Category: Special Forces

Sayeret Matkal on the frontlines

On By Marc NadeauIn Aviram Halevi, Avner Shur, Benjamin Netanyahu, Commandos, Ehud Barak, Entebbe, Israel, Military, Moshe “Boogie” Ya’alon, Naftali Bennett, SAS, Sayeret Matkal, Skyhorse Publishing, Special ForcesLeave a comment

July 4th marked the 47th anniversary of the Entebbe operation, during which Israeli commandos rescued passengers held hostages by Palestinian terrorists and Ugandan soldiers after the hijacking of an Air France plane in Athens. Israel lost one soldier during the operation, Yoni Netanyahu, brother of the current Prime Minister of Israel. The audacious soldiers who appeared in the skies of Entebbe in the middle of the night belonged to Sayeret Matkal – Israel’s Defense Force’s General Staff Reconnaissance Unit. The unit was founded in 1957 by Avraham Arnan and was directly inspired by the iconic SAS (Special Air Service) warriors who served under the Union Jack during World War II.

I was too young to remember what happened at Entebbe. But another operation has captivated me since I was a teenager. I vividly remember hearing on the radio the news of Abu Jihad’s neutralization in April 1988 in Tunis. From memory, Israel was announced as having ordered this operation and I wondered how these intrepid operatives could perform their art so far away from the shores of their homeland.

I was therefore thrilled to read Sayeret Matkal: The Greatest Operations of Israel’s Elite Commandos (Skyhorse Publishing) by Avner Shur and Aviram Halevi, whose first chapter invites the reader to walk with the Israeli commandos to accomplish Operation Show of Force under the leadership of commander Moshe “Boogie” Ya’alon.

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Countdown bin Laden

On By Marc NadeauIn 9/11, Admiral William McRaven, Avid Reader Press, Barack Obama, Chris Wallace, CIA, Leadership, Leon Panetta, Osama bin Laden, SEALs, Simon & Schuster, Special ForcesLeave a comment

Twenty years ago this morning, our hearts crumbled simultaneously with New York’s Twin Towers. Osama bin Laden orchestrated an attack that would scar the face of the Earth and change history forever. After the heartless attacks that left 2977 people dead and countless families grieving, it was inevitable that the terrorist leader would be brought to face justice.

In his new book, Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace offers the gripping story of this historic manhunt and the commendable sacrifices made by those who planned and executed it over a period of 9 months.

In the same manner he wrote his authoritative Countdown 1945, the renowned journalist (with Mitch Weiss) details the nitty-gritty of what will certainly be remembered as one of the most famous and consequential special operation in the history of warfare in Countdown bin Laden: The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to Bring the Mastermind of 9/11 to Justice. Tremendous sacrifices were consented by these intelligence officials who sacrificed their family lives. SEAL Team 6 operators faced their own mortality as they were ordered to descend in the Devil’s Den at the Abbottabad compound where bin Laden had taken refuge between 2005 and May 1st, 2011.

More than the military aspects of the mission to bring back OBL dead or alive, what impressed me most in this book was the decision-making process of the operation. It is easy to associate the warlord tag to President George W. Bush for his decision to launch a war against Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. His successor, Barack Obama, appears as a more dovish character, at least in the public’s perception.

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“If we’re going to withdraw, then my husband died for literally nothing”

On By Marc NadeauIn Afghanistan, Green Berets, Hachette Book Group, Jessica Donati, Lt.-Gen. H.R. McMaster, PublicAffairs, Royal 22e Régiment, Special ForcesLeave a comment

This quote from the widow of Special Forces engineer sergeant Matthew McClintock has been haunting me over the last couple of days as I watch events unfold in Afghanistan. “Mick” was killed during his tour while trying to secure the medevac of one of his comrades. I’ve never been to Afghanistan, but I have always been a staunch supporter of the missions deployed there. When Canada sent a contingent of Canadian soldiers from the “Vandoos” (the legendary Québec’s Royal 22e Régiment) to Kandahar, I drove with my wife and daughter to Québec City to applaud them on their departing parade. As we hold our breath in expectation of what will happen in Afghanistan, I have a hard time coming to terms with recent developments.

