Encouraging the UK Special Forces Mindset
Designing progressive training that stretches cadets beyond routine parade-ground and classroom work could encourage them to look towards a UK Special Forces career.
352d SOW and Northern Viking 26
Air Commandos from the 352d Special Operations Wing participated in Exercise Northern Viking 2026 (Iceland), a premier multinational training event designed to bolster defense capabilities in the strategically vital High North.
Conference Report – Critical Minerals and Strategic Competition
The Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI) and the Special Operations Association of America (SOAA) hosted a two-day conference on critical minerals. The gathering was focused on the role of critical minerals and rare earth elements in strategic competition. As demand for […]
SOF Weekly Brief – August 24, 2026
This weekly brief examines significant developments affecting special operations, irregular warfare, intelligence, and national security. Key topics include the expanding military applications of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence, proposed changes to U.S. aircraft carriers, rising American casualties in the Iran War, leadership developments in Ukraine, and lessons emerging from modern conflicts.
Operation Halyard – OSS Mission to Rescue Downed Airmen
In the summer of 1944, during World War II, hundreds of Allied airmen were stranded behind enemy lines in German-occupied Yugoslavia. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Yugoslavian resistance forces conducted Operation Halyard to evacuate the downed airmen to safety.
SOF Weekly Brief – August 18, 2026
This week’s SOF News Update examines new USASOC leadership, expanded American special operations activity in the Philippines and Alaska, Iran-war MQ-9 losses, shifting security relationships with Oman and South Korea, the Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani defense pact, Ukraine’s battlefield innovation, irregular warfare, intelligence, veterans, history, and upcoming events.
September 2026 SOF Events
Looking for upcoming Special Operations community events this September? Here are notable SOF events happening across the community, including nonprofit fundraisers, networking events, and industry gatherings
West Point Internship at SOCCENT’s Task Force 179
A West Point cadet spent the summer in an internship with SOCCENT’s Task Force 179, an innovation element integrating technology into SOF training and operations.
Fall of Kabul – Five Years Later
Five years after the Taliban captured Kabul, this article examines the Doha Agreement, U.S. troop withdrawal, collapse of Afghan security forces, chaotic airport evacuation, and volunteer “Digital Dunkirk” organizations that helped endangered interpreters, commandos, citizens, and families escape Afghanistan in August 2021 to safety.
USASOC Hosts Change of Responsibility for Command Chief Warrant Officer
The U.S. Army Special Operations Command bid farewell to its outgoing Command Chief Warrant Officer, CW5 Stephen Finney, and welcomed its newest senior warrant officer, CW5 Damian Owens, during a change of responsibility ceremony at 9 a.m., Aug. 6, 2026.
Operator Syndrome and Moral Injury
By Matt Ikenoyama. SOCOM’s Preservation of the Force and Family program names spiritual health as one of its pillars; an important aspect in operator syndrome. Moral injury isn’t an endocrine problem or a sleep problem. It’s a violation of conscience, and working with it means working with guilt, meaning, and trust. That’s the territory chaplains train for.
Operation Source: British Submersible Attack on the Tirpitz
This essay provides an account of the British submersible attack against the German dreadnought Tirpitz in the fjords of Norway in September 1943. The Kriesgmarine (German Navy) moved Tirpitz to a protected anchorage in the Kaafjord, well out of range of allied reconnaissance aircraft and bombers.
The Quiet Currency of Special Operations
Walk into almost any team room in the SOF community and you will find them: a rack, a shelf, sometimes just a desk drawer heavy with metal. Challenge coins accumulate around SOF the way sand accumulates in a rucksack. Almost no one can tell you, years later, exactly where each one came from.
SOF Weekly Brief – August 10, 2026
This week’s SOF News update covers leadership changes in Ukraine security assistance, proposed protections for special operations personnel, international exercises, SOF history, conflicts in Iran and Ukraine, emerging technology, Afghanistan, veterans’ issues, and selected reports, commentary, podcasts, and videos from across the national security community.
Chinese Ballistic Missile Launch Highlights Need to Counter PRC Unrestricted Warfare Campaign
By SOAA. China’s recent submarine-launched ballistic missile test highlights the military power supporting Beijing’s unrestricted warfare campaign. This article examines inadequate launch notifications, defense supply-chain restrictions, and calls for a comprehensive U.S. strategy to counter PRC coercion worldwide more effectively.