SOF

Survival Knife, Gear Review: Looking for a Versatile Tool

A survival knife is a tool and not a fashion statement but for any guys out there that have been in a survival situation or a school environment as in a training course, you’d know that. So it becomes a case of practicality over all else

While I’m admittedly no expert on knives, I know what works for me and what I’ve used. And as in anything when it comes to gear, much of what we choose comes down to personal choice. I’ve tried a lot of different knives and found some that I’ve liked and some that I didn’t. The one design that I’ve kept coming back to is the Bowie knife design.

Some guys don’t care for them, but it’s been around for about 200 years and it will work in about any situation. For most of the small mundane tasks, you’ll come across, a Swiss Army Knife or a Leatherman will work just fine, I never went anywhere without one of those in my pocket.

And the part of the world you’re going to be working in will have a factor in the decision which one to carry. A heavy-duty knife for working in the jungles of Latin America would be a very different choice than one working in the arid environments of the Middle East. So, with that in mind, you’ll still want a mix of a bigger knife for the heavy-duty tasks and a small one for the more intricate stuff will be the best way to go. Some of the other considerations include:

When looking for a heavy-duty knife, a fixed blade is better than a folding one. I look for one with a full tang, which is the part of the blade that extends down the entire length of the knife. The ones that don’t have a full tang tend to snap off at the most inopportune of times.

Most of the best knives are made from either carbon steel or stainless. Each has their good points. I prefer carbon which holds an edge better but saying that I’ve had a stainless steel one for the past decade and a half.

The handles come in a variety of styles, hardwood, bone, rubber, and polymer. All have their strong points. It just comes down again to personal choice. Blade type and length are the next criteria. I prefer the straight blade rather than a serrated one. It is better for chopping and those serrated blades are much tougher to sharpen. Blade length should be between 6-12 inches. I personally think a 6-inch blade may be a bit too short. A 9 to 10-inch knife is ideal. My Bowie is just under 11 and a half inches and at times is a bit too big for many applications.

The sheath is a very important part of the knife, the design will affect where you carry it and how it is drawn. But a couple of considerations to look for are The strap to keep your knife in place, some are Velcro or snaps but they should be located at the top so as to not allow the knife to slide out. A Belt loop, preferably a wide one is best so that it can be carried on your belt or as part of your kit. And a lower attachment strap or hole is nice to have so that you can strap it to your leg if need be.

Here are a couple of (but not all) good choices for survival knives to pick from:

SOG SEAL Team Elite:

SOG has updated their SEAL knives and has added a nice addition to their catalog. This is a very good heavy-duty knife that is at home with the avid outdoorsman as it would be during an operation. The blade is powder coated black or coated with hard cased black TiNi to prevent rust.

The black handle comes in ballistic nylon or Kydex. The sheath is made of nylon and has MOLLE attachments. Just over 12 inches in length, with a 7 inch partially serrated edge blade. It is a tough customer and will withstand heavy use.

Overall Length: 12.3 inches
Blade Thickness: 0.24 inches
Tang: Full
Blade Material: AUS 8
Price: $186.50 (+10.25 for the Kydex handle)

Ka-Bar BK-22 Becker Companion:

Ka-Bar has been putting out quality products for generations and this knife is a nice addition to their line. This offers great value for the money and will be a nice piece of equipment that will last for years.

It is an excellent overall tool that is heavy enough to do the chopping and splitting etc that you’ll need but versatile enough to handle smaller tasks while not being too bulky. It comes with a polyester sheath with MOLLE attachments and a front pocket.

Overall length: 10.5 inches
Blade Thickness: 0.25 inches
Tang: Full
Blade Material: 1095 Cro-Van
Price: $121.75

Caraway Cutlery Bowie:

This was a gift from a very good friend of mine nearly 20 years ago and whenever we’re out in the outdoors, this one comes with us. It is the least expensive of the three but is a good quality knife for hunting or camping. The overall blade length is a bit too long for my taste, but it keeps a razor-sharp edge with the stainless-steel blade and is a great chopping tool.

