Though it often feels like modern problems are unique to the current era, old films and books often remind us that human problems are almost never new. When it comes to media ethics and effects, Billy Wilder’s 1951 film Ace in the Hole poignantly ...
“There are no atheists in foxholes.” “I used to believe, but after years of war, I realized that, if there was a God, he left this place a long time ago.” Some form of these two statements is often uttered by soldiers who have left the ...
Stories about the bond between dogs and humans have been told repeatedly over the years, and yet each one is unique because each relationship is unique. Dogs become part of the family in many cases, and countless veterans have found them to be a ...
War poetry: the coupling of words seems like a contradiction. How can poetry be fashioned out of so much disarray? How can something creative come out of the most destructive state human beings are capable of? While poetry is often associated with ...
In October 2019, former Army Ranger Brandon Tucker was standing beneath a pullup bar. His hands were on fire, his muscles were failing — despite the two pairs of gloves plus pieces of leather cowhide, his hands were severely blistered. “Three ...
Authors Leo Jenkins, Brian Kimber, and David Rose have teamed up under the veteran-owned publishing company Dead Reckoning Collective to paint a picture. The picture is not of a battle-hardened Delta operator hunting down Taliban leadership, and it’s ...
What does it take to be a part of one of the most elite units the world has ever seen? It takes strength, a smart, tactical mindset, intelligence to outwit your enemies — however, these are all things that can be easily taught. It also takes ...
“There are probably not too many coffee shops that are being opened with a bayonet, but my main point in this speech is ... fuck ’em all, we’re doing it our way,” said Evan Hafer, CEO and co-founder of Black Rifle Coffee Company. As the bayonet ...
On my second deployment to Afghanistan, the base Morale, Welfare and Recreation facility, which consisted of a few computers with an internet connection, allowed open (though monitored) communication with loved ones back home. We had a lot of ...
There are many symbols in the military community that carry significant weight — the Purple Heart, the cross on top of a gravestone, or the folded flag. However, it’s possible that none is more solemn than the Gold Star. “Gold Star families” are ...
Veteran poetry is nothing new. From the ancient battlefields of China to the trenches of World War I to the mountains of Afghanistan, human beings have struggled to describe the indescribable through the medium of poetry. Leo Jenkins is an ...
There are events in history that have been shrouded by headlines and buzzwords. We hear the same phrases so often that we forget to unpack and dig into them — the War of 1812, women’s suffrage, the Red Scare. We know of these moments in history, but ...
Wayne Capacillo considers himself an “average savage.” “Average” in that he’s a relatively normal family man who likes “Star Wars” and takeout and works in insurance adjustment; “savage” in that he is borderline obsessed with pushing his body and ...
“The Outpost” — directed by Rod Lurie and starring Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, and Orlando Bloom — is a film depicting the true events of the Battle of Kamdesh, which occurred on Oct 3, 2009. The battle was ferocious — soldiers holed up in ...
Our hero is an experienced killer. He’s been on countless missions across the world for untold years. He’s taken lives, seen the lives of his friends taken, maybe he’s even lost his family. The years inundated with blood have hollowed him out, ...
Some families are born in the loving care of two parents, and some are built through friendships in college or work. Still others are born out of shared hardship — the military, for example, often uses the word “brotherhood” to ...
The U.S. Army’s Special Forces (often referred to by their distinctive headgear, the Green Berets) are an elite brotherhood of soldiers who, at their core, are problem solvers. They embody the ethos of special operations — working outside ...
For many people, their exposure to classic literature has been limited to what was shoved in front of them during high school or college. Some of you may have soaked up these novels at the time, but a lot of us breezed through them without taking the ...
There is a wide variety of stories here at Coffee or Die — from a diesel mechanic at the bottom of a boat during the Korean War, to an Afghan commando who sought refuge in the United States, to instructions on how to make coffee in rough places — we ...
“The Last Full Measure” (2019) is a film about Medal of Honor recipient William Pitsenbarger, a pararescueman who was killed in action in 1966 in Vietnam. While most war films take the perspective of the service member knee-deep in combat, this one ...
Monte L. Gould stood before an American flag in Las Vegas with his right hand raised. He spoke these words in front of a uniformed officer: “I, Monte Gould, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States ...
Deployed service members can find themselves in a range of situations. Some face life-threatening decisions every single day, while others deal with endless days of severe boredom. Some are firing rifles, others are turning wrenches, and others are ...
The word “marathon” originates from the Greek legend of Pheidippides, the tale of a messenger who ran from the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens to deliver a message of victory. As he arrived in Athens, he was so exhausted that he collapsed and ...
The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam — Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) conducted clandestine missions during the Vietnam War, working in Vietnam as well as the neighboring Laos and Cambodia. Their exploits are legendary, and few have ...
Author’s note: If you haven’t seen “The Mandalorian” yet, go watch it and come back — spoilers ahead. For the rest of you: this is the way. The internet has been buzzing about “The Mandalorian,” the “Star Wars” series that follows a Mandalorian ...
When one pushes their body to its most extreme limit, they find that they are simultaneously pushing their mind and spirit. Few are more familiar with this feeling than Brandon Tucker — a U.S. Army Ranger veteran who climbed his way to becoming a ...
Coffee or Die had the honor of speaking with John Meyer for this story, which can be read in his own words in his memoir, “Across The Fence: The Secret War in Vietnam (Expanded Edition)©,” among a good many other MACV-SOG stories. Cambodia, 1968. ...
Countless legends have been spawned from the MACV-SOG, who fought some of the most harrowing missions of the Vietnam War. This task force, which included U.S. Special Forces operators, was charged with carrying out secretive, unconventional missions, ...
“Our working dogs are selfless in everything they do simply to please their handlers and those who work with them,” said Sergeant Major (retired) Jeremy Knabenshue, a veteran who worked as a K9 handler in the U.S. Army. “They give everything they ...
The U.S. Army Rangers are a storied group of elite warriors. They have conducted legendary missions, but for every met objective you hear about on the news, there are hundreds that go unseen and unheard. It takes a particular breed of person to earn ...
