US Army Special Forces

Special Operations “Iron Man” Suit To Begin Testing in 2018

Special Operations troops who perform dangerous hostage rescue and similar type missions may soon find themselves with some new equipment that will better protect them. The new “Iron Man” suit will begin testing with operators during the summer of 2018.

The Pentagon and the Special Operations Acquisitions and Technology Branch has been working on procuring a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), which became known as the “Iron Man” suit for the past four years.

“We are on our fifth prototype. Will we get everything we want? Probably not. That was never the intent,” James Geurts of Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology and Logistics told Military.com on Wednesday.
The suits may use new technologies to improve communication between team members and convey a wide range of biometric data, however.
“So in TALOS, don’t just think exoskeleton and armor. Think of the whole equation,” Mr. Geurts said. “Survivability is part of what armor you are carrying, but it’s also a big part of whatever information you have, what is your situational awareness, how do you communicate. So as we are going down all those paths, we can leverage quickly some of the stuff that is ready to go right now.”

While the TALOS suit probably won’t appear much like a Marvel superhero outfit, it will have a variety of sensors, heads-up displays, an exoskeleton to reduce the load special operators carry, medical sensors, and potentially much, much more.

Earlier versions had a unique body armor system. Manufactured by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, TALOS had a revolutionary type of electrically-activated shield called liquid body armor. While wearing the suit, the operator simply triggers a magnetic or electrical current on the TALOS and the body armor transitions from liquid to solid in a matter of milliseconds.

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

Photo courtesy DOD

Combat Vets Go Hog Hunting with Special Operations Wounded Warriors

Special Operations Wounded Warriors, a non-profit organization dedicated to taking care of our combat injured operators, recently put together a four-day hog hunt for veterans in North Carolina.

Eleven combat wounded veterans were treated to an all-expenses long weekend of camaraderie and hunting as SOWW picked up the tab for the entire event. Including the campers the veterans stayed in during the hunt.

The 8^th Annual Hog Hunt took place in Tabor City, NC at a hunting camp.

“When you’re in the service, you’re going a 100 miles an hour. Then when you come back to stateside, it’s like an immediate stop. So a lot of anxiety built up there. You don’t know what to do or where to put that energy. That’s what this hunt provides for guys,” says Ron Bellan. He’s a retired Navy Seal Master Chief who spent 25 years as a Seal. Bellan’s been a part of the Hog Hunt for several years and says the weekend of hunting, shooting, and camping in the woods does a whole lot of healing. “It brings together a brotherhood.”
“They get to enjoy fellowship and spend time with guys that are going through similar situations as they may be with some of the trauma their bodies have faced,” says SOWW Vice President Joel Pellici. He says the hunt grows bigger each year, as former participants, like Keith Morges, come back to offer support to the newcomers. “My intent in coming back in the support role was to give somebody the feeling of hope. Because I felt absolutely hopeless for so long,” says Morges.

To the veterans attending the event, it has been described as not only a weekend hunting, but as a form of therapy. The weekend of hunting, camping and shooting brings together the brotherhood that the wounded special operators may be missing in their lives post-military.

SOWW is a volunteer organization based out of Myrtle Beach, SC

To read the entire article from WBTW News, click here:

Photo courtesy SOWW Hog Hunt 2015

Passing SFAS – Plotting and Planning Your Route in Land Navigation

So, you’ve volunteered to be in Special Forces and you’re getting ready to go to SFAS. This is the time to prepare yourself for the grind that is to come. There are certain tips, such as the PT program which will help you attain the level of physical fitness that you’ll need to not just pass the course but to excel where the course isn’t as tough as you’ll see other people struggling.

Now, we get to the elephant in the room, the Land Navigation course and many students fail at either SFAS or the SFQC because they failed the land navigation course. The course is tough, it is the toughest individual land navigation course you’ll find in the US military.

In previous segments, we touched on Map reading, pace count, orienting the map and plotting your starting location. Now we’ll get into the plotting and planning of your route. A proper plan makes getting there a heck of a lot easier.

