Swedish Special Operator | Arctic Ranger | Special Purpose Unit | Intelligence | No 788 | Max Lauker

[@onepluszulu6701]

788 - Keep it real. Swedish Officer here for over two decades. The sentiment from our population right after the Cold war was still that we would have a defense force to which the population put trust. You said that the society, in general thought of a military defense sort of a stupid choice. This view is your own. In general people were proud of those that served. 2010 the conscription system was canceled and the reaction of that, from the people talk for itself. This is when the society found the military defense organisation of Sweden "useless". Going from close to call up 900 000 soldiers for the Army alone to around 25 000 was what made Swedes disappointed. The military of Sweden have always been one of our societies foundation. Now a selective conscription system is in operation and the interest from our young one's are there.

[@Steve-hu7jf]

That's coz u have swede officer oversite . These people r only individual troopers.

[@znail4675]

It's also a fact that employers liked to employ people that had done military service as it helped mature the teens.

[@moose2693]

I still believe it was treason. Infiltration of Swedish politics by Russia. Russia is basically fighting in Ukraine with the resources they had in the nineties. That's when Sweden decides to abolish their defence. From about 880 000 trained soldiers to 4 000. Zero field artillery. No defence whatsoever on the island of Gotland, which used to have armour, coastal artillery, air defence, and infantry regiments. An island neighbouring Kaliningrad. There is much more to say, but it was certainly not a decision not based on facts and logic.

[@ELHoffa]

@@znail4675 Aint that the truth, there were solid reasons for it aswell!

[@DeathWithinTenSteps]

@@Steve-hu7jfBro, you don’t know what you’re talking about here. Sit down when the grown ups are talking.

[@kimmylarsson8496]

Thank you for your service Max and to those of your friends who in the end paid the ultimate price! gone but never forgotten..

[@knugensdansaler]

Love the authenticity of Max. The fact that he can regret some life choices and say no initially to the question and f he would do it again and be real about the toll the type of service he’s done is what makes this as real as it gets.

[@aerodynamicccc]

wow as a longtime swedish subscriber I did not expect this lmao

[@Villepillle]

Same same brother

[@PastramiStaven]

Me too, our special ops group are very under the radar, all you see online is about other countries.

[@Hanteraren777]

Interesting story Max. The part about South America was new to me. I was part of the same organization (leading up to the creation of the SOG) on and off in the early 2000s and did 2 tours in Afghanistan 2002 and a double tour in Kosovo 2003-2004. Just before you came in to the picture, I imagine. I left the military in 2012. Guess we know a lot of the same peolpe.

[@mikaeljonsson2078]

I'm a Swede that have watched combat story for a while now, as there have been some interesting guests, but I never thought a swede would show up🙂, and with such an eventful military career. I did service in the swedish army 1992-1993, and that was exacly when things were shifting from the cold war era doctrine, when all, and I mean ALL focus, tactics and equpiment was tailored to defend ourselves against one enemy..RUSSIA. Me and all they guys felt like, "What we learn now, will actually be outdated when we leave. We are probably the last batch swedish cold war soldiers"..and we were. I think in 1994/95, the goverment decided to reduce the swedish army down to 10% of the cold war era size. But I don't regret it, I think we still learned alot of skills that could be useful, and and most important, resillience. Not a lot of kids nowadays have clue what that is. I wasn't a ranger (jägare in Swedish), but we had an officer from K4, one of two ranger regiments in the north of Sweden. He was a though scary looking sob, that wanted us to be as tough as him. He made us do some ranger stuff like small team convoy ambush with boobytraps, demolishion/explosives training, survival excercises etc..basically small team guerilla warfare, while being wet, cold, sleep deprived. Good times!😂..but I wouldn't want to do it again, unless our country would be attacked, and my familys life depended on it.

[@lars6849]

As SWE Ranger trained. Ty for youre storie!!!!

[@PastramiStaven]

Real cool interview this, I played with a Swede that I don't know what unit or anything but they did a drop into Russia and had to survive it was about taking pictures of something and had to get back without getting caught.

[@almost_harmless]

Nice! Our Swedish brothers! Great interview! Next, try to find a Norwegian special ops soldier.

[@RossNaylor-uq4jp]

I am ex British army and i had the luck to have the opportunity to work with guys from over this guys way, it wasn't this regiment i worked with but the Norwegian commandos they are tough s.o.bs and they all seem to be only allowed to join up if they are over 6ft. 😂 they are giants or it seems that way to me being only 5'7' but yeah all the regiments from over that way are super professional you would have to be to operate in the conditions they do. great interview guys really interesting as always 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙🇺🇸👊👊👊👊✌

[@teethelowlife5879]

Haha it's that viking gene you know 😉😂

[@insertgenericnamehere7774]

1,82cm isn't very tall around here tho.

