SOF

The US Expels Two Cuban Diplomats After Embassy ‘Incidents’ in Havana

In a bizarre set of events, the U.S. State Department has expelled two Cuban diplomats after several Americans earlier this year at the U.S. Embassy in Havana experienced strange medical symptoms that resulted in hearing loss and were either recalled to the U.S. or allowed to come home.

According to State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, the US embassy employees issues first became of these so called ‘incidents’ in 2016 but did not divulge any details at the briefing.

“We don’t have any definitive information about the source or the cause,” she said. “It took time to figure out what this was and we are still looking into it.”
However, The Washington Post reports that U.S. officials believe Cuba used “a covert sonic weapon that left the victims with severe hearing loss.”
The Post writes:
“In the fall of 2016, a series of U.S. diplomats began suffering unexplained losses of hearing, according to officials with knowledge of the investigation into the case. Several of the diplomats were recent arrivals at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 as part of former President Barack Obama’s reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Some of the diplomats’ symptoms were so severe that they were forced to cancel their tours early and return to the United States, officials said. After months of investigation, U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been attacked with an advanced sonic weapon that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences.”

The Cuban government strongly denied any wrongdoing and said in a statement that they would never allow their soil to be used to for actions against diplomats and that it is willing to cooperate with the U.S. to clarify the incidents. They then called the US reaction of expelling the diplomats as ‘baseless.’ However, a Canadian diplomat in Havana has also suffered unexplained hearing loss.

To read the entire article from National Public Radio click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 8.11.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR. Friday is a Leg Day and we’ll work them out good today in the gym. We are going to break up the 3-mile run into one-mile segments. Take only a minute’s rest in between runs and then do the best you can.

Make note of your times in the run and your workouts in your workout log book. Remember to stretch well before and after your workout and hydrate.

Training:

3 x 10 Pullups

3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x Goblet Squats 20-15-12 reps (lighter dumbbell)

3 x 10 Barbell Squats

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

3 x 10 Romanian Lunges

30 x “V” ups

3 x 1 mile run with 1-minute rest in between. Run those as fast as you can

Stretch well after completion

Book Review: Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage

As a former Special Forces soldier, I love reading books about the Special Operations Forces of not only the United States but other countries as well. But after devouring everything I could get my hands on about Special Forces during the Vietnam war especially those men from SOG some of whom trained me when I was a young pup, I went in search of the beginnings of SF.

Both Special Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency owe their direct lineage to the OSS, (Office of Strategic Services) that was started from scratch just before the United States entered World War II and by war’s end had over 10,000 men and women in their ranks. They became the war’s intelligence gathering, espionage, unconventional warfare, sabotage and subversion experts in just a few short years.

Working in close cooperation with the British, OSS patterned their organization from the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and many of the later leaders of both Special Forces and CIA came from the OSS ranks.

After graduating and teaching in-house from the Special Warfare Center’s Advanced Special Operations Techniques course, I tried to learn everything possible about our predecessors “the Glorious Amateurs” as they were called who comprised the Jedburgh Teams and the Operational Groups that were textbook definitions of what our UW training called for. But what about the leader of the OSS? Who was William Donovan?

Douglas Waller’s intensive biography of William “Wild Bill” Donovan who rose from humble beginnings to be a successful lawyer, a World War I hero with the 42nd ‘Rainbow’ Division and later became the head of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services)is a fantastic read.

Donovan was born to poor Irish-American parents and worked his way from poor beginnings to a law degree from Columbia Law School where one of his classmates was the future President of the US Franklin Delano Roosevelt and married into a wealthy Protestant family.

During World War I, Donovan served mainly with the storied New York “Fighting 69th” mainly Irish Regiment. He was a cool customer under fire and his men loved him and that is where he got the nickname “Wild Bill” for his courage under fire. His closest friend in the Regiment, Father Francis Duffy, was his chaplain and the poet Joyce Kilmer his adjutant. He was awarded the Medal of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre for his heroism in France.

When he finally received his Medal of Honor, he immediately took it off and presented it to his regiment. “It doesn’t belong to me,” he said. “It belongs to the boys who are not here, the boys who are resting under the white crosses in France or in the cemeteries of New York.” He left the medal in the 69th’s New York armory and never retrieved it.

