US SOCOM

Air Force Special Operator to Receive the Silver Star For Valor In Afghanistan

On Friday, Air Force Tech Sgt. Brian C. Claughsey will receive the Silver Star for valor for his actions in retaking the town of Kunduz from Taliban control in Afghanistan in September 2015.

Claughsey, a Combat Controller in the 21^st Special Tactics was instrumental in helping a group of Special Operations forces retake Kunduz after over 500 Taliban militants had taken the city. At great risk to himself, he directed 17 close air support airstrikes from AC-130U gunships and F-16 aircraft.

He volunteered to ride in the lead convoy vehicle to assume close air support duties during the movement into Kunduz and immediately took control of an AC-130U when the troops were ambushed upon entering the city.
Claughsey directed precision fires on an enemy strong point to protect the convoy. During a second ambush, he coordinated friendly force locations with an overhead AC-130U while directing “danger close” strikes.
When a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device forced the convoy to stop in the middle of a four-way intersection, Claughsey suppressed the machine gun fire of six insurgents with his rifle while still coordinating with the AC-130U. He directed the crew on the plane to destroy the enemy fighters and helped shield the convoy from follow-on attacks as it made its way to the compound of the Kunduz provincial chief of police.
There, the American special operators and Afghan forces came under attack by Taliban mortar fire. According to the narrative of the battle, Claughsey maneuvered as close to the mortars’ origin as possible to pinpoint the location to an overhead F-16. He then controlled numerous strafing runs on the mortar position to eliminate the threat.
After helping to destroy the enemy mortar position, Claughsey moved to suppress enemy fire to allow another airman to direct another F-16 strike on the other side of the compound. He then stood exposed to enemy fire to hold a laser marker in position on an enemy building, directing two “danger close” strikes on the building from the F-16.

Claughsey’s unit, the 21^st Special Tactics Squadron is one that works closely with the other services Special Operations units. Based at Pope Field at Ft. Bragg, it is the most decorated unit in modern Air Force history, with four of the nine Air Force Crosses awarded since 2001 and 11 Silver Stars earned by the squadron’s airmen.

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

Featured photo: US Air Force

SOF Selection PT Preparation 4.05.2017

Back to the pool today for some swimming after hitting the gym for some work on the shoulders and back. After the longer rucksack march on Sunday, this couple of days with shorter runs and a swim will have given your feet a break. But we’ll get the ruck back on tomorrow.

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 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

300-meter swim in fatigues and boots

Stretch well after completion

Trump Expanding Special Operations To Target Militants in Somalia

President Trump is expanding the Pentagon’s ability to and the US Africa Command to launch a more effective offensive campaign against the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia. This signing off by the President should clear the way for more airstrikes and a more active presence of U.S. Special Operations Forces on the ground.

This move should also mark a shift in policy where in the past, Special Operations forces were forced to act in a defensive posture or “self-defense” of US advisors and their Somali counterparts. Now they will be able to take a more offensive role in helping Somali units recapture territory from al-Shabab and putting more pressure on them.

American forces have been increasingly active in Somalia in recent years. The Obama administration never abandoned its “signature strike” bombing program in either Somalia or Yemen, which allowed for U.S. drones and manned aircraft to target groups of men who merely showed signs and behaviors of belonging to terrorist groups. The largest of those strikes came in March 2016, when U.S. warplanes bombed an al-Shabab training camp north of Mogadishu, killing what the Pentagon estimated were about 150 militants.
Late last year, the Obama team declared Shabab an “associated force” of al Qaeda, putting the group under the same tenuous legal umbrella that allows the U.S. government to wage war in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
U.S. commandos on the ground in Somalia accompany government forces on patrol, and have the authority to shoot back or call in airstrikes if threatened, under rules set down by the Obama administration.

General Thomas Waldhauser, commander of Africa Command has said that welcomes the ability to call for attacks and airstrikes from his command HQs rather than have to wait for approval by Washington.

He said the shift in policy from the Obama administration will give his commanders the ability to launch offensive strikes that would allow his ability “to prosecute targets in a more rapid fashion.”

To read the Foreign Policy entire article click here:

Photo courtesy of US Africa Command

Interview With Royal Marine Commando, SBS Operator Gaz Humphrey Pt. 2

We were fortunate enough here at SpecialOperations.com to sit down with Gary Humphrey former Royal Marine Commando and SBS over the weekend. Gary or better known as Gaz to his friends gave us some nice insight on the selection courses of the Marines and the SBS. He relayed some of his experiences as well and it makes for a fun and intriguing look back at one man’s journey.

Gaz makes his home in the states now and lives on the Florida coast, but he’s not there very often as he’s constantly on the go with film projects, and just got back from one in Panama (yes, I’m jealous) but we’ll get to more of that later.

