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KEY WEST, Fla. – “To build the best skilled maritime operators for such dangerous missions, the training these Soldiers undergo is inherently dangerous,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jim Dougherty, Special Forces Underwater Operations (SFUWO) chief warrant officer. “Until now, no memorial existed to honor the memory of the brave Soldiers who took their last breath.”
Dougherty’s opening remarks echoed across the Special Forces Underwater Operations compound during a memorial unveiling ceremony honoring the legacy of eight fallen combat divers since 1964 before kicking off the 2024 USASOC Best Combat Diver Competition at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, June 10-12.
This year marks the 60th anniversary since the inception of Special Forces Underwater Operations. Under the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School footprint, this is the second year the Special Forces Underwater Operations school hosts the competition at Fleming Key, Key West’s northern point.
“The purpose of the United States Army Special Operations Command Best Combat Diver Competition is to foster camaraderie amongst the joint special operators who combat dive,” said Maj. Alexander Pombar, commander of the Special Forces Underwater Operations school. “The competition tests a number of key attributes of a combat diver.”
The competitors were challenged on academic rigor, physical toughness, mental agility, and adaptability while executing high-risk waterborne operations. The competition included rigorous tactical underwater events, boat movements, and airborne insertion related to real-world combat dive operations.
Twelve two-man teams from across U.S. Army Special Forces, U.S. Marine Forces Special Operations, and U.S. Air Force Special Operations competed in a ten event, multiple day, and night competition to demonstrate skill and capability through performance.
Day one events encompassed a combat dive physical fitness test, safety round robin, and equipment validations.
Day two officially kicked off the competition with a memorial unveiling ceremony straight into a helo-cast kayak race at the SGM Jerry D. Patton Water Drop Zone in Fleming Key. Competitors then performed a subsurface swim, cache race, and neuro-crossover subsurface activities in the pool.
Day three started with a target contour dive in Mole Harbor, where dive teams had to test their navigation skills to tag multiple targets. They went on to conduct an Over-the-Beach dive then shuttle race on Patio Beach and return to the ocean for exfiltration. The final event was a helo-cast, followed by a one kilometer surface swim, and a five kilometer run.
Following the conclusion of the competition, the winners were announced during an award ceremony.
This year’s winner of the USASOC Best Combat Diver Competition is the combat diver team from the 10th Special Forces Group.
The 1st Marine Raider Battalion took second place followed by the USASOC team in third.
CW2 Dante from 3rd Special Forces Group scored highest in the physical training event.
The Special Forces Underwater Operations School is the premier institution in generating the expert special operator in underwater and maritime operations. Combat dive operations reflects one of many advanced capabilities of the special operator in unconventional warfare, integrated deterrence, and irregular warfare.
For more information about the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, visit www.swcs.mil.
The names of the fallen combat divers are the following:
• 2nd Lt. William Koscher, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 15 Aug. 1969
• Spc. 4 John A. James, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), 15 Aug. 1969
• Sgt 1st Class Kevin L. Devorak, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), 18 Oct. 1990
• Staff Sgt. Bruce L. Miller, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), 14 Sept. 1991
• Sgt. Charles L. Glenn, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 15 May 2007
• Staff Sgt. Mark M. Maierson, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 13 March 2009
• Staff Sgt. David J. Whitcher, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 2 Nov. 2016
• Staff Sgt. Micha E. Walker, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 27 July 2021
By Steve Morningstar
Here is a side-by-side video comparison of the MATBOCK OTB Raider Line Vs. a traditional OTB setup.
For their dry bag line, the MR Dry 2.0 they are available in Small 3400 cu-in (56 liters), Medium 4700 cu-in (77 liters), and Large 7450 cu-in (122 liters). Small and Large are the two most popular sizes and all three are compatible with any military-style frame, but MATBOCK offers them with the Mystery Ranch Nice frame (you can also get them without the frames. Here is a brief overview video of the MR Dry 2.0 bag (large size shown in the video).
Check us out at ADS Warrior East tomorrow and Wednesday. Here is where you can register for the event: www.adsinc.com/events
FORT WALKER, Virginia – Deep in the heart of Fort Walker, where most people never go, there is a quiet facility dedicated to research. On June 12, it was exploding with engineers from all around the U. S. with one common goal: finding, and eliminating, land mines.
Organized by U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center, various contracting organizations deployed Unmanned Aircraft Systems of different sizes and capabilities in an impressive exercise to demonstrate to Col. Anthony Gibbs from Program Executive Office Soldier, Program Manager for Soldier Warrior, how emerging technology can reduce battlefield casualties.
As the exercise began, one UAS live-streamed the area of operation to the command center, another identified enemy combatants (who were notionally eliminated by close air-support), while another discovered mines downrange, leading to a barrage of simulated mortar fire to clear the danger. A team of developers, role-playing Soldiers, raced downrange in an M1126 Stryker armored vehicle, deploying a robot dog and plotting a path through the destroyed mine-field and using sensors to identify any imminent dangers.