Plot Your First Point: Okay in our previous segment, we’ve checked and then double-checked our location so that you know exactly where you are starting from. Now you plot your first point the exact same way.

Read to the right and up and using the 1/50,000 map scale, carefully plot your eight-digit grid coordinate to where you are going. Remember, four-digit grids get us to within 1000 meters, six-digit grids to within 100 meters and an eight-digit grid gets us to within 10 meters. Double check your plot and ensure you’ve got it right.

Now measure the distance between the two points. Remember this is straight line distance and not walking distance. Your actual traveling distance will vary from point to point depending on your route selection and the terrain that you’ll encounter.

Planning the Route: There are two basic ways you can get to where you’re going. Either will get you to where you’re going but for your purposes in SFAS, one may prove to be a better option. Again, don’t go with what everyone else is doing, always do what is right for you.

Dead Reckoning – Is a system that is done in two steps. The first is getting an azimuth from your starting point using your map and protractor and determine the distance to where your point is located at. The next step is to use your compass and your pace count and apply what you’ve already learned and walk to your point by staying as close as you can to your azimuth.

Your position can be checked from time to time using both resection or intersection when the terrain features are available. Dead Reckoning has some advantages; it is easy to teach the neophyte navigator and in open terrain, especially in grassy areas or desert type regions, it is easier to stay on the azimuth. It works well also when the distances to be covered are short.

A distinct disadvantage of this method is when you’re facing the terrain you’ll be subjected to in the Hoffman area. Thick vegetation, intermittent streams, draws and swampy areas make Dead Reckoning a dicey proposition. However, it can and does work. I know several SF guys who plowed thru the Land Nav course using this exact method. I wouldn’t recommend this but it can be done at times and will work. But perhaps the second method is the better way to go.

Terrain Association – Is a bit more difficult to plan but is much less forgiving of mistakes and as a rule a helluva lot less time consuming than Dead Reckoning. It requires a more detailed map study of where you’re going and how you plan to get there but the time spent planning your movement is better served than trying to plow your way thru the draws.

The advantages of terrain association are obvious. If you veer off course in Dead Reckoning, you are in trouble. But using terrain association, your position is easily checked and adjustments made on the fly.

Selection and identification of terrain features are key here. Plan your route using handrails as a guide and ensure to plot checkpoints along the way. Ensure your map is oriented and use the available terrain as a guide. You won’t be following a specific azimuth per se, but more of a cardinal direction to your checkpoints using your map to guide you.

You can use the roads both the improved and the unimproved as a guide but the best advice is DON’T BREAK THE RULES! Parallel the roads but not too closely. Make sure that plot a backstop on your route that you can identify as having gone too far.

A word of caution about the roads in Hoffman. There a lot of them out there, and many are not on the map. While there are exceptions…You’ll become familiar with “Five Points” but for the most part, those are at times difficult to judge. Just be careful.

Always remember and the instructors will drill it into your head, that if you come upon a hardball road. Stop. You won’t be crossing any of those in the course but a few of the points may be near them so you can use those as a handrail at times.

But surer than the national deficit going up, someone in your class is going to cross a hardball road. It used to happen in every class and don’t be surprised to hear about it from the other students. Just don’t be “That Guy”.

Plot checkpoints along the way to ensure that you are on track and on target. Choose an attack point that will put you no farther than 200-300 meters from your point. When you arrive there, that is the time to use dead reckoning and plot an azimuth to your point.

We’re almost ready to head out and attack the course. Remember everything you learned and the best advice is to practice, practice and practice some more. The more comfortable you are using your map, compass, and skills at terrain association now, the easier the course will be for you.

In our next segment, we’re heading to Hoffman.