[@Antonio18677]

Death or glory 😎

[@upkpoxer]

Thanks for sharing! As a fellow Swede, nice to hear this story.

[@pusitegasupovci8600]

As Serbian, I can tell you this is pure nonsense.

[@DaleKallio]

At 19:50, There's a great skill and will test that was basically me as a kid😊 PMO is no joke, and this man's Corp was especially devoted to merit their funds👋🏻, 22:55 22:55

[@Ballistik-Knight]

Great episode. I got selected for the swedish rangers in the early ninties but then they cut military expenditures very very hard. A lot of regiments got closed all together. Seeing that I was highly motivated I got to serve with the regular army at least and it was a nice experience.

[@Elgba]

Haha, "the combat thing is a small part, surviving is the big part". That says something about the conditions there. Would hate to be an Arctic ranger far north in Sweden.

[@Vivungisport]

Hear you, because I've gone through that type of training once in my life.

[@Markstrid]

Great show! Best regards 2 Max // Cowboy😎

[@Bo2diddly]

I22- 91......Loved the ski trips we used to do with Vita Blixten ( Skis that were way older then me at the time )🙄😁 or take a stroll up and around Kebnekaise with full gear😏😬 Our lieutenant told us we were " just " going out to " enjoy and teach us about nature ".

[@Vivungisport]

I assume that's not you in the avatar.

[@Bo2diddly]

@@Vivungisport What about my avatar? why do you not think it's me ?

[@petter5721]

Awesome 👍🏻 Sweden could Mobilise 800.000 until early 1990. Back the about 40.000 new conscription were trained each year. Today it is about 12.000 but increasing. The home guard has about 25.000 that ca be deployed within hours. Military spending 2024 is four times higher than 2015 and it is increasing every year.

[@carlfischer4163]

Wow his answer shocked you. First time I heard a no. Thanks👍🙏

[@sierratango3015]

Super interesting 👍

[@matshjalmarsson3008]

One of my uncles was a Major in the "fältjägar" regiment, one time a recruit couldn't keep up so he took the recruits backpack on top on his own and walked him up to the front and then gave it back to him and said carry on. The backpacks were around 25 kg. All my uncles were monsters, crazy strong and sturdy, I have a bit of it in me but not nearly close.

[@teethelowlife5879]

I did my basic military training at K3 which is a jägar regiment. And my instructor did that exact same thing. We had a shorter girl in our group (she was bad ass) but she struggled at a long march and he just took her backpack 24h one. Like it was nothing.

[@Vivungisport]

​@@teethelowlife5879Yes there are some really strong men in the army. I was in the I22 and heard years later that they got some girls there. Personally I don't think women fit in this kind of units. In combat, men will look after this girls to much and get distracted from their task.

[@christera1116]

Great vid !

[@bigjtq9176]

Swedish military operational intelligence have worked together with many intelligence units during both the WW2 but mainly during the Cold war. Sweden have a very good reputation and as it happens, you could be requested to go to somewhere, under cover even be on "loan" to other intelligence agencies. SSG and SOG was the "door kickers" while GBU/KSI was to be the super stealth, deep under cover with false passport and legend. At least these guys would have been exfiled however, THAT wasn't certain for the GBU/KSI personal during the Cold War since they are not officially there. Sometimes you weren't even a European.

[@K_koshelenko]

Great story!

[@insertgenericnamehere7774]

You can't even imagine the swedish winter.. Well, that far up it kind of is it's own kind of winter. Pretty much complete darkness.. The swedish city of Kiruna has no sun at all for 24-28 days a year for an example.

[@kallelund4487]

Im from sweden and its good he says have to be lucky to get in military, its very true u have to be lucky to get in, so many guys that are strong and smart and want to be a soldier never gets the chance cus of this stupid low recruitment, its very sad its like this in sweden, not one of my friends got in and not a single friend of my wrestling buddies got in aswell, and we were very fit and strong in mind but none of us got in.

[@notundermywatch3163]

Därför att de vill ha tjejer i stället 😊

[@Linus-mp4vn]

många unga idag har bra fysik och stabil mentalitet, många fler än vad det finns platser. Håller med om att det är tråkigt att antalet platser är så låga men det positiva är att antalet ökar varje år. Dessutom har man faktiskt möjligheten att söka frivilligt ifall man inte skulle få en plats. När jag gjorde lumpen var det ett par äldre som gjorde värnplikten samtidigt. Så det är inte försent förrän det är försent, sök!

[@ImDembe]

It's easy to skip but hard to get in? Dosn't make any sense? If you don't meet the right criteria yes it's hard to convince them if you don't do good at the testing.

