US Army Special Forces

Afghanistan is Planning to Double Its Special Operations Forces

Afghanistan’s Special Forces have been taking on a lion’s share of the fighting against the Taliban and other insurgent forces in the country. Now the military is planning to double the size of the 17,000-man force to double the number.

While Afghanistan’s military now numbers over 300,000 personnel, the small Special Operations part of the force is conducting over 70 percent of the offensive combat operations. It is an operational tempo that will be hard to maintain and leaders from both the Afghan and US government are worried that the strain will begin to affect operations.

The buildup will help alleviate the over-tasking of its troops which will increase to Corps level size once the troops are added, trained and equipped.

“There has been an increase in our operations, but we will keep up our efforts,” said Fawad Kamal, a special forces commander. “There hasn’t been any interruption.”
When they reach the battlefield, newly trained troops will likely be conducting offensive operations, from tracking militant cells to clearing towns seized by insurgents.
“There is a huge need for the number of commandos and special forces to increase in the country,” said Mohammed Arif, a new commando recruit. “As long as they are well equipped, they can defend the country very well.”
Afghanistan’s international allies regularly praise the performance of the special forces, but there is also concern that the workload places them under too much strain.
Last year, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, discussed plans to strengthen and regenerate the force over the winter months.
At the special forces base, NATO trainers work alongside Afghan instructors, teaching a range of courses from basic shooting and room clearance for new commandos, to advanced leadership courses for the more experienced.

US Special Forces Brigadier General Charles Cleveland called the Afghan Special Ops troops the best of the region but said that they were stretched too thin. Eventually, the NATO coalition would like to see the conventional Afghan forces reach the same level of training and proficiency as their SF counterparts but they still have a long way to go.

The entire article and interview from Reuters can be found here:

Featured photo: NATO

Texas Tech Coach Credits Special Forces Training In Doing His Job

Frequently military terms and jargon are used when discussing the sport of football. And at times, they can be overused, but if Texas Tech’s coach Rusty Whitt is using it, then you may just want to listen a little closer. The Red Raiders Strength and Conditioning Coach was a US Army Special Forces Communication Sergeant during the war in Iraq and credits his training and leadership for bringing him home safely to resume his life.

Whitt is known as one of the toughest, no-nonsense coaches in college football. He credited the lessons learned at Ft. Bragg and Camp Mackall as the catalyst for getting him home safely from two different tours in Iraq. Whitt was voted the most intimidating strength coach in 2013 by lostletterman.com.

“So I happened to go to selection for 21 days. The next class went for 15. Then it just kind of changes up. But those 21 days, I think 220-some odd guys started and around 48 completed it and got selected. Then you get into the actual course, which took me two years. I had to learn … I was an 18 Echo, which is your communications sergeant. Anything that has to do with military communications, I had to become proficient in, which was a long course. I took Russian, which is an extremely hard language to comprehend. It took two years to do all that.”
“And so I’m riding in a truck with all these guys. The driver had been there for a year. My incoming, my new team captain, was with me riding up front. I had a gunner who had been there almost a year and a medic sitting by me who’d been there for almost a year.
“We left our patrol base, came to a T-intersection and the outgoing team sergeant in the very first truck radios back: ‘OK, Captain. We take a right, it’s Little House on the Prairie. We take a left, it’s Black Hawk Down.’
“Pause. Captain goes, (Click) ‘Uh, let’s go ahead and watch Black Hawk Down.’ And the gunner starts laughing. He goes,(twangy voice) ‘Hey, man, you’re gonna get a CIB in about five minutes.’ And we took a left and within a minute we’re receiving gunfire. So it was an eye-opening experience.”

Whitt is known for his intensity and he has brought that in spades to the Red Raiders football program along with some Special Forces training methods, including a rucksack event on the first day of training.

He once was so amped up that he head-butted a player before a bowl game that was wearing a helmet, opening a deep gash in his forehead. Rather than having the cut attended to, Whitt spent the entire game on the sidelines with a stream of blood running down his face. Welcome to the big leagues Texas Tech.

The entire article and interview from Lubbock On Line can be found here:

Featured photo: YouTube Rusty Whitt

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.29.2017

Back to the gym today, working on your shoulders and traps, which all he when either toting the rucksack or climbing the ropes.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, behind the neck (go as heavy as possible)

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, front

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

4 x 25-meter Shuttle Run

3 x 3 Cone Drill

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.28.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR and get some leg work in with a trip to the gym today.

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 10 Leg Extensions

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

3 x 20 Push-ups

30 x “V” ups

2-mile run

Stretch well after completion

US May Increase Troop Levels in Yemen But Not Special Operations

In a surprising move, the Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has asked the White House to reverse the Obama Administration policy on restrictions on U.S. military support for Persian Gulf states engaged in a prolonged war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Mattis sent a memo to National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster and spelled out that the “limited support” for a combined Saudi Arabian, United Arab Emirates offensive geared at retaking a key Red Sea port will help defeat “a common threat”. But Mattis does not foresee adding more Special Operations Forces to the mix.

