Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan or CJSOTF-A is a task force unit lead by US Army Special Forces. It's headquartered at Bagram Airfield and is part of the Special Operations Joint Task Force - Afghanistan / NATO Special Operations Component Command - Afghanistan. The core tasks of CJSOTF-A include advising the Afghan National Army’s special operations forces and local police, and training forces associated with the Village Stability Operations (VSO) and counterinsurgency (COIN) - a strategy that establishes expanding security and stability in rural villages. The unit also controls highly specialized battalion-level task forces built around US Army Special Forces, Infantry, Marine Special Operators and Navy SEALs. JOINT TASK FORCES CONCEPT. The concept of Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTF) provides flexible and efficient means to enable the Alliance to generate forces at short notice, providing rapidly deployable, multi-national, multi- service task forces with appropriate command and control arrangements. The Special Operations Joint Task Force - Afghanistan (SOJTF-A) is the United States component of the NATO Special Operations Component Command - Afghanistan (NSOCC-A). The commander of NSOCC-A is also the commander of SOJTF-A - a dual-hat command arrangement. 1. This division-level headquarters is commanded by a two-star general and encompasses all in-country NATO special operations forces and assets. The SOJTF-A mission spans the entire spectrum of special operations in a counterterrorist and a counterinsurgent environment. The missions range from direct action to capacity-building to Security Force Assistance. Personnel Strength. In mid-2013 the number of personnel assigned to SOJTF-A/NSOCC-A was close to 13,000 special operators, staff, and support personnel from over 25 different nations. It is estimated that the combined NATO / U.S. military force at the start of Resolute Support in January 2015 will be about 12,000 troops; of which a fraction (25%?) will be SOF associated units. In December 2014 the CJSOTF-A was downsized and replaced by a Special Operations Task Force of battalion strength commanded by a LTC. Afghan Partner Units. The special operations forces work with a variety of Afghan units from the police and army to include the Afghan National Army Special Forces (ANASF), Afghan National Army Commandos, Special Mission Wing (SMU), Provincial Response Companies (PRCs), General Directorate Special Police Units (GDSPU), Afghan Local Police (ALP), and other lesser known highly-specialized direct action units. Uniting the "Tribes". SOJTF-A is a newly formed organization. Prior to 2012 the various U.S. and NATO SOF components were answering to different bosses. There was the Combined Joint Special Operations Component Command - Afghanistan (CFSOCC-A) that had command of most of the 'white SOF' (most under the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan or CJSOTF-A). There was ISAF SOF who worked with various elite Afghan police units like the GDPSU and the Provincial Response Companies. And then there were some other chaps that did a lot of direct action stuff at night (as in night raids). SOJTF-A Commanders. The first commander of the SOJTF-A was Major General Tony Thomas. He changed command with Major General Scott Miller in the summer of 2013 (a former CFSOCC-A commander). MG Miller was replace in the summer of 2014 with MG Ed Reeder (also a former CFSOCC-A commander). In the summer of 2015 MG Sean P. Swindell replaced Reeder. Like all good SOF units the SOJTF-A has a commander's challenge coin.
JASON Jason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series. He first appeared in Friday the 13th (1980) as the young son of camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S. Cunningham, and Tom Savini, Jason was not originally intended to carry the series as the main antagonist. The character has subsequently been represented in various other media, including novels, video games, comic books, and a cross-over film with another iconic horror film character, Freddy Krueger. The character has primarily been an antagonist in the films, whether by stalking and killing the other characters, or acting as a psychological threat to the protagonist, as is the case in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. Since Lehman's portrayal, the character has been represented by numerous actors and stuntmen, sometimes by more than one at a time; this has caused some controversy as to who should receive credit for the portrayal. Kane Hodder is the best known of the stuntmen to portray Jason Voorhees, having played the character in four consecutive films. The character's physical appearance has gone through many transformations, with various special makeup effects artists making their mark on the character's design, including makeup artist Stan Winston. Tom Savini's initial design has been the basis for many of the later incarnations. The trademark hockey goalie mask did not appear until Friday the 13th Part III. Since Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, filmmakers have given Jasonsuperhuman strength, regenerative powers, and near invulnerability. He has been seen as a sympathetic character, whose motivation for killing has been cited as being driven by the immoral actions of his victims and his own rage over having drowned as a child. Jason Voorhees has been featured in various humor magazines, referenced in feature films, parodied in television shows, and was the inspiration for a horror punk band. Several toy lines have been released based on various versions of the character from the Friday the 13th films. Jason Voorhees's hockey mask is a widely recognized image in popular culture.