The handle made from bone and has a brass plated guard as well, so injuries are properly prevented when the user gets carried away with chopping in the base camp.

The knife comes with a leather sheath which I never cared for in steamy jungle environments but works just fine in the Northeast. It is just a little too big for most uses.

Overall Length: 15 inches, 9.75-inch blade
Blade Thickness: 0.25 inches
Tang: Full
Blade Material: Stainless steel, plain edge
Price: about $60

For those of you who are looking for a custom-made knife, I would encourage you to check out Naylor Forge. Ashton Naylor is a retired Special Forces officer who commanded a battalion of the 5^th SFG in Iraq and was the SWC Group Commander. He is a self-taught blacksmith who puts out some tremendous quality knives, tomahawks, and axes.

And he’ll tailor them to your needs and specifications. He can give you some good tips on what will work best for you. And what will fit your needs. Check out his website here:

Photo courtesy YouTube

SOF Selection PT Preparation 5.11.2017

Chest and Triceps day at the gym today to build upper body strength. Then a 5-mile ruck march with 45-pounds minimum. Remember to stay hydrated and mark your progress down in your workout log book.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Bench Press

3 x 10 Dumbbell Flies

3 x 10 Dumbbell Incline press

3 x 20 Pushups (alternate sets with wide, narrow and shoulder width)

3 x 10 Kip Ups

3 x 20 Sit ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

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

Stretch well after completion

US to Arm the Kurds with Heavier Weapons, Against Wishes of Turkey

The United States is going to provide the Kurd forces in Syria with heavier weapons as they prepare to attack the key Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The Trump Administration’s decision is not being met with much happiness in Turkey as the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan views the Syrian Kurdish group also known as the YPG is an extension of Kurdish terrorist organization that operates in Turkey.

The U.S. sees the Kurds as its most effective battlefield partner against IS in northern and eastern Syria.
After lengthy deliberations, the administration approved plans to provide additional weaponry to the Kurds. A full list wasn’t immediately available, but officials had indicated in recent days that 120mm mortars, machines guns, ammunition and light armored vehicles were possibilities. They said the U.S. would not provide artillery or surface-to-air missiles.
The U.S. officials who disclosed the Trump administration decision weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter and demanded anonymity. They described no firm timeline, with the American intention to provide the new weapons to the Syrian Kurds as soon as possible.
Senior U.S. officials including Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have met repeatedly with Turkish officials to try to work out an arrangement for the Raqqa assault that would be acceptable to Ankara. The Turks have insisted that the Syrian Kurds be excluded from that operation, but U.S. officials insisted there was no real alternative.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to visit President Donald Trump in Washington next week. An Erdogan adviser, Ibrahim Kalin, met on Tuesday with Thomas Shannon, the State Department No. 2 official.

Back in April, the Turks launched an airstrike on the Kurds’ bases in Syria and Iraq. The Turkish military said it killed at least 90 militants and wounded many others. The Kurds released a statement saying that 20 of its fighters and media activists were killed in the strike, which was followed by cross-border clashes.

US military officials feel, and rightfully so, that this won’t help the cause of moving the ISIS group out of Raqqa.

To read the entire article from the Business Insider click here:

Photo courtesy Reuters

United States Focusing on the Wrong Enemy in Afghanistan?

The US and their Afghan allies have been hammering the Islamic State offshoot in recent weeks including dropping the MOAB (Mother of all Bombs) recently on tunnel strongholds where the terrorist group has been hiding.

But according to an OPED in the New York Times, the US may be focusing on the wrong enemy and not the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The battle being waged in Nangarhar Province in recent weeks has claimed the lives of two American Special Operations Force soldiers and at least one top leader of the terrorist group. The US has issued a statement that they’re trying to wipe out the group by the end of 2017.