[@kallelund4487]

@@ImDembe only 3-5 thousands of every year group gets in every year, so lets say u born 2010 and want to do military, only 3-5 thousand of 2010 guys and girls that are born that year will get in military once its your turn to apply

[@wti999]

Perhaps you weren't rainbow enough..

[@HoodRoI3]

Grymt!💪

[@yksikaksikolmen]

The cold is your best friend , and the enemys worst enemy. K4 Arvidsjaur 1984-1985

[@Vivungisport]

@1-2-3 ...true! Positive thinking😊

[@paulk84]

Very interesting story

[@2.Cuzzzz]

Normally when you think about combat stories, you picture this American talking about his tour in Afghanistan, but what you don't expect is a Swede to appear out of nowhere!

[@vladimirstroganoff4404]

Which is great, because the enemy will then never expect us!

[@fortza11]

Have you ever asked some of the Danish SO, I know that Denmark once had two participants on a US Ranger course, they became # 1 and 2 respectively, Denmark has some of the world's best soldiers, depending on how you measure it (Jägerkorps and the Frog Corps).

[@NiclasHorn]

To add some history about military service in Sweden, in 2000 they started to downsize, the called in every 18 yo "man" for service, but there is a first selection to see where you would fit the best within the military. And at that first screening they did start to send home people. Later on, they reduced the number of 18 year olds to call in for a first screening / selection and after that stopped it. for 7 years it was as in USA only volunteers in the army. BUT that is now changed back to the old system, there everyone need to do their military service then you turn 18. But, they started it up again with a 3 step startup, so today as i write this, not every one is called in for mandatory military service, and in 2025 they will call in more people than 2024, and in 2026 even more. and i think in 2027 the plan is that we should be back to the old system we had in 1999/2000 there everyone do the mandatory military service again. as i did. yea i am old now. i started my service in June 2000.

[@NiclasHorn]

7:23 To be clear here, if the selections see that you fit for something else that you didn't planed to do. They forced you to do it. They always put you there the selections did see where you would fit the best. 9 out of 10 times you had no say. After the 2000 it was a bit more lose. but before the real downsizing started. you had no say in what you wanted to do. The selections was both hard and thorough, they evaluated you physically, mentally, IQ, past experiences, etc.

[@OSCAR-fk1sy]

Great!, now get somebody from the Norwegian FSK next 😊

[@DenGemensammaVerkligheten]

Very interesting! /Swede

[@EricTheSwede]

Interesting episode! Just a heads up, if you don't mask the voice a blurred face is not going to do anything. Plus, never blur if you're serious about security - always black bars. Completely blacked out data can't be restored but blur can be fixed quite easily with the tools that are available now :)

[@TheBozn]

Depends on the algorithm of the pixelation technique. You could in theory make it impossible to decode. Regardless, since he has his name public, company and appear elsewhere I don't think it'd do much anyways. I got under the impression that he might more be trying to not get recognized and easily found by people, not states. He wasn't too keen talking about Afghanistan and there's a lot of afghanis in Sweden for example.

[@NiclasHorn]

i hope we dont lose this man to the corrupted Italians as we did with one of our´s. he got poisoned but survived, but his legs where disabled after the poison attempt in the Balkan´s. Later on he died very strangely at Swedish hospital there two Italian doctors worked...

[@The00anders]

Är det känt bland press,eller är det inom en mindre grupp. Tycker det du antyder om läkarna-på ett svenskt sjukhus är mest obehagligt. Ingen förväntar sig det. Måste vara för ngt förmodat allvarligt sett från Italienarnas perspektiv. Men den org brottligheten generar mer pengar än dom största företagen,FIAT & var 3.e person är involverad på ngt vis.

[@PhilosophyForTheMops]

Kaliningrad is a giant Soviet/russian naval base, holy hell indeed!

[@andersmalmgren6528]

Crazy that he can talk about his missions in eastern Europe, basicly admitting we have been spying on the russians :)

[@kimmylarsson8496]

@@andersmalmgren6528 to be real, that wouldn't be shocking to anyone because every country spy on every country in one form or fashion so nothing new here.. 😄

[@sittingbull22322]

To be fair he made it clear he was there for a swede. May have been a detector or traitor, or may have been someone who was having some issue getting out, maybe it was just security from afar. He didn't say he was there mapping tunnel networks or hidden sam layouts.

[@sittingbull22322]

Also it's pretty plain russia is running ops all over the world, including the country you're in. If they're assassinating people in London with radiological weapons, that says no where is off limits.

[@MartsEntertainment]

Thriving in the Arctic by following some new tech and some old bushcraft from the Inupik Native peoples and other tribes of the area who know how to eat everything on the land.

