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Soldier of Fortune Magazine

AWOL at 17: The ‘Perfumed Burglar’ Deserted the Navy, Robbed Half the State, and Escaped San Quentin

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 …

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‘Mayday! Clear All Airspace Below Us!’ When Our Plane Lost Pressure in Flight: A Pilot’s Story

We were leaning over the throttles, breaking the seals on our masks, and yelling at each other. by Mitchell “Taco” Bell To all my passenger friends out there who always text me with the crazy pilot questions, I can assure you as pilots we train for this stuff all the …

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The Enemy Lay Bleeding in Iraq – and the Spanish Photographer Watched Our Every Move

by Cliff Wade Iraq, 2007 Every now and again we’d get an outsider attached to our unit on missions. Sometimes they were enablers who proved to be assets, other times they were regarded as interlopers who got in the way. One such instance sticks out in my mind over others: …

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Hedgehog Armor: The Spiked Shield to Stop Drones From Turning Tanks Into Fireballs

by A.R. Fomenko VIENNA BUREAU – On the battlefields of Ukraine, steel beasts now crawl under strange new hides – bristling, porcupine-like shells known as “hedgehog armor.” It’s the latest mutation born from drone-saturated warfare, where a cheap quadcopter can gut a million-dollar tank before the crew even knows it’s coming. …

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This Coast Guard Crew Worked All Night to Rescue People From Floodwaters On Christmas Eve, 1955

 Their helicopter was never shut down, and had to be “hot-fueled” while the engine was running.  Shortly after midnight on Christmas Eve, 1955, a levee on California’s Feather River collapsed, sending a 21-foot wall of water into Yuba City. Terrified flood victims who huddled on rooftops or clinging to tree …

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The Christmas Bombings of 1972: A Deafening Roar Told Me Something Big Was Happening

by David Nelson, The War Horse I woke up early on the morning of Dec. 6, 1972, to pack and say tearful goodbyes to my wife, Martie, and our one-year-old daughter, Amy. We’d decided ahead of time that my father-in-law “Pop” Lowry would drive me from Temple, Texas, to Love …

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Green Berets Train to Survive Mountain Warfare

The mountains above Bridgeport, California, have been home to mountain warfare survival training for Special Forces, Marines, and others. In this frosty vid, Green Berets with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) partner with United Arab Emirates Special Operations to conduct long range reconnaissance training at the U.S. Marine Corps …

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Wilderness Tracking in Arizona: A Mission Along the Border

by Heath Hansen “I sent the grids; we’ll be heading out by noon on Thursday,” Tim Foley informs me over the phone, before I hit the road. Foley is a grizzled former paratrooper of the 82nd Airborne Division, and leader of the volunteer group Arizona Border Recon (AZBR). For more than a …

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