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Remarks as delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, MacDill AFB, Tampa, FL, Tuesday, September 2, 2003. Chairman Dick Myers -- I thank you very much for outstanding leadership as the Senior Military Officer for the United States. Working with you and your Vice Chairman, General Pete Pace, is both a privilege and a pleasure. General Holland and Nancy and all of the Holland family and friends there - it is always good to see you and congratulations to all of you. General and Mrs. Brown and all the Brown family - welcome. Good to see you. Chairman...

To any out there who - like me - are prior service grunts, or just have an interest in the tools our soldiers are using right now worldwide that the press doesn't show us. The slides show in fair detail (all unclassified), along with the costs, of the systems that help make our ground forces the best soldiers on the planet. Of course these are just the tools - the training, dedication, and guts of our troops are the real reason that they kick anyone's butts.For those who are concerned with what may happen to this nation if someone like...

<p>CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The Navy has its SEALs; the Army has its Green Berets. Now, the Marine Corps will have its own special operations force under a new test program being launched at its West Coast training base.</p> <p>A ceremony was planned Friday afternoon at Camp Pendleton for Pentagon officials to formally begin a yearlong test of an elite 86-man commando force that will train and operate with Navy SEALs. By next spring, the joint team will go overseas, likely for combat missions in the war on terror.</p>

When you "double down" in blackjack you double your bet because it looks like the dealer is going to end up with a busted hand. We're in the process of doubling down on special operations, something we should have done long ago. Like back in the bad old days when Mr. Clinton's social experimentation and other baloney turned too many of our best guys into civilians. The guys at Special Operations Command -- SOCOM -- are at full throttle, and we need to keep them there. In the lead-up to the Iraq campaign, some of us were advocating that the...

The U.S. military dominates the globe, but increasingly faces an enemy it cannot see. In the third in a series on U.S. power, Peter Goodspeed chronicles efforts to build a secret army for the covert war on terrorism. - - - The United States is building an elite, secret army to carry the war against terrorism into the world's darkest corners with a new wave of covert pre-emptive operations. For the first time since the Vietnam War, U.S. defence officials are undertaking a massive mobilization of their elite special operations command, pouring billions of dollars in new funding into high-tech...

As senior defence officials in Washington contemplate how to better align US forces to fight the global 'war on terrorism', they are increasingly looking to special operations forces (SOF) as an answer. With SOF expanded missions expected to range from greater involvement in major conflicts such as a possible US-led campaign against Iraq to tracking down individual terrorist cells in the far corners of the globe, additional force structures and new equipment are being planned. US DoD leaders are now forming a plan to give US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) leaders the flexibility to support the Bush administration's new pre-emptive...