Culture

Thanks to the film “300”, the Spartan lifestyle and their iconic Hoplite helmet has become a popular one among military age males and is frequently used ad campaigns or on t-shirt designs. But what was life like, as a Spartan male who would eventually become part of their military? We’ll take a quick look at […]

Last year, the U.S. Army failed to reach its recruiting goals for the first time since 2005, and in 2019, they reached their goal only after reducing it by 8,500 recruits. What’s causing this sudden downturn in young Americans eager to sign up for service? According to the Army’s new marketing strategy, the failure was […]

Here at SOFREP, we’ve spent years discussing the ways China has used money to exert influence over American culture, carefully shaping the way the nation is perceived by the American public. Although Russia garners the majority of attention from the media when it comes to perception management and disinformation campaigns, China’s efforts have arguably been […]

(Cartoon courtesy of Bob Lang.)

“Man you got the life,” my client said as he stared out at the river. He walked out to the bank and started to slap the water with his rod tip, while his fly line piled up three feet in front of him. “Stop your rod tip a bit higher on the forward cast,” I […]

Hong Kong protestors, spurred initially by new legislation that would allow Hong Kong residents to be extradited to mainland China, have faced a great deal of opposition at home. Local police have been accused of resorting to brutal tactics to stem the growth of what Chinese officials are calling “riots,” and the United Nations has […]

After a rash of high profile incidents involving the U.S. Special Operations community, Gen. Richard Clarke, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, has ordered a comprehensive review of the culture and ethics in play throughout America’s elite war fighting institutions. Recent incidents have called our culture and ethics into question and threaten the trust placed […]

U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Collin Green has distributed a letter to the leadership within the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) command structure in which he acknowledges, “We have a problem.” CNN was the first news outlet to obtain the letter in which Admiral Green states, “Some of our subordinate formations have failed to maintain good order […]

I just finished reading Michael Herr’s Dispatches, his book about the year or so he spent in Vietnam during the war as a correspondent for Esquire. I read the book at least once per year, often twice. To me, it’s the best book ever written, about war or anything else (although if you haven’t read […]

In recent years, a series of cringe-worthy posts inevitably surface on social media that lambaste veterans and chastise civilians about the appropriate way to observe Memorial Day. Rather than enjoy a long weekend and some time with our families, we’re now expected to be sad and solemn as we remember our fallen soldiers. For some […]

Tired of managing your own health choices? Soon you’ll be able to let Comcast do it for you. If that sounds strange to you, don’t worry, it’s not the first company to offer this type of service and hardware. Apple has been testing health-tracking through its Apple Watch, Google is targeting senior living facilities with […]

Looking back at this 2016 article from The Washington Post, one really shouldn’t blame them for their optimism regarding WhatsApp’s “end-to-end encrypted” capabilities. The encryption (e.g. security) behind WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, is actually quite good at its core. But what couldn’t have been so easily predicted by the Post is what I’ll call the […]