Special Operations Forces

Raqqa’s Dirty Secret, Thousands of ISIS Fighters, Families Allowed to Flee

After months of bloody, hard fighting, the Syrians trying to take back their territory from the Islamic State wanted the fighting to be over. Especially so in the self-styled “caliphate” of Raqqa. The Syrians entered into a deal with ISIS to allow their fighters and families to escape Raqqa. The agreement was supposed to forbid foreign fighters from escaping and allow only personal belongings, but ISIS quickly reneged on that, taking all of their foreign fighters as well as loading trucks with arms and ammunition.

The Kurdish-led SDF announced that the convoy would not be televised and only a few dozen ISIS fighters would be allowed to leave. But the BBC has uncovered, with photos, that the numbers were much, much higher, perhaps as high as 4000. The convoy was six kilometers long with 50 trucks, 13 buses and over 100 of ISIS’ own vehicles.

They might have been helping the fighters escape, but the Arab drivers were abused the entire route, they say. And threatened.
“They said, ‘Let us know when you rebuild Raqqa – we will come back,’” says Abu Fawzi. “They were defiant and didn’t care. They accused us of kicking them out of Raqqa.”
A female foreign fighter threatened him with her AK-47.

Another French fighter for the Islamic State escaped to Idlib where he intends to stay but had an ominous warning about the allowing of foreign fighters to escape.

“There are some French brothers from our group who left for France to carry out attacks in what would be called a ‘day of reckoning.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, somewhat improbably, continue to maintain that no deal was done.
And this may not even have been about freeing civilian hostages. As far as the coalition is concerned, there was no transfer of hostages from IS to coalition or SDF hands.
And despite coalition denials, dozens of foreign fighters, according to eyewitnesses, joined the exodus.
The deal to free IS was about maintaining good relations between the Kurds leading the fight and the Arab communities who surround them.

So, in an effort to minimize the killing in Raqqa, the deal to allow hundreds of fighters and thousands of family members to leave Raqqa may have averted bloodshed in Syria for the short term, but as their actions showed, they will continue to bring terror in other parts of the world. How steep will the cost be elsewhere?

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

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 11.14.2017

Tuesday means Leg Day at the gym followed by sprints to build up speed and explosion. Begin with pull-ups and towel pull-ups for those who don’t have access to climbing ropes. Then squats, lunges and the sled followed by some sprint work.

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 Body Weight Wall Squats with a stability ball 20-15-12 reps

4 x Sled push heavier weight or Fire Man’s Carry

3 x 10 reps Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 20 Caterpillar Planks

40-yard sprint

50-yard sprint

60-yard sprint

80-yard sprint

100-yard sprint (after each sprint, walk back to the starting point)

Stretch well after completion

Celebrating Veterans Day In Our Schools Is Possibly the Most Meaningful

First of all, a belated Happy Veterans Day to all of those who serve, have served and especially for those who are about to serve.

Last week was a very busy one for the veterans in our small town in Central Massachusetts. Members of our local Veterans Council, the VFW, and the American Legion were together for a host of activities that began last Sunday. Our local historical society decided to begin Veterans Day Week by having a presentation at the local Asa Waters Mansion, a Revolutionary War-era landmark to honor our town’s men who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War I. They had guest presenters to bring the various weapons that were used by the “doughboys” of that era, an educator from the area who is an expert on the US’ involvement in WWI, and a firing party of vets from the Worcester Marine Corps League to include a Bugler to blow taps. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon and the turnout was excellent, since the ladies at the Historical Society scheduled this event on a Sunday after when the Patriots had a bye week. Smart thinking….

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the vets visited three of the schools in town, both of the elementary schools and the local high school. More to that in just a moment.

On Friday, the veterans visited the small nursing home in town, to visit the veterans who reside there. They are given a certificate recognizing their service, and a small American flag pin. The gifts are nothing more than just a trinket, however, the message was to them, that they are not forgotten. This year, there are 32 veterans at the small facility.

And finally, on Saturday, a new community in town had built a community clubhouse for use by the residents and installed a new large flagpole and wanted to dedicate in honor of our town’s veterans and about 100 people came to that on a cold, windy Saturday morning. After which, the residents and veterans had a great, big breakfast that the residents had prepared for all.

So, back to the schools. Of all the events last week, the school visits are probably the most important. We live in an era where our troops have been in constant combat since 2001. Many of the troops who signed up for service after 9/11 are almost retirement eligible which is astounding in itself. But it also drives home the meaning of it all.

