by Jose Campos PALAWAN, Philippines -In the sweltering heat of Palawan, the defenders went to work, one palm frond at a time. Members of the U.S. Marine Corps  and Philippine Marine Corps went to ground, to dig and disguise fighting positions ahead of a live-fire counter-landing drill at Quezon. The …

by Jose Campos A growing alliance of criminal groups has emerged to wrest control from Los Chapitos. The firefight began on the main federal highway in Mexico, and it didn’t let up for hours. Long after dark, the sound of gunfire echoed through Mocorito in Sinaloa, turning the stretch of …

by Jose Campos “You have to watch your step. This is rattlesnake territory.” From the ground, the operation looks and feels like a deployment. For soldiers patrolling the vast, open terrain around Presidio, Texas, the mission includes squad level reconnaissance in remote territory. They know first hand that the U.S. …

by Jose Campos These seaborne first responders knew what they were looking for, and how to proceed. The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball pulled up alongside the suspected drug smuggling vessel, seized its contraband, and took suspects into custody. And the suspects’ boat met a swift end …

by Jose Campos They knew the enemy was coming. On that day in March 1971, Army 1st Lt. Brian Miles Thacker and his seven-man team braced for the inevitable. But when the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) launched their assault, it was not a question of whether the firebase would fall …

by Jose Campos SIERRA BLANCA, Texas – The arid landscape outside Sierra Blanca has long been a favored corridor for human smuggling and narcotics trafficking, exploited by organized criminal networks. Now, with U.S. troops in the field, the human part of the landscape has changed. Under orders from U.S. Northern …

by Jose Campos Against the rugged expanse of the East Presidio sector, U.S. soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, rolled forward in a Stryker armored vehicle, patrolling a landscape that has become a frontline in America’s ongoing border security operations. Under the direction of U.S. Northern Command, these troops …

In the remote backcountry, where smugglers and lost souls increasingly are part of the landscape, bad scenes have become as common as stray clouds. by Susan Katz Keating The cowboys were out on the range on a Texas morning, fixing fences that were cut down the previous night by intruders. …

COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating The work has been called the most dangerous form of journalism. Amid my daily influx of emails, text messages, and phone calls, I frequently am hit up by people who want to go downrange under my name. They approach me with variants on the following actual …

“Tell people what we did in World War II,” one soldier said. “Tell them about Salerno.” by Susan Katz Keating EAGLE PASS, TX – In a parking lot near the U.S. southern border, members of the Texas National Guard encountered our team from Soldier of Fortune. The “T-Patchers” just had …