SOF News Update

Photo by USSOCOM, 2016

Podcast - SOF in Afghanistan in Fall 2001. Listen to a one-hour long podcast about the first Special Forces teams that infiltrated into Afghanistan weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Jason Amerine and Mark Nutsch were Special Forces ODA team leaders tasked with linking up with the Afghan resistance movements in an effort to topple the Taliban and kill or capture al Qaeda operatives and fighters. Podast: The Spear - First Into Afghanistan, Modern War Institute, October 18, 2017. https://mwi.usma.edu/podcast-spear-first-afghanistan/

SF Raid in Kunduz Goes Bad. Read the story of how a 10th Special Forces Group ODA got into the fight of their life during a raid in Kunduz, Afghanistan. "How a US Raid on an Afghan Village Went Wrong",  BuzzFeed News, October 17, 2017. In a related story (same raid) see "Air Force combat controller, AC-130 crew honored for valor in Afghanistan", Air Force Times, October 18, 2017.

Paper on SOF. RAND Corporation has published an interesting paper entitled Supporting Persistent and Networked Special Operations Forces (SOF) Operations. It provides insights from forward-deployed SOF personnel. Some of the research questions it addresses include "What are the operational challenges that deployed personnel have encountered?" and "Can persistent, networked, and distributed operations resolve the operational challenges?" The 48-page paper dated October 2017 can be read online or downloaded here: www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1333.html

Navy IW. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has published a report entitled Navy Irregular Warfare and Counterterrorism Operations: Background and Issues for Congress. The report, dated October 2017, explores the IW and CT missions of the Navy and how they are funded. Read more in an article by SOF News, Oct 20, 2017.

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