Krasmir Kamenov was found shot dead along with his wife and two others in their home in a suburb of Cape Town in 2023. The killings remain unsolved. by Tony Wesolowsky He was one of Bulgaria’s most notorious mafia kingpins, who rose through the ranks in the chaotic 1990s, acquiring …
Read More »Ty Carter Raced Through Withering Fire to Rescue a Wounded Soldier in the Battle of Kamdesh
by Katie Lange The morning of October 3, 2009, brought a hail of gunfire to Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan – and for Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter and American soldiers from his unit, it was a day of tremendous courage in combat. READ MORE about brutal combat in Afghanistan …
Read More »This American Paratrooper Was Captured by SS Troops During ‘Operation Market Garden’
When Gene Metcalfe boarded the C-47 that would drop him just outside of Nijmegen, Holland, a British lieutenant gave him a box of condoms. Gene was to be among the first to jump into what should have been a picture-book meadow, free of German troops. Instead, it was defended by …
Read More »John Browning’s M1911 Was Patented on Valentine’s Day
It reads like an ordinary patent. A citizen of the United States, living in Weber County, Utah, has invented “certain new and useful improvements in firearms.” No fanfare. No grand claims. Just a statement of fact. Yet those lines would lead to a sidearm that rode in the holsters of …
Read More »The MAC JSOC 1911: A Modern Salute to a Special Operations Legacy
by Austin Lee In the pantheon of firearms, few pistols command the reverence of the 1911. Its century-plus legacy, forged in the crucible of conflict, continues to inspire innovation. Enter Military Armament Corporation’s (MAC) latest offering: the JSOC 1911, a .45 ACP masterpiece that channels the gritty, high-stakes modifications of …
Read More »Cockpit Under Fire: Laser Strike on Final Approach Into Mexico
by Mitchell “Taco” Bell A pilot flying a 737 meets a coordinated laser attack inside Mexican airspace. Guadalajara, MX? Yeah, the law there is optional. That is the best comment about having a seemingly coordinated attack on a civilian airliner on approach into Guadalajara, Mexico. Those green lasers that can point …
Read More »Complacency Kills: The Truck at the Gate in Kandahar
Afghan guards and Gurkhas ran to the fight. The bomb answered back. by Robert M. Kurtz It was April 2010, and I was on an assignment to evaluate the security measures and contracted security provider of a project compound in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Anyone who has ever been to Kandahar can …
Read More »The KA-BAR: America’s Iconic Fighting Knife, Proven in Battle
by Austin Lee The KA-BAR fighting knife has been a steadfast companion to U.S. Marines for more than 80 years, earning its place as one of the most legendary blades in military history. Adopted by the Marine Corps in 1942, the KA-BAR has slashed through jungles, pierced enemy defenses, and …
Read More »When an Ex-KGB Man Helped Stage a Daring Heist in Soviet Moscow
by Nikolay Shevchenko It was late evening when a cash truck pulled up in front of a fancy department store on Mozhayskoye Highway in Moscow. Leaving two partners behind in the truck, the third guard stepped over the store’s threshold to collect the cash that had piled up there throughout …
Read More »‘The Mother’: A Soldier’s Haunting Encounter in Iraq
by Cliff Wade Iraq, 2006 We found ourselves in the home of an Iraqi family during a massive clearing operation in an area characterized by terrain varying between urban landscape, farmland, palm groves, and small villages. We had been clearing routes of improvised explosive devices all morning. We had been …
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