2011 Summer Edition

2011 SUMMER EDITION

$5.95 US $7.95 CAN

www.defensestandard.com

QUARTERLY

technology:

Maj. Dick

of the price

MEADOWS

The

‘Geronimo EKIA’How the SEALs

got Osama bin Laden

LEGENDNEW

iPADWhat it means

SPECIAL

at a fraction

of

Combat Spear:Gunship might

for

FORCES

GEN III ECWCS Outperforms Previous Generation Systems In Every Category.

The only official GEN III ECWCS authorized for U.S. Army issue is available exclusively through ADS. Contact your ADS representative for more information or order online today.

800.948.9433ADSINC.COM

Photo courtesy of the Department of Defense. © 2010 ADS, Inc. The ADS Logo and the GEN III ECWCS Logo are registered trademarks of ADS, Inc. A0224 12/10

The ADS team of GEN III Partners represent the pinnacle in performance materials:

Lightweight Undershirt & Drawers

LEVEL I LEVEL II LEVEL III LEVEL IV LEVEL V LEVEL VI LEVEL VII

Wind JacketMidweight Shirt & Drawers

High-Loft Fleece Jacket

Soft Shell Cold Weather Jacket

& Trousers

Extreme Wet/Cold Weather Jacket

& Trousers

Extreme Cold Weather Parka

& Trousers

• A Complete System: Seven levels to address a broad climate range from -40°F to +60°F

• Lighter: 25% lighter than previous generation ECWCS

• Less Bulk: 30% less bulk than previous generation ECWCS

• Expanded: Four additional levels compared to previous generation ECWCS

• Flexible: All seven levels function as a dynamic system to meet personal climate tolerances

• Improved Sizing: Innovative garment design with sizing logic for optimal fit when layering

• Stealthy: Exceptionally quiet for added stealth with integrated Near Infrared Textile Technology (NIR)

• Integrated: Seamless integration with load carriage and body armor

• Innovative: Technically advanced proprietary materials, garment design and construction

GEN III ECWCS changes the way the American Soldier operates in any environment. The complete system features seven

levels of protection to provide the

broadest range of defense from un-

predictable environmental conditions.

Technically advanced proprietary ma-

terials and construction combine with

cutting edge garment design to allow

the soldier to train, operate and sustain

combat operations in a broad climate

range, extending their ability to take

the fight to the enemy – anywhere!

GEN III ECWCS – The next generation U.S. Army

Extended Climate Warfighter Clothing System. Whether training at home, abroad or operating in

theater, our nation’s warfighters are exposed to a broad

spectrum of extreme environmental conditions – from

warm, dry, or wet weather at 60 degrees Fahrenheit or

higher, to extreme cold weather in excess of minus 40

degrees. GEN III ECWCS is a radical re-design of previous

generation ECWCS for the U.S. Army. No longer just a

Cold Weather Clothing System, the third generation

ECWCS has been transformed into an Extended Climate

Warfighter Clothing System that enhances soldier

survivability across broad climate ranges.

“FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY MILITARY CAREER I WAS ACTUALLY BEGGING FOR A COLD FRONT TO COME THROUGH. I KNEW MY SOLDIERS COULD HANDLE IT AND THE ENEMY COULDN’T. ECWCS ALLOWED MY MEN TO OUTLAST THE ENEMY ON THEIR OWN TERRAIN.”

- LTC CHRISTOPHER CAVOLI, 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION

LEVEL III

High-Loft Lightweight

LEVEL I LEVEL II

Midweight

LEVEL V

Soft Shell Cold

LEVEL VI

Extreme Wet/Cold

LEVEL VII

Extreme Cold Extreme Wet/Cold

LEVEL IV

Wind Jacket

GEN III ECWCS Outperforms Previous Generation Systems In Every Category.

The only official GEN III ECWCS authorized for U.S. Army issue is available exclusively through ADS. Contact your ADS representative for more information or order online today.

800.948.9433ADSINC.COM

Photo courtesy of the Department of Defense. © 2010 ADS, Inc. The ADS Logo and the GEN III ECWCS Logo are registered trademarks of ADS, Inc. A0224 12/10

The ADS team of GEN III Partners represent the pinnacle in performance materials:

Lightweight Undershirt & Drawers

LEVEL I LEVEL II LEVEL III LEVEL IV LEVEL V LEVEL VI LEVEL VII

Wind JacketMidweight Shirt & Drawers

High-Loft Fleece Jacket

Soft Shell Cold Weather Jacket

& Trousers

Extreme Wet/Cold Weather Jacket

& Trousers

Extreme Cold Weather Parka

& Trousers

• A Complete System: Seven levels to address a broad climate range from -40°F to +60°F

• Lighter: 25% lighter than previous generation ECWCS

• Less Bulk: 30% less bulk than previous generation ECWCS

• Expanded: Four additional levels compared to previous generation ECWCS

• Flexible: All seven levels function as a dynamic system to meet personal climate tolerances

• Improved Sizing: Innovative garment design with sizing logic for optimal fit when layering

• Stealthy: Exceptionally quiet for added stealth with integrated Near Infrared Textile Technology (NIR)

• Integrated: Seamless integration with load carriage and body armor

• Innovative: Technically advanced proprietary materials, garment design and construction

GEN III ECWCS changes the way the American Soldier operates in any environment. The complete system features seven

levels of protection to provide the

broadest range of defense from un-

predictable environmental conditions.

Technically advanced proprietary ma-

terials and construction combine with

cutting edge garment design to allow

the soldier to train, operate and sustain

combat operations in a broad climate

range, extending their ability to take

the fight to the enemy – anywhere!

GEN III ECWCS – The next generation U.S. Army

Extended Climate Warfighter Clothing System. Whether training at home, abroad or operating in

theater, our nation’s warfighters are exposed to a broad

spectrum of extreme environmental conditions – from

warm, dry, or wet weather at 60 degrees Fahrenheit or

higher, to extreme cold weather in excess of minus 40

degrees. GEN III ECWCS is a radical re-design of previous

generation ECWCS for the U.S. Army. No longer just a

Cold Weather Clothing System, the third generation

ECWCS has been transformed into an Extended Climate

Warfighter Clothing System that enhances soldier

survivability across broad climate ranges.

“FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY MILITARY CAREER I WAS ACTUALLY BEGGING FOR A COLD FRONT TO COME THROUGH. I KNEW MY SOLDIERS COULD HANDLE IT AND THE ENEMY COULDN’T. ECWCS ALLOWED MY MEN TO OUTLAST THE ENEMY ON THEIR OWN TERRAIN.”

- LTC CHRISTOPHER CAVOLI, 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION

LEVEL III

High-Loft Lightweight

LEVEL I LEVEL II

Midweight

LEVEL V

Soft Shell Cold

LEVEL VI

Extreme Wet/Cold

LEVEL VII

Extreme Cold Extreme Wet/Cold

LEVEL IV

Wind Jacket

Educating their

childrenProviding full college educations to the surviving children of fallen Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps special operations personnel since 1980. Funding provided for tuition, books, fees, room and board.

Wounded WarriorSupport

Providing immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel so their loved ones can be bedside during their recovery.

www.specialops.orgCFC # 11455

Caring for Families of Fallen

and Wounded Special Operations Warriors

C o n t e n t s

F e a t u r e s

11 Letter from the Publisher

The Legend of Dick Meadows

From Son Tay to Desert One and beyond, Meadows was there

By Tom Breen

Osama bin Laden

Enemy Killed in Action: How our SEALs “got him”

By Philip Ewing

Fire in Their Hearts

Osama bin Laden’s death tightens bonds between FDNY firehouse and Navy SEALs

By Tom Breen

18

12

33

P r o c u r e m e n t a n d O p e r a t i o n s

Raining Hell From Above

Jerry-rigged Combat Spear delivers the might of an AC-130 gunship at a fraction of the cost

By Bruce Rolfsen

36

Have Smartphone, Will Travel

Will iPads and cellphones be a special operator’s new best friend?

By Rich Tuttle

Air Force Rescue

Guardian Angel isn’t just a job--it’s a calling

By Julie Bird

42

48

Summer 2011 DEFENSE STANDARD 5

12

18

42

48

Special Forces, Special Tools

Technology provides an edge when failure is not an option

By Rich Tuttle

54Operation Red Wings

The story of how heroes are made

By Tom Breen

24

SOF Survivability

SPEAR sharpens special operators’ protective edge in battle

By Julie Bird

60

6 DEFENSE STANDARD Spr ing 2010

C o n t e n t s

O n t h e H o m e f r o n t

Virtual Training

It’s not just videogames and laser tag

By Tony Mecia

74

‘ 1 2 P r o c u r e m e n t p r e v i e w

o n t h e c o v e r2011 SUMMER EDITION

$5.95 US $7.95 CAN


QUARTERLY

technology:

Maj. Dick

of the price

MEADOWS

The

‘Geronimo EKIA’How the SEALs

got Osama bin Laden

LEGEND

NEW

iPADWhat it means

SPECIAL

at a fraction

QU

ARTERLY

2011 SUM

MER ED

ITION

DEFEN

SE STAN

DARD

of

Combat Spear:

Gunship mightfor

FORCES

DS11V2_Cover.indd 1

5/10/11 10:01 AM

Washington National Guard Sgt. Ryan McDonald is a member of the Northwest

Special Operations Parachute Team as well as a combat engineer.

PHOTO: Russell Klika

Air Force SOCOM: Adding planes, personnelBy Lee Ewing

Army SOCOM: Rapid manpower growth By Lee Ewing

Marine SOCOM: Force-structure increaseBy Thomas Day

Naval Special Warfare: Upgraded watercraftBy Michael Fabey

67

69

71

73Louder than Words

Dedication81


71

73

74

69

Final Frame82

By Gary Willliams

You serve us. Let us serve you with generous benefits including: + Tuition Discounts and Fee Waivers + Free Book Vouchers + Dedicated Military Affairs Office + College Credit for Military Training + Heroes Fund Scholarship

Get Started

today!

(877) 660-4796www.LUOnline.com/defense

As one of America’s top military-friendly schools, Liberty University Online offers more than 45 career-ready degree programs and 100 specializations to prepare you for a military career and beyond.

YOU COULD gAinAn On THeedge

competition?

Proud partners with the Yellow Ribbon Program, GoArmyEd®, SOC Network and Air University Associate to Baccalaureate Cooperative (AU-ABC).

yellowribbonprogram

2009

M O S T P O P U L A R C O L L E G E S

M I L I T A R Y T I M E S

™


2011 SUMMER EDITION

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. The opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Defense Standard LLC assumes no responsibilites for the advertisements or any representations made in this publication. Defense Standard LLC in unable to accept, or hereby expressly disclaims, any liability for the consequences of inaccuracies or omissions of such information occurring during the publishing of such information for publication.

Disclaimer: Neither the Department of Defense nor any other United States Government agency has approved, endorsed or authorized this publication in any form. No such inference is suggested, promoted or communicated in any manner.

DEFENSE STANDARD HQ4410 Massachusetts Avenue

Suite 240

Washington, D.C. 20016

Phone: (202) 640-2137

DEFENSE STANDARD OPERATIONS CENTER14502 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Ste 305

Tampa, FL 33618

Phone: (813) 864-6360

EDITOR

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS

VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES

VICE PRESIDENT OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

VICE PRESIDENT OF MILITARY & GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

SALES ASSISTANT

MILITARY ADVISER

LEAD RESEARCHER

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM ANALYST

TECHNICAL ADVISER: SMALL ARMS

GENERAL COUNSEL

DIRECTOR OF FIELD OPERATIONS

ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER

Julie Bird

Tom Breen

Thomas Day

Lee Ewing

Philip Ewing

Michael Fabey

Tony Mecia

Bruce Rolfsen

Rich Tuttle

David PeabodyPRESIDENT and PUBLISHER

Dedicated to the Memory of

Construction Mechanic 3rd Class Marvin Glen ShieldsU.S. Navy Seabee, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and Medal of Honor Recipient

December 30, 1939 - June 9, 1965

Dedication written by Gary Williams

For more information about this dedication, we ask you to please turn to page 81.

WRITERS:

Rescue HeroRes’-kyōō - He’•ro (hē rō), pl. -roes

A person of great courage,

nobility, etc. or one admired for

his or her exploits.

What would injured military members andstranded hurricane victims do without a

Rescue Hero?

Supporting

the Children of

Fallen Rescue Heroes

Thank you for your tax-deductable gift.

Tax ID #88-0487308

Part of the CFC inArizona (except Maricopa County), Okaloosa-Walton Counties, Florida,

Southwest Georgia, and Southern Nevada.

www.thatothersmaylive.org

THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE FOUNDATIONA 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization.

Julie Bird

Kelly Montgomery

Daniel J. Peabody

Samantha Gibbons

Jennifer Roark McCants

Amy Clark

Joe Gonzalez

Bill Clark

Martin McAuliffe

Cheri Brink

Jerry L. Montgomery, Col. USAF (RET)

Lee Anne McAuliffe

Sammy Rosario

Fritz Casper

Joseph C. Bodiford

Justin DeJesus

Benjamin Peabody

MILITARYIS OUR MIDDLE NAME.

Art & Humanities | Business | Education | Management | Public Safety & Health | Science & Technology | Security & Global Studies

Rebecca Roch | SPC, USA Graduate, School of Security & Global StudiesOur military roots run deep. From Fort Bragg to Baghdad, AMU is

dedicated to educating those who serve. With access to quality courses,

unrivaled support, and a book grant for undergraduates, we stand

behind our community— 55,000 military members strong.

Learn More at www.amuonline.com/DS

P u b l i s h e r ’ s N o t e


There is no better example than the successful raid against Osama bin Laden’s Pakistani compound to show why every penny of

funding for Special Operations Forces is worth it. From the Army Night Stalker helicopters

slipping in under Pakistani radar to the Navy SEALs methodically making their way through the compound toward their target, the mission was everything we have come to expect from the best of the best. They had contingency plans for problems like the loss of a helicopter, as we would expect. And they succeeded in their mission, as we also expect. Men, we salute you.

Indeed, this entire issue salutes Special Operations in all its glory, starting with a recap of the mission that took out bin Laden. There’s a lot we don’t know about what happened that night, but we know the most important thing: Mission accomplished.

We also visit with some New York City firefighters with a unique perspective on the mission. Their story goes back to the story of Operation Red Wings, a 2005 mission in Afghanistan led by Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy SEAL, who honored the FDNY by wearing the patch of El Barrio’s Bravest. Nineteen SEALs and Night Stalkers died in the operation and the rescue mission, and Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Murphy had a special relationship with the El Barrio’s Bravest firefighters in Spanish Harlem, who mourned the loss of their brethren in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Since Murphy’s death, that relationship has evolved into a brotherhood between the firehouse crew and SEALs across the nation. So the fact that Navy SEALs eliminated the scourge that was Osama bin Laden just reinforced those bonds. Tom Breen brings us the story of this remarkable friendship.

Speaking of remarkable, Breen also writes about the legend of Dick Meadows, a special operator who was there for the raid on the Son Tay prison in North Vietnam, the Desert One hostage rescue attempt in

Iran, the beginning of the U.S. Special Operations Command, and more operations since. We’ll never know everything Dick Meadows did, but we do know he played a key role in making Special Operations what it is today – a force capable of assaulting a fortress hiding the elusive Osama bin Laden.

That force knows not only how to plan, but to improvise. Consider the MC-130W Combat Spear, a C-130 variant used by Air Force Special Operations Command to clandestinely infiltrate enemy territory to refuel SOF helicopters or drop SOF troops behind enemy lines. Unable to keep up with the demand for its AC-130 Spectre gunships, AFSOC is modifying a dozen Combat Spears with a gunship package known as Dragon Spear. Bruce Rolfsen describes the transformation.

Special Operations troops also are improvising on the battlefield with new apps being developed for smartphones, iPads and other handheld computing devices ideal for small units interacting with locals or needing lots of computing power in a small package. Rich Tuttle explores this brave new world.

Finally, a personal note. Earlier this month I was privileged to attend the christening in Bath, Maine, of the guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112). Our team worked hard to produce a publication commemorating the event, which moved me beyond words. As the Navy honors Murphy, we honor the hundreds of thousands of military men and women, past and present, whose sacrifice keeps us free. Godspeed.

David Peabody PUBLISHER

12 DEFENSE STANDARD Spr ing 2011

HOW OUR SEALs ‘GOT HIM’By Philip Ewing

Enemy Killed In Action:


WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden spent the last day of his life on Earth in a walled compound custom-built to hide him from it.

The compound had no telephone or Internet connections to the local grid. Its balconies were built with seven-foot walls, so the 6-foot, 4-inch bin Laden could take the air without being seen. Its gray exterior walls rose 18 feet and were crowned with barbed wire, to foil onlookers and frustrate anyone attempting to scale them.

And yet in the early hours of May 2, local time, death breached the defenses of bin Laden’s miniature fortress. It came, as it often does, as the companion of American special operators, who dropped out of the night sky to repay a 10-year-old debt of blood on behalf of millions of people across the world.

The names of the men who settled the score may never be known, but this spring, their story captivated the world’s imagination as few special operations ever have. From initial accounts, senior officials and early reports, it’s possible to piece together a basic picture of the night bin Laden was killed, with the caveat that some aspects of the story may never be told.