After the war he went into the law business and was very successful, building political connections on the way. He traveled extensively to Europe, building up more contacts along the way. Despite being very much an anti-FDR Republican, the President respected Donovan and asked him to travel to London and gauge whether the English would hold up under the German attacks of early WWII. The American Ambassador Joseph Kennedy was a firm defeatist and thought Britain doomed.

Donovan met with Winston Churchill and the two were of the same mind. Hitler needed to be defeated and to do so would require attacking the ‘soft underbelly’ of Europe. He returned to tell FDR that Britain would fight on that America needed to end its isolationism and join the British.

Donovan started the war-time intelligence and special operations organization from scratch and built it into the premier organization that deserved much better than to be disbanded at war’s end.

Just before the US entered the war several of the aides of FDR as well as Donovan were lobbying the Roosevelt administration on the need for a coordinated American intelligence service partnered with the United Kingdom. This was echoed by Admiral Godfrey, Britain’s Naval Intelligence chief, and his aide, Commander Ian Fleming. Fleming as many of you will recall was the author of the James Bond books. Donovan spelled out his feelings on how the organization should be run and organized was sent to Roosevelt in a memo.

“Strategy, without information upon which it can rely, is helpless,” Donovan’s memo said. “Likewise, information is useless unless it is intelligently directed to the strategic purpose.”

Like any other new or upstart organization, Donovan made several enemies in the highly politicized seas of Washington. The new unit and the commander of OSS had the ear of the President and besides the service intelligence chiefs who never cooperated with one another and always jockeying for position, Donovan and OSS made enemies with the FBI and especially the Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Hoover hated Donovan with a passion and kept files on all of his comings and goings and tried to discredit everything he did as well as accusing him of some outlandish things, all of which were proven false. When Donovan passed away in 1959 of dementia, Hoover tried to spread the rumor that it was from syphilis.

Through Donovan’s leadership and ability to get things done, in just two short years, Donovan along the British SOE had infiltrated several teams into occupied France before the D-Day landings and they supplied, trained and advised French Resistance groups that proved invaluable for the war effort. Just prior to the invasion, the Resistance and OSS/SOE had planned on cutting the French rails in the Normandy area in 1050 places. The accomplished the mission in 950 of them. This operation was Donovan and the OSS’ finest hour. Led by extraordinary agents such as Virginia Hall, the missions were an unqualified success. The book is filled with the many successes and the few failures of the organization.

The men who served Donovan during the war years as he called them “PhDs who can win a bar fight turned into a veritable who’s who in the later years of both CIA and the US Army Special Forces. Allen Dulles, William Colby were OSS operatives who became the Directors of National Intelligence. Aaron Bank was an OSS veteran who conducted successful missions in Europe. He went to Vietnam, then French-Indo China and met with the Viet Minh guerrilla chief Ho Chi Minh. He tried unsuccessfully to get the US to support Ho despite his Communist leanings over the return of French colonial rule which he saw as an upcoming failure.

Eventually, Donovan’s enemies got the ear of Harry Truman who took over from FDR after the President died in the latter days of WWII. Truman recognized that the US needed a professional intelligence service but not one with Donovan at its head. He had OSS disbanded after the war and then two years later created CIA with many of the same people that Donovan employed.

For the aspiring Special Operators out there, this should be required reading. It gives the background on where the units are today and how they got there. I would also encourage our readers to check out the novels of W.E.B. Griffin on the OSS as well. They were fantastic. We’ll review other books on OSS in the future.

The detail of Waller’s work is extraordinary and it is will quickly become a book that the reader can’t put down. It is a tremendous biography of a great, courageous but still flawed man who unfortunately didn’t live to see how large his former organization had become or the influence it would have around the world. His legacy is alive and well today.

Photos Courtesy: CIA, Wikipedia, and the US Army

French Police Arrest Suspected Driver of a Car that Slammed into 6 Soldiers

French police have arrested the suspected driver who injured six soldiers by ramming a vehicle into them as they left their barracks on Wednesday. The suspect was wounded in a brief gunfight with police in a Paris suburb and then was taken into custody after a brief standoff with authorities.

As the police were hunting for the vehicle, they spotted the suspect driving a BMW on a highway north of Paris. As they attempted to take him into custody, the arrest turned violent and shots were fired. French police believe that the suspect involved in the attack had a terror motive.

