Snipers are masters of disguise, sometimes changing their camouflage several times before reaching a target. In the snow, a sniper’s concealment involves more than wearing white. A ghillie suit breaks up the recognizable outline of the head, shoulders and body, helping the wearer blend into the surrounding terrain. Movement can …

A mortar crew lived beneath a ruined Ukrainian city as Russian tanks, drones and gas attacks closed in. by Jonathan Stumpf The train jerks once and comes to a stop. I watch the flood of soldiers boarding, including a red-haired beauty in her early twenties struggling under a heavy rucksack …

by Austin Lee In the escalating drone wars, where fiber optic and First-Person View (FPV) drones threaten soldiers and civilians alike, one man is turning the art of clay shooting into a battlefield advantage.  Lieutenant Marco Angelelli, an Italian Air Force reserve officer and Italian Clay Pigeon Shooting Federation (FITAV) …

Arms smugglers raid the residue of combat while black-market traders work Chernobyl for contaminated metal and timber. Soldier of Fortune follows three trails out of Ukraine. Ukraine’s front lines have produced more than casualties and headlines. They’ve produced inventory. Soldier of Fortune has spent months following the trail of what gets pulled out …

The HH-60W Jolly Green II is carrying a legendary mission into the mountains, timber, and backcountry of Alaska. The HH-60W Jolly Green II was built to go after people in places that are difficult to reach and bring them home. Its primary mission is combat search and rescue, where distance, …

As Xi Jinping heads to Washington, federal cases show the workings of Chinese intelligence operations in the United States. by Stephen Caldwell A woman flew into Detroit Metro Airport from Shanghai on Sept. 8, one of many trips she made between China and the United States. When customs officers questioned …

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 …

In the Peruvian Amazon, U.S. soldiers are learning how jungle terrain turns routine movement into a test of endurance, fieldcraft and small-unit tactics. by Staff Sgt. Mickey Miller, U.S. Southern Command SAUCE, Peru — The jungle has a way of making even simple things complicated. Movement slows. Equipment gets heavier. …

Aboard a hot, bucking C-130, a young 101st Airborne paratrooper fought to hold himself together until the stick began to move. by David F. Crosby The C-130 rocked back and forth and lurched up and down. The late summer air made flying low in the afternoon turbulent, and the aircraft’s …

In the months after 9/11, Green Berets were in the southern Philippines to help take on an al-Qaeda-linked force more than 1,000 strong. Two decades later, roughly 20 terrorist fighters remained. by Jose Campos The Green Berets moved through the jungle, cutting through undergrowth in the ungoverned space where violent …