Work on the assault began months beforehand, after the frogmen of the U.S. Navy’s elite Special Warfare Development Group, known as DevGru, were ordered to draw up plans for storming the compound. These special operators are the elite of the elite Navy units that take the toughest missions on Sea, Air and Land – hence, SEALs –

(LEFT): U.S. service members at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan watch President Barack Obama’s May 2 televised address on the Special Operations mission that killed Osama bin Laden.

(BELOW): The unit patch for Seal Team Six, which carried out the mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.

PH

OTO

: Sta

ff S

gt.

Ste

ph

en

Sc

he

ste

r

14 DEFENSE STANDARD Summer 2011

and they represent one of the most secret units in the world. In the Navy special warfare community, everybody knows what DevGru is and what it does, but nobody talks about it. DevGru, along with the Army’s Delta Force and other units, serves under the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Using satellite images of bin Laden’s compound and other surveillance data, SEALs practiced their assault for months, top defense and intelligence officials say. There are even reports of full-scale mockups at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and possibly at stateside locations, although Pentagon and White House officials declined to go into that level of detail.

“Needless to say, when they hit that compound, they had already trained against it numerous times,” says John Brennan, the Obama administration’s top counterterrorism adviser.

The SEALs’ ride to bin Laden’s compound apparently came from another of the U.S. military’s most elite units: The Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), the Night Stalkers. A flight of Night Stalker helicopters, carrying a large team of SEAL operators, took off in darkness early May 2 and made its way toward Abbottabad, likely with cover from Air Force warplanes or unmanned aerial vehicles. Two of the helicopters may have been Black Hawks modified for stealth.

According to officials and reports, the compound lit up with small-arms fire almost as soon as the SEALs arrived. One

of the helos “settled with power” because of an air vortex, officials say, and it may have touched one of the compound walls. Whatever the cause, one of the U.S. helos came down hard, although none of its passengers or crew was hurt. SEALs fast-roped from the other helicopter and immediately got to work. They spent 40 minutes on the ground.

The SEALs began with a small, one-story outbuilding that housed two of bin Laden’s trusted couriers, men whom American officials believe built and owned the hideaway compound. Both of them were killed. The SEALs then moved to a larger, three-story building — the main structure inside the compound, where bin Laden lived with his family. Bin Laden was killed in his bedroom, toward the end of the operation, American officials say. He was shot more than once, although accounts differ about exactly how many times and where. “Geronimo EKIA,” the SEAL team reported, according to news accounts. Geronimo, code name for bin Laden; EKIA, enemy killed in action.

The SEALs bundled up his body and loaded it aboard one of the helicopters. They also took a trove of documents, computer hard drives and other intelligence about the workings of al Qaeda, says a senior intelligence official. The booty included a video of bin Laden watching himself on video.

Although all of this was playing out less than 40 miles away

President Obama as he delivered the news of bin

Laden’s death to the nation May 1 from the White House.

PH

OTO

: Ge

tty

Ima

ge

s


from the capital of Pakistan, local military and intelligence officials hadn’t been told about any of it. In fact, the American helicopters apparently lit up the local air-defense radars, and the Pakistani air force scrambled fighter jets to chase the intruders. New York Rep. Peter King, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said May 3 the SEALs flew back to Afghanistan “not knowing whether they’d be intercepted by Pakistani jets.”

But they made it out, and immediately SEAL operators and CIA officers went to work verifying the body they had recovered belonged to the world’s most wanted man. It was 6-foot-4, like bin Laden, and what remained of its face matched photographs of him. At the same time, the American operators took a sample of the body’s DNA, for comparison with bin Laden’s relatives, and officials in Washington later said it made for a near-perfect match.

All that remained was how to dispose of it. Islamic practice dictates that a body be buried within 24 hours of death, which didn’t give the State Department much time to find a country willing to accept it. That, plus an unacknowledged desire by American commanders to avoid creating a landmark for Islamic extremists, led officials to conclude bin Laden should be buried at sea.

The body was flown to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, under way in the North Arabian Sea. It was washed, placed in a white sheet, and then placed in a weighted bag. It

was then taken topside, where a military officer read prepared remarks that were translated by an Arabic speaker, says a senior defense official.

“After the words were complete,” he says, “the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased body eased into the sea.”

Al Qaeda later confirmed that bin Laden was killed in the raid.

The mission stakes were enormous, observers noted.“These missions only go one of two ways. They’re either

successful or they’re not,” says Joe Ruffini, a retired Army colonel and founder of JPR and Associates, a management consulting firm in Colorado Springs, Colo., specializing in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. “It’s kind of like bases loaded, two outs, it’s a full count, you’re the pitcher, your team is up by one run, you’re going to throw that one pitch and you’re only going to walk off the mound either a hero or a bum. There’s no in-between.”

The strike against bin Laden was “like something out of a movie,” he adds. “They go in, they get what they want, they come out and there’s no casualties. It hardly ever happens.”

The mission was “a remarkable display of professionalism by so-called Tier 1 Special Operations units,” retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey said in a Seattle television interview. “They came a long way on this raid with a small number of people that launched out of Afghanistan, and


thankfully they accomplished their mission.” Building the intelligence to launch such a mission

takes time, retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and of Joint Special Operations Command, said in a speech reported by the Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs. “Think of what would have happened if the mission had not been successful, and all of the second-guessing that would have happened.”

The mission itself came down to basics – human intelligence and hard work, says David Staffell, CEO of Aptus Technologies in Round Rock, Texas, and a former Green Beret. “For 30 years we’ve been practicing this over and over and over and over, so that when the opportunity came, the capability was there. And it is a testament to the hard work and discipline of our nation’s finest.”

No other country has the capabilities of U.S. Special Forces, Staffell adds.

“The president was right. It’s not because of wealth, but because of who we are,” he says. “We’ve been handed down, generation after generation, that heritage from the Son Tay raiders (in Vietnam) to those who dared in Iran, and all the way to my generation here of modern warriors. That’s our heritage.”

–Rich Tuttle contributed to this report from

Colorado Springs.

J

(LEFT): President Obama visits Fort Campbell, Ky., on May 6 to privately thank Navy SEALs and the post’s Army Night Stalkers for their role in the mission, and to speak to soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. Vice President Joe Biden stands at left.

PHO

TOS:

Pe

te S

ou

za

President Obama talks with his national security team at the end of one of a series of May 1 meetings in the White House Situation Room leading up to the raid in Pakistan. CIA Director Leon Panetta stands near the middle of the table, visible to the president’s left. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on Obama’s immediate right. Gen. James Cartright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is seen on the screen.

We know where you’ve been…

...we know where you’re going

“small but critical capabilities” that are going to produce “a big jump in modernizing the Army.”

-Fast Company

“TAP becomes a powerful tool on the battlefield”

-Huffington POST

APTUS TECHNOLOGIES was conceived around a very simple idea: Combine over 25 years of SPECIAL OPERATIONS

tactical experience with the most innovative SOFTWARE ENGINEERS at the cutting edge of analytics and visualization

in order to deliver STRATEGIC CAPABILITIES to the TACTICAL EDGE. We develop MISSION CRITICAL technological

solutions in a rapid and agile environment tailored to the needs of today’s WARFIGHTERS

Contact us today to learn about our latest TACTICAL INTELLIGENCE solution, TAP, that delivers automated analysis of

disparate and vast amounts of structured and unstructured information. TAP allows you to move from information

collection to analysis faster, more effectively, in real time. TAP allows you to quickly create an analytical hypothesis

negating the need to read countless irrelevant documents. Simply put, TAP speeds up the INTELLIGENCE TO

OPERATIONS cycle.

810 HESTER’S CROSSING SUITE 122 877.792.7887

ROUND ROCK, TX 78681 WWW.APTUSTECHNOLOGIES.COM

Legend

The

of DickMeadows:


Hard to Believe, but True

(RIGHT): The gung-ho West Virginia boy lied about his age to enlist in the Army in 1947 at age 15.

(OPPOSITE): Meadows as a captain in the 1960s after receiving his battlefield commission from Gen.

William Westmoreland.

By Tom Breen

Enlisting with the Army as a teenager out of West Virginia’s hardscrabble hills, Dick Meadows embraced action and results, not titles and protocol, forging a reputation as a Special Operations icon during a career spanning more than four decades. He has been gone a while now, this committed man of the military, a Green Beret who exemplified over and again the tenacity of Special Operations and military people as a whole, always bouncing back to do it better the next time around. Knock him down, and there he was

again, from Korea to the drug wars in Central America, 45 years of service, a veritable walking history of U.S. Special Ops who teamed up with Col. Charlie Beckwith to shape the Delta Force at Fort Bragg in the late 1970s, leading ultimately to the Army Special Forces structure that operates today.

Surviving one mission after another, he finally was taken down by leukemia in the summer of 1995.“He was the true quiet man, carrying a big stick,” says his son, Mark, of Tampa, himself a retired Army lieutenant

colonel who commanded a cavalry squadron in the 10th Mountain Division and deployed to Iraq in the mid-2000s. “Dad was my hero, my mentor, the same hero everyone else saw, someone who could bring a large group to silence, without saying a word. He had that sort of presence. It was amazing to see people watch him as he walked into a room.”

Now, 16 years after Dick Meadows’ death, and 64 years after he joined the military, Meadow’s contributions and commitment to Special Operations reverberate following the flawlessly executed raid in Pakistan in which a team of SEALs killed Osama Bin Laden, and as U.S. special-ops troops continue to fight virtually daily in Afghanistan, as well as participate in a range of worldwide covert missions most of us know nothing about, and may never know anything about. This summer of 2011 also is a time during which a concrete manifestation of the special-ops legacy, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Michael Murphy, leaves Bath Iron Works in Maine for the Navy’s fleet. Every time a crew member pounds the deck of the Navy’s new destroyer, the image of its Medal of Honor namesake, standing in the barren treacherousness of Afghanistan’s Kunar province, dying to protect his men, will burst to life.

It is that way, too, every time a troop passes by the lifelike statue of Meadows at U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. Paid for by former presidential candidate Ross Perot, who called Meadows a “real-life James Bond” during a dedication ceremony several years back, the 8-foot-tall, 900-pound statue chiseled by Lawrence Ludtke of Houston shows Meadows as he was: dignified, unassuming and fearsome, never pompous, vain, or mean-spirited -- an “exact likeness of Dick,” said one retired sergeant major at the time.


BORN: June 16, 1932, in Beckley, W. Va.

DIED: July 19, 1995, of leukemia in Crestview, Fla.

FAMILY: Wife Pam, son Mark (a retired Army

lieutenant colonel) and daughter Michele.

MILITARY SERVICE: Joined at age 15, becoming

one of the nation’s youngest master sergeants by

age 19, and receiving a battlefield commission

of captain in Vietnam from Gen. William

Westmoreland.

ASSIGNMENTS: Served with the Green Berets out

of Fort Bragg, N.C., and in Vietnam was assigned

to the prestigious Military Assistance Command --

Studies and Observation Group. At one point, he

also was attached to the British Special Air Service

special operations unit.

COMBAT: Served in Korea and Vietnam and led

or participated in scores of Special Operations

missions, including the 1970 Ivory Coast operation

to free American POWs near Hanoi.

AWARDS: Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver

Stars, Bronze Star with V Device, Air Medal, Legion

of Merit, Combat Infantryman Badge, Master

Parachutists Badge, Ranger Tab, Scuba Badge

and the President’s Citizens Medal.

MEMORIALS: A statue has been erected in his

honor at Fort Bragg.

Maj. Richard J. (Dick) Meadows

Meadows’ accomplishments are staggering. As former President Clinton noted in a Presidential Citizens

Medal award given to Meadows shortly before his death in 1995, “His exceptional Special Forces and civilian career included operations behind enemy lines in Vietnam for which he received a rare battlefield commission, leadership in a daring rescue attempt of POWs at Son Tay Prison near Hanoi, infiltration in Tehran for the Desert One hostage rescue mission in 1980, and a key role in establishing Delta Force.”

In short, Dick Meadows was a living personification of the Special Ops mission in which risk and danger are simply part of the job description.

Meadows received the “rare battlefield commission” noted by Clinton from Gen. William Westmoreland, then-commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, in 1966 for his daring in uncovering North Vietnamese intelligence. In the Son Tay raid, Meadows trained and led a rescue force into the infamous prison near Hanoi, only to find it cleared out when they arrived. Yet even as a failed mission, Son Tay improved conditions for American POWs; Hanoi treated them better in anticipation of more possible raids. It also served as a how-to model for the Israeli rescue mission at the 1972 Olympics.

As for the 1980 hostage rescue attempt in Iran, known as Eagle Claw, Meadows posed as an Irish businessman to funnel information to U.S. rescuers, escaping before the raid

became public. And with Delta Force, which restructured Army Special Forces, Meadows and Beckwith streamlined an already effective and powerful force.

Through it all, away from the fierceness and high risk of the operations themselves, Meadows remained “genuine and unassuming, the boy next door with a CAR-15. ... No matter his rank -- master sergeant, captain, major -- all of us in Special Forces knew him as Dick Meadows, a man who didn’t need a rank to be who he was: Meadows was Meadows,” writes a Meadows friend and admirer, the author John L. Plaster, a retired Army Special Forces major.

As was typical of him, Meadows being Meadows, he worked until the very end in 1995, working in an anti-drug operation in Panama, fit and looking decades younger, but suffering from extreme exhaustion. The week before he died, Meadows told Plaster about his leukemia without a trace of self-sympathy or regret. This was Dick Meadows; he did not regret anything. When Plaster asked him how long he had. Meadows said a week, and the warrior for the ages was gone six days later. “Dad fought like hell [against the disease],” Mark says. “He was trying to make it to the Son Tay reunion that weekend; he died the night before.”

Growing up in a family where food was a luxury, Meadows, a moonshiner’s son, spent part of his youth

living in a dirt-floor shack, often passed from one family

Source: U.S. Army

Meadows in a formal studio shot in Army regalia, taken

in the 1950s when he was a master sergeant.

Dick Meadows and son Mark, now a retired Army lieutenant colonel.

Meadows is memorialized with a statue at Fort Bragg, the home of Army Special Operations.

PHO

TOS:

Co

urt

esy

of M

ea

do

ws

Fam

ily a

nd

USS

OC

OM


member to another. The Army gave him a way out. At age 15 in 1947, he signed up, taking a liberty or two with his age, later heading to combat in Korea.

Even with nothing more than a ninth-grade education, Meadows had an innate intelligence that attracted Army superiors and colleagues alike, savvy and sophisticated far beyond his years, earning him promotion to master sergeant by age 19, one of the youngest in Army history. In 1953, as the Korean war was ending, Meadows joined the Army Special Forces as a paratrooper. It was then the work of preparing himself for the future began in earnest: honing weapons’ and survival skills, expanding his language skills, and developing personal and social traits that would serve him well in covert operations later on. “Dick was the ultimate soldier,” retired Army Gen. Wayne A. Downing, who knew him well, once said.

As the 1960s dawned, Meadows’ reputation grew rapidly, first with his promotion to master sergeant and later with his temporary attachment to the British SAS (Special Air Service) Special Forces unit, which influenced him greatly later in his efforts to restructure the Army’s Special Forces. He also met his wife Pam, the daughter of an SAS sergeant major.

It was his service in Vietnam that solidified his reputation as a soldier of extraordinary merit and bearing. Had his activities been made public, the Medal of Honor surely would have come his way, but most of his operations remained classified for years;

some still do. What is known provides the stuff for movies, as Perot said at the Fort Bragg statue dedication ceremony. “He really did these things you see movie stars doing.”

Or, as Meadows’ friend Plaster writes, “ Meadows turned into the famed Studies and Observation Group’s (SOG) most prolific prisoner snatcher, bringing back 13 NVA [North Vietnamese Army] from Laos,” an SOG record. “He once arrayed Recon Team Iowa beside a trail when instead of the desired one man, five NVA strolled up and stopped right there for lunch. Meadows stepped out and announced, ‘Good morning, gentleman. You are now POWs.’ Despite his warning, ‘No, No, No,” three went for their AKs. ... Meadows shot them faster than you read this.” Quiet, but deadly when he had to be, that was Dick Meadows.

As the Vietnam War continued through the 1960s and into the 1970s, the Meadows legend swept through the services, not just the Army, as he worked a slew of operations, and gained even more momentum after his retirement in 1977 when he posed as an Irish businessman in Eagle Claw, rounding up drug smugglers in Central America, and protecting plantation owners from terrorists in Peru for a decade. It’s a cliché, perhaps, that can take the man out of Special Operations but never Special Operations out of the man. With Meadows, it’s true.

Meadows first attracted public attention outside the military

A book chronicling the life of Special Opera-

tions legend Dick Meadows is due out in Septem-

ber.

Published by The University Press of Kentucky

and written by a former member of the SAS (Brit-

ish Special Air Service) who knew Meadows well,

the book is the first to be published about Mead-

ows. The author, Alan “Spike” Hoe, has authored

and co-authored several other books. His friend-

ship with Meadows goes back to the 1960s when

Meadows served for a time with the SAS.

“My dad wanted to make sure any book

about him was totally truthful, and this book is

truthful,” Meadows’ son Mark said recently from

his home in Tampa. Mark said his father before his

death in 1995 turned down requests from many

authors, including Tom Clancy and Ken Follett, to

tell his story. “My dad wanted the author to be

someone who really knew him and his story, and

Alan was that person.”

The book is expected to focus on virtually every major operation involving Mead-

ows, including the failed Iran hostage-rescue attempt in 1980.

“For the first time, the entire story of the Iran attempt will be told,” Mark said. “And

every word will be true.”

