by John Spencer Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of the book “Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connection in Modern War” published by Potomac Books and available for purchase at Amazon here. The excerpt describes 2LT John Spencer’s experience jumping into Iraq as a platoon leader with the 173rd …
Read More »Irish Rebels Fought the 1916 Easter Rising With Homemade Weapons and Smuggled Mausers
As World War I raged across the European continent, the streets of Dublin erupted in violence on Easter Monday, 1916. Not with the tread of an invading army, but with gunfire from Irish rebels. On that day, a force of some 1,600 nationalists rose against British rule, to proclaim the …
Read More »Trapped Inside a Burning ‘Punishment Hut’ in WWI Germany: A Prisoner’s Story
Here at Soldier of Fortune, we uncovered a long-ago story of an atrocity during World War I, when eight prisoners met a horrific fate while captive in Germany. Here is the tale, as told by a fellow prisoner, “Pedro.” ~SKK Pedro’s Tale I was sailing on an English ship. She …
Read More »A Nuclear Blast Would Bring Hell on Earth: Blinding Light, Searing Heat, and Intense Winds
The degree of hazard depends on the type of weapon, height of the burst, distance from the detonation, hardness of the target, and explosive yield of the weapon. by Susan Katz Keating Russian President Vladimir Putin again raised the specter of nuclear war when he announced that a conventional attack …
Read More »‘Get the F— Down!’ The Entire City Went Insane That Day, When We Were at War in Iraq
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 April 9th, 2004 Author’s note: During this time TF- 1/6 soldiers were living in three locations in the city. Troops were at the Provincial …
Read More »The True Story Behind Ray Mendoza’s ‘Warfare’
Mendoza received a Silver Star for his actions that day in Iraq. The film WARFARE follows a platoon of U.S. Navy SEALs on a surveillance mission gone wrong in November 2006, during a battle against insurgents in Ramadi Province, Iraq. The film from A24 is based on true events. Among them …
Read More »Special Forces at War: A Deadly Firefight in Iraq
by Alex Quade Diyala Province, Iraq — Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (A-Team) 072 rolled into the village. It was dead quiet. Nothing moved. Suddenly, “squirters”—people running away from the village and cars leaving at a high rate of speed. Clearly, something of interest was in that village. A-Team Commander …
Read More »Ordeal on Firebase 6: A Brutal Battle in Vietnam
by Jose Campos They knew the enemy was coming. On that day in March 1971, Army 1st Lt. Brian Miles Thacker and his seven-man team braced for the inevitable. But when the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) launched their assault, it was not a question of whether the firebase would fall …
Read More »The Surprisingly Long History of Drones in Warfare
by Susan Katz Keating Drones repeatedly are showing up on modern battlefields. But drones in warfare are nothing new – and have a surprisingly long history. During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate forces used a primitive type of drone, attacking the enemy via balloons filled with explosives. Although …
Read More »A Reporter in Israel, 1989: Weapons, Checkpoints, and Deadly Cross-Border Attacks From Southern Lebanon
by Martin Kufus If Hezbollah’s rocket barrages into northern Israel seem to be a recent phenomenon, they aren’t. As former Soldier of Fortune magazine editor Martin Kufus writes, deadly cross-border attacks from southern Lebanon began decades ago. The following is an excerpt from chapter “L is for Lebanon” of his nonfiction book. Despite …
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