SOF

Interview With Royal Marine Commando, SBS Operator Gaz Humphrey Pt. 1

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.

Humphrey started his career as a young man in the Royal Marine Commandos. “They always say 99 percent of the people fail, just to get in the Marines,” he said. “It is a state of mind,” he added. He did a total of 17 years of service between the Marines and SBS.

The test to get into Marine training consisted of a three-day course, Gaz was one of only two candidates out of 50 who passed. So, the odds are stacked against you to even get into the 32-week training course of the Marine Commandos.

The Commando Training Center is located near the villages of Lympstone and Exton and has been the site of training since 1960 and successful candidates will be awarded the Green Beret upon successful completion.

Humphrey began Marine training at just 19 years of age, but he was far from the youngest. “Some of the guys were just 16,” he remembers. “We had quite a range of ages, between 16 and 25, that’s how old the oldest guy was.”

“We started with 50 guys in the class and finished with 11. But some guys get injured in training and get put back into the next class but there were 11 out of the original 50.”

The first 15 weeks was basic training and then the Commando training begins. It consists of weapons handling, climbing, and ropework, patrolling and amphibious warfare training. It is the only course where officers and enlisted men are trained at the same location in the British military.

The tests given at the end of training that all candidates must pass have remained virtually unchanged since World War II.

The Endurance course is a six-mile course which begins with a two-mile run across rough terrain which includes tunnels, pipes, and an underwater culvert. The course ends with a four-mile run back to the Commando Training Centre. There the candidates have a marksmanship test, where each must hit 6 out of 10 shots at a 25m target simulating 200 m. It must be completed in 73 minutes or less.

“In our last week of training, we had to do an assault course, the Endurance Course and a Tarzan Commando course which consisted of a lot of high ropes and climbs and finishes with a 30-mile course was done up in Dartmoor, which is about an hour and a half away with full kit and a pack on. I believe we had eight hours to complete it.”

“All of those courses had to be done in one week and if you passed all of that in the last week, you are awarded a Green Beret,” he said. He was assigned to 42 Commando in Plymouth upon his successful completion of the course. The operational training tempo was high, winter warfare training in Norway, additional training in the Mediterranean and other places soon followed.

His unit, 42 Commando was assigned to Northern Ireland where the dangers were inherently known. “Back in 1989, in just one day, 42 Commando was subject to 24 shootings or bombings in Belfast,” he said. All of 42 Commando and the Airborne guys from 3 Para were on the streets of Belfast,” he said.

“Cars were shot up, buildings were blown up, it was just crazy. But Northern Ireland was a great training area and experience for the Royal Marines,” he added. “Brilliant stuff.”

In 1990, he volunteered for Special Forces Selection and Training in the SBS (Special Boat Service). “About 90 percent of the SBS came from the Marines.” The candidates today go thru the same Selection course which is a combined and then after successful completion, the SAS will go thru their own training program and the SBS will go thru theirs.

“It was a bit of a dog-eat-dog relationship back then, the Army guys in the SAS hated the Marines and the SBS. I understand it has changed a bit, but I’m sure there is still some of that.”

“It was like that for years, if you attended one of their courses….they absolutely hated you, You were like a second-class citizen there,” Gaz said.

“Our training course to get into the SBS was horrendous. And a lot of was very pointless.” I asked him to further explain, the pointless aspect.

“Okay, I was like, ‘why the fuck are we naked again’ because we were naked all the time. And it made no sense. We’d be doing a diving course at two o’clock in the morning and they’d say we screwed something up and make us strip down and do it naked.”

He also made an observation that plays out in everyone’s military. “At the start of the course, you’d see these guys that looked like Adonis and some guys were trying to tell them to get a bit pudgy and put some weight on because we were going to need it. And it was very true.”

“The guys built like Adonis, they go into the water naked and they’ve got no fat on them, they couldn’t hack it, but many of them thought the treatment was just stupid and just left.

“A lot of good soldiers just withdrew and went back to the Marines. Some of them went on to some good career paths but the training we did was a bit silly. It was a bit pointless I think.”

In our next segment, our interview with Humphrey will finish up and we’ll touch on some of his Special Forces service and some of the things he’s doing these days.

Photo courtesy of UK Ministry of Defense

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

Norway’s “Hunter Troop” All-Women Special Operations Unit Breaking Barriers

Norway is breaking down barriers by creating their own Jegertroppen or “Hunter Troop”, a Special Operations unit comprised completely of women soldiers.

Norwegian military leaders saw that the war in Afghanistan showed an operational need for highly-trained female soldiers who could gather intelligence and interact with women and children during deployments in conservative societies. If this sounds like the Cultural Support Teams (CST) programs that the US fielded, you would be correct.

But the Norwegians took it a step farther and created a Selection Course for the women troopers that is very tough, demanding and has a very high failure rate.

