The Wars We Fight, the Stories We Keep

Soldier of Fortune was born in the aftermath of war, when veterans returned to a country that did not understand them. The magazine gave them a place that did. That tradition continues today, through accounts of combat, comradeship, and adventure. Here are five stories from SOF, told by veterans and those who knew them.

Soldier of Fortune Was Forged in the Fires of Vietnam
Susan Katz Keating

Readers often ask where Soldier of Fortune came from. Publisher Susan Katz Keating traces it back to Vietnam, when veterans returned to a national unwelcome. Green Beret Nick Rowe survived five years as a POW on his memories of America, then found himself despised by the people he’d been dreaming of. Combat veterans were told to change out of uniform before they left base. Newspapers framed them as unhinged. Then a Vietnam veteran named Robert K. Brown started a magazine.

~

Creating The Vietnam Wall Was ‘A Minor Miracle’
Jan Scruggs

Jan Scruggs was an infantryman who came home with a dozen pieces of shrapnel in him. Then came the homecoming. He wanted to build a physical memorial to his fellow veterans. “It all turned out to be complex and was riddled with controversy over the stark design, which could not be appreciated until it was built,” Jan writes. The effort involved much lobbying, with allies and enemies on both sides inside the Reagan administration, and a construction permit that hung on one Army captain. The Wall was dedicated in November 1982. Five million people a year now visit. The memorabilia left behind is enough to fill a museum. Soldier of Fortune Advisory Board member Scruggs tells how the whole thing unfolded.

~

An Infantryman Comes Home From War
Heath Hansen

Heath Hansen sent the photo that makes the centerpiece of the illustration for this article, taken when his team arrived at FOB Gardez in Afghanistan. The men from 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment settled in. Says Heath: “The Taliban welcomed us to the new AO with a rocket party. Honestly, I don’t recall ever going back to the bunkers after that. Once we took over the battlespace, we were either outside the wire running missions or we simply stopped caring about indirect fire.” After a year, Heath had a cot in a transit tent in Kyrgyzstan, and one goal: a huge breakfast and no attention from anyone. Then three officers in flight suits sit down at the next table, and one of them turns and starts talking to him.

~

‘I Miss the Battlefield’: A Warrior Longs for the Clarity of Combat
Jim Lechner

He misses the battlefield. Not the heat, not the heavy armor, not the cold darkness of hostile ground. Jim Lechner, a Ranger wounded in Mogadishu and who went on to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote about what he does miss. He tells us what he looked for in the noise and dust when everything else fell away. It takes two minutes to read, and it stays with you a lot longer.

~

The Dark Side of a Soldier: A Battle Buddy Remembers a Fallen Friend
Fred A. Ganous, SGM, USA (Ret)

Fred Ganous was a platoon sergeant in a flight company where the men worked hard, and never let a mission down. Fred never let them down, either. Part of that included the phone calls. They came from wives, from girlfriends, and sometimes from the local police. One call came while Fred was on the road to a long-overdue beach vacation. It was about a close friend, and it shook Fred to his core. “This is something that I will never forget as long as I live, for all this took place on my birthday.” He carries it with him every year.