Photo courtesy of DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.13.2017

Monday is Fun-day! Special Operations Selection is not easy and demands a lot of upper body strength and stamina. Let’s get the week off to a good start.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

Warm Up – 3 x 25 meter shuttle run

100 x pushups (no time limit but go as fast as you can)
100 x situps (no time limit)
100 x crunches
3 x 20 dips
5 Mile Ruck with 45lb minimum under 75 minutes
Rope climb (if you have access to one)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operators Improve Morocco Communications During Operation Flintlock

Special Operation Forces from the US have partnered with their Moroccan SOF counterparts and have been honing both their communications and medical skills during Operation Flintlock 2017.

Military Information Support Operations (MISO) instructors from Special Operations Command Forward Northwest Africa were conducting training in Tifnit, Morocco as part of Flintlock. The tenth year of Africa’s largest special operations forces exercise has brought together over 2,000 personnel from 24 allied nations in order to further training efforts in countering violent extremist organizations and other regional threats.

“To conduct good [information operations], good MISO, you need an overall end state for what you’re trying to accomplish,” said the MISO element leader. “Yeah, we’re trying to battle violent extremist organizations and most of the time it’s kinetic, but that might not be the best answer and may just cause more problems. Engaging the people — getting them the proper amount of information, the right information, through whatever means they receive the information from—showing them we’ll back up what we say with what we’ll do, they’ll in turn trust us or the host nation government.”

During previous deployments to Morocco, the MISO Operations soldiers had worked with their counterparts on the “Next Generation Loudspeaker System.” It provides foot or vehicle-based operations the ability project audible messages at distances up to 1,500 meters under ideal terrain and weather conditions.

“Sometimes when [fighters] are on the objective and might not be dedicated — they might be fearful or they’re being held against their will or some other means — doing a tactical callout could sound something like ‘We’re here to help and if you surrender, you can be treated better than how you’re currently being treated.’ We appeal to their needs and senses. Most of the time, it works. In extreme cases, it doesn’t and an assault element must go in and get them. We trained them on using the loudspeaker for engaging enemy fighters or for engaging populations to convey messages that the commander sees fit,” said the element leader.

To read the entire article from US Africa Command, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Passing SFAS – Orienting the Map and Pinpointing Your Location

In previous segments, we touched on Map reading and the importance of your pace count. Now we’ll move on to the next step in finding your way around Hoffman. That begins with orienting your map and then plotting your start point on the course.

Prior to Starting Out:
Orienting the Map – This makes map reading and using the available terrain features much easier to read. What does it mean to have the map oriented? The schoolbook answer is: A map is oriented when it is in a horizontal position with its north and south corresponding to the north and south on the ground. In layman’s terms, it means when you’re holding the map in front of you, the terrain matches up exactly as it is shown on the map.

It makes it much harder to try to read your terrain features upside down or sideways. If you are using an Army lensatic compass, remember that a compass measures magnetic North. So, don’t forget your declination diagram which is located on your marginal information at the bottom of your map. Most military issue maps take the guesswork right out of it and tell you how to convert the declination of azimuths from grid to magnetic and from magnetic to grid next to the declination diagram.

It sounds simple but many people mess this up and start off on the wrong foot. Don’t be Ned the Navigator. Take your time and do it right the first time.

With the map in a horizontal position, take the straightedge on the left side of the compass and place it alongside the north-south grid line with the cover of the compass pointing toward the top of the map. This procedure places the fixed black index line of the compass parallel to north-south grid lines of the map.

Keeping the compass aligned as we said in the last paragraph, rotate the map and compass together until the magnetic arrow is below the fixed black index line on the compass. You’re close but not there yet!

Now rotate the map and compass in the direction of the declination diagram.

If the magnetic north arrow on the map is to the left of the grid north, check the compass reading to see if it equals the G-M angle (if memory serves me well it is 8 degrees for the Hoffman area) given in the declination diagram. Voila! The map is now oriented. Take your time and try to pick out the terrain features as they lay out in front of you. Just be advised, in the Hoffman area, the terrain features aren’t as distinct and are a bit harder to distinguish.

