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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 …

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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. …

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‘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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George Washington Bacon, the CIA’s Man in Laos Before He Became a Merc in Angola

Editor’s note: Longtime CIA covert operations officer James Parker Jr. often talked to me about his days in Southeast Asia, including the secret war in Laos. He told stories of another case officer and former Green Beret, George Washington Bacon III, who became a mercenary in Angola. Here is an …

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Guns, Bombs, and the IRA: Talking to Patrick Ryan, Ireland’s Deadliest Priest

by Susan Katz Keating “I lie awake at night, filled with regret. I deeply regret that my bombs didn’t kill more people.”  That’s what the so-called “Terror Priest,” Father Patrick Ryan, told me when I asked what he wanted people to know about him. A fierce Irish nationalist, he was …

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Green on Blue in Afghanistan: He Attacked Us for 40 Bucks and a Trip to Paradise

By Heath Hansen We entered the base between the HESCO barriers covered in concertina razor-wire, unprepared for a betrayal from one of our supposed allies. On November 9, 2005, as the convoy snaked its way into the safety of the base walls, I could see Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers …

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The Cordon: One Very Bad Day in Baqubah

by Greg Chabot Editor’s note: This story contains some very raw, violent material that could bring readers back to their own stark experiences at war. ~SKK It had been quiet in Baqubah with some IEDs going off and some occasional small arms fire in the city. This was about to …

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NRA Board of Directors: Soldier of Fortune Endorses Major General (Retired) Ken Bowra and Jerry Kraus

by Susan Katz Keating These endorsements are about who can lead the fight now. By popular request, and after careful consideration, Soldier of Fortune is making a rare endorsement for the National Rifle Association Board of Directors. Soldier of Fortune and I endorse Major General (Retired) Ken Bowra and Jerry …

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Shadows and Sorcery: The Role of the Occult in War and Espionage

by Austin Lee Imagine a battlefield where the sharpest weapons are not forged in steel, but whispered in incantations and wit, where shadows cast by candlelit rituals eclipse the glare of spotlights, and the line between spy and sorcerer dissolves into the shadows. What if the most guarded state secrets …

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Guarding the ‘Floating Bomb’ on Halloween, While Somali Pirates Prowled the Seas

by Martin Kufus Somali piracy already was waning in 2012 when I arrived on the Indian Ocean as a member of a four-man rifle team guarding a client’s cargo ship against hijack. It was my first time aboard an ocean-going vessel. This one was an Asian-flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) …

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