Security

By Dr. Martin Brass From the January 2008 issue of SOF In the last four of a five part series on the American merc who had the most impact of any American in the decade-long El Salvador war, SOF chronicled the adventures of Harry Claflin.   SOF launched Harry’s wild …

Mad Mike Hoare by Chris Hoare By Chris Hoare Author of Mad Mike Hoare  Fifty years ago, Stanleyville in the Congo was the scene of one of the most savage crimes of the last century, the cold-blooded massacre of hostages by the Simba rebels. Mercenary soldiers from 5 Commando under …

By Henri Lepetit for SOF Four years after Rhodesia was handed over to that homicidal maniac Mugabe through notoriously farcical elections, I found myself whiling away the time in Durban Natal, South Africa. It ought to be remembered that a large portion of the hapless – and, contemptibly irrelevant to …

By Ian Maxwell Sterling From the December 2011 issue of SOF Things turn hi-tech for Karen rebels in Burma I have been up all night puking my guts out after downing a massive portion of lizard stew last night with Karen rebels in a jungle outpost. They had asked if …

“Death to Tyrants” By Dr. Martin Brass From the September 2007 issue of SOF SOF publisher, Lt. Col. USAR, (Ret) Robert K. Brown, who had fought the Communist aggressors during the Vietnam War, and his wild, colorful assortment of combat journalists, dubbed the SOF ‘Wild Bunch’ trotted around the globe, …

ABOUT BORN TO STORM Herman van Niekerk In training South African 5 Special Forces Commando  The Author: Herman van Niekerk is a highly decorated retired South African Special Forces Colonel. He left the military in 1999 after 27 years service and formed several of his own companies which specialized in security related training and …

SOF INTERVIEW WITH EEBEN BARLOW “EXECUTIVE OUTCOMES: AGAINST ALL ODDS” The book ‘Executive Outcomes: Against all Odds’ is a personal account of a company that gained fame and praise through its successes, and notoriety through its detractors. It is a story that cannot be told without including part of the founder, …

Attack on a Rhodesian Fireforce Base. by Henri Lepetit, photos and text copyright  Well into the Cold War after the US had fired its final angry shot in Vietnam Rhodesia became the last western democracy engaged in a hot one fighting for its survival against a communist dictatorship takeover. In …

By John Coleman From the May 1987 issue of SOF We hear about plots here at SOF. Lots of them. Usually they come in the form of drunk sailors in Cape Town, or out-of-work oil pipeline guards from’ ‘somewhere in the Middle East, babbling their sure-fire plan to topple someone …

Chapter 28 Retaking the Koidu Diamond Fields By Eeben Barlow  Anyone planning to fight a successful armed anti-government or terrorist campaign ought to know that one of the primary objectives (apart from causing mass enemy casualties and loss of materiel) is the denial of funds to the rebel or terrorist …