The administration is in the midst of a larger review of overall Yemen policy that is not expected to be completed until next month.
But the immediate question, addressed by Mattis’ memo and tentatively slated to come before the principal’s committee of senior national security aides this week, is whether to provide support for a proposed UAE-led operation to push the Houthis from the port of Hodeida, through which humanitarian aid and rebel supplies pass.
The Pentagon memo does not recommend agreeing to every element of the Emirati request. A proposal to provide American Special Operations forces on the ground on the Red Sea coast “was not part of the request [Mattis] is making,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss planning and the review.

Yemen’s population centers have been hit hard during the conflict with an estimated 10,000 civilians killed in the fighting. Worse, the surviving population is close to starvation.

Yves Daccord, Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, warned that an extended battle for the port city would “put even more pressure on the population” and could tip the country into greater humanitarian crisis.

The Saudis and other have been withholding aid for the area around Hodeida which has further made a bad situation worse. The Gulf States were critical of the Obama Administration’s reluctance to aid in the Yemen conflict seeing it as a weakness toward Iran. Now President Trump, who was critical of the Obama policy may change it.

To read the entire article from The Chicago Tribune, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Army PAO SGT Faces QMP Over Flap for Trying to Secure Information

In a SNAFU of epic proportions, an Army PAO SGT is facing being forcibly removed from the service for trying to safeguard classified information. SGT Ricardo Branch was serving in the PAO office of the 160^th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers).

Members of the Night Stalkers were to visit the Boeing aircraft company site in Mesa Arizona back in 2014. Boeing scripted a press release stating the 160^th Special Operations Aviation Regiment was the unit that carried the Navy commandos from SEAL Team 6 in to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. He sent his commander a private email on the Army .mil server that basically alerted his boss that the company should remove that line as the Department of Defense (DOD) had never acknowledged that.

A higher up in the chain of command saw the email thread and alerted Army intelligence that a breach had occurred. He was ordered home and was facing a court-martial for the crime of actually trying to safeguard information.

The irony of the entire episode is that President Obama visited Ft. Campbell after the bin Laden raid and publicly thanked the 160^th Night Stalkers for their role in the raid.

Offered the choice of a court-martial or nonjudicial punishment (Article 15), Branch opted for an Article 15 and was reprimanded. He was then transferred to Korea where he took up editing a newspaper for the troops.

But with the Army downsizing right now, Branch’s Article 15 showed up for the Army’s Quantitative Management Program (QMP), which immediately put him up for separation after 13 years of service. The QMP looks for any black marks on a soldier’s record.

“I love the Army,” he said. “I like my job. The reason I’m so in love with the Army is I’m a career soldier. I’ve done three tours in Iraq. I’ve survived cancer twice. The Army is my career. It’s what I know. It is my life. My dad was a soldier. My brother’s a soldier. My grandfather was a soldier. I like telling the Army story because I’m a writer. That’s what I do.”
In recent months, Sgt. Branch’s cause has been taken up by a former Army judge advocate, Jeffery Addicott, who directs the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s Law School in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Addicott represents, pro bono, military personnel he believes are unjustly prosecuted.
“At a time when President Trump is calling for the buildup of our military, and rightfully so, it is ironic that the Army is seeking to jettison a dedicated, three-time Iraqi War veteran,” Mr. Addicott told The Times.
“In my professional opinion as a JAG officer with 20 years in service and having tried over 150 cases, they would have not brought this to a court-martial if he had turned down the Article 15,” Mr. Addicott said. “There is no way the government would get a conviction, particularly based on the fact that President Obama had already released the information to the public. If they did bring it to a trial, Sgt. Branch would exercise his right to demand a jury, and they would never get a conviction.”

Branch is appealing the decision and attempting to remain in the Army. Based on the public airing of the raid by President Obama, it is crazy to think that Branch’s situation has ever reached this level.

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

Photo courtesy DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.27.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR by taking a practice test but without the rope climb event as most will not have access to one.

Training:

Pushups – 1-minute time limit as many as you can do correctly, minimum 40
Situps – 1-minute time limit as many as you can do correctly, minimum 40
Pullups – minimum of 6, no time limit
Dips – minimum of 6, no time limit
4 x 25-meter Shuttle Run, maximum of 24 seconds
Bench Press – 80 percent of body weight minimum 6 no time limit
Kip-ups – minimum of 6 with a 1-minute time limit
5 Mile Run or 5-mile Ruck – The run to be completed in 40 min, ruck 75

Stretch well after completion

Grading scale:

Pushups +2 pts for each rep above minimum.
Situps +3 points for each rep above minimum.
Pullups +3 points for each rep above minimum.
Dips +2 points for each rep above minimum.
Bench Press +3 points for each rep above minimum.
Kip -ups +2 points for each rep above minimum.
Shuttle Run +2 points for every 1/10^th of a second under minimum.
Run +2 points for every 15 seconds from 35-30 minutes.

