SEALS to offer swiming lessons

The Hampton Roads Pilot has an article about a new US Navy SEAL program to teach prospective trainees how to swim.

New UK Counter-insurgency Manual

The Times has an article about the UK's new Counter-insurgency Manual. The article seems to focus on on the tactic of paying Afghans more than the Taliban does.

Military Historians in Afghanistan

The Toronto Star has an article about military historians who work for the Canadian Department of National Defence. In addition to working in the archives, the historians travel to operations in places like Afghanistan to make sure that war diaries and other records are properly maintained and collected.

City folk and country folk best at detecting IEDs

The Boston Globe reports that soldiers from rural areas (especially hunters) and ones from inner cities are best at detecting IEDs.

Military researchers have found that two groups of personnel were particularly good at spotting anomalies: those with hunting backgrounds, who traipsed the woods as youth in search of a deer or turkey; and those who grew up in urban circumstances where it is often important to know which gang controls which block.

Navy considers swapping crews in Arctic

The Free Press has an article that says the Canadian Navy is considering swapping out crews mid-mission for ships on arctic patrols. The Canadian Coast Guard already does this.

CF anti-NBC special ops unit

The Legion magazine has a somewhat sensational article about the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit. This is the special forces unit that responds to nuclear, biological and chemical incidents on behalf of the Canadian Forces.

As I say the article is a bit sensationalistic but it does contain some interesting bits of information.

For example, one of the unit's member says that she is the first woman in Canada's special forces and that she has only been a member for two years.

Master Corporal M. is one of the decontamination specialists. Her boss introduces her as the first female operator in Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, but for this two-year veteran of the unit, labels of any kind aren’t really to her taste.

CF take out Taliban mortar team

The Stars and Stripes has an article about Canadian soldiers attacking a Taliban mortar team in Afghanistan. The article is a perfect example of the sort of thing one never sees in Canadian news.

US helicopter medics in Afghanistan

Danger Room has an article about US Air Force airborne medics in Afghanistan.

Each of these pararescue jumpers, or PJs, was not only trained as a kind of airborne emergency medical technician, stabilizing patients and offering basic trauma care. They could also perform battlefield surgery — inserting chest tubes, removing fluid from around the heart, even performing amputations, if need be. And they could do all that after parachuting into hostile territory to rescue a downed pilot, or scuba diving into murky waters, or squeezing underneath a wrecked vehicle, or rappelling from the helicopter into a free-fire zone. That’s what the sliding bar along the ceiling of the Black Hawk’s cabin was for.

Honesty Traces

Danger Room has an article about using GPS records of military vehicle movements to create what is called an honesty trace to determine vulnerabilities to IED attacks.

Windsor Naval Reserve Division thinking of moving

The Windsor Star reports that HMCS Hunter, the local Naval Reserve Division, is considering moving house.

The Department of National Defence is negotiating with the Windsor Port Authority to lease the former Mill Cove Marina lands at the foot of Mill Street to build a new headquarters for the local naval reserve division.

CF drops donkey experiment in Afghanistan

The Halifax Chronicle Herald reports that the Canadian Forces have called off an experiment to use donkeys as, well, beasts of burden in Afghanistan.

The hope was the donkey,, which can survive with little water and carry nearly 160 kilograms of gear, would be able to help.

But the animal didn’t live up to the billing that has made it popular with United States and British soldiers, who use pack animals to support special operations in the mountains.

The Americans studied the use of camels, dogs and mules — but the donkey came out tops in the ratings.

New German Rules of Engagement

The Times has an article about changes to the German Army's rules of engagement in Afghanistan. The changes reduce the amount of red tape that prevents German soldiers from taking action.

The seven-page pocket guide to combat tucked into the breast pocket of every German soldier offers such instructions as: “Before opening fire you are expected to declare loudly, in English, ‘United Nations — stop, or I will fire,” followed by a version in Pashtu — Melgaero Mellatuna- Dreesch, ka ne se dasee kawum!”

