Pete Nealen

About the author

is a former Reconnaissance Marine and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He deployed to Iraq in 2005-2006, and again in 2007, with 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Recon Bn. After two years of schools and workups, including Scout/Sniper Basic and Team Leader's Courses, he deployed to Afghanistan with 4th Platoon, Force Reconnaissance Company, I MEF. He is now the author of the military thrillers Task Force Desperate, Hunting in the Shadows, and Alone and Unafraid. His latest American Praetorians thriller, The Devil You Don't Know, is now available on Amazon.

When Specialization Turns Into Blinders

There is a wealth of information, printed and electronic, now available on just about every conflict, trouble spot, and threat matrix around the world. Much of this flood of information can lead to a vetting problem; there is always something taken out of context or twisted to fit an agenda. The other problem, when doing research […]

The Devil You Don’t Know Chapter 4

“Think we can go around?” We were parked on a dusty turnout. An abandoned red and white building, hacienda-style, sat tangled in weeds next to a pair of large, graffiti-scrawled, corrugated metal warehouses. Piled tires lined the sagging barbed wire fence, and a white semi-trailer, also overgrown with weeds, sat between us and the highway. […]

11 Marines and Soldiers Presumed Dead in Helicopter Crash

An Air National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk crashed offshore near the Navarre Beach campground in the vicinity of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida on Tuesday, March 10. According to Captain Barry Morris, spokesman for MARSOC at Camp Lejeune, the Marines from 2nd Raider Battalion and aircrew from 1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion of the Louisiana National Guard were conducting […]

The Devil You Don’t Know Chapter 3

The sun was just starting to turn the eastern horizon gray when Jim and I went through rousting everybody out. My guys were pretty well ready for it, though none of us were getting up with the alacrity we might have even a few years ago. Joints protested, backs stiffened. Men get old fast in […]

Another HVT Goes Down as Los Zetas’ Z42 Arrested

Alejandro “Omar” Treviño-Morales, code-named “Z42,” who took over the Los Zetas Cartel after the arrest of his brother, Miguel Treviño-Morales, was arrested on March 4. He was captured in the municipality of San Pedro Garza Garcia, part of Monterrey and the richest area of Nuevo Leon—traditionally a hangout for narcos from the Juarez Cartel and […]

Venezuela Moves Against American Citizens

Venezuelan President Nicholás Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have been pointing to the U.S. as the boogeyman to unite Venezuela under their single-party rule for years. As Venezuela’s economy has begun an accelerating slide toward collapse, not only have the government’s repressive measures to try to keep a lid on the collapse (as well […]

Knights Templar Cartel’s “La Tuta” Captured

Mexico has scored another coup in the narco-insurgency. On February 27—in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan—Servando “La Tuta” Gomez was rolled up by Mexican police. “La Tuta,” also known as “El Profe” (The Professor) because of his past as a teacher, was the “spiritual” and operational leader of the Caballeros Templarios, the Knights Templar Cartel. […]

The Devil You Don’t Know Chapter 2

A lone sheriff’s department vehicle showed up just ahead of the Harmon-Dominguez trucks. The firefight had been over for just over an hour. There were fire-trucks and ambulances just behind the sheriff’s vehicle. The deputy pulled up, got out, took a look around at us, walked over to the shattered cars and trucks full of […]

ISIS, the Stalking Horse

ISIS’ branding and propaganda has been enormously successful since they seemingly came out of nowhere to seize the city of Mosul last summer. Islamist groups from Yemen to Central Asia to Libya are purportedly pledging allegiance to the group and flying its black flag. Washington, the Kremlin, and Beijing are all warning of the danger […]

The Devil You Don’t Know Chapter 1

“We’ve picked up a tail,” Larry announced. I didn’t have a good shot at the rear-view mirror from the passenger side, so I twisted around in my seat to get a look behind us. Unfortunately, from the middle of the pack of SUVs and box trucks, it was hard to see much behind us on […]

The Warfighter Foundation Wrongly Smeared

The Warfighter Foundation was founded and is run by veterans of the U.S. Marines, Army and Navy. They are all volunteers and 100% of the funds they collect goes to their mission. But because of a passing association with this website…

The Death of a Prosecutor: Iran in South America

On the night of January 18, 2015, the mother of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman was trying to contact him by telephone. When, after repeated calls, she couldn’t get him to answer, she went to his apartment accompanied by Argentine federal police. Repeated ringing of the doorbell wasn’t answered. The door was locked from the inside. […]