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100-Year-Old World War II Veteran Finally Receives Purple Heart From Battle of Okinawa

Harvey Drahos was wounded in action when he was 22 years old, in the World War II Battle of Okinawa. He received his Purple Heart this year, at age 100. The ceremony was held Sept. 30 at the Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia, Washington. Drahos’s service in the Army as an expert …

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‘People Are Getting Killed Out There!’ I Watched Yeltsin’s Tanks Open Fire on Russian Parliament

by Bruce Pannier “Well guys, are we going, or are we going to sit here taking a piss?” It has been 25 years since the culmination of the so-called Russian constitutional crisis, when the country’s president, Boris Yeltsin, sought to dissolve the parliament and then ordered the military to crush …

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Eerie Silences and Strange Time Warps: The Weirdness of Life Aboard a Submarine

by David Chetlain, The War HorseI spent 18 months in training before reporting to my first submarine. I learned a lot about damage control, sonar, electronics, and how to distinguish a sperm whale from a humpback whale. But nothing prepared me for the disconnection from Earth that distorted my perception …

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‘The Phantom’ Fouled the Latrine; We Had to Find Him Before Sarge Flushed Us All Down the Toilet

by Heath Hansen It was 0530 hours the morning our first sergeant kicked open the door to our tent, and told us to “get the fuck outside and form it up!” Late the previous night, we returned to base from a 10-day mission in Afghanistan. I could see through a …

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With Seconds to Spare, This Soldier Saved a Woman From a Burning Car

By Sgt. 1st Class Laura Berry, Massachusetts National Guard STERLING, Mass. – Specialist Ryan Leger finished his drill with Massachusetts National Guard’s 110th Maintenance Company, and his wife picked him up. As they were driving home, they noticed how nice the sunset looked. His wife, Courtney, a photographer, wanted to stop …

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‘I Miss the Battlefield’: A Warrior Longs for the Clarity of Combat

by Jim Lechner Editor’s note: Army Ranger (Ret) Jim Lechner wrote the following hymn to comradeship and patriotism – an essay that reverberates among those who long for the lost clarity of war. A veteran of multiple Special Operations missions, Lechner was wounded in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in …

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Zenith Arms ZF-5 Pistol an Excellent Clone of H&K Legendary Submachine Gun

by Friedrich Seiltgen The Heckler & Koch MP-5 Sub-Machinegun is a legend. Its development began in 1964. It began service with the West German Bundespolizei in 1966, and H&K never looked back. Throughout the years it gained a reputation as a quality built, reliable weapon and was selected for service by …

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Mold, Sewage, and Rot in the Barracks: How Did the US Military Sink So Low?

ANALYSIS by John “Wolf” Wagner Mold, raw sewage, broken windows, and fire systems that don’t work. The Government Accountability Office recently highlighted these and other severe problems plaguing military barracks across the services. The problems also include non-existent maintenance and repairs, poor cleaning services, a lack of accountability, and more. …

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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 …

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‘They Were a Brotherhood’: Working With Mercenaries in the Congo

 by William Boudreau    Editor’s note: Former American diplomat William Boudreau encountered mercenaries during his career with the Foreign Service. Here are his recollections and observations about them. I will not advocate for a humanitarian award for any mercenary I have known. However, they embrace humanity. My point is they …

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