The Definitive Spec Ops Resource
THE DEFINITIVE SPEC OPS RESOURCE FOR FITNESS AND SELECTION
Back out on the rucking trails today. This week we’ll try a few different things to break it up.
Training:
More Preparation for the UBRR:
100 pushups (no time limit)
100 situps (no time limit)
100 crunches
Rucksack march: Go as hard and as fast as you can for 1 hour. Do this without running. See what your distance is and make a notation. This will give a goal to achieve in later training sessions.
Stretch well after completion
US Special Operations troops from many different units are in Korea for a large military exercise to bolster the defenses of South Korea. The Yonhap Korean News agency claims that during the exercise, the Special Operations forces will practice “to decapitate” the North Korean’s military leadership.
According to various reports, US Army Special Forces, and Rangers, as well as Navy SEALs will take part in the big joint maneuvers in South Korea. Yonhap even claims that SEAL Team 6 and Delta Force will be involved although that cannot be confirmed.
The exercise an annual one between the South Koreans and their US counterparts code named “Foal Eagle and Key Resolve” is a joint field exercise and war game, command post simulation that began on March 1 and will take place until April.
Key Resolve the computer-generated command post wargame will end on March 24 but the war games will continue on. The North Korean government accused Washington and Seoul of preparing for an invasion and a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” on their country, therefore justifying Pyongyang’s continuation of its nuclear deterrent and weapons initiative. The North has been rattling its saber recently and launched several ballistic missiles into the ocean that they claim could be aimed at Japan.
In one scenario, South Korean commandos were airlifted to thwart attacks from the North.
Under a scenario of the North Korean military carrying out terrorist assaults on key South Korean facilities, the special forces were drilled to relocate using choppers to search and decimate enemy forces, the Army said.
It also involved refueling operations for the military helicopters, a mission which is crucial when a battle continues for a prolonged period of time.
“The latest exercise was focused on verifying our preparedness to dispatch a commando brigade to the place of an enemy attack in order to preoccupy the site and terminate the battle,” the 2nd Operational Command Chief Gen. Park Chan-ju said.
US conventional forces from the 2nd Infantry Division were practicing clearing tunnels that the North has built under the border with the south.
To read the entire article from the Korean Herald, click here:
Photo courtesy DOD
Today is a gym day, if you’re one of those unfortunate souls who lives in the Northeast, you may have to shovel out from two feet of wet, heavy snow. In which case that may be all the work out you’ll get today as most everything is shut down.
For the rest…hit the weights today and get some running in.
Training:
More Preparation for the UBRR:
Run 5 miles (record your time) “Do the best you can.” Get used to hearing that.
Then, head into the gym:
3 x Front Squat 10 reps (heavy but doable weight)
3 x Goblet Squats 10 reps (heavy dumbbell)
3 x 10 Pull-ups
3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press
25 x Push ups
30 x “V”ups
Stretch well after completion
Special Operations troops who perform dangerous hostage rescue and similar type missions may soon find themselves with some new equipment that will better protect them. The new “Iron Man” suit will begin testing with operators during the summer of 2018.
The Pentagon and the Special Operations Acquisitions and Technology Branch has been working on procuring a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), which became known as the “Iron Man” suit for the past four years.
“We are on our fifth prototype. Will we get everything we want? Probably not. That was never the intent,” James Geurts of Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology and Logistics told Military.com on Wednesday.
The suits may use new technologies to improve communication between team members and convey a wide range of biometric data, however.
“So in TALOS, don’t just think exoskeleton and armor. Think of the whole equation,” Mr. Geurts said. “Survivability is part of what armor you are carrying, but it’s also a big part of whatever information you have, what is your situational awareness, how do you communicate. So as we are going down all those paths, we can leverage quickly some of the stuff that is ready to go right now.”
While the TALOS suit probably won’t appear much like a Marvel superhero outfit, it will have a variety of sensors, heads-up displays, an exoskeleton to reduce the load special operators carry, medical sensors, and potentially much, much more.
Earlier versions had a unique body armor system. Manufactured by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, TALOS had a revolutionary type of electrically-activated shield called liquid body armor. While wearing the suit, the operator simply triggers a magnetic or electrical current on the TALOS and the body armor transitions from liquid to solid in a matter of milliseconds.
