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Special Operations Forces stage hostage recovery in Tampa to demonstrate military capabilities

Every year, the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference shows off both cutting-edge electronics and the resulting capabilities of a highly trained international demonstration team

The annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) event highlights the unique skills, state-of-the-art equipment, training, and personnel of member nations used to counter emerging threats by groups around the world. A special demonstration was given to provide the industry with a way to view operations and help it to find ways to improve on the existing technology and provide SOF with the best equipment and training to accomplish their mission and support national objectives. The SOFIC exhibit hall was filled to capacity and featured new technologies, training systems, vehicles, aircraft, and individual equipment — all designed to support the SOF community.  

During the demonstration, attendees witnessed a live tactical exercise that highlighted SOF sea, land, and air capabilities and showcased the partnership and interoperable tactical capabilities of the global Special Operations Forces network. For this demonstration, Tampa’s mayor, Bob Buckhorn, agreed to be taken prisoner in this mock hostage scene put on by the International Special Operations Forces. The team trained together to conduct a realistic training event to showcase the capabilities of the participating countries.  

Partner nations included 29 commandos from 15 countries, with participants from Canada, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, The Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Spain, and the United States.

As a member of the press, I was given a close and advantageous position to film this video. If you weren’t a believer in the abilities of tactical forces, you were after seeing and feeling the full effect of the helicopters, gun-boats, 50-caliber machine guns, explosions, and the chaos that happens in a hostage situation. I filmed so much video that I completely drained my battery because it was so amazing. I felt like I was on the set of an Arnold Schwarzenegger action film. Our expert video editing team did an amazing job to catch the very essence of a 30-minute event and compress it down to a little more than one minute. Hopefully, you come away with the understanding of what goes into a hostage recovery event and the amount of training it requires for an international team to perform so adroitly, especially when you consider that it often happens under the cover of darkness in poor to terrible weather conditions. The electronics equipment used in the exercise were designed by many of the companies in attendance at the conference. For more information: http://www.sofic.org

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