Army Ranger Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz killed in action in Afghanistan

Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Andrew Celiz, a U.S. Army Ranger from 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, was killed in action on Thursday. He died of wounds sustained by small arms fire in Paktia Province, Afghanistan. Sources say that there were approximately 40 enemy combatants killed in action on the objective. There they were “conducting operations […]

Non-profit reunites dogs and service members who met overseas

On a deployment, finding some breath of fresh air is no small thing. Sometimes that comes in the form of making back to the FOB or COP, working out and if you have the facilities, playing a video game or just hanging out with your friends. Sometimes it means getting a few more hours of […]

The irony of combat

I have fought for what I believed in for a year now. If we win here we will win everywhere. The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it. And you had a lot of luck, he told himself, to have had such a good […]

Former Army Ranger medic to teach trauma course in Burma

Bryce Dryden is a former medic from 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, who is heading out to the jungles of Burma to teach trauma medicine. He is working with Earth Mission Asia, a non-profit that has worked in the area for years, striving to build healthcare infrastructure among the Karen people in eastern Burma/Myanmar. […]

The value of rest

“I slept like, three hours last night. Studied ALL night,” lied the college student, who still doesn’t understand the material even though they are plenty smart enough and allegedly spent their night “studying.” “Just be glad you got any sleep at all. I was up all night watching TV. Didn’t get a minute of sleep,” […]

Rangers training in Germany

The 75th Ranger Regiment took to the cold once again, training at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) in Germany. During a 72 hour period and often in freezing temperatures, the Rangers were confronted with complex, tactical obstacles that they had to overcome in order to take various objectives. They were coached and retrained as […]

Honing the demon

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” – H.L. Mencken Every person has it in them — the demon. I’m not sure what it is exactly, whether it’s some inner spiritual rage or some biological instinct to spur one toward survival […]

Nerds in SOF

About three years into my career as a Ranger, I was assigned a team and therefore a fellow team leader. We had crossed paths several times in the past, but he was coming from another platoon so I had never gotten to know him all that well. He was a relatively normal guy, a good […]

Humanity Divided: Seeing the Sunni and Shiite conflict firsthand

The first time I ever heard gunshots take a person’s life, I was in the fourth grade. They would often blow up chunks of the surrounding mountain range with bundles of dynamite, but this sounded different. My Dad would later explain to me that a Sunni had shot a Shiite dead in the bazaar. It […]

Watch: ISIS-K commander killed in US SOF raid

The DOD recently released footage of U.S. Special Operations Forces conducting a raid against ISIS-K in Mughul, Darzab district, Jowzjan province, Afghanistan. What appears to be a platoon of U.S. Army Rangers, they can be seen loading up onto the MH-47, landing on target, followed by several explosions. It is difficult to discern exactly what the […]

What does a ‘killer’ look like?

“I looked into his eyes and I saw the eyes of a killer.” I’m sure you’ve heard some variation of this line in the past. What do “killer eyes” look like? Is there some indicator of soullessness? Is there some look on a man’s face or some mannerism that signals his thirst for blood? Having […]

Veterans and war: The ‘hollow shell of a man’ trope

You know the trope: the veteran comes home from “the war.” He is distant, has vivid flashbacks that send him careening to the floor, is always on high alert and can’t seem to turn it off; he digs foxholes in his backyard and drinks way too much. Countless movies and television shows have portrayed veterans […]