To read the entire article from Washington Times, click here:
Photo courtesy DOD
Despite conflicting reports, the Special Operations mission in Yemen right after President Trump took office has been a source of large amounts of intelligence.
According to recent reports, the computers, cell phones, and devices that were taken in the raid by the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 have provided an inside glimpse of training tactics, new bomb making, and hidden explosives types, as well as targets that Al-Qaeda may be looking at in the future.
President Trump called the raid “highly successful” at the address to Congress, but many Democrats are saying that the raid netted little usable intelligence. A member of SEAL Team 6, Chief Petty Officer William, “Ryan” Owens was killed in action, three other Americans were wounded and an aircraft was destroyed deliberately during a fierce 50-minute firefight with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terrorists in Central Yemen.
On February 1, Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary said that the raid had “gathered an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil.” Last Sunday, his deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said the mission “did yield a substantial amount of very important intel and resources that helped save American and other lives.”
Col. John J. Thomas, a spokesman for Central Command, responded this week to criticism leveled at the information’s significance, writing in an email: “The information that was gathered was part of an ongoing effort to build our understanding of AQAP. We are not expecting to find any particular fact or puzzle piece. We are looking to build our understanding of an enemy who exports and inspires terrorist acts around the world.”
Preliminary intelligence centered around the new explosive devices, non-metallic explosives that can be hidden in body cavities to deter detection, Al-Qaeda’s training techniques and the global network of terror organizations that may give clues to where they intend to strike next.
To read the entire article from the New York Times, click here:
Photo courtesy DOD
Training:
Continue to prep for the UBRR:
Rest one minute between sets, shoot for the maximum each time.
The Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, NC will host special screenings of documentary films honoring some of the United States’ World War II Medal of Honor recipients. The event will take place on March 25 at 10 a.m. in the museum’s Yarborough-Bank Theatre.
The guest speaker will be state Rep. John Szoka, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who represents NC House District 45. Also in attendance, will be Maurice Renaud, the son of Alexandre Renaud — wartime mayor of Ste. Mere Eglise, France — and Simone Renaud — who was known as the “Mother of Normandy” for her care of the graves of fallen U.S. soldiers after World War II.
At 11:30 a.m., the museum will host a special screening of the Doug Stebleton-produced documentary, “The Heroes of World War II.”
A second film focused on Simone Renaud, “Mother of Normandy,” which also was produced by Stebleton, will be shown at 1:30 p.m.
During the Medal of Honor events, officials said the museum will highlight three World War II paratroopers: Pfc. Charles Neilans DeGlopper and Pvt. Joe Gandara of the 82nd Airborne Division and Lt. Col. Robert George Cole of the 101st Airborne Division.
DeGlopper and Gandara were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for their valor in combat during the Normandy invasion. LTC Cole never lived to see his award, he was killed in action a few months later in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden.
Renaud whose village of Saint Mere Eglise was a key target for the American paratroopers on D-Day, will be autographing copies of a book that was authored by his father “Sainte-Mere-Eglise: D-Day, June 6, 1944,” that was first published in 1945, and a book about his mother, “Mother of Normandy.”
To read the Fayetteville Observer’s entire article click here:
Photo courtesy of Airborne and Special Operations Museum
The US has augmented the already 500 Special Operations forces in Syria with 400 conventional troops. Reports were filtering down that a Marine Corps artillery unit and an Army Stryker unit have been sent to Syria in advance of the anticipated battle to free the major town of Raqqa.
Army General Joseph Votel, Commander of the US Central Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the need for more conventional troops may increase for later stability operations.
Sen. John McCain R – Arizona pushed Votel on questions that the US support for the Syrian Kurds, who the Turks consider terrorists could be a flashpoint in the upcoming battle where the different factions are working so closely together to remove ISIS.
What the Trump administration has done so far pretty much goes by the Obama administration’s playbook. I mean, their idea was the local provide the fighters, we provide the firepower, and that’s how we grab back territory from ISIS.