You can check your score at the website here:

‘Raise the Black’ Green Berets Raise Money For Fallen Iraqi CTS Comrades

Former Green Berets who selected, trained, and fought alongside the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) are watching with pride the fighting is doing in Iraq while trying to drive ISIS from the country. And now some of the Special Operations soldiers are trying to help the families of their fallen comrades by raising money for them.

The Golden Division, as the CTS unit is called is among the best units in the Iraqi army and is doing a lion’s share of the fighting to retake Mosul. The SF operators who trained them are proud of their achievements but know how costly the battle has become as hundreds of their former charges have died in battle.

Now they’re starting a GoFundMe page that will alleviate the cost of Iraqi families of losing loved ones. The SF soldiers led by Loren Schofield and Bryan Myers kicked off the idea and are selling flags, bumper stickers and T-shirts to raise money for the CTS families.

The CTS program, which recruited Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds, was stood up in 2004 as the U.S. military grappled with the insurgency in Iraq.
“Special Forces soldiers selected, trained, mentored, fought with and died alongside the CTS,” Myers said. “It is the biggest success story to come out of Iraq.”
The commandos mainly battled Sunni insurgents, but also played a lead role in a 2008 offensive against Shiite militias. When ISIS invaded in 2014, CTS commandos held Iraq’s largest oil refinery for months while the rest of the Iraqi military retreated in disarray.
“Most Americans think the Iraqi army are cowards,” Schofield said. “But (CTS) stood in the breach and held the line against ISIS.”
In the last two years, the commandos led the battle to retake Ramadi and took part in operations in Hit, Rutbah and villages along the Euphrates River. The Golden Division was also the first Iraqi force to break through ISIS lines in Fallujah last year.

Much too often, the focus for our country is very short and many of our allies have been abandoned in the past. These two Green Berets are making sure that these allies know that they won’t be forgotten.

To read the entire article from The Washington Post, click here:

Photo courtesy GoFundMe

Parents say their Green Beret son was murdered and want answers

Three members of the 5^th Special Forces Group who were conducting weapons training for the Jordanian armed forces were killed in November when re-entering a base they had left and entered many times in the past.

The Jordanian government has ruled the deaths “a tragic accident” where a member of their military, M’aarek Abu Tayeh fired from point blank range killing two of the SF soldiers right in front of a guard shack as the troops re-entered the base after conducting range operations in the morning.

A third Green Beret was killed in the ensuing gun battle with Tayeh before a fourth, armed with just a Glock handgun, emptied his pistol at Tayeh who was seriously wounded in the exchange.

Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar said in a statement that Tayeh responded to shooting from the Americans.

“Abu Tayeh was tasked with swift response,” Kawar said, and fired toward the source of what he took to be gunshots coming from the Americans, “who in turn fired directly at Abu Tayeh, believing he was targeting them.”

The FBI has analyzed video footage from the incident and deemed that the Americans followed what had been normal procedure when entering and leaving the base. The families of the killed Americans believe that the soldiers were murdered and want answers from the Jordanians.

Earlier this month, Chuck Lewellen and fathers of the other fallen Green Berets spoke at the National Press Club in Washington. They want an apology from Jordan, and they’ve called for a suspension of aid to the country until that happens.
“The government of Jordan lied to the world, immediately claiming that our sons failed to stop at the gate,” James R. Moriarty told the press club. “When the FBI confirmed the video showed that to be a lie, the Jordanians then claimed there had been an accidental discharge by one of the Americans. This was also proven to be a lie.
“The American public is told Jordan is our ally. Jordan has never accepted responsibility nor has a Jordanian official ever explained what truly happened.”

The families want answers and the Jordanians to clear their sons of any wrongdoing, which the video and the FBI investigation played out. However, the Jordanian government is sticking to its story, (the third now) that Tayeh acted appropriately and was responding to a threat from the Americans.

Jordan has been a staunch ally of the US in the region and although terrorism has been ruled out by the host government, and they cited Tayeh’s 14 years of service, for the families, there is the legitimate question in their minds as to what happened and why.

To read the entire article from The Olympian, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.25.2017

Today we’ll hit the legs hard again and then rest on Sunday. More reps on the legs today, as we’ll get ready for the Rifle PT squats, that everyone loves so well.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

First, head into the gym:

3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight, more reps)

3 x Goblet Squats 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight, more reps)

3 x Hungarian Lunges 20-15-12 reps light weight

3 x 10 Pull-ups

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

3 x 25 Push-ups

30 x “V” ups

6-mile rucksack march with 45-pound minimum

Stretch well after completion