The Fire Pit

by Katie Lange  Editor’s note: SOF publisher Susan Katz Keating knew Col. Pappy Boyington in the 1980’s when he frequented the Nut Tree airport in Vacaville, California. Here is a story of his life in uniform. Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington was one of the service’s greatest and most legendary pilots. …

Ron Desantis Was Ron DeSantis a U.S. Navy SEAL? That’s a question that frequently appears in the Soldier of Fortune inbox – so often, that we checked for answers. Here’s what we found. A native Floridian, DeSantis graduated with honors from Yale University, and also with honors from Harvard Law …

Summer moviegoers who are curious how the world became so dangerous might consider Hollywood’s big-screen depiction of the first A-bomb test in the new film Oppenheimer. A good portion of this movie is set at Trinity Site, a restricted area in New Mexico’s high desert. In his nonfiction book Plow …

by Fred Ganous, SGM, USA (Ret) The pilot in command reached up and grasped the rescuer’s shirt. “Hey asshole,” he growled. “That’s not what you say to the ones you are trying to help!” The medevac mission had ended, and the burn patient was dropped off successfully at the hospital. …

Our friends at America TeVe have won a coveted award for their documentary about shadow warrior Ric Prado, a member of our board at Soldier of Fortune. Producer Miguel Cossio earned a Telly Award for “El Guerrero de las Sombras,” a narrative that traces Ric’s career and also highlights the …

by Cliff Wade Iraq, 2007 Every now and again we’d get an outsider attached to our unit on missions. Sometimes they were enablers who proved to be assets, other times they were regarded as interlopers who got in the way. One such instance sticks out in my mind over others: …

During his 27 years in the Air Force, Chief Master Sergeant Wayne Fisk took part in some of the most daring and critical missions of his time. As an elite pararescueman (PJ), he was involved in the raid on Son Tay Prisoner of War camp in North Vietnam, for which …

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 …

by Greg Chabot The beginning of February 2005 was a busy time in Baqubah. Insurgent activity had picked up considerably, keeping all of us at the Police HQ on our toes. With the end of the deployment coming, I had tried multiple times to extend my tour but was denied. …

by Ed Meagher, The War Horse When I returned from Vietnam in February of 1969 I had a bad attitude—a very bad attitude. I joined the Air Force to escape college and a broken heart (another story entirely). It turned out that the discipline, order, and focus the Air Force …