But the big question is, who are going to be the fighters who seize the town? And the most capable forces that the American military has found in the region is this YPG Kurdish militia. They’re the ones that have the most experience fighting. They’re the ones that played the key role in taking back Manbij.
They’re the force that the American military is counting on to be a component, not the majority of the force, that takes Raqqa, but a key component of the assault force.
The problem is, Turkey considers them to be terrorists, and they have sort of drawn a red line at arming the YPG. But, unless we arm the YPG, they’re in no position to help out in the Raqqa assault. And that’s pretty much where things stand at this point.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has given President Trump the Defense Dept. plans on defeating ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. Trump pledged to swiftly eradicate ISIS from both countries. Troop strength in Syria was capped by former President Obama in an attempt to keep the US from escalating into another conflict after the last eight-plus years in Iraq.
To read the PBS News entire article click here:
Photo courtesy of DOD
Tampa Bay was recently the host of many of the world’s Special Operations commanders as they visited the headquarters of the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM). They were there to share ideas and coordination, as they want to emulate the success the US has had in the Special Operations field.
The Global Special Operations Symposium was created by retired LTC Stu Bradin and he put together the meeting and the organization in Tampa that integrates the Special Ops units from the US with our allies.
Bradin, a former 7th Special Forces Group officer worked directly under former SOCOM commander and Navy SEAL Admiral William McRaven. McRaven launched a hub for all Special Operations forces called J3I which integrated all foreign and US operators in a single hub. The goal was to ensure that regional issues don’t snowball into larger ones.
Romanian Col. Claudio “CD” Dobocan, his nation’s representative to the J3I for 18 months, explained the value.
“Sometimes the distance between Rome and Madrid is shorter here than in Europe,” he said.
Being ensconced inside SOCom headquarters gives Romania’s commando force access to Thomas and to leaders at U.S. Central Command, which also has its headquarters at MacDill, while allowing for increased Romanian input, Dobocan said.
“We contribute to forward planning,” he said. Representation in J3I also provides a “tool for rapid reaction in case of a crisis.”
The meeting between the commanders on allies and US SOCOM is invaluable. They can share ideas and training. They can work out coordination in advance of sensitive operations that will cut down on any potential problems the operators would face.
And most importantly, the commanders may share their thoughts on potential hotspots and problem areas in the world. The increasing Russian aggressiveness in the world in the past few years was not lost on the attendees.
“The next fight, which is staring us right in the face . . . is Russia,” said Army Maj. Gen. William Hix, the Army’s director of strategy, plans and policy, speaking at the symposium about a range of potential challenges.
“They study our playbook,” said Hix, adding that the Russians have made investments “to challenge us in a number of areas. Look at Ukraine and actions in Syria. We see harbingers of future war there in the speed of violence and lethality they bring to the battlefield.”
To read the entire article from Tampa Bay Times, click here:
Photo courtesy DOD
Reports were coming out of Syria that US-backed coalition units and Russian troops were operating in very close proximity to one another. In neighboring villages, they each tried to calm rival factions that are both fighting ISIS
The Telegraph is reporting that the two superpowers have each sent troops into the area of the northern town of Manbij to slow the tensions and stop the fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF which is led by 500 US Special Forces advisors is leading an attack against ISIS’ de facto capital in Syria at Raqqa. As of March 6, they had advanced within 5 miles of the capital city.
Several US armored vehicles flying the stars and stripes were seen patrolling Manbij and the surrounding countryside over the weekend, in what the Pentagon called an effort to “reassure” allies.
“Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve has taken this deliberate action to reassure Coalition members & partner forces, deter aggression and keep focus on defeating Isil,” Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, said on Twitter.
The Manbij military council earlier asked Russian and Syrian troops to form a buffer zone between Manbij and Turkish forces in al-Bab, 25 miles to the southwest.
Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi, a spokesman for the Russian general staff, confirmed on Friday that its commanders in Syria had negotiated an agreement for troops loyal to Damascus to take over several Kurdish-controlled villages.
The Turks consider the SDF an extension of the Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey. With the Russians and US troops in very close proximity to one another, this is the kind of slippery slope that much care must be taken to avoid a confrontation.
To read the Telegraph’s entire article click here:
Photo courtesy DOD