War Is Boring

For the small team of U.S. Navy and Air Force commandos in northern Somalia on June 1, 2007, it must have seemed like history repeating itself. While hunting Islamic terrorists in the town of Bargal, the commandos had been pinned down by gunfire. Fourteen years earlier, a similar situation had resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. servicemembers in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital — a tragedy that’s the subject of the book and movie Black Hawk Down.

There are lots of surprising claims in Chuck Pfarrer’s new book SEAL Target Geronimo, a supposedly inside account of the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound — and none more surprising than this. The former commando-turned-author Pfarrer insists the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment possesses not one, but two stealth transport helicopter designs. The stealthier of the two was held back from the mission for fear of one crashing and giving up its secrets, Pfarrer claims.

With rebel forces in Tripoli and Moammar Gadhafi on the run, the end could be near for the Libyan civil war. Sporadic fighting continues in the capital city of the oil-rich North African nation, NATO warplanes are still patrolling overhead, and there’s always the danger of Gadhafi true-believers launching a fresh insurgency. But already, Western analysts are weighing the lessons of the six-month-long conflict. “Modern air power is the key force that is directly leading to the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime,” retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula concluded. True, but a host of other cutting-edge technologies, and a few decidedly low-end ones, also played critical roles.

A Dutch journalist embeds with U.S. Special Forces, gets into a firefight, runs down the battery on his camera then picks up a rifle and starts shooting. Now he’s finishing a documentary about his experiences.

The May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound was a combination of virtuoso intelligence-gathering and analysis, impressive technological prowess and incredible bravery by the strike team… and their dog.

The May 2 raid on Osama bin Laden’s luxury compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan had it all: Painstaking intelligence-gathering, a heroic Navy SEAL assault team, satellite and drone surveillance and biometric forensics.

by ANDREW BALCOMBE In this exercise, Dutch commandos had to silently approach an enemy camp, kill or capture any enemies encountered and secure the safety of a hostage. But a couple of obstacles stood in their way. First, the hostage was wounded and had to be carried out. The second was the enemy reinforcements arriving [...]

by ANDREW BALCOMBE Last year I was unexpectedly allowed along on a riverine assault exercise by a combat unit of the Dutch Korps Commando Troepen special forces. They had spent a week running through different scenarios they might be called in for at any time. I captured a couple of the scenarios on film and photo. [...]

Last summer I was treated to joining The Netherlands’ most inaccessible military unit, the Unit Interventie Mariniers. For such a tiny unit, the UIM is responsible for some pretty spectacular acts. They first achieved widespread recognition when they said no to the British SAS’s offer to help resolve a Dutch train hijacking in the 1970s.

It was April 5. The Dutch frigate Tromp was patrolling an area 500 nautical miles off the Somali coast as part of the E.U.’s anti-piracy operation Atalanta. Tromp carried a Maritime Special Operations Forces (MARSOF) team, which included UIM operators. The German cargo ship Taipan sent out a distress call, saying pirates were attacking. The ship’s 15 crew were trapped in a safe room.

This summer I was invited to film the Dutch Korps Commandotroepen Counter-Terrorism training-wing guys going through their drills. The CT course includes “special objects” training — five months of assaulting urban structures, trains, planes, buses and water vessels. Once they pass this training, operators can be deployed as a Counter-Terrorism assaulter in a hostile environment.

The Dutch have set a benchmark in Uruzgan, Afghanistan, with the way they have conducted counter-insurgency operations in pursuit of the “ink-spot” strategy. This strategy concentrates military and construction efforts around population centers in a bid to “make the Taliban irrelevant.” This summer the Dutch will be leaving the province as a combat force. The Americans will take over. Until then, however, the battle continues beyond the ink spot’s borders. This is where the Dutch Special Forces come in. I paid a visit to an SF facility in The Netherlands to observe their training.