In a scenario that seemed like something out of a video game, the reality is this future tech will potentially allow for fewer Soldiers to be required to capture an objective, and with much less of becoming a casualty.
Following the conclusion of the exercise, the director of the facility invited everyone to a demonstration of the protection capabilities being researched. Behind thick, steel barriers and blast-proof glass, participants experienced the detonation of an anti-tank land mine from roughly 50 meters, and two anti-personnel mines from three meters, impacts that most, outside of a combat zone, will never see.
It’s simulations like this which provide an insider’s look to battlefield scenarios and environments. For researchers, it’s a critical component to staying one step ahead of enemy combatants and provide our warfighters the most cutting-edge capabilities for mission success.
“Army research partners were able to successfully integrate air and ground robotic assets to reduce the workload for Soldiers during mine clearance operations,” said Mike Donnelly of Research and Technology Integration Division of C5ISR. “I’m proud of the work everyone put in here today.”
By Chris Hall, Fort Walker Public Affairs Office
ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —
Adding detail and context to an ambitious effort for “reoptimizing” the Air Force, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said in separate appearances June 13 and 14 that changing the way the Total Force trains, plans, modernizes, and is equipped must succeed for the Air Force to meet emerging challenges from China and other competitors.
Speaking first at an Air & Space Warfighters in Action session June 13, Allvin said the Air Force has made real and tangible progress instituting elements of a broad strategy announced in February to evolve how the Air Force develops people, generates readiness, projects power, and develops integrated capabilities.
Allvin pointed out, for example, progress in reinstituting warrant officers to help fill and keep personnel with in-demand skills such as cyber and information technology. That effort, he said, is well underway, with the warrant officer selection board scheduled to convene this month and the announcement of selects tentatively scheduled for late July.
The service started soliciting applications from April 25 to May 31 for Airmen aspiring to become the inaugural cohort of warrant officers in information technology and cyber careers.
He also provided an unambiguous rationale for the undertaking and why Air Force leaders insist on pushing it forward with urgency.
“We are finding that it is more difficult to retain the cyber talent that we spend a lot of time investing in, and that is going to be so critical to us going forward,” Allvin said at AFA. “We believe this is going to be a good path to ensure that we have the talent for today and tomorrow in a very cyber-heavy force that we’re going to need.”
Separate efforts to assemble, train, and deploy so-called “Air Task Forces” are moving briskly. These units will work and train together throughout the AFFORGENcycle to deploy as Units of Action in fiscal year 2026. The introduction of ATFs marks a significant milestone in the journey toward modernization and readiness, laying the groundwork to ensure the Air Force maintains a competitive advantage over the pacing challenge, he said.
“We have an advancing threat the likes of which we haven’t seen for decades,” Allvin said at AFA. He went on to say, “a key piece of reoptimization is taking all our Airmen and developing them with a common understanding of that threat … That’s central to being ‘Mission Ready Airmen’.”
In addition to understanding the threat, Mission Ready Airmen comprehend the service’s unique and inherent capabilities to defend against the threat.
“If we believe that the future of national defense and the joint force is going to require some of the attributes that exist in our air and space forces, then we have a requirement to not only be able to participate in the joint force, we need to be leading it. The character of war is privileging the things that airpower has been doing for a long time.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen David Allvin
In a media session June 14 at the Pentagon, Allvin expounded on his comments from the day prior and discussed the need to be “One Air Force.”
“We are taking an Air Force that has been somewhat fragmented due to the strategic environment over the years and really better aligning it and coming back to be one Air Force with one force design, one unit of action type, and one Airmen development concept,” he told a group of reporters.
Near the end of the hour-long session with reporters, Allvin articulated his long-term commitment to the reoptimization effort and better integrating the force.
“I got about a little less than three and a half years left [as Chief of Staff] … and this [reoptimization] is what I am going to be about. It will be nonstop. That I can promise you,” Allvin said.
By TSgt Nicholas G. Koetz
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
Operations in multistory buildings can pose the risk of a barricaded or obstructed exit. Historically there have been circumstances of ambushes on teams where all avenues of exit from the building are blocked and the building was detonated before the team was able to safely escape. It’s also feasible that escape from high to lower floors could be obstructed by fire, structural collapse, escaping crowds, or any number of other variables. While these occurrences are typically rare, survival can be at stake. The VECTOR Kit was designed to be so small, lightweight, and unobtrusive, that you would not even know you are carrying it. Yet it provides a critical egress capability from an urban elevated position that would otherwise be dangerous or impossible to conduct.
