SpecOps

Team from Honduras Takes 1st Place in Fuerzas Comando Competition

The 14^th year of the Fuerzas Comando special operations forces competition brought competitors and key leaders from 20 countries together in a difficult training exercise last week in Paraguay. This competition pits the best teams of each countries Special Operations Forces competed against the other nations’ teams in the SOUTHCOM (US Southern Command) area of operations.

Although the competition is tough, the teams bonded as families, partners, and friends, said Navy Adm. Kurt W. Tidd, the commander of U.S. Southern Command said today.

Paraguay hosted Fuerzas Comando this year. The competition was first held in El Salvador in 2004 with 13 participating countries. Twenty nations sent teams to compete this year: Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Uruguay.
Honduras placed first in this year’s competition, with Colombia in second place and the United States taking third.
Special Forces
Leading a round of applause for the teams, Tidd, in prepared remarks, spoke directly to the competitors.
“Fuerzas Comando stands apart from the rest of our multinational exercises,” the admiral said. “There’s no other exercise like it. It brings together an elite group of warriors from 20 nations to pit their impressive physical and mental skills against one another.”
He called it an awesome display of physical fitness, weapons marksmanship, tactical capabilities and, above all, teamwork, and cooperation.
“For the past week, the best of the best have challenged one another, bested one another and learned from one another,” Tidd said. “No matter which unit we belong to or what our specialty is, when we join in exercises like these, we become stronger together.”
Fuerzas Comando
Each competing team consisted of a four-man assault team, a two-man sniper team, and an alternate in case of injury or illness. Each competing nation provided a judge to ensure the evaluation was fair and balanced, according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Embassy Paraguay.
The teams competed in events that included physical fitness tests; various live-fire events measuring speed, accuracy, and decision-making; precision sniper fire at known and unknown distances; combined assault; an obstacle course; a 14-kilometer team event; and a 20-kilometer ruck march.
Fuezas Comando 2017 came to a close with an airborne operation — a friendship jump — at Ñu Guasú Air Base yesterday and the closing ceremony today for all competitors and senior leader seminar participants.
This year’s motto was “La fuerza que nos une,” “Mbarate ñane moirûva” or “The strength that unites us,” the fact sheet said.

The annual exercise forges deep friendships within the Special Operations community of the countries involved and not builds trust, but serves as an invaluable tool as the best SOF forces learn to work together. Next year’s competition will be held in Panama.

To read the entire article from The DOD News, click here:

Photo courtesy US Army

Beaudette Takes Over as New Head of 1st Special Forces Command

The 1^st Special Forces Command welcomed a new commander MG Fran Beaudette who took over from MG James Kraft in a ceremony at Ft. Bragg, NC last week.

Lt. Gen. Kenneth E. Tovo, the commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, oversaw the change of command.

Tovo said the command, provisionally activated in May 2014, was meant to combine the nation’s regionally orientated special operations capabilities within a single headquarters that would then be able to deploy to support wars around the world.
Under Kraft’s leadership, the 1st Special Forces Command was officially approved in October 2016. Later that year, it received orders to deploy to Iraq to oversee special operations forces based in Iraq, Syria and Jordan while fighting the Islamic State.
The command deployed about a month later.
Tovo compared Kraft’s job to building an airplane in flight.
“Jim has been the design engineer, the construction manager and the pilot,” he said.
While deployed for much of the past year and a half, Kraft guided and directed the continued development of the command at Fort Bragg, oversaw the building of readiness across the force and ensured warfighters deployed to more than 70 countries were supported.
At the same time, Tovo said, Kraft was in the middle of a shooting war against a determined enemy in one of the most complex geopolitical environments ever seen as part of the anti-ISIS fight, known as Operation Inherent Resolve.
In addition to fighting the Islamic State, special operations forces are navigating a battlefield that includes Russian, Iranian, Lebanese Hezbollah and Syrian regime forces.
Tovo said those troops aren’t enemies, but they also aren’t friends.
Despite the challenges, special operations forces have helped turn the tide against ISIS and have laid the groundwork for the terrorist group’s eventual defeat, the general said.
In doing so, Kraft has proven the value of the still relatively new command, Tovo said.
“You have taken the vision of 1st SFC and you have given it form and substance,” he said.
Beaudette takes over a division-sized command that consists of 11 subordinate groups and brigades and more than 23,000 troops. That includes seven Special Forces groups, two military information support groups, a civil affairs brigade and a sustainment brigade.
The soldiers are trained to work closely with indigenous partners around the world. They are trained as combat advisors, in military deception, in sabotage and subversion and as experts in other forms of special warfare.
They work closely with allied forces, in support of regional military commanders, ambassadors, and other governmental agencies, providing crisis response, precision targeting and regional understanding.