--Tom Breen

Meadows biography includes accountof aborted 1980 Iran hostage rescue


in 1980 when Newsweek magazine published a cover story labeled, “The Iran Rescue Mission: the Untold Story,” with a picture of Meadows next to a smaller headline that read, “The Pentagon’s Man in Tehran.” By then, about three years after his retirement from the Army, many of his colleagues and superiors were determined to get his story told: He simply had done too much for the country to remain anonymous forever.

Said then-Army Col. Elliot “Bud” Snyder, ground force commander during the Son Tay raid, in an interview with Newsweek for the 1980 piece, “If he hadn’t done so many things that are classified, he’d have been the most decorated soldier in the Army.”

One of his most ardent supporters was Perot, the businessman, politician and nonstop backer of the military and Special Operations who by many accounts phoned

President Clinton asking him to honor Meadows with the prestigious President’s Medal. Perot first encountered Meadows after meeting with the Son Tay raiders in a session arranged by Pentagon brass. At Fort Bragg, Perot personally spent $160,000 for the statue now located

Businessman and former presidential candidate Ross

Perot admired Meadows, and financed the statue erected in

his honor at Fort Bragg.

PHO

TOS:

Co

urt

esy

of M

ea

do

ws

Fam

ily a

nd

USS

OC

OM


on the Meadows Memorial Parade Field at the Army’s Special Operations headquarters.

Nearby are two other statutes dedicated to Army Special Forces, the Special Warfare Memorial Statue, called the “Green Beret” or “Bronze Bruce,” and the Col. Arthur D. “Bull” Simons statue at the Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Plaza, where Special Forces troops don their Green Berets for the first time. It was Simons -- a company commander with the 6th Ranger Battalion in the Pacific during World War II who returned to service in Vietnam as the head of the 8th Special Forces Group -- who headed up the Son Tay raid with Meadows.

Now, they stand together forever at Bragg, inspiration for younger warriors who may fight in another time, but with the same values.

While Meadows proved to be relentless, his demeanor

was gentle when away from the action. His son Mark, now a defense contractor, knew as early as fifth grade he would follow his father’s lead into the military. Yet his father never pushed the warrior life upon him, Mark says. “He never pressured me. He just said, ‘Whatever you do, do it well.’ But I knew the military was for me.”

Nowadays the younger Meadows, his mom, Pam, and sister, Michele, could not be prouder of a man who dug his way out of deep poverty in the West Virginian countryside to rise to extraordinary heights in the Army’s Special Forces. In the end, few of us can imagine living the way Dick Meadows did, dodging one bullet after the other, sometimes facing death almost daily, a warrior’s warrior born on a summer day, dying on a summer day, and now standing tall at Fort Bragg, gone in body but larger than life, a guy who did us all proud, a warrior to the core.J

DEFENSE STANDARD Spr ing 201122

OPERATION

of How

HEROES

ARE

MADE

tHE sTORY

By Tom Breen

The men of Operation Red Wings.


The gravestone has settled into God’s good earth, out there on the Atlantic coast, peaceful and pristine, far removed from wartime. The stone at the Calverton National Cemetery

honors Navy Lt. Michael P. Murphy, the first SEAL since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor. Murphy’s memorial rests near the small Long Island town of Patchogue where he grew up, on the outskirts of New York City, and several thousand miles from the Afghan mountains where he died three years ago this summer in an operation to apprehend a high-ranking enemy militant.

In his Long Island town, Murphy still is remembered as the fun-loving kid who played ice hockey, read everything in sight as a Penn State college student including War and Peace, and chose the SEALs over law school. Now, Murphy, as he rests at Calverton, also is known as the hero of Hindu Kush.

The night of June 28, 2005, was clear when guerrillas, probably from the Taliban, fired on Murphy’s team in Afghanistan’s treacherous Hindu Kush mountain range, a subset of the Himalayans, near the Pakistan border. The guerrillas, 50 or more of them, killed Murphy and his SEAL team members, Matt Axelson and Danny Dietz. A fourth SEAL with them, Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell, survived. As the three lay dying, and Luttrell unconscious, an MH-47 Chinook lightly armored helicopter tried to rescue them, but was shot down by the same guerrillas. Eight other SEALs, and eight Army Night Stalkers, died. More SEALs died on that day than in any other Naval Special Warfare operation in history. Murphy made international headlines, posthumously being awarded the Medal of Honor. The other three on Murphy’s team received the second-highest honor, the Navy Cross. Their story has been told countless times, including in Luttrell’s book, Lone Survivor. On May 7, the Navy christened the USS Michael Murphy at a ceremony at Bath Iron Works in Maine. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is expected to be accepted by the Navy later this year.

Part of Luttrell’s account tells of how Murphy exposed himself to fire, heading for an open area away from jagged cliffs so he could radio for help:

“(Murphy) walked to open ground. He walked until he was more

Iridium salutes the courage of the brave heroes of Operation Red Wings and

especially LT. Michael P. Murphy, US Navy SEAL, who knowingly and without

hesitation sacriced his life to help save his fellow soldiers.

We wish a safe passage to the crew of the USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112),

christened on May 7, 2011 in honor of LT. Michael P. Murphy.

To all the men and women serving in the armed forces, Iridium extends its

gratitude and respect.

Iridium delivers reliable, near real-time, mission-critical, global

communications services and creates vital lifelines for all military

branches of the U.S. Department of Defense. Iridium strives to

ensure that these lines of communication are never broken.

www.iridium.com

(TOP): Lt. Michael Murphy’s SEAL team in Afghanistan: From left to right, Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson, of Cupertino, Calif; Senior Chief Information Systems Technician Daniel R. Healy, of Exeter, N.H.; Quartermaster 2nd Class James Suh, of Deerfield Beach, Fla.; Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell; Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Eric S. Pat-ton, of Boulder City, Nev.; and Lt. Michael P. Murphy, of Patchogue, N.Y. With the exception of Luttrell, all were killed June 28, 2005, by enemy forces while sup-porting Operation Red Wings.

(BOTTOM): A map of Afghanistan showcasing the Hindu Kush mountains where the men of Operation Red Wings fought their last battle.

PH

OTO

: U.S

. Na

vy; G

RA

PH

IC: S

am

an

tha

Gib

bo

ns

or less in the center, gunfire all around him, and he sat on a small rock and began punching the numbers to HQ. ... I could hear him talking. ‘My men are taking heavy fire -- we’re getting picked apart. My guys are dying out here -- we need help.’ ... And right then Mikey took a bullet straight in the back. I saw the blood spurt from his chest. He slumped forward, dropping his phone and his rifle. But then he braced himself, grabbed them [phone and rifle] ... sat upright again, and once more put the phone to his ear.” Dying, Murphy said on the phone, ‘Roger that, Sir, thank you,’ and continued to engage the enemy.” Murphy’s “objective was clear: to make one last valiant (effort) to save his .... teammates.” Luttrell survived after being knocked unconscious, and was found later by friendly villagers. Murphy’s actions -- phone and rifle in hand, blood spurting -- now are engraved in SEAL lore, a lasting metaphor for the valor and loyalty to one another that defines Special Operations. Indeed, out there along the jagged cliffs of the Hindu Kush, Murphy and his team took on a mythic veneer. If it were another time in American history, during World War I or II, their valor would be locked into the American psyche, right up there with Audie Murphy from World War II, connected to Michael by spirit if not blood, and Alvin York from World War I.

Yet military heroes in our current world seem to fade, recognized for a short while and then cast aside, if not forgotten. Perhaps, however, as times passes, the Saga of Red Wings will occupy its proper place in military lore.

The story of Murphy’s uncompromising bravery, as told by Luttrell, and the valor of the other SEALs and the Army Night Stalkers, is overpowering in its simplicity, yet ferocious in its retelling. It is about four men on a reconnaissance mission, doing what they were asked to do, three of them on the ground dying, and about another 16 warriors in a helicopter, rushing into help, only to be shot down and killed. Only Luttrell lived to tell the tale.

Operation Red Wings’ goal on that 28th day of June in 2005 was to slay a Taliban leader in his mid-30s, Ahmad Shah, who had

possible ties to Osama Bin Laden. Murphy and the other members of his SEAL team left their base in Northern Afghanistan in the still of the night, heading for the border with Pakistan to carry out the mission. The Navy today says Shah, the target of their mission, led a guerrilla group called the Mountain Tigers, which existed in a shadowy world of death and intrigue in and around the border. (For the record, Special Operations spokesmen are unsure of the precise origin of the “Red


(TOP): A 4-foot diameter granite marker stands at Serenity Plaza in the Lt. Michael Murphy Memorial Park in Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y. Murphy’s mother, Maureen, placed the basket with the New York Yankees hat at the marker.

(ABOVE): Murphy peers over his shoulder during a mountaintop mission in Afghanistan.

Wings” name, although some speculate it was tied to a sports team.) After penetrating behind enemy lines, approximately 10,000 feet up in

the Hindu Kush, the four SEALs found their cover blown after meeting up with two adults and a boy, either shepherds or local villagers. In Lone Survivor, Luttrell tells of how he, Murphy, Axelson, and Dietz debated whether to kill the three before ultimately deciding to release them.

About an hour after the outsiders departed, an enemy force of 50 to 100 men attacked the four-member SEAL team from three sides. The four, all wounded, leapt down the mountain’s sides, jumping as much as 30 feet, the Navy said later. Less than an hour into the battle, Murphy raced into the open, aware he could not make his distress call from the terrain where they had sought cover, and soon took the bullet in the back. Despite his wounds, Murphy was able to get help from the Special Operations Quick Reaction Force at Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Force Base, which dispatched the MH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying the eight SEALs and eight Army Night Stalkers prepared to extract Murphy and the others from the fight that dragged through the hills and cliffs of the Hindu Kush.

Military spokesmen later said the MH-47, designed to swoop in and leave quickly during rescue efforts, had been accompanied by heavily armored Army attack helicopters. The military said the “heavy weight” of the attack helicopters slowed the formation, prompting the MH-47 to race ahead, putting itself at risk in order to attempt to carry away Murphy and the others.

After the deaths of Murphy, Dietz, Axelson and the 16 men aboard the MH-47, Luttrell struggled to survive on his own. As many

as 35 guerrillas, probably Taliban members, also died, according to subsequent military reports.

Sent sprawling over a ridge after being knocked unconscious by a rocket-propelled grenade, Luttrell had a bullet wound in one leg, shrapnel burrowing into both legs, and was suffering from dehydration, he recalled later in Lone Survivor. Still, he managed to crawl away from the carnage, evading enemy guerrillas and walking several miles before friendly villagers took him in, protected him from Taliban enemy forces, and eventually transported a note to a Marine outpost, resulting in Luttrell’s rescue on July 2, 2005.

If not for Luttrell’s book, written with Patrick Robinson, the story of the events that day in the Hindu Kush might not have reached the public with such force. Luttrell also fully addresses the moral dilemma the SEAL team faced that day: Release the outsiders, or kill them? Luttrell never will know if the outsiders ran to the Taliban, but the firefight started a short time later.

As for Luttrell, he soon learned about humanity at its best, when villagers including a man identifying himself as a doctor risked their own lives to save him. “There was something about him,” Luttrell writes of the villager describing himself as a doctor. “By now, I’d seen a whole lot of Taliban warriors, and he looked nothing like any of them. There was no arrogance, no hatred in his eyes.”


PHO

TO: C

ou

rte

sy o

f th

e M

urp

hy

Fam

ily

PHO

TO: U

.S. N

avy

One of the world’s deadliest snipers chronicles his journey from basic training to elite Navy SEAL Team Six warrior– and his experience at the ferocious battle of Mogadishu

“Wasdin is a true warrior and real hero. SEAL Team Six is a must read.”

—Gunnery SGt. Jack couGhlin, uSMc, and bestselling author of Shooter

www.COMMANdPOSTS.COM

Seal Team Six_halfpage 1 5/9/11 12:42 PM

Fellow soldiers at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., erected a memorial to the eight fallen Army Night Stalkers

killed trying to rescue the SEAL team.

In MEMORY of the men of RED WINGS

PHO

TO: U

.S. A

rmy

With the six-year anniversary of the American deaths in the Hindu Kush upon us, and the awarding of

another Medal of Honor to another SEAL (for bravery in Iraq in 2006), the missions and makeup of the elite Navy unit are starting to attract more interest among the American public. For recruiters trying to beef up elite SEAL units, this is good news. Established by President Kennedy in 1963, the SEALs (for Sea, Air and Land) describe themselves as “a small, elite maritime military force” conducting unconventional warfare, and carrying out “the types of clandestine, small-unit, high-impact missions that large forces with high-profile platforms (such as ships, tanks, jets and submarines) cannot.” SEALs also “conduct essential on-the-ground Special Reconnaissance of critical targets for imminent strikes by larger conventional forces.”

When you read a description such as that, of what SEALs do, it sounds so sterile, so matter of fact. It does not talk about the firefight in the Hindu Kush, about Murphy standing in the open seeking help for his men, after a bullet hits him, and of the 16 SEALs and Night Stalkers aboard the MH-47 who broke from their formation to sacrifice themselves to retrieve the embattled SEALs on the ground. It also does not talk about the tears still being shed at the resting places of Murphy (Section 67, Grave 3710, Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island) and the others, or about bravery and loyalty that in many ways is incomprehensible. So, the men of Red Wings, we salute you.

SEALs ON THE GROUNDLt. Michael P. Murphy, 29, Patchogue, N.Y.

Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson, 29, Cupertino, Calif. Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Danny P. Dietz, Littleton, Colo.

ARMY NIGHT STALKERS ABOARD THE HELICOPTERStaff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare, 29, Danville, Ohio

Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, 35, Clarks Grove, Minn.

Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby, 21, Pompano Beach, Fla.

Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles, 33, Shelbyville, Ind.

Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III, 36, Franklin, Tenn.

Maj. Stephen C. Reich, 34, Washington Depot, Conn.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell, 31, Stafford, Va.

Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach, 40, Jacksonville, Fla.

SEALs ABOARD THE HELICOPTERChief Fire Controlman Jacques J. Fontan, 36, New Orleans, La.

Senior Chief Information Systems Technician Daniel R. Healy, 36,

Exeter, N.H.

Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen, 33, San Diego, Calif.

Electronics Technician 1st Class Jeffery A. Lucas, 33, Corbett, Ore.

Lt. Michael M. McGreevy Jr., 30, Portville, N.Y.

Machinist Mate 2nd Class Eric S. Patton, 22, Boulder City, Nev.

Quartermaster 2nd Class James Suh, 28, Deerfield Beach, Fla.

Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Jeffrey S. Taylor, 30, Midway, Va.

J


Ad Name: Armed Forces 2011 Item #: PBW201110133

Order #: 229239

Trim: 8.375x10.875Bleed: 8.625x11.125Live: 7.875x10.375

Closing Date: 5.9.11QC: SMPub: Defense Strandard

The Men Who Inspired Michael Murphy, and the SEALs Who Inspire Them

Fire

By Tom Breen

Fire

Lt. Michael Murphy wore the FDNY’s El Barrio’s Bravest patch on his uniform in Afghanistan, as did the other members of his SEAL team.

In Their Hearts:

PHO

TO: C

ou

rte

sy o

f Mu

rph

y Fa

mily

From the teeming streets of New York to the unforgiving mountain ranges of Afghanistan, a single firehouse and many Navy SEALs have forged lasting ties rooted in the heroism of Lt. Michael P. Murphy, a Medal of Honor recipient sacrificing his life to save his men in the summer of 2005,

and who recently had a Navy destroyer named in his honor.Now, with an elite SEAL team killing Osama bin Laden, the ties between the Navy elite fighting unit

and the firehouse in Spanish Harlem (El Barrio) are stronger than ever.“The SEALs are our go-to guys. Every American is praising them right now; we’re so proud of them,”

says Al Hagan, a New York fire-union official and formerly a captain at the firehouse on Third Avenue, the home of Engine Company 53/Ladder Company 43, known as El Barrio’s Bravest. It is here that a plaque honors Murphy’s memory, and where Murphy’s family and a range of military people, especially SEALs, often visit. The firehouse/SEAL ties now take on even more meaning with the elimination of bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that claimed 3,000 lives, including those of 343 New York firefighters.

To Nate Evans, a firefighter stationed there, the flawless, surgically precise elimination of bin Laden by a SEAL team “brings closure in a way, although the job is far from done.” The mission would gladden Murphy, adds one of his closest friends, former firefighter Owen O’Callaghan. “The SEALs’ participation in the mission [is] very fitting,” O’Callaghan says. The killing of the terrorist long was a goal of Murphy.

The story of the firehouse and the SEALs begins with a summer friendship between Murphy and O’Callaghan, now a Suffolk County, N.Y., police officer. The two met as lifeguards in the mid-1990s along the beaches of suburban Long Island, bonding immediately, working together and partying together. Both Irish-Americans, gregarious by nature, they remained friends as their lives progressed, Murphy as a Navy SEAL and O’Callaghan as a city public servant.


Murphy honored the FDNY’s sacrifice in 9/11 by wearing the El Barrio’s Bravest patch, and El Barrio’s Bravest honor the Navy SEAL’s memory in return. Those worlds intersected again when a SEAL team killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden just a week before the USS Michael Murphy was christened.

J

PHO

TO: C

ou

rte

sy o

f El B

arr

io’s

Bra

vest

When terrorists attacked New York in 2001, the two became even closer. The sacrifice of scores of New York firemen dying in and after the attack, including O’Callaghan’s uncle, Daniel, touched Murphy in myriad ways, laying the groundwork for the ties between a SEAL who would fall in Afghanistan, ultimately because of what bin Laden set into motion that day, and the roughly 60 men of E53/L43.