[@drmarkintexas-400]

🎖️🏆⭐❤️‍🩹🙏 Thank you for sharing this😮

[@indy500tabasco8]

👽👽👽👽Swidish fermented fish is awesome👽👽👽👽

[@Vivungisport]

The fragrance is potent 😊

[@connycedergren8468]

I hope you haven't betrayed Sweden now MAX, especially your comrades! For you as I have signed a contract not to say anything at all! Mine is until 2042 and I am now over 60 years old! And all this here started in 1981 somewhere in Sweden. I can't say more, because then I break my oath!

[@Nativusdes]

Onödig kommentar, vi nämner inte ens att vi skrivit på något. Vår är en tjänst i det dolda, rekommenderar att du tar bort din kommentar

[@funnyduck8107]

KJ ?

[@connycedergren8468]

@@funnyduck8107 Nej och inte FJ

[@Vivungisport]

​@@connycedergren8468K4🤔

[@Vivungisport]

C'mon bror! Who cares bout those silly oath? I don't give a damn bout the army nowadays. I just want to forget everything i went through.

[@alexgrenlie862]

You don't need to blur his face. Just Google his name and near the bottom You'll find a link that shows his face. Maybe if dude is so special forces, he should try to clean up what shows up online for his name.

[@RossNaylor-uq4jp]

He is a commando he isn't really s.f more like special forces support so yeah your right bro no need to blur his face unless for some weird reason he requested it to be blurred 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙🇺🇸👊👊👊👊✌

[@scepticalwalker3984]

The pictures might have been blurred back in the day, but now he is no longer serving, and by writing a book in his own name(?) he is making his story public. He left the army 6 years ago.

[@Martin-fb3ic]

Haha

[@KristerWarmenius]

Tell Putler not to mess with the Vikings

[@paaaatrika]

I don't think "Ranger" is a good translation. In Swedish it's "jägare". The literal translation is "Hunter", moreover, their tasking is more surveillance than direct action like US army rangers. What he refers to as "Special purpose unit" is also a poor translation. Literally it's "Special protection group", this is the pre-SOG organisation. SOG translates to "Special operations group". I know because reasons. I'm fully aware that this is how we talk about "jägare" in English. It's kinda just agreed upon. I'm simply pointing out the translation is kinda weird.

[@FJ24.]

Doesn’t really matter

[@russellridge8623]

@@FJ24. Sure it does unless you’re a mook

[@FJ24.]

@@russellridge8623 alright mate

[@Bo2diddly]

Ranger is the proper translation for the Swedish word " Jägare " .......in this context, but otherwise you are right " hunter " is a translation " jägare ".

[@kimjansson7179]

He did mention both predecessor units to SOG (SSG and SIG) and if I understood correctly he never served in any of them but rather a unit within the "ranger" units that has since been disbanded. Hence "Special Purpose Unit". I think if he served in SSG or SIG they would have just said that since those units are open source information by now.

[@toppace]

Lauken!

[@lasse3412]

Mamas boys 😂

[@klebendesetwas4854]

If this is the real voice of your guest, please take this video off the net immediately! Reason: nowadays it is no problem to copy the voice of a person via AI...the audio material in the video is completely sufficient for this and an attacker could easily use this for a social engineering attack!

[@Vivungisport]

Nemas problems 🤗

[@Kennet338]

I sill work in the SWE SOF and have been working for the Unit for over 21 years and I Know Hi I just talking Bullshit as a modern Influencer 👎🏻 to fucking bad! The real guys don’t talk bull shit!!! // The Wolf

[@Vivungisport]

Why does he talk bull?🤔 One guestion i have bout SOB. What impact do believe SOB could do if they fought in the UKR war today.

[@csgopillermach1ne815]

You have so much adds its unwatchable on phone...

[@mattel1814]

This guys are from K4 in Arvidsjaur and are called ”Norrlands jägare” translated to ”Nordic ranger ”. The ”Artic ranger ” is the Lapplands jägare from I22 in Kiruna that i above the artic cirkel, thats more correkt I think..👍🇸🇪🪖

[@Imtheengine]

True, but isn't that semantics since I22 has been cancelled since almost 25 years and the Winter Unit is located at K4?

[@mattel1814]

@@Imtheenginemaybe so, but I22 has open again and it is above the ”artic circle” K4 is not so Kiruna is the right place..👍

[@andersnoren6070]

K4 and I22 did the exact same things. They were just separate training regiments.

[@gunnar6002]

Well considering the American Artic Rangers have close to no experience in the actual artic circle I don't think it matters, Stockholm is at about the same latitude as the capital of Alaska