War

PFC Heath Hansen receiving the Combat Infantry Badge in Afghanistan. By Heath Hansen I opened my eyes. It was still dark, but I could see the night was ending and another day in some village in Afghanistan was beginning. The smell of dip-spit and cigarette smoke betrayed the fact that the …

By Liam Collins and John Spencer Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from the book “Understanding Urban Warfare” published by Howgate Publishing and available for purchase at Amazon here. The excerpt is an edited conversation John Spencer had with Lt. Gen. James Rainey about the 2004 Second Battle of Fallujah …

by Lidia Mikhalchenko / Caucasus For many of the Chechen opposition members and separatists abroad who have come from across Europe to join a volunteer battalion in Ukraine, battling Russia has become a way of life. Decades — even centuries — of Moscow’s often-armed interference in Chechnya have made the …

The Russian military is facing an unexpected situation that brought equal measures of protest and ridicule from fighters in the war against Ukraine. In a bid to tighten up discipline in the ranks, the Commander of Russian forces in Ukraine has ordered all men to cut their facial hair. However, …

American military forces killed a key ISIS facilitator and about 10 ISIS operatives in a Wednesday night raid in Somalia, senior administration officials said Thursday. No Americans were killed in the raid, officials said. The key target was Bilal al-Sudani, who had been expanding the terror group’s footprint in Africa. “The …

Russian forces in Ukraine will face additional armor and firepower, following an agreement between the United States and Germany to send some of the world’s most lethal and coveted tanks into the fight. In Ukraine, locals have been celebrating the announcements by wearing leopard print designs, sources inside the country …

Germany will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do so, defense sources told Soldier of Fortune. The development was reported also in Germany, and brought a swift and unhappy response on Tuesday from the Kremlin. “Such shipments do not bode well for the …

“There is deep cold, frozen earth, and fighting.” In this special report, RFE/RL correspondent Maryan Kushnir shows what he encountered on the front line in recent days in Soledar. Ukrainian troops faced waves of Russian and Wagner Group fighters, Kushnir found. Later, Russian forces claimed to have seized control of …

by Nikolay Shevchenko During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, there was a widespread army tale. Russian soldiers were often seen boiling their ammo for hours in a pot over an open fire. Tales of this widespread practice strike many contemporaries as something inexplicable, but there was a logic behind this …

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed last week that he sent a frigate to the Atlantic Ocean armed with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles. The bellicose Russian leader apparently hopes that the Zircon missile system will augment other Russian weapons in Ukraine, to help turn the war in his favor. Putin …