Because of 9/11, the Fire Department of New York’s (FDNY) primary patch, along with specific firehouse patches, ended up national and international symbols, illustrative of the daily sacrifices made by firefighters along the streets of New York, but an even broader symbol for all the men and women asked to protect us during wars, civil emergencies, and from the fires and crime that threaten each of us at any moment. “We’re on the front lines every day,” says Hagan, who is spending much of his time these days fighting a budgetary proposal by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to close 20 firehouses. It is “treasonous to do that,” Hagan says, because “another attack could come at any time.”

It was four years after 9/11 that Murphy, gearing up for combat with his SEAL teammates, asked O’Callaghan to give him a “few” of the “El Barrio’s Bravest” house patches to distribute to his men. “How many do you want?” O’Callaghan wondered. “Twenty-five would be good,” Murphy said. O’Callaghan shot back, “Twenty-five, are you serious?” “Yes, twenty-five.” That’s how an FDNY firehouse patch found its way to Afghanistan, a visible reminder of why U.S. troops are fighting abroad, O’Callaghan says.

With these patches, the stories of Michael Murphy and El Barrio’s Bravest began to intertwine. Now SEALs, many from Murphy’s SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One (SDVT-1), find their way to the firehouse, staying overnight occasionally, sharing meals and long conversations, and relishing the firefighters’ company. Many of the

men of E53/L43 served in the military, some in combat, and some still are in the reserve forces.

In addition to sharing long and winding conversations and steak dinners with SEALs and other military folk stopping to visit (“We pay for our own steaks, not the city,” Evans makes clear, loudly and with a laugh), El Barrio’s Bravest have forged an intense friendship with

Murphy’s family -- father Dan, mother Maureen, and Michael’s younger brother John, 25.

For instance, when Michael received the Medal of Honor posthumously in October 2007, a trio of representatives from E53/L43 attended the White House ceremony. While in Washington for the Medal of Honor ceremonies, firefighters presented a plaque to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One. Later, Murphy’s SEAL team traveled to the New York firehouse to present the plaque that now hangs there.

“It was a very emotional moment for everyone involved,” O’Callaghan says.

“The [firehouse] was a place where we all could let our guards down together.

The SEALs could break their stoic mold and reflect, while the firemen offered their thanks and sincere appreciation.”

The plaque from the SEALs features Michael’s photograph, the “El

Barrio’s Bravest” patch he wore at the end, his SEAL trident, and a marker that reads:

“To the men of Engine Co 53, Ladder Co 43 from SDVT-1 in memory of our fallen teammate and brother LT Michael P Murphy. Murph wore this patch on every operation including the one in which he fell.”

With the killing of bin Laden, Dan Murphy says his son would “exhibit a sense of pride that his [SEAL] community participated in the death of a scourge of the earth who brought so much sorrow to so many people.” His son also would point proudly to the El Barrio’s Bravest firehouse patch, Murphy says.

To show their solidarity with Murphy, about 20 of El Barrio’s Bravest attended the early May christening at Bath Iron Works in Maine of the USS Michael Murphy.

“Murph honored us, and we’re going to continue to honor him,” Evans says of a man he never met, but now feels he knows like a brother. For O’Callaghan, Murphy’s close lifeguarding pal, the christening is yet another moment to remember a guy who treated Afghanistan the way the men of E53-L43 treat a burning building, or a crumbling tower: You do what you have to do.

In that three-story home inside a walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the SEALs did what they had to do.

And now, with the addition of the firehouse patch to the mast box of the USS Michael Murphy -- an honor the family bestowed on the firehouse -- the flames of freedom between El Barrio’s Bravest and a SEAL legend burn brightly. The New York firemen and the SEALs, they are one.

DEFENSE STANDARD Summer 201134

Concertainer from HESCO.Providing dependable protectionwherever you are.The most significant development in field fortification since theSecond World War, Concertainer® units from HESCO® are thebenchmark in force protection.

Whether defining boundaries or building protective barriers,Concertainer safeguards personnel, vehicles, equipment,facilities and other critical assets.

www.hesco.com

Worldwide patents apply. HESCO, Concertainer and Mil are registered trade marks of Hesco Bastion Limited. © HESCO Bastion 2011

HESCO Ad Def Standard May 2011.qxd:Layout 1 10/5/11 11:00 Page 1

Jerry-rigged Combat Spear delivers the might of a gunship at a fraction of the cost

Raining hell from above

By Bruce Rolfsen

PHO

TOS:

Airm

an

1st

Cla

ss M

ayn

elin

ne

De

La

Cru

z


With fights in Iraq and Afghanistan and training demands back home, Air Force Special Operations Command’s AC-130 gunships and crews were

spread thin and on a steady deployment cycle. Gunship crews often spent as much time deployed as they did at home.

The demand for the gunships with their 40 mm and 105 mm cannons and reconnaissance capabilities continued to grow. A solution, the special ops community agreed, was more gunships. But there wasn’t time to create a new gunship model from scratch, starting with Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Hercules and customizing it with a permanent suite of sensor and fire-control consoles, gun-control computers hardwired into the navigation system, plus guns, precision-guided bombs and missiles. After all, the last gunship, the AC-130U Spooky, took more than five years to develop and approve for operations in the 1990s at a cost of about $190 million each.

There had to be quicker and less-expensive solution.The solution was sitting on the ramp at Cannon Air Force Base in

New Mexico – the MC-130W Combat Spear.In 2006, AFSOC took delivery of 12 MC-130Ws. The planes

started as cargo-hauling C-130H Hercules. With upgrades of refueling pods to service helicopters and navigation gear for low-level flights to infiltrate and resupply troops, the C-130Hs became MC-130Ws. The idea behind the upgrades was that the Combat Spear would pick up some of the workload of AFSOC’s aging MC-130E/H Combat Talons.

The idea emerging from AFSOC and U.S. Special Operations Command was to add another mission to the MC-130Ws – the gunship role. Instead of creating a gunship from scratch, why not develop a package – designated Dragon Spear -- of pallet-mounted control consoles, electronics, and a gun that could be rolled on and off? The permanent alterations to the MC-130W, such as cutting away panels for the gun and adding a sensor turret to the fuselage, would not interfere with the plane’s tanker and infiltration missions.

The “urgent requirement” came on April 22, 2009, says James Geurts, SOCOM’s deputy director of research and

acquisition and a retired Air Force acquisition officer. Geurts was handed leadership of the program and made commander of Joint Task Force – Dragon, the first joint acquisition task force at SOCOM.

The task force set up shop at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to take advantage of the Air Armament Center’s facilities and test ranges and to be near AFSOC’s headquarters 10 miles away at Hurlburt Field, Fla., and SOCOM’s home at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., 400 miles to the southeast. Geurts’ deputy at the task force, Air Force Maj. Bill Blauser, saw the advantage of having all the players close together. “The decision chain,” he says, “was me walking down the hall or up the stairs.”

The task force was unique because it brought together engineers and craftsmen, many from Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia, acquisition staff, and operational aircrew members

BOOK_DS09V3.indd 17 9/11/09 2:37:04 PM

A Dragon Spear-equipped MC-130W lands at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. The 73rd Special Operations Squadron at Cannon will operate the gunship-modified aircraft.

PHO

TO: A

irma

n 1

st C

lass

Ma

yne

linn

e D

e L

a C

ruz

and maintainers from Cannon, Geurts says. Typically, operators would not become deeply involved until a project was well into the development and test phase. Additionally, to cut the bureaucracy and speed development, most of the task force members were Defense Department civilians or uniformed military members. “I didn’t have to wait to award a big contract,” Geurts says.

Among the airmen involved was Lt. Col. Robert Masaitis, director of operations for the Combat Spears of the 73rd Special Operations Squadron at Cannon. “As the program rapidly progressed, this core group ensured strong continuity for both operations and maintenance,” Masaitis says. “It also provided huge benefits as we started operational flying because we were then able to reach back and discuss with the engineers and developers any problems that we were seeing.”

The first MC-130W arrived at Eglin on May 17, 2009. “Within three weeks we had the equipment integrated on that aircraft and we were doing live munitions tests,” Geurts says. The Dragon Spear’s teeth included Northrop Grumman’s Viper Strike and Raytheon’s Griffin munitions, both small, guided weapons launched from tubes mounted inside the plane. Geurts declines to say how many of the weapons an MC-130W can carry or go into detail about how the munitions are mounted onboard. The Air Force first test-launched a Viper Strike from a C-130 in 2005.

Development of the 30 mm gun and targeting software has proven more difficult. The gun is attached to a pallet that can be rolled to the front of the MC-130W’s cargo bay. The gun barrel points through a portal cut into the fuselage just behind the left-front crew door. While the gun has been fired successfully, the task force continues to refine the software used to aim the gun and compensate for such factors as the MC-130W’s speed and the wind between the plane and target, Air Force officials say.

To give the MC-130W crew a view of what is happening on the ground, the Dragon Spear program replaced the MC-130W’s nose-mounted navigation sensor pod with a targeting pod and mounted a new pod with a low-level light camera under the plane.

The pictures are fed to a pallet-mounted control and communications console in the cargo bay, Geurts says. The data is not fed into the MC-130W’s permanent navigation and flight control systems because that would require meshing the software of Dragon Spear and the MC-130W. “We purposely stayed away from integrating the package directly into flight software,” Geurts says. “We built a platform-

independent system.” If the pilots and others sitting in the cockpit need to see the same

images as the crewmembers sitting downstairs at the consoles, the link is accomplished by mounting portable display screens in the cockpit and stringing cables to connect them to the console feeds, Geurts says.

The Dragon Spear program ran in parallel with the Marine Corps’ effort to equip some of its KC-130Js with an attack

package and the two efforts share information, but the programs have taken different approaches. While Dragon Spear’s sensors and weapons are housed within the fuselage, the Marines chose to place their sensors and munitions on wing-mounted pods. Also, the Marines aim to fire their 30 mm gun through the left-rear troop door instead of cutting a portal for the barrel.

Because of the tight Dragon Spear development and delivery schedule, a capability was supposed to be ready for fielding every three months to the 73rd Special Operations Squadron. Even if there were problems with the gun, for example, the 73rd could still practice and deploy with the reconnaissance package.

As Dragon Spear continued development, airmen from the 73rd and from Cannon’s schoolhouse unit, the 551st Special Operations Squadron, figured out who should operate the Dragon Spear-equipped Combat Spear and started training airmen for their new roles. Meanwhile, the MC-130Ws continued meeting real-world requirements, including earthquake relief flights to Haiti in January 2010.

Among the manning decisions, Masaitis says, was to qualify all of the squadron’s aircrew members on Dragon Spear and keep the crew the same, at seven – two pilots, two combat systems officers, two loadmasters and a flight engineer.

By early January 2010, the 73rd had received its first operational Dragon Spear-equipped MC-130W and a simulator for ground training. While the gunship package is named Dragon Spear, the aircraft remains a Combat Spear.

The traditional MC-130W mission emphasized stealth and low-level flying, while the gunship mission required the plane to linger over a target at high altitudes. “Being different than our previous mission,” Masaitis says, “crews were hesitant at first.” To make the transition, some old skills not immediately needed were set aside.

“Crews have stopped flying low-level and the unit no longer


Our family of companies has ability to meet your needsproven

vt-systems.com

Ruggedized TacticalHandheld Device

Rugged TabletComputer Unit

Mark V SOC Ambassador Mk 1

AR-50 (JITC Certified) • 50 watts of power • Fast automatic switching• Switchable LNA and

co-site filters• Small size

All AR products are backed by the 3 year no nonsense warranty. These state-of-the-art amplifiers support tactical waveforms including DAMA, SINCGARS, HAVEQUICK, HPW, IW and ANW2.

GSA Contract Number GS-07F-0371U. Call us at 425-485-9000 or visit us at ar-worldwide.com.

AR-75 Vehicle-Mounted Booster Amps• 75 watts of power • Fast automatic switching • Separate antenna ports for

line-of-sight & satellite communications• Switchable LNA and co-site filters• Waterproof

KMW2030 (JITC Certified) • 125 watts of power • Automatic band switching option• UHF co-site filtering eliminates interference from nearby transmitters• Protection against VSWR, antenna mismatch, over temperature,

excessive current draw and DC power mismatch

KMW1031 Kit• The “lightest” 20-watt amplifier kit

on the market at less than 2.5 lbs.• Fully automatic band-switching• No VSWR fault or reset required• Single battery full spec operation• Waterproof

• Kit includes amplifier, 30-512 MHz antenna, RF cables, battery cable & tactical vest pouches for boththe amp and the antenna.

Compromise Elsewhere!

modular rf Other ar divisions: rf/microwave instrumentation • receiver systems • ar europe Copyright© 2010 AR. The orange stripe on AR products is Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM. Off.

The Battle Tested logo is Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM. Off. # 3,821,099.

1/2 pg compromise ad horz:Layout 1 12/21/10 1:55 PM Page 1

PRIMARY FUNCTION: Infiltration, exfiltration and resup-ply of Special Operations forces; in-flight refueling of Special Operations vertical lift assets; when modified, as a gunship with intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities. CONTRACTOR: Lockheed POWER PLANT: Four Allison T56-A-15 turboprop engines THRUST: 4,910 shaft horsepower each engine WINGSPAN: 132 feet, 7 inches LENGTH: 98 feet, 9 inches HEIGHT: 38 feet, 6 inches

WEIGHT: 75,745 pounds MAXIMUM TAKEOFF WEIGHT: 155,000 pounds FUEL CAPACITY: 44,240 pounds MAXIMUM NORMAL PAYLOAD: 33,000 pounds SPEED: 300 mph MAXIMUM RANGE: 1,208 miles; in-flight refu-eling extends to unlimited range CEILING: 33,000 feet CREW: pilot, copilot, two navigators, flight engi-neer and two loadmasters INITIAL OPERATING CAPABILITY: 2007 DATE DEPLOYED: 2006 UNIT COST: $60 million INVENTORY: Active force, 12 (planned)

Source: Air Force

Airmen work on a Dragon Spear-equipped MC-130W at Cannon Air Force Base. The plane’s unique gunship package includes a sensor turret mounted just forward of the left rear landing gear and the portal for a 30 mm gun to the rear of the left-side crew door.

Crew members prepare to fly an MC-130W to Haiti in January 2010 to provide humanitarian relief after the devastating earthquake.

THE MC-130W COMBAT SPEAR

PHO

TOS:

Airm

an

1st

Cla

ss M

ayn

elin

ne

De

La

Cru

z


trains for helicopter air-refueling missions,” the squadron operations officer says. The squadron instead emphasizes refining intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and the strike mission, along with high-altitude-low-opening/high altitude-high-opening parachute drops, self-contained approaches, and infiltration and exfiltration of personnel and cargo.

The first Combat Spear-as-a-gunship combat deployment came in November. The experiences over Iraq and Afghanistan erased any hesitation airmen had about the new mission. “Being overhead in combat and having ground teams ask us to extend our time overhead so there wouldn’t be a gap in their air coverage has helped put it all in perspective,” Masaitis says.

It takes about four months of training for airmen to be qualified on Dragon Spear. About 90 percent of the 73rd’s aircrew members had qualified on the Dragon Spear mission as of mid-April, squadron commander Lt. Col. Kevin “Copa” Cabanas says.

The new gunship continues to be a work in progress. L-3 Communications won the contract to modify the MC-130Ws to fly with Dragon Spear; the work should be completed by the end of 2011, Geurts says. The cost per plane for the Dragon Spear conversion and gear is about $20 million.

Beyond the MC-130W, AFSOC and SOCOM want to use the “plug and play” concept of Dragon Spear as a starting point for the planned gunship version of the C-130J, Guerts said.

The Air Force announced last year that it intended to buy 16 C-130Js through 2015 and adapt them for the gunship mission. The new planes would join the fleet of 17 AC-130Us and allow AFSOC to retire its eight Vietnam War-vintage AC-130H Spectres.J

DEFENSE STANDARD Summer 201142

By Rich Tuttle

Col. Eric Smith, commanding officer of Marine Corps Regimental Combat Team 8, talks to Afghan village elders

during a patrol near Forward Operating Base Delaram II in March. Emerging cellphone technologies can ease the

task of officers in such engagements.

Will iPads and cellphones with specialized apps become the special operator’s new best friend?

HAVE SMARTPHONE,WiLL TRAVEL

When U.S. Navy SEAL Team 10 was taking deadly fire from scores of Taliban fighters in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan in June 2005, Lt. Michael

Murphy made a desperate call for help on his cellphone. But he had to move out into the open to do it, away from cliff walls that would interfere with the signal. He got through, but it cost him his life. Only one of the four team members survived.

Commercial cellphone technology has improved since then, but for security reasons military officials are reluctant to say how it might have helped SEAL Team 10 in its now well-publicized mission to capture or kill a Taliban leader. In general, the successful transmission of a cellphone signal “would be directly dependent on the topology,” says Tony Davis, program executive officer for command, control, communications and computers at U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. “We operate oftentimes in hilly or mountainous terrain and coverage there, even with our line-of-sight radios, is difficult.”

But, he says, “There are ways to architecturally extend that coverage using additional antennas or taller antennas or air vehicles” to act as relay platforms. “So there’s just a lot of technology that we’re looking at, and the services are looking at, to try to solve those kinds of technical problems.”

