Retired Army soldier shares the moment that changed his life: 'I'm not in heaven. I'm in hell.'

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Ian Ives in army gear.
Ian Ives during his 2019 deployment in Afghanistan.

Courtesy of Ian Ives

How mercenaries actually work, according to a special forces veteran

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Barrie Rice is a former commando with the New Zealand Special Air Service. For the past 30 years, he's been a mercenary and personal bodyguard all over the world.

How the UK Special Forces actually work, according to a former SAS troop leader

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Krishna Thapa is a former Special Air Service troop leader, Gurkha, and record-breaking mountaineer.

How the Green Berets actually work, according to a former special forces operative

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Captain Benjamin "Ben" Harrow is a decorated US Army Green Beret. A former collegiate lacrosse player, he trained at West Point and served as an infantry officer and special forces detachment commander during deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

China's naval commandos rode electric skateboards into a combat exercise with drones disguised as birds, then left in a pickup truck

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Chinese special forces ride on electric skateboards and provide covering fire before they board a pick-up truck.
Chinese special forces showcased several gadgets, including a jet-powered surfboard and an electric skateboard, at a live-fire exercise televised on August 1.

Screenshot/China Military Bugle (People's Liberation Army)

US commander appeared to suggest UK special forces were operating in Ukraine

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Soldiers standing next to military vehicles on the day Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk meets with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Warsaw Armoured Brigade's base, in Warsaw, Poland, April 23, 2024.
Soldiers at the Warsaw Armoured Brigade's base, Poland.

REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel

Missions like the nighttime sea raid that saw 2 Navy SEALs go missing are 'dangerous' and 'complex,' former Special Forces soldier says

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A visit, board, search and seizure team from the guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin during operations in the Gulf of Aden.
A visit, board, search and seizure team from the guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin during operations in the Gulf of Aden.

US Navy photo

With job cuts and drug tests, the Pentagon hopes to prepare its special-ops forces for a new era of warfare

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Navy Naval Special Warfare command
A West Coast-based member of Naval Special Warfare Command during a water-climb training event in 2014.

Naval Special Warfare Group One

A Ukrainian soldier is claiming the world's longest sniper kill, using a gun named 'Horizon's Lord'

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A composite image showing, left, a Ukrainian Territorial Defense brigade sniper in training, used for illustration purposes only, and a view of the claimed longest sniper shot highlighted in a circle in footage released by Ukrainian Special forces in November 2023.
(L) A Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces soldier trains with a sniper rifle.

These are the elite special force units Israel could send into Gaza to clear Hamas' labyrinth of tunnels and rescue hostages

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Israeli Special Forces
Israel Special Forces

Israeli Special Forces/Facebook

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