In the first part of our interview, we talked about Humphrey’s beginnings in the military as he joined the Royal Marine Commandos, passed their selection course and was assigned to one of the units. He deployed around the world, but his service in Northern Ireland back in 1989 was perhaps the most difficult.

From there, he began Selection for the SBS (Special Boat Service), Gaz recalled that much of training consisted on needless harassment, the instructors finding the slightest provocation and then forcing the candidates to strip naked to perform many of the training scenarios.

“The SAS course was better produced, the instructors had everything mapped out on how the training day was going to be conducted and they did it. I actually went thru their course after I did ours,” he said.

Wow, I asked him, you went back thru Selection? Humphrey laughed, He replied, “They told me, ‘we’ve got a great idea, we’re going to put you back thru Selection’ we were hardened by then, we could run, we could carry weight (ruck) with the Bergen, and hey, we could swim everywhere naked…right?”

“We went into the jungle in Brunei and came out four or five weeks later, thinking, that was a nice holiday.” The SBS course that Gaz went thru started in August and lasted until May, by then we were a hardened lot,” he repeated.

“We started out with three lots of 50 guys each, pegged down to 50 men but by the time we finished the SAS course we were down to and finished with just nine of us.”

At the conclusion of his training, he was assigned to one of the SBS units that are active all over the world. He signed a confidentiality agreement, that the Brits take much more seriously than the American military does. He’s not at liberty to say publicly where, when and how long he was deployed. The official Secrets Act is something he doesn’t care to run afoul of.

But having known him for quite a few years and having seen his resume, you can be assured that he’s served in most if not all of the “garden spots” that Special Operations Forces have been operating in for the past decade.

He said, “I don’t want to be banned from camp.” He explained further, “a few of the guys, a few years back, they sold their souls, and wrote books. A few more of the guys did a television show, ‘SAS Are You Tough Enough’, which was fine. They’re allowed to do that, but we had a guy who was interviewed on television and he gave up details of different operations and such. Now he’s banned from the camp.”

What does that mean I asked him? “Well, he can’t go back to visit, for any ceremonies, graduations, matches and such. That is where you go back to see your friends. So when discussing his resume, we’ll just leave it as he was a very busy man.

“It was a good time of my life, good men but I’ve lost a lot of good mates. Two of my instructors within six months of each other,” he said. “It makes it a bit difficult, doesn’t it? But we lost as many men from training accidents as they did from ops.”

“The old adage, train hard, fight easy…but you know there comes a time when you see blokes dying, two or three a year and you think, fuck things are catching up.”

“So I did nine years, and then I needed a break and took a walk-about, hitchhiked thru Africa, ski guided and came back and did eight more years. Those were really good ones and I really enjoyed it, and that’s when you realize how much you take the job for granted. You really miss it when you’re out and you really miss the lads.”

“That was the time when the whole world changed, I came back in 1998, then 2000 and whole world fucking exploded. Then our ops changed to a strict war fighting situation. But it was good times. It was fun really, Fun times.”

He keeps up with many of his old teammates and says he tries to keep up with all the jobs they’ve been doing and occasionally get together, share a bottle of port and toast the men who are no longer there.

After his career was over he’s remained a busy man and even is the basis of a hero in a romance novel. He was approached by a female writer who was writing one of those romance, adventure novels and she wanted the female lead in the book to taken hostage and rescued by the hero and a hostage rescue team. She needed the details of how it would go down from someone who would know.

“It was good, she asked me, ‘what is your nickname?’ Gaz I told her, and she said, you’re going to be the focus of my next book!”

He talked about how he’s changed from the warrior side of his personality to a more artistic side now. He has produced an outdoor reality television show and travels to different parts of the world to set it up. It aired in the UK last April 29. Gaz says, “now I’m more of a lover!”

“It has been fun, I was a bit of a bad boy and the Special Forces life was good for me, you know, the proper soldiering, the kind of stuff that makes history.”

“Some of those things, you know… it won’t be in the paper, it won’t be in the news but when you get back, you know what you did was worthwhile.”

We had the opportunity to work together about 10 years ago, on a war film that was using Morocco as the location site for work. In fact, the streets we filmed in that was supposed to be Iraq, were the exact same streets used in the film “Black Hawk Down” but were just filmed moving in the opposite direction…ah, the beauty of Hollywood.

I was the overall security advisor and Gary provided close, discreet protection for the star of the film an “A-List” actor. We were all pulling in the same direction and the film experience was a fun one even if the weather didn’t cooperate.

The second half of the filming was done in Morocco in late October, early November and that is the rainy season there. Well, it doesn’t translate to Iraq much so there was a ton of down time. Good for the security teams, not so good for the budget, having to pay a cast and crew of 300+ people to sit around.

Photo courtesy of UK Ministry of Defense

SOF Selection PT Preparation 4.4.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR Leg Day is a fun day with a trip to the gym today. Make sure you keep track of your times on the run in your workout log book.

