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The Taliban have seized the Bala Hisar fortress in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. The fighters achieved the victory, despite NATO airstrikes and government efforts. More than 40 people died and 330 were injured in the fighting, including civilians. Many others have fled from the provincial capital. This is the biggest coup for the Taliban since 2001, led by the group’s new leader Mullah Mansour. They have emptied safe deposit boxes at banks, seized weapons and vehicles, and released prisoners. It was also a public relations victory. Kunduz is one of Afghanistan’s richest cities. It is also a key...

Yesterday, Ash Carter jumped the shark and announced that women would now be authorized to serve in the combat arms and special operations units of the US military without exception. I find it more than insidious that Carter made this major announcement less than 24 hours in the wake of the horrific San Bernardino terrorist attack. It’s almost like they wanted to fly right under the radar of the media, which has deployed in force to Southern California’s Inland Empire. Carter may have thought he was being clever and no doubt he is under orders from the White House. Unfortunately,...

So long,Littoral Combat Ship. We hardly knew ye. Lockheed Martin's USS Freedom (LCS 1) was the Navy's first littoral combat ship. New vessels of the same basic shape and size will henceforth be dubbed "frigates." Say goodbye to the "Mobile Landing Platform," the "Afloat Forward Staging Base," and the "Joint High Speed Vessel," as well. As of this year, the United States Navy has done away with all four of these clumsy, elongated, ad hoc ship classes, replaced each with a new name -- and introduced a new theme for U.S. war-planning in the process. Henceforth, LCSes will be christened...

Armed jihadists have killed at least three people in a deadly shooting rampage after taking 170 hostages at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali. Automatic weapons fire was heard on the seventh floor of the 190-room hotel, where it was thought as many as 10 militants roamed through the building, looking for guests and members of staff. 80 hostages have since been freed as special forces entered the building. Six American nationals have been rescued alive but several other American remain inside with the other 125 guests and 13 employees trapped inside the besieged hotel. The Pentagon revealed that...

Obama’s decision to send Special Forces into Syria is being widely viewed as a US military escalation in the country. The troop dispatch also signals that the US trying to forestall Russian successes in wiping out Washington’s regime-change assets in Syria. In short, the US Special Forces are being used as “human shields” to curb Russian air strikes against anti-government mercenaries, many of whom are instrumental in Washington’s regime-change objective in Syria. First of all, we need to view a host of developments, including the hastily convened “peace talks” in Vienna, as a response by the US and its allies...

One member of a US special operations team was killed during an operation to rescue hostages held by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, the first American killed in ground combat with the militant group, US officials said on Thursday. Hostages were successfully rescued during the operation, a US official told Reuters. CNN said about 70 Kurdish hostages were freed. A US official confirmed to Reuters that one American was killed. No further information was available on the mission, which local residents and a Kurdish military commander said was carried out in the Hawija area in northern Iraq. One member...

Green Beret Discharged for Body-Slamming Alleged Child Rapist Breaks Silence, Provides New — and Graphic — Details on Why He Felt Compelled to Act Sep. 28, 2015 12:54pm Kaitlyn Schallhorn The Green Beret who is set to be involuntarily discharged in early November has finally spoken out about the situation that caused his punishment in the first place — his intervening on behalf of an Afghan boy who was being repeatedly raped. “Kicking me out of the Army is morally wrong and the entire country knows it,” Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland said in his first public statement, which was...

The Kremlin isn’t sending just any troops to prop up the Assad regime. It’s dispatching units that spearheaded Russia’s slow-rolling invasion of Ukraine.Reuters confirmed Wednesday what The Daily Beast first reported last week—not only have Russian troops been deployed to Syria but they are indeed taking part in active combat operations, although against which of the manifold enemies of the Assad regime remains unclear.U.S. government sources told the news agency that two tank landing ships, aircraft and naval infantry forces have arrived in Syria in the past 24 hours, with the largest buildup occurring in Latakia, the northwest coastal province...

They were the first troops to hit the ground in Afghanistan while al Qaeda’s dirty work still smoldered back in the United States. On foot, helicopter and horseback, ArmySpecial Forces showed that if the U.S. was to win a long counterinsurgency war against Islamic extremists, the special skills of Green Berets would be fundamental. Nearly 14 years later, these soldiers, some of the military’s smartest and best trained, are still creating lots of headlines, but not necessarily for heroics.