For the vast majority of America, the war is one fought by someone else. Our country has not bought into the entire Global War on Terror, GWOT. It hasn’t touched enough of our people nor are they truly aware of the cost. For most, the war is just something most ignore on the news unless something bad happens when the inevitable questions start being asked, “why do we even have troops in Niger?”

More and more troops are coming from “military” families, where a parent(s) or grandparent had served and the young person followed them into the service. Among our Special Operations Community, it is pretty common to see that happening. It is almost like another social stratum is being developed, the military family.

Which is why these school visits are so important. The school children get a lot of out of these visits but it is safe to say that perhaps our veterans get even more from them. When I first moved to town, like many veterans of my generation, I wasn’t in the mood to get involved with anything veterans related. I had done my time and was just getting on with life. Then I met Joe Bianculli. Joe was a Korean war vet who had lost his eyesight but could still see better than anyone else. A mutual friend introduced us and immediately he asked why I hadn’t been with them to visit the school. Having no satisfactory answer, he said, “We’ll expect you there next week, and you may get more out of it than the kids will.” I went and he was correct. He had the uncanny ability to be in a room with 100 people and could tell you exactly who was there by recognizing everyone’s voices.

With a lifetime of service to the town after his military days were done, Joe served on the town’s Planning Board, School Board, Board of Selectmen, working as a volunteer at the VA helping veterans fill out their paperwork to get their claims in and probably 100 other committees that escape me. I went to his house one day in the fall to find him on his roof, clearing the leaves from his gutters. He’s missed more than ever. The town named a new bridge after him, it isn’t enough.

But in speaking of the schools he was right. The town’s schools are just asking the children to repeat the classic poems and remember the dates of certain battles that they’d soon forget. They have attempted to get the kids an up close and personal look at what military service looks like. Through our veterans.

While we still have the programs in the gymnasiums and auditoriums where we celebrate and recognize what being a veteran means, they get an education in the form of having one-on-one talks with vets of all eras. When we arrived at one school on Tuesday, the school had veterans go to each classroom. There the veteran would give a brief biography of what era he or she served in and then the kids could ask questions and engage in some good dialogue. Our veterans in town range from World War II veterans of the Battle of the Bulge in Europe, to Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the surrender of Japan in the Pacific, the Korean War, Vietnam and right up to the modern day. The school children get much more out of a 30-45 minute question and answer session with a veteran than they would just be studying some dates of history, not that those aren’t important but this puts a face and a name to their studies. And since it is someone from their little town, it puts the service and sacrifice in perspective.

Then after it was over, we filed into the gymnasium for the traditional Veterans Day program. Our high school does much the same but in the library’s media center where there is a more intimate setting among the school’s social studies students.

This is something that all schools should look to adopt, not just in towns where there are military bases but across the US. Veterans are part of our past, our present, and our future. No one knows where or even how they will be needed next. Don’t let the next generation question that they weren’t even aware we had troops in Africa when they’ve been there overtly for a decade. Veterans Day is a good day for all Americans to stop and thank those who have, are or will serve to protect the freedoms we enjoy.

Well done Millbury!, our little town in Central Massachusetts is doing things the right way. And thank you to Superintendent Greg Myers, Miriam Friedman, Andy Hall, Tara Bennett, the principals of the schools we visited. Special shout to Sal Palano the High School teacher who puts together our wonderful programs twice every year at Memorial and Veterans Day.

And a great job to all those veterans of the British SAS and the USMC who took part in the “Remembrance Rumble” in England who got in the boxing ring to raise money for charity, especially SOFREP’s own Christian Prosser and Big Phil Campion. Great job by all and a tip of the beret for all of the hard work.

Photos Courtesy: Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, Robert Fucci

Daily Beast: Green Beret Murdered After Discovering SEALs Stealing Cash

The story about the Green Beret found murdered in his apartment in Mali has taken an ominous twist. A recent piece penned by the Daily Beast, says SSG Logan Melgar of the 3^rd Special Forces Group was murdered by two Navy SEALs from SEAL Team Six after he found out about the pair’s stealing of cash designed to pay informants involved in intelligence gathering operations.

The story, which claims that they got from official sources says Melgar found out about the SEALs illegal activity and was concerned. He told his wife over the phone his concerns and said that he’d explain more after he returned home.

