Free Republic

Three members of the Dutch Commando Corps were found wounded by police outside of a Hampton Inn in Indianapolis around 3:30 am Two of the men are in critical condition in a local hospital Police have said that there were plenty of witnesses to the shooting but that no arrests have been made The group was in Indiana as part of a training program in urban conflict

In response to their recent exchange of naval attacks, which reached its height on Tuesday with a strike on an Iranian spy ship in the Red Sea, Israel is readying for a potential assault on its own assets inside Israel from Iran’s territory reports Israel Hayom. The Saviz ship which featured an Iranian flag was hit with water mines attached to its hull on Wednesday. Israel did not claim responsibility for the attack, however, foreign media outlets are reporting that the IDF’s Shayetet 13 naval commandos executed the hit, which was the most recent in a slew of operations against...

Desperate times calls for desperate measures, sounds like a cliche but when its the final option. High risk commandos and warriors were conceived with best laid plans to execute. However, not all were successful but the skills and valor of these operators (warriors of the past) involved were unbelievable. Here are some of the most daring commando raids in history: Assault on Eben-Emael The first modern military to embrace the concept of special operations, the German army of World War II conducted one of the first commando raids of the 20th Century in the opening days of the invasion of...

The Russian military prizes disruption and deception to overcome foes which may be technologically more advanced — a practice dating back to before World War II. Today, the Russian army is increasing training in the old-fashioned art of planting mines behind enemy lines. One Russian formation in particular is a specialized mine-laying company attached to the 1st Guards Engineer-Sapper Brigade, which traces its history back to World War II, and which served in both Chechen wars. The brigade is based in Murom, 160 miles east of Moscow. The specialized company — comprised of several dozen soldiers — are divided into...

During the American Revolution George Washington didn’t have any Tier-1 Spec Ops, but he made the most of what he had.When we think of modern day Special Forces, we think of Seal Team 6, Delta Force and the Green Berets. Back in the day of the American Revolution era, what did George Washington have? In a time where warfare was all about marching to fife and drum then lined up in rows to blast away with muskets at fifty paces. What did they know about unconventional warfare? According to retired U.S. Army colonel Robert Tonsetic explains that unconventional warfare was...

In one of World War II’s most spectacular raids, the Royal Navy and British Commandos virtually ensured that the battleship Tirpitz would never venture into the Atlantic. As the spring of 1942 approached, the British Admiralty had its hands full with the Battle of the Atlantic, which had been raging for two and a half years. U-boat wolf packs, surface raiders, and warplanes had sent about eight million tons of Allied shipping to the bottom, and the situation was getting worse. Slipping out from their havens in the western French ports of Brest, Lorient, La Pallice, Bordeaux, and Saint-Nazaire, the...

The Police Foundation, a research group based in Washington, D.C., released a detailed report Monday on how Stockton police responded to the July 16, 2014, armed robbery of a Bank of the West branch, where three gunmen took three women hostage and fired at officers from a speeding SUV. The group found that 32 officers unloaded more than 600 rounds during the hour-long rolling gun battle, which spanned three counties, 63 miles of highway and reached speeds of 120 mph. One of the hostages, Misty Holt-Singh, was killed when she was struck by 10 police bullets, authorities said. The two...

U.S. Special Operations forces killed a senior ISIS commander during a raid intended to capture him in eastern Syria overnight Friday to Saturday, sources familiar with what happened on the ground in Syria told CNN. The ISIS commander, Abu Sayyaf, who was in charge of ISIS' oil and gas operations and directly and increasingly involved in ISIS command and control, fought capture and was killed in the raid, the sources said.

Israeli naval commandos fought Hamas gunmen in a dramatic beach front firefight on Sunday after Israel attempted the first boots-on-the ground operation of its ongoing offensive in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, later warned that the military operation, that has so far killed 166 Palestinians, could gone on for a "long time". The early morning clash broke out after Hamas militants – alerted by a lookout stationed in a nearby mosque – intercepted Israeli special forces trying wade ashore at Sudaniya in northern Gaza. The two sides engaged each other in the sea, according to one witness account,...

