by Igor R. Salikov Excerpted from Putin’s ‘Viper’ Detachment: One Man’s Role in a Russian Special Forces Unit and the Invasion of Ukraine, by Igor R. Salikov, published by Frontline Books. War is a tiresome thing, even in conversation. Especially if you tell the truth. These are not dashing stories …

by Sean “Sako” Sakinofsky Few movie knives are as famous as the custom Jimmy Lile survival Bowie carried by John Rambo in First Blood. It became one of the defining images of 1980’s action films. The likelihood of a Green Beret medic like Rambo walking out of military service with such …

by Martin Kufus Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from  Plow the Dirt but Watch the Sky, a memoir by Martin Kufus, a former editor at Soldier of Fortune. This chapter shows Martin’s experience at the Special Forces SERE Instructor Qualification Course, where he encountered the legendary Col. Nick Rowe – …

by Jose Campos “I thought I was severed in half. There was no pain.” The jungle around Quan Loi erupted that night into an unholy symphony of gunfire. It was February 1970, and the darkness came alive with muzzle flashes from unseen enemy positions, each one a promise of death. …

After that night our extended holiday in Mozambique ended. The war had come to us. Story from Jaime De Melo. Written by Royce de Melo Things had been very quiet since my battalion’s arrival by ship in Mozambique in August 1970. We had been posted to various sectors in the …

by A.R. Fomenko Hidden beneath the border, sophisticated tunnel networks have turned Ceuta into one of Europe’s most enduring corridors for organized cross-border smuggling. VIENNA BUREAU – It was the kind of pursuit that runs slow and cold. Spanish authorities hunted in vain for years to uncover a smuggling tunnel between …

by A.R. Fomenko VIENNA BUREAU – A massive wildfire inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone revived scrutiny of the radioactive timber trade, wartime disruption, and the shadow economy investigators say has operated inside the contaminated forest for decades. Flames vaulted across the tree tops, carried by wind gusts that whipped through the …

Years after his death, sworn testimony alleged that Mitchell WerBell III didn’t die of a heart attack after all; he’d been poisoned. The allegation remains one of the most curious episodes connected to the legacy of the legendary OSS veteran and firearms designer. by Jose Campos Mitchell WerBell III had …

by Royce de Melo I was sitting in my hotel room in London in early 2016, catching up on business while attending a discreet security and law enforcement event. I was following up on a shipment of US Ordnance M60E6 Light Machine Guns (LMGs) that had gone to Canada. Little …

by Jonathan Stumpf A dispatch from Ukraine. News of Prigozhin’s mutiny rips through the International Legion like wildfire. Stretched out on our cots, “Austria,” “Niente,” and I feverishly track the latest developments on our smartphones. I gave Niente his nickname because he wanted to be called “Nothing.” He had joined …