Not everyone is chiseled like a SEAL: Navy the most obese branch

Not everyone is chiseled like a SEAL: Navy the most obese branch

The Navy has the unenviable honor of being the most obese branch of the U.S. military with an outstanding 22 percent of its Sailors being clinically obese, a Department of Defence (DoD) study has concluded. Sailors, however, face strong competition from their Airmen and Soldier brethren. The Air Force came second with 18 percent and […]

Sergeant Carlos Hathcock: White Feather and the Cobra

Sergeant Carlos Hathcock: White Feather and the Cobra

His story in the U.S. Naval magazine, The Sea Tiger, had made his name known at last to the North Vietnamese. For months this Marine sniper had killed dozens of their finest soldiers, as well as their compatriots in the Viet Cong, practically at will. He did this with such effectiveness that they had nicknamed […]

Goodbye ACOG: The Army is looking for new power scopes

Goodbye ACOG: The Army is looking for new power scopes

When it comes to rifle optics, one could boil your options down into three potential categories: optics without magnification, optics with fixed magnification, and optics with variable degrees of magnification. For years now, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps have utilized Trijicon ACOG that is theoretically good for up to 800 meters but offers only […]

Interview with a WWII paratrooper: Jumping into Normandy

Interview with a WWII paratrooper: Jumping into Normandy

World War II paratrooper Tom Rice talks about why he joined the Army, exploring the jungles of Panama, and how being a risk taker led him into the Airborne prior to the Normandy invasion. He also explains the curious history behind the jump towers at Airborne school. While training for combat, Tom also gets into some […]

Interview with a WWII paratrooper: Tom Rice discusses life in the 1930s

Interview with a WWII paratrooper: Tom Rice discusses life in the 1930s

World War II veteran Tom Rice jumped into Normandy with the 101st Airborne Division’s 501nd Parachute Regiment. In the first segment of our interview, Tom talks about what it was like growing up in Coronado in the 1930’s, catching gofers for 25 cents for the fire department, and then using the money to go watch […]

Will the military dare replace a Civil War general with a Special Forces legend?

Will the military dare replace a Civil War general with a Special Forces legend?

Recently, Stars and Stripes and several other publications have posted pieces on a proposal for renaming Fort Hood in Texas for Roy Benavidez, the Medal of Honor (MOH) recipient from Lindenau, DeWitt County, Texas. Benavidez was awarded the MOH for extraordinary heroism while rescuing several Americans during the Vietnam War on May 2, 1968.  Normally, […]

Invade Iran? Not any time soon

Invade Iran? Not any time soon

Many hawks in Washington are wondering why the United States hasn’t already responded with military force against Iran in the Middle East. The Iranians are increasingly bellicose in Syria and in the Persian Gulf. They’ve seized oil tankers and sabotaged others with mines in international waters. Most importantly, they’ve openly violated the uranium enrichment and […]

Ranger regiment testing new rucksacks for Airborne Operations

Ranger regiment testing new rucksacks for Airborne Operations

The 75th Ranger Regiment is working with the U.S. Army Operational Test Command’s (OTC) Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate (ABNSOTD) based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to put some new rucksacks through their paces during airborne operations. The Rangers are testing out three different rucksacks that are produced by Mystery Ranch Mountain Backpacks, a […]

Women and SOF selection, a former Special Forces instructor speaks out

Women and SOF selection, a former Special Forces instructor speaks out

Sometimes you read things in the news and are thoroughly amazed and awed by some of the fantastic things people think of and make happen. Other times you can read something and be thoroughly amazed and awed for the opposite reasons and wonder, “What the hell are they thinking?” Recently, the Pentagon has resolved to […]

The WWI hero that pioneered US global intelligence

The WWI hero that pioneered US global intelligence

On the eve of the United States entering World War II, the U.S. was woefully unprepared—both militarily and in the realm of intelligence. The United States did not have a professional intelligence service, but that was about to change. President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the need for a professional global intelligence service. He was worried […]

Another 10th Special Forces Group soldier killed in action in Afghanistan

Another 10th Special Forces Group soldier killed in action in Afghanistan

A U.S. Special Forces soldier was killed “in action” in Afghanistan on Saturday, the Pentagon announced in a brief statement. That soldier is identified as Sgt. Maj. James G. “Ryan” Sartor, a 40-year-old from Teague, Texas, assigned to 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He was killed during combat operations in Faryab Province, Afghanistan. The sergeant […]