SOF

Rangers Storm the Cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day 75 Years Ago

On this day during World War II in June 1944, Army Rangers would complete a mission, scaling the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day that would immediately become the stuff of legend. Later, the survivors would comment that they couldn’t believe that they survived. The Commander of the Rangers, LTC James Rudder would comment, “How did we do this? It was crazy then, and it’s crazy now.”

The Allies had formulated their plan in the fall of 1943 to storm the coast of France the following spring. While the Germans assumed, with much Allied disinformation, that the landings will take place in the Pas de Calais area, Normandy was the actual target.

The two beaches in the American sector code-named Omaha and Utah were separated by a large promontory point called Pointe du Hoc. The Germans recognized the importance of the high ground which rises to over 100 feet over the beaches, where both are clearly visible and spotters or guns from the point can dominate both beaches.

The Germans initially placed a battery of six captured French 155mm artillery pieces in open gun pits in 1943, in a good position to support their defenses on both beaches. The 352^nd Infantry Division (a good hardened unit) was in positions to defend and support the guns. The open pits were vulnerable to air attack and because of Allied bombing, the Germans withdrew the guns 1000 yards to the rear in an apple orchard early in April 1944. An American Army Air Corps A-20 raid dropped 33 tons of bombs and forced the Germans to build casemates, an observation bunker and gun pits for 20mm flak anti-aircraft guns. By the time of the invasion, two casemates would remain unfinished.

The Plan: LTG Omar Bradley, the American ground force commander, tasked LTC James Rudder with taking the high ground, destroying the guns, and denying the Germans the use of the high ground for observation.

The 2^nd and 5^th Ranger Battalions were tasked with the assignment. The 2^nd with an assault force of Companies D, E, and F (Force A) was to land on the beach, scale the cliffs, using a combination of ropes, ladders, and grapples, secure the high ground while the remainder of the 2^nd Bn. and 5^th Bn. were to be signaled by a flare at the top of the cliffs to signify the cliffs had been taken. There they would push through and bolster the three companies at the top of the cliffs, block the Germans from using the road and then attack the Maisy Battery which was located back behind the cliffs. Maisy battery consisted of four 155mm captured French guns, four 105mm artillery pieces and four additional 150mm pieces that were destroyed by Allied naval bombardment.

The Rangers had been rehearsing for this mission at the Isle of Wight under the watchful eyes of the British Commandos.

Bradley later remarked that assigning Rudder that task was the most difficult decision he had to make in the war. Rudder had recruited, trained, and led the Rangers and believed them to be ready for the job. “My men can do it,” Rudder told Bradley.

The Navy with Allied destroyers USS Satterlee and HMS Talybont would provide direct fire support on the German positions to keep the enemy fire from coming down the cliffs. One Navy commander thought the attack was suicidal remarking, “It can’t be done. Three old women with brooms could keep the Rangers from climbing those cliffs.”

Ranger Commander of the Pointe du Hoc assault James Rudder.

Just prior to the invasion Rudder and Major Cleveland Lytle, the commander of Force A, got into an argument over the assigned task. According to some reports, Lytle thought the focus of the attack should be on Battery Maisy rather than Pointe du Hoc and that the Rangers were attacking in the wrong place.

Other reports had Lytle in an alcoholic stupor loudly proclaiming that the mission was suicide. And that the Free French forces reporting that the guns had already been moved from Pointe du Hoc. Either way, Rudder felt that Lytle was unfit for command, relieved him on the spot and took personal charge of the assault on Pointe du Hoc.

Lytle didn’t go quietly, having to be manhandled out of the door by several Rangers, and knocked out the Regimental Surgeon. He later commanded a Regiment in the 90^th Infantry Division and was awarded the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross.

The Attack: The attack on Pointe du Hoc in Normandy began at 0405 hrs. on June 6^th when 108 Royal Air Force (RAF) heavy bombers saturated the area with 635 tons of bombs. Just after 0500 the German defenders could see hundreds of ship’s silhouettes appear on the horizon. The naval bombardment began at 0555 hrs.

