Did Allied forces really drop a fake wooden bomb as a joke on German forces in World War II? A story that is often retold by fans of military history has it that German forces built decoy fake wooden airfields to deceive enemy pilots – and that Allied forces, on …

Publisher’s note: This article includes a photo of former SOF managing editor Bob Poos, who was a war correspondent in Vietnam. ~SKK by Marvin J. Wolf, The War Horse I steered the Jeep off the dusty, rutted main road and rattled down a well-worn track until I beheld a bizarre …

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in SOF on June 2, 2023. We are republishing it here for context in light of drones being reported over New Jersey in December 2024. All references are from 2023. The illustrations for this story are AI, but the events are real. ~SKK by …

Over the last year, U.S. officials have seized more illicit fentanyl at Arizona’s ports of entry than anywhere else on the US-Mexico border, suggesting a possible shift in synthetic drug trafficking routes. “We’re seeing shipments of all kinds coming in fast through new routes into Arizona,” one Border Patrol agent …

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 …

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 …

Perfume, purloined jewelry and a millionaire’s son form the complex story of Herbert Repsold, a Navy deserter who also was known as the Perfumed Burglar. In the early 1900s, Repsold was a troublesome youth. Growing tired of his son’s antics, the elder Repsold cut off his son’s cash and forced …

by Katie Lange  Editor’s note: SOF publisher Susan Katz Keating knew Col. Pappy Boyington in the 1980’s when he frequented the Nut Tree airport in Vacaville, California. Here is a story of his life in uniform. Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington was one of the service’s greatest and most legendary pilots. …

by Kevin Maurer, The War Horse Editor’s note: As the situation in Syria heats up, here’s a look at a rare event from 2018, when U.S. and Russian forces clashed. The fight occurred in Syria. ~SKK Explosions flashed in the fog hanging over the Euphrates River like a coming summer …

The Montagnards were skilled fighters, often engaging in guerrilla tactics, conducting reconnaissance, and staging ambushes against enemy forces. During the Vietnam War, one of the most remarkable military alliances was between the U.S. Green Berets and the Montagnard tribespeople, indigenous groups who inhabited the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The Montagnards, …