Beaudette was first commissioned in 1989. He has deployed in support of Desert Storm, peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Philippines. He has a strong and versatile Special Forces background having served in the 1^st, 3^rd and 10^th Special Forces Groups as well as the assistant commander of the Joint Special Operations Command.

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

Photo courtesy US Army

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.31.2017

Today we’re going to see where our fitness level is at by using a test using the new Special Operations Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) Fitness Test. It measures functional fitness for the Special Operators much better than the traditional PT test.

Pushups: (1min) 40 minimum +2 points for each additional rep.

Sit-ups: (1min) 40 Minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

Pull-ups: (not timed) 6 minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

Dips: (not timed) 6 minimum +2 points for each additional rep.

Bench Press: (80% body weight) 6 minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

20ft. Rope Climb: with weighted vest or body armor, Pass/Fail

Kick-ups: (1minute) 6 minimum, +2 points for each additional rep.

25 Meter Shuttle Run: x 4, 24 seconds maximum. +2 points for each 1/10 sec. under

5 Mile Run: 40 minutes maximum +2 points for every full 15 seconds under max.
or 5 Mile Ruck March: w/45 lbs +2 points for every full 15 seconds under max.

To pass the UBRR, participants must achieve a PASS in all events with at least the minimum score, and Receive at least 1100 total points from all the events combined.

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.30.2017

Sunday morning rucksack march. However, as we pointed out in yesterday’s post, with the UBRR (Upper Body Round Robin) Test on Monday, we’re scaling back our workouts this weekend. Just a light stretch and a very short ruck march to get the kinks out.

Training:

Warm up

Stretch well and hydrate

3-mile Rucksack march with a leisurely pace, not fast at all, just enough to loosen your body up. Save it for the test on Monday.

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.29.20

With an Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) Test on Monday, we’ll scale back the work over the weekend with just some stretching and a short run. Stay hydrated, stretched out and be prepared to be tested for Monday’s test to see where you’ll fitness level is.

Training:

Stretch well before the run

2-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Do Your Job, That Is the Only Thing That Matters in Special Operations

The following is an opinion of the writer and doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of SOFREP or any other employee of it.

Usually, when someone writes that, you can assume that they are going to say something that is inflammatory. Well, this isn’t going to be one of those pieces… I guess it depends on your point of view.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past several days, all that you’ve read is about the declaration by President Trump that transgender persons will not be allowed to serve in the military in any capacity. That, of course, set off a firestorm on social media as people of every viewpoint came out to voice their opinion either for or against it.

And like all social media posts in the past few years, it quickly turned into shouting matches, with neither side trying to engage in any kind of meaningful conversation, but just insults shouted over one another. Count me out. And when I see one of those posts? Click…moving on.

But there is no escaping it, even today (Thursday), at a pro football training camp, the conversation somehow turned from the NFL into who is right, wrong or completely ill-informed on the subject of transgenders. Friends and family have asked my opinion on it which until now I’ve stayed away from.

I have always cherished my personal freedom that I enjoy as a citizen of this country. I believe in them, practice them and protect them. As long as your beliefs aren’t endangering myself, my family or the USA, I may not agree with you but respect your right to have a different opinion. I don’t preach my beliefs to others and don’t wish yours preached to or at me. That’s respect.

So for me, and this is just me speaking, I could care less if transgenders want to serve in the military with a single caveat, which I’ll get to later. The only thing I’m interested in, can you do your job? Are you going to be a trustworthy teammate, someone myself and the rest of the team can trust with their life? Can you heft a rucksack and carry it all day, all night and all day again? Can you pick up a hurt teammate with all of his gear and safely carry him out of harm’s way?

If the answers to all of those questions are yes, then sign up for Selection, go thru the course and meet the same standards as the rest of the Regiment. If you pass and are found capable, then I’ll give you a tip of the Beret, hoist a drink with you and welcome you to the regiment. If you can’t, for whatever reason, then sorry, that is what the course is designed for. That’s what the “Special” in Special Operations is for.