The assault force was squeezed into ten landing craft. An additional two were used for supplies as well as 10 of the Army’s DUKW amphibious trucks carrying the 100-foot ladders that were to be used to scale the cliffs. Immediately things began to go awry.

One landing craft sank, drowning all but one soldier. A DUKW was hit by artillery fire and sank. A third was swamped. Both landing craft with supplies were swamped, one sank and the other had to jettison all of its equipment to stay afloat.

Worse, the new radar that was to guide the landing craft into shore was inoperable and some of the landing craft were miles off from their intended landing spots at Pointe du Hoc. When they finally realized their error, they had to turn and go an additional two miles to the right beach. Force A’s troops were over 40 minutes late hitting the beach. This error would change the course of history.

Omaha Beach: The follow-on force of the remainder of 2^nd Bn. and the 5^th Bn. of Rangers did not head to Pointe du Hoc instead to Omaha Beach because it had not received the radio signal from Force A that the cliffs were secured.

Their secondary landing point put the Companies at the “Dog Green” sector of Omaha Beach on the shoulder of the Vierville Draw where a murderous fire ripped the Rangers to shreds along with the Infantry. This was made famous by the opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan”. But the rest of the force was diverted to “Dog White” and landed among the 29^th Division. There they met Asst. Division Commander Norman “Dutch” Cota, who gave the famous order, “Rangers, Lead the Way.” Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Rangers, at the wrong beach would save the Omaha beachhead and the 5^th Bn. broke thru and flanked the German defenses.

Pointe du Hoc: The plan was for the naval bombardment to cease at 0630 and the Rangers landing craft to hit the beach shortly after. But the mixup had caused them to hit the beach at 0710 where the Germans had plenty of time to recover and they poured murderous fire on the Rangers still on the landing craft and on the beaches below.

The landing craft were getting swamped with water and the men were all seasick, so they bailed brackish water and vomit over the sides as they approached the beach. The men finally reached the beaches only to find that the 100 foot ladders were too short to reach the top of the cliffs.

But the grappling hooks fired by the landing craft had reached the top and the Rangers began making the deadly climb by ones and twos to the top. Amazingly, it took only 3-4 minutes for the first Rangers to reach the cliff’s edge at the top.

By 0730 the Rangers had reached the top and were clearing the Germans out of the battery positions. There they found the casemates empty. After clearing the remaining Germans out of the immediate area, 35 Rangers set up their secondary mission, building the road block by 0815. They were amazed at the amount of destruction on top of the cliff by the aerial and naval bombardment. Nothing resembled the aerial photographs they studied pre-invasion. Everything was rubble.

A patrol was sent out to find the guns and they disabled them using thermite grenades at 0900. The Germans begin counterattacks that were beaten back. Later that night a patrol of Rangers from Omaha Beach, link up with the survivors on Pointe du Hoc.

By nightfall on June 6, one-third of the 225 men that came ashore were either dead or wounded, but many of the wounded continued to fight on. Food, water, and ammunition were dangerously low. Many of the Rangers took to using captured German weapons as ammunition for those was plentiful.

Rudder’s men held two areas, the HQ near the top of the cliffs and the roadblock. The Germans launched a counterattack against the roadblock at 2330. They then launched a second, stronger attack at 0100 on June 7^th. And again, they were repulsed. The Germans launched a third, even stronger counterattack at 0300. Losses were heavy, and 20 Rangers were captured.

About half of the force at the roadblock about 45 Rangers pulled back to the HQ, erroneously reporting to Rudder that the roadblock was destroyed. Rudder has only 90 men still under arms the morning of the 7^th.

Later that afternoon, an LST arrived with a Ranger platoon and would take wounded Rangers off the beach. The next morning, three battalions of infantry from the 116^th Infantry broke thru from Omaha Beach and relieved the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc.

