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Special Operations Command

 

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News Releases
Coalition Special Operations Forces assist Afghan officials in aftermath of school explosion in Zormat
CJSOTF-A Public Affairs

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN – Coalition Special Operations Forces medics, along with Afghan National Army personnel, rushed to help Afghan victims of an explosion that ripped through a school in Zormat on Saturday killing 10 people, including a man, five teens and four young children.  Coalition and Afghan medics treated more than 20 Afghan students who were injured in the blast.
Full Story                        Coalition Leaflet (pdf)

Coalition Special Operations Forces conduct raid, kill enemy leader
CJSOTF-A Public Affairs

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN – Coalition Special Operations Forces and Afghan military forces raided an anti-coalition compound and killed a senior enemy leader in a mission Aug. 27 in Zabul Province, Afghanistan.

During the well-planned strike mission, an enemy regional leader, known as Rozi Khan, was killed after he opened fire during the surprise strike.  Coalition SOF and Afghan military forces conducted a cordon and search mission after receiving intelligence reports of Taliban activity in the Zabul Province area.  Coalition forces engaged about 23 guerrillas during an approximate hour-long firefight.
Full Story


Chaplain Works to Rebuild Muslim MosquesLocal Afghans rebuild a mosque in Afghanistan.  A chaplain from the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan organized funding of nine mosques in Konar Province. (CJSOTF-A photo)
By Sgt. Maj. Keith D. Butler, CJSOTF-A Public Affairs

KONAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN – A military chaplain is spreading good will in villages by working with local religious leaders to refurbish and rebuild centerpieces of the Muslim society – mosques.

In six months, a Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan chaplain and local Muslim leaders worked hand in hand to secure funds and direct the rebuilding of nine mosques.

Full Story


Special Forces retrieve munitions cache in Pesch ValleyA Special Forces team leader looks on as a local national reveals the hiding place of weapons and munitions in his home in a village in northeastern Afghanistan. The Green Berets and their Afghan Security Forces counterparts recovered a 107mm rocket launcher with eight rockets, eight mortar rounds, 27-82mm recoilless rifle rounds, and nearly 1000 rounds of 12.6mm ammunition. Video still by Pfc. Mary Simms.
By Spc. Daniel P. Kelly, 25th ID (L) Public Affairs Office

PESHE VALLEY, Afghanistan - Special Operations Forces deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom are recovering hidden enemy munitions throughout the country.

One small group of ‘Green Berets’ recovered a large cache of weapons and ammunition May 11 when they were given a local tip that a man hid munitions in his home in a small village in northeastern Afghanistan.

Full Story


Special Forces clinic treats Afghan citizensA Special Forces medical sergeant cuts a cast off the arm of a young Afghan girl at a Special Forces medical clinic in the Konar Province.  The girl was treated for her injury at the clinic and was brought in by her father for follow-up care.  This clinic is the only one of its kind for at least 100 miles in every direction and treats more than 100 Afghan patients daily with moderate to severe ailments and injuries.  Ten percent of the clinics patients are Afghan women who previously had no access to heath care.  (Photo by Sgt. Frank Magni, 17th Public Affairs Detachment)
Sgt. Frank Magni, 17th Public Affairs Detachment

KONAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – For many in Afghanistan, access to proper medical care is very limited. A lack of medical training and equipment within community clinics has prompted Coalition forces to send their own medical personnel into communities to assist.

But in Konar Province, medical civilian aid projects are also being supplemented with an unconventional approach. The same clinic that treats Coalition forces at this Special Forces A-camp leaves its doors open for Afghan citizens, as well.

Full Story


ER Doctor Picks Afghanistan Over Country Club
Sgt. Frank Magni, 17th Public Affairs Detachment

KONAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Back in the United States, the surgeon at the Special Forces clinic can normally be seen in a Harley Davidson T-shirt. His appearance normally doesn’t convey the fact that he is a doctor, let alone one that graduated from Harvard Medical School. Then again, a lot about him defies the norm, including his reasons for coming to Afghanistan.

The surgeon, an emergency room doctor from the Midwest of the United States, served in Afghanistan for eight months as a battalion surgeon for Combined Joint Special Operations Command-Afghanistan practicing medicine in the hinterlands near the border.
Full Story


Coalition Special Operations Forces drop humanitarian assistance...
Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan, Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan
By Sgt. Maj. Keith Butler, CJSOTF-A Public Affairs

SOUTHWESTERN, AFGHANISTAN – In what was dubbed Operation Independence, Coalition Special Operations Forces dropped humanitarian assistance supplies from a Special Operations plane in the area where SOF captured two top enemy leaders six days earlier.

