Team guys, SEAL Platoons, Rangers, Raiders, CCTs, and Delta boys, who we now all lump together as “operators” should not seek self-promotion or recognition for the services that they provided for our country.

The conversation (and for the record, none of the other participants were Special Operations) got into the realm of OPSEC and putting the lives of active duty troops at risk. And in that aspect, we are in total agreement, never should anyone’s lives be risked over the publication of a book or magazine.

The government came down hard on Mark Bissonnette who penned the book, “No Easy Day” under the pen name of Mark Owen because he broke a confidentiality agreement that he signed off on concerning the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. As a result, Bissonnette was largely shunned by the Navy SEAL community.

The Navy granted Marcus Luttrell a leave of absence to write “Lone Survivor” which was later made into a film with Mark Wahlberg. Which kind of went against the grain of what the Navy did sending a memo to its Special Warfare members telling them not to advertise their exploits. But that is another subject.

But Luttrell’s story needed to be told. His survival was one of those hard to believe true stories. And the difficult decisions that our troops must make on a daily basis in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and countless other hot spots around the globe. Lt. Michael Murphy’s self-sacrifice for his teammates may have been a footnote in a history book somewhere, someday.

And unlike Bissonnette’s story, Robert O’Neill’s “The Operator” was submitted to the Pentagon for vetting, which they did. They edited out some parts of the book which were deemed to cross the line in revealing tactics and/or methods. But once again, if no confidentiality agreement was broken and the book didn’t threaten any security of active duty personnel, then it is a story that should be told.

Listening to a recent radio podcast with O’Neill, it was obvious that he isn’t bent on a mission of self-aggrandizement, but was telling his side of a story that was much bigger than anyone involved. Despite how he’s been portrayed in much of social media, his words were more of a celebration of those around him than himself.

The world was full of bin Laden stories since 2011 and he was the most wanted man in the world. And the story of the operation to get him was one that needed to be told. The American public needed to hear as much of the story as was allowed thru security protocols. Similar questions have been raised about other books such as “13 Hours” and “American Sniper” among others.

And there is this… there are no rules, other than confidentiality agreements for Special Operations veterans in the media other than the bushido that their services follow. Many Special Forces veterans of Vietnam wrote books after their careers were over.

Sometimes our own government sends mixed signals. While they went after Bissonnette and have actively frowned on others for going public, the government went out of their way to aid in the production of the film “Zero Dark Thirty” which depicted the mission to kill bin Laden.

And the Navy let filmmakers use active duty SEALs in the action film “Act of Valor” which was essentially a propaganda, recruiting vehicle to attract young men to enlist in Naval Special Warfare. Is this wrong? One can point at several WWII films, that were of the same vein that the Pentagon gave tremendous support to make.

The Navy was right in telling the active duty SEALs to limit their exposure in the media or on film. And that should go for all of the services as well. But once their days of serving are done, where is the line drawn that says this much is okay, but anything more is not?

The public has always had an insatiable appetite for tales of derring-do from her warriors. It provides an outlet for the veteran to tell their stories. We always hear and lament the loss of our WWII generation and so many stories that go untold. I point those who argue against this to the story of my own father. A battle he was involved with and one I didn’t know anything about until after he died.

As long as no rules of Operational Security (OPSEC) are broken nor any specific confidentiality agreements, then let the men and women tell their stories. Even the “Quiet Professionals” in Special Operations.

This is something that the individual services including USSOCOM should encourage a dialog among the troops who are both active and retired. Why? Because a lot of guys perspective will change once they are retired.

Fighting among each other especially on social media doesn’t do the services any favors. But many Special Operations troops have a story to tell. And they should be told

Photos Courtesy DOD

This article was originally published on SpecialOperations.com and written by STEVE BALESTRIERI

Hanscom AFB Evacuated After Explosives Scare at Gate

Hanscom Air Force Base was locked down on Thursday, and parts of the base were evacuated when trace explosives were detected on a moving truck causing an explosive scare that triggered state police and FBI bomb units into action.