But the United States’ obsession with the Islamic State in Khorosan – a minor group in Afghanistan – distracts attention from a more urgent task: negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban which controls close to half of Afghanistan.
Two years after its emergence in Afghanistan, the Islamic State affiliate is still struggling to consolidate its organizational capacity. The few major attacks it has claimed were mostly sectarian and aimed at soft targets: two gatherings of Shiites and a hospital in Kabul, and, in Pakistan, a Sufi Shrine in Sindh and a hospital in Quetta.
Although the Islamic State in Khorosan and the Taliban follow politically contrasting goals and constitute different types of threats, the Taliban’s manpower is 50 times greater according to estimates from Afghan and Western analysts in Kabul.

While the author here, Borhan Osman believes that a peace treaty with the Taliban is the way to go, that would never work. The Taliban are interested in only one thing and that is absolute power in Afghanistan. To think otherwise is foolhardy. As for the writer’s other theory that the recent MOAB bombing by Trump will cause more fighters to flock to ISIS side there…It doesn’t seem to hold water.

The group is down to 600 fighters from more than 3000 a year ago. Most of their senior leadership have been killed in airstrikes. The strategy seems to be to eliminate the Islamic State affiliate first and then concentrate on the Taliban.

To read the entire article from the New York Times click here:

Photo courtesy Reuters

How the OSS Shaped Special Operations Forces and CIA of Today

Just a few short months after Pearl Harbor, the United States was locked in a global war with both the empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. And the country had no formal intelligence gathering apparatus.

So, in July 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and appointed BG William “Wild Bill” Donovan as its head. It was an agency that fell under the auspices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines, conduct special operations, propaganda, subversion, and sabotage.

Prior to the OSS, the business of American intelligence had been done on an ad-hoc basis conducted by various elements of the State Department, Navy, Treasury, and War Departments. There was no joint interaction, control, and no direction. Both the Army and Navy had separate code-breaking units that reported only to the individual services.

Donovan was an interesting choice to lead this ground-breaking unit. To begin with, he was a Republican and Roosevelt a Democrat and the two had many disagreements and political battles in New York prior to the war. One must wonder if a sitting US president today would appoint a political foe in the political morass that plagues Washington.

But Roosevelt had befriended his political foe in the ensuing years and respected his vision of foreign affairs. Donovan had traveled extensively thru Europe and had even been allowed by Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Italy to visit the front line during Italy’s war with Ethiopia. Donovan was sent to inspect US defenses in the Pacific during the time before the war and found them wanting. Roosevelt also sent him on fact-finding missions to the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Donovan had many close contacts with the British and he urged FDR to support Winston Churchill.

Thus, when FDR appointed Donovan the head of the OSS in July 1942 he had already been laying the groundwork from the previous year to build a centralized intelligence program. But they were starting with only their imagination to guide them. Donovan immediately based OSS on the British model of intelligence with their Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE). This would prove to be the groundwork for the future.

There was considerable push-back from the FBI, as Director J. Edgar Hoover was openly hostile to Donovan and because of that, operations in Latin America were virtually non-existent as Hoover kept that part of the intelligence area for himself and the FBI. Consequently, the level of sharing of intelligence between the two organizations was zero. Several high-ranking generals held the fledgling organization and Donovan in low esteem, including Douglas MacArthur. It would later keep OSS from helping the liberation of the Philippines, an area that was tailor made for OSS.

Donovan built OSS from nothing to over 10,000 operatives by the end of the war in just three short years. They trained spies, commandos, saboteurs, propagandists and had support personnel to conduct operations all over the globe. At war’s end, Donovan had a plan in mind to bring OSS to the next level and build a post-conflict national intelligence service. But with Roosevelt’s death, President Harry S. Truman disbanded OSS and parceled out its functions to the different services. He then created the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947, but Donovan was not to be its head.

Many of Donovan’s OSS operatives became the face of CIA including Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, William Colby, and William Casey.