I don’t care if the man or woman next to me used to be another gender…could actually care less. If they want to serve and can, just like anyone else is my only concern, just like their “traditional” gender troops.

But…(I know what you’re thinking, here’s where the idiot shows his bias), here is my caveat. I am in full support for transgenders serving, but only after they’ve completed any and all therapy, surgery, post-surgical therapy. If you want to serve, come to us ready to serve not in three-to-four years after all of this process is done, at the government’s expense.

And by expense, I just don’t mean in terms of dollars for therapy and surgery. Time is a very valuable asset in today’s military. Time will have to be spent in not only speaking with and helping troops who identify themselves as transgenders, but with the other troops as well. The time that could be and SHOULD be spent in preparing for war. Separate facilities will have to be set up, more additional troops will have to be assigned to handle the administrative tasks to care for these troops.

Secretary of Defense Mattis has recently stated the military has to cease with “senseless” training and get back to strictly warfighting preparation. I couldn’t agree more.

The entire process from the time that a member of the military identifies him or herself as a transgender until the therapy, surgery and follow-on care is complete is measured in years not months. And as soon as a military member makes it known that they are transgender, that person is non-deployable. So yes, it does affect the readiness of the force. By the time all of that process is done a soldier would almost be done with their enlistment. What is the incentive for remaining?

The military isn’t a social experiment or a huge free clinic for the confused men and women of America. The military’s purpose, its sole reason for being is to protect the citizens of this country and to crush our enemies on the fields of battle. We’re currently engaged in one of the longest wars in our nation’s history. And there is no end in sight. In fact, there are other hot spots brewing all over the globe. We have more wars on-going or brewing at any time since World War II.

The military is very discriminatory on who it lets in the service. Those with physical and emotional disabilities aren’t allowed in. And from everything that is being published, even by those in favor of this state, that the suicide rate for transgenders is very high. Then why not have all of those issues taken care of before even enlisting?

We need every service member able to answer the call, having more and more troops non-deployable requires two to three times that number to also remain behind for support and administrative tasks.

Right now the point is moot. The Joint Chiefs have spoken and said that they’re not going to change the country’s transgender policy…at least for now. But the bottom line is this: If they can do the job and are ready to do the job (and not before) then let them. But let’s all remember that the military has a job to do and the mission comes first.

Photo Courtesy: DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.28.2017

Let’s get Friday started off right and hit the gym for Chest and Triceps day and then a 5-mile run. Remember to stretch well before and after and to stay hydrated. 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 ‘V’ Ups

3 x 20 Sit Ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

12-Mile Rucksack March Nothing To Worry About in Selection?

Well, this sounded like a good idea at the time… “Somebody” had the bright idea to conduct and then write about a 12-mile ruck sack march and then putting the results in our training blog with the whole encouraging headline for our prospective Special Operations readers, that it is STILL a piece of cake.

After all, since starting at SpecialOperations.com and SOFREP, I’ve had the pleasure of writing the “SOF Selection PT Prep” pieces every day. And not just writing them. It has been fun to strapping on a ruck again and doing some shorter distances with my fat bulldog keeping me company in the cool, pre-dawn air. It brought back many pleasant and some not so pleasant memories of carrying the pain pill while a member of a Special Forces A-Team and as a cadre member at Selection. And after following my friends and SF brothers doing the length of the Appalachian Trail, in a fundraising effort for the Green Beret Foundation, it got my motivation up to as high as it can get and I thought, a 12-miler for time with a 45-pound ruck shouldn’t be hard for this steely-eyed ole snake eater right? Hindsight can be a mother…

I had a couple of advantages that you kids in Selection do not. Number 1 is I knew where every mile marker was so I had instant feedback as to my time and distance. I had mapped a trail on flat ground along railroad tracks and a bike path so there was none of the element of the unknown as to time and distance. Which, is a part of the mind-fuck the course plays on you.

My second advantage is I wasn’t carrying a weapon on this, just a walking stick, my staff of Ra if you will. If someone had seen me in town carry a rifle down the road at my 3 a.m start time, you’d have read about the old SF guy being shot by the police for doing something shady, because no sane person goes out rucking at 3 a.m. for fun.

The author with his SFAS walking stick, the Staff of Ra, which a snapping turtle made the ultimate sacrifice for. Image courtesy of the author.

And my third advantage was having my iPod charged up. Having music blasting in your ear is a great motivator. And nothing kills the boredom of a long hike like music. Loud, metal. Metallica is a good choice, We’ll start off with S&M and then the Black Album.