Training:

3 x Pullups 10 reps

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

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

3 x 10 Leg Extensions

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

3 x 20 Sit-ups

30 x “V” Ups

3-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations From 15 Countries Take Part in “Allied Spirit VI” Joint Exercise

Special Operations operators from 15 different countries were part of the over 3000 troops that recently took part in the Allied Spirt VI exercise. The training was conducted at the 7^th Army Joint Multinational Readiness Training Center located in Hohenfels, Germany and took place for nearly the entire month of March.

Allied Spirit VI is a multinational exercise training service members from Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Kosovo, Latvia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. on integrating special operations and conventional forces to increase their effectiveness.

“The primary purpose of this exercise is providing a venue for the 1st Latvian Brigade to train in a Joint Task Force environment and increase their interoperability with both U.S. units as well as other multinational forces,” said Army Maj. Robert Temple, special operations force cell planner at JMRC. “Within that [joint task force] environment they have a replicated special operations component command.”
During the exercise, soldiers from 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group trained on their advise and assist mission while working closely with Estonian forces, who provided mission command of all special operations elements, and Macedonian special operations mission command elements.
“We are here supporting our Estonian Special Operations Task Group brethren. They are one of our long-time partners that we’ve worked with and continue to work within our Partnership Development Program,” explained a company commander for 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group. “Additionally, we get to work with the Latvians which are another one of our primary partner nations.”

This training program is conducted to foster interoperability and ease of operations between the member countries. The ability to work together seamlessly is invaluable in joint operations and pulls together our eastern allies in the face of Russian expansion in Eastern Europe. Battle staff drills, call for fire missions and the safe clearance of lines are just some of the areas that have proved valuable in the past.

To read the entire article from Department of Defense, click here:

Photo courtesy US Army

SOF Selection PT Preparation 4.3.2017

After a long rucksack march on Sunday, the run today is of the shorter duration, with the PT geared toward the UBRR. Monday starts a new week, so get motivated and keep grinding.

Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

2 x 1-minute Pushups

2 x 1-minute Sit-ups

2 x 1 minute, Crunches

2 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure

2-mile run

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 4.2.2017

Today is a just a long ruck, with just a few stretching exercises to get you warmed up then it is hitting the trail and putting some miles in. Try to not only maintain the pace needed to pass the course but to better it.

Try to push as hard as you can without running. Push yourself harder in the second half of the course. And remember to drink plenty of water on the course. Don’t let yourself get dehydrated.

Training:

Warm up 3 x 30 seconds Mountain Climbers

Warm up 3 x 30 seconds Spider-Man Planks

10-mile Ruck march over varied terrain with a minimum 45-pound ruck

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 4.1.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR with the focus on legs and lower body today. Notate your time in your training notebook. Remember to stretch well after completing your run and always stay hydrated. You won’t feel like drinking on cool or cold mornings but it is important to remain hydrated.

Training:

3 x Pullups 10 reps

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

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

3 x 20 Lunges with kettlebell

3 x 10 Leg Extensions

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

3 x 20 Push-ups

3 x 20 Crunches

30 x “V” ups

4-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Narrative for Silver Stars Awarded To Special Operations Forces Reveal Valor

Since 9/11 there have been over 1000 awards for valor consisting of the Silver Star or higher awarded to US troops, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost 20 percent of those have been awarded to Special Operations Forces, Navy SEALS, Green Berets, Delta Force commandos and Army Rangers.

The Pentagon and the Special Operations Command has released some of the narratives that accompanied the soldiers’ awards. And they read like a Hollywood script. Some of the narratives were published to give the public a glimpse of the valor of the Special Operations troops, however, the names were blacked out for security concerns.

Taliban insurgents blew a hole in the eastern wall of the fort in east central Afghanistan with a car bomb. The base housed a Provincial Reconstruction Team, a military-civilian unit tasked with helping Afghans rebuild their country. After the blast, 10 insurgents dressed in Afghan army uniforms flowed through the breach with rifles, grenades and suicide vests.
The Army special operator, identified only as “the Medical sergeant” raced to the “sound of gunfire and explosions.” He killed the insurgent closest to him, while two of his fellow commandos gunned down two more. Turning a corner with another commando, they confronted six more insurgents and faced a hailstorm of gunfire and grenades. One bullet struck the sergeant’s helmet, knocking him to the dirt where he continued to fight to blunt the attack.
Sped to a surgery team, the medical sergeant refused treatment, insisting on guarding the medical personnel until more troops arrived.
“His efforts directly supported containing the enemy to the edge of the airfield and saved the lives of (1,400) personnel,” the narrative states.

The Pentagon is reviewing the awards and considering many for reclassification to a higher award. Many Special Operations troops frequently are awarded awards below what they’d normally get in a conventional unit. That is one of the factors in being the “Quiet Professionals”.

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

Photo courtesy DOD