This account is based on five members of the special-operations community who were not cleared to speak publicly. Representatives of both U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) declined comment for this story, as the Navy Criminal Investigative Service(NCIS) has an active investigation into Melgar’s death. NCIS would not comment beyond confirming the investigation is underway.
As the elite troops do in so many countries, they operate in the shadows, with comparatively little oversight—and what their actions actually look like on the ground can be much dirtier than the heroic image the Pentagon prefers to portray.
For example, part of the intelligence gathering operation in Mali involved a fund used to pay informants.
Melgar, two special operations sources say, discovered the SEALs were pocketing some of the money from the informant fund. The SEALS offered to cut him in, but Melgar declined, these sources said.
It is unknown what specifically started the June 4 altercation at 5 a.m. but it escalated. Melgar lost consciousness—and, worse, stopped breathing. The SEALs attempted to open an airway in Melgar’s throat, officials said. It is unknown whether Melgar died immediately. The SEALs and another Green Beret, according to former AFRICOM officials, drove to a nearby French clinic seeking help. Melgar was dead when he arrived at the clinic, the official said. Asphyxiation was the cause of death.

The SEALs story was that Melgar was drunk and was killed in a combatives exercise. One of the SEALs was a mixed martial arts fighter. Except that no alcohol was found in Melgar’s system. One of the sources used in the story told the authors that Melgar didn’t drink at all. That sent red flags up in the community and General David Bolduc, the then commander of the Special Operations Command Africa alerted the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division.

To read the entire article from The Daily Beast, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 11.13.2017

Monday starts a new week, and we’ll continue with UBRR preparation. Start off with a mini-UBRR test of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, pull-ups, and dips before a 5-mile run. Remember to stay hydrated and mark your progress in your workout log book.

Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

2 x 20 Pushups

2 x 30 Sit-ups

2 x 30 Crunches

2 x 10, V-ups

2 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure

2 x Pullups as many as possible or to muscle failure

5-mile run (40 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 11.12.2017

Sunday morning rucksack march. Do a quick warmup of pushups and sit-ups before heading out. Head out over varied terrain and try to go as fast as you can without running.

Stretch well both before and after the event. Remember to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated out there. Even with the colder weather of the fall weather months upon us, you can still go down with a heat-related injury. And if you do it will really set you back in your preparation.

Training:

Warm up

1 x 20 Pushups

1 x 20 Sit-ups

10-mile Rucksack march over varied terrain with a 45-pound minimum. Go as fast as you can without jogging. And mark your times in your workout log book.

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 11.11.2017

Happy Veterans Day to all of those who served and are currently still serving. It is a cold, windy Saturday morning here, so it is a perfect time to go to the gym for a shoulder and back workout. Towel pull-ups if you have no access to climbing ropes. Followed by a five-mile run. Log your numbers down in the workout notebook

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 10 Lat Pulldowns, rear

3 x 10 Barbell Dead Lift

3 x 10 Wide Grip Pull-ups

3 x 10 Towel Pull-ups

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

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Research & Development Branch of OSS, and America’s “Q”

During World War II, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was the United States first foray into the intelligence business. Prior to the war, the intelligence services for the US didn’t exist, much to the chagrin of their British allies just as the war began. It had no overall direction, planning or control and was done on an ad hoc basis.

But William Donovan changed all of that, he built an organization from scratch and before the war’s end which had over 13,000 agents and support personnel under his command all over the globe.

OSS intelligence operations and Guerrilla Warfare experts in the Operational Groups and Jedburgh Teams were the most well known of the OSS operatives. OSS was the forerunner of today’s CIA and the US Army Special Forces. And both share their lineage with OSS.

But one of the more intriguing and interesting branches of OSS was the Research and Development Branch. The mission of the Research and Development (R&D) branch was to develop devices to help undercover OSS agents, enhance intelligence gathering, or to facilitate sabotage operations.

For anyone who has ever liked and watched the James Bond films, (raises hand) the R&D Branch was the American version of “Q-Branch” where Bond would get his wonderful gadgets that seem so far-fetched at times but were rooted in fact.

The OSS R&D Branch in actuality worked very closely with the British and together they developed, refined and/or contracted to provide intelligence and Special Operations operatives the tools they’d need.

The OSS under Donovan didn’t work like the typical Army bureaucracy and Donovan would open his door to anyone he felt could help his fledgling operation. But he found the right man to lead R&D. Donovan hired Boston chemist Stanley P. Lovell to head up the R&D Branch, and Donovan humorously called him his “Professor Moriarty.” Moriarty was a devious criminal character from the Sherlock Holmes books. He was described by Arthur Conan Doyle as this:

“The man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumours gathered round him in the University town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and come down to London. He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organiser of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city…

— Holmes, “The Final Problem”

Lovell lived up to his Moriarty and “Q” reputation. He developed some very intriguing pieces of equipment, including silenced pistols and submachine guns. The latter of which the M-3 Grease gun was used by Special Forces during the Vietnam war.