Dulles was the agency’s first head and ran a very successful espionage operation against Germany from Switzerland during World War II. Helms, who succeeded Dulles, had run post-war intelligence operations in Berlin against the Russians. Colby who ran the CIA later was an OSS operative who led commando raids in France and Norway. And Casey who was head of CIA during the Reagan administration worked during the war at the Secret Intelligence Branch in Europe under Donovan.

The Special Operations side of OSS later morphed into the CIA’s paramilitary Special Activities Division but it became the backbone of the US Special Operations Command of today. The Special Operations branch of OSS was the basis for many of the Unconventional Warfare (UW), Counter-Insurgency (COIN), and Foreign Internal Defense (FID) tactics and techniques used by today’s U.S. Army Special Operations Forces.

During the war, OSS’ Special Operations Branch fielded units called Operational Groups (OGs) that conducted raids, ambushes, sabotage, and armed resistance groups. These OGs were active in Yugoslavia with the partisans, in Burma as well as France, Italy, and Norway. The most well-known were the Jedburgh OGs which carried out operations in Europe.

Col. Aaron Bank created the 10^th Special Forces Group in 1952, he was a Jedburgh assigned to Europe and recruited other paratroopers, OSS operators, and the 1^st Special Service Force. Using the training and tactics he learned with OSS, Bank created the Special Forces groups that we know today.

The Navy SEALs are well known to have evolved from the famous frogmen and UDTs of World War II. But they also trace part of their lineage to OSS, although they don’t claim it. The Maritime Unit (MU) of OSS was created to conduct special operations, espionage and to develop special equipment, tactics, techniques, and procedures for other special units. This describes closely to what the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 officially known as Developmental Group (DEVGRU) is tasked with today.

One of the most famous of the MU’s operators was Walter Mess. He had conducted sensitive missions in Poland and Czechoslovakia before heading to the MU. He conducted over 100 secret missions, rescued 220 downed pilots using scout swimmers and PT boats and had 15 jumps into Thailand and Burma.

Although an Army officer, and an honorary Green Beret, Mess fits the bill for a quintessential example of a Navy SEAL. He should be recognized as such by USSOCOM.

While many of Donovan’s intelligence operatives became the backbone of the CIA, the special operations side of OSS became the beginning of the Special Operations Command and the units assigned to it.

And to show the lineage to the OSS, the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) wears an adaptation of the unofficial OSS spearhead insignia as its shoulder patch.

From humble beginnings 75 years ago, the United States Special Operations Command and the CIA owe its legacy to a group of free thinking, “glorious amateurs” as General Donovan liked to call them.

Photo courtesy CIA

SOF Selection PT Preparation 5.10.2017

Happy Hump Day, it is back and shoulders day at the gym. Then a 5-miler ruck march. Remember to stay hydrated during the ruck and mark your progress in the workout log book.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

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

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, front

3 x 10 Deadlift

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Arnold Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

5-mile Rucksack march (45lb minimum)

Stretch well after completion

Colts Hire Ex-SF Officer Brian Decker as Player Personnel Strategist

Brian Decker, the man who revamped the Special Forces Selection and Assessment Course (SFAS), has brought his ability to evaluate a certain indicator of success from the military to the NFL (National Football League). He’s now been hired by the Indianapolis Colts to head a new program to ensure player success.

His metric collects over 1200 different points of data on each player that will point to whether a player will be able to succeed in the NFL. The same traits that the military looks for in Special Operators: selflessness, character, determination, leadership, and grit are the same qualities that can transcend into success in the world of professional football.

“At the time, Decker ran the Army’s Special Forces selection assessment as the commander. He and his men was responsible for evaluating the best Soldiers the Army had to offer. He evaluated the best of the best soldiers, with unbelievable resumes and the ultimate physical specimens. Decker helped pick where each one would fit in to the Special Forces, also known as the “Green Berets.”
“When Decker took over the prestigious selection assessment, he revamped some of the course material and it received rave reviews. Special Forces candidates would take a series of tests designed to be a reliable predictor of success.”
“After three years (serving the Army), Decker had devised a program that collected 1,200 data points on each candidate, from peak physical performance to psychometrics, the science of measuring mental processes. He could effectively predict the profile of a Green Beret: college-educated with an IQ around 122, in his early 30s, probably from a suburb of a major city, someone who responded to trauma in his life with increased self-motivation.”

