Special Forces

The medics helped Sgt. Janiece Marquez into a chair and started to treat her sprained ankle. Marquez, 25, had tripped over a rock on one of the dark paths in the camp. She had just run two miles during the physical fitness test and marched at least six miles carrying a 35-pound rucksack that evening. Now she could barely walk. One of the medics looked at her ankle. "Are you going to be able to ruck tomorrow?" "Absolutely," Marquez said. "What if I tell you the next...

MOSCOW — Russia's counterterrorism agency said Monday that its special forces killed two militants and detained a third believed to have been planning a terrorist act in Moscow. A spokesman for the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, known as NAK, said on state television that the militants were Russian citizens who had received training along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. They were not identified. Russian special forces regularly announce that they have thwarted terrorist attacks,...

As the weakly protected U.S. diplomatic compound in eastern Libya came under attack the night of Sept. 11, 2012, the deputy head of the embassy in Tripoli 600 miles away sought in vain to get the Pentagon to scramble fighter jets over Benghazi in a show of force that he said might have averted a second attack on a nearby CIA complex. Hours later, according to excerpts of the account by the U.S. diplomat, Gregory Hicks , American officials in the Libyan capital sought permission to deploy four U.S....

As the weakly protected U.S. diplomatic compound in eastern Libya came under attack the night of Sept. 11, 2012, the deputy head of the embassy in Tripoli 600 miles away sought in vain to get the Pentagon to scramble fighter jets over Benghazi in a show of force that he said might have averted a second attack on a nearby CIA complex. Hours later, according to excerpts of the account by the U.S. diplomat, Gregory Hicks , American officials in the Libyan capital sought permission to deploy four U.S....

There's nothing terribly surprising about " Special Forces ," a moderately gripping action flick about a group of commandos on a mission to rescue a pretty blonde who has been abducted by the Taliban. Nothing, that is, except that it's French. It's actually kind of refreshing to watch a bunch of big, strapping French dudes in camo and body armor clambering over rocks on the Hindu Kush and shooting people (instead of, say, smoking cigarettes, drinking espresso and talking about relationships)

SEOUL -- North Korea has massively increased its special operations forces, schooled them in the use of Iraqi-style roadside bombs and equipped them to sneak past the heavily fortified border that divides the two Koreas. By expanding what was already the world's largest special operations force, the North appears to be adding commando teeth to what, in essence, is a defensive military strategy. The cash-strapped government of Kim Jong Il, which struggles to maintain and buy fuel for its aging tanks and...

MOSUL, Iraq — Several nights a week, Iraqi and U.S. special forces operatives head out in Humvees or Black Hawk helicopters to arrest extremists in the most volatile region of Iraq. After years of training with their U.S. counterparts, the black-clad Iraqi forces are taking the lead, busting in doors and arresting suspects while their American advisers monitor the mission. The United States has its own counterterrorism force on the ground here, and its work has remained a priority even as the number of...

KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday ordered all U.S. Special Forces to leave a strategically important province in two weeks, alleging that they have been involved in the torture and murder of "innocent people. " A presidential office statement that followed a meeting of Afghanistan's National Security Council also said Special Forces operations had to stop immediately in Wardak province west of Kabul, a hub counterinsurgency operations. The action comes after...

Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced Thursday a lifting of the ban on female service members in combat roles, a watershed policy change that was informed by women's valor in Iraq and Afghanistan and that removes the remaining barrier to a fully inclusive military, defense officials said. Panetta made the decision "upon the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," a senior defense official said Wednesday, an assertion that stunned female veteran activists who said they assumed that the brass was...

KABUL — Afghan officials said Monday they demanded the pullout of U.S. Special Operations forces from an insurgency-wracked province because the U.S.-backed NATO command here for months has ignored residents' allegations of severe abuses committed by the elite American troops and armed Afghan irregulars working with them. But NATO said its past inquiries found no evidence to support allegations of misconduct by U.S. Special Operations forces in Wardak province,...