The kit allows rapid anchorage of the rope into wood frame, cinder, plaster, etc. construction. The stock 20m rope should allow egress from up to the fifth floor depending on floor heights and interior depth of the anchor. Longer lengths may be possible for special circumstances. The descent control device will provide a controlled descent with up to a 265 lbs. working load.
ctomsinc.com/products/vector-urban-egress-kit
AFSOC Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. —
Air Force Special Operations Command gathered members of Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, and Logis tics, AFSOC Staff, Cyber Mission Defense Teams (MDTs), and maintenance personnel here to demonstrate its latest capability to collect and analyze onboard data from an operational MC-130 aircraft, detect cybersecurity and maintenance anomalies in real-time, and stream data and anomalies into a Department of Defense cloud environment. This demonstrated AFSOC’s ability to support joint force readiness and resilience through real-time onboard data collection, detection, and alerting capabilities from the tactical edge.
The demonstration utilized commercial off the shelf observability platform which collected and analyzed aircraft data as it was generated during flight, revealing a set of simulated operational and cybersecurity anomalies which were streamed to the MDT ground station. Once received, the MDT streamed the alerts and corresponding data into a joint cloud instance in real-time for further analysis, enabling cybersecurity, maintenance, and intelligence analysis use across the joint force.
“To evolve and outpace the adversary, AFSOC must embrace change that will enable technical overmatch during high-end conflict and long-term strategic competition. Gaining real-time or near real-time observability into operational aircraft gives us the ability to develop countermeasures to overcome enemy cyber-attacks, generate force readiness, and improve mission capable rates,” said Col Alfredo Corbett, AFSOC Director, Cyber & C4 Systems.
AFSOC currently leverages equipment to gain observability into the onboard operational technology generated by the MC-130 aircraft. Hardware captures, analyzes, detects, and alerts on anomalies at the edge, enabling real-time maintenance and cybersecurity monitoring, insights and intelligence, and the ability to build and deploy new detections. By integrating the alerts and data into the DoD cloud environment, AFSOC demonstrates its ability to support DoD modernization efforts, enabling it to improve the readiness, survivability, and lethality of vehicles fleet wide.
NFM are launching their new THOR™ Modular Combat Vest System Light Weight (MCVS-LW) at EUROSATORY 2024. The innovative MCVS-LW will be showcased from June 17th to 21st, and visitors can explore its advanced features and light weight at NFM’s booth in Hall 6, stand G145.
Paris, France – June 17, 2024 – The THOR™ MCVS-LW an individual load bearing and ballistic protection vest, designed specifically for military and law enforcement personnel who prioritize low weight, slim fit and quick water drainage. This vest ensures comfort, modularity, light weight, and functionality in diverse operational environments.
“Our mission at NFM has always been to provide the best possible protection and solutions for those who serve on the front lines,” said Tor Inge Thun, Chief Product Officer at NFM. “The THOR™ MCVS-LW is a testament to this commitment, offering unparalleled weight efficiency and quick-drying capabilities without compromising on ballistic protection.”
Advanced features and superior design
The THOR™ MCVS-LW is constructed from laser cut flame retardant, hydrophobic and colorfast laminates, permitting to integrate functionalities such as pouch attachment interface. The Omega material used in the vest excels in water operations, ensuring no added weight when exiting the water and allowing for rapid drainage.
“The MCVS-LW’s design leverages the unique properties of the Omega material, enabling users to maintain high mobility and comfort even in wet conditions. This vest is truly a game-changer for operations involving water”, says Thun.
Key Features of the THOR™ MCVS Light Weight:
• Optimal weight-performance ratio: The vest’s low weight does not come at the expense of protection, ensuring optimal performance in the field.
• Modular design: Primarily set up for plate carrier configuration, the MCVS-LW offers the same modularity as the MCVS 3.0, allowing users to customize their loadout as needed.
• Advanced protection: With front and back ballistic protection panels and plates, the MCVS-LW safeguards against high-speed fragments, handgun, and rifle ammunition, protecting vital anatomical structures within the thorax.
• Load bearing capacity: The laser-cut pouch attachment system on the vest’s front, back, and sides ensures efficient load distribution and easy access to mission-critical equipment.
• Enhanced mobility and comfort: The padded shoulder supports distribute pressure evenly, while the front and back comfort pads enhance airflow, reducing moisture buildup and ensuring maximum comfort.
• Quick release mechanism: The slim G-hooks on the shoulders and Tubes® buckles on the sides allow for quick release and easy closing, providing a secure fit that is easy to manage even with gloved hands.
• Field repairability: The waist Tubes® can be easily exchanged by the user without the need for specific tools, ensuring the vest remains functional in the field.
“The THOR™ MCVS-LW is designed with the end-user in mind, ensuring they have the best possible equipment to perform their duties effectively and safely,” says Thun. “We are proud to introduce this innovative vest at EUROSATORY 2024 and look forward to demonstrating its capabilities.”
NFM invites all attendees of EUROSATORY 2024 to visit our booth in Hall 6, stand G145, to explore the THOR™ MCVS-LW and witness the future of lightweight, modular combat vest systems.
