by Ivan / Borderland Beat There are only two inmates that everyone wants to kill: protected witnesses and child rapists, reveals a U.S. Marshal interviewed by the author. The list seems endless. All of them high-level members of the Sinaloa Cartel, who after having every imaginable luxury and in almost …
Read More »Pilot Bob Pardo Pushed His Wingman to Safety in Wartime – While in Flight
The story is legend among fighter pilots. During the Vietnam War, Major John “Bob” Pardo was flying lead on the way back from a 1,000 mile mission over enemy territory, when they ran into serious trouble. The two F-4C Phantom jets took heavy flak, and considerable damage. Pardo saw that …
Read More »America’s Forgotten Terrorists: The ‘Galleanist’ Anarchists Invented New Ways to Use Violence
How the Galleanists operated holds lessons for today as we continue to deal with the endless threat of terrorism. by Jeffrey D. Simon Though largely forgotten today, one of the most creative and destructive terrorist groups in the United States was the Galleanists, a fiery band of Italian anarchists active …
Read More »An Angry Rhino, Three Rookie Trackers, and Trouble in Africa: ‘She Wants to Gore Us’
The world of anti-poaching is difficult and dangerous. Especially when you come face to face with an enraged rhinoceros. by S. Anderson I’ve always been fascinated by the African Bush. Lions, Leopards, Cape Buffalo, Elephant, and Rhino. The Big 5. Endless rolling hills, dense bush, and undisturbed ecology. Growing up, …
Read More »Our Helicopter Was Broken Down in a Field – and the Viet Cong Opened Fire On Us
by Hooligan I hoped to shoot the first VC I saw who poked his head over the wall, and at least get his AK to defend myself. All this while the enemy machine guns were firing and mortars going off. It started out as just another boring Ash & Trash …
Read More »Mercs on the Run: Escape, Evasion, and Hiding Out in a Bordello
If there’s a lesson to be learned from merc work, it’s this: you are on your own. When you put your trust in others, or rely on outside forces for salvation, you’re buying yourself a one·way ticket to the oblivion of a mercs’ limbo: jail if you’re lucky, a bullet …
Read More »“IED! IED! IED!” Hearts and Minds In the War On Terror
By Heath Hansen I opened my eyes. It was still dark, but I could see the night was ending and another day in some village in Afghanistan was beginning. The smell of dip-spit and cigarette smoke betrayed the fact that the platoon was awake and breaking down the patrol base. “Get …
Read More »Baptized by Fire in Vietnam: The Day I Became a Real Marine
by Ronald Winter, The War Horse Ask any Marine if they can remember the first day they actually became a Marine and you likely will be told it was boot camp graduation day. Whether it was Parris Island or San Diego, only when the senior officer in the graduation program proclaims the graduates …
Read More »On Desperate Ground: Mad Dog Platoon and the Battle of OP Nevada
by Susan Katz Keating The Ninth Situation of War, when you must fight without delay, is Desperate Ground – Sun Tzu “Watson. Wake up. Woods. Everyone. Wake the hell up.” The sentinels raced through the lean-to, alerting the team with urgent news: the Taliban were at the wire. Hours earlier, Sgt. …
Read More »‘I Miss the Battlefield’: A Warrior Longs for the Clarity of Combat
by Jim Lechner Army Ranger (Ret) Jim Lechner wrote the following hymn to comradeship and patriotism – an essay that reverberates among those who long for the lost clarity of war. A veteran of multiple Special Operations missions, Lechner was wounded in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia. He …
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