The condition of the suspect, who was not immediately identified, is unknown. Three of the six soldiers received serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The soldiers were part of the 35th infantry regiment in the suburb of Saint-Mande and were leaving their barracks just after 8 a.m. when the attack occurred. France’s Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters the driver targeted the soldiers in a calculated car attack.
“We know it was a deliberate act,” Collomb said. Defense Minister Florence Parly called it a reminder that extra security measures imposed in recent years are “more necessary than ever.”
Nadia LeProhon, a witness, told The Associated Press she heard a loud crash outside her building and rushed outside to see two soldiers on the ground. Other soldiers ran after the speeding car, shouting “After him! Follow that car!”

The French soldiers were part of Opération Sentinelle, an anti-terrorism operation that was created after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. The mission’s aim is to protect civilians in the capital. This marks the sixth time in the past three years that members of the unit have been targeted by terrorists.

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

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Filipino Army Kills Nine Terrorists as Fighting Continues in Marawi

The fighting continues to rage in the embattled Philippines city of Marawi as government military forces have killed nine fighters from groups that have joined the Islamic State. The Filipino army continued to push their offensive against these armed groups who are holed up in the once bustling college town on the island of Mindanao.

On Thursday morning, military spokeswoman Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay said in a statement that fighters linked from the Maute Group and Abu Sayyaf engaged the Filipino military forces. The army then retaliated with airstrikes and artillery fire.

“Those enemies who died in the offensives include men of Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon who are digging for a tunnel under a mosque trying to escape the battle zone or reach the lake,” Petinglay said.
Hapilon, who is wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and has a $5m bounty, is suspected to have led the siege in Marawi which is now in its 12th week.
At least 122 soldiers have also been killed while 45 civilians have died in the fighting.
The remaining fighters, including several foreigners, have at least 100 civilian hostages. Four were recently rescued.

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared martial law on the entire island of Mindanao since the fighting began in May when the Maute Group attacked Marawi. The military had hoped that the fighting would be over in just weeks. However, progress has been slowed due to Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups taking hostages and using them as human shields.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikimedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 8.10.2017

It is Thursday and a heavy day of UBRR preparation with push ups, sit ups, crunches, and a longer ruck march. Keep a log of your times on your runs and rucks and you should be noticing a decrease in the times as we forge ahead.

Don’t forget your stretching and this is a great time to begin breaking in the second pair of boots. If anything happens t your best pair or they get wet when in Selection, (and they will), having a good broken in second pair is very important.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

100 x pushups (no time limit)

100 x sit ups (no time limit)

100 x crunches

3 x 12 dips or until muscle failure

25 x V-ups

6-mile rucksack march (45-pound minimum) over varied terrain, note your time

Stretch well after completion

Remember, Selection is Just the First, Very Small Step

I had the pleasure to host SOFREP’s Question and Answer session on Sunday afternoon where our readers posted in the “Team Room” and I was their sounding board. I just want to thank everyone for the fun back and forth session and hope that we can do it again sometime soon.

We got some good overall questions about Selection which followed after the session was over with some good email and social media questions about the Selection course and some of what I’ve written about it.

First, let me be the first to say, I am just one former cadre member from there. I don’t claim to be the all-knowing expert on all matters of the course, nor to know the “only” way to do things. Frequently my opinions will differ vastly from what other cadre members will say about a given subject. That’s fine, we are all shaped by our own experiences and what worked well for me may not work for you or vice versa.

I encourage all of our readers who are aspiring Special Operations members to read everything that is out there and then YOU decide what is best for you. After all, when all is said and done, it will be you in the arena facing the music. Our time is done. As much as we wish we could turn back the clock and do it all over again, we can’t. Be as prepared as you possibly can be and then go all in. Don’t hold back anything. And then, even if you fail, you do so knowing that you emptied the tank in your attempt. The alternative is too bitter to contemplate.

So with that in mind, here are some email questions I’ve gotten and will attempt to answer them for everyone.

Why is the Special Operations Forces PT Preparation articles preparing candidates for the UBRR (Upper Body Round Robin) Test when we’re still taking the 3-Event PT Test?

This is an excellent question and I’ll answer it the best way that I can. First, the military, even the conventional units have come to realize that the old 3-Event PT Test is a joke. And it is far from a true barometer of functional physical fitness that Special Operations Forces require doing the job.