Of Rudder’s original landing force, only 75 could bear arms on June 8^th. Casualties were high, bordering on 70 percent with 77 killed, 152 wounded and 38 missing. The 5^th Bn. suffered 23 killed, 89 wounded and two missing. One ugly situation that arose during the battle was that a number of French civilians were executed, having been accused by the Rangers of having fought with the Germans during the battle.

Rudder was wounded twice in the battle and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Thirteen other Rangers were awarded the DSC for their roles at Pointe du Hoc. The 2^nd Ranger Bn. was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

At the 40^th anniversary of the battle, several of the surviving Rangers joined President Reagan at his speech in Normandy, one of his most memorable, “The Boys of Pointe du Hoc” at the top of the cliffs. One of the surviving Rangers joined some Green Berets in reclimbing the cliffs, although this time, not under fire. And was the first one to the top.

The 75^th Ranger Regiment’s proud legacy lists many battles all the way back to Robert Rogers during Colonial times, but arguably none were as difficult a task as the one faced by Rudder and the men on a beach in Normandy. Sua Sponte

Photos courtesy US Army

SOF Selection PT Preparation 6.6.2017

An ugly day outdoors if you live on the East Coast, so a good way to begin Tuesday is head to the gym for Leg Day. Begin with pull-ups and towel pullups for those who don’t have access to climbing ropes. Then squats, lunges and the sled followed by a three-mile run

Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR

3 x Pull-ups 10 reps

3 x Towel pull-ups 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

3-Mile run

Stretch well after completion

Britain Vows Solidarity After Latest Terrorist Incident “You Won’t Break Us”

The latest terrorist incident in London has galvanized the people of the UK as they preached solidarity and defiance after the attack on citizens Saturday.

A rented van rammed pedestrians on a crowded London bridge and terrorists who were later claimed to be part of ISIS then went on a stabbing spree that killed seven people and injured dozens of others.

Prime Minister Theresa May has called for the revamping of Britain’s anti-terror strategy and for the heightened action to combat what she categorized as “Islamist extremism.”

On Sunday, white-clad forensic technicians scoured for clues, and police in black body armor patrolled the scene of the assault, which began late Saturday when a rented white Renault van rammed pedestrians on the bridge and continued with a knife rampage by three attackers in the crowded nightlife district on the south bank of the River Thames.
Londoners of all creeds and visitors from across the globe flocked to the area — drawing as close as they could get behind police cordons — to lay flowers and express defiance amid their grief.
“It’s to show our solidarity,” said Chris Prentice, a 40-year-old British photographer who lives in the city. He was in jeans and stubble as he set down a bouquet. “It’s a message: You won’t break us. You won’t break us, ever.”
With the country still mourning a major assault less than two weeks ago, in the northern city of Manchester, London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted that “we will never be cowed by terrorism.”
With the investigation still in its early stages, May unleashed tough rhetoric against what she called “a single evil ideology of Islamist extremism” without linking a particular group or network to the latest strike.
“Enough is enough,” she said as expressions of sympathy and solidarity continued to pour in from around the world. At the Vatican, Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims at his weekly Sunday blessing.
In a televised statement from her official residence at 10 Downing St., where flags had been lowered to half-staff, the prime minister grimly cautioned that the attack marked a “new trend in the threat we face” — assaults in which methods and ideology echoed those of previous strikes.
“While the recent attacks are not connected by common networks, they are connected in one important sense. They are bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes sectarianism,” said May, clad in a dark suit and peering into the cameras.

The police who killed the attackers in a fusillade of bullets just moments after the attack began have arrested a dozen people who are suspected of being involved in the incident.

To read the entire article from the LA Times click here:

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Jordanian Soldier Charged With Murder of 3 US Special Forces Soldiers

The government of Jordan has announced that they have formally charged one of its soldiers with “Murder with intent to kill” in a shooting incident of three US Green Berets in November.

