made safe by GROM and SEAL operators. A mixed team of 35 GROM operators and 20 US Navy SEALs from SEAL Team 5 seized the Mukatayin hydroelectric dam, 57 miles northeast of Baghdad. Iraqi troops guarding the dam surrendered without a fight, there were no casualties to the team (with the exception of one GROM soldier, who broke an ankle during the insertion from a US Air Force MH-53J Pave Low helicopter. SEAL and GROM units continued to cooperate throughout the rest of the invasion phase, with raids and anti-sniper missions in Baghdad. Following the invasion, GROM operators formed the core of Task Unit Thunder, as an element of CJSOTF-AP (Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Arabian Peninsula), providing a Tier-1 counterterrorism unit for the task force. Along with Task Unit Raider (consisting of Det One operators), both units became the task force's primary direct action assets, operating in conjunction on multiple occasions. A GROM sniper aided Det One's in its first "real" mission - a close target reconnaissance operation - in which the sniper apprehended the target, (a suspected insurgent sniper). GROM's early success in Iraq made it a valuable contributor to CJSOTF-AP. In September 2004, US Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle was temporarily assigned to GROM's Combat Team B in Baghdad for a week. The CIA reportedly found GROM snipers useful due to their low rules of engagement threshold. In 2007, US Army Special Forces, Polish GROM conducted Operation Jackal against insurgents in Diwaniyah. In 2007, GROM and JW Komandosów were deployed to Kandahar (after earlier successful tours of Iraq operating alongside US Navy SEALs) under direct US Command. They weren't restricted by any national caveats-the only restriction placed on them was regarding cross-border operations into Pakistan. Along with Direct Action successes, they were considered very effective in training and mentoring Afghan National Police units. Training Candidates applying to serve in JW GROM have to pass psychological and durability tests, along with the so-called truth test, a physically and psychologically exhausting field test designed to filter out the weaker applicants. The training of GROM soldiers includes a variety of disciplines. All of them undergo the same specialized training in anti-terrorism and special operations, as well as frogman, sniping, and parachuting. In four-man teams, each soldier must be prepared to assume the respective responsibilities of his colleagues, should it become necessary. JW GROM receives basic special operations training from the