“We are following up a successful strike operation where we captured two enemy Taliban leaders with a mission that’s demonstrates the SOF capability to capitalize on success with more success,” said Lt. Col. Doug Marrs, a senior plans officer for the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force.  “Operation Independence is a continuing initiative to free the Afghan people from terrorist oppression.”
Full Story


DoD official updates Congress on special ops transformation
By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, American Forces Press Service 

WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service, March 30, 2004) — With the help of special operations forces, the United States has made significant progress in the war on terrorism, a Defense Department official told the Senate Armed Services Committee March 25.

But sustaining that progress is not without its costs, he added.

Thomas W. O'Connell, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, said in his prepared statement that for the U. S. Special Operations Command to continue to gain momentum in the war on terrorism, it must modernize and transform. And he said USSOCOM will use $6.546 billion -- its share of the President Bush's fiscal 2005 budget request — to do so.
Full Story
Sergeant Major of the Army visits special operations troops
By Jennifer Whittle
U.S. Special Operations Command Public Affairs OfficeSgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston speaks to enlisted Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines at the U.S. Special Operations Command during a March 10 visit to MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.  Preston, recently sworn in as the 13th sergeant major of the Army, serves as the senior enlisted advisor to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, who retired in 2000 as commander of USSOCOM before being brought back on active duty in 2003 as the Army's top officer.  (Photo by Jennifer Whittle, USSOCOM PAO)

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (USASOC News Service, March 12, 2004) — The Army’s top enlisted Soldier visited with multiservice troops from the U.S. Special Operations Command here March 10, fielding both questions and comments on topics ranging from Iraq to upcoming uniform changes.

“We are an Army at war for a nation that is at war,” said Sgt. Maj. Of the Army Kenneth O. Preston during his visit to USSOCOM. “Our Soldiers are the best trained, the best equipped — and their morale is high. We are a combat land force and we are ready to do what the ground commander needs.”

Full Story
 
"Father of Special Forces" dies at age 101 in Calif. homeThe man most often credited with founding the U.S. Army Special Forces died April 1 at his home in Dana Point, Calif., at the age of 101.  Retired Army Col. Aaron Bank, known throughout the military’s special operations community as “The Father of Special Forces,” died of natural causes with his family at his side.
U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office 

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, April 2, 2004) — The man most often credited with founding the U.S. Army Special Forces died April 1 at his home in Dana Point, Calif., at the age of 101.

Retired Army Col. Aaron Bank, known throughout the military’s special operations community as “The Father of Special Forces,” died of natural causes with his family at his side.

Bank most notably broke new ground when in 1952 he was named commander of the Fort Bragg-based 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) — the Army’s first official special warfare unit, for which he had led the fight to create.
Full Story
Special operators get fans revved-up at NASCAR race
By Spc. Jennifer J. Eidson
U.S. Army Special Operations Command12 members of the U.S. Special Operations Command watch the start of the Golden Corral 500 from trackside March 14.  The 12 were introduced to the 100,000-plus fans at the Atlanta Motor Speedway during a special special operations demonstration before the race. (Photo by Walt Sokalski, USASOC PAO)

HAMPTON, Ga. (USASOC News Service, March 15, 2004) — It wasn’t seeing Dale Earnhardt Jr. zoom into the winner’s circle that first brought the fans to their feet — a group of otherwise ‘quiet professionals’ did that before the race had even started.

In front of thousands of cheering NASCAR fans, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen from the U.S. Special Operations Command helped jump-start the Golden Corral 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway here March 14 when they demonstrated some of their military capabilities during prerace festivities.

Full Story
Miami-based civil affairs battalion takes on Baghdad community missions
By Sgt. 1st Class Clarence Kugler
478th Civil Affairs Battalion

BAGHDAD, Iraq (USASOC News Service, March 18, 2004) — The 478th Civil Affairs Battalion arrived in Baghdad Feb. 4 to replace the long-serving 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion, and the newly arrived unit hasn't wasted any time in getting out into the community to continue the 422nd's existing projects and establish some new ones with local advisory councils.

“Our soldiers are happy to finally be on the ground in Iraq and to be working with the local citizens in improving the lives of the citizens,” said Lt. Col. Colonel Wilfredo Rosario, commander of the 478th CA Bn., an Army Reserve unit from Miami, Fla.

Full Story
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Headquarters, United States Special Operations Command (HQ, USSOCOM) is located at
7701 Tampa Point Boulevard
 MacDill Air Force Base, Florida  33621

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