Survival

Chaplain (Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun celebrates Mass while using the hood of his Jeep as an altar; his assistant, Patrick J. Schuler, kneels in prayer on Oct. 7, 1950, less than a month before Kapaun was taken prisoner. Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun: ‘Padre’ Finally Returns Home SEPT. 30, 2021 |BY AIR …

Slam VII: “Shot All to Hell.” The action involves a company-sized reconnaissance team from FOB-2 Kontum which has already been on the ground for a week. Ordered in to search, locate, annihilate, and monitor enemy resistance, the members of SLAM VII have already suffered greatly. Eighteen American Green Berets and …

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 …

Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Shurer II (front row, far right), poses for a photo with members of his detachment near Pul-e Charkhi Afghan National Army Base, Nov. 6, 2007. (Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Ronald J. Shurer II) By Mitch Weiss and Kevin MaurerFrom the April 2013 issue of SOF …

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, …

Cowboy was handsome, flamboyant, courageous, clever, and cruel. He got his nickname from the Green Berets who worked with him in the Highlands of South Vietnam in the 1960s. “You’ve got to take the bad with the good,” one Special Forces captain explained. “And Cowboy is a good interpreter.” But …

Former Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, the hero of Shok Valley, MOH recipient has lost his long battle with lung cancer. R. I.P Sir. With all the battles Shurer has gone through, he faced one more in recent years. March 2017, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which had spread …

Steady Stand at LZ Bird A savage assault by North Vietnamese Army regulars was stopped by the combined efforts of artillerymen and infantrymen at LZ Bird during Operation Thayer II on Dec. 27, 1966. By Al Hemingway © 2017 Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Staff Sgt. Delbert …