WWII Mystery: HMS Dasher and “The Man Who Never Was”
A WWII mystery revolves around the sinking of the HMS Dasher and a man’s body with documents ‘planted’ off the coast of Spain to turn the tide of war.
Articles by Pat Carty
Unusual U.S. Military Activity at RAF Fairford Amid the Venezuela Crisis
By Pat Carty. (Editor’s Note: The increased activity by U.S. aircraft in the UK was first noted by OSINT accounts (Twitter) several days ago. Then defense focused news media picked up the story, and now it has garnered the attention […]
UK SOF Exercise Chameleon 25-2
By Pat Carty. It is that time of the year when the United Kingdom’s elite special operations community has wrapped up the second of its premier bi-annual exercises – Chameleon 25-2. This high-stake training exercise, unites personnel from the Special […]
FG-378: The Flying Banana and the Congo
By Pat Carty. Some sixty years ago, in May 1965, some of the largest hostage rescue missions involving Belgian and American forces took place in the Belgian Congo. They included mission names such as “Dragon Rouge” (Red Dragon) and “Dragon […]
UK Strategic Defence Review 2025 and SOF
By Pat Carty. The UK Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 2025 – a very wordy but comprehensive assessment of the United Kingdom’s defence policy, was published on June 2, 2025, by the Labour government, and just weeks ahead of a crucial […]
Exercise Chameleon 23-2 (UK SF)
By Pat Carty. Yet again, my imaginary global ball which prompts me about future Special Force exercises, came up with duff information. The reason being that whilst I had almost packed my bags and booked my flight to Cyprus, to […]
Death of Royal Marine Benjamin McQueen
By Pat Carty. The Royal Marine Commando Training Centre, also known as CTCRM, is the principal training centre for the United Kingdom’s Royal Marines. Based at Lympstone in Devon, the CTCRM selects and trains all Royal Marines Officers, recruits and […]
Dutch Exercise TAC Blaze 23 Conducted in UK
By Pat Carty. Since 2006 I have attended a particular exercise in the UK, which has been very special for me. The reason being it has involved only helicopters from a foreign Air Force. Exercise TAC Blaze, run by the […]
UK SF Exercise – Chameleon 23-1
By Pat Carty. I wish I had a globe which enabled me to look into the future. There again, I guess if I had paid more attention to the current weather charts, and used them to predict the future weather, […]
Exercise Chameleon 22-1 – UK SF
Story by Pat Carty. Due to the ongoing situation in Ukraine, I doubt if there were many in the military, especially NATO, who did not expect their training to be either delayed or postponed, due to the necessity to prepare […]
Happy Birthday Puma – UK’s Versatile Helicopter
Story by Pat Carty. A formation of Royal Air Force Puma helicopters has made a nostalgic national flypast, to mark 50 years of service for the type. The ten Pumas; acknowledged and respected as the workhorse of many tactical and […]
Exercise Chameleon 1-21 (UK Special Forces)
By Pat Carty. UK Special Forces have just completed their latest and longest Chameleon Special Force exercise when Chameleon 1-21 came to an end on March 19, 2021. Run bi-annually, Exercise Chameleon provides the opportunity for Special Force units from […]
Brecon Beacons Casualties – UK SF “Fan Dance”
By Pat Carty. Following an official “Freedom of Information” request made to the British Government in December 2020, the Ministry of Defence has released the total number of British Armed Forces personnel, who have lost their lives in the Brecon […]
Exercise Faraday Field 19-2
By Pat Carty. Whilst the news that UK Royal Navy is currently escorting British-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz seems to have disappeared from world headlines, also the latest situation regarding the increased diplomatic tensions in the Gulf, not […]
Black Swan 19 – SOF Exercise in Europe
Special Force troops were assisted by a Hungarian Air Force Gripen multirole fighter, Mi-17, Mi-24, Cougar and American Special Forces CV-22 Osprey helicopters, all of which played a vital part in Exercise Black Swan 19 Distinguished Visitor Day (DV Day). […]