The Fire Pit

by Susan Katz Keating The portrait of a military working cat is part of a display honoring police dogs at the Pentagon. The portrait, a dignified portrayal of “Minou,” shows the gray tabby wearing a collar with a badge labelled “Feline Unit.” The badge contains the image of a paw. The …

BOOK REVIEW by Ric Prado As an avid reader and now a New York Times Bestselling author of Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior, I have learned to truly enjoy historical fiction. These are most often stories based on real life experiences, composed to both instruct and …

by Martin Kufus An excerpt from Plow the Dirt but Watch the Sky, by Martin Kufus Anyone who serves as a volunteer firefighter eventually will confront bad things, perhaps receiving a heartfelt “Thank you” later in compensation. This is what you sign up for and train for on a volunteer …

by Greg Chabot I was taking MRE coffee and putting it between my cheek and gums to stay alert: an exhausting mission when elections were held in Iraq for the first time in two years. Election day started off very early for us. A nation-wide curfew was declared, and buses …

by SGT May, Israel Defense Forces The terrorists just keep coming, and you are alone… in the most dangerous place in Israel. – An IDF soldier remembers being present for the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. 6:30 in the morning – a massive boom. I thought it was …

BOOK REVIEW by Susan Katz Keating It all comes down to the fact that you have to trust the men to your left and right, knowing they are standing fast and will not break on you, just as you are doing for them. – Jim Lechner in ‘With My Shield‘ …

by Susan Katz Keating Jack Carr and James M. Scott have produced a master class in how to write contemporary history. Morning reveille had not yet sounded on Oct 23, 1983, when a terrorist drove a bomb-laden truck into the headquarters and barracks building of the U.S. Marine Corps peacekeeping …

by Susan Katz Keating 2006 The traffic along Georgia Avenue going south was sparse throughout the stretch of Maryland road. The bus proceeded unhindered, ferrying wounded warriors strapped into gurneys or propped up with i.v. lines attached, and belted into seats. Many were profoundly changed men and women with missing …

Book Review by Heath Hansen Ever wonder what it’s like to be a street cop? The politics? The bureaucracy? The intensity? Or what it feels like to face a crazed maniac? The adrenaline high? The danger? The uncertainty? Fractured Streets has it all. I was recently perusing noir crime books on Amazon …

by Sgt. 1st Class Ashleigh Martinez Editor’s note: I first met Chuck Ziegenfuss when I wrote an article about him for PEOPLE magazine, when he was donating voice-activated laptops to wounded warriors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Before long, I was part of another group that cooked for …