Note: This is part of a series. Read part one here. Dawn cracks in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and 10,000 roosters crow. My auditory senses are awakened. I stare at the olive drab of the tent canvas above my cot. Visual acquisition and, wait for it…wait for it…ah, there it is—olfactory perforation by rotton […]
Delta Force
The time my Special Forces team accidentally burned down a Korean forest (Pt.1)
I was a grunt, a ground-pounder, a door-kicker, a knuckle-dragger, a dog face, and a devil dog. I’ve been dogged-out and dog-tired, I’ve rucked until my dogs were barkin’ while it rained cats and dogs. I’ve had a dog in the fight, lived a dog’s life, gone to the dogs, been in the doghouse, and […]
Delta Force operator awarded Distinguished Service Cross for Mali operation
A Delta Force operator has been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), the nation’s second-highest award for valor under fire, for his actions during a terrorist attack in Bamako, Mali in November 2015. During the morning hours of November 20, 2015, approximately a dozen Islamists associated with the terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb […]
SERE School from the perspective of a Delta Operator: Surviving as prisoner of war
While taking part in a training course for a special mission, I understood that I would be attending SERE school at some point during the six-month course, though I didn’t really know when. Our SERE training was split into an administrative phase of classroom training, followed by a no-notice internment phase in a prisoner-of-war camp… […]
How two Delta Force jumpers collided at 24,000 feet in accelerated free fall and lived
“The sky, even more than the sea, is terribly unforgiving for even the slightest mistake.” (Author Unknown) Let’s get one thing straight: I hate jumping. Don’t get me wrong, the whole concept and execution is sexy enough, but I was simply cursed with a wicked bout of acrophobia. Two or three days prior to an […]
Check out this Former Delta Force operator’s loadout for taking down human traffickers
I work in counter human traffic (CHT), running street operations in “the Q,” Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here, the season on traffickers is open all year long, and there is no bag limit. Just don’t step up to the line dry (1). My current self-preservation posture is best described in my statement to my boss, words […]
No sh*t, there I was: The time a US Army combat diver nearly became shark food
Large creatures under the sea give me the creeps. Grouper startle me, barracuda give me the heebie-jeebies, and sharks…well, sharks make masonry bricks come out of my ass. I wish like hell they didn’t scare me; I would have a bad-boy T-shirt printed up that says, “Ain’t Scared of Sharks.” I could rotate wearing it […]
Surviving Delta Force Selection and Assessment (Pt. 2): If Boots Could Talk
Read Part 1 of Surviving Delta Force Selection here. Having completed the first leg of the 40-mile forced march in twice the amount of time allowed to pass the selection phase, I was sure I was behind the power curve, but felt strong and fast and in good spirits. I felt confident that I could […]
Surviving Delta Force Selection and Assessment: Part 1
I was stationed in Key West, Florida, at the U.S. Army Special Forces Combat Diver Academy as a SCUBA instructor. I had intentionally sought out that assignment to avoid a mandatory levy into the Special Warfare Center (SWC)—duty that all Green Berets inevitably faced in their careers at some point. Rather than get stuck in […]
Watch: Special Operations veterans recount experiences during the Battle of the Black Sea
Col. Larry Perino, Col. Lee VanArsdale, and Command Sgt. Maj. Kyle Lamb recently sat down with the Modern War Institute at West Point to discuss the Battle of the Black Sea. They participated in Operation Gothic Serpent which the public is largely familiar with through the book and film “Black Hawk Down.” The interview contains […]