73 articles
James Joseph Dresnok
James Joseph Dresnok, 'Comrade Joe', US Army Private First Class who defected across the Korean DMZ on August 15, 1962; last surviving of four American defectors in North Korea, propaganda film star in Nameless Heroes, subject of documentary Crossing the Line.
Jaswant Singh Rawat
Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat (1941 to 1962) of the Garhwal Rifles was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for seizing a Chinese machine gun at Nuranang in the 1962 war.
Jerry Shriver
Jerry Michael "Mad Dog" Shriver (1941-1969), MACV-SOG Special Forces sergeant from Sacramento, missing since 24 April 1969 COSVN raid in Cambodia; presumed dead 1974, remains unrecovered, DPAA Active Pursuit.
Joe Darby
Joe Darby (Joseph M. Darby) is the Army Reserve specialist of the 372nd Military Police Company who in January 2004 turned over a CD of Abu Ghraib abuse photos to Army CID, exposing the scandal; he later received death threats, protective custody, and a Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
John McAleese
John Thomas "John Mac" McAleese (1948/1949 - 26 August 2011), SAS soldier who led the Blue Team assault ending the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege (Operation Nimrod) live on TV; Military Medal 1988, Northern Ireland; later TV presenter.
John W. Troxell
John Wayne Troxell, retired U.S. Army command sergeant major from Davenport, Iowa, was the third Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2015-2019), the senior NCO of the U.S. Armed Forces, with five combat tours.
Jonathan Idema
Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema (1956–2012), American ex-Special Forces soldier and convicted fraudster who ran a private jail in Kabul, was sentenced to 10 years by an Afghan court in 2004, pardoned by Karzai in 2007, and died in Mexico in 2012.
Joshua Wheeler
Joshua Lloyd Wheeler (November 1975 – October 22, 2015), Cherokee Nation citizen from Roland, Oklahoma, was a U.S. Army Delta Force master sergeant and the first American killed in action against ISIS during Operation Inherent Resolve, in the Hawija hostage-rescue raid that freed about 70 hostages.
Julio Aro
Julio Aro is an Argentine veteran of the 1982 Falklands War who drove the identification of over 100 anonymous Argentine soldiers buried at the Darwin Cemetery.
Ken Rhee
Ken Rhee (Rhee Keun), former ROK Navy UDT/SEAL lieutenant and dual Korean-US SEAL training graduate, became a Korean TV personality via Fake Men and fought as a volunteer in Ukraine in 2022.
Kris Paronto
Kris "Tanto" Paronto, former Army Ranger and CIA Global Response Staff contractor, was a Benghazi annex security team member on September 11, 2012; co-author of 13 Hours, portrayed by Pablo Schreiber, and founder of the 14th Hour Foundation.
Levison Wood
Levison Wood, British explorer, author, and TV presenter; Parachute Regiment veteran; walked the Nile in 2013-14 and the Himalayas, Americas, and Arabia in Channel 4 and Discovery series.
List of United States Navy SEALs
List of United States Navy SEALs: notable current and former members of the Naval Special Warfare teams founded in 1962, spanning Vietnam veterans like Rudy Boesch, Medal of Honor recipients such as Michael P. Murphy, and recent losses including Chambers and Ingram.
Lynndie England
Lynndie England (born 1982), US Army Reserve private of the 372nd MP Company, became the face of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse photos in 2004; convicted by court-martial in September 2005 and sentenced to three years.
Manpreet Singh (soldier)
Colonel Manpreet Singh (died 2023), Indian Army officer and third-generation soldier, commanded 19 Rashtriya Rifles in Anantnag, Kashmir; Sena Medal recipient who refused a peace posting, killed in the Kokernag terrorist encounter with Major Ashish Dhonchak and DSP Himayun Bhat. Not the Agniveer soldier Amritpal Singh nor politician Manpreet Badal.
Manuel Artime
Manuel Artime (Manuel Francisco Artime Buesa, 1932–1977), Cuban physician and anti-Castro revolutionary, civil leader of Brigade 2506 at the Bay of Pigs, later headed the CIA-backed AMWORLD exile commando operation from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, 1963–1965.
Marc Alan Lee
Marc Alan Lee (1978–2006), Navy SEAL of Hood River, Oregon, Charlie Platoon SEAL Team 3, first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq, died August 2, 2006 in Ramadi; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Valor, Purple Heart.
Michael A. Grinston
Michael A. Grinston, a retired U.S. Army soldier, served as the 16th Sergeant Major of the Army from 2019 to 2023. He championed the Sergeants Major Assessment Program.
Michael Durant
Michael J. Durant (born 1961), American Army Night Stalker pilot, MH-60 Super Six Four, shot down October 3, 1993 at Mogadishu, held 11 days by Aidid forces, later author and Pinnacle Solutions CEO.
Mike Vining (soldier)
Mike R. Vining (born 1950) is a retired U.S. Army sergeant major, Vietnam EOD technician, and founding member of Delta Force, its first EOD specialist, veteran of Eagle Claw, Urgent Fury, and Desert Storm.
Mikhail Tolstykh (Михаил Сергеевич Толстых)
Mikhail Tolstykh (Михаил Сергеевич Толстых), call sign Givi, DPR separatist commander of the Somalia battalion in the Donbas war; fought at Ilovaisk and Donetsk airport, EU-sanctioned 2015, killed in Makeyevka office explosion 8 February 2017.
Military career of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley's U.S. Army service, 1958-1960: drafted at Memphis, trained at Fort Hood with the 2d Medium Tank Battalion, 37th Armor, then served in the 3rd Armored Division at Friedberg, West Germany, rising to sergeant before discharge at Fort Dix.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Mauritanian writer born 1970, held 14 years at Guantánamo Bay without charge; author of the bestseller Guantánamo Diary (2015), basis of the 2021 film The Mauritanian; released October 17, 2016, now a Dutch citizen.
Nate Boyer
Nate Boyer is a retired Army Green Beret who became an NFL long snapper with Seattle in 2015 at 34 and co-founded Merging Vets & Players.
Nicholas Irving
Nicholas Irving, nicknamed "The Reaper", is a former US Army Ranger sniper of the 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, known for a claimed 33 kills in 100 days in Afghanistan, the memoir The Reaper, and Fox's American Grit.
Oscar Jenkins
Oscar Jenkins, Australian teacher from Melbourne who joined Ukraine's International Legion in 2024, was captured by Russia in December 2024 and sentenced to 13 years as a mercenary by a Luhansk court; reports of his execution were disproven.
Peter McAleese
Peter McAleese (1942–2024), Scottish soldier and mercenary of the Parachute Regiment, 22 SAS, Rhodesian SAS and 44 Parachute Brigade; led the 1989 Cali Cartel-funded Operation Phoenix plot against Pablo Escobar and wrote No Mean Soldier.
Robert J. O'Neill
Robert J. O'Neill, born in Butte, Montana, is a retired US Navy SEAL of SEAL Teams 2, 4, and 6 with 400+ combat missions and 52 decorations, known for claiming he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden in the 2011 Abbottabad raid, an account disputed by Matt Bissonnette and other SEALs.
Rom Braslavski (רום ברסלבסקי)
Rom Braslavski, a German-Israeli man and former IDF soldier, was taken hostage by Palestinian Islamic Jihad on October 7, 2023. He was held for 738 days.
Rudy Boesch
Rudy Boesch (Rudolph Ernst Boesch, 1928-2019) was a retired US Navy SEAL, one of the first SEALs of 1962 and the longest-serving 'Bullfrog,' best known as the oldest-ever Survivor contestant, finishing third on Survivor: Borneo in 2000 at 72.