by Heath HansenIt’s a gray, cold, and windy autumn day as I arrive and step out of my vehicle. The snow is beginning to stick to the North Brabant earth under my feet as I approach the house. A man opens the door, shakes my hand, and welcomes me into …
Read More »MiG Pilot Viktor Belenko: ‘I Am the Luckiest Man Alive’
by Susan Katz Keating In retrospect, it seems fitting that I met Viktor Belenko in Reno. He was a gambler hanging out in a gambling town, surrounded by pilots in their fast moving aircraft, barreling wildly around pylons. I went there many years back, looking for stories to be found …
Read More »Do Assad’s Secret Files Hold the Key to Reshaping Syria?
COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating Amid the celebrations, looting, and horror stories that follow the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, a powerful force could emerge from the chaos – if it hasn’t already been destroyed. If Assad preserved his files, and left them behind when he fled Syria, the …
Read More »Assad Granted Asylum in Russia After Fleeing Syria Amid Rebel Takeover
Updated as reports come in. Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have been granted asylum in Moscow, according to Russian media. The family arrived in Moscow Sunday, after a lightning rebel advance through Syria forced them to flee, the reports said. Russia has been a close ally of …
Read More »At ‘Steel Knight’ Exercise, American Forces Train to Take on a Thinking Enemy
It began as a tank battalion exercise in 1991. Today, Exercise Steel Knight is an annual training event lead by the 1st Marine Division – one that spans the western United States and California coast. Focusing on ground fires, maneuver warfare tactics and command and control capabilities, this exercise tests …
Read More »‘Day of Infamy’ Commemorations Include Annual Ceremony of the Blackened Canteen
It is an annual toast to peace. American and Japanese representatives extend the offering each year at the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii, gently pouring bourbon from a World War II-era canteen into the hallowed waters below. The ceremonies for decades have been a mainstay on the island of Oahu, …
Read More »Drug Mules Hate Submarines, But Cartels Insist on Using Them to Smuggle Fentanyl
Just making contact with a submarine carries an extra measure of danger for a smuggler. by Susan Katz Keating Smugglers for the Chapitos branch of the Sinaloa Cartel balk when ordered to pull “submarine duty” along the group’s fentanyl trafficking routes, a security official told Soldier of Fortune. “They hate …
Read More »Coast Guard v Drug Smugglers: Swooping in Fast in the Pacific
The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro interdicts a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. They swoop in fast and act decisively. The incident took place in October 2024. Munro is the sixth Legend-class national security cutter and is homeported in …
Read More »Things That Make You Go ‘Hmmm’: Carnage Porn From Chechnya, With a Twist
COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating The images are so gruesome I won’t post them. But they’ve been flooding my inbox, as if I didn’t already know that men are getting chewed up on the battlefields of Ukraine and Russia. These particular images come from a social media account that claims to …
Read More »Soldiers of Misfortune: Escape, Evasion, and Hiding Out in a Bordello
Editor’s note: We get a lot of emails from men asking us to help them find work as mercenaries. I used to tell them we don’t run an employment agency. Now, I just offer them the inside scoop, and send this story about some soldiers of misfortune who learned a …
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