OSS developed explosives disguised as lumps of coal (“Black Joe”) or mule turds and even Chinese flour, which the troops called “Aunt Jemima.” The flour could even be baked and eaten in an emergency. R&D also developed chemical and pressure activated firing devices and clock timers that enabled an operative to set an explosive charge, and leave the area and be clear when the explosives detonated.

One of the more ingenious ideas was the “Beano” hand grenade. The Beano grenade was made by the Eastman Kodak company. And Lovell’s men designed the grenade around the American pastime of baseball. It was the size and weight of a traditional American baseball, with the thinking that any red-blooded American boy knows how to throw a baseball.

It was held with two fingers on a weighted and knurled “butterfly cap” and the arming pin was removed. Once thrown, the cap detached from the body of the grenade and a length of nylon string would unwind until a secondary arming pin attached to the far end of the cord was pulled, arming the grenade to detonate upon impact with a hard surface.

The original grenades were 5.5 ounces which were eventually deemed too light. So the later models were upped to 12 ounces. The problem was the arming switch deployed too quickly and ended up injuring more Americans than Germans.

Other ingenious gadgets included buttons with compasses inside to aid in escape and evasion, playing cards that concealed maps, a 16mm Kodak camera in the shape of a matchbox as well as German and Japanese identity cards, rations cards, passes and counterfeit currency.

In the official OSS history that has been published by CIA, they describe the mission of R&D and how it pertained to the agents:

…each agent had to be equipped with clothing sewn exactly as it would have been sewn if it were made in the local area for which he was destined; his eyeglasses, dental work, toothbrush, razor, brief case, travelling bag, shoes, and every item of wearing apparel had to be microscopically accurate.

One of OSS’ better projects was headed up by a Washington DC physician named Christian J. Lambertsen who developed an oxygen rebreather set (the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit). This Scuba-type system was used by OSS and headed up by Lambertsen in the OSS Maritime Unit.

They also came up with different explosive devices such as Limpet mines and others such as communication devices, beacons, and wiretap gadgets. Of course, as every spy novel has ever shown, OSS had their tasteless poison “L” pills to allow an agent to kill himself rather than be captured.

One of the sillier projects was the exploding candle. A French or European operative was supposed to lure a German officer to a bedroom for a roll in the hay. Then to set the mood, they were to light this candle and make their escape while the German lay in a state of relaxation. When the candle burned down to a bit, they would explode.

So, the next time you watch James Bond have his normal interaction with “Q-Branch” you can know that although the tongue-in-cheek humor is designed for just that but that many of the gadgets you see aren’t so far-fetched after all. And they’re all based on true facts and operations. Except maybe for the Aston-Martin which….doesn’t really lend itself to the big city background. But I’d still love to take one for a spin.

Photos: CIA, OSS archives

The US Military Now Has Over 15,000 Troops in Afghanistan

Since the announcement in August that the Trump Administration has committed to Afghanistan, the U.S. military’s numbers there continue to grow. There could soon be 16,000 troops in the country as the Army is gearing up to deploy hundreds of Army trainers there early in 2018.

In his August speech, President Donald Trump said that the US would deploy up to 4,000 more troops to aid in the fight against the Taliban. Those troops have now brought the total of US troops to 15,000. But the numbers tend to fluctuate and the White House has said, that they won’t be announcing troop strength numbers any longer.

As part of a new strategy the president announced along with the troop increase in August, Trump has given Defense Secretary James Mattis, a retired Marine general, broad authority to adjust troop levels in Afghanistan based on military requirements. The president has also permitted the military to change the rules of engagement, overturning a requirement for soldiers to be in contact with enemy forces before opening fire.
Three years ago, in December 2014, former President Obama declared an end to U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan, formally ending a war that had lasted well over a decade. But that was only on paper: The fighting never stopped. Some say the Taliban is stronger than ever—it currently controls 13 percent of the country’s districts and continues to fight for more territory. Roughly 43 percent of Afghanistan’s districts are either under Taliban control or being contested, according to SIGAR, a U.S. watchdog agency.
The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) also has a foothold in the country, and recently staged an attack in Kabul. Thirteen U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in 2017 thus far, the most recent death occurring on November 4.

To read the entire article from Newsweek, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 11.10.2017

Back to the gym this Friday morning. It is 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 (40 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion