by Igor Rozin The world’s most popular rifle, with 100 million units in circulation, is not without its drawbacks. The AK platform is popular worldwide for its reliability and ease of production. Today, there are roughly 100 million Kalashnikov rifles in 55 countries around the globe. And that’s only those …

In California’s harsh border country, Marines and Border Patrol agents turn to horses for the kind of mobility no vehicle can match. by Jose Campos The U.S. military and the U.S. Border Patrol are reaching back to one of the oldest methods of moving through unforgiving country: horseback. Near El …

The Moroccan Puma helicopter is a battlefield veteran with decades of dust and fire under its rotors. Morocco first struck a deal with France in 1974 to acquire 40 of these durable workhorses for its armed forces. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, Moroccan Pumas played a key role in the …

by Al Hagan In the early 1980s, I was in the Marine Corps, and a friend of mine who had gone into the Army was getting married. We’d grown up together, and so I and others – lots of military – journeyed back home for the occasion. Naturally, this required …

by Heath Hansen A flash of light lit up the sky ahead of me, and I heard an explosion. My adrenaline kicked in and I started searching for the source of the explosion. I clutched my weapon and prepared to defend the base. ANBAR, IRAQ – Even though it was …

We were leaning over the throttles, breaking the seals on our masks, and yelling at each other. by Mitchell “Taco” Bell To all my passenger friends out there who always text me with the crazy pilot questions, I can assure you as pilots we train for this stuff all the …

by Boris Egorov At the end of 1980, on the outskirts of Moscow, Soviet policemen beat to death a KGB major, and staged it as a robbery. They had no idea what dire consequences the encounter would have for them and the entire Soviet police force.  On the morning of …

by Mr. Wolf She was built for one job: find downed American airmen before the sea claimed them. Today, the boat known as P-520 is the last surviving 85-foot World War II Army Air Forces crash-rescue boat still afloat in her original configuration. Built in Wilmington, California, in 1944, she belonged …

by Bobby Dee Editor’s note: Bobby Dee first made his appearance in SKK’s previous story about Bodies and Gunfire in the Texas Wilderness. Now Bobby writes about his encounter with a bad scene at sunrise. The sun wasn’t even high yet, but the heat was already pressing down on me. …

by Jonathan Stumpf “At what range can a tank engage targets with reasonable accuracy?” I asked. “About six kilometers,” the captain said. The Russian tank was two kilometers away. Lozova is a godforsaken place in eastern Ukraine. Since the city was partially evacuated as a result of the war, its …