The official line from the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon about the US response to the attack on our consulate in Benghazi has been that we didn’t have time to send in troops to fight the terrorists that were killing Americans. A new report from Washington Times reporter Rowan Scarborough undermines that argument, and once again raises the question about the lack of response. Two American commandos have received medals for fighting in Benghazi after volunteering to accompany five security contractors from Tripoli, and Scarborough wonders why the US didn’t mobilize other forces at the same time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD6kpWvr8fc

U.S. Paratroopers with Mohawks - World War II

Defence sources said the “surgical” operation showed the “precision, skill and courage” of British special forces after they stormed the cave where Helen Johnston, 28, was held, and killed her kidnappers. David Cameron spoke individually to the soldiers to thank them for an “extraordinarily brave” mission. He warned that anyone who took British citizens hostage faced “a swift and brutal end”. Miss Johnston, a committed Christian, along with Moragwa Oirere, a Kenyan colleague, and two Afghan women who worked for the same aid agency, were said to be physically well after their ordeal. Miss Johnston’s parents expressed their gratitude to...

US and South Korean special forces have been parachuting into North Korea to gather intelligence about underground military installations, a US officer has said in comments carried in US media. Army Brigadier General Neil Tolley, commander of US special forces in South Korea, told a conference held in Florida last week that Pyongyang had built thousands of tunnels since the Korean war, The Diplomat reported. "The entire tunnel infrastructure is hidden from our satellites," Tolley said, according to The Diplomat, a current affairs magazine. "So we send (South Korean) soldiers and US soldiers to the North to do special reconnaissance."...

The US Drug Enforcement Agency has five commando-style squads it has been quietly deploying for the past several years to various countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean, the New York Times reported Monday. The countries where the commando teams have been deployed include Haiti, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Belize, all countries struggling to combat drug trafficking, the daily wrote. The program, known by its acronym FAST -- Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team -- dates back to the George W. Bush administration. It was created originally to investigate Taliban-linked drug traffickers in Afghanistan. But US President Barack...

Debora Marshall wasn't sure what she was witnessing. She came home from work to find sheriff's cruisers blocking streets in her sleepy Timber Pond subdivision. Deputies with guns drawn and bulletproof vests surrounded her house. "They had it blocked off at both ends. I thought a murderer was on the loose," she said. So did the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Authorities thought her son had killed her. "My son was home and clueless," Marshall said. "I was at work, and all my neighbors thought I was dead." In what appears to be the first incident of its kind in Hillsborough...

Israel has long had troops dedicated to Cyber War activities, but now they are introducing a new twist to this. Israel is using the same screening and recruiting techniques they employ for commando units, to form an elite Cyber War unit. Thus the Israelis are not just seeking men (or women) with the right technical skills, but also with the mental toughness characteristic of the regular commandos. Israel wants to use this Cyber War unit to deal with the most difficult, and dangerous Cyber War situations. Thus if there's a Cyber War attack, using an unknown, and seemingly devastating new...

The Iranian president on Tuesday demanded a strong UN Security Council resolution against Israel over its raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. In a speech broadcast live on state TV, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution that would "cut off" Israel's hands, thus preventing it from committing more "crimes."

North Korea has deployed about 50,000 commandos along the inter-Korean border in an apparent show of force with the threat of rapid infiltration "suicide missions" against South Korea, a military source in Seoul said. The North "has completed the frontline deployment of seven light infantry divisions over the past two or three years," the source said, citing a joint study by South Korean and U.S. militaries. Each division consists of about 7,000 troops. A South Korean soldier keeps watch northwards on the south side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, north of...

COS GARRY OWEN – Iraqi Army Commandos continue to train and conduct successful operations here with the Scout Platoon from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment. Over a seven-month period, the Iraqi Commandos have grown in their technical and tactical proficiency, building a more professional and independent fighting force. Using the traditional coach, teach and mentor approach, the Commandos now control much of their own training and even started teaching classes to the U.S. Army Scout Platoon. "It’s amazing how far they have come; I feel comfortable when they are teaching me a class and running missions...