Do NOT miss the rope
Good footage from our brothers in 160th SOAR
“Death Waits in the Dark”
The sequences of the guys Helo Casting (jumping out of moving helo into the water). I “Think” doctrine allows for 30&30—thirty feet of altitude and 30 knots forward speed? I’ve helo casted at 15 &15—jumping out the ass end of the MH-47–and it felt like I’d been hit by the biggest linebacker on the Wisconsin FB team. After recovering my breath I side stroked over to the RB15 (big rubber boat–holds 15 folks) and clambered aboard and we went on with the exercise. Sorta fun in the aftermath—not so much at the time.
Who are SOAR compared to rangers, seals / others?
Are they SF?
160th SOAR came about after the abysmal failure that was Operation Eagle Claw (aka Desert One–attempted rescue of US hostages in Iran)
160th is a part of USASOC and will deliver you anywhere in the world +/- 10 seconds. When you need to come home they will fly through hell to come get you out of there.
and
It would be more accurate to call them SOF. They are not SF–Green Berets.’
Mostly they provide “lift” carry and deliver capability but also provide limited onsite fire support from their little birds and DAPs
They carry CAG, SEALs, and Rangers into target areas. And bring them home.
To clarify
some will say it’s pedantic and I guess to a "outsider " i can see that as a valid criticism. Howsoever, to those in the business words have meaning and lend to specificity and clarity.
Generally speaking (USA forces now) we have SOF—Special Operations Forces
Each of the respective components (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines) have special forces that fall under the SOF umbrella
So for example–the US Army:
Has Rangers. 75th Ranger Regiment. They are technically speaking nothing more than “The worlds best light infantry” which is what they style themselves to be. Yet they are routinely/habitually tasked to work with JSOC formations to the extent that you could well say that “Rangers” are SOF
The Army also has Special Forces. SF. Green Berets. A Teams (that shoot a lot better than B A Barakus and Hannibal ever did with their mini-14s). Folks get caught up in the direct action missions that A Teams may or may not do but their main mission remains Unconventional Warfare. UW takes many forms and is often a part of parcel of “Nation Building” so you will see SF Teams working in countries developing their military on basic skills. Along the way they try to teach basic human rights rules and and other aspects of “The Law of Land Warfare.” It’s not as glamorous as the direct action shit but it is quiet good work done by quiet professionals
The US Army also has the 160th SOAR which i’ve described above
The US Army also has another SOF unit. It’s been named different things at different times. You might have heard it called “Delta” or “The Unit” and it’s certainly gone by those names. Nowadays it goes by a different designation I’ll not name here but is most commonly called CAG (Combat Applications Group)
The Navy has a few SOF forces. Namely SEALs, but also delivery folks. There are “Blue” SEALs that is generic SEAL team folks and then specific teams assigned to JSOC. I cannot go into further details
The USAF has its share of SOF forces too. Mainly the PJs that go in to rescue folks and routinely accompany CAG and Team guys. Also special platform crews and technical capabilities like MC 130–Spectre gunships and MC-130 Compass Call electronic warfare birds. The USAF also fields some lesser known dark platforms like DRACO but again, I can’t say more than what you’ll find on the internet.
The USMC is part of the Department of the Navy–much as they hate to admit it. The USMC was late to the game in terms of fielding SOF forces and when they did (in typical Marine manner) they kept themselves to themselves. Finally, they’ve joined the Joint SOF team and so you’ll see MARSOC forces as a part of JSOC task organizations and operations.
I did my last rotation in Afghan ISO of a MARSOC unit that was part of a &^E#@#@. Those were some great guys. We fucked some serious bad guys up and I was happy to have helped them.
Nice video. As a non-pilot, the impressive thing to me is always putting those Little Birds down on a tiny rooftop or just the edge of a roof top.
That said, those guys can come see some Navy pilots for extra instruction on how to land on a pitching deck at night in the middle of the ocean.
I don’t see how those SeaHawk pilots do that? Land on back deck of a pitching FFG or Destroyer?
Rappelling out of helo into trees …
more fun than sex
( do not tell my wife I said that )
I don’t watch these videos too often, but they do take me to bonertown when I do!
In another life, I was the maintenance supervisor on the MH-60 side in the 160th SOAR out of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah (I was medically disqualified from flying again after being diagnosed with Crohn’s).
Just to add to some of the information you have given out and to help answer Andrewmc’s questions (this is all publicly available information):
We fell under USASOC (Special Operations Command) and I believe they now fall under ARSOAC (Army Special Operations Aviation Command), so everyone in the unit is considered SOF personnel. Everyone in the unit has to interview and assess to be there, unlike the support personnel in SF (that may have changed since I’ve been out).
Each battalion has a different area of responsibility around the globe, but we all generally support the same special operations units (Rangers, Seals, CAG, etc., except MARSOC). Each battalion has the same capabilities, training, and aircraft, save for the Little Birds and DAPS. Those guys are stationed at the mother ship in Fort Campbell, KY. That said, some battalions in the Regiment definitely get way more money and cooler missions than the rest!
