by Jose Campos “You have to watch your step. This is rattlesnake territory.” From the ground, the operation looks and feels like a deployment. For soldiers patrolling the vast, open terrain around Presidio, Texas, the mission includes squad level reconnaissance in remote territory. They know first hand that the U.S. …
Read More »The True Story Behind Ray Mendoza’s ‘Warfare’
Mendoza received a Silver Star for his actions that day in Iraq. The film WARFARE follows a platoon of U.S. Navy SEALs on a surveillance mission gone wrong in November 2006, during a battle against insurgents in Ramadi Province, Iraq. The film from A24 is based on true events. Among them …
Read More »‘Warfare’ Shows the Visceral Brutality of Combat
MOVIE REVIEW by Navy SEAL Commander Dan O’Shea (ret) Editor’s note: The newly released WARFARE follows a platoon of U.S. Navy SEALs on a surveillance mission gone wrong in November 2006, during a battle against insurgents in Ramadi Province, Iraq. The film from A24 is based on true events. It …
Read More »Extortion on the Border: The Northeast Cartel Controls Flow of Drugs and Migrants Into Texas
The Northeast Cartel is not well known inside the U.S., but the powerful group controls key territory inside Mexico, along the border with Texas. The group holds sway over Nuevo Laredo, a staging ground for drugs and people headed into the United States. Journalist Parker Asmann visited the border town, and …
Read More »The Gruesome Fate of Surgeons Who Built New Face For Mexican Drug Lord
by “Sol Prendido” One of the most influential capos in Mexico’s history met a tragic end – and so did his doctors, according to authorities. One of the most powerful drug lords in Mexico was Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who was born in Navolato, Sinaloa, in 1956. El Señor de los …
Read More »Machine Gun University: Firing Away in Morocco
Soldiers from the New York Army National Guard and the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces received field training on machine guns and a Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle at the Aurora Range in Tantan, Morocco. Soldiers took part in machine gun crew drills where they learned about swapping barrels, handling a malfunction, …
Read More »Russian Su-35 Meets American F-35 in Skies Near Alaska
“Welcome to the world of intercepts.” That’s one way to get a close look at a jet. Russian pilots filmed this close encounter between their aircraft and an American fighter jet. The cockpit footage shows a Russian Su-35S fighter jet escorting a Tu-95MS “Bear” bomber over the Bering and Chukchi …
Read More »Lakota Helicopter Patrols the Skies Over New Mexico Border
The southern New Mexico border is a vast expanse of unforgiving terrain, where people enter at their own risk. These U.S. soldiers assigned to Task Force Sentinel take to the skies in a UH-72 Lakota helicopter to patrol the terrain. Come along for an inside look at a patrol flight …
Read More »Special Forces at War: A Deadly Firefight in Iraq
by Alex Quade Diyala Province, Iraq — Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (A-Team) 072 rolled into the village. It was dead quiet. Nothing moved. Suddenly, “squirters”—people running away from the village and cars leaving at a high rate of speed. Clearly, something of interest was in that village. A-Team Commander …
Read More »Ordeal on Firebase 6: A Brutal Battle in Vietnam
by Jose Campos They knew the enemy was coming. On that day in March 1971, Army 1st Lt. Brian Miles Thacker and his seven-man team braced for the inevitable. But when the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) launched their assault, it was not a question of whether the firebase would fall …
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