The Fire Pit

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 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 …

by Greg Chabot The Left Right Left podcast is a new program hosted by retired Marine SGM Marc Chabot – who happens to be my brother. He started this project with the goal of helping and inspiring others. In this intense three-part episode on the 20-year anniversary of the battle …

by Fred A. Ganous, SGM, USA (Ret) “I just got shot in the head!” It was September 25th, 2006, and we weren’t in the country for over a month, and one of our own, Sergeant Don Morgan, got hit. It was just another day in Iraq, hot and hazy, and …

You asked, and we answered. Readers have told us they want merch so they can proudly show their support for SOF. Naturally, we couldn’t disappoint! Herewith the Soldier of Fortune shop. Here’s where to snag some of the coolest stuff around, like the tee-shirt, below. More to come! Click HERE …

by James Donzella, The War HorseSomewhere between my 14th and 15th birthdays, my dad taught me to drive a stick shift. He thought it was important that I knew how. My first car was a stick-shift Ford—fast. It earned me several tickets. A few years later, drafted into the Army, …

by Fred A. Ganous, SGM, USA (Ret) The departure point was LZ Washington in downtown Baghdad, which stayed busier than the Atlanta airport. The pilot in command was a Chief Warrant 4 who was well-trained in his aviation duties. He saw a convoy of five U.S. army vehicles come under …

by Capt. Larry Bailey, USN (Ret) As recounted in the average personal memoir, war is most frequently depicted in combinations of heroic actions, cowardly misdeeds, triumphs of the human spirit, and the like. It ain’t always so, however; fact is, much of war is not dramatic – it’s just sad, …

by Greg Chabot Politicians have no clue what the true cost of war is. For more than 20 years, warfighters have been deployed to hot spots around the world in the fight against terrorism. We now have an entiregeneration of warfighters who have known nothing but combat deployments. This takes …