Of course, I had a couple of disadvantages as well. Having blown my back out in SF, and having two surgeries that ended my career is never a plus, the resultant arthritis that crept in there is always a joy early in the morning. That and having two knees that the same. Two surgeries, arthritis…ain’t life grand? So things kind of evened out. Plus it has been ….. Ok, it has been a very long time since my days as a cadre member at Selection so that isn’t a plus…at all.

I got up, put on an old pair of fatigue bottoms from my days as a contractor with that god-awful ACU camouflage pattern. Whoever thought that shit was good? Stretched well and got ready to head out. My bulldog lifted her head and sensing it was much too early for this, looked at me with a “WTF” look and literally flopped over and went back to snoring. Maybe this was an omen…

The first mile wasn’t great as my knees were barking a bit with the cool, damp temps and they were a little bit stiff, but the last bit, I started to get loose and was feeling good. So far so good. Miles 2 and 3 were much better, I was loosened up and had a good sweat working and my stride was getting back to that nice, long, lope that eats up the distance and allows for a quick time. Going down one of the few downhill areas of the course, I stumbled for a second but kept my balance and turned it into a jog for a quarter-mile until the terrain flattened out. Those two miles went by quickly and a quarter of the way in, I had a very good time going, around 40 minutes which was better than I expected.

Having much more energy than I expected, I felt like it was a good time to kick it up a notch. Having nice flat, hard-packed terrain for the next few miles I set a pace that would have sufficed back in the day for the entire march, but for about two and a half miles the ground was falling by the wayside easily and I was making terrific time. Knowing where the mile markers were helped a great deal and having “No Leaf Clover” one of my all-time favorite Metallica songs made it a breeze.

Trying not to burn myself out too quickly, I backed off slightly in Mile 6, but at the halfway point, I still had a lot of energy and was feeling great. Hitting mile marker six, with “Until it Sleeps” blaring in the ears, I finished off one of the water bottles I was carrying. I took the time to do a bathroom break, take the rucksack off for a minute, and stretch out some more. Time at the turn around point was 1 hour 17 minutes and 40 seconds… I’ll take that all day long. That wasn’t a bad time back in the day, so I’ll take it.

Having a ton of confidence now and energy, I kicked it back into gear for the trek back.

Hitting the good hard-packed terrain for the two miles going back was another easy leg of the trip. I hit the eight-mile mark with still an excellent time, well under the standard and the weight of the 45-lb ruck, which was fitting nice and snug was negligible. That’s when things began to get tough. Stopping for a moment to catch my breath and taking a long pull from my water bottle, that old familiar ache in the knees began to kick in. Not good. Doing a couple of stretches with the ruck on didn’t help so I just continued to drive on.

The energy level was starting to taper off quickly, so to keep up the time, I lengthened my stride some more in an attempt to keep my time up. Between miles nine and ten, that downhill slope was now an uphill one. Going uphill the pace began to slow considerably. My energy was waning fast but I still hit Mile ten in excellent shape time wise. Between Miles ten and eleven, a couple of coyotes crossed the railroad tracks ahead of me about 75 to a 100 yards to my front left. They stopped and did a long take in my direction. After about ten seconds they bounded off into the woods near the highway.

Now it was a slog rather than a speed march. Knees aching, it was an effort to keep going. I was never so happy to see our town’s cemetery which meant I was a mile from the finish. The sun was coming up and I could hear the traffic picking up on the road to my right. After crossing the railroad trestle (thankfully no train was coming) I was on the downhill side. My feet were getting sore but no blisters (thanks, Merrell) but by now my pace was almost a crawl. I finished 12 miles (sans weapon) at 2 hours 48 minutes, 36 seconds to the perfect ending song of the Black album, “Wherever I May Roam.” Not bad for a former action guy, but a good 28-30 minutes off my old times, albeit many moons ago.

So for you young guys considering the course, many have asked questions concerning the 12-miler and other long range movements and have voiced concerns over them. If the old guys can still do it at this point, you can do it too. You may even see us out on the trail, look for the old greybeard with the big staff bouncing along to Metallica.

The biggest difference between now and then was back in the day, after putting my feet up for an hour or two and getting something to eat, I could do it all over again. Today, I’m beat and not embarrassed to admit it. The thought of crossing the room for the remote is a debate in my mind to which, as my wife leaves the room, sure Dr. Phil is fine. I think I’ll just nod off here for a while….who’s bright idea was it to do this stuff again anyway?