Just after 9 a.m., everything unfolded when security stopped a Big Foot Moving and Storage truck for a routine inspection as it was about to enter the facility with a military members’ household goods to be delivered.

The delivery was expected and it was at this time that trace explosives were detected, which prompted a large operation that followed security protocol.

“Security Forces detected some potentially explosive material, which caused the base to put response actions in place,” Hanscom officials said in a statement. “Those actions included a temporary closure of the base’s Vandenberg (Rte 2A) Gate and evacuation of several nearby base facilities.”
The truck from Big Foot Moving and Storage was stopped at a gate to the base. (WBZ-TV)
The State Police bomb squad was called in and the truck was inspected for several hours. The all clear was given around 1 p.m. and base operations returned to normal.
“It was the right call by the U.S. Air Force and it was the right response,” said State Police Major Fran Leahy said during a press conference.
Hanscom Field commercial airport, which has a different entrance, remained open throughout the incident.
The driver of the truck remained on scene and has been “completely cooperative.”
Police said no one is suspected of a crime, but they are trying to determine how the residue got onto the truck.
State Police Sgt. William Qualls said “Cross contamination is more than likely”
No injuries were reported.
A perimeter had been set up extending 1,500 feet from the truck in all directions. But just after 1 p.m., the perimeter was reduced to 100 feet and the area was reopened a short time later.

While the situation thankfully was resolved with no injuries or serious issues, it was a good test for the Air Force Security and the State Police who followed their protocols and protected the public and the personnel at the base.

To read the entire article from CBS Local News click here:

Photo courtesy Yelp

‘Rogue’ SAS Unit Accused of War Crimes in Afghanistan

The British Ministry of Defence and the Royal Military Police (RMP) are investigating on allegations that a SAS (Special Air Service) may have gone ‘rogue’ and killed unarmed Afghan civilians in cold blood in a potential war crimes scandal.

The reports further claim that SAS operatives falsified mission reports and that members of the British government have tried to keep secret.

Operation Northmoor has been a classified RMP operation ongoing for the past eighteen months out of a secure underground bunker in Cornwall.

Senior military police and defence sources with a detailed knowledge of the investigation have said that evidence gathered of war crimes by the SAS is “credible”. Part of the inquiry is said to have focused on a particular SAS squadron, which has been described as a “rogue” unit.
A source close to Operation Northmoor says there is strong evidence that unarmed Afghan civilians, suspected of being Taliban insurgents, were murdered rather than captured during night raids on their homes.
In one 2011 case under investigation, special forces soldiers are alleged to have handcuffed and hooded some of the victims before later shooting them dead.
Operation Northmoor is said to have acquired drone and other video footage — nicknamed “kill TV” — that shows British soldiers opening fire and contradicts the SAS account that their Afghan partners were responsible. An examination of bullets taken from some of the victims’ bodies revealed they were of a type used by the SAS.
Northmoor also acquired photographs, taken by the SAS, of shooting scenes in which the victims are holding a Makarov pistol — a weapon favoured by the Taliban leadership — that was allegedly planted by the special forces unit to give the false impression that the person they had shot was an armed Taliban commander rather than a civilian.
Operation Northmoor, set up in 2014, was investigating dozens of alleged unlawful killings between 2010 and 2013 by special forces and had become one of the largest military police investigations, with more than 100 RMP officers involved.
A British special forces officer said that at one point the Afghan CF 333 commando unit refused to patrol with the SAS because of concern about their conduct. One CF 333 commando told this newspaper that in 2010 he had witnessed SAS soldiers planting drugs and guns on a victim who had been shot needlessly at a checkpoint.
The inquiry has examined the activities of an SAS unit which is said to have gone “rogue”. The unit has been accused of having routinely carried a Russian Makarov “kill pistol” during the night raids because it could be photographed with the corpse if an unarmed Taliban suspect was gunned down.