SOF is going to switch to the UBRR sometime soon and there is no sliding scale for age. Which is a good thing. You don’t get an alibi for age in Special Ops. You can either still do the job or you can’t. That’s why when I was at Selection, our commander graded us all regardless of age at the 17-21 bracket for the PT test.

The UBRR is a much harder event because SOF units are much harder to get into. These tests are much better barometers of a troop’s fitness level. And if you prepare yourself for Selection by prepping to do the UBRR and are prepared to pass it, then the old 3-Event PT Test will be a comparable breeze for you. By preparing for the UBRR, you’ll be in much better shape, ready to take on the challenges of Selection and beyond if you’re able to pass it. The better shape that you’re in physically will make everything else that you’ll encounter easier to handle.

Remember, you’re not in this to be 270 point guy (which is passing with a 90 percent on all three events). That is why they call them “Special Operations”. If you can pass the UBRR with no problems, you’ll smoke the 3-Event test and be ready for more.

Somebody else emailed me about the rumor mongering that is always rampant in Selection. How Should I Handle all of the rumors that go on about the course?

To go back to an earlier post and to quote my favorite NFL coach, “Ignore the Noise.” Tune out the senseless chatter and rumors that abound with the course. Pay no attention to any of what these guys, who “heard from a guy in the last course” yada, yada. All of those are invariably wrong.

What you need to pay attention to and the ONLY thing you need to pay attention to is what is posted on the Whiteboard for the candidates to know, what is happening, at what time, where it will take place and the correct uniform that the candidates need to be in. Save all the energy that you’ll waste trying to figure out what the instructors are planning on doing next. There is no master plan to mess with the candidate’s heads by the cadre. The course and the candidates themselves will do just that for them.

What was one thing that as a Cadre member would piss you off? This was another message I got asked. It was another very good question and the answer without question was: Negativity. If you signed up for Selection and want to be in Special Operations, then when you are in the course, you should be in your element, right where you want to be and beginning a new important phase in your life. You should be a happy camper.

But frequently some candidates are not. They act and their body language shows that they’d rather be just about any other place in the world right now than here doing what they volunteered for. Now we understand that during the course, candidates will be tired, both physically and mentally, and that is what the course is designed to do. No one expects the candidates to belt out a Broadway show tune at the end of conducting the downed pilot scenario.

You’ve heard everyone say (including here) many times that Selection and the qualification course is mostly a mental exercise. Some guys approach Selection like the sword of Damocles is hanging over their heads. The only way to approach it is by being positive. You’re taking part in the first step in your Special Operations career, it is hard of course. It is supposed to be. That is what makes it worth it at the end. To quote Tom Hanks, “the hard is what makes it great.” So act like you want to be there.

I always believed, and the results will play that out, that the most successful candidates were always the most positive ones. The guys who are miserable going thru Selection, what are they going to be like on a deployment when things go to hell in a handbasket?

One anecdote to show what I mean here, (yes I always put an anecdote in these) took place during the candidate’s final Land Navigation in the Hoffman area. You’ll get intimately familiar with that place. My point was in the area that the candidates in recent years have nicknamed the “Dagobar” from Star Wars fame. Apt description.

And this point would have almost 20 candidates finishing there when the time limit ran out. It was cold and damp and I had a small campfire and a book to pass the night away in my chair. Just before dawn, a good 4+ hours before the deadline I heard a candidate crashing thru the brush coming to my position. Assuming it was one candidate that was hitting a secondary point, I grabbed my clipboard to check him in and send him on his way.

The candidate, despite the cold air, was sweating, as per the norm and was catching his breath as he raced up to my cozy spot by the fire. “Roster #?” I asked him. Scanning the list, I saw that he was already done, having completed the course in excellent time. He could see me scanning the clipboard and I my gaze was going down the list, he was assuming he was finished. I could see it in his eyes although he was trying his best to remain non-committal. Holy crap I thought, this was unexpected. Now he’s going to hanging out for at least 5 more hours while the rest of the group straggles in and he’s supposed to stay awake until everyone is done. How do I keep this guy awake for that long after he kicked the course in the butt? Easy start by messing with his head.

“Prepare to copy candidate,” I said. I gave him the exact coordinates of where we were standing. “When you’re finished plotting your point and are ready to move out, let me know and I’ll log your time out.” He quickly went off to the side and I watched him plot and replot his point twice. Gathering his gear, he ambled over. “Ready to move out?” I asked him. He answered, “I plotted this point twice and both times I have it right here.” I looked at him and asked, “Are you sure?” He nodded, “absolutely.” I gave him a wink, which we weren’t supposed to do, “Then I guess that means you are done.”

