The freedoms Americans enjoy are protected by men and women willing to do extraordinarily hard things in extraordinarily dangerous places. SOAA met with Members of Congress to discuss key issues facing the Special Operations community so lawmakers understand the realities behind the decisions they make. Thank you to reps @PatHarriganNC, @EliCrane_CEO, @RepMcCaul, @MLuttrellTX, @JimmyPanetta, and @repdarrellissa soaa.org/members-of-congress…

A resolute mindset gets you through the mission. The ability to laugh in the middle of it is what keeps you sane along the way. Andrew Bice, a former SWCC operator, breaks down two qualities that matter just as much as physical toughness: staying locked onto the objective no matter what gets thrown at you, and finding the humor in even the darkest situations to keep moving forward.

While other Special Forces Groups were assigned to Europe, South America, or the Pacific, 5th Special Forces Group had the Middle East. 5th SFG was anything but desirable at the time, but after 9/11 everything changed and on December 5, 2001 former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller arrived north of Kandahar to support the effort to take the city then considered the spiritual home of the Taliban, a mission he calls the most defining of his entire career.

Command Sgt. Maj. David Zeek joined the Army Reserve to pay for college. Twenty-two years of saying yes to harder doors took him through the Rangers, the White House Transportation Agency, First Special Forces Group, and the Army Congressional Fellowship. soaa.org/command-sergeant-ma…

Not every member of the special operations community is an operator, and the mission does not work without the people who are not. A loadmaster with Air Force Special Operations Command resets the cargo bay of an MC-130J Commando II after airdrop training off the coast of Okinawa, preparing the aircraft for whatever comes next. SOF aviation is its own specialized world, flying profiles and executing mission sets the conventional force is not built for. Aircrew, loadmasters, and maintainers make those capabilities possible, and the community depends on them just as much as the teams they carry. (U.S. Air Force photos by Senior Airman Melany Bermudez)

Civil Affairs is often defined by the relationships they build, not by what happens when those relationships break down. Soldiers with the 91st Civil Affairs Battalion (Special Operations) (Airborne) ran a multi-day live fire exercise at Fort Bragg, training on marksmanship, tactical vehicle evacuations, and react to contact drills, skills that matter just as much as the cultural expertise CA is known for. Operating embedded in unpredictable environments far from backup, staying lethal isn't optional. It's what keeps these teams alive when a situation shifts from conversation to crisis in seconds. (U.S. Army video by Spc. Hannah Becker)

He failed SFAS twice, the second time landing him in the ER with rhabdomyolysis and a never-to-return status. He refused to accept it, rebuilt his body from scratch, and graduated top 10 in his class on his third attempt. soaa.org/sfas-three-tries/

It took retired Navy SEAL Dr. Rey Baviera 12 years and multiple attempts to earn his Trident. From injuries and training setbacks to being told he was too old to return, Baviera’s path through BUD/S was marked by persistence and a refusal to let failure define the outcome. His story shows how setbacks can shape stronger leaders and make eventual success that much more meaningful. Read the full story from SOF News: sof.news/seals/becoming-a-na…

Coming home from deployment brings its own kind of battle. Doug Livermore, who deployed eight times with Special Forces, talks about how his wife became highly skilled at running the household on her own, especially once they had kids. That left him and a lot of other SF guys facing the same question: where do you fit back into a family that's learned how to function without you for months at a time. Then there's the abrupt shift. Overseas schedules often mean working nights or reversed hours, and suddenly you're expected to fall back into a normal daily routine. On top of that, everyday responsibilities that never existed downrange come rushing back all at once, bills, taxes, groceries, laundry. All of it happens while still trying to decompress from what was left behind overseas. Reintegration and readjustment, all at the same time.

Happy Birthday to the United States Air Force! Since 1947, you've owned the skies and pushed the boundaries of what's possible. Thank you for protecting American airspace and projecting power around the globe.

At 17 years old, applying to colleges, Rep. Pat Harrigan felt something pulling him in a direction he hadn't originally planned for. He describes it as a calling, a conviction that this was exactly where God wanted him to be at that point in his life. That pull led him to West Point, then into the infantry, and eventually into Special Forces.

The Taliban considered them high-value targets. The Female Tactical Platoon gave American operators intelligence no one else could reach. Five years later, roughly 40 FTP members in the U.S. still lack the green cards to build a future here.  soaa.org/afghan_women_visas/

If you can't laugh when things are falling apart, you're going to break. Green Beret, Dr. Ryan Ziegler, says that's not a personality trait, it's a survival skill, and it's something every single member of a team carries in some form. The ability to find humor in the worst moments is often what keeps people from cracking under the weight of them. It's not about not taking things seriously. It's about staying human enough to keep going.

Synchronizing fires and maneuver against a single objective takes more repetition than most people realize. Marine Raiders with Delta Company, 1st Marine Raider Battalion, ran a Combined Arms Live-Fire Exercise to integrate those elements against a designated objective and sharpen the coordination the mission demands. There is no shortcut for reps. Skills like these degrade fast without constant training, which is why units return to the range again and again long after the fundamentals are learned. (U.S. Marine Corps photos by Lance Cpl. Jared Saul)

After the events of 9/11, we decided as a country that the American people deserved to know that the skies above them were safe and that when they get on a plane or enter an airport, their safety is held to the highest standard. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. A loophole exists that allows some public charter carriers to operate without the same TSA screening requirements as commercial airlines, which puts passengers, and the Nation as a whole, at unnecessary risk. The Safer Skies Act would close this loophole and ensure American citizens receive the same level of safety and security they should expect regardless of what carrier is being used. Full breakdown from SOAA President Jack Barry in Stars and Stripes stripes.com/opinion/2026-08-…

Four candidates with special operations backgrounds are on the ballot this November. SOAA is tracking @DanGreenFL, @SheaforCongress, @cunninghamfornm, and @CaitforNewYork, veterans who served at the tip of the spear and are now asking to continue that service in Congress. soaa.org/sof_veterans_novemb…

A single aircraft carrier costs $14 billion a year, and Former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller argues that a fraction of that could fundamentally transform veteran support across the board. He's also clear that this isn't a partisan issue. Despite serving in the Trump administration, he's emphatic that veteran support should transcend politics entirely, calling for support from both sides of the aisle regardless of who's in office.

We will never forget September 11, 2001. Today we remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost and honor the first responders, service members, and everyday heroes who answered the call. Their courage defines our resilience.

Under night vision, precision is everything. Rangers with 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment run a machine gun team during a night air assault operation alongside the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at Kahuku Training Area, Hawaii, part of Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center Rotation 26-01. Operating a crew served weapon in total darkness demands a level of coordination and trust most people will never fully appreciate. This exercise is preparing forces to dominate jungle and archipelagic terrain in the Indo-Pacific, exactly the kind of environment where these skills stop being training and start being the difference between mission success and failure. U.S. Army video by Sgt. Olivia Cowart

25 years ago, 8 Americans rode into Afghanistan with an army they barely knew, met by Northern Alliance fighters on horseback. Twenty-five years later, nonprofit Badger Six is still fighting to bring those same allies home. soaa.org/badger-six-afghan-a…

There is a moment in selection where quitting feels like the only rational choice. SWCC Operator Andrew Bice had a many of these. One of the hardest came during rocking chairs, an exercise in freezing water that most candidates have never encountered, where the cold works against you in a way nothing else can prepare you for. What got him through wasn't a mantra or a technique. It was the guys standing on his left and right, and keeping his eyes fixed on what becoming an operator actually meant to him.