The US Special Forces soldiers were part of a training mission and were shot as they drove up to enter a military base where they were assigned. There were initial reports that stated the US and Jordanian officials had differed on whether the Americans had followed base protocol on entering, but video surveillance has proved that the US troops did, in fact, follow correct procedures.

Three US Army Special Forces soldiers were shot at the King Faisal Air Base in Jordan during the incident on November 4. There was an intense firefight between a Jordanian guard, who wore body armor and carried an M-16 rifle, and the US soldiers, equipped only with sidearms.
Army Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe was killed instantly and Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen was mortally wounded when the guard opened fire on the soldiers’ vehicle while it was stopped at the base’s gate. The third man, Staff Sgt. James Moriarty, suffered a mortal wound after firing his pistol at the Jordanian guard.
In March, the US military determined that the three men followed proper procedures during the incident, despite initial Jordanian media claims to the contrary.
A US Special Operations Command investigation into the shooting found the US forces “demonstrated valorous conduct and extraordinary heroism” after coming under fire from a Jordanian guard, according to a redacted copy of the report.
“There is no evidence that US forces failed to fully comply with Jordanian Base entrance procedures,” the report said.
Jordanian state media initially blamed the incident on the soldiers’ failure to adhere to proper procedures at the base’s entrance, though US officials disputed that at the time.
Investigators said they were able to obtain video surveillance footage of the event, allowing for a very detailed examination.

This development from the Jordanian government may help the families of the slain soldiers find a bit of closure as some have been adamant that the Jordanian soldier in question be charged with murder.

To read the entire article from the CNN click here:

Photo courtesy US Army

Surviving the Unthinkable, What to do in a Terrorist Incident

The recent events that have unfolded in London, Manchester and other places have people scrambling for answers as to what to do in a terrorist incident. We as a people must maintain our way of life and go about our daily business. Otherwise, the terrorists win. Because they ultimately want to disrupt your lives and if they can fill people with enough fears as to keep them from going to large public events then, they’ve won.

We’re not going to get into a long philosophical discussion on terrorism, the mentally unhinged or the common criminal. While the number of these incidents are rising, they’re still pretty rare. But regardless of how you feel about any particular group or activity, you can still get caught up in one of these types of incidents… so what are you to do? One is to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Hotel/Airports: Try to alleviate any potential situations, when staying at a hotel, try to get a room between the 3^rd and 5^th floors. You don’t want the bottom two floors because those are too easily attained by terrorists when attacking. Above the fifth floor isn’t ideal as that will take the authorities too long to clear and leaves you vulnerable to continued assault by the bad guys.

A good rule of thumb is to try to get a room centrally located between the elevators and stairwells. It gives you better options to egress from danger.

Avoid the long lines at the airport ticket counters. If you must, get there early to avoid the long lines. Our airport security is lax until you go to the gates. Anyone can enter around the ticket counters and there is little to stop a catastrophe from occurring during peak times or at the Holidays.

No one’s bags are scanned or checked and no one goes thru a metal detector in the US until AFTER the ticket counter. Passing thru Israel many times, you have to go thru multiple checks as well as metal detectors before reaching the ticket counters. Our airport terminals are ripe for a disaster. But having tried to bring this to someone’s attention has fallen on deaf ears.

Situational Awareness: Most trained members of the military and law enforcement have an excellent situational awareness that the average person isn’t trained in nor pays much attention to. But once they become ingrained into your being, those traits never leave you.

Today, whenever my family and I go to large public gatherings, my instincts tend to go into a higher level of alert. Kind of a relaxed alert where your senses are heightened but you aren’t facing imminent danger. We all think that “this will never happen here” but I’m sure if you asked the people of London or Manchester that prior to those incidents, they’d say much the same thing. So, make yourself and your family into a hard target. How do we do that, if we aren’t all Special Operations trained, steely-eyed commandos?