The alert must also be issued in Dari, and the booklet, devised by a committee in some faraway ministerial office, adds: “If the situation allows, the warning should be repeated.” The joke going round Nato mess tents poses the question: “How can you identify a German soldier? He is the corpse clutching a pocket guide.”

US Women in Combat

The New York Times has an article about women in combat in the US Armed Forces.

The Marine Corps, which is overwhelmingly male and designed for combat, recently opened two more categories of intelligence jobs to women, recognizing the value of their work in Iraq and Afghanistan. In gradually admitting women to combat, the United States will be catching up to the rest of the world. More than a dozen countries allow women in some or all ground combat occupations. Among those pushing boundaries most aggressively is Canada, which has recruited women for the infantry and sent them to Afghanistan.

Special Ops Submarines launch robots

Danger Room has an article about the various robots - flying, floating and diving- that are launched by US Navy special operations submarines.

Cdn Navy bans beards at sea

The Canadian Navy is banning beards at sea. Sailors will still be able to wear them on shore assignments.

“I know this decision may be difficult to accept, but it was not made lightly,” says Command Chief Petty Officer Robert Cleroux. “It was absolutely necessary for operational reasons. Facial hair, beards in particular, prevent a proper face-to-face-piece seal when wearing respiratory protection systems. When the argument boils down to safety versus tradition, the safety of our sailors must remain paramount in all of our decisions.”

US Special Forces to get high tech uniforms

Danger Room has an article about US Special Forces adopting some of the technology developed in the cancelled Land Warrior.

The remnants of the Land Warrior project were offloaded on the “Manchu” soldiers of the 4/9 infantry battalion in Iraq, who stripped down the package and sharpened its features. It worked so well, an entire Army brigade was equipped with the ensembles, and just shipped off to Afghanistan. Then the Pentagon approved a request by a special forces commander at Ft. Bragg, N.C. to get the improved Land Warrior, called the Ground Soldier Ensemble, tested and ready to outfit a brigade in Iraq by 2010.

Older recruits in US Army

The New York Times has an update on older recruits since the US Army raised it maximum enlistment age to 42.

The Army recruits about 80,000 soldiers a year, and the older recruits are having an impact even on basic training, Army officers say. At classes here, as many as one in seven soldiers are over 35, and many drill sergeants now look to the older soldiers as mentors, or proxy disciplinarians.

Staff Sgt. Arron Barnes, Fort Sill’s drill sergeant of the year in 2009, said the older recruits tended to bring technical skills and maturity, were easier to instruct and were often more committed than teenage soldiers.

CF Doctor / Diver retires after 40 years

The Ottawa Citizen has an article about Commander David Carpenter who is retiring from the Canadian Navy after 40 years service.

He wears the badge of a navy diver. The navy doesn't hand them out to people who learn from books. He was 34 when he decided to add hyperbaric medicine to his list of specialties. He went to diving school in Esquimalt, B.C. The waters of the North Pacific are bitterly cold and every day at diving school started with a swim of about a kilometre. They wore wetsuits and if any man failed to finish the course in 20 minutes, everybody had to work in the cold water without gloves for the rest of the day.

Dr. Carpenter decided he would never be the reason for his much younger classmates losing their gloves, and he kept that promise to himself.

SAS have parachuted in Iraq

The Telegraph reports that the SAS have used parachutes on operations in Iraq.

On at least a dozen occasions SAS soldiers using BT80 parachutes jumped from the back of a Hercules aircraft at around 15,000ft. After steering for several miles, they landed silently close to insurgent strongholds on an area the size of a football pitch.

The troops of up 12 men then quietly made their way on foot either to begin an operation or set up a covert observation post where they would mount electronic devices linked to voice and facial recognition software to spy on insurgents.

Canada's eye on the Atlantic

The Halifax Chronicle Herald has an article about the operations room in Halifax that monitors Canada's east coast.

They work "24-7" out of secure Halifax offices and one day may ward off something as massive as a terrorist attack or as minor as a small oil leak from a visiting ship.

SAS banned from RAF Puma helicopters

The Times reports that the RAF have "banned" the SAS from riding on its Puma helicopters, apparently because the SAS commanders encourage the pilots to fly dangerously.

