Tag Archives: Featured

by Jose Campos TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — The desert air trembled as Marines unleashed the first rounds from a M777 Howitzer during Service Level Training Exercise this month. Dust plumes curled in the heat, smoke trailing each shell as it streaked toward a distant target. The SLTE is more than …

by Susan Katz Keating A wave of drone attacks lit up targets on June 1 deep inside Russian territory – another clear signal that unmanned warfare is rewriting the rules in real time. But the idea of drones doing the killing – or at least the hunting – isn’t as …

Through the window of Putin’s presidential jet, two F-35’s slid into formation as they left U.S. airspace. It’s a view almost no one on Earth will ever see. America’s stealth fleet rarely shows itself—let alone escorting a Russian head of state out of U.S. airspace. History at 35,000 feet. The …

by Jose Campos Before the term guerrilla warfare entered the American military lexicon, a wiry, cunning officer in the Carolina backcountry was already running the playbook. His name was Francis Marion – better known to the British as the Swamp Fox. From 1780 to 1782, Marion and his ragged militia bled the King’s …

by Heath Hansen Happy National Airborne Day to all you servicemen and servicewomen who volunteered to serve your country at a “higher” level! Created in 2002, by then President George W. Bush, National Airborne Day honors all the Nation’s airborne armed forces. READ MORE from Heath Hansen in Soldier of …

by Hooligan My logbook called it a routine troop lift. My gut told me otherwise. I was still green – a “Peter Pilot” in Army slang – flying right seat in a Huey. The Aircraft Commander sat to my left, cool and unshakable, though his name has long been lost …

by Cliff Wade Iraq, 2007 Much more often than not, our missions in Iraq were meticulously planned out well ahead of time. However, there were occasions when opportunities were presented that did not allow enough time for applying the proper troop-leading procedures, and we just winged it.  One such instance …

by Martin Kufus Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from  Plow the Dirt but Watch the Sky, a memoir by Martin Kufus, a former editor at Soldier of Fortune. This chapter shows Martin’s experience at the Special Forces SERE Instructor Qualification Course, where he encountered the legendary Col. Nick Rowe – …

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 …

COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating As Soldier of Fortune marks its 50th year, I often am asked, Who reads your magazine? It’s a fair question; one that is rooted in the publication’s history.  Created in 1975, Soldier of Fortune sprang up from the aftermath of Vietnam. It began as a critical …