Royal Marines – The SBS continue to mount special operations inside Iraq.

• Daily Telegraph: Royal Marine dies in secret Iraq operation
• The Sun: SBS hero killed in gunfight

Background – War Studies Courses – Over the last two weeks, as I have been putting together the Reading List / Curriculum page, I have realized that taken in whole, this reading list may serve as a basic introduction to, and curriculum in, war studies that may be used to give context to current and future naval operations. Therefore I thought I would provide some pointers to formal courses in War Studies.

• Kings College London War Studies Department eLearning Programme. Kings College London, in 2004, will begin offering a Masters Degree in War Studies via the Internet, to all interested parties.
• University of Sussex MA in Contemporary War and Peace Studies. The Reading List for Contemporary Warfare and Society is an excellent starting point for self education in War Studies.

• University of North Carolina Curriculum in Peace, War and Defense has Syllabi for a number of its courses online.

Background – US Army – The After Action Report of the US Army’s Third Infantry Division from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Reality is separated from fantasy, and important lessons learned are well documented.

• US Army: Third Infantry Division (Mechanized) After Action Report Operation Iraqi Freedom (PDF format) and (HTML format)