It’s part of a broader military effort to use handheld computing devices, from smartphones to iPads, to put more information in the

palms of Special Operations Forces (SOF) and other troops and expose them to less risk.

To be sure, there are problems to overcome. Cellphone signals can give away a sender’s position. Data security, information security and operational security are “interrelated issues that have to be worked through,” Davis says.

PH

OTO

: U.S

. Ma

rine

Co

rps

SWIR VISION.SEEING BEYOND.For laser tracking and covert surveillance missions in starlight, under overcast skies or in full daylight, Sensors Unlimited - Goodrich ISR Systems provides shortwave infrared cameras for pinpoint accuracy and clear identifi cation.

Our compact, lightweight and uncooled InGaAs cameras are ideal for use in applications where size, weight and power matters. For programs that require extended vision, no one knows SWIR like we do.

Ω seeing at nightΩ laser tracking & spottingΩ covert & fixed site surveillanceΩ UGV & UAV payloadsΩ high speed imaging & trackingΩ gimbal sensor assembliesΩ target recognitionΩ free space communicationsΩ driver vision enhancement/pilot vision enhancementΩ border/homeland securityΩ fusion with thermal imagers

phone: 609-520-0610email: [email protected] www.sensorsinc.com

SWIR sees battlefi eld lasers

SWIR images through haze & fog

Facial recognition / identifi cation

visible image LWIR image SWIR image

visible SWIR

right attitude/right approach/right alongsidewww.goodrich.com

For the latest in

SWIR imaging

concepts of

operation, visit

www.swirconops.com

See us at SOFIC Booth #1325


Marines from 2nd Intelligence Battalion, Camp Lejeune, N.C., use cellphone technologies to track people and vehicles during Green Devil demonstrations at Empire Challenge 2010 at Fort Huachuca, Calif. Green Devil merges information from various sensors to quickly give U.S. or coalition warfighters just the information they need.

PH

OTO

: U.S

. Jo

int

Forc

es

Co

mm

an

d

Cellphones and other hand-held devices are not yet being procured in large numbers by SOCOM, Davis says. “We’re really in kind of the device-agnostic phase right now. We’re doing a lot of market research and looking at what’s available and strategizing about how we might use it, but we haven’t really narrowed it down into any kind of technology.”

The idea, however, is ultimately to see special operators make widespread use of the latest hand-held technology, Davis says. “That definitely would be the target. And part of the beauty of the smart device kind of form factor is it’s really tailorable to your audience, depending on what kind of applications you write on it.”

Possible applications include “things that we do traditionally on other kinds of devices, like friendly-force tracking, or consolidating intelligence or sensor data, providing access to video feeds” from unmanned aerial systems and other platforms -- “a lot of situational awareness, but some of the command-and-control stuff that you do with radios.”

Hand-held capabilities “really have come along over the last year or so, and I think we’re on the brink of being able to deliver some really great capabilities” to SOF, Davis says.

Aptus Technologies of Round Rock, Texas, with its executive team of former Green Beret officers, is dedicated to fielding

software applications that would make life easier for special operators and other troops in combat.

“The evolution of technology going to the battlefield is amazingly fast,” says David Staffel, co-founder and CEO. “There are new capabilities coming out all the time, and they’re being pushed to the edge as quickly as possible.”

At Aptus, he says, “We build the stuff we wish we had had when we were in combat.” Like the app called Threat Action Program, or TAP. Enormous stores of data from the battlefield and elsewhere are constantly being created from a variety of sources. But TAP uses automated pre-processing and artificial intelligence to pick out only what’s relevant to a user who needs to make a battlefield decision.

“Let’s say you have a patrol that’s going into a village to speak with a village elder about issues that the village is facing, and to see how the Americans might be able to assist them,” Staffel says. “In the course of this conversation, one of the elders mentions a certain personality or name, saying that

that person’s in the area.” The patrol leader can put this name into his mobile device, “like texting friends back home.”

TAP digests the name, compares it with threat names, and correlates it with other information coming in at the same time from elsewhere in the battlespace, as well as with legacy data already in repositories, Staffel says -- and “this name pops up as a threat actor.” This, he says, is “a potentially life-saving piece of information that, left to a previous process, wouldn’t have been discovered until possibly weeks later.”

He says TAP would have helped him in several instances. When he was in Afghanistan a couple of years ago, he says, he and other Green Berets would talk with local people and “find out later that they were telling our sister units different stories. So if I had had TAP, you would have seen a correlation in these stories and these people instantly, real time, and it would have saved us a lot of pain.”

TAP also would have helped him in situations concerning money. It sometimes became apparent that the same people would ask different U.S. military units for money for certain projects, without saying they had asked before. With TAP, Staffel says, “we would have seen that immediately, as opposed to a month down the road.”

The fact that things like TAP weren’t available just two years ago shows how fast the technology is moving, he says. TAP is being evaluated by the military, Staffel says, but he declines to give details.

The Office of Naval Research and Marine Corps Systems Command have been jointly developing a similar system called

Green Devil. It merges information from various sensors and uses data analysis tools to quickly parse out just the information needed by U.S. or coalition warfighters.

“When we’re out in the field or at the tactical edge, we can receive actionable intelligence” from Green Devil through hand-held devices

General Dynamics provides solutions enabling secure voice and data communication from the core of your network to the tactical edge. Our portfolio includes the smallest, lightest Type 1 network encryptor, software that allows users to view and access multiple security domains simultaneously from a single computer, the only VoIP desktop phone certified for Top Secret and below over commercial networks and the only NSA-certified SME PED Smartphone.

• Certified to Secure Information Classified Top Secret and Below • High-Speed, Compact and Mobile • Cost-Effective, Reduces Space Weight and Power (SWaP) • Easy-to-Use, and integrate into existing infrastructures • Compliant with Standards (HAIPE® IS, SCIP, Crypto Modernization) • Supported 24/7 by a Technical Help Desk

For more information, call 781-455-2800 or 888-Type1-4-U (888-897-3148), email [email protected] or visit www.gdc4s.com/secureproducts

General Dynamics Secure Communications: We Bring You What’s Next.

From NETWORK to DESKTOP to INDIVIDUAL

TACLANE ®-Micro (KG-175D)

Smallest, Lightest TacticalNetwork Encryptor

Sectéra ® vIPer ™

Universal Secure PhoneSectéra ® Edge

Smartphone SME PED SIPRNET Access

Whenever, Wherever

SecureCommunications

Note: security classification labels shown on this equipment are for example purposes and do not reflect any actual classification; all information shown is unclassified. The Sectéra Edge was developed under the National Security Agency’s Secure Mobile Environment Portable Electronic Device Program. © 2011 General Dynamics. All rights reserved. TACLANE, Sectéra, vIPer and Edge are trademarks of General Dynamics. HAIPE is a registered trademark of the National Security Agency. All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners. Microsoft product screen shot

reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. General Dynamics reserves the right to make changes in its products and specifications at any time and without notice. CNN web image courtesy CNN.

TVE Desktop

Multiple Levels of Security On a Single Computer

COMBO_DefStandrdS201103.indd 1 3/10/11 9:55 AM


U.S. Army soldiers from Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan conduct a “key leadership engagement” meeting in Khowst, Afghanistan, in 2009. Patrols can use new cellphone technology to quickly identify potentially hostile actors.

PHO

TO: U

.S. A

rmy

like the Motorola Droid, reporters were told by Navy Lt. Victor Cruz at last year’s Empire Challenge demonstration at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

He described a scenario to illustrate how Green Devil would work:

“We’re on a patrol and we’re conducting an economy-of-force operation and going into a village, and I need to talk to the tribal leader to let him know our intent.” A quick “cultural hookup” would allow Cruz to identify the key figures in that village. “I can quickly identify who that tribal leader is and I can negotiate with him to allow us to have safe passage in the region. That will save us from possible IED attack, it’ll clearly represent our intentions in that area because I’m dealing with the tribal leader, and he knows why we’re there.”

In addition, Cruz said, “If it’s a known good area and we see some graffiti or signs that are contrary to that, like propaganda from the Taliban in Afghanistan and al Qaeda in Iraq, we can quickly go through our data base and find significant signs and things, and we can match that up. If it’s not consistent with the local data we have, I can take a picture of it and then I can update it. And then, based on that, we may get redirected to conduct another operation or further surveillance in that area.”

He said he could have used Green Devil in 2008 when he was in Iraq’s al Anbar Province. “The way we did it back then was we had playbooks with us, so everything was hand-written. We were briefed on the area of operations where we going to work, but nothing was available on a hand-held device.”

Newer smartphone capabilities and possibly other things like wearable computers, “would allow us to meet a couple of our key requirements that we are pursuing over the next couple of years,” says SOCOM’s Davis. One is to cut down on the number of items special operators must carry, which today includes a couple of radios and a Rover video receiver.

“The idea is, with a smartphone and the processor power you have there, you can compress some of those and provide video and data and a bunch of other things,” like an applications library unique to Special Operations Forces, “and do it in a form factor that would lighten their load out in the field” -- a constant issue for special operators on foot, particularly in steep terrain.

TerreStar Networks’ Genus Smartphone weighs only 4.6 ounces, says Dennis Matheson, chief technology officer

of the Reston, Va., company. Genus is a combination cellular and satellite phone – saving even more weight -- but it has no external antenna, another feature that might appeal to special operators. Users “can walk around and people wouldn’t necessarily know they’re speaking on a satellite phone,” Matheson says. “It blends in.”

Genus isn’t used by the military, but it is slated to be shown to potential military users at the annual Coalition Warrior

Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) in June. Finland’s Elektrobit Corp. developed the TerreStar handset using components and technologies from several companies, including Hughes Networks and Infinion, according to Jani Lyrintzis, vice president and general manager of Wireless Solutions at EB.

Another technology, TactiCell, is in limited use by special operators. It consists of hand-helds, a network with satellite links,

and services such streaming video, Web browsing and email through cellular apps. Western DataCom, which developed TactiCell, is now working on a system to protect Android and Windows mobile operating systems from attack by malware. The company has submitted several proposals to the SOF community, says Phil Ardire, president of the Westlake, Ohio, company. “They’re standing in line for that one.”

The Army, Navy and Air Force also are working on apps that could be leveraged by the SOF community. The Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) at Fort Monmouth, N.J., for instance, has been working on an app for the dismounted soldier called C2MINCS -- Command and Control Mobile Intelligent Net-Centric Software.

It boosts situational awareness by using GPS to plot the user’s position on a map. The information can then be sent to others, so friendly parties know where they are in relation to each other, says Tyler Barton of the Battle Command Technical Branch of CERDEC’s Command and Control Division.J

2010 © Television Equipment Associates, Inc. All Rights ReservedPhoto by HBL Productions, LLC.

New York (845) 278-0960California (310) 457-7401Texas (469) 362-0121Indiana (574) 264-7217

30 Day Eval Program

Texas (469) 362-0121

New York (845) 278-0960California (310) 457-7401

30 Day Eval Program

HEARING PROTECTION WHEN YOU NEED IT...

360˚ AWARENESS WHEN YOU DON’T

Our core competencies and expertise include: • Strategic Communications • Influence and Outreach Operations • Counter-IED Analytical Support • Special Operations Forces (SOF) Operations Integrator Support • Strategic and Tactical Intelligence Support • Operations Research and Systems Analysis (ORSA) Support

Leonie provides unique SOF capabilities across discreet markets: • Cultural Advisors in SOF Specific Austere Environments • Irregular Warfare Analysis and Support • Asymmetric Warfare Activities Support • Program and Project Management Services

SOF specific Operational Preparation of the Environment (OPE) and Infrastructure Development

Leonie is an international, woman-owned strategic communications, intelligence and operations research company. Leonie is unique because our perspective begins with host country local networks at the center of our operations. Simply put, what makes Leonie different is our cultural understanding of local populations and our ability to translate that understanding into cost-effective services and solutions for our customers globally.

For additional information contact: David Powers [email protected] W Bay Street, Suite 350 Tampa, FL 33606 www.leoindus.com

Communicate Beyond BordersDefense, Diplomacy, and Development.Mission Accomplishment in the SOF Global Community

USSOCOM half-pg Magazine Ad v0.indd 1 5/3/11 6:03 PM

RESCUE


When key U.S. personnel were trapped along with hundreds of locals in February 2010 after an avalanche let loose 11,500 feet above sea

level on Afghanistan’s Salang Pass, burying cars and sending vehicles in a 2,000-foot plunge, the first calls for help went to the Air Force’s 33rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron at Bagram Airfield. Temperatures were below zero, with winds whipping at 30 to 40 knots. More avalanches threatened the high mountain pass in insurgent trafficking territory. Helicopter accessibility was questionable.

At Bagram, paramedics on two Air Force “Guardian Angel” rescue teams loaded up with snowshoes, ropes and water for what was likely to be an arduous hike to reach survivors. They gathered extrication equipment and hypothermia kits, as well as cold-weather mass casualty equipment packages. Buffeted by high winds, Army CH-47 Chinooks flew the rescue specialists into the site, followed by a UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter carrying an officer managing the mission. Somehow the Chinooks were able to land on the highway, scooping up 90 people including the

key U.S. personnel and flying everyone to Bagram for medical treatment.

But the mission was far from over. The helicopters and the Guardian Angel rescue teams returned to the avalanche site, where the airmen made their way down the steep mountainside to buses buried in the show. A seven-man Air Force team dug furiously, at first with their hands, to uncover trapped passengers, even digging tunnels inside the snow-filled vehicle. They called for a Chinook to drop more life-saving equipment nearby and cut through the metal bus frame to extricate victims, one by one, put them into sleeping bags covered in heating blankets, and carried them through deep, unstable snow to the waiting helicopters. Other rescue forces gathered patients at a nearby tunnel for triage and evacuation.

In all the rescuers helped 282 Afghans off the mountain, directly saved 15 lives and helped 49 people in near-critical condition before turning the mission over to the Afghan army and police.

Not just another day on the job, exactly. But neither was it all that unusual for today’s Air Force Rescue forces.

“Guardian Angel” isn’t just a job —

it’s a calling

AIR FORCE

By Julie Bird

Air Force Rescue forces can parachute, helicopter, fast-rope, swim, dive, boat or hike in to rescue isolated personnel – basically, whatever it takes.

PHO

TO: S

gt.

Ste

ph

en

De

ca

tur


The Air Force takes rescue seriously. It is the only service in which rescue is a career, not a

job or an assignment. The rescue community also classifies its personnel as a “weapon system” like its HH-60 rescue helicopter and the HC-130 Combat King, an extended-range C-130 variant that can refuel rescue helicopters as well as drop supplies, deploy pararescuemen by parachute, and provide on-scene mission command and control. HC-130s also can be used as flying ambulances.

Classifying the roughly 1,000-person rescue force as the “Guardian Angel” weapon system enables Air Force Rescue to plan, modernize and procure equipment just like it does for aircraft, says Maj. Glen Frazier, personnel recovery section chief for Air Combat Command’s Flight Operations and Training Branch. “It helps the Air Force because it puts it into something the corporate Air Force structure understands.”

Guardian Angel includes pararescuemen, commonly known as PJs; Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) specialists; and combat rescue officers who plan and oversee missions. Combat rescue officer has only been a career field for about 10 years.

Until recently the core Air Force rescue mission was recovering shot-down pilots, Frazier says. Today’s mission is to report, locate, support, recover and reintegrate “isolated personnel,” or IPs -- soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, coalition partners, defense contractors or civilians -- in wartime, peacetime and times of crisis, stateside and overseas. “We’ve transitioned from a service-centric combat search and rescue to personnel recovery in support of Air Force assets and joint-force assets,” he says. “It was sort of a one-trick pony, and the battlefield has evolved beyond that.”

The rescue mission “has not gotten just deeper and more

robust, but broader,” to include aeromedical evacuation, or medevac, says Maj. David Casson, HC-130 functional manager for Air Combat Command (ACC).

Pararescuemen -- the paramedics who parachute, fast-rope, boat, swim, dive, climb and otherwise make their way to those needing help -- also increasingly conduct confined-space rescues, such as digging out victims of structures collapsed by terrorist bombings and earthquakes, says Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Negrone, ACC’s pararescue functional manager. “Haiti is a perfect example,” he says. Special Operations PJs

from the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., deployed quickly to Port-au-Prince after the January 2010 earthquake, coordinating with major civilian agencies to rescue victims trapped in rubble.

Air Force Rescue also performs “Deadliest Catch”-type missions to rescue injured or stranded sailors. For

example, Frazier recalled a case in which a civilian sailor fell into the cargo hold of a freighter off the coast of Ireland. HH-60s lowered four PJs to the deck, which was pitching and rolling in 30- to 40-foot seas. Frazier managed the mission from aboard an HC-130, coordinating with the Pave Hawk crews and a Special Operations AC-130 gunship providing on-scene assistance. The PJs recovered the sailor, hoisted him up to the helicopter, and treated him en route to a hospital. “We do that all the time,” Frazier says.

As a combat rescue officer, Frazier says he puts himself “at the point of greatest friction. That might be on the ground with the recovery team. That might be in tactical operations control working with HH-60s or 130s.” Or, he says, it could be in a joint rescue center that coordinates rescues for all the services. That’s just one level of command and control. For the Salang Pass rescue in Afghanistan, the Rescue Tactical Operations Center, Regional Command East Personnel Rescue Center and the U.S. Joint Personnel Rescue Center all played a role.

