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Deadly Assault on Special Forces in Vietnam Left ‘Drag Marks and Blood Trails Throughout the Camp’

by Gene Pugh One of the darkest days in Special Forces history occurred on a summer morning in 1968 in Vietnam. In the early hours of Aug. 23, the Da Nang MACVSOG camp known as FOB4 was attacked by approximately 167 soldiers from the combined units of the 22nd VC …

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Plastic Paramilitaries: Irish Insurgents Print Their Own 3D Guns

by James Parker Northern Ireland’s paramilitary underworld is learning to fight with the tools of the digital age, and these tools are becoming more sophisticated and accessible.  As a crowd gathered in Belfast to commemorate Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising, something new made an appearance in the arsenal of Northern Ireland’s …

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Texas Floods: We Searched for Survivors When Tropical Storm Charley Battered Del Rio

by Martin Kufus Author Martin Kufus was a volunteer firefighter in Texas, and participated in disaster ops there. He embarked on a tense mission in 1998, after flash floods wreaked havoc along the southern border. The following is based on a chapter from his book, Plow the Dirt but Watch the …

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The Phantom F-14: When ‘Pyro’ Lit Us Up Over the North Atlantic

by Mitch “Taco” Bell We called him “Pyro” after he ran around the Charleston O’Club, drunk as hell, butt-naked with a rolled-up newspaper stuck in the crack of his rear, on fire, and a green tee shirt over his head with two eyes cut out. Tonight, his in-flight emergency was …

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‘They Were a Brotherhood’: Working With Mercs in the Congo

  Former American diplomat William Boudreau encountered mercenaries during his career with the Foreign Service. Here are his recollections and observations about them. by William Boudreau    I will not advocate for a humanitarian award for any mercenary I have known. However, they embrace humanity. My point is they were …

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The Barely Told Story of America’s Greatest Half-Assed Heroes

by Susan Katz Keating Why did Soviet forces abandon Afghanistan in 1989 after nearly 10 years of war? Western analysts have burned through terabytes trying to explain it. What else besides the fierce Mujahideen drove the Red Army to retreat with nothing to show but shattered pride? Some credit the …

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Ammo Soup, Comrade: Soviet Soldiers Cooked Their Rounds in Afghanistan – In a Pot

The recipe was simple: make a fire; boil water in any metal container at hand; put the ammo in the boiling water; and cook for four to five hours. by Nikolay Shevchenko During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Russian soldiers were often seen boiling their ammo for hours in a …

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A Nuclear Blast Would Bring Hell on Earth: Blinding Light, Searing Heat, and Intense Winds

The degree of hazard depends on the type of weapon, height of the burst, distance from the detonation, hardness of the target, and explosive yield of the weapon.  by Susan Katz Keating Russian President Vladimir Putin again raised the specter of nuclear war when he announced that a conventional attack …

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Is the US Headed to Civil War? Here’s How to Tell

COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating My inbox is overflowing. In the wake of current events, some of my correspondents fear that the U.S. will implode. One reader, “Freaked Out,” writes: “I saw the story about you in The New Yorker magazine, and you talked about riots and civil war. Are we …

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Independence Day at War in Iraq: A Soldier’s Story

by Heath Hansen A flash of light lit up the sky ahead of me, and I heard an explosion. My adrenaline kicked in and I started searching for the source of the explosion. I clutched my weapon and prepared to defend the base. ANBAR, IRAQ – Even though it was …

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