by Kevin Cresswell Picture the scene: It was early hours on July 4, 2003, at Camp Slayer in Baghdad, Iraq. There were several hundred U.S. troops and a handful of odds and sods ‘Brits & Aussies.’ In the middle of the lake was a boathouse with a flagpole. During the …
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 »I Went Looking for Smugglers on the Border – Here’s What I Found
by Heath Hansen It’s not often that the absence of a story makes my day, but today that’s exactly what happened. I had a free afternoon and decided to head Southeast, into the San Diego Mountains, looking for any indications of illegal entry, or drug smuggling, into the United States. …
Read More »With the SAS in Mozambique, We Jumped Into Enemy Territory While Bombs Exploded Below
by John Gartner As I sat looking out the port side window of the Dakota, I could see below me the vast expanse of Lake Cahora Bassa dam. The grey skeletal branches of long-drowned trees dotted the shoreline and seemed, in my reverie, to be reaching imploringly skyward. The surface …
Read More »A Jeep, a Soldier, Some Booze, and One Very Rough Night in Camp
by James Woods Editor’s note: Reader James Woods sent this story about his father in law, who had an interesting time one night after dark during WWII. My father in law was assigned to the HQ company of an engineer unit as a driver during WWII. The unit was going …
Read More »The R4 Rising: South Africa’s Galil Evolution
by Austin Lee In the 1970s, Israel aided South Africa in obtaining Galil pattern rifles to replace South Africa’s FN-FAL/R1 battle rifle, which had been in service since the 1960s. The Israelis had just replaced their version of the FAL with the Galil platform after facing issues with the FAL …
Read More »Beretta’s Plastic Warrior: My 6-Year Torture Test on the ARX100
by Greg Chabot Back in the summer of 2019, I was looking to review an oddball type rifle. At my local shop I noticed a rifle that had been marked down a few times. Talking with the manager, he gave me the deal of a lifetime. I could have it …
Read More »Marines Play Hide-and-Shoot in the Philippines
by Jose Campos PALAWAN, Philippines -In the sweltering heat of Palawan, the defenders went to work, one palm frond at a time. Members of the U.S. Marine Corps and Philippine Marine Corps went to ground, to dig and disguise fighting positions ahead of a live-fire counter-landing drill at Quezon. The …
Read More »A Bomb in the Briefcase: When Iran Planned to Launch a Terror Attack in Paris
The plot involved members of an Iranian sleeper cell, authorities said. by Tom Squitieri There are some who believe nations of the world have been unfair to Iran, that the nation has been maligned, miscast, and put in a corner for economic and political reasons of others. Reading “Diplomatic Terrorism” …
Read More »Speedboat S-Turns With Sharrow Propellers: Soldier of Fortune Goes Along for the Ride
by Friedrich Seiltgen TAMPA, Florida – I opened the email from Soldier of Fortune Chief Susan Katz Keating and read her message: “Would you by chance be interested in taking a demo ride on a speedboat during Special Operations Week”? During SOF Week in May, Sharrow Marine had two boats …
Read More »
Soldier of Fortune Magazine The Journal of Professional Adventurers

