SOF News Update 20170621 – SOF general officer assignments, 7th SFGA CoC ceremony, WWII era Chindits, USSF birthday, USSOCOM eyes JLTV, profile of the executive director of the Green Beret Foundation, South Korean and U.S. SOF, photos of ‘SAS Wanderers’, Harris radio contract, 65th birthday of SF, Qatar SOF, and more.

7th SFGA CoC Ceremony. On Thursday, June 15, 2017 the 7th Special Forces Group held a change of command ceremony for it’s group commander. Colonel Michael Ball relinquished command of 7th SFGA to Colonel Patrick Colloton. The incoming commander has previously served with 7th SFGA as an ODA, company, and battalion commander. He graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) in 2001. Hmmmm. Young fella. It appears that 7th SFGA has adopted the name of “Red Empire” – not sure where that comes from. Read more in “Red Empire welcomes familiar face to take command”, Army.mil, June 19, 2017.

JLTV a Possibility for SOF. Various service components are eyeing the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle as their next generation multipurpose combat vehicle. United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) is also interested – probably for their tactical air control elements and pararescuemen. Read “Everyone Wants a Piece of the New JLTV”, Task & Purpose, June 19, 2017.

65th Birthday of SF. Bob Mayer, book author and former Green Beret, shares his thoughts on the birthday of U.S. Army Special Forces in Special Forces turns 65 today, bobmayer.com, June 19, 2017.

Photos of “SAS Wanderers”. A collection of photographs has surfaced of British SAS Soldiers in Europe and Norway during World War II. (Daily Mail, June 19, 2017).

U.S. and S. Korean SOF. Tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula. The Korean War, which has never formally ended, could flare up again. What role would United States and South Korean special operations forces have in another Korean conflict? Colonel (Ret) David Maxwell – a retired Green Beret and Associate Director for the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University – provides his thoughts in “How U.S., South Korean Special Ops Would Join Forces in a New Korean War”, The Cipher Brief, June 18, 2017.

Harris Corps Gets Big Contract. The US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has awarded Harris Corporation with a $255 million contract for next-generation manpack radios. (Business Wire, June 19, 2017).

Qatar SOF. The small Middle Eastern country of Qatar has been in the news lately. President Trump managed to insert himself into the middle of a dispute between Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other MENA countries and the country of Qatar by ‘tweeting’ about Qatar’s support of terrorists. Qatar is currently the recipient of an economic and diplomatic offensive by a number of countries due to differences in politics, diplomacy, and regional alignment (with a little ‘gas’ politics mixed in). Iran and Turkey, on the other hand, appear to be quite supportive of Qatar. It is unknown if President Trump was aware that Qatar hosts a U.S. naval base, air base, CENTCOM Forward, SOCCENT Forward, and ‘other SOF’ units for a total of about 11,000 service members. Read an article about Qatar SOF in “Qatar – Special Operational Forces”, New Delhi Times, June 19, 2017.

Trial of Jordanian Soldier Who Killed Three SF. The trial is ongoing for the soldier who shot and killed three Green Berets of 5th Special Forces Group on a Jordanian air base on November 4, 2016. Read “Witnesses Describe Jordan Shooting That Killed 3 US Troops”, Military.com, June 19, 2017.

Chindits in WWII. Read the story of a member, who recently passed away, of the World War II Long Range Penetration Group or “Chindits”. (Stourbridge News, June 19, 2017).

AFSOC GO Assignment. Vincent Becklund – currently deputy chief for the Office of Security Cooperation – Iraq – is to be the special assistant to the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

Story about Green Beret Foundation Exec Dir. Jennifer Paquette, the Executive Director of the Green Beret Foundation, is profiled in an inspiring story entitled “Hope Dealer: Jennifer Paquette”, House of Healing, June 18, 2017.

SOF News Update 20161220 – Movie “American Sniper” barred from college campus, SFCT Dec 2016 newsletter, Secretary of Army designee, Russian ambassador to Turkey killed, SAS to guard UK streets, and more.

“American Sniper” barred from Campus. The movie about a famous Navy SEAL sniper starring actor Bradley Cooper is being protested by a student group at the University of Maryland. Read more in a news report by The Washington Times, December 13, 2016.

SOF in the Gray Zone. Phillip Lohaus has penned a paper entitled “Special Operations Forces in the Gray Zone: An Operational Framework for Employing Special Operations Forces in the Space Between War and Peace”, American Enterprise Institute (AEI),  December 19, 2016.