Above all, always trust your gut instincts. In the vast majority of problems, you’ll encounter, the people making the fuss will stand out prior to the incident. Suspicious people and objects are a dead giveaway. And what makes them suspicious? Sometimes their dress or choice of apparel doesn’t fit the surroundings. Three guys enter a building wearing heavy jackets on a summer day? Easy to spot and maybe they’ve got something under those to start a problem. If their mid-sections seem unnaturally rigid, that could be evidence of a suicide bomb or vest.

Their body language and mannerisms are often a dead giveaway. Despite the trying to blend, most people aren’t trained well enough to mask their heightened anxiety and will appear nervous, sweating, or jumpy before an incident.

Report any individual taking pictures of security measures, cameras, and such. And some are even so bold as to draw diagrams, blueprints, or maps in the open.

See someone timing the traffic lights or the response times of a police call to at or near a specific area? You may be witnessing a “dry run” where terrorists or criminals go thru a practice run before the real thing.

But for the average person out there who may not recognize these, use your peripheral vision and scan your surroundings. And the first thing one should always be aware of are the exits. How many are there and where are they located? And never forget that sometimes, the nearest and most easily accessible exit is behind you. In stores and restaurants, the “employee only” signs don’t count during a terrorist incident. And usually, there is a rear exit that can be used. We’ve become conditioned to never go there, but these aren’t normal times.

Are there natural or man-made barriers that will stop or slow your family from exiting? Will those turn into choke points where panic could ensue and create even more problems and carnage?

OK, you’ve taken all the precautions but what happens if you still find yourself in an active terrorist incident… what the heck do you do now?

First thing is, don’t panic. While that sounds overly simplistic it may mean the difference between living and dying. Always keep your wits about you and you’ll have a better chance of getting out of this alive.

Run, Shelter in Place, Resist: These are the steps that experts agree on. Even if you’re carrying a concealed weapon, the last thing you want to do, [unless forced to] is to get into a shootout with your wife and kids in tow.

Run: If it all possible get out of the immediate danger area quickly and safely. Remember, the quickest, safest way out may be behind you or thru an employee only area. Try to get people to follow. If they don’t, leave them. The majority of people’s first instinct won’t be to run but to hide. You’re the professional, the sheepdog, lead them out but don’t dawdle.

If there are wounded people present that aren’t ambulatory, you have to leave them. I know that sounds like some really cold-blooded stuff but there it is. The first wave of police and/or Counter-terrorist [CT] types in will do the same.

This goes against our inbred compassion and as Americans, we never want to leave anyone behind but turning one casualty into two or three isn’t the answer. Move quickly out of the danger area to a safe location and call 911. While moving out of the shooting zone, keep your hands visible so that police on-scene don’t mistake you for one of the bad guys.

Leave any items that you’re carrying and get the hell out of Dodge. You can replace shopping items, laptops, etc. but you can’t replace the life of your family members or yourself. Travel light and sleep at home that night. Use any cover to get out and do so quickly.

Shelter in Place: What if you’re stuck in the middle of a shit-storm and there’s no way to safely exit? Then hiding in a safe location comes into play. You want as much cover and concealment as possible. In an office building or school, find an interior room that has a lockable door. Barricade the door to prevent anyone from pushing thru the doorway easily using tables, chairs, or wood that is available. They’re looking for easy targets and by presenting a barricade will buy you valuable time.

Close the blinds, shut off the lights and if possible the air conditioning. Place cell phones on silent not vibrate, be as quiet as possible. Use other desks, chairs, etc. as cover inside the room. Try to call 911 and let an operator know what is going on. If the shooter/shooters are too close, leave the line open so that the 911 operators can hear what is on-going at the site.

Under no circumstances open the door for anyone that you can’t positively identify as either the police or a Hostage Rescue Team [HRT]. I’ve heard that the terrorists in Mumbai used the ruse to yell for help or falsely identify themselves as police in an attempt to get people to show themselves. Don’t make their job easier.