Featured image courtesy of DoD

Mattis: Get Rid of Senseless Exercises, Get Back to Warfighting

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wants the military to get back to the art of fighting wars and do realistic training and stop wasting time on what he termed “senseless exercises.” Mattis came to this conclusion after hearing complaints of thousands of service members.

Many service members said that too much of their time is spent covering mandatory training that has nothing to do with their warfighting capabilities.

The training that is the subject of complaints covers everything from alcohol use to active shooters to sexual harassment to stress management.
Addressing the service secretaries and chiefs of the Armed Forces, Mattis has ordered the formation of a new working group to “determine changes to military personnel policies” to “equip more ready and lethal forces.” The working group will include the second in command of each branch of the U.S. military and report to the deputy secretary of defense and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The secretary wants each service to examine its military education to “regain a concentration on the art and science of warfighting” and look into the hours of “mandatory force training that does not directly support core tasks” such as flying jets, jumping out of planes, and hundreds of other U.S. military missions essential to defending the United States and its allies.
One official with knowledge of the discussions surrounding the memo told Fox News, “servicemembers spending too much time on senseless training that is really a waste of time.” One U.S. military officer said there is “too much sexual harassment training” and not enough time spent at places like the shooting range, for example.
Last year, Fox News traveled to Ellsworth Air Force Base where numerous B-1B bomber pilots said that in addition to planning and flying training missions that can take over 12 hours at a time, they spend “countless hours” on mandatory training they view as unnecessary.
Currently, only about half the Air Force’s fleet of long-range B-1B bombers are fully mission capable.
Mattis also wants the working group to look into “hiring practices for the [DoD] civilian workforce,” which some senior military officers have complained has become too large in recent years despite Obama-era cuts involving tens of thousands of uniformed servicemembers.
“There are more civilians working for the Pentagon than there are uniformed troops in the Navy and Air Force combined,” Katherine McIntire Peters, deputy editor of Government Executive Media Group, wrote in a recent op-ed. Peters put the Defense Department’s civilian work force at 770,000.

Mattis also wants to overhaul and improve the counter-intelligence capability of the military as well. He has given a deadline for recommendations no later than December 1.

To read the entire article from Fox News click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

China’s Base in Djibouti is Much Larger Than Previously Thought

China’s new base in Djibouti is much larger in scale than previously thought. The base has extensive underground space, multiple security layers but thus far, they’ve yet to begin construction of docks.

It is believed that until the Chinese build docks on their base, they’ll use the commercial docks available.

Two images provided by Stratfor Worldview and Allsource Analysis show the base in Djibouti, located at a strategic choke point on the Horn of Africa, to be heavily fortified with three layers of security and has about 23,000 square meters (about 250,000 square feet) of underground space, according to analysis provided by Stratfor.
“This type of construction is in line with known Chinese practices in hardening their military bases. The underground structures allow for unobserved activity, as well as offer protection to vehicles or facilities critical to the Chinese mission in Djibouti,” Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence firm, said in an analysis accompanying the images.
China dispatched troops to the base earlier this month. The United States, France and Japan also have permanent military bases there, but Tack said those are not as heavily fortified.
It’s not clear how big the Chinese base is, but for comparison, the US base was expanded to 500 acres in 2007.
“Even though this is just one of those bases in Djibouti as several other countries have, China has taken it’s own methods into Djibouti,” Stratfor Senior Analyst Sim Tack told CNN.
China’s Defense Ministry has touted the base as a way for the People’s Liberation Army to help bring peace and security to the region by providing a means of carrying out anti-piracy operations and humanitarian assistance.
However an image from July 4 showed the Chinese had not yet begun building docks, which Stratfor called notable due to the bases aforementioned purpose.
“I wouldn’t say it’s irregular, but I would’ve expected to see a dock,” Tack said.
A dock will likely be constructed eventually, and China could use Djibouti’s commercial report until that time, according to Stratfor.
Analysts say the base is part of China’s efforts to establish a truly global naval force that’s capable of conducting operations around the world — a so-called “blue water navy” — though Chinese state media has pushed back on suggestions that Beijing will flex its muscles globally.

The Chinese are building hangars for helicopters and drones but they don’t appear large enough for fighter aircraft at this time.

To read the entire article from CNN, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia