Survival

by Gatimu Juma Publisher’s note: Gatimu Juma, who reports from the Horn of Africa, told me he was working on a story about the Al-Shabaab terror group. Nearly a year went by, and I couldn’t reach him. Finally he surfaced to tell me where he was all that time: convalescing. …

The French Foreign Legion these days is more exclusive than it used to be. If there is an Interpol notice against you, for example, you won’t get through the gate. A century ago, however, a man who wanted to escape his past and assume a new identity could disappear into …

Editor’s note: We get a lot of emails from men asking us to help them find work as mercenaries. I used to tell them we don’t run an employment agency. Now, I just offer them the inside scoop, and send this story about some soldiers of misfortune who learned a …

by Heath Hansen “I sent the grids; we’ll be heading out by noon on Thursday,” Tim Foley informs me over the phone, before I hit the road. Foley is a grizzled former paratrooper of the 82nd Airborne Division, and leader of the volunteer group Arizona Border Recon (AZBR). For more than a …

One of the rules in the Yukon Territory is that hunting guides must always be within hearing distance of their hunters. This is a good rule, as we soon shall see.  It was the first day of an early September expedition when hunting guide David O’Farrell brought an archery hunter …

by Bobby Dee “Buford was just sitting there with the little kid. Just brought him up from the horse pasture and brought him over to the gate and was just hanging out with him.” A two-year-old boy who vanished from his home Monday afternoon was found safe the following morning …

by Carole Engel Avriett Excerpted from Midnight in Ironbottom Sound, by Carole Engel Avriett. Editor’s note:  Early on September 5, 1942, the US Navy’s USS Gregory was sunk by Japanese fire near Guadalcanal. One sailor, Mess Attendant 2nd Class Charles Jackson French swam for hours through shark-infested waters while towing …

No music, no narration, just the sounds of men as they navigate the rappel wall. These U.S. Marines tackle the wall during a jungle exercise at the Jungle Warfare Training Center, Okinawa, Japan. The week-long course teaches Marines survival skills and increases proficiency in fighting in a jungle environment. This …

When wildfires rage across the country, the National Guard steps in as a crucial force in the battle against the flames. Equipped with helicopters, specialized training, and sheer determination, Guard members support firefighters by airlifting water, clearing fire lines, and providing logistical aid – particularly when primary responders’ resources are …

MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica — The cracking and breaking of ice on a metal hull can be heard from land as the heavy icebreaker U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) enters the harbor of McMurdo Station, Antarctica to move the ice pier out of the way for an incoming …