Category: War Stories

In the years after each major conflict, our perceptions of the battles, and the men who fought them, are shaped by their depictions in popular culture.  For many Americans, our understanding of the invasion of Normandy was shaped in movie theaters, our images of Vietnam have a soundtrack by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and returning veterans […]

We were sailing into the sky, the loud buzz of the plane engine beating against the air. We flew over a vast desert that stretched in front of us. My god, it was beautiful. My colleague, a lifetime adventurer, leaned over and asked, “Aren’t you going to miss it?” He knew the answer, and I […]

Abbas Ali wept as his wife slowly pushed him in his wheelchair out of their village in northern Iraq, a risky escape along a route where Islamic State snipers three days earlier had shot dead a couple seeking freedom from their rule. Flanked by their four children, they looked behind them to see if any […]

A constellation of warring factions have seemingly set aside deadly disputes to take part in one of Iraq’s toughest challenges yet — clearing ISIS out of its last major stronghold in the country. A successful offensive to recapture Mosul could boost desperately needed national unity, restore the pride of an army that was humiliated when […]

On a road several kilometers outside Mosul on Monday, a convoy of Peshmerga fighters got a taste of the resistance the Iraqi army and police are facing inside the volatile city. This stretch of road and the villages along it — once they’re fully cleared of ISIS militants — will represent a great prize for […]

My nickname was Ishmael for the first few months on a team. Being a new guy is an interesting experience and fun, just not for you. You’ve all heard it. FNG – “Fucking New Guy.” That was me; it was you and if it wasn’t it will be. It’s not fun but, it’s not the […]

The United Nations said Friday it is “gravely worried” that ISIS has taken 550 families from villages around Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and is using them as “human shields” as Iraqi and Kurdish forces battle the terror group for control of the city. Two hundred families from Samalia village and 350 families from Najafia were […]

The Release Graduating from BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training is one of the most liberating emotions a man can experience. During the training, most of us never looked past our next meal, much less the next week or phase. Eventually, somewhere during land warfare in third phase I actually started to believe I might become a […]

The violence in Aleppo and around the world might be fueling a generation of psychopaths who can turn violent, recreating some of the problems in Aleppo elsewhere in the world. The picture is heartbreaking but also consider what that child has been exposed to? What kind of life might he lead? The “X-men” comic book’s […]

WASHINGTON — Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State in northern Iraq last week shot down a small drone the size of a model airplane. They believed it was like the dozens of drones the terrorist organization had been flying for reconnaissance in the area, and they transported it back to their outpost to examine it. But […]

PJ and I were in the same Peshmerga units before he left to fight in Syria alongside the YPG. He is an exceptional warrior that embodies the spirit of the Marine Corps with a sense of humor that cannot be matched, Semper Fidelis brother.   Kurt: What’s your military background? PJ: 0351 infantry assaultman UCMC […]

All the media attention being focused on Colin Kaepernick and his symbolic protest by not standing for the National Anthem reminded me of one of my own favorite National Anthem incidents. I was a Platoon Leading Petty Officer (LPO), along with about 25 SEALs that were nearing the end of a training trip to San […]