Mission flexibility and the ability to respond quickly to changing situations are key. PJs typically ride aboard helicopters, which can land or lower them into inaccessible areas, then fly the rescued personnel back to a base. But HC-130s are faster, which can make all the difference when a patient is critically injured.

An HH-60G Pave Hawk hovers over pararescuemen and Brig. Gen. Jack L. Briggs, the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, during a training mission at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, providing a glimpse of what the 33rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron brings to the fight and the capabilities it provides to combat commanders.

PHO

TO: S

taff

Sg

t. C

hris

top

he

r Bo

itz

LIMESTONECOLLEGE E x t e n d e d C a m p u s

www .L imestone . edu/m i l i ta ry1.866.654.2223

Start Now, Online!Bachelor’s DegreeFlexible Schedule8 - Week Internet CoursesRegionally AccreditedFinancial Aid AvailableTransfer Credits AcceptedCredit for Ratings/MOS Credit for Military Training & Schools

MajorsBusiness AdministrationComputer SciencePsychologyCriminal JusticeHealth Care AdministrationLiberal StudiesHuman Resource Management

You’re a hero to your country.What do you want to be NOW ?

Military Friendly School

1/2 TUITIONFOR MILITARYSTUDENTS


In one incident in Afghanistan, Air Force Rescue forces were sent to help a coalition force member injured when his vehicle ran over an antitank mine near the Iranian border. An HC-130 from the 71st Rescue Squadron arrived 40 minutes ahead of HH-60s, so three PJs parachuted out of the Combat King from 3,500 feet to stabilize a severely injured patient until the helicopters could transport him to a field hospital. The PJs had to parachute onto a precise spot to avoid landing in a minefield.

When the helicopters arrived, the PJs from the 38th Rescue Squadron were joined by two from the 66th Rescue Squadron. The patient’s right leg was amputated at mid-thigh, his left leg was shattered, his right arm was broken, internal injuries were probable, and he had multiple shrapnel wounds and a deep cut across his face. He also was conscious. The PJs splinted the broken limbs, packed the amputation site to slow bleeding, bandaged cuts, ran IVs and administered drugs before loading him on an HH-60 for evacuation, and continued treating him in the air en route to meet a surgical team on the ground in Kandahar. The patient most certainly would have died without that rapid intervention.

“In today’s fight, in Afghanistan and Iraq, all three of these weapon systems are stressed out there,” says Senior

Master Sgt. Travis West, an HH-60 flight engineer and command superintendent. “We deploy for 120 days, reintegrate, retrain, then go again. [Isolated personnel] want Air Force HC-130s and HH-60s to take them home.”

The Air Force is upgrading its HC-130s to the new J model, contracting with Lockheed Martin Corp. to produce up to 11 HC-130Js. The first came off the Marietta, Ga., production line in Apri 2010l, with delivery to the Air Force in September for operational testing. Other commands already use the upgraded J-model Super Hercules, which has numerous upgrades. The Air Force also is working on an HH-60 modernization program, which could involve a new aircraft.

Equally important as up-to-date equipment is up-to-date training.

“We plan for the hardest task out there, combat search and rescue under direct fire from the enemy to recover isolated personnel,” says West.

The two-year training for would-be pararescuemen – the force’s

front-line fighters, if you will -- includes Army Airborne School, an Air Force combat diver course, Navy underwater egress training, Air Force Basic Survival School, Army freefall parachute training, a 22-week paramedic course and, finally, the 24-week Pararescue Recovery Specialist Course at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

In October the Air Force opened the $14.7 million, 32,000-square-foot Guardian Angel Rescue / Recovery Training Center at Kirtland, and a $10 million, 25,000-square-foot warehouse and logistics center. The 342nd Training Squadron, Detachment 1, operates the center, which includes two large training towers, a medical wing and state-of-the-art audiovisual training equipment. The new facility will allow the Air Force to graduate another 65 PJs per year.

PJ training is “very technical and very dynamic,” says Senior Master Sgt. James Clark, pararescue functional manager for Air Education and Training Command. They learn both high-angle and low-angle rescue techniques, high angle being for rescues on glaciers or steep mountain terrain. They learn how to navigate in confined spaces such as collapsed buildings and use specialized equipment to clear space. They learn to parachute and dive and operate boats and all-terrain vehicles, and to use combat weapons and tactics in a recently expanded training course of study. And, of course, there’s the medical training, ending with paramedic certification. The number of annual graduates varies with the size and number of classes per year, Clark says.

It takes a special person to become a Guadian Angel, he adds, “one that never quits, one that always looks to the right and to the left and thinks of them first, someone with courage, character and confidence and a willingness to sacrifice self.”

Pararescueman Senior Airman Corey Farr of the 66th Expeditionary Rescue

Squadron rappels from an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter during operational

training in Iraq.

PHO

TO: S

taff

Sg

t. A

aro

n A

llmo

n

J


By Rich Tuttle

Technology provides an edge when failure is not an option

Special SOF gear includes earplugs and headsets that amplify soft sounds while

dampening gunfire and explosions.

Special Forces, Special Tools

PHO

TO:

Co

urt

esy

3M

U.S. Special Operations Command uses the latest technology in just about every aspect of personal equipment for its small, clandestine teams, from headsets and gloves to backpacks, vision augmentation systems and body

armor.The sophistication of such systems allows an operator “to ignore threats or dangers

or encumbrances that somebody not so equipped is constantly aware of,” says Dakota L. Wood, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a think tank in Washington, D.C. They “make it possible to do things much more easily and effectively than their enemy is able to,” says Wood, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel studying the operational challenges of irregular warfare.

A headset developed by 3M, for instance, integrates communications and hearing protection using a technology the company calls Talk-Through. With 3M’s Comtac Advanced Communication Headset, loud noises like gunfire and explosions are transmitted to the ear at safe levels while softer sounds like whispers or rustling leaves are amplified, says Tom Lavalle, a business development specialist at 3M’s Military Marketing Center in Indianapolis, Ind.

3M also makes hearing protectors for soldiers who don’t use a radio. One, called the Combat Arms Earplug, kicks in protection only when it’s needed. It uses a patented filter that allows a soldier to hear things like conversations and footsteps but dampens a loud noise the instant it occurs, according to Doug Moses, a 3M business development specialist and marketing manager.

A “modular glove system” from Outdoor Research of Seattle, Wash., is a set of five gloves that can be worn in layers in extreme

INTR

ODUC

ING

HIGH

GRO

UND®

BATT

LEFI

ELD

TEST

ED. F

OR B

ATTL

EFIE

LD S

PEED

.

HIGH

GRO

UND

appl

ies

the

prov

en c

omba

t prin

cipl

es o

f the

“OOD

A Lo

op” t

o th

e de

sign

and

eng

inee

ring

of o

ur p

rem

ium

milit

ary-

grad

e ta

ctic

al g

ear t

o m

axim

ize o

pera

tor s

peed

and

dec

isio

n m

akin

g. A

des

ign

philo

soph

y so

adv

ance

d, w

e’ve

cre

ated

an

entir

ely

new

pr

oduc

t cat

egor

y: O

ODAS

YS™ .

It’s

how

the

fast

get

fast

er.

See

this

des

ign

brea

kthr

ough

dur

ing

SOFI

C, M

ay 1

7-18

at t

he E

mba

ssy

Suite

s Ho

tel –

GAN

DY II

Roo

m n

ear t

he S

kyW

alk

co

nnec

ted

to th

e Ta

mpa

Con

vent

ion

Cent

er. C

onta

ct u

s at

800

-783

-206

5 or

vis

it hi

ghgr

ound

gear

.com

.

Owne

d an

d pr

oduc

ed b

y Eh

mke

Man

ufac

turin

g Co

mpa

ny, I

nc.

Mad

e in

Phi

lade

lphi

a. J

ust l

ike

the

Cons

titut

ion.

HighGround_8-375x10-875_Vert.indd 1 4/26/11 9:26 AM

Special ToolsSpecial Forces,

Navy SEALs use equipment that has low susceptibility to corrosion. Here, a member of SEAL Delivery Team Two (SDVT-2) boards one

of the team’s SEAL Delivery Vehicles before launching from the back of the Los Angeles-class attack sub USS Philadelphia (SSN

690) during a training exercise.

PHO

TO:

Ch

ief P

ho

tog

rap

he

r’s

Ma

te A

nd

rew

Mc

Kask

le


cold weather, or separately for a variety of other conditions. “It’s a collection,” says Mike Christian, director of government sales for OR. “You can take them from the desert floor in Afghanistan all the way to the highest peak there.”

One layer is fire-resistant in response to the threat of roadside bombs. “We certainly knew how to make good, dexterous, tight-fitting, durable gloves, but were certainly introduced to some new materials,” including Nomex and Kevlar, to make the fire-resistant layer, Christian says.

Night sights, rifle sights, thermal sights and image-intensification goggles are all made for Special Forces by L-3

Communications’ Warrior Systems unit. The unit was formed after L-3’s acquisition of Insight Technology Corp., a long-time supplier of night-vision and electro-optical equipment with close links to the Special Operations community. Laser targeting and acquisition markers come from Northrop Grumman.

“Lightweight laser-designator rangefinders that we make are probably, outside of night-vision goggles, the most high-tech piece of equipment that a Specops operator carries all the time. It’s starting to become as common as your water bottle,” says Paul Cabellon, a Northrop Grumman spokesman.

SOCOM’s Body Armor Load Carriage System (BALCS) is supplied by Mystery Ranch, a backpack-maker in Bozeman, Mont. BALCS features the latest fitting and stability technology, according to the company. Mystery Ranch, formed in 2000 primarily to work with the Navy SEAL community, has since worked with every tier of Special Ops, according to Mark Seacat, director of marketing. “We create everything, from light-carry three-day assault packs, which is probably our most popular pack, to concealed sniper rifle packs.” The Rapid Access Trauma System, or RATS, pack uses Velcro and color-coding to allow a medic to quickly pull out just what is needed.

Ceramic body armor is produced by Ceradyne Inc., of Costa Mesa, Calif. The armor is made of boron carbide, which Ceradyne describes as “the lightest technical ceramic material ... as well as the hardest,” second only to diamonds.

Special Forces have almost always had special gear, but the level of sophistication grew after 1987, when USSOCOM was

formed. One reason is that with all the money in one bucket instead of being spread around to special units in the individual services, it has been easier to develop and acquire the lighter, more durable and more technically advanced gear demanded by high-risk, high-payoff missions.

Navy SEALs thus have ready access to gear more resistant than normal to corrosion, while Army special operators get lighter, more capable personal gear. If rifles and sidearms must be souped up, it happens quickly. Instead of a standard-issue 9mm Beretta pistol, for instance, Special Forces operators may prefer a Colt .45 with modifications like a unique trigger -- and have no problem getting it in a hurry.

The service components within Special Operations Forces do make the greatest possible use of equipment provided by their parent services, but “the unique nature of SOF missions frequently drives different materiel solutions” among the services, Air Force Maj. Wes Ticer, a USSOCOM spokesman, says in an email response to questions.

He doesn’t address individual equipment, but does say that “in the mobility area, the service-provided High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAP) are often outfitted with specific command, control, communication and computer intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance suites to support specific SOF service-component branch requirements.”

Such niche capabilities aren’t usually given to all U.S. forces because they are not required, and because they’re not cheap. The SOF community is willing to pay the price of high-tech individual

ARMORED SPEC OPS TOYOTA HILUX FEATURES:

-Complete armor capsule-Underbelly V-Hull-Oversized Fuel Cell-Hi-Performance off road suspension-Increased HP and Torque-Tactical Interior-Tactical Interior

For more information:web. www.ultraarmoring.comsales. 704-259-6042

FOR THE NEXT GENERATION WARFIGHTER

WHEN ARMOR JUST ISN’T

ENOUGH

www.Flipfins.com


Special ToolsSpecial Forces,

Different styles of gear, including helmets and backpacks, can be seen in this photo of members of Operational Detachment Alpha 3336 of the 3rd

Special Forces Group. They are surveying the Shok Valley in Afghanistan where they fought a nearly seven-hour battle with an insurgent force.

PHO

TO:

Sgt.

Da

vid

N. G

un

n

J

gear because the mission is so important, Wood says. “They have to succeed, and you want to be able to bring everybody back.”

SOCOM is putting some serious money into individual equipment. The command’s acquisition and logistics arm has

several program executive offices, or PEOs, to handle procurement -- fixed wing, maritime systems, a support activity, rotary wing, special reconnaissance and SOF Warrior.

PEO-SOF Warrior’s job is to “enhance lethality, mobility and survivability” in ground activities, according to the command. One of its responsibilities is the SOF Personal Equipment Advanced Requirements (SPEAR) program, which covers body armor, helmets, load carriage systems, backpacks, gloves, eye protection and communications headsets. All are “designed and developed to provide an integrated modular system for the SOF Warrior,” the command says. Another SOF Warrior individual equipment responsibility is the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) program, aimed at providing life-saving first aid in tactical situations.

SOCOM’s combined fiscal 2011 budget request for SPEAR and TCCC was expected to be about $52 million, Ticer says. PEO-SOF Warrior, he says, fielded more than 29,000 items of SPEAR individual equipment during fiscal 2010 as well as nearly 3,000 TCCC operator kits and 400 TCCC medic kits.

SOF operators are able cover a range of missions with their individual gear because it is both interoperable and modular, Ticer says. “This tailored-ability enables SOF operators to rapidly reconfigure their equipment and execute assigned missions in remote locations.”

Because SOF operate in rugged environments, equipment reliability and maintainability is critical, he says, along with the ability to tailor

equipment training and maintenance to those operational realities.Meanwhile, a range of research and development efforts are

under way within PEO-SOF Warrior: adapting digital multispectral technologies to improve night-vision capabilities; reducing weapon signatures; seeking lighter weight, more protective body armor; improving crew situational awareness by integrating sensors into mobility platforms; and reducing the weight of vehicle armor to improve mobility.

A big reason for the emphasis on new technology is that adversaries are constantly on the lookout for ways to offset systems in the Special Operations arsenal. Technologies of all kinds proliferate over time, meaning that “more actors get access to them,” says CSBA’s Wood. Technologies that give U.S. forces an advantage can find their way into the hands of groups like Hezbollah and Latin American drug traffickers. “If you’ve got cash you can buy just about anything these days, including high-end weapon systems,” Wood says.

Special Forces gear is keyed to work with low signatures, and “darkness itself works to our advantage in general,” says one

industry executive. “We try to provide gear that gives us the night as the edge, and a lot of it you’ll find strapped to their helmets or onto their rifles. ... Part of the whole trick is to try to do it in a manner that allows them to do their primary jobs as if it were during the daytime.” A related focus is “to make these things really, really lightweight” and able to run for long periods off small batteries.

At the same time, each supplier has to understand how its system or device fits with those of other suppliers. 3M’s communication headset, for instance, not only has to plug into a variety of sources -- aircraft intercom, ground vehicles, portable radios -- but it must as easily as possible be worn with things like a respiratory mask, combat eyewear, helmet and nape band, and body armor. Not least of all, says 3M’s Lavalle, it must fit. “How can you ensure that any soldier -- man, woman, big head, small head -- can put this on and it works? It’s not an easy task.” And there are some problems that can’t be easily solved. Headsets, for example, will be hot in the desert.

The relatively small size of the Special Operations Forces – just 12,000 are deployed around the world on an average day, according to the command – and their hallmark individuality is a natural fit with the small entrepreneurial companies that supply much of the SOF gear. “We invite these groups in and they bring their entire kit that they need to carry, and we’ll design an alpha prototype in usually three to five days,” says Mystery Ranch’s Seacat. “We either send it with them, or have it meet them back home, and then they go out and test it” and give feedback.

Mystery Ranch also gets “satellite phone calls directly from Afghanistan,” Seacat says. “They’re usually calling to say, ‘Hey, thanks a lot, this is amazing stuff; other members of our group have seen it; we need to buy six more of these packs, like now.’ And then we send it straight to Afghanistan.”

THE ULTRA-POWERFUL WARN® WINCH LINEUP

Learn more: www.warn.com, or contact Jim Armour, Director of Industrial Sales: 734-953-9870

Warn Industries provides the technical innovations that can help keep troops moving forward. Case-in-point, our innovative Olympus 25 winch—the most powerful electric winch on earth. It’s capable of severe duty pulls formerly attained only by hydraulic winches. We also offer a variety of field-proven hydraulic and electric winches and hoists. Capacities are as varied as the terrain our troops encounter: from 6,000 lbs. to 30,000 lbs. Count on Warn Industries when it’s all on the line.

© 2

011

War

n In

dust

ries,

Inc.

WAR

N ®

and

the

WAR

N lo

go a

re re

gist

ered

trad

emar

ks o

f War

n In

dust

ries,

Inc.

WARN® 30XL Hydraulic winch. Available in

lightweight aluminum. Rated to 30,000 lbs.

pulling capacity

A new force multiplier: the WARN Olympus 25

winch, the world’s most powerful and efficient

electric winch

60+ years of service and still the technology leader

DefenseStandard_1.indd 1 5/3/11 1:54:14 PM

SOF SurvivabilitySPEAR sharpens Special Operators’protective edge in battle


Special Operations Forces hone their skills and test out their equipment

at exercises like Emerald Warrior, a two-week joint / combined tactical

exercise sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command to leverage

lessons learned from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Special Operations missions aren’t like other kinds of military missions. Small, stealthy, highly mobile units operate in often harsh environments,

without vehicles, perhaps without traditional support, for what could be days at a time. So it’s no surprise that much of their personal gear is as specialized as their missions.