What does it mean when the U.S. Special Operations Command continues to grow in the new Defense Department fiscal 2014 budget while the individual services face additional reductions? SOCOM growth isn't just in dollars. The Tampa-based command is gaining new authority and acquiring additional roles both abroad and here at home. The SOCOM commander, Adm. William H. McRaven, told the Senate Armed Services emerging threats subcommittee Tuesday, "On any day of the year you will find special operations forces [in]

KABUL — Afghan officials said Monday they demanded the pullout of U.S. Special Operations forces from an insurgency-wracked province because the U.S.-backed NATO command here for months has ignored residents' allegations of severe abuses committed by the elite American troops and armed Afghan irregulars working with them. But NATO said its past inquiries found no evidence to support allegations of misconduct by U.S. Special Operations forces in Wardak province,...

KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday ordered all U.S. Special Forces to leave a strategically important province in two weeks, alleging that they have been involved in the torture and murder of "innocent people. " A presidential office statement that followed a meeting of Afghanistan's National Security Council also said Special Forces operations had to stop immediately in Wardak province west of Kabul, a hub counterinsurgency operations. The action comes after...

KABUL — Afghan President Ha­mid Karzai on Sunday ordered all U.S. Special Operations forces to leave a strategically important province in two weeks, alleging that they had been involved in the torture and murder of "innocent people. " Karzai's blunt statement, which did not provide specific evidence or cite judicial determinations, also demanded an immediate halt to Special Operations activity in the province, Wardak, which lies southwest of Kabul and has been contested by Taliban...

SEVARE, Mali — French and Malian forces pushed toward the fabled desert town of Timbuktu on Sunday, as the French mission, now in its third week, gathered momentum against the Islamist extremists who have ruled the north since last spring. French troops have met little resistance, though it remains unclear what may await them farther north. The Malian military blocked dozens of international journalists from trying to travel toward Timbuktu. Lt. Col. Diarran Kone, a spokesman for Mali's...

Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced Thursday a lifting of the ban on female service members in combat roles, a watershed policy change that was informed by women's valor in Iraq and Afghanistan and that removes the remaining barrier to a fully inclusive military, defense officials said. Panetta made the decision "upon the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," a senior defense official said Wednesday, an assertion that stunned female veteran activists who said they assumed that the brass was...

This is the second of three articles. In his windowless White House office, presidential counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan is compiling the rules for a war the Obama administration believes will far outlast its own time in office, whether that is just a few more months or four more years. The "playbook," as Brennan calls it, will lay out the administration's evolving procedures for the targeted killings that have come to define its fight against al-Qaeda and its affiliates.

What does it mean when the U.S. Special Operations Command continues to grow in the new Defense Department fiscal 2014 budget while the individual services face additional reductions? SOCOM growth isn't just in dollars. The Tampa-based command is gaining new authority and acquiring additional roles both abroad and here at home. The SOCOM commander, Adm. William H. McRaven, told the Senate Armed Services emerging threats subcommittee Tuesday, "On any day of the year you will find special operations forces [in]

I seem to have the luck to find my way to companies that need some help in putting in place the infrastructure to grow into the success that they've already achieved. It was my 25-year career in the military that gave me the necessary leadership training to do that. I stumbled into the Army. As a child, I thought I would become a two-dimensional artist. In college, my initial major was energy management, but then I switched to a psychology degree. At that point, I didn't have a career...

Position: President, Synex­xus, a systems-engineering company based in Arlington. Damon Walsh had dreams of being an artist while he was growing up. That is until he joined the Army reserves after the Iran hostage crisis and found his way into the Special Forces. When he retired after 25 years, he entered government contracting. He is now heading up a defense firm. How did your military experience prepare you to be a leader in business? My last job in the Army was commander of the Army Tank Plant in Lima, Ohio, where we...