by Igor Rozin The world’s most popular rifle, with 100 million units in circulation, is not without its drawbacks. The AK platform is popular worldwide for its reliability and ease of production. Today, there are roughly 100 million Kalashnikov rifles in 55 countries around the globe. And that’s only those …
Read More »Did Russia Poison Lindsey Graham? What the Pattern Tells Us
COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating Russia repeatedly has been accused of poisoning its enemies. The historical record offers a useful test before drawing conclusions about this case. My inbox filled up within hours of the news. The question was consistent: “Did the Russians poison Lindsey Graham?” I don’t know. Did anyone …
Read More »Crossings in Wartime: Sabotage in the Supply Chain
In this installment of our investigative series, we examine how booby-trapped equipment slipped into wartime aid networks in Ukraine, targeting Russian soldiers. by Susan Katz Keating The Russian soldier placed the FPV goggles on his head, and flipped the switch on his drone console. He expected to see real-time images …
Read More »In the Saddle With Operation Ardent Vanguard on the U.S. Border
In California’s harsh border country, Marines and Border Patrol agents turn to horses for the kind of mobility no vehicle can match. The U.S. military and the U.S. Border Patrol are reaching back to one of the oldest methods of moving through unforgiving country: horseback. Near El Centro, California, U.S. …
Read More »Moroccan Puma Helicopter: A Graceful Warhorse
The Moroccan Puma helicopter is a battlefield veteran with decades of dust and fire under its rotors. Morocco first struck a deal with France in 1974 to acquire 40 of these durable workhorses for its armed forces. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, Moroccan Pumas played a key role in the …
Read More »The Bachelor Party: A Marine Raced Against Time to Detach a Stripper From His Camaro
by Al Hagan In the early 1980s, I was in the Marine Corps, and a friend of mine who had gone into the Army was getting married. We’d grown up together, and so I and others – lots of military – journeyed back home for the occasion. Naturally, this required …
Read More »‘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 …
Read More »The Night Soviet Police Murdered a KGB Agent – And Triggered a Bloodletting
by Boris Egorov At the end of 1980, on the outskirts of Moscow, Soviet policemen beat to death a KGB major, and staged it as a robbery. They had no idea what dire consequences the encounter would have for them and the entire Soviet police force. On the morning of …
Read More »Last of the Breed: P-520 Crash Boat Rescued WWII Airmen Before the Sea Could Claim Them
by Mr. Wolf She was built for one job: find downed American airmen before the sea claimed them. Today, the boat known as P-520 is the last surviving 85-foot World War II Army Air Forces crash-rescue boat still afloat in her original configuration. Built in Wilmington, California, in 1944, she belonged …
Read More »Death in the Desert: A Texas Cowboy’s Gruesome Encounter
by Bobby Dee Editor’s note: Bobby Dee first made his appearance in SKK’s previous story about Bodies and Gunfire in the Texas Wilderness. Now Bobby writes about his encounter with a bad scene at sunrise. The sun wasn’t even high yet, but the heat was already pressing down on me. …
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