The Cleveland Browns hired Decker a few years ago as a player personnel strategist but he was let go in a front office purge before he could fully implement his system.

To read the entire article from FanSided click here:

Photo courtesy ESPN

Jordanians, US Kick Off “Eager Lion” Joint Exercise

The government of Jordan with the cooperation of the United States is hosting the annual joint training exercise “Eager Lion” which will take place over the next 11 days.

During a press conference at the Joint Special Operations Command, Director of Joint Military Training at the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) Brig. Gen. Khaled Shraah said that the drills are being conducted with the participation of ground, naval and air forces, amounting to around 7,400 participants representing JAF and US forces.

US and Jordanian officials said the manoeuvres would include border security, cyber-defence, and “command and control” exercises to bolster coordination in response to threats including “terrorism”.
“Joint efforts and coordination and the exchange of expertise … are needed at the time when the region is facing the threat of terrorism,” Jordanian Brigadier-General Khalid al-Sharaa, who will head the exercise, told reporters.
US Major-General Bill Hickman, deputy commanding officer for the American army in the region, said this year’s Eager Lion exercise – the seventh so far – is “the largest and most complex to date”.
The highlight of this year’s war games, he said, will be that “for the first time ever a global strike mission” will be conducted by “two US Air Force B-1B bomber aircraft” – a long-range multi-mission bomber.

The military exercise will see the participation of Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, the UAE, Lebanon, the UK, France, Kenya, Italy, Pakistan, the US, Belgium, Poland, Holland, Australia, Greece, Japan, as well as representatives of NATO.

Last year, about 6000 troops took part in the exercise which has been on-going since 2011. Jordan is a key ally of the United States in the region and has received upwards of $1 billion dollars of aid in the years 2015-2017.

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

Photo courtesy Reuters

Pineland Role Players Show Importance of Popular Support in Unconventional Warfare

The final training in Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) is the Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise “Robin Sage”, which we went over in detail in an earlier post, that you can read here:

The prospective Green Berets put all their training together and infiltrate into the fictional country of Pineland via an airborne operation. The SF candidates must raise and train a guerrilla force that will fight the enemy government troops and attempt to restore the friendly Pineland government.

As we stated the fictional country of Pineland encompasses 15 counties in North Carolina including Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davidson, Guilford, Hoke, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly and Union counties.

This unconventional warfare, (UW), training environment has been in use by the Special Forces School for many years and what makes this operation and training so realistic has to do with the scope of interaction with the community. Not only have the citizens of the operational area given their support for the exercise, they’ve become deeply involved.

Many of the role players have been involved for decades and then their children follow on to take over the role of underground or auxiliary in the exercise. And they have proven time and again just how important having popular support in the UW area of operations is to mission success.

It was a point driven home by one of our UW instructors, a Vietnam vet with multiple combat tours who said this of popular support, “you can be the 12 baddest MFers on the planet, but if the people in your area aren’t even nominally behind you, you won’t last a minute out there.”

To the people of these counties, the SF students are “the good guys” and the OPFOR forces are most definitely “the bad guys.” Case in point, moving the entire guerrilla base camp was an undertaking and two major roads had to be crossed. Approaching one in the dark, the lead element woke a farmer’s dog from a house about 200 meters away. The dog was causing a racket.

A light came on and a few moments later, the farmer appeared with a shotgun in hand.
“Are you fellas the SF?” he asked with a heavy drawl. When he was assured that the group was, he smiled. “I told them other fellas, that they couldn’t use my property, they are trying to bushwhack ya.” He then proceeded to tell us where the OPFOR had set up blocking positions knowing we’d be crossing somewhere along the line.