Just last week, I finished reading Jessica Donati’s excellent but tragic book Eagle Down: The Last Special Forces Fighting the Forever War (PublicAffairs). Her exposé is depressing, to say the least. Over the last couple of years, Washington sent the best of the best, the Special Forces, under the guise of “a training and assistance mission” in order to maintain deniability. In reality, they were there in combat mode, although denied certain tools to accomplish their mission properly, such as not authorizing air strikes that could have proven crucial at certain times, or that “no GPS-guided parachutes [which could efficiently deliver supplies in combat zones, ensuring they would not fall into enemy hands] were left in the country because the US military was no longer supposed to be in combat.” These guys fought an enemy that proved adept at using clouds to articulate its strategy (no air support can be offered when skies are not clear, therefore denying Special Forces with much-needed air support). When you ask people to do such a crucial job, the least you can do is give them the tools to do it.

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The Pacific Theatre should no longer take a backseat to the war in Europe during WW2

On By Marc NadeauIn 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Alex Kershaw, General Matthew Ridgway, Kevin Maurer, Office of Strategic Services (OSS), Penguin Random House, Rock Force, Special Forces, War in the Pacific, William "Will Bill" Donovan, World War IILeave a comment
Author Kevin Maurer with and ANCOP officer (Afghan National Civil Order Police) in Kandahar in 2010 (source: Kevin Maurer)

In the aftermath of my review of the impressive book Rock Force, author Kevin Maurer kindly accepted to answer questions for this blog. Here is the content of our interesting exchange.

Rock Force is an excellent book and now ranks among my favorites. Where did the idea of this book come from?

The idea came from my editor, Brent Howard. We were talking about World War II books and he mentioned his grandfather jumped with the 503rd. He said no one had really told the story in a narrative fashion, so I took the challenge. It was great working with Brent because from the start, it was clear he was as invested in the success of the book as I was. He was an amazing collaborator and the book is much better thanks to his edits.

I wrote Rock Force at night from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
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The Hero Code: “Find what you’re good at and give it to others”

On By Marc NadeauIn Abbottabad raid, Admiral William McRaven, Giving, Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group Canada, Journal of Strategic Studies, Military, Osama bin Laden, SEALs, Special Forces, Taylor & Francis, The Hero Code, US NavyLeave a comment

Ever since I watched his famous speech “Make Your Bed”, I have been captivated by the career and thought of retired Admiral William H. McRaven, the former commander of the Navy SEALs. I was therefore excited to receive a copy of his most recent book The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived (Grand Central Publishing).

While I was reading it, an article from the Journal of Strategic Studies caught my attention. Written by National Security Affairs Professor James J. Wirtz, “The Abbottabad raid [during which Osama bin Laden was permanently neutralized by Navy SEALs] and the theory of special operations” elaborates about the theory of special operations, whose father was none other than Admiral McRaven. He theorized it in his master’s degree thesis in a period when, in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, we lived in a “[…] new, unipolar world, [where] U.S. special forces would be relegated to tertiary missions within a Cold-War force structure that appeared bloated, obsolete and ripe for significant reductions.”

McRaven’s work sought “[…] to demonstrate that a tactic and unit deemed largely irrelevant by conventionally-minded officers and civilian strategists could actually achieve strategically and politically important effects, but only if planned and executed by special operators themselves against significant targets in proper ways.” And you can figure that the devil was – and still is – in the details.

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Benjamin Netanyahu: Survivor

On By Marc NadeauIn 007, Anshel Pfeffer, Israel, Israel Defense Force (IDF), James Bond, Sayeret Matkal, Special Forces, Unit 269Leave a comment
Sergeant Benjamin Netanyahu, member of the Sayeret Matkal Unit of the IDF (source: The Times of Israel).

Israel went to the polls for a fourth time since 2019 yesterday. If the past is prologue, everything indicates that Benjamin Netanyahu will form another government in the coming weeks. Holding 59 seats with his right-wing allies (at the time of this writing), the leader of the Likud still holds the best cards in his hands to remain in power.

But how is it that, besieged with scandals, trials and the turmoil of political life in the heart of one of the most intense political arena in the world, the longest serving Prime Minister of Israel can still successfully navigate these tumultuous waters?

