Reporter Paul Szoldra broke a story about an insider attack in Syria that “the Pentagon denies ever happened,” and the DOD finally gave me a few pages of records on the incident over half a decade later.
Continue Reading →I write about the military, culture, and military culture, among other things.
I suppose this blog is my public notebook, where I post various things I find in public records and elsewhere (like the recesses of my mind?). Want me to write for you? Email me to book a call.
It only took the government six years to process my FOIA request. I got four pages of records.
Updated on July 30, 2025
Cpl. Cameron Halkovich (left), a combat engineer attached to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, assists another Marine up a steep hill during an urban assault May 16, 2017, at Range 200 aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California. (Jesus Sepulveda Torres/U.S. Marine Corps)
Army Ranger: Soldier’s last stand in Afghanistan was “the most honorable thing I have witnessed.”
Updated on July 28, 2025
Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz helping clear debris with fellow soldiers following the aftermath of a hurricane. (Photo courtesy of Katie Celiz)
In 2018, the leader of a team of Army Rangers on patrol in southeastern Afghanistan used his body to shield a U.S. crew in the cockpit of a medical evacuation helicopter from enemy machine gun fire. It would cost him his life.
Continue Reading →Army CID questioned a soldier about housing allowance fraud. Then he disappeared.
Updated on July 28, 2025
Official Army photo of Sergeant First Class Johnnie Johnson. Johnson went missing after U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division questioned him about his university degrees in December 2015. (U.S. Army)
Things began to unravel in the summer of 2015, as investigators got wind of an alleged fraud. By that Christmas, Sergeant First Class Johnnie Johnson would be gone, never to be heard from again.
Continue Reading →Out of the ‘shadows’: Air Force U-28A crews awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses for the first time
Updated on July 30, 2025
Distinguished Flying Cross medals sit on display during a Distinguished Flying Cross ceremony at Travis Air Force Base, California, Dec. 9, 2022. U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Corey Martin, 18th Air Force commander, recognized 24 Airmen for their heroic actions during Operation Allies Refuge. The Distinguished Flying Cross is awarded to any officer or enlisted person of the U.S. armed forces for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Nicholas Pilch)
Two U-28A Draco crews were awarded the nation’s highest honor for extraordinary aerial achievement for their efforts in support of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 as the country fell into chaos.
Continue Reading →Records show Marine Corps and nonprofit coordination in wake of disputed stories about Sgt. Nicole Gee’s transfer to Arlington
Updated on July 28, 2025
Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee cradles an infant during the noncombatant evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, days before her death in an August 2021 suicide bombing. Gee was assigned to the Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. (Isaiah Campbell/U.S. Marine Corps)
Phone calls—and donations—poured in to the nonprofit that flew Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee’s remains to Arlington National Cemetery after a since-discredited Fox News story prompted outrage.
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