The RMP supposedly has a source inside the British Special Forces that has stated that members of the SAS have used this same Makarov pistol on multiple occasions. In a statement released on Friday, the Ministry of Defence announced that the RMP had 90 percent of the allegations had been discontinued and fewer than 10 remain.

The RMP also thought that they forwarded enough evidence for two separate cases to be brought forward for trying two SAS members with war crimes and murder but the Special Prosecuting Authority declined to pursue charges.

To read the entire article from The Sunday Times, click here:

Photo courtesy SOFREP

Nikki Haley Tells Congress that Iran Would Supply Nukes to Terrorists

America’s top diplomat at the United Nations, Nikki Haley told members of Congress on Tuesday that the government of President Trump is worried that Iran will not only give nuclear weapons to terror groups but do so with tacit Russia approval.

That bit of news is something that has some Republicans in the House asking if a regime change something that may be considered.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told a House Appropriations subcommittee that she believes the Iran nuclear agreement reached under the Obama administration will only “delay something that’s going to happen,” which is Iran’s achievement of a nuclear weapon. She said that poses the risk that Iran could share that technology with terrorist groups it supports.
“They’re going to continue their nuclear capabilities and we just gave them a lot of money to do it with,” she said. “And my concern is they are associating with are all the groups we’re trying to defeat.”
“So, not only did we give that capability to Iran, we are now giving it to those terrorist organizations we’re trying to defeat,” she added.
Haley told lawmakers that Iran has escalated its support for a pair of terrorist organizations on the borders of Israel, aided by the influx of money that followed the easing of sanctions under the Iranian nuclear agreement. She conceded that Iran is not committing “any violations” of the nuclear deal, but said the regime is defying international resolutions against the development of ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons.
Haley added that her efforts to rally international opposition to Iran are hamstrung by Russia’s willingness to block U.N. Security Council resolutions censuring Iran. “Yes, we would love to sanction Iran; and, yes we will continue to be loud about it; and, yes, Russia will veto it,” she said.

Although President Trump has stated that the Iran is abiding by the agreement made with the US, he’s considering scrapping the deal that President Obama made with Iran. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson notified members of Congress and stated that Iran is still a leader in state-sponsored terrorism. And he added that the administration is looking into whether the pact is vital to US security interests.

To read the entire article from the Washington Examiner click here:

Photos courtesy White House

Mosul Liberation to Be Announced Soon Says Iraq’s Prime Minister

The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said in a few days, there will be an announcement that the “liberation” of the city of Mosul has been achieved from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL – also known as ISIS).

Abadi spoke to the media on Thursday, and his statements were carried by Baghdad-based Sumaria TV. “It’s a matter of a few days and we will announce the total liberation of Mosul,” Abadi said.

The announcement came as Iraqi forces were continuing the fight against ISIL fighters in their last stronghold in western Mosul, the city’s old town.
The armed group has lost much of their territory over the last three years, and Mosul is their last urban bastion in Iraq.
The group’s fighters are expected to make their last stand in the Old City – a densely populated quarter with narrow, winding alleys.
Up to 150,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in there, where conditions have been described by the UN as desperate.
The fight for Mosul has now lasted for more than eight months.
On Wednesday, ISIL fighters blew up Nuri mosque as Iraqi forces advanced on the ancient religious compound in the embattled northern city.
Officials from Iraq and the US-led anti-ISIL coalition said the destruction of the site was a sign of the ISIL’s imminent loss of Mosul, with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi calling it an “official declaration of defeat”.
The loss of the iconic 12th century minaret – one of the country’s most recognisable monuments sometimes referred to as Iraq’s Tower of Pisa – left the country in shock.

