Flying old cargo planes through darkness and anti-aircraft fire, pilots had to find the hidden runway before Nigerian fighters found them. by Gatimu Juma The pilot pushed the throttles forward, and the cargo aircraft climbed into the humid African night. Behind him the island of São Tomé disappeared into darkness. …

Nothing prepared me for the disconnection from Earth that distorted my perception of time while submerged. by David Chetlain, The War Horse I 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 …

Weak, burned, and alone, he drifted for months through shark-filled waters of the Atlantic. by Victor Hale The Atlantic Ocean was calm when Steven Callahan went to sleep. It was the kind of calm that convinces a solo sailor to trust his preparations. His 21-foot sloop, Napoleon Solo, rode low …

by Robert Fallon Fire Support Base Mary Ann sat on a scraped-bare hill in Quảng Tín Province, its bunkers sunk into the dirt and ringed with wire. By March 1971, it was home to the 1st Battalion of the Americal Division’s 46th Infantry Regiment. Inside the perimeter were infantrymen, artillery …

This is the full text of U.S. President Donald Trump announcing the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The text is transcribed from Trump’s video appearance on Truth Social, on 28 February 2026. A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to …

A paperboy dropped a coin in Brooklyn, and wound up exposing a Soviet spy network. by Jose Campos It sounded wrong when it hit the floor. Jimmy Bozart, a 14-year-old Brooklyn paperboy, had been collecting subscription money along Foster Avenue on a humid June evening in 1953. Back home, he …

by John Gartner As I sat looking out the port side window of the Dakota, I could see below me the vast expanse of Lake Cahora Bassa dam. The grey skeletal branches of long-drowned trees dotted the shoreline and seemed, in my reverie, to be reaching imploringly skyward. The surface …

by Jose Campos The wounded were stacked shoulder to shoulder on the aid station floor, their uniforms covered in blood and dirt. Some called out for morphine. Outside, rifle fire cracked through the darkness, coming closer. The line had broken. Captain Ben L. Salomon moved from man to man, working …

by Jose Campos The flight went bad in the high, thin air above North Carolina. Major William Rankin, who flew for the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II and Korea, was on a routine training hop in in his F-8U Crusader. He was an experienced pilot, and expected to …

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 …