SOFREP Jack Murphy: "Special Operations need a voice"

One hears about them, reads about them, or they are in the news: Special Operation Forces - in German: Special Forces - are often the main actors in modern conflicts. Yet hardly anyone understands how they work. Or gets their perspective firsthand. SOFREP.COM is an American media network of people who come from the Special Operations Community. We talked to Jack Murphy, the Managing Editor at SOFREP, about this online magazine and its channels.

SPARTANAT: SOFREP.COM stands for "Special Operations Forces Report-Special Ops News & Intel" in full. What does SOFREP stand for as an online magazine?

JACK MURPHY: We are a media outlet with SOFREP.COM as our flagship. What sets us apart from other websites that claim to report on military Special Operations is that our editorial staff consists of real veterans who come from the Special Forces community - including Rangers, Special Forces, SEALs, MARSOC, and Force Recon. We also have individual staff members from SOF units in foreign countries on board, such as Denmark and Greece. At our site, you can find news, history, and information about Special Operations daily, as well as in podcasts, e-books, and documentaries.

SPARTANAT: But SOFREP is not just SOFREP.COM. What other sites and channels are part of SOFREP?

JACK MURPHY: We have a whole menu of websites under the umbrella of Force 12, one of which is SOFREP. There is also Hotextract.com, which deals with video games; NavySEALs.com, which reports on the SEALs, as you may have already expected, in loadoutroom.com everything revolves around Guns and Gear, and there are a few others. I am currently working on SpecialOperations.com, an information website about Special Operations Forces from around the world.

SPARTANAT: Your writers come from the SOF Community itself. What can they tell that you won't find in mainstream media?

JACK MURPHY: Quite a lot, to be honest. Sometimes even those in the media who are well-intentioned do not understand certain connections simply because they have not served in Special Operations. They do not see the difference between Ranger School and Ranger Regiment. They do not understand the difference between SEALs and DEVGRU. Many do not care, and they are okay with our history and heritage being exploited. Because our authors have truly served in these units, they can interpret the nuances and provide a completely different (and much more accurate) perspective.

SPARTANAT: Do you think it is necessary to give the SOF Community a louder voice? Or do Special Forces simply have better stories to be published?

JACK MURPHY: I don't think we need a louder voice, I just think we need a voice at all, and it certainly isn't the high-ranking retired generals you see on CNN or Pentagon spokespeople. This is a particular challenge because I think we have become a bit too loud and gone too far with our audacity. I hope that with SOFREP, we can show the professionalism that is known throughout the SOF community. I also hope that we can give our soldiers a human face and show that they are by no means brainless killing machines, as seen in many entertainment films and video games.

SPARTANAT: There are voices that claim "special" is the new "normal" of warfare. Do you believe that's true? Why?

JACK MURPHY: To a large extent, yes. The days of openly fought military battles between nations seem to be over. Perhaps it may happen again between North and South Korea one day, but globalization and the fall of the Soviet Union have changed everything. The world is economically interconnected today, and taking out a part/country would affect the entire global economic system. Special Operations come with barely visible traces and medically precise strikes, but they also create their own problems. For example, the US government may need Special Operations more than cunning diplomacy to solve their problems.