Combat experience with coalition special operations forces in Afghanistan exposed an inability of those ground troops to communicate with supporting USAF aircraft. To address that skills gap, Air Force Special Operations Command gathered special ops forces from several coalition nations for what AFSOC calls a Combined Special Operations Forces Subject Matter Expert Exchange, making it part of Emerald Warrior 07. The CSOF-SMEE—brainchild of MSgt. Gregory Smith with AFSOC’s 4th Special Operations Squadron—has been working for about five years on a small scale, but Emerald Warrior gave the command the opportunity to ramp it up. Instead of a typical one-week training event for two allied teams, the exercise brought in 100 participants from five countries for two weeks.
A U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Japan on Nov. 29, according to Air Force Special Operations Command and Japanese officials. In a release, AFSOC said the Osprey, assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing at Yokota Air Base, suffered a mishap off the coast of…