by Carl Hancocks For the past four years, the city of Agadez has been what could barely pass as home for a woman without a name. Nigerian, she fends for herself as a sex-worker, but that was not how she arrived in this place. Her story is that of a …
Read More »Putin Must Not Be Insulted: Inside the Mysterious Agency That Controls Russia’s Internet
by Mike Eckel, Daniil Belovodyev, and Anton Bayev In the first half of October 2022, employees of an obscure Russian government department working out of a small business center in northeast Moscow were worried about the weather. Not Moscow’s weather, but rather weather in four regions of Ukraine that President …
Read More »A Swedish Mercenary in Iraq: A Ghostwriter’s Ode to Axel Stal
by Jonas Vesterberg It was back in 2016. I was at home in Los Angeles when I got a call from my agent in Stockholm. “I have a project but nobody here in Sweden wants to touch it. Maybe you could take a look?” I suppose I was known as …
Read More »Irish Rebels Fought the 1916 Easter Rising With Smuggled Mauser Rifles
In Dublin, Ireland, on Easter Monday, 1916, nationalists proclaimed the founding of the Irish Republic. Bolstered by some 1,600 followers, they staged a rebellion against the British government in Ireland. They didn’t have planes nor tanks, and only limited use of artillery. Instead, the rebels made a stand using personal …
Read More »Shooting Canada’s Version of the SVD Dragunov, the Type 81 Sporting Rifle – With Russian Scope
By Royce de Melo Our correspondent has high hopes for his new sniper rifle, but finds that the knockoff Soviet-style Dragunov has a few surprises. As soon as we finished the club’s Saturday morning orientation for new members, I went out the main building’s door and headed to the 300-yard …
Read More »WATCH: The U-2 ‘Dragon Lady’ Spy Plane in Flight
Pilots call it the Dragon Lady because the U-2 is tough to handle when taking off and landing – and isn’t easy to fly at altitude, where thin air at 70,000 feet is a tricky environment. The U-2 airframe that played a significant role during the Cold War appeared in …
Read More »My Father, an Old Photograph, and a Legendary Marine: Gen. Alfred M. Gray
by Heath Hansen As a child, I enjoyed looking through the photo albums of my father’s old military pictures. There was one, in particular, that stood out because it was of a serviceman other than my father. The black and white picture displayed a Marine Brigadier General clad in woodland …
Read More »These Sky Soldiers Had to Fight Their Way Out of a Bog Before the Mud Ate Them Alive in Iraq
by John Spencer Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of the book “Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connection in Modern War” published by Potomac Books and available for purchase at Amazon here. The excerpt describes 2LT John Spencer’s experience jumping into Iraq as a platoon leader with the 173rd …
Read More »Cold War Navy SEAL James Hawes Talks About Che Guevara, War in the Congo, and More
Sometime in 1965, Navy SEAL James Hawes landed in the Congo with cash stuffed in his socks, morphine in his bag, and a basic understanding of his mission. He would recruit a mercenary navy and suppress the Soviet and Chinese-backed rebels engaged in guerrilla movements against a pro-Western government. …
Read More »We Worked Through the Night to Fix a Helicopter Engine Sensor – and Then Came the Crash
by Brian Dykeman, The War Horse The funny thing about memories is that your brain will let most of them drift off into a place where they only make an appearance if you see a picture, smell a smell, or if a certain song comes on the radio. Then there …
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