He gave me a quick look like, you are such an a**hole, and then he got a look on his face, like “I’ve got this.” Exactly the right response. Later he finished the course and is a friend today, despite the smart a$$ cadre member who messed with him (he didn’t hold a grudge) and is a very respected member of both the Ranger and Special Forces Regiments as well as an outstanding NCO. A tip of the Beret to Scotty C. Hope all is well with you brother.

So remember Selection is just the tip of the iceberg but a very important step. Because it is the first in your Special Operations career. It is what you make of it. Stay positive and give it all you have. Act like you’ve been there and belong without being cocky. Most of all, act like you want to be here. Now roster # —, “your next point is….

Photo courtesy: US Army

‘US-led’ Coalition Air Strike Allegedly Kills 29 Civilians

The US-led coalition air raids on fighters of the Islamic State in the Syrian city of Raqqa in northern Syria have killed 29 civilians in the past 24 hours. This occurred as American-backed forces battle the ISIS fighters in the Islamic State’s last big stronghold and their former “caliphate” in Syria a human rights watch group reported on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group reported that nine women and 14 children had been killed in coalition air raids on Raqqa city just since Monday. Apparently, according to this report, 14 members of one family, who were attempting to flee Palmyra and went to Raqqa were killed in the raid.

Because several others were critically wounded, the death toll is expected to rise, the group added.

A US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance is battling to overthrow ISIL, also known as ISIS, from Raqqa, its main Syrian stronghold, and has taken around 45 percent of the city.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment. The coalition has previously said it strenuously tries to avoid civilian casualties and investigates all reports that its attacks have killed civilians.
The coalition said in July that its attacks had killed at least 600 civilians in both Iraq and Syria since it began operations in 2014, a figure that is far lower than those given by independent monitors.

Unlike the city of Aleppo, the area around Ghouta is not surrounded so civilians will have the opportunity to flee the bombardment and the fighting. Many civilians have chosen to do so and many more civilians are expected to flee.

The advance thru Raqqa by the US-trained and equipped Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) has been slowed recently, on purpose. The SDF has said the ISIS fighters are using civilians as human shields are they’re attempting to limit civilian casualties.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Guam Reacts to North Korea Missile Threat with Faith in the US

The North Koreans were rattling their saber again and upped the ante this time, threatening a ballistic missile strike on the U.S. territory of Guam. While some residents expressed concern, others said that their trust in the US military will keep them safe.

North Korea’s military said it is considering a missile launch aimed near the U.S. strategic military installations in Guam, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. And they’re reporting that they now have a nuclear capability.

The government of Kim Jong Un has liked to threaten and act like the unhinged dictator who will fire off a nuclear weapon at the drop of a hat. But in reality, much of what has been portrayed in the media is a well-acted façade. Every time Jong rattles his saber, he gets concessions, either political or economic from previous US administrations. Not so much this time with the administration of Donald Trump. He makes threats as serious as the Koreans do. So how do Guamanians feel?

“The threat is pretty scary,” said Graceful Fiden, 28, of Tumon, Guam. “It’s going on further, so we should worry about it.”
But, he said, “I believe in the military on Guam, together with the U.S.”
Yonhap reported that the North’s strategic force in charge of the country’s ballistic missiles issued a statement that it is seriously reviewing measures to send a strong message that it can neutralize the U.S. military bases in Guam that house nuclear bombers and other key assets, with its Hwasong-12 missiles.
In comments made Tuesday at the clubhouse of his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., President Trump warned North Korea that it “best not make any more threats to the United States.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “has been very threatening beyond a normal state, and as I said they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” Trump said.

To read the entire article from The USA Today click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 8.9.2017

Back to the gym today, working our back and shoulders followed by a shuttle run and a swim in fatigues and boots. Remember to stretch really well before and after your workout and drink plenty of water. I know that we harp on that a lot but it is the truth. So, we’ll deal with that accordingly.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Lat Pull downs, behind the neck (go as heavy as possible)

3 x 12 Lat Pull downs, front

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

4 x 25-meter Shuttle Run

300-meter swim in fatigues and boots.

Stretch well after completion