If all else fails and if you can’t hide in a covered and a concealed area, that’s when we get to the least preferred method of handling an active terrorist incident and that is also the most dangerous and that is to fight.

Resist: So, you can’t run, shelter in place and the terrorists are moving in your direction. You are left with basically two choices, be shot out of hand execution-style or fight. But once again, it is the people that keep their wits about them that have a better chance at survival.

Even if you have a concealed weapon, odds are you’re going to be out-gunned. So, you have to be creative and quickly task organize. Gather anything that can be used as a weapon. Is the area dark or close to it? A mini-Maglite can temporarily blind someone just long enough for others to jump a gunman.

Chair legs, any sharp instruments, such as knives, box cutters, and scissors, or a fire extinguisher are usually readily available. Surprise will be your advantage. Most terrorists or criminals don’t expect and aren’t prepared for their victims to fight back. So you’ll have to strike and strike quickly.

Get mad-dog mean. Don’t be like the victims in every teen horror flick, attack the gunman from as many different angles as possible and take him out. The Marquis de Queensberry Rules don’t apply here. Survival, your survival is at stake here. Don’t stop until he’s completely incapacitated or dead.

Get the gunman’s weapon out of his hands and be prepared for follow-on attacks in the case he has other gunmen who come looking for him. The more people involved in attacking a terrorist, the better odds of taking him down and surviving to live another day.

These incidents are happening with increasing frequency today and there is no substitute for preparedness. There will be times that some people will die because there was no way to foresee, prevent or survive some terror attacks. But to survive an on-going one will require a cool head and clear thinking. Because if you lose your composure and the will to resist, you’ll neither win nor live.

Photo courtesy UK Daily Mirror

SOF Selection PT Preparation 6.5.2017

Let’s start off Monday and the week with a good workout. Start off with the basics of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, pull-ups, and dips before a 5-mile run in a mini UBRR test again. Remember to stay hydrated and mark your progress in your workout log book.

Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

1 x 1-minute Pushups

1 x 1-minute Sit-ups

1 x 1-minute, Crunches

1 x 1-minute, V-ups

1 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure

1 x Pullups as many as possible or to muscle failure

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 6.4.2017

It is time for our Sunday morning Rucksack march. Do a quick warm up of pushups and sit-ups before heading out. Head out over varied terrain and go as fast as you can without running. It will help work off all the food from those graduation parties this weekend.

Stretch well both before and after the event. Remember to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated out there. With the heat of the warm weather months here, it’s easy to get dehydrated.

Training:

Warm up

2 x 20 Pushups

2 x 20 Sit ups

8-mile Rucksack march over varied terrain with a 45-pound minimum. And mark your times in your workout log book.

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 6.3.2017

Back in the gym this Saturday morning for a Shoulder and Back workout. Towel pullups if you have no access to ropes or climbing ropes if they are available. Followed by a four-mile run. Log your numbers down in the workout notebook

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 10 Lat Pull downs, rear

3 x 10 Barbell Dead Lift

3 x 10 Wide Grip Pullups

3 x 10 Towel Pullups

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Seated Bent-Over Delt Raise

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 10 Arnold Dumbbell Press

4-mile run

Stretch well after completion

United States Sanctions North Korea and Their Military Suppliers

While the United States is unable to stop the North Koreans from abandoning their nuclear weapons program, they’re going after the companies that do business with the government of Kim Jong Un.

