BlackFive

BlackFive.net has teamed up with Bill Roggio, with whose extraordinary reporting you are all familiar, to arrange an unusual opportunity.  Working together, we've arranged to send someone to report on operations at the Joint Special Operations Task Force - Philippines (JSOTF-P).  There, our Special Forces are working with the Armed Forces of the Philippines to deal with one of the most chaotic environments in the world.  Numerous militant groups contest government control of the area -- the MNLF, MILF, Abu Sayyaf, and al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, each riven with internal factions.  Some are engaged in peace talks with the government of the Philippines; some are openly hostile.

When we first started making inquiries about getting this approved, several people with reason to know said it would never be approved.  SOCOM doesn't do this kind of thing, we were told.  But it was approved.  Bill Roggio's good work and responsible journalism, real journalism, has earned him a lot of respect in the military community.  BlackFive.net also has a number of friends, contacts, and supporters.  Working together, we found we were granted the opportunity.

Bill Roggio's operations are reader supported, as you know.  What you may not know is that he is now an official nonprofit, a recognized 501c3, which means that your contributions are fully tax deductible.  BlackFive.net, in addition to helping arrange the trip, has promised to help him fund it.  This will not be cheap:  the insurance, for example, is more expensive to journey with Special Forces in Mindanao than it is to send someone to embed with the Marines or Cavalry in Iraq.  There are travel costs, equipment costs, and other costs as well.

We hope you will join us in supporting this venture.  No money is to be sent to BlackFive.net, but rather to Bill's Public Multimedia.  If there is any surplus from your donations to support the JSOTF-P trip, it will be rolled right over into supporting more journalism from Bill Roggio, Michael Totten, and others.  If you wish to donate, use the button below, or the one on the sidebar.

Please join us in supporting Bill's new venture.  BlackFive.net is glad to be working with him, as we all admire the good work he has done.  We hope that this will only be the first of our joint projects.