What began as a kind of experimental programme is now seen as a major success. More than 300 women applied in the first year, and about a dozen recruits are now passing the gruelling training annually, providing a pipeline of elite women soldiers that can be deployed at home or abroad.
The hardest part so far has been “hell week”, says Jannike, a test of mental and physical strength involving long marches over several days with little time for rest, and minimum amounts of food and water.
“They just see if you can handle the pressure when you’re down,” she says.
The young women are today practising fighting their way out of an urban ambush. They work in teams of two: taking cover behind burned-out tanks, providing suppressive fire with their H&K MP7 sub-machine guns and throwing smoke grenades so the team can get out safely.
Every time they hit one of the metal targets in the snow-covered expanse ahead, a clear “ding” rings out, to the approval of Captain Ole Vidar Krogsaeter, who oversees their training.
“To prepare them we try to give them the best training possible, as realistic as possible,” the veteran special forces operator says. “We have them go through the exercises so many times that they are comfortable with it.”

The women haven’t been deployed yet but the Norwegian’s thought process is to prepare them to handle the rigors of combat operations on their own when the time comes for them to be used.

While US soldiers were adamantly against women being allowed in Special Operations Units, the Norwegians, who have stationed men and women together in their military, don’t have that issue. But the real issue will come down to when the women deploy to combat. Currently, Norway has troops in Jordan, training troops to fight in Syria.

To read the entire article from the BBC, click here:

Photo courtesy Norwegian Armed Forces

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

Remembering Greg Fronius, KIA in El Salvador 31 March 1987

Thirty years ago today on March 31, 1987, Special Forces SSG Greg Fronius was killed in action in El Paraiso, El Salvador when guerrilla forces from the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) attacked the Salvadoran base during an early morning attack.

Fronius was 27 at the time of his death and left behind a wife and two small children. He was one of the only 55 military advisers to the Salvadoran military allowed at that time and was assigned to the cuartel, which was the headquarters for the 4^th Brigade.

His death during the brutal war that wracked El Salvador took place in a little-known time when many Special Forces risked their lives there during a so-called time of peace. It was a period that wasn’t recognized as a war zone for the Green Berets until many years later.

Fronius graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) as an Engineer Sergeant (18C) and was assigned to the 2^nd Bn, 7^th SFG(A) from 1983-85. In 1985, he was reassigned to 3/7 SFG in Panama. There, in early 1987 he was sent to El Salvador as Intelligence Sergeant assigned to the Military Advisory Group.

The 4^th Brigade Headquarters in El Paraiso, 36 miles north of the capital of San Salvador had two American advisors assigned but at the time of the attack, Fronius was alone, his counterpart was in the capital getting some equipment and was scheduled to fly out in a helicopter the next day.

The guerrillas launched a coordinated assault beginning at 2 a.m. on the morning of March 31. They had concentrated mortar and rocket fire that targeted the major headquarters buildings. It was later learned that they were helped by DIA agent and double agent spy Ana Montes. Montes was considered an up and coming agent for DIA but in reality, she had defected and was spying for Cuba.

She visited the El Paraiso base just weeks before the attack and debriefed the Americans there, and later fed the information directly to her Cuban handlers who passed it on to the FMLN. She was directly implicated in Fronius’ death. She was not caught until her arrest in September 2001 just after the attacks of 9/11. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2002.

The base at El Paraiso held 1000 troops but at the time of the attack on March 31, only 250 were on site. The remainder were out on different operations. It was during the attack where Montes treachery paid off for the FMLN. Their mortar and rocket fire was extremely accurate, nearly all of the headquarters buildings were either destroyed or severely damaged.

Casualties were high, 69 El Salvadoran soldiers were killed, another 79 were wounded. FMLN casualties were probably even higher. Once the attack commenced, Fronius was in the command bunker under the HQ building and he sprinted up the stairs to reach an M-60 machine gun position that was engaging FMLN troops that were inside the compound. With complete disregard for his own safety, he took off, going up the steps, when a rocket or mortar shell perforated the corrugated tin roofing of the stairs and the explosion killed Fronius.

He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and promoted to Sergeant First Class (E-7) The language lab at Ft. Bragg was named in honor of him in 1997.

He was later buried in a small cemetery in Western Pennsylvania. It was a bad week for the Green Berets of the 7^th SFG. The firing party for his funeral was from ODA-722 1^st Bn. They had just come from New York and had buried their A-team Commander CPT Schlomer who had been killed in Honduras earlier.

Just three months after Fronius’ death, Special Forces would lose another warrior. SSG Tim Hodge was wounded by a gunshot in the neck and needed immediate exfil to a hospital. The helicopter coming for him crashed in bad weather killing:
CW3 John D. Raybon
1LT Gregory J. Paredes
SP4 Douglas Lee Adams
SFC Lynn V. Keen
LTC James M. Basile (USAF )-Deputy MILGRP Commander
LTC Joseph L. Lujan -SF Advisor

Special Forces SFC Tommy Grace was badly burned in the crash but survived.