The Treasury Department has slapped additional sanctions on the financial, coal mining and military interests of North Korea by targeting companies that aid it in obtaining weapons of mass destruction and its continued violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The sanctions bar the companies and individuals from doing business with American citizens, and any assets they have in the United States or under U.S. control would be frozen
The sanctions are mostly symbolic since it’s unlikely that the targeted companies or individuals have any such business dealings or U.S. assets. Previous sanctions have had little apparent effect.
The penalties come as the Trump administration seeks to block North Korea’s ability to build a nuclear weapon small enough to put atop a missile, and a ballistic missile powerful enough to deliver it to U.S. shores.
North Korea also has test-fired at least nine ballistic missiles so far this year, most recently on Monday. That missile flew 280 miles toward Japan before falling in the ocean.
The U.S. on Tuesday conducted its own test of a missile defense system, launching a rocket from California that officials said successfully hit and destroyed a target warhead fired from an atoll in the mid-Pacific.
The latest sanctions target North Korea’s army and Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, its revenue from mining coal and minerals, and several overseas financial operations, according to the Treasury statement.
Among the companies is Moscow-based Ardis-Bearings LLC and its director, Igor Aleksandrovich Michurin. It allegedly works with a North Korean trading company, Tangun, which the U.S. accuses of securing supplies for the nuclear program.
The order also blacklisted Korea Computer Center, a state-run technology research and development company that generates income for the government of Kim Jong Un, with reported overseas locations in Germany, China, India and the Middle East, Treasury said.

President Trump called the North Korean attempts to gain a nuclear arsenal an imminent threat to the United States and has repeatedly called on the north’s biggest ally to do more to stop their nuclear testing. The Chinese have encouraged North Korea to cease and have been working back channels to get them to obey the UN sanctions.

To read the entire article from Los Angeles Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Getty

“The Jungle Will Eat You Up” Ghana Jungle Warfare School

United States soldiers recently got the opportunity to visit Africa and attend the Jungle Warfare School in at the Ghanaat Achiase military base in Akim Oda, Ghana.

The small group of soldiers from the 1^st Battalion, 506^th Infantry went thru a 10-day course in late May to hone their jungle skills from their Ghana allies. The training incorporates counter-insurgency training in their curriculum.

More than 55 U.S. soldiers were challenged to survive in the harsh Ghanaian jungle during the ten-day course. The Ghanaian instructors equipped the students with practical knowledge specific to the local terrain and environment.
“How to adapt to jungle training is very difficult for them because their type of jungle in the U.S. is very different from the type of jungle that we have,” Codjoe said. “We have taught patrolling, which is a key to jungle training … [we] also taught them how to fight insurgents in the jungle terrain, how to combat guerilla[s] in jungle terrain, raid operations and attack on enemy camp operations.”
The American soldiers, performing the various squad and platoon level tactics, quickly realized the difficulty in navigating through the jungle and adjusting to the harsh, humid climate.
“We’ve always been prepared for Iraq and Afghanistan and desert environments, and even the mountainous environments, so this is like nothing we’ve dealt with before,” said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Hugh Smith, Delta Company’s platoon leader.
According to Ghanaian Sgt. Michael Agyemang, the school’s noncommissioned officer-in-charge, the U.S. soldiers, were determined to soak up knowledge from the expert jungle instructors. “It’s been a fast learning experience between me and the students; they are just fast. Anything you tell them, they just grab it at once,” he said.
A sign at the school reading: The Jungle is Neutral, was explained as the jungle takes no sides; it treats everyone within it the same way. Smith said the jungle training is beneficial.
“I think it’s definitely enhanced readiness,” he said. “I think coming to a different environment — a different terrain — that we’ve never really dealt with before and learning the tactics, learning how to move, learning how to navigate through the jungle has very much helped us in our readiness.”
U.S. soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment provide security during United Accord 2017 at the Jungle Warfare School at Achiase military base in Akim Oda, Ghana, May 26, 2017. Army photo by Sgt. Brian Chaney
Navigating the dense vegetation and uneven ground, as well as traversing waist-deep ponds and crossing unstable improvised bridges while watching for hidden dangerous wildlife challenged the American soldiers.

With US troops facing desert and mountainous conditions in the on-going wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, this training was a step in a different direction from the norm. It opened their eyes to another kind of fighting where the combat is much closer and the conditions very different.

To read the entire article from DOD, click here:

Photo courtesy US Army