The fighting for Mosul has been bloody and has been drawing out for the past eight months. “Daesh’s bombing of the al-Hadba Minaret and the al-Nuri mosque is a formal declaration of their defeat,” Abadi said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

This is the same minaret where the Islamic State announced Mosul as its caliphate in Iraq just a few years ago.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera click here:

Photos courtesy Reuters

Bergdahl’s Lawyers Want to Know if Prospective Jurors Voted for Trump

Attorneys for accused Army deserter, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on Wednesday told a judge that they want to ask potential jurors in the court-martial case how they viewed President Trump and whether or not they voted for him.

According to Stars and Stripes reports released on Wednesday, Eugene Fidell, Bergdahl’s lead attorney said, “the principal issue has to do with ensuring we are able to identify people who have been nominated to be on the court-martial panel — the jury — who are not in a position to render an impartial judgment.”

He added, “key to that is the whole set of issues surrounding President Trump’s outrageous comments throughout the course of his successful campaign for the White House.”

Bergdahl walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured by the Taliban, who held him for almost five years before releasing him. He was charged in 2015 with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, the latter of which carries a potential life imprisonment sentence. Bergdahl has yet to enter a plea to the charges.
During the campaign, Trump called Bergdahl a “dirty, rotten traitor” and criticized former President Barack Obama’s decision to exchange five Guantanamo Bay detainees for the soldier’s freedom.
The judge in Bergdahl’s case, Army Col. Jeffery Nance, called Trump’s statements “disturbing” and potentially “problematic.” But, according to Stars and Stripes, Nance declined to dismiss the case over them, instead allowing defense attorneys to ask prospective jurors questions about potential influence the president’s comments might have on them.

Prosecutors argued that people’s politics are a personal matter and that Bergdahl’s lawyers stepped over the line. The trial will take place at Ft. Bragg, NC in the coming months. Bergdahl still hasn’t entered a plea, although he’s expected to plead not guilty.

To read the entire article from Washington Examiner, click here:

Photo courtesy AP

USACAPOC dedicates new headquarters to fallen N.C. trooper

The US Army’s Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command is set to open a new headquarters on Ft. Bragg, NC and they will be naming it after one of their own who fell in combat.

Alan H. Newton was a North Carolina native who had a great love for his family and animals and was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. Now the command will honor his memory by naming their new HQs building, set to open soon after Newton.

The center is the future home of U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. Officials expect to move into the new headquarters in the near future.
The $22-million facility was recently completed on Pratt Street, near the Fort Bragg Noncommissioned Officer Academy.
It will allow USACAPOC to consolidate its Fort Bragg facilities. The U.S. Army Reserve Command oversees more than 90 units in 34 states across the nation and Puerto Rico.
The command’s nearly 13,500 soldiers make up the vast majority of the nation’s conventional civil affairs, psychological operations and theater information operations soldiers.
Newton – a North Carolina native and soldier with USACAPOC’s Greensboro-based 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion – is one of 49 soldiers who have died in Iraq or Afghanistan while serving with the command.
In addition to dedicating the building for Newton, officials also unveiled a memorial stone featuring the names of all of the soldiers who have been killed while deployed with USACAPOC units. The command of Maj. Gen. Daniel R. Ammerman and Command Sgt. Maj. Peter Running also added a streamer denoting the unit’s Global War on Terror service to the USACAPOC colors.
Speaking to members of the Newton family, Ammerman said the fallen soldier was trying to “do good” when he and Capt. Benjamin A. Sklaver – another USACAPOC soldier – were killed by an Afghan police officer wearing a suicide vest on Oct. 2, 2009.
“That’s really what we all try to do,” Ammerman said.
He related how Newton – a 26-year-old who graduated from Southwestern Randolph High School in 2002 – joined the North Carolina National Guard in 2003.
When Newton learned his unit wasn’t set to deploy in the near future, he transferred to the Army Reserve and became a civil affairs specialist.

Newton’s parents were on-hand to dedicate the 111,000-square-foot headquarters, which will eventually replace an older building on Butner Road being used by the command.

To read the entire article from The Fayetteville Observer, click here:

Photo courtesy The Fayetteville Observer