Future Secretary of the Army. President-Elect Trump has named Vincent Viola as his future Secretary of the Army. Viola is a former infantry officer with the 101st Airborne Division and a graduate of West Point. He is also a fairly wealthy man who owns the Florida Panthers hockey team. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks he was instrumental in the founding of the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point. CBS News, December 19, 2016.

Assassination in Turkey. The Russian ambassador to Turkey was killed while he was giving a speech in an art gallery. The killer was a Turkish police officer in a special operations unit or undercover cop depending on which news source you read. The assassin was killed by other security officers. The shooter cited Aleppo as the reason for the attack.

Terrorists Have Been Busy. In the past few days they have used a 7 year old girl as a suicide bomber in Syria, murdered tourists and police at an old crusader castle in Jordan, three people shot at a mosque in Switzerland, assassinated an Ambassador from Russia to Turkey, and plowed a truck into a bunch of German civilians at a Christmas market (12 dead and 50 injured).

OSS Veterans to be Recognized. The veterans (about 100 still living) of the Office of Strategic Services that served during World War II will be honored as recipients of the OSS Congressional Gold Medal. The act was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama earlier this month. Fox News, December 19, 2016.

SFCT Dec 2016 Newsletter. The Special Forces Charitable Trust December 2016 Newsletter is now posted online.
https://t.e2ma.net/message/8t9k4b/sx53xm

SAS On Guard During XMas. According to the Daily Star (UK) guarding British streets (Dec 18, 2016) the Special Air Service will be during the Christmas holiday.

Contents: Video of Rangers doing water jump & helicast, Summer Games security, Marines training with Israeli SF, Paratrooper energy bar, Afghan SF, book review, USSOCOM support contract, “Little Green Men”, iPhone Tactical Assault Kit, SEAL Delivery Vehicles, new AFSOC cdr, and more.

Video –Rangers Conduct Water Insertion Training. 1/75^th Rangers perform a parachute jump into the ocean from a CH-47F Chinook helicopter and a helicast from a UH-60M Black Hawk during water insertion training off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia on July 20, 2016. (1 minute long video posted on DVIDS, video by SPC Scott Lindblom,3rd Combat Aviation Brigade). www.dvidshub.net/video/476088/1-75th-rangers-jump

CT Forces Advising Brazil for Summer Games.  The Olympic Games will run this summer in Brazil and there are fears that terrorists will try and strike at this time. However, there are a number of police and military counterterrorist units (JSOC, SAS, GSG9, etc.) that have sent in advisors to help out the Brazil security forces. Read more in an article by Steven Bucci in The Daily Signal published August 1, 2016 entitled “Facing the Terror Threat at the Olympic Games in Rio”.

Marines & Israeli SF Train Together. According one news report Israeli Special Forces and U.S. Marines are training together for possible future combat against Islamic terror groups. Read more in a news report by Western Journalism, August 1, 2016.

Paratrooper Snack Food. “Scientists at the Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center’s Combat Feeding Directorate jumped at the chance to develop a nutrition bar based on identified paratrooper needs”. The end result is a snack bar “. . . that is nutritious, provides energy, and is easy to carry and easy to eat.” Read more in “Army jump-starts nutrition with new ‘paratrooper bar’”, Army.mil, July 29, 2016.

Afghan Special Forces. A recent article was published about the Afghan Special Forces. Read “Special Operations: Afghan Operators Are Calling”, Strategy Page, July 27, 2016.

Marine Recon and Air Force SOF Practice Humanitarian Mission. Force Reconnaissance Marines from the III Marine Expeditionary Force and Special Tactics Airmen with the 353^rd Special Operations Group (AFSOC) took part in humanitarian mission training during an exercise called Rim of the Pacific 2016. Read a news report posted by Marines.mil on July 15, 2016.

Book Review – Crisis. Frank Gardner has penned a spy / special operations thriller with a former SBS man as the central figure involved in South American intrigue. Read “Countering a new terrorist threat from an unexpected direction”, Business Standard, August 2, 2016.

Family of Drowned Sailor Seeks Answers. A Navy SEAL trainee drowned during training and the man’s family is looking for some answers on how it could happen. See a news report by NBC News, August 2, 2016.

SEAL Delivery Vehicles. For decades USSOCOM has been trying to develop a new SDV (SEAL Delivery Vehicle). Read the news on a new contract for a DCS SDV in a news report by Strategy Page, August 2, 2016.