This might sound cliché, but the key to understand Netanyahu’s political longevity is to reach in the confines of his personality. So far, the best biography I have read about Bibi (the PM’s nickname) is the one written by Anshel Pfeffer, which I reviewed 2 years ago on this blog. I do not intend to repeat the argument I brought forward then (those who are interested can read it here), but there is one essential aspect which I did not refer to back then.

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Making James Bond Blush

On By Marc NadeauIn Canadian Army, George C. Marshall, Hachette Books, History, James Bond, Military, Mitch McConnell, Monte Cassino, Saul David, Special Forces, US Army, Winston Churchill, Winter Line, World War IILeave a comment

TheForce_SaulDavidFew years ago, while visiting in Italy, I booked a talented guide to visit Monte Cassino and its vicinity. As I left the train, upon arriving in the bucolic town whose name is associated to one of the most famous battles of World War II, I was struck by the breathtaking landscape. Up above a steep mountain, the famous Benedictine Abbey lays towering over the surrounding valley.

I immediately wondered what kind of soldiers could conquer such a hostile environment and dislodge the Germans, ferociously guarding the impregnable summits forming the Winter Line set up to block the Allies on their way up North to the Eternal City, Rome.

Some years later and thanks to renowned military historian Saul David, I finally found the answer between the covers of the book The Force: The Legendary Special Ops Unit and WWII’s Mission Impossible. Assembled from scratch with Canadian and American soldiers in the summer of 1942 “for a top mission behind enemy lines”, the First Special Service Force was initially trained to operate in winter conditions with a new snow vehicle.

The mission of the unit soon became the object of turf wars and power plays between British and American top brass and politicians. While Churchill – who had a “”particular interest” in the Force” jealously fought toe and nails to reserve these exceptional warriors for an eventual foray in Norway (operation Jupiter), US Army chief of staff George Marshall considered such a venture to be a sideshow. The American warlord was certainly frustrated to exclude such a powerful tool from a vital theater of operations.

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The art of making friends

On By Marc NadeauIn Admiral Mike Mullen, Admiral William McRaven, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Books, Hillary Clinton, History, Leon Panetta, Memoirs, Military, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Sea Stories, SEALs, Special Forces, US Navy1 Comment

AdmiralMcRaven_TaskAndPurpose
Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy Retired) (Source: Task & Purpose)

“Help as many people as you can. Make as many friends as you can. Work as hard as you can. And, no matter what happens, never quit!”

These are not the usual words or piece of advice you generally expect from a military figure like the retired commander of American Special Forces. But that’s the philosophy of Retired Admiral William M. McRaven, distilled in his most recent book Sea Stories: My Life of Special Operations.

Let me say it from the get-go. The book is pure joy to read. Not only because Admiral McRaven details his life as a Navy SEAL and the main operations in which he took part – like finding a crashed Navy airplane in the mountains of British Columbia (hey, I’m proud when a great author writes about my country), the capture of Saddam Hussein or the find and seek operation to neutralize Osama bin Laden (“the most successful special operation since World War II”). For a military enthusiast, those are great pages to read and the author has a gift for expressing himself eloquently and precisely. No word is superfluous.

But what amazed me the most is the mindset of that great military figure. If you haven’t yet, I invite you to watch the video of his speech inviting you to make your bed first thing in the morning then going about to change the world. Make your bed is also the title of a previous book by the famous Navy SEAL.

SeaStoriesImageAn outspoken believer in God and family man, Admiral McRaven also refers often to stoicism in his book – a predisposition also shared by none other than Former Defense Secretary and retired US Marines General James Mattis. Comfortable and at ease with his beliefs and values, he also finds no qualms in bringing terrorists to justice.

But what impressed me the most is what I learnt about the elected officials Admiral McRaven worked with and for. To that end, the following excerpt about his interaction with President George W. Bush regarding the neutralization of terrorist Abu Ghadiya (“the most wanted man outside Iraq”) in 2008 is worth quoting at length:

“At one point in the brief the President stopped me and asked, “Why are we sending the SOF guys in? Can’t we just drop a GBU‐31 on this guy?”

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