It's rare for someone outside the services to get his or hands on these, and the last time we had one was when Dom wrote about the magazine in 2009. The Year In Special Operations 2012-2013 can now be readily read, as learned at the SOFIC (Special Operations Forces Industry Conference), the 2012-2013 edition is available online making it even more accessible to anyone interested in Special Operations.

This is a long edition, over 170 pages, but you will read information that you cannot read anywhere else. The US Special Operations Command was formed in 1987 via the Nunn-Cohen Amendment to the Goldwater-Nichols DOD Reorganization Act, allowing the various special operations from the various branches of the US Armed Forces to be under a unified command. The publication interviews Adm. William McRaven who is the commander of the US SOCOM and Brig. General Edward Reader of the US Army Special Forces Command.

The major components such as the AFSOC, MARSOC, NAVSPECWARCOM, USASOC are put reviewed, together with International Special Operations Forces. This edition also covers 50 Years of Navy SEALs and the Modern Green Beret with a report on the Enduring Freedom-Philippines where they successfully supported the Philippine's efforts against terrorists in the southern part of the country.

One interesting story is about the controversial OSPREY CV-22, the tilt-wing rotor aircraft which was deployed to Afghanistan and with a high success rate in missions supporting ground troops. The US SOCOM plans to increase its commission rates, as issues regarding the OSPREY are being put into the past making it a workhorse in deploying and supporting missions around the world.

The Battle of Roberts Bridge (Takur Ghar), the largest set-piece battle in Afghanistan was revisited 10 years after.  Operation Anaconda almost failed at the beginning when the local militias involved in the mission were demoralized after encountering stiff opposition and went back to their base leaving the forces of the International Coalition to continue with the mission. This mission was significant as the Soviets failed twice in beating the Afghan insurgents in this area before.

Also this issue celebrates the 70 years of the Rangers and the Marine Raider Battalions, two units which also paved the way for the development of other special operations units that we know of today.

You can read the online edition here, but you cannot download it for offline viewing. But if you have Adobe AIR, you can have it cached for offline viewing.