They flew so close to the ground — even when the situation did not require it — that there would have been no time to make corrections had a fault occurred.

According to the inquiry, nobody in the RAF has felt confident enough to oppose the demands of the SAS men for high-risk manoeuvres.

US Air Force school for UAV pilots

The LA Times has an article about a US Air Force school that trains drone pilots.

Until recently, pilots would work on the Predators and Reapers, then return to their assigned aircraft. But the Air Force would like officers to make a career out of flying unmanned craft and become experts at operating the drones.

CF info war in Afghanistan

The Toronto Star has an article about a planned Canadian Forces effort this summer to disseminate information to Afghan mobile phones.

Canada plans to boost its propaganda reach by tapping into mobile phones in Afghanistan to send text messages, run contests and drive listeners to its military-run, Pashto-language radio station.

Aussie soldiers asked to buy own life insurance

David Pugliese's Defence Watch reports that Australian soldiers being sent to Afghanistan are being advised by their government to buy their own life insurance.

Obit: SBS commander

The Telegraph has the obituary of Colonel Richard Pickup who commanded the British Special Boat Service in Afghanistan.

The British government's response to 9/11 was to launch Operation Veritas, an attempt to deny al-Qaeda its Afghan base. Two months later Pickup was in the leading aircraft which landed unannounced at the former Soviet airbase in Bagram, which was being strongly contested by thousands of government fighters and the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, led by Uzbek warlords.

Although vastly outnumbered, Pickup and his 100 men held on for a day and a night. This infuriated both contending armies, who were insulted by a fourth British invasion in two centuries; it also exasperated the American army's large Delta Force, which had planned to arrive first.

CF air operations in Afghanistan

The Torch has a post summarising Canadian air operations in Kandahar.

CF diver passes course at 52

The Lookout reports that 52-year-old naval reservist OS Robert MacDonald has become the oldest person to pass the Ships Divers Course.

60 year old Vietnam vet killed in Iraq

The Telegraph reports that Major Steven Hutchison who was killed recently in Iraq at the age of 60 is now the oldest american serviceman to die there. Hutchison had only recently re-joined the military.

Obit: RAF pilot who tried to escape in Nazi plane

The Telegraph has the obituary of Flight Lieutenant Walter Morison. While a POW during WWII Morison tried to escape from Germany by stealing a Nazi plane.

New British Patrol Vehicle

The BBC has an article, with video about the new British patrol vehicle the Jackal 2.

US Navy Patrol Boats

The Hampton Roads Pilot has an article about the US Navy's mid sized patrol craft which are used to patrol the Persian Gulf.

Pierside, the 170-foot patrol crafts cut a sleek and imposing profile, with several gun mounts and twin .50-caliber guns on either side. The ships were originally designed to carry Navy SEALs into coastal water and rivers, but the special warfare community replaced them about 10 years ago.

On the verge of Navy extinction, they found new life after 9/11. Since early in the Iraq war, the squadron has been part of a task force guarding Iraq's two major offshore oil platforms, which provide roughly 90 percent of the country's income.

Most of the way to Afghanistan

The Whig Standard has an article about Camp Mirage, a Canadian base in a well known secret location near Afghanistan.

Staffed by about 300 people - 200 of whom are military -and with an annual budget of $19 million, the camp has dispatched nearly 5,000 missions since being established in 2001, carrying 150,000 passengers and 23 million kilograms of cargo.

Sailing on HMCS Fredericton

Te Daily Gleaner has a story written by one of their reporters who went on a trip on HMCS Fredericton. The article gives an idea of what it's like to live on a Canadian warship.

How hard was the shot?

Slate has an article about the difficult of the sniper shots made by US Navy SEALS when they shot 3 pirates holding a merchant ship captain in a lifeboat.

The short answer is: not very hard if you are a SEAL.

Followup: The Hampton-Roads Pilot has a related article about SEAL sniper training. It points out that today's SEALs are very experienced.

