Soldier of Fortune, old hand at warfare

Soldier of Fortune,
old hand at warfare

For readers with a taste for military derring-do

By Jeff Bercovici

   One of the biggest challenges facing journalists in wartime is maintaining a modicum of objectivity and detachment while people are dying and propaganda is flying.
   For Soldier of Fortune, that's not really a concern.
   Founded in 1975, Soldier of Fortune is the magazine for those whose interest in the tools and methods of combat is either professional or fanatical, or both.
   It’s quite possibly the only magazine in America that lists on its masthead editorial departments such as "Edged Weapons" and "Sniping/Countersniping."
    Soldier of Fortune characterizes its editorial stance as "pro-military, pro-strong U.S. defense, pro-police, and pro-veteran."
    It specializes in writing about commando raids, guerrilla tactics and covert operations--in other words, exactly what American troops are up to, and up against, in Afghanistan right now.
   Robert K. Brown, SOF's editor and publisher, says this orientation makes SOF uniquely qualified to cover the new "war on terrorism."
    "Our readers are more interested in military details than the broad-brush newsweeklies are," says Brown.
     "Our reporters are veterans or have significant military experience. A lot of those other reporters, with all due respect, or with not that much respect, can't tell the difference between an M-16 and an Abrams tank."
    Other reporters may talk knowledgeably about the difficulties of mounting an invasion in Afghanistan's rugged terrain. Brown, who retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel, knows from experience.
    He's the kind of editor who would rather toss a grenade at the enemy then try to articulate his point of view, and he is more than happy to exchange his pen for a bayonet when the occasion arises.
    Call him a hands-on editor.
    Several months after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Brown sent a reporter over with the dual task of covering the conflict and obtaining a round from the AKS-74, a new Russian assault rifle that the CIA had yet to get its hands on.
    The reporter succeeded on both counts, notably in coming back with the AKS-74 shell, as Brown was later to crow to readers in a publisher's note, accomplishing "what the CIA, with its billions of dollars and thousands of incompetents could not."
    In September of 1980, Brown took a team of men from SOF to Afghanistan to rendezvous with the mujahedin, the Afghan freedom fighters then opposing the Soviets.
    "My explosives/demo guy was talking to the Afghans, and they were complaining that they couldn’t understand why the anti-tank mines wouldn’t explode," says Brown.
    "He asked them to demonstrate how they were deploying the mines. It turned out the problem was they weren't putting the fuses in."
    On a second trip to Afghanistan in May of 1982, Brown claims he participated in an attack on a Russian position, firing a heavy machine gun and helping to operate a mortar. He went back again in 1988 and 1989.
    Afghanistan isn’t the only hot spot where SOF has seen action, says Brown. "Our reporters have ended up training people everywhere, from Christians in Lebanon to Karens in Burma."
    But in the current war, Brown says SOF will limit itself to reporting and let America's armed forces do their jobs.
    After Sept. 11, Brown ripped up the December issue he had planned, dispatched two reporters to Afghanistan and assigned a slew of new articles. Those include essays entitled "Gun Ban Promotes Hijacking" and "Clinton to Blame" and an article, "Torture to Prevent Terrorism?"
    The latter is a sympathetic interview with Paul Aussaresses, a French special forces general who employed torture and summary executions against an insurgent group, the FLN, during France's occupation of Algeria.
    Brown says the article raises difficult questions that must be asked.
    "What happens if you know that an individual you are holding knows where a small nuke is going to be detonated in New York City in three hours and he's not talking?"
    The January issue will include an article on anthrax and an interview with the former member of the Spetznatz, the Soviet commando group that played a key role in the USSR's occupation of Afghanistan.
    Brown says SOF, which has a regular circulation of about 60,000, has increased its press run by 25 percent in response to heightened demand.
    "We figured that the chap that buys the magazine on the newsstand three or four times a year is now going to buy it seven or eight times a year because we provide a perspective the newsweeklies don't provide."

-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.

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