Watch: The Green Beret is an outdoorsman trained to live and fight anywhere

As U.S. Special Forces recently turned 67 years old, it is interesting to take a look back at this public service announcement from the 1960s about the legendary Green Berets. Check out the video to learn more, but you may also enjoy this interview I did with Sergeant Major (Ret.) William Bowles. Sergeant Bowles passed away in […]

‘Murphy’s Law’ — Covering the war against ISIS alongside the Peshmerga

An excerpt from the new book, “Murphy’s Law: My Journey from Ranger and Green Beret to Investigative Journalist“ Another story developed when a fixer we had hired to help translate informed us that there was a big battle going down early the next morning near Kirkuk. No way were we going to pass that up. […]

Watch: 1984 documentary about Special Operations Forces sounds oddly like 2019

In recent years, we’ve witnessed the Arab Spring, the Syrian Civil War, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and an annexation of Crimea. Television news channels are nearly hysterical reporting about covert Russian influence campaigns in the United States. Think tanks and policy councils weigh in on these events and delivered a series of terms like […]

Trump: 10 minutes away from war with Iran

The New York Times and Newsweek have both reported that President Trump ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran for their downing of a Global Hawk drone over international airspace in the Persian Gulf. Trump confirmed this via Twitter, writing: We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights [sic] when I asked, […]

SEAL medic claims on the stand that he killed ISIS detainee, not Chief Gallagher

With Chief Eddie Gallagher’s court martial underway, a SEAL medic made a stunning confession when he took the stand today. Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher stands trial for the murder of a teenage ISIS detainee in Mosul, Iraq — allegedly killing him with a knife. However, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Corey Scott changed his […]

Letter from the editor: Writing and editorial decisions about controversial stories

We certainly live in some tumultuous times, with what appears to be a full-blown culture war erupting between various factions in a highly polarized society. With social media added into the equation, Americans are thrown together into one big pool—one that is often filled with sharks—while the design of said social media apps has the […]

Sea World: Retirement home for the Navy’s dolphins

On a recent trip to Sea World, I had an unexpected meeting with a retired sailor…a former member of the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program. Her name is Cascade, and she’s living out her retirement at Sea World. Her trainer mentioned that Cascade used to protect nuclear submarines and did all kinds of interesting things […]

Indian special operations struggles to embrace the spirit of jointness

One of the big takeaways from the disastrous 1980 attempt to rescue American hostages held in Iran was that U.S. special operations units needed to work in a joint environment. Units need to coordinate and train together to develop their capabilities and ensure they function smoothly when deployed to combat. This is a lesson that […]

‘Murphy’s Law’: Friendly fire isn’t

About halfway through the deployment, we got word that we were to prepare for a new recce mission, one that had special significance for the Ranger regiment. We were to recon the compound harboring the suspected Taliban leader who’d planned the Pat Tillman ambush, so that it could be assaulted by a Ranger strike force. […]

75 years later, Rangers again scale the cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing, members of the 75th Ranger Regiment have recreated the actions of their forefathers by scaling the cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc, overlooking the English Channel on the northwestern coast of Normandy, France. On June 6th 1944, the Rangers landed on the beaches of Pointe Du Hoc […]