Batteries for the infantry

The Toronto Star has an article about the battery requirements of the Canadian infantry in Afghanistan and the efforts to develop a replacement.

The average infantry soldier on a three-day mission in Kandahar carries up to 40 spare AA batteries. That rises to more than 900 batteries for a platoon, 3,200 for a company and 6,500 for a full battle group of about 1,000 soldiers. The cost of equipping all the 2,800 Canadians soldiers in Afghanistan with enough juice to power their equipment for a standard six-month deployment, approximately 750,000 batteries weighing about 14 tonnes, can run up to $1 million.

CF to map Afghanistan

The Canadian Press reports that the Canadian Forces are to produce a digital map of southern Afghanistan. The Air Force will use Aurora reconnaissance aircraft which are normally used for maritime patrol.

The article includes these stats:

According to statistics provided Monday by Canada's air wing, during the first three months of this year its Chinooks and Griffons in Afghanistan flew nearly 4,000 passengers and about 90,000 kilograms of cargo.

The Hercules transports, which are normally based at Trenton, Ont., moved 38,000 passengers last year and lifted nearly five million kilograms of cargo.

CF to deply to Caribbean and Latin America

The Ottawa Citizen reports that 30 Canadian Forces medical personal will be deploying with the US Navy on a medical mission to Latin America and the Caribbean.

CF to start using Spangdahlem Air Base

The US Air Force reports that the Canadian Forces will start using Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany to support overseas operations.

Spangdahlem AB, already being referred to in the Canadian military as "Euro-Hub," becomes the first in what is expected to become of web of seven locations to be developed and kept in readiness for theater activation and support. U.S. Air Force personnel at the base won't notice much of a Canadian Forces presence -- perhaps a half-dozen Canadian Operational Support Command specialists -- as the Canadians work with their American and German counterparts to plan for any future contingency.

Special Ops Boats

Popular Mechanics has an article about the Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen, or SWCCs and their boats. There are some pictures as well as diagrams of the heavily armed river craft.

Unmanned patrol boats

The Washington Times has an article about the US Navy and its interest in unmanned patrol boats.

General Dynamics already has delivered two 11-meter drones for the Littoral Combat Ship.

The craft, which resemble bulked-up bass boats, "operate and support sensor systems, including [various] sonars," said company spokesman Karl Oskoian. He said they have "360-degree situational awareness," can handle 5,000-pound payloads and can operate for 24 hours straight.

Special ops Osprey ready for action

Danger Room reports that after 30 years of development the Osprey tilt rotor aircraft is ready for use in special operations.

Video of patrolling Canadian Forces

The Atlantic has a page with some interesting videos of Canadian troops patrolling in Afghanistan. This is the sort of thing that I am often surprised not to see on the evening news.

Pirate Photos

The Big Picture has a page of photos of pirates operating off the coast of Somalia.

CIA using secret base in Pakistan for drones

The Times reports that the CIA is using a secret base in Pakistan to launch drone missions inside the country. I particularly liked this quote:

“No. No. No. No. No. We unequivocally and emphatically can tell you that there is no basing of US troops in Pakistan,” he said. “There is no basing of US Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, none, on the record and emphatically. I want that to be very clear. And that is the answer any way you want to put it. There is no base here, no troops billeted. We do not operate here.”

He said that he could not comment on CIA operations.

Followup: The Times has another article about Google Maps providing pictures of the base.

CF hunt IEDS from the air

The Canadian Press has an article on new Canadian Forces operations that use helicopters at night to locate IEDs planted on the roads in Afghanistan.

Forward Air Controllers

The BBC has an article about the training of British Forward Air Controllers.

Spitfire for sale

The Times has a short article about an air worthy Spitfire that comes up for auction soon. It is expected to sell for GBP 1.5 million.

US shipping pirates to Kenya

The Hampton Roads Pilot has an article about US Navy anti-piracy operations off Somalia. the interesting thing is this paragraph:

Under a new agreement with the U.S. military, the suspects will be turned over to the Ken­yan government for prosecution, Murdoch said.

