Blog » Archive
Hunting Bin Laden & Carlos the Jackal
Attached are some slides Billy Waugh provided roughly covering his ops in Sudan against UBL and Carlos the Jackal in the 90’s. He uses these slides in teaching SF troops the fundamentals of close target reconnaissance and man tracking. I recommend Billy’s book “Hunting the Jackal” for a more detailed run down on these ops. I’ve included this post today as the intelligence community has seemingly gotten out of the business of HUMINT collection. Event the CIA seems to be shifting to greater paramilitary operations and drone operations than doing collection. Billy did these ops while with the Agency. For Carlos, he did PID and close target recce until the French Forces were able to do the rendition. Billy Waugh is an American hero and I’m proud to call him a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Intelligence, Special Forces, Terrorism, UW
The Future of Special Operations Beyond Kill and Capture Linda Robinson
I’ve selected Linda Robinson’s article from Foreign Affairs (behind a pay wall so included in entirety below) as it gets to a belief I’ve had since 9/11 in that SOCOM must prioritize Special Warfare to the extent they do Surgical Strike. Funding, authorities, and organization must become a priority for the command if they are to continue the momentum of countering threats in a period of fiscal austerity and in regions where we are less likely to conduct direct actions in other nation’s sovereign territory. This will not be easy as it is difficult to ascertain the immediate results of Special Warfare that our populace and government demand, but we can look to Colombia and the Philippines as successful examples of Special Warfare. The relative low cost of Special Warfare … Read entire article »
Filed under: COIN, Defense Policy, FID, Special Forces, UW
10 Books That Are Better Than The Art of War
I’ve chosen this article for a number of reasons. First, I like the recommended reading list. I think it augments the one mentioned that West Point put out, not beats it as suggested in some articles. I like that it focused on Irregular Warfare topics as that is very topical today and also shows that the US has a long association with this type of fighting. While the classics should be studied, I see nothing wrong with branching out for other viewpoints. Again, I think Arguilla’s list is a nice compliment to the classical one put out by West Point. I also like that this list for its brevity. Too often, the Services, educational institutions, and/or various GOs put out lists that would take a lifetime to read. In today’s world … Read entire article »
Filed under: COIN, Defense Policy, FID, Military Education, UW
“Home of the Brave”
I wanted to invite your attention to a video series on AOL called “Home of the Brave” that has been filmed and prodeced by Sean Efran. This is a link to the episode on David Bellavia, an Infantryman who won the Silver Star during action in Iraq. http://on.aol.com/playlist/home-of-the-brave—full-series-144845?icid=bottom_related_thumb_1#_videoid=517410330 (may have to cut and paste if doesn’t come through as a hotlink). There are six in total so far and provide first person accounts of their actions in some pretty desperate situations. Using modern day technology to remind us that there are many heroes that walk amongst us and I’m proud to be a fellow American with all. Please share this link as perhaps a small way to help bridge this perceived gap between military and civilian populations by sharing real … Read entire article »
Filed under: Military Appreciation
Support the Green Beret Foundation on October 3rd
Greetings, I wanted to bring to your attention the Green Beret Foundation Gala and Fundraiser scheduled for 3 Oct 2012 in New York City. This is a great event honoring the brave men who have served so selflessly for all of us. This is our chance to show thanks while providing some financial support to critical services for the wounded and families of honored dead. Please consider purchasing a ticket and forwarding the attached sponsor form to your company for corporate sponsorship. This event will also offer a great opportunity for access and placement to the SF/SOF community for networking as you show your support. This is increasingly important as defense funding continues to decrease but SOF budgets will likely maintain their funding. Please let me know if I could … Read entire article »
Filed under: Green Beret Foundation, Special Forces
Overcoming Self-Inflicted Complexities: A Return to Problem Solving and Unconventional Means
Somehow, somewhere, at some time we over-complicated intelligence and operations framing for the General Purpose and Special Operations warfighter. We entered a time when we decided to call an issue a “wicked problem set” or a “complex adaptive systems situation”, which are concepts and names that are confusing to understand in and of themselves. We continue to use other big descriptive terms that seem to be framed more as an excuse by academics and advisors as to why we can’t figure things out than a way to move forward to understand our adversaries and their way of thinking to ensure our end state objectives can be met through effective engagement and influence options directed at the enemy and germane population. Further, our irregular threat mitigation involvement is being increasingly hindered by … Read entire article »
Filed under: Intelligence, UW
Casebook on Revolutionary Warfare and Insurgency Volume II: 1962-2009 ***UPDATE***
Yesterday I sent out download information for Casebooks on Revolutionary Warfare and Insurgencies Vol II: 1962-2009. This was accomplished through the hard work and tenacity of Paul Tompkins with the research done by Johns Hopkins. I have gotten some questions about Vol I, which was done by SORO in 1962 and can be downloaded at this link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6891151/SORO%20Casebook%20in%20Insurgencies%2023%5B1%5D%20(1).pdf You may have to cut and paste the link into your browser to get the download of the original 23 cases. Enjoy. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Casebook on Revolutionary Warfare and Insurgency Volume II: 1962-2009
Received the below from COL (ret) Dave Maxwell. I was able to paste the link into web browser and successfully downloaded the electronic version of “Casebook on Revolutionary Warfare and Insurgency Volume II: 1962-2009″. This is a must for every student of Unconventional Warfare and Irregular Warfare. This is for anyone who is interested in studying as well as operating in the Human Domain (and with an interest in Unconventional Warfare, Irregular Warfare, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency). At this link (to my public dropbox) you can download the casebook (888 pages and about 15-19 MB depending on how it downloads for you) that has been produced in partnership between the US Army Special Operations Command and The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab National Security Analysis Department. This has been a 4 year project … Read entire article »
Filed under: COIN, Defense Policy, FID, Special Forces, UW
Warfare Center Welcomes Special Forces CSM (ret.) William (Billy) Waugh
WarfareCenter.com is honored to have Billy Waugh agree to post some anecdotes of his experiences throughout 50 years of service to this nation. William “Billy” Waugh (born December 1, 1929), is a retired American Special Forces Sergeant Major and Central Intelligence Agency Paramilitary Operations Officer who served more than 50 years between the U.S. Army’s Green Berets and the CIA’s Special Activities Division. He was awarded 8 purple hearts for operations in Vietnam along with a Silver Star and 4 Bronze Stars. Billy is credited with finding and pulling close target reconnaissance on Carlos the Jackal in the Sudan that directly led to his capture. In his 70s, Billy infiltrated into Afghanistan with a Special Forces “A” team to conduct operations soon after 9/11. Billy is a member of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: COIN, FID, Special Forces
Loading ...Recent Comments
- LongTabSigO on Duffy Send – 26 Mar 12: The Best Doctrine Never Read…SOF FID
"My Law #2: you can't think outside the box if you don't know where the box is. …" - LongTabSigO on Duffy Sends 27 Jan 2012 – US special operations expanding as wars recede – Kim Dozier
"Brother Duffy: Thanks for posting this; i was looking for it based on some less…" - dmmaseoseoseoseo on Duffy Sends: Security Breeding Complacency in Society
"This is tough. Im not calling you out though, personally I think that its those …" - MisterWhite on Should SF be a Joint Unit?
"Members from other services can already 'go green' if they want to be SF. There …" - JP on Should SF be a Joint Unit?
"People already do in service transfers, so that avenue sort of already exists, j…"
