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The Fire Pit

Lore, Adventure, Stories of Fortune, Books, Entertainment, Veterans’ Issues

‘I Should Have Worried About Dying’: That Time We Crashed the Nuclear Submarine

by Tim Patterson, The War HorseIn the moments immediately after the collision—after an alarm had sounded at 2 a.m.; after the boat had rocked violently to starboard, rolling 45 degrees and back again; after many of USS Philadelphia’s sailors were thrown from their beds; after a DVD player had flown …

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Green on Blue in Afghanistan: He Attacked Us for 40 Bucks and a Trip to Paradise

By Heath Hansen We entered the base between the HESCO barriers covered in concertina razor-wire, unprepared for a betrayal from one of our supposed allies. On November 9, 2005, as the convoy snaked its way into the safety of the base walls, I could see Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers …

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The Cordon: One Very Bad Day in Baqubah

by Greg Chabot Editor’s note: This story contains some very raw, violent material that could bring readers back to their own stark experiences at war. ~SKK It had been quiet in Baqubah with some IEDs going off and some occasional small arms fire in the city. This was about to …

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Alice in Chains, a Train Ride, and the Ghosts of Vietnam

by Heath Hansen I take my seat on the train. I’m in the Southwestern part of Drenthe, on the way to Amsterdam, so I’ll be on this ride for a while. As the train departs, I pull out my headphones, and a familiar tune fills the speakers. Rooster, by Alice …

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Four Marines and a Night on the Town: What Possibly Could Go Wrong?

by Al Hagan The night started off fairly typically, just four Marines in a car, going out on the town to slam down beers. And it was innocent for most of the night, drinking and shooting pool.  I’ll call my companions Mike, John, and Steve, to pick some random names …

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‘The Taliban Are at My Door’: The Whispered Message From a Friend in Afghanistan

by Susan Katz Keating “The Taliban are behind my door.” The whispered words came through the phone in the pitch of night, hours after Kabul fell on August 15, 2021. My friend “Hakim,” a man I had been trying from afar to help leave Afghanistan, called me from inside his …

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In Vietnam With MACV-SOG Legend George Washington Bacon III: A Story From Teammate ‘Tilt’

by John Stryker Meyer When I read Soldier of Fortune Magazine recently, I was pleasantly surprised to see an article on a MACV-SOG legend. He was Green Beret medic and later CIA operative George Washington Bacon III, who met an untimely death in Angola at the hands of Cuban commies …

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In Iraq, We Rolled In to Feed the Village – and Everything Was Oddly Quiet

by Cliff Wade It was the kind of place where a man earned his name on a bracelet for all eternity.  Iraq, September 2007 In an attempt to win over hearts and minds, we would sometimes be tasked with delivering humanitarian assistance (HA) to local villages or neighborhoods. We would …

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To Those Who Jump Out of Perfectly Good Airplanes: Raise a Glass

by Heath Hansen Happy National Airborne Day to all you servicemen and servicewomen who volunteered to serve your country at a “higher” level! Created in 2002, by then President George W. Bush, National Airborne Day honors all the Nation’s airborne armed forces. READ MORE from Heath Hansen in Soldier of …

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