Special Operations Forces (SOF) gear has to meet requirements for all the services, since each branch has its own special operators. It also has to meet unique Special Operations requirements, including many that conventional forces would rarely need to deal with. Take maritime or amphibious operations. Gear has to survive being submerged, for example, utilizing coatings and materials that not only stand up to exposure to water but are able to operate at specific depths.

This stuff is special, all right.U.S. Special Operations Command established the

Special Operations Forces (SOF) Soldier Protection and Survival Systems program in fiscal 2009 to fund ongoing development of specialized personal gear for its personnel. Resources were shifted from another ongoing program element called Special Operations Tactical Systems Development, and from Weapon Systems Advanced Development.

The gear is part of the SOF Personal Equipment Advanced Requirements, or SPEAR, consisting of the equipment worn or carried by SOF operators – body armor,

helmets, load carriage systems, protective combat uniforms and communications headsets, to name a few. The products are designed as an integrated modular system, says Ken McGraw, a command spokesman.

The Program Executive Officer for SOF Warrior Systems has overall responsibility for the program. Program management is handled by the program manager for SOF Survival, Support and Equipment Systems at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering (RD&E) Center in Natick, Mass.

The program structure is modular in the sense that each capability area is pursued on a separate acquisition path, according to a Natick document explaining the early stages of SPEAR. The idea was to make the products compatible and interoperable with current equipment as much as possible, with contingency stocks and emergency spares available through a depot or on order through production contracts.

Lighter, faster, stronger and safer are key goals for SPEAR equipment. “Examples include a ballistic plate that is lighter with greater capability, a helmet designed for increased survivability, or a communications headset that is more reliable under extreme conditions,” according to the SOF Warrior Systems Program Executive Office at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

The services’ research and development commands work on SOF-specific development needs when requested, but

PHO

TO: S

gt.

Jo

na

tha

n L

ove

lad

y

SOF Survivability

By Julie Bird

Small footprint – 12”L x 7”W x 6.5” H

UPS/Battery backup power management

Run any Windows™ application

80% less energy consumption

80% less heat dissipation

9-40Volt DC Input

610-450-4141

www.rapctechnology.com

[email protected] Failure is not an option

ALSO NOW

AVAILABLE: World’s fastest

and most accu-

rate real-time

GPS tracking.

Location update

in 2 seconds.

Accurate to 5

feet or less, 24x7.

The Tactical Missions

Computer System

C4i/C5i alternative

About the size of

a loaf of bread

Corporate Vision: To provide access to electronic net-centric solutions that will automate businessprocesses for our customers. We will do so with the intention of developing synergistic results, andenabling our customers to accomplish their mission and goals, in the most effective manner possible.

Mission Statement: To develop, provide, implement, and maintain Information Technology (IT) solutions that will positively impact the world around us.

1010 Rockville Pike,#400Rockville, MD 20852

800-960-2469

[email protected] www.eor.us

An air commando from the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., jumps from a C-130 Hercules during parachute training at Florida’s Santa Rosa Sound. SOF gear must adapt to wet or dry conditions.

PHO

TO: M

ast

er S

gt.

Ru

sse

ll E

Co

ole

y IV

SOF Personal Equipment Advanced Requirements (SPEAR) equipment, excluding service-common equipment, includes:

Integrated Ballistic Communication Helmet

Visual Augmentation System Mounts

Special Operations Eye Protection

Modular Body Armor/Load Carriage Systems Backpacks

Lightweight Environmental Protection and Combat Uniform

Modular Glove System


most of the SOF gear is modified government-off-the-shelf or modified commercial-off-the-shelf items, the PEO said in written responses to questions.

Modifying off-the-shelf items allows the SPEAR program to leverage technological investments by services and industry, reduce cycle times, insert new technology more quickly, lower lifecycle costs and create greater reliability and availability, the PEO says.

“The command is always looking for stronger, lighter, multipurpose soldier protection and individual equipment items.” SPEAR equipment, the PEO continues, “is developed with complete emphasis on Special Operations personnel and mission profiles, including operations in extreme airborne and amphibious environments.” New equipment is developed only as a last option.

SPEAR objectives are stated in terms of threshholds and objectives, and used as part of the competitive source selection process for awarding contracts. If a user determines that a requirement has increased, the threshhold is adjusted.

“One of the most influential (lessons) is the importance of user assessments as part of the down select and source selection process. Through user assessments, a piece of equipment can be evaluated for true form, fit, function and user acceptance. User assessments can expedite the fielding of SPEAR equipment and the identification of necessary improvements.”

Overall, SPEAR focuses on improving three areas in personal equipment to produce a modular equipment system allowing mission-tailoring, enhanced survivability, and enhanced mobility while reducing weight, bulk and heat stress, according to the RD&E Center at Natick.

Body Armor / Load Carriage Systems, known by the acronym BALCS,

SPEAR Equipment

Sou

rce

: SO

F W

arr

ior S

yste

ms

Pro

gra

m E

xec

utiv

e O

ffic

er

u

u

u

u

u

u

- Razor Grip mounts & secures goggle strap on bothsides of helmet- Prevents goggle loss- Aligns goggle strap uniformly around helmet- Easy goggle strap removal- Lightweight and compact design- High-st- High-strength industrial glue included- Colors: flat desert tan & flat black

DESIGNED ANDMANUFACTUREDIN THE U.S.A.

PATENT # 6,694,530212 S. WAGNER, SUITE 3ANN ARBOR, MI [email protected]

* Available for fabric and hard shell helmets


A Special Forces team chief uses violet smoke to signal a helicopter to extract coalition forces from Gulistan district, Farah province in Afghanistan. His gear is specialized for SOF operations.

are one of four major research and development priorities. The goal is to provide better protection against present and future enemy ammunition, buoyancy and load-carrying capacity. The focus for the load carriage system is to provide modular options tailorable to different kinds of missions.

So-called spiral development allows continuous improvements throughout the long development and acquisition cycle. In essence, the U.S. Special Operations Command continues defining its requirements during the development process, using feedback from the field, for example, or adapting the requirements based on evolving mission needs.

Another R&D priority is SPEAR Environmental Protection, intended to allow forces to operate effectively in cold weather, steamy jungle environments, mountains, at sea, and anywhere else the environment tends to be harsh and difficult. The ability to transition seamlessly from one condition to another is considered critical.

Part of the environmental protection package is called Protective Combat Uniform Extremity Protection, including the Modular Glove System. Another section of the Protective Combat Uniform program addresses product improvements, including for flame resistance and reduction of weight and bulk.

Next-generation helmet communications headsets are intended to allow reliable, seamless communication through a variety of networks, both SOF-specific and ones used by conventional troops across the services. It allows internal communication systems used by a SOF team from insertion through extraction.The helmet communication equipment was to utilize commercial off-the-shelf technology with modifications for SOF use.

Defense contracting companies providing SPEAR equipment include:

Ceradyne Inc.

Safari Land

BAE

National Institute of the Severely Handicapped

Mystery Ranch

O Tech

Granite Gear

Norotos

Wilcos

Outdoor Research

Oakley

INDUSTRYPARTNERS

u

u

u

u

u

u

Sou

rce

: SO

F W

arr

ior S

yste

ms

Pro

gra

m E

xec

utiv

e O

ffic

er

u

uu

u

u

PH

OTO

: Sp

c. J

ose

ph

A. W

ilso

n

J

VIPIR™VIPIR™

STEALTH ILLUMINATOR™STEALTH ILLUMINATOR™

GUARDIAN™GUARDIAN™

LAZER STIK™LAZER STIK™

™

UNIVERSAL DIGITAL REMOTE CONTROL™

UNIVERSAL DIGITAL REMOTE CONTROL™

®

The world’s most complete and trusted line ofbattle tested IR & visual beacons, illuminators

and remote lighting systems

INQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT:[email protected]

T. 514 694 8477 • F. 514 694 2353www.adventurelights.com

VISIT US AT SOFIC BOOTH 1952

AL ad 1-2pg 5.5x4-11-04 Press.pdf 1 4/13/11 3:29 PM

Think SadlakScoping an M14?

Sadlak Industries LLCNadeau Industrial Park Unit 7Coventry, CT 06238

M14 Scope Mounts, Parts and Tools,Complete Optics Packages Made In USA

Think Sadlak

(860) [email protected] www.sadlak.com

Scoping an M14?Think Sadlak

Sadlak Industries LLCNadeau Industrial Park Unit 7Coventry, CT 06238(860) [email protected]

M14 Scope Mounts, Parts and Tools

Complete Optics Packages

Made in the USA

ToDSKamanAd.indd 1 3/11/2011 2:57:59 PM

67Summer 2011 DEFENSE STANDARD

’12 AIR FORCE Preview

AF Special OperationsUpdated fleet, more commandos

By Lee Ewing

J

The Air Force Special Operations Command’s aging fleet needs to be modernized

to meet operational demands, command officials say.

AFSOC wants to buy more AC-130s and MC-130s. The MC-130, in various forms, is used for missions such as troop and cargo transportation, refueling rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, airdrops, and psychological operations. The plan is to upgrade to the MC-130J model, says Col. William R. (Bill) Lane, the command’s deputy director for plans, programs, requirements and assessments, and eventually replace all 37 of the older MC-130s.

The MC-130J Combat Shadow completed its first flight April 22, setting off five months of flight testing by contractor Lockheed Martin. The first MC-130J is slated to reach Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., in September, with the fleet replacing most of the 25-year-old MC-130Ps.

Meanwhile, a dozen W-model MC-130 Combat Spears from Cannon are being transformed into gunships carrying the Dragon Spear weapons and sensor package, a quick-fix alternative to waiting for upgraded AC-130J aircraft.

Overall, AFSOC “is fielding the first of 72 planned MH-60M helicopters; is on the path to recapitalize the gunship fleet with AC-130J models; and the MC-130J program is on track to

replace aging MC-130Es and MC-130Ps,” Andrew Feickert and Thomas Livingston of the Congressional Research Service noted in a March 28 background report on SOF to Congress.

The CV-22 Osprey tilt-wing transport aircraft augments the mobility fleet, Lane says. The Osprey can take off, hover and land like a helicopter and

has the greater range, fuel efficiency and speed of a turboprop fixed-wing aircraft. Its mission is long-range infiltration, exfiltration and resupply missions. The Air Force proposed buying six CV-22s in fiscal 2012 on the way to a 50-plane CV-22 fleet.

Other top command priorities include expanding intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. To that end, AFSOC sought more armed medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial systems, which can both see and strike targets.

“We have a fleet of MQ-1Predators

that were transferred to AFSOC two years ago,” Lane says. “In addition to that, the Air Force is buying MQ-9 Reapers for AFSOC.” The fiscal 2012 budget request included 48 MQ-9 Reapers for the entire service, the maximum that manufacturer General Atomics could produce.

The command’s Predators, and the larger and more potent Reapers, will be operated by Special Operations squadrons based at Cannon. The units will have increased communications “reachback” capabilities linking them with their forward elements overseas.

The command’s third major priority is to bolster its ability to help other air forces train against internal threats, primarily by increasing its numbers. AFSOC had more than 12,000 active-duty members as of this spring.

The Defense Department meets only half of the current demand for training partner aviation forces, according to the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. Accordingly, beginning in fiscal 2013, DoD plans to double its current capacity to provide such training. The initiative includes doubling the manpower of AFSOC’s 6th Special Operations Squadron and purchasing light, fixed-wing aircraft. The squadron deploys small operational detachments similar to Army Special Forces A-Teams.

–Julie Bird contributed to this report.

The MC-130J Combat Shadow II, Air Force Special Operations Com-mand’s newest aircraft, sits on the Tarmac after its unveiling March 29 at Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Ga.

PHO

TO: M

ast

er S

gt.

Sc

ott

Ma

cKa

y

WOUNDS TO THE HEAD, FACE AND NECK ARE UP 50%* on today’s battlefield. In combat, one third of deaths due to head injuries were caused by hits to the head not covered by a helmet.

WE ARE EXPERTS AT INTEGRATING HEAD AND FACE PROTECTION for the optimum and necessary balance of performance and protection – with the most advanced expertise, state-of-the-art facilities and the finest technical and scientific minds.

WE ENGINEER PURPOSE-BUILT SOLUTIONS. We are at the forefront of developing and delivering lightweight, modular head protective equipment for battlefield use. We have partnered with the Canadian Department of National Defence, the U.S. Department of Defense and the UK Ministry of Defence. We stand ready to partner with you.

YOU CAN’T FIGHT TODAY’S BATTLES WITH YESTERDAY’S [email protected]

THE BATTLE AGAINST HEAD INJURIES IS ON.

© REVISION MILITARY INC., REVISION® AND BE REVISION READY.® ARE TRADEMARKS OF REVISION MILITARY. REVISION MILITARY LTD., 7 CORPORATE DRIVE, ESSEX JUNCTION VT 05452 USA. | *ROBERT G. HALE, DDS, LTC(P). (2009).

FACE TRANSPLANTS. CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL SURGEONS, 9TH ANNUAL MEETING, SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS AND EXHIBITION, P.3.

REV1079h_BATTLE AGAINST_DEF_STANDARD 8.38x10.88.indd 1 20/04/11 12:27 PM


’12 ARMY Preview

Army Special OperationsRapid growth to continue through 2013

By Lee Ewing

J

The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Ky., has been adding a company of upgraded MH-57G Chinook helicopters. The command also is upgrading MH-60K/L Black Hawks to MH-60Ms.

PHO

TO: S

taff

Sg

t. C

ruz

G. S

ote

lo

The top priorities of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command reflect its focus on

its premier asset, the soldier.“The No. 1 priority is … recruiting,

testing, selecting, training and educating what we would say are the world’s finest Special Operations forces,” says Col. David Maxwell, director of the Strategic Initiatives Group at USASOC. Rapid growth is planned through 2013, when the last of five battalions will be added, one for each active-duty Special Forces Group.

“Our second priority is to invest in the Army Special Operations Force soldier as a system,” he adds. “We are looking to incorporate the best practices in training and education, combined with cutting-edge technology.” The goal is to make the soldier even more effective in missions ranging from direct combat to influencing populations through psychological operations and civil affairs efforts.

The training and education initiative will extend from initial qualification training to advanced military and civilian education. The Fort Bragg, N.C.-based command established a partnership with the University of North Carolina to educate soldiers in several skills, including languages, culture, leadership and negotiations, that special operators need to help teach other nations defend themselves from internal threats.

The command’s third priority is

“to provide strategic options to the geographical combatant commanders and ambassadors across the spectrum of conflict,” Maxwell says.

While the options include “the capability to conduct counterterrorism, to capture and kill high-value targets

when and where needed,” others don’t involve combat. One is to provide psychological operations in support of the host government. Another is to assist in changing conditions that can give rise to insurgency and terrorism by enhancing the host nation’s governance and improving economic conditions.

To gain expertise, regional specialists would remain in their assignments for many years. The aim is to develop soldiers who are as steeped in regional knowledge and expert in irregular warfare as T.E. Lawrence, the renowned guerrilla leader known as Lawrence of Arabia. The command is working with the Army on new personnel policies that could

make long-term assignments possible without hampering the specialists’ career advancement.

The command’s fourth priority, Maxwell says, “is to be able to remain true to our commitment to provide the best quality of life for our families and our

wounded warriors.” The command places

strong emphasis on “enablers,” such as airlift, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and logistics support forces. Most of these resources are provided by the regular Army, some by USASOC.

For airlift, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Ky., is adding a company of upgraded MH-47G Chinook cargo helicopters. The command also is upgrading MH-60K/L Black Hawks to

the MH-60M model.To improve ISR, the command is

creating two companies equipped with the armed MQ-1C Extended Range / Multipurpose unmanned aerial system, a variant of the MQ-1 Predator flown by the Air Force, and provide a special troops battalion for each Special Forces Group.

As for sustainment, the command will grow its group support battalions, which will bolster maintenance, medical and forward supply distribution capabilities.

To support the new U.S. Africa Command, the Army Special Operations Command is adding a civil affairs battalion and a civil affairs company to each group.

ALSO SUPPLYING: U.S. STATE MEXICAN ITALIAN DEPARTMENT FEDERAL POLICE MILITARY (MoD) AND OTHER DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY AGENCIES

90+ YEARS OF BALLISTIC DESIGN EXPERIENCEPRODUCING THE MOST EFFECTIVE LIFE-SAVING PRODUCTS FOR MILITARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

- GSA SCHEDULE CONTRACT NUMBER: GS-07F-0303X- NAMSA APPROVED- ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED- OFFICIA- OFFICIAL SUPPLIER TO THE UNITED STATES DoD

THE BEST IN BALLISTIC PROTECTION


’12 MARINE CORPS Preview

Corps proposes big force-structure increaseBy Thomas Day

Marine Spec Ops Command

J

Since its activation in February of 2006, the Marine Special Operations Command, or

MARSOC, has gone from a concept to the front lines.

Last fall the Marines Corps conducted a force-structure review that focused on the likely security environment after operations in Afghanistan end, notes a March 28 report by the Congressional Research Service. The review called for growing MARSOC by more than 1,000 from its current force of about 2,500, including a “44 percent increase in critical combat support and service support Marines. It is currently not known how these proposed increases will translate into additional capabilities and new force structure and how much these proposed additions will cost.”

If that happens, it likely would take place as the overall Corps is shrinking. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have recommended shrinking the Corps by up to 20,000 Marines starting in fiscal 2015.