During the height of the El Salvadoran Civil War between 1983 – 1992 a total of 21 Army, Navy and Marines lost their lives in our covert operation to stop the Marxist guerillas from wresting control of the country.

Much about that time frame was shrouded in secrecy but the veil was finally lifted in 1997 as the combat operations the SF advisors were involved in was recognized. An interesting footnote and tremendous read was a pitched battle in San Miguel, El Salvador which took place in 1984. That can be read in its entirety here.

Photo courtesy US Army

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.31.2017

After a swim day, it is back to a heavy day of UBRR preparation with pushups, sit-ups, crunches, and a longer ruck march. Keep a PT prep log of your times on your runs and rucks and you should be noticing a decrease in the times as we forge ahead.

Don’t forget your stretching and this is a great time to begin breaking in a second pair of boots. If anything happens to your best pair or they get wet when in Selection, (and they will), having a good broken in second pair is very important.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

100 x pushups (no time limit)

100 x sit ups (no time limit)

100 x crunches

3 x 20 dips or until muscle failure

25 x V-ups

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

Stretch well after completion

Chinese Mimic US Raid bin Laden Raid on Television

Sometimes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. With the increasing sword rattling between the US and China in different areas of the world, the Chinese are showing their people that maybe they just like the way the US operates.

Chinese special operations security forces conducted a mock assault on “terrorist compound” that bore more than a passing resemblance to the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. That was the compound where Osama bin Laden lived until a raid took place by SEAL Team 6 in 2011 killed the terrorist leader of Al Qaeda.

The assault was carried on Chinese state-run television didn’t mention the similarities but there is little doubt what the compound as based off of. The recent mock raid also featured moves reminiscent of American counterterrorism tactics.

“The movements, room-clearing techniques and shooting drills are all basic special operations techniques,” Colonel David S. Maxwell explained to the New York Times, adding that there was little doubt that Chinese troops were copy American combat techniques. Mimicry may not be enough to get China where it wants to go though.
“There is a big difference between demonstrating choreographed skills and being able to conduct combat operations in the fog and friction of real war when things go wrong, as they did for the assault on Abbottabad,” Maxwell told reporters. Filming propaganda footage is noticeably different from actual in-the-field combat.

The Commander of the Chinese raid, identified as Zhang Yue, who heads the Bayingolin Special Forces Squadron of the Police forces. According to the narrator, Zhang rose through the ranks to command the unit and was described by his troops as a devil.

This isn’t the first time the Chinese have practiced on a replica compound. In 2015 they practiced an assault on one that looked eerily like the Presidential Palace in Taipei.

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

Photo courtesy YouTube

USSOCOM Warrior Care Program – Taking Care of Wounded SOF Warriors

USSOCOM’s Warrior Care Program (Care Coalition) may have changed their name but what remains the same is that it still provides service to special operations forces wounded, ill or injured Service members and their families.

The program was implemented to assist the wounded members of the command in the recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration as quickly as possible, thus improving USSOCOM readiness. In the event of a more serious injury, the program will assist the wounded warrior with the medical and career transition to civilian life.

Founded in 2005 with the charter to advocate for SOF and their families after life changing events, the organizations primary focus has always been on retention rather than transition. In fact, according to U.S. Army C ol. Cary Harbaugh, Warrior Care Program (Care Coalition) director, SOCOM’s retention rate after illness or injury is 73 percent, the services are at about 10 percent.
“We are the gold standard in Warrior Care. Unfortunately, we have a steady flow of ill and wounded. Today, SOF are in dangerous and hazardous environments and our training is high risk. So as we have a steady influx of ill and wounded and our focus is on returning them back to the force and we take all measures to do so,” said Harbaugh. “We view the medical evaluation board as the last step and we do everything we can to appropriately delay the board to ensure all treatments are tried. I think that is why we have such a high retention rate.”
“They made a promise to us when they joined, whatever service they joined, and then they made another promise to us when they came in as special operations and we’re making a promise to them, that we’re going to be with them for the rest of their lives if anything happens to them and we’re going to help take care of their families as well.” Former USSOCOM Commander U.S. Army Gen. Doug Brown at the founding of USSOCOM’s Care Coalition.

The Warrior Care Program works on a comprehensive recovery plan to include goals for the wounded members, services that will be required, such as education, employment, and housing. The program also provides adaptive sports programs and transitional assistance.

The USSOCOM Warrior Care Program is located in Tampa, Florida, but the recovery care coordinators and liaisons operate in multiple locations around the globe. These include major military treatment facilities and Department of Veterans Affairs Polytrauma Rehabilitation centers.

Any questions about the USSOCOM Warrior Care Program can be asked on their hotline number (877) 672-3039 or from the website: https://www.socom.mil/care-coalition/. With the many questions surrounding the waiting time for VA services in some locations, the knowledge that the command is looking to take care of their own has to be a big benefit and peace of mind for the families and the troops in the command

To read the entire article from Special Operations Command, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD