Recently we have revisited some of the basics of Land Navigation, one of the trio of the biggest obstacles that Special Operations candidates will face in their individual Selection courses. And now we’ll move on to the next one, and one we always get a lot of questions about. Rucking. I look upon rucking just […]
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Ongoing selection in Delta: The first thing you know
(Dedicated to Recon6) Riiiingggg… riiiingggg… riiiingggg… (this is a sound that phones made in the day, back before we could we could select Poison by Bell Biv Devoe as a ring tone) Jesus H. Christ, it’s only 0230… and oh-no, there can be only one good reason my home phone is ringing at this hour. […]
A Green Beret’s guide to choosing the right survival knife
A survival knife is a tool and not a fashion statement, but for any guys out there that have been in a survival situation or a school environment as in a training course, you’d know that. So it becomes a case of practicality over all else. While I’m admittedly no expert on knives, I know […]
Former Delta Force operator: Why the 1911 is still my favorite sidearm
I’m a gunslinger by background, or at least I fancy myself the sort. I still wear my pistols low these days, just not quite as low as in the day. l live, nonetheless, today as I have always lived—by the sword. And you know what living by the sword means. That’s right, it means being […]
Delta Force’s James Nelson Sudderth – Conan the Barbarian
Prologue:There a two men who I credit, or blame, for bringing me to the Delta Force from my state of uncertainty and lack of self-confidence: James Nelson Sudderth and Matthew Loren Rierson. Both are departed. Both deliberately approached me and asked me to come to Delta Force. First it was Matt who asked me ‘when […]
Deception and Low-Visibility Ops: Here are the three most interesting SOF courses
One of the indirect benefits of being a Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit member is getting the chance to attend a series of interesting schools. Such schools aim at improving the participants’ craft, whether he’s a shooter or an enabler (support guy). Each component command has a number of schools tailored to the needs of […]
Ranger regiment testing new rucksacks for Airborne Operations
The 75th Ranger Regiment is working with the U.S. Army Operational Test Command’s (OTC) Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate (ABNSOTD) based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to put some new rucksacks through their paces during airborne operations. The Rangers are testing out three different rucksacks that are produced by Mystery Ranch Mountain Backpacks, a […]
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 […]
Watch: See what it’s like to be on the receiving end of an A-10 Warthog strafing run
The 30 mm General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger rotary canon first entered into service in 1977. The 619 pound monster Gatling gun measured just shy of 2 feet wide and 20 feet long when completed, but more than compensating for its gargantuan size by boasting a terrifying fire rate of 3,900 rounds per minute, fired from […]
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… […]