As it looks toward the next fiscal year, MARSOC will continue to outfit itself with a foundation of basic Marine Corps equipment supplemented with equipment tailored for the Special Operations community.

“Special Operations Forces-peculiar

intelligence and communications equipment remain our top priorities,” a command spokesman, Maj. Michael Armistead, says in a written statement. The command has or is fielding more than 100 pieces of equipment specific to Special Operations, he says.

Armistead would not specify the SOF-specific equipment, citing secrecy requirements. About 80 percent of the MARSOC equipment, however, is service-common, he said. “This equipment covers the following functional areas: communications, engineering, general supply, motor transport, ordnance, and personal protective equipment.”

MARSOC, like much of the Special Operations community, seems uninterested in big-ticket weapons. It has no aviation assets. The meat-and-potatoes nature of MARSOC’s

equipment requirements is in keeping with the Special Operations tradition.

“They tend to look for off-the-shelf equipment that will give them an extra edge in successfully executing their missions today – not five years from now,” says John J. Young Jr., a senior

fellow at the Potomac Institute and former undersecretary of defense for acquisitions, technology, and logistics under President George W. Bush. “Special Operations Command has become especially proficient at taking existing items, making minor modifications, and creating a weapon or system that provides a clear edge.”

While the majority of MARSOC’s appropriations come from the U.S. Special Forces Command budget, they do get support from the

Department of the Navy budget as well.MARSOC is also looking for

equipment to counter Improvised Explosive Devices, which have responsible for the majority of U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan.

MARSOC is composed of three battalions. The 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion is based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The 2nd and 3rd battalions are at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The command’s headquarters is at Camp Lejeune.

–Julie Bird contributed to this report.

Marines from Marine Special Operations Command pack up their parachutes after a High-Altitude, Low-Opening (HALO) jump at Camp Lejeune, NC. HALO jumps, with the canopies open only a short amount of time, reduce the chance of the paratroopers being seen by enemy troops.

PHO

TO: L

an

ce

Cp

l. Ky

le M

cN

ally

LaVerne can discern our ammo’s merit merely by the way it rolls across her palm. If you’re a serious shooter or belong to the US Military Special Forces, chances are LaVerne has ensured that your ammunition is perfect. Expertly, flawlessly, methodically. Like a machine. Only better.

www.black-hills.com | 605.348.5150 | P.O. Box 3090 | Rapid City, SD 57709

Handcrafted by real people.

And the occasional machine.

Like LaVerne here.

LaVerne BorgerQuality Control Specialist since 1985


Naval Special WarfarePriorities include watercraft upgrades

By Michael Fabey

’12 NAVY Preview

J

For Naval Special Warfare, “mission completed” means one thing -- maximum impact

with minimum splash. Their funding and development priorities are meant to do just that.

For its stealthy surface mobility programs, the U.S. Special Operations Command has said it wants to develop and further refine the MK V Special Operations Craft, Special Operations C r a f t - R i v e r i n e (SOC-R) and Patrol Boat-Light (PBL). Naval Special Warfare is looking for more flexible craft that provide a smoother ride.

“Current craft have rigid hull form with passive, shock -abso rp t ive seats with damping characteristics that are platform-specific,” says Mark Pecoraro, assistant program executive officer and program science and technology officer for USSOCOM’S Program Executive Office-Navy Systems. They don’t offer enough of a cushion, he said in a technology needs briefing. USSOCOM wants hull forms and seating systems that mitigate short- and long-term shock effects at sea-state conditions at relatively high speeds.

USSOCOM plans to award a competitive prototype contract later this year for the Combatant Craft-Medium (CCM) to replace the Special

Warfare Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB), and has also realigned funds from canceled programs to fund the development of a family of dry submersibles that can be launched from surface ships or specialized submarines, according to a March 28 Congressional

Research Service report.One priority funding and budget item

has been the SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV), which provides life support, navigation and communications for SEALs while carrying them to a drop-off point from a Dry Deck Shelter (DDS). The current SDV-DDS system requires too much manual effort, Pecoraro says. The command wants an automated launch and recovery system requiring little or no operator input, he says.

Other major subsurface program

priorities have included the James Bond-like diver propulsion device, Semi-Autonomous Hydrographic Reconnaissance Vehicle and a non-gasoline burning outboard engine.

The Shallow Water Combat Submersibles (SWCS) program

is a family of submersibles that includes a new wet submersible capable of operating from existing dry-dock shelters. It would replace the legacy SEAL Delivery Vehicle. “Future SWCS submersibles may be wet or dry and can operate from future large submarine shelters and/or surface ships,” Adm. Eric Olson, USSOCOM commander, said in congressional testimony last year.

U S S O C O M is still looking for the type of dry underwater operational capability offered by the Advanced SEAL Delivery System Program (ASDS), which was plagued by cost controversy and ultimately sunk by a 2008 lithium-ion battery fire in one of the units.

“Wet vehicle performance is inherently limited by the human factors associated with diving,” Pecoraro said. He noted the ASDS construction cost was about $200 million, “approaching that of a warship.” The command wanted to get the unit cost down to about $20 million.

A competitive prototype contract will be awarded later this year for the Combatant Craft-Medium to replace a Special Warfare version of the rigid hull inflatable boat, similar to the one shown here pulling up alongside the destroyer USS John McCain after searching for boats set adrift by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March.

PHO

TO:

Ma

ss C

om

m. S

pe

c. 1

st C

lass

Ta

lley

Re

eve


VIRTUAL TRAINING:It’s not just videogames and laser tag.

It’s the key to survival.

The Engagement Skills Trainer hones soldiers’ marksmanship without expending any ammunition.

PHO

TO: C

ou

rte

sy o

f PEO

-STI

There’s no substitute for battlefield experience. But those who design the training for today’s military say they’re getting closer. By harnessing new technologies, trainers

say they’re much better able to simulate the stresses of war before actually placing fighting men and women into the field. The result, they say, is a better-prepared fighting force more likely to survive their first firefights, the deadliest time for any soldier.

At the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., soldiers role-play through a mock Iraqi village called Medina Wasl, firing weapons filled with blanks and equipped with lightweight lasers. They know when they’ve been “hit” because they wear laser detectors. At Fort Benning, Ga., tank gunners and drivers can practice in a virtual Bradley Fighting Vehicle, surrounded by a 360 degree video screen. Some of the simulators have images that look like videogames, which look increasingly more realistic.

But there’s a key difference.“Some people refer to what we do as just playing games, but

we are not playing games,” says Fran Fierko, who oversees virtual training for the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation,

Training & Instrumentation (PEO STRI) in Orlando, Fla. “We have soldiers’ lives in the balance.”

Sure, some of the virtual training might look like souped-up videogames, and indeed, the military in some cases has adapted commercially available games for military use. But Fierko says the armed forces place a much greater emphasis on reviewing the performance during a training exercise, to learn from mistakes and acknowledge successes.

And the situations that the technology can simulate often can’t be safely replicated in live training, such as driving tanks on black ice or up narrow mountain passes. Virtual training will never replace live training, Fierko says, but it offers plenty of advantages.

Military trainers talk of three main kinds of training: live training (real soldiers, real environment); virtual training

(real soldiers, simulated environment); and constructive training (simulated soldiers, simulated environment – often for commanders to game out scenarios).

Live training dates to the ancient Egyptians, and the idea of wargaming has been around for centuries, but the middle category – virtual training – didn’t exist until computers became widely

By Tony Mecia

Your Savings Become Support

Find Your Favorite Brands at your Local Commissary

Unication Navigation InspirationTransformation

N IU TN IU Tfamily

www.FamilyUnitPG.com

P&G will donate 25¢

to USO Operation Enduring Care for every Family Unit couponredeemed at your local Commissary.

Partnering to Improve the Lives of Military Families

Visit www.FamilyUnitPG.comfor a coupon book with savings on P&G brands!

11-PG-1119 PAD1-V1.indd 1 5/9/11 3:01 PM


(ABOVE): A soldier training at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., uses the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) on a .50 caliber M2 machine gun atop an M1127 Stryker Reconnaissance Vehicle.

PHO

TO: M

ax

Ellis

on

available in the 1970s and ’80s. And after Vietnam, notions of what constituted effective live training changed, too.

“Back then, it was very flat – you were basically engaging little green pop-up silhouettes as you laid on your stomach,” says Ken Murray, author of Training at the Speed of Life: The Definitive Textbook for Military and Law Enforcement Training. “What’s the point in lying on your stomach shooting for marksmanship when marksmanship and gunfighting are two separate skills?”

At the time, the U.S. was focused on a different kind of enemy, too. Much of the training emphasized the movement of tanks and troops in a conventional war, since the major threat was seen as Soviet expansion into Europe.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, though, it was clear that the enemy had changed. The focus switched to training units as small as squads or platoons, with only a few dozen soldiers, instead of hundreds at a time. And their missions are more likely to require an understanding of communications and cultural awareness as opposed to simply raw force.

“In the last five to eight years, a lot of the training focus and investment has been based more on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is a less sophisticated enemy but a very demanding environment,” says Michael L. Kelly, vice president of business development and strategy for Cubic Corp., a San Diego-based military contractor that supplies training systems.

At the same time, Kelly says, technology was improving because of advances in computing power and graphics. As a result, training systems like Cubic’s Engagement Skills Trainer 2000

(EST 2000) are now able to greatly help a soldier’s judgment and marksmanship because they can replicate the weapons’ performance, and advances in graphics can provide more realistic scenarios. The system includes a high-resolution projection screen and can be programmed for a nearly endless variety of scenarios for multiple trainees to work on marksmanship and shoot/don’t shoot exercises. And the company’s MILES system – the lasers and laser-recognition devices in the fake Iraqi town at Fort Irwin – are far more advanced than the systems of a decade or two ago.

“Nothing is as intense or stressful as real combat, but in general, these rigorous training regimens are preparing these guys when they go overseas into these environments,” he says. “The training environment is designed to put them under stress.”

And while virtual training was once viewed skeptically, it’s now widely embraced by top officers. In some cases it even can be superior to live training, says David Rees, senior vice president and director of special projects for SAIC Corp., a McLean, Va., company that makes simulators for the military.

“There are certain things that can be better done in virtual than in live, because in virtual, you can push to the limits of nonsurvivability,” he says. “There is no replacement for the hot, sweaty, muddy discomfort of being deployed in the field. But what the training does is makes sure that when you hit the ground in the field, you are better prepared and are getting much more out of the training than 20 years ago.”

Not all the advancements are for dangerous work. Los Angeles-based Alelo Inc. has developed a 3D game to help improve language

PHO

TO: C

ou

rte

sy P

EO-S

TI

(BELOW): The Engagement Skills Trainer includes numerous scenarios to improve soldiers’ shooting skills.

The Military Order of the

Purple Heart

Service Foundation

Serving Every Generation of Combat-Wounded

Veterans & their Families Since 1959

www.mophsf.org (703) 256-6139


The Vehicle Detection System belts on training vehicles like this M1127 Stryker Reconnaissance Vehicle at Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Base, Calif., need to be reset using a MILES Controller Device.

The Army is using Emergency Care Simulators, mannequins that can “live” or “die” depending on the care given during training.

Training scenarios, which incorporate laser-recognition devices, are geared toward today’s insurgency-based urban battlefield.J

PHO

TO: M

ax

Ellis

on

PHO

TO: S

ha

wn

We

ismill

er

PHO

TO: C

ou

rte

sy o

f PEO

-STI

skills. In “Mission to Iraq,” the player communicates with avatars representing Iraqi citizens. Players who communicate correctly and appropriately earn the trust of the avatars and gain information to help them advance; players who make mistakes will find the Iraqis uncooperative and will not receive the information they need.

Military spending on training systems has become a big market for contractors. More than 200 competitors offer

military simulation training, according to a market research report by Frost & Sullivan. While some of the companies winning the biggest share of the contracts are big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., plenty of smaller players also are vying for a piece of the simulation training market that Frost & Sullivan estimates at $6 billion a year.

It’s a growing market, too. Frost & Sullivan estimates annual growth in the sector at about 2 percent.

The lion’s share of the spending on simulation training goes through PEO STRI in Orlando, which assesses the Army’s training needs, awards contracts to private companies and works to introduce the technologies at bases throughout the world.

Soldiers who deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan will have been trained on at least one – and maybe as many as 10 – different systems developed by PEO STRI, Fierko says.

Going forward, one of the biggest focuses will be on integrating individual simulators together. Over the years, a lot of simulators were “stovepipe,” or isolated, systems unable to talk to one another, says Pete Marion, PEO STRI’s customer support executive.

Now, platforms are being developed to allow soldiers in different places and on different systems to train with one another. That might mean that a tank crew in front of a projection screen at Fort Hood, Texas, could see a tank doing live training at Fort Irwin, Calif., and that a brigade commander at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, could direct them both as part of a training exercise.

“I hesitate to say we’re seamless, but we’re a lot closer than we’ve ever been before,” Marion says. “…We are clearly training new tasks, and we’re doing that well, and we’re training traditional tasks better.”

Other hot areas include rifle marksmanship, medical training and cultural awareness training. Training medics in particular has traditionally been difficult because there’s been no easy way to replicate major injuries. Now, though, the Army has started using Emergency Care Simulators (ECS) – mannequins that can be programmed with a variety of illnesses and injuries and can “live” or “die” depending on the care received. The simulators are in rooms that can be programmed to blare gunfire and release smoke to replicate a real-world battleground.

Overall, Marion says he sees technology continuing to advance in ways that help soldiers be better prepared to ship out to those crucial first firefights.

“The more realistic we can create the training environment, the more we can prepare them to encounter that,” he says, “the better.”

XRay

A versatile daypacksmall enough for EDC,yet can be used asan assault pack or a two day pack withthe addition of pocketsor Pods.or Pods.

internalhydrationpocket

removablecompression straps

shown withoptional belt

zip pocketin panel

fast access toevery corner

fully MOLLEcompatible

shown with mid-Long Pockets

stuff it like a top loaderorganize it like a panel loader mesh pocket

top lidpocket

................

1,800 c.i.

www.kifaru.netkifaruforums.net

Kifaru, International4894 Van Gordon St., Ste. 305

Wheat Ridge, CO 800331-866-308-1911

BERRY AMENDMENT COMPLIANT

Dual Purpose ExplosiveDetection Dogs

Counter-terrorist K-9’s

Purpose Built COTS, Unmatched Performance

www.atvcorp.com

TM Registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office by Phoenix Interernational Systems, Inc.

Power... Speed... Agility... Stability... Protection...Endurance...

TM

Construction Mechanic 3rd Class Marvin Glen Shields

December 30, 1939 - June 9, 1965

D e d i c a t i o n

I n M e m o r y O f


I n M e m o r y O f

Born Dec. 30, 1939, in Port Townsend, Wash., Marvin Glen Shields graduated from Port Townsend High School in 1958. The summer before and after his high school graduation he worked as one of the first employees at the Mineral Basin Mining Development gold mine in Hyder, Alaska. Shields was drafted into the Navy in early 1962, completed Seabee training, and was assigned to Seabee Bat-talion STAT, Detachment 1104 in Vietnam.

On June 9, 1965, working in intense jungle heat and humidity, Shields and eight fellow Navy construction workers were building a new airstrip for the Special Forces camp near Dong Xoai, 55 miles northeast of Saigon. The oppressive climate that drained both his physical and mental strength was nothing like the oceanic climate of his home in Port Townsend. Since the camp was still under construc-tion, it lacked the earthen-berm perimeter and other protections of a completed camp. Dong Xoai, a district capital in the Phuoc Long Province, lay alongside a critical Viet Cong supply route from Cam-bodia into War Zone D and was protected by several hundred South Vietnamese troops.

As the Seabees worked, 1,500 Viet Cong troops quietly gathered in the dense jungle before attacking at 11 p.m. The perimeter troops were overrun in less than 30 minutes, and the Viet Cong troops quickly launched a heavy mortar and ground attack on the camp. De-spite suffering a gunshot wound early in the battle, Shields engaged

the enemy and ran from one defensive position to another, provid-ing both encouragement and much-needed ammunition to his fellow troops. They still held the camp at dawn.

Four hours later and despite suffering a second gunshot wound, Shields helped carry a more critically wounded man to a medevac helicopter, refused an order to evacuate, and rejoined the fight. After 14 hours of intense battle and greatly weakened by his wounds and blood loss, Shields volunteered to help the commander knock out an entrenched enemy machine gun placement with a 3.5-inch rocket launcher. As the two returned to their defensive position, Marvin Shields was mortally wounded.

Construction Mechanic 3rd Class Marvin G. Shields, 25, left a wife, Joan, and a 1-year-old daughter, Barbara. He was buried with full military honors at Gardiner Cemetery in Gardiner, Wash.

On Sept. 13, 1966, Shields was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Johnson for his selfless actions in one of the most intense battles of the Vietnam War. The battle resulted in two Medals of Honor, one Distinguished Service Cross, one Air Force Cross and numerous Silver Star Medals and other awards for valor.

Marvin Shields’ name is etched on the black granite wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Panel 02E, Row 007. His other military awards include the Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

A pararescueman from the 301st Rescue Squadron checks in from a forward-deployed location in Iraq during an

Operation Iraqi Freedom mission.

PHOTO: Staff Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo

FINAL FRAME


For Darkness be Thy Ally.www.TNVC.com (909) 796-7000

AN/PVS-21 Low Profile Night Vision Goggle by STS. Now Available at Tactical Night Vision Company.

© Copyright 2011, Tactical Night Vision Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Documents

2011 Summer Edition