In certain areas, you’ll be able to orient your map using terrain features. And when the terrain allows, it is quicker and easier to navigate using the available terrain. If you’ve ever navigated in the mountains, you’ll find this is much easier and you’ll find that this way is much more preferable than dead reckoning. And it definitely comes in handy when having to call for fire in a jiffy…(that is for another time perhaps)

Creating a Start Point – Now the map is oriented in the direction that you’re going to be walking and the next thing is you must create a starting location. The starting point is where you are standing at. Now pull out your handy, dandy Army protractor. But wait.

Don’t lose your protractor, always keep it secured inside your map case until you need it and ensure it is in there before taking off and hitting your points, especially at night! Nothing worse than losing a protractor during land navigation. While you can get by without one, it makes things unnecessarily much harder. So, take the few seconds to check.

Now read the grid lines to the right and up and make sure that you’re using the 1/50,000 scale for the map, which is in the upper right corner of the protractor. That will automatically ensure that the protractor is facing the right way and isn’t flipped over.

Remember a four-digit grid, gets you to within the grid square or 1000 meters. A six-digit grid to within 100 meters and an eight-digit grid gets you within 10 meters. A good rule of thumb to remember is to forget about where the plastic is cut out of the protractor. Always align the 0’s and check it twice. Ensure you plot it twice to get the exact spot.

Now we have a starting point, and the next time out we’ll look at plotting and plan a route.

Photo courtesy DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.12.2017

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

Warm Up 1-minute Alternating (30 seconds each) Mountain Climbers, Spiderman plank

3 x 20 Pullups (or to muscle failure)
3 x 20 Dips
3 x 50 Situps
4 x Shuttle Run
5 Mile Ruck with 45lb minimum under 75 minutes

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.11.2017

Training:

Shoulders and Chest Day:

3 x Lateral Raises with a Dumbbell (reps 20-15-12)
3 x Military Press Dumbbell (reps 20-15-12)
3 x Front Raises Dumbbell (reps 20-15-12)
5 x Bench Press 80% body weight for as many reps as you can do
3 x Pushups for 30 seconds as many as you can correctly do
3 Mile Run in 24 minutes or less

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.10.2017

Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR:

3 x 1 minute pushups, as many as you can do correctly.
3 x 1 minute sit ups, as many as you can do
20 Kipups Knees to elbows
20 Pullups or to muscle failure
3 x 25 M Shuttle Run
5 Mile Ruck- 45 lbs minimum in 75 minutes or less

Rest one minute between sets, shoot for the maximum each time.

Conventional Troops Adding to Special Operations Forces in Syria

The US has augmented the already 500 Special Operations forces in Syria with 400 conventional troops. Reports were filtering down that a Marine Corps artillery unit and an Army Stryker unit have been sent to Syria in advance of the anticipated battle to free the major town of Raqqa.

Army General Joseph Votel, Commander of the US Central Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the need for more conventional troops may increase for later stability operations.

Sen. John McCain R – Arizona pushed Votel on questions that the US support for the Syrian Kurds, who the Turks consider terrorists could be a flashpoint in the upcoming battle where the different factions are working so closely together to remove ISIS.

What the Trump administration has done so far pretty much goes by the Obama administration’s playbook. I mean, their idea was the local provide the fighters, we provide the firepower, and that’s how we grab back territory from ISIS.
But the big question is, who are going to be the fighters who seize the town? And the most capable forces that the American military has found in the region is this YPG Kurdish militia. They’re the ones that have the most experience fighting. They’re the ones that played the key role in taking back Manbij.
They’re the force that the American military is counting on to be a component, not the majority of the force, that takes Raqqa, but a key component of the assault force.
The problem is, Turkey considers them to be terrorists, and they have sort of drawn a red line at arming the YPG. But, unless we arm the YPG, they’re in no position to help out in the Raqqa assault. And that’s pretty much where things stand at this point.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has given President Trump the Defense Dept. plans on defeating ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. Trump pledged to swiftly eradicate ISIS from both countries. Troop strength in Syria was capped by former President Obama in an attempt to keep the US from escalating into another conflict after the last eight-plus years in Iraq.

To read the PBS News entire article click here:

Photo courtesy of DOD