Tag Archives: Featured

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …