COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating I recently did my annual demographic survey on the Soldier of Fortune audience – and the results prompted me to send a message to certain readers. Old hands, listen up. This is for you. Bear with me for a little context. In the survey, the big …
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 »Inside a Military Patrol on America’s Southern Border
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 »Notorious Fugitive ‘The Fly’ Gets Swatted in Romania
by A.R. Fomenko VIENNA BUREAU – The European underworld called him La Mouche. The Fly. Only 30 years old, Mohamed Amra had been a specter for months, slipping through the cracks and mocking the law with every breath he took as a free man. On Saturday, his luck ran dry. Authorities spotted …
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 »Drug Smuggling Bust at Sea: US Coast Guard in Action
by Jose Campos These seaborne first responders knew what they were looking for, and how to proceed. The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball pulled up alongside the suspected drug smuggling vessel, seized its contraband, and took suspects into custody. And the suspects’ boat met a swift end …
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 …
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