He saved us countless headaches of exposure, firefights and then trying to run cross country with the OPFOR on our trail. We asked the farmer if he was part of the underground for Robin Sage. “Nope, just lookin’ out for the good guys.” He then told us to wait. A minute later he reappeared with a bag of apples that he gave us and wished us luck.

The depth of knowledge these role players have of their own areas is fantastic. Our underground contact knew every single inch of the terrain in the 50-square miles around our guerrilla base. No matter where we’d have to go, he could get there on his ATV, regardless of how thick the vegetation was. We quickly learned that when traveling between different points in the area, he’d give tremendous insight on the areas to avoid, the discrepancies of what the maps showed and what was on the ground and who to avoid in the area.

During on Direct Action (DA) mission, the guerrillas were tasked from the Area Command to blow a small bridge that was defended by elements of the OPFOR. The vegetation around the bridge was incredibly thick. Visibility was about 15-20 in most places. It made the recon of the target very difficult.

Our underground contact stepped in…”My brother and his son fish there all the time, we cut out a trail that can take you right up to the river on the near side for a good look, without making any noise,” he said.

Even better, he sent his brother and nephew “fishing” off the bridge. They ran into the OPFOR, spent the better part of an hour shooting the breeze with the soldiers, and his 11-year old son quickly made his way around the small perimeter talking with the bad guys.

They came into our hasty patrol base and the 11-year old produced a sketch that would make a Ranger instructor proud. All of the fighting positions were marked including the two machine gun emplacements. He even had their walking patrol paths down. We were impressed, his dad said, “He’s been doing this since he was 9, he’s getting pretty good at it.”

These role players helped ferry supplies and equipment, move troops in covered trailers around the operational area as well as provide an early warning network for the guerrilla force. As it is with all people who live in the country, nothing happens out there without all of them knowing about it and they invariably warned the good guys.

Whenever the OPFOR guys were moving in the area, the calls went out and got to the G-Force (Guerrillas) in no time. The area was wired in tight for the resistance movement. It was an eye-opener with how valuable they truly were.

The final target was a big substation for the electric company. The guerrillas had to overwhelm the small detachment of OPFOR guarding it and blow the generators using platter charges. The time to hit the target was 0430 hrs. When the leader’s recon came back, they reported that half the town was set up across the street, huddling in the cold to “watch the show.”

While that kind of gave away the time for the OPFOR that something was about to happen, including having the instructors on site as well, it hit home how much the people have bought in. There were close to two hundred people there to watch the students take down the target. The G-force and students didn’t disappoint. It went flawlessly and the allotted time on target was met with less than a minute to spare before the charges were blown.

The instructors put on a show by throwing an inordinate number of simulators, firing off star clusters and parachute flares for the people out there that chilly October morning. As the last of the explosions died away, the G-force and students were racing back to the rally point, the cheers from the town could be heard from quite a way back.

The role players, the underground and the auxiliary are key components of Robin Sage but it also strikes home how important having popular support is when either helping or countering a resistance movement. If a foreign invader ever comes to the US, one area they will be bound to bypass would be the Uwharrie National Forest. Because the transition from role players to actual underground would be done in the blink of an eye and an invader would find himself in a bad way.

Special Forces soldiers are well trained in the area of working with indigenous personnel. It is their bread and butter. The inner workings of Robin Sage show how valuable that area of expertise is. Using language skills and cross-cultural communication, these lessons will serve the Green Berets well in their follow-on assignments in Special Operations.

Photo courtesy of Randolph County History

SOF Selection PT Preparation 5.9.2017

Tuesday is Leg Day but we’ll begin with pull-ups and towel pullups for those who don’t have access to ropes for climbing. Then we’ll do some shuttle runs and sprints to work on our cardio to break things up a bit this week.

Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR

3 x Pullups 10 reps

3 x Towel pullups 10 reps

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

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

4 x Sled push heavier weight

3 x 10 reps Dumbbell lunges

3 x 20 Side planks

4 x 25 Meter Shuttle

5 x 50 Meter Sprints

Stretch well after completion