Kurt T

About the author

Spent 4 years with the United States Marine Corps and an additional 3 years with the Kurdish Peshmerga and Ukrainian Army.

Rock shaped IEDs found in Sulaymaniah, Kurdistan

Several roadside IEDs were discovered and disarmed Saturday, along an established road leading to the, Kurdish–Iranian, Komala Party headquarters in Sulaymaniyah. Komala’s security chief, Dara Mustafa, disclosed to local news sources that the tactical objective of the IEDs was to, “target us, especially the convoys of the leadership of Komala,” and, “We later were able to discover the place where the […]

Middle East Sitrep 12/31/17

The current situation in the Middle East is really not all that different from before the Islamic State took control of huge swaths of land. Small pockets of Islamic State resistance are still in existence throughout the formerly occupied regions of Iraq and Syria. As such, it is inevitable that small attacks and minor combat […]

Disinformation campaign in full effect for Iraqi Kurdistan

Since the start of Iraq and its proxies occupation of Kirkuk, a city in southern Kurdistan or northern Iraq depending how you look at it, there has been an increasing number of falsified anti-Kurdish sentiments. It’s happening in the form of forged documents, false reports often based on rumors and sensationalism from local media outlets. […]

SERE: A foreign military volunteer’s perspective

Any everyday carry SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, escape) kit is a valuable piece of equipment. They can be applicable to any potentially dangerous situation. A well put together kit should try to cover a wide array of scenarios but also be as minimalist as possible; if it’s cumbersome to carry in casual situations, you probably […]

Bradford Knives Guardian 3

Bradford Knives is a small business that makes high-end blades out of Kent, Washington. They offer a variety of quality every day carry and outdoors style designs at reasonable prices. I, being a big fan of small utilitarian type knives, recently acquired their Guardian3. The Guardian3 has a beefy design capable of immense leverage but also […]

Training with the Ukrainian army’s elite snipers: Range time

Read part one here. Following our initial introduction and preliminary course of fire on the first day, the overall course structure was roughly laid out and presented to us, as students attending the sniper training. It was a course that consisted of a focus on marksmanship principles with long distance application paired with camouflaging and […]

Magpul Glock PMAGs: Aftermarket doesn’t look bad

Glock original manufacturer magazines are excellent, they are well made and function great. But they are expensive in my opinion; that doesn’t mean I think they suck, I just wish they were slightly more affordable. Thankfully, Magpul Industries now produces PMAGs, a brand of polymer weapon magazine, for the various models of Glock pistols available […]

Sheriff’s deputy rescues boy from ice

Every year several people die from falling through thin ice and either freezing or becoming trapped below the surface. When a person falls into water that cold, they can fatigue very quickly, making it extremely difficult to pull themselves back out. When something like this occurs, it can also be very difficult to rescue the […]

Davis Tactical Kydex holsters

If you need an affordable Kydex holster there are a lot of options out there. I needed something that wasn’t going to cost an arm and I could get relatively quickly on short notice. After perusing eBay, viewing the various makes and styles offered, I landed on a holster produced by Davis Tactical. I ordered […]

How to clean your rifle like a Marine

“The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.” General John Pershing, U.S. Army. No matter what their MOS is, every Marine is a rifleman. They are all trained to effectively engage targets out to 500 meters, perform basic battlefield maneuvers, and professionally maintain the standard issue service rifle. This is one of […]

The Bark River Northstar EDC knife

There are a lot of great everyday carry fixed-blade knives out there, and being the closet blade nut that I am, I’m always excited to get my hands on a new knife. A recent early Christmas gift from an old friend has landed me a second-hand Bark River Northstar, and man this thing is awesome. […]

Christmas in the Middle East

You wouldn’t expect to find the celebration of Christmas in the Middle East. The Pagan/Christian holiday doesn’t really fit into the whole Islamic cultural narrative except as maybe a subject of protest. But there I stood, on a Kurdish sidewalk in Sulaymaniyah staring into a local shop window. In the window, a snowy landscape adorned […]