I’m sure that some will want to know about the OBL raid. I can’t share anything about that, other than to say that I had ZERO idea that we were even involved with the mission until it was leaked to the press. It was one of the best kept secrets in the community!
The missions were incredibly dangerous and patching bullet holes or replacing main rotor blade tip caps were pretty common (they trimmed a lot of palm trees in Iraq). I can count on both hands the number of buddies that have been shot/hit by shrapnel. Multiple Air Medals with “V” devices, Silver Stars, etc.
The unit definitely isn’t for everyone. I had a hard time understanding why everyone didn’t want to come to the unit (shorter deployments, more money, more schools), but I eventually found that it requires a certain mindset. Not everyone is a PT god (most of my guys were really in to World of Warcraft), but what set us apart was our commitment to the mission. Every fiber of your being needs to be devoted to meeting the mission and being on time, on target, plus or minus 30 seconds, under the cover of darkness.
There are a lot of great memories from my time there, but one of my favorites was when we had finished our operations in Basra in 2008. I was responsible for the pre-dep site surveys and for closing down the joint once we ceased operations and headed back to Balad. I worked all night getting two MC-130 loads worth of gear and support personnel back to the head shed and was in the last group to leave (just 4 of us). We packed our Toyota Hilux to the gills with the last of our shit and waited at the end of an unimproved runway under blackout conditions. Once that last MC-130 rolled up and dropped its rear ramp, I drove it up into the back and the Load Master tossed a CGU-1B cargo strap through my window and out the other side and tied us down. Didn’t even have to get out! They raised the ramp, shut out the lights, rumbled down the runway, and off to sleep we went. I don’t think I ever felt so fucking cool in my life!
My buddy from college drives the new Romeos and let me come onto the base one evening to fly in the simulator. He did a night approach onto the back of a Small Boy (?) and made it look suuuuper easy. I tried it under day-time conditions and could get it to a hover above the pad, but just couldn’t stick it. My shirt was soaked when I climbed out of the seat! The Navy definitely has the edge on everyone when it comes to landing on a deck under rough conditions.
160th SOAR came about after the abysmal failure that was Operation Eagle Claw (aka Desert One–attempted rescue of US hostages in Iran)
160th is a part of USASOC and will deliver you anywhere in the world +/- 10 seconds. When you need to come home they will fly through hell to come get you out of there.
Ya that whole mission went south and was somewhat embarrassing.
I was was a young BTFN on my second Med. Cruise when it went down, we were not directly involved in the operation but we did divert to the gulf for a month before heading back to Charleston.
A whole lot has changed with desert land and air transport.
I wonder with today’s aircraft and other tech how that mission would have gone down.
I’m not sure it’s pedantic - even to an outsider - it requires order and who does what, its just as an outsider you don’t know what you don’t know.
I think it’s less complicated on this side of the pond. We only have water and land, don’t know about SBS but the others are split in to 4 squadrons and they do all sorts of unconvential things… (I read a book… 😂)
I got “hailed on” one night when a DAP came in over head and hovered above me and opened fire. Brass fell from the sky all over us. We’d switched our designator off and so just were watching the show. It was glorious. The falling brass not so much.
I’ve worked with and supported SBS (rarely) and SAS (more often) both in Afghan. Mostly I worked alongside the GCHQ techie SOF guys when i was a contractor guy in Country. Canada has/had a great unit with their JTF2–but withdrawn too soon. Inserted only the tip?
Rappelling out of helo into trees …
more fun than sex
( do not tell my wife I said that )
When you can see that the chem light has turned horizontal that must mean that the rope’s end is on the ground. It’s “OK” to send the stick down the FAST Rope at that point right?
They have a certain mystique in the UK - for good reasons - and B20 did for them what top gun did in the US
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I picked up Relentless Strike based on seeing it in I believe the book club thread and I thought it gave a solid rundown of the equipment used and by whom, including the helos from this video. I didn’t get nearly as much from it as I probably would have with a minimum background in command structure and acronym intelligence, not that the group names stayed the same for long anyway.
I do feel like your post was false advertising though as I was waiting for someone to jump and miss the rope but it appears everyone was well trained and no mistakes were made.
There remains a certain incentive to NOT MISS THE ROPE!
Yet it does happen sadly at times. Notably in “Black Hawk Down” and sometimes during “Peace Time” training.
You’ll note my comment above about the chem light being ‘horizontal.’ ?
We had a incident at JRTC where BLUFOR was inserting via FAST Rope and the Rope Master put the rope out the door—looked down and saw that the chem light was horizontal (it was hung up in a tree branch) and put the whole stick down the rope. Injured many and killed one. 
Cool video. I forgot how agile those Killer Eggs are.
An old buddy of mine was Night Stalker pilot. Super calm. Never talked about work.