New US Navy Uniforms

The Hampton-Roads Pilot has an interactive feature on the new US Navy uniforms. The new working uniforms are a sort of blue camouflage which seems a bit strange on a ship but they explain that the camouflage pattern is to hide stains and dirt on the uniform rather than the wearer.

USAF UAVs

NetworkWorld reports that the US Air Force will be acquiring more unmanned aircraft than manned aircraft in 2009.

via slashdot

Blackwater renames itself

The New York Times reports that security contractor Blackwater has renamed itself Xe. I always find corporate rebranding a bit amusing but in this case maybe they have a point.

Pentagon PR

Danger Room reports that the US Military has 27,000 people working in recruiting and PR. The entire Canadian Forces comprise 62,000 members (plus 25,000 reservists).

SEAL extraction video

This Youtube video shows some US Navy SEALS being extracted by helicopter. The amazing thing is that the helicopter basically lands in the water and the SEALS drive their small boat right up into the back.

CF considering laser eye surgery

The National Post reports that the Canadian Forces is considering offering laser eye surgery for members. I believe that this is already the case in the US and other countries.

Austalia awards first Victoria Cross

The Herald Sun reports that Australian SAS trooper Mark Donaldson has been awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia for actions in Afghanistan. He is the first person to receive the award since it was split off from the British Victoria Cross in 1975.

CF: Changes at the top

The Torch has a blog post about a series of recent changes at the top of the Canadian Forces.

That means new heads for two of the three services, and three of the four "commands" around which the CF is now organized

CF Howitzers Clear the Way

The Lookout has an article about Canadian Forces artillery clearing avalanches from passes in the Rocky Mountains.

For 50 years, the soldiers from CFB Shilo, Manitoba’s 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (1RCHA) have rotated through the winter months, securing 105mm Howitzer guns to platforms and shooting into the mountains to stimulate an avalanche.

US Small Boat Sailors

The Virginian Pilot has an article about the US Navy's Special Warfare Combatant Craft units, or SWCCs. These are the small boat sailors who deliver SEALS to their targets.

The article has an interesting picture of a small craft being hooked to the underneath of a helicopter.

Obit: Colonel David Smiley

The Telegraph has the obituary of Colonel David Smiley. Smiley was a British Army officer who worked in special forces and intelligence from the Second World War onwards.

During WWII he served behind enemy lines in Albania, Greece, Abyssinia and Japanese-controlled eastern Thailand. After the war he ran operations in Albania and Poland then moved to the Middle East where he worked in Oman and Yemen.

He also found time to command the Royal Horse Guards and rode beside the Queen as the commander of her escort at her coronation.

Followup: The Independent also has his obituary.

USS Freedom

Danger Room has some articles (links below) about the new American littoral combat ship USS Freedom.

One, which has a picture of some of the workstations on the bridge, talks about how empty the ship seems. Another talks about the "hybrid sailors" that make of the crew - each is trained in multiple trades.

The Hampton Roads Pilot also has an article about the ship (with a small slide show of pictures). The article discusses the ships capabilities:

Combined with a semi-planed monohull and a mere 14-foot draft, which drops to 8 feet at higher speeds, the ship can practically fly across the water, as it did Monday on its way south. A black burp of diesel fumes wafted overhead, the Bay churning gray and white behind it. Top speed for the day: 47.2 knots.

Mentions the empty space:

On board, roughly 40 percent of the 379-foot ship is empty space, designed to accommodate myriad "modules" in a plug-and-play system. These modules vary by mission - for enemies on the surface, in the air or under water - and can live on the ship's flight deck or water-line deck.

And discusses the crew responsibilities:

With such a small crew, everyone has multiple jobs.

Lt. Rob Briggs, for example, is the ship's main propulsion assistant. He's also trained as a navigator and helps drive the ship. And he helps clean it and he does his own dishes after he eats, just like everyone from the commanding officer on down.

CF adds global supply bases

The Toronto Star has an article about the Canadian Forces opening a series of bases around the world to support future operations. The first base will be in Germany and negotiations are underway with other countries.