Navy SEAL Commander to Retire. Rear Admiral Brian Losey, the head of Naval Special Warfare Command, will be retiring after running into problems with Congress. Read more in “Navy SEAL boss to retire after promotion controversy,” Navy Times, August 2, 2016.

Fulcrum Wins USSOCOM Contract. Fulcrum IT Services, LLC has announced that it was awarded a prime contract from U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) on the SOCOM Wide Mission Support (SWMS) Program. The contract supports all USSOCOM contracts. Read more in a news report posted by Washington Exec, July 19, 2016.

New Cdr for AFSOC. LTG Brad Webb has taken command of the 20,000-strong Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) based at Hurlburt Field, Florida. Read more in “Webb Quietly Takes Command of Special Ops Command”, The Pulse, July 29, 2015.

Marines & 353^rd SOG Practice Airfield Seizure. Marines and the Air Force 353^rd Special Operations Group have been practicing long-range airfield seizures. In addition to the Ospreys, the Air Force also employed MC-130 cargo planes. Read more in “USAF, Marines conduct rapid airfield seizure exercise”, DVIDS, August 1, 2016.

Army SOF Going to iPhones. The United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) is replacing its Android tactical smartphone with the iPhone Tactical Assault Kit (an iPhone 6S). It is the SOF version of the Army’s Nett Warrior battlefield situational awareness tool. Read more in “Army SOF to Trade in Its Androids for iPhones”, DoD Buzz, July 26, 2016.

Pub – “Little Green Men”. The United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) has published a publication (78-pages) entitled “Little Green Men”: a primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013-2014”. Posted on publicintelligence.net.
https://info.publicintelligence.net/USASOC-LittleGreenMen.pdf

Photo Credit.  1-75th Ranger jumps from a Chinook helicopter performing a water jump off coast of Georgia in July 2016 (DVIDS). Picture taken from video by SPC Scott Lindblom, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade.

Lot’s of SOF news to report today. Change of Commander ceremonies at USSOCOM and 10th SFGA, some videos of a water jump, helicopter support to SOCEUR, SAS weapons amnesty blunder, and more.

New USSOCOM Command Sergeant Major. On July 7th the United States Special Operations Command hosted a change of responsibility ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. The command’s new senior enlisted advisor is now CSM Patrick McCauley. The outgoing CSM – William Thetford will follow General Joe Votel to CENTCOM.

Video of Water Jump. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) at Fort Bragg recently conducted a water jump into White Lake, North Carolina on July 27th. The one-minute long video can be viewed at the following link on DVIDS.
www.dvidshub.net/video/476582/us-army-special-operations-command-water-jump

Video – MARSOC 10th Anniversary. The U.S. Marine Corps recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command. Watch the video at the following link.
www.dvidshub.net/video/475840/marsoc-10th-anniversary

NG Helicopter Unit to Support SOCEUR. A helicopter task force from the Utah, Colorado, and Kansas Army National Guard has deployed to support Special Operations Command Europe for several months. The unit will provide assistance to U.S. and partner nation SOF units. Operations will include “. . . air movement support, static and military freefall support, and fast-rope insertion and extraction system capability.” Read more in “National Guard helicopter task force bolsters Special Operations Command Europe”, Army.ml, July 18, 2016.

CoC 1st Bn 10th SFGA. The 1st Battalion of 10th Special Forces Group based at Panzer Kaserne, Germany recently conducted a change of command ceremony. The outgoing commander relinquished command to LTC Andrew Ries – the incoming battalion commander. Read “1st Bn 10th SFG Change of Command”, DVIDS, July 7, 2016.

MARSOC School House Dedicated. The Raiders of Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command (MARSOC) honored “. . . a fallen hero from within their ranks by rededicating the Marine Special Operations School in his name during a ceremony . . .” Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford was a former instructor at the school and a recipient of the Navy Cross. Read more in a news report posted by DVIDS on July 20, 2016.

Video – Marine Force Recon. A documentary about the United States Marine Force Recon deploying to Iraq by Thrill Zone. Posted on YouTube.com. (45 minutes).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGaP_f30krc

SAS Regiment Entrapped by “Weapons Amnesty”. The UK Soldiers of the Special Air Service regiment feel betrayed by an weapons amnesty that has taken a wrong turn. It appears that lots of ammo and guns were turned in – to the surprise of authorities – and an investigation ensured. Read more in a news report by the Daily Express dated July 31, 2016.