Vietnam

Haunted by the mine blast outside Da Nang in 1968 and the ringing that never stopped, my father carried survivor’s guilt home from Vietnam and spent a lifetime asking the same question: Why Them and Not Me?

Ammo was life in Prairie Fire, because when the NVA hit hard and the sky went quiet for hours, the only thing standing between ST Idaho and getting overrun was what we could carry, shoot, and keep running in the dark.

He crawled through the jungle on willpower alone, proving that character can outlast bone, muscle, and even the certainty of death.

On a moonlit run into North Vietnam on November 21, 1970, Bull Simons and 56 Green Berets hit Son Tay with surgical violence, found the cells empty, and left the nearby Secondary School littered with bodies that looked a lot more like Chinese advisors than local NVA, a truth the official record preferred to bury.

Labor protests, US boosts forces in Japan, Xi readies parade with Putin, Kim. Your SOFREP intel drop for Tuesday, September 2, 2025.

The A-1 Skyraider, a rugged and versatile workhorse of the skies, proved its mettle from the Korean War to the jungles of Vietnam, earning an indelible place in aviation history as the “flying dump truck” that could deliver devastating firepower and absorb substantial damage.

James P. Fleming didn’t fly into danger for medals or headlines—he did it because six men needed saving and he was the last man left who could do it.

The M60 was more than a machine gun—it was a snarling, steel-throated beast that spit democracy through the jungle and dared anyone to talk back.

In a world full of noise, Gary Wetzel’s story cuts through with the quiet thunder of raw grit, duty, and a kind of courage that doesn’t ask for anything in return.

Here’s your SOFREP Daily News Brief: Key defense and global affairs insights to keep you in the know on Wednesday, January 15.

Hope flickers in the South China Sea as Philippines and Vietnam eye cooperation, but China’s shadow looms large.

Discovery of a suspected Chinese military drone washed ashore in Vietnam sparks intrigue in regional geopolitics and military tech.