In a period of sharp focus on diversity, inclusion and equality, the Army Special Operations Command leader told Congress that he’s fully on board.
When first asked if I would volunteer to join a security force assistance brigade, my answer was a hard “no,” but after serving in one
A sweeping review of special operations troops, ordered after a series of high-profile cases of misconduct, found the force does not have a “systemic ethics problem,” the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command said.
However, almost two decades of sustained combat and not enough emphasis on leader and professional development have “impacted our culture in some troublesome ways,” Army Gen. Richard Clarke wrote in a Jan. 28 letter to the force.
“What are we waiting for?” a Ranger student stutters to his squad leader.
The U.S. is a partner of choice when it comes to training and advising allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region, an Army special operations leader said.
“We’re the partner of choice because the U.S. has extensive combat experience,” said Col. Owen Ray, commander of the 1st Special Forces Group.
In a busy two weeks of Army competitions, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the 82nd Airborne Division and West Point came out on top after several punishing tests.
Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division clinched two coveted titles: Best Ranger and Best Sapper.
For more than a decade, America’s “secret war” in Laos involved U.S. Army special operations forces, false IDs and cover stories—and the secrecy surrounding it has remained relatively intact until now.
Retired Army Col. Joseph D. Celeski, author of The Green Berets in the Land of a Million Elephants: U.S. Army Special Warfare and the Secret War in Laos 1959–74, described the secret war as one of the first “long wars” for special operations.
Undersecretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy didn’t sugarcoat what’s ahead for October graduates of the Army’s tough Ranger qualification course.
“You get the toughest jobs under the worst conditions,” said McCarthy, himself a Ranger, during Oct. 26 remarks at Fort Benning, Ga., as 57 enlisted soldiers and 83 officers graduated from the 62-day course. “This is an expectation for every day for the rest of your life.”
A combat medic who in 2008 fought his way through enemy fire in Skok Valley, Afghanistan, to rescue wounded soldiers, evacuating some down a 60-foot cliff, will receive the nation’s highest award for valor on Monday, Oct. 1.
In a White House ceremony, former Staff Sgt. Robert J. Shurer II, who previously was awarded a Silver Star for his valor, will receive the Medal of Honor, an upgrade resulting from a review begun by then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.
Shurer was honorably discharged from the Army in 2009, and now works for the U.S. Secret Service.
Army Special Forces soldiers are “on a glide path” to achieving balance between deployment and time back home, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Tovo told Congress.
The U.S. Army Special Operations Command commander, Tovo said the Army has been trying since 2015 “to re-establish a balance between time on deployment with time at home station for our soldiers.” By the end of 2018, the Army hopes to be on a 1-to-2 ratio of deployment to time at home, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
