by Martin Kufus Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from Plow the Dirt but Watch the Sky, a memoir by Martin Kufus, a former editor at Soldier of Fortune. This chapter shows Martin’s experience at the Special Forces SERE Instructor Qualification Course, where he encountered the legendary Col. Nick Rowe – …
Read More »In Daring Night Mission, NZ Air Force Rescues 3 Americans From Remote Antarctic Station
Soldier of Fortune In a daring mid-winter mission, a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130J Hercules crew braved total darkness, ice, and sub-zero temperatures to rescue three Americans from Antarctica’s remote McMurdo Station. One American required urgent medical care, while two others needed medical assistance. Officials did not disclose the …
Read More »Marine Corps Jungle Medicine Course: ‘The Light in a Dark Time’
Deep in the jungle, there’s no medevac, no backup, and no room for mistakes. At the Marine Corps Jungle Warfare Training Center, instructors teach Navy corpsmen to be the light in a dark time. For 10 relentless days, they learn to survive, treat the wounded, and move through terrain that wants …
Read More »‘Mayday! Clear All Airspace Below Us!’ When Our Plane Lost Pressure in Flight: A Pilot’s Story
We were leaning over the throttles, breaking the seals on our masks, and yelling at each other. by Mitchell “Taco” Bell To all my passenger friends out there who always text me with the crazy pilot questions, I can assure you as pilots we train for this stuff all the …
Read More »Texas Floods: We Searched for Survivors When Tropical Storm Charley Battered Del Rio
by Martin Kufus Author Martin Kufus was a volunteer firefighter in Texas, and participated in disaster ops there. He embarked on a tense mission in 1998, after flash floods wreaked havoc along the southern border. The following is based on a chapter from his book, Plow the Dirt but Watch the …
Read More »The Soviets Used a Thermonuclear Bomb to Extinguish a Hellish Fire That Raged for Years
After the Soviets discovered huge reserves of natural gas in Uzbekistan, this part of the USSR became the main gas producing region in the country. But things went wrong, and one of its key gas fields turned into a man-made disaster of unimaginable magnitude. Hellish fire The unprecedented emergency at …
Read More »Grizzly! A Life or Death Encounter In the Yukon
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 …
Read More »D-Day at Normandy: ‘Rock’ Was Lost in the Skies Over France
Then-Corporal Kenneth “Rock” Merritt poses for a photo. (Courtesy Photo) During World War II, Kenneth “Rock” Merritt was aboard a plane that got lost over France. Here are his memories of his experiences in the Army from 1942-45. His words are as follows. … I was sworn into the Army on …
Read More »Deadly Venom: I Was Bitten by a Black Mamba Snake in Africa
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. …
Read More »Rescue at Sea: Americans Tossed Overboard During Effort to Help Fellow Veterans
They call it the world’s toughest row, one that brings voyages to remember – especially this one, for a team that encountered high waves during their 2022 expedition. That’s when an All-American team of four military veterans were rescued after their boat capsized during a 3,000-mile Atlantic rowing challenge. Fight …
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