Elite units in the military are by and large both white and male. Pentagon officials, however, are hoping for a major demographic shift, citing the benefits of diversity in terms of increasing operational capacity. Data provided by each individual service to USA Today illustrates current disparities, which are most prominent in units like the Navy SEALs and the Army’s Green Berets. For instance, in the Army, blacks comprised 17 percent of the force in 2013, a figure slightly higher than their representation in the overall population. As the ranks start climbing, the numbers shift. Blacks amount to only 9.4 percent of officers in...

U.S. Army Rangers drill in 2011. A Pentagon spokesman said the military’s elite forces need more diversity, and without, the nation’s security could very well be compromised. “We don’t know where we will find ourselves in the future,” said Army Col. Michael Copenhaver, who’s published a paper on diversity among the special operating forces, USA Today reported. “One thing is for sure: We will find ourselves around the globe. And around the globe you have different cultural backgrounds everywhere. Having that kind of a diverse force can only increase your operational capability.” The comments came as USA Today requested...

“And the LORD said unto Gideon: ‘The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying: mine own hand hath saved me…’” (Judges 7:2) The Israeli Defense Forces is preparing for a possible future which includes a nuclear-developing Iran, a senior defense source told The Jerusalem Post. According to the paper, the IDF must assume the worst to properly reshape the military, improve training and cut costs. New IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and a team of military planners spent four years developing...

(Original title too long: Obama now an accessary to genocide and war crimes; denies USA Special Forces permission to intercede on massacre in Nigeria) From a retired Special Forces Officer, now consulting with Rescue Christians. In another act of brutality committed by Boko Haram The Obama Administration’s brazen disregard for human life and continued tacit support of Islamic extremists, is again highlighted by an incident revealed in an intelligence briefing given at Ft. Huachuca Arizona this morning. This past Saturday, near the town of Damasak, Nigeria, 264 Christian men, women and children were herded into an open pit and burned...

The dawn would have illuminated the pools of blood, as the villagers emerged to count their dead. For all of the night of February 24, 2000, residents of the hamlet of Lanjote had bunkered down, hoping not to be hit by artillery fire arcing across the LoC. The 16 bodies on the streets, though, bore evidence of the precision savagery of the knife, not the shell: 90-year-old Mohammad Alam Wali, and a young couple, Mohammad Murtaza and Kali Begum, had been decapitated. Limbs were severed; heads hacked. The youngest victim, Ahmad Niaz, was just two. With deliberation, it seemed, the...

<p>"Eight of the 20 women who originally entered the school’s first co-ed class were allowed to recycle through the program after they fell out in their first go-round.”"</p>

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An Army officer stripped of a medal for heroism under fire and his right to call himself a Green Beret is fighting for his military career after accusations he tracked down and killed a suspected bomb-maker in Afghanistan. Though a criminal investigation failed to find remains of his alleged victim and didn't result in charges against Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, he's been targeted for possible dismissal from the Army and the consequent loss of veteran's benefits with a less-than-honorable discharge. A Fort Bragg hearing before three, higher-ranked Special Forces officers could meet later this month to weigh...

US Special Operations Forces killed an Islamic State military and financial leader and captured his wife during a raid in eastern Syria last night, the US military confirmed today. The operation, which included airstrikes followed by an air assault conducted by special operations troops, was designed to capture Abu Sayyaf, a senior leader in the Islamic State, and his wife, Umm Sayyaf. The raid took place “in al-Amr,” or the Al Omar oil field in Deir al Zour province in eastern Syria, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement released by the US military. The oil field is...

RICHLAND | In what appears to be the second such drill, Special Forces have been deployed domestically alongside local Sheriffs to train for midnight raids in Richland County South Carolina.

Elite special forces are some of the best-trained and most formidable units a country can boast. They go where other soldiers fear to tread, scoping out potential threats, taking out strategic targets, and conducting daring rescue missions. These really are the best of the best. Although it's extremely difficult to rank these forces relative to one another, there are some units that rise above the rest in their track record and the fear they instill in their adversaries. These soldiers have been through rigorous training exercises designed to weed out those who can't hit their exacting standards. In a world...

By Ben Kamisar - The former Navy SEAL who says he killed Osama bin Laden is slamming a new report that challenges the White House’s account of the mission, calling it “garbage.” “The story that I read, the part from [Seymour] Hersh, was full of lies,” Rob O’Neill said on Fox News's "Shepard Smith Reporting." “It took me a long time to read it because I had to put it down — I couldn’t read the nonsense.” Hersh on Sunday published in story in the London Review of Books that says Pakistani intelligence officers played a significant role in the...