I Am Soldier of Fortune: Dancing with Devils

“Bob Brown’s book is well named. It is, on one hand, a concise chronological history of a unique American publishing venture, and on the other, an autobiography of a maverick soldier and his bizarre assortment of cronies. Above all, it is a great read.”—American Rifleman

"I Am Solider of Fortune" is a half-century of history told from ground level. The higher value, though, may be in the perspective it offers on the warrior culture. From the outside, it is easy to believe every soldier of fortune, every ‘private security contractor,’ is a Rambo-style wild man, pumped on testosterone. Some of the characters passing through Mr. Brown's book are that. Others are darkly sinister. Most are measured, disciplined professionals who understand both risk and principle.… At 80, Robert K. Brown stands as a central figure in a shadow world of secrecy and myth. His book opens that world to readers on the outside. There are many who don't like Soldier of Fortune magazine and the culture of rogue warrior exploits it represents. Bob Brown doesn't care.”—The Washington Times


Robert K. Brown, former Green Beret, after a bizarre military career that succeeded in getting him kicked out of Special Forces not once but twice, and completing the Command and General Staff College without a security clearance, while meantime being wounded in Nam, finally found his true calling as a publisher.

Forty years ago he launched an upstart magazine from his basement called Soldier of Fortune, which pushed the bounds of journalism to its limits with his untamed brand of reporting―a camera in one hand, a gun in the other, and soon thereafter he discovered that he’d established a worldwide community. His notorious magazine became an icon for action-seekers in the U.S. and around the world.

In this book Brown tells his own story, taking the readers into combat zones where he and his “dogs of war” trotted across the globe. His rogue warrior journalists embedded themselves with anti-Communist guerillas or freedom fighters, often training and fighting with rebels against oppressive regimes. In their revolutionary journalistic style, they created the action and then wrote about it. This is the story of Robert Brown’s dogged quest, in journalism as well as warfare, to “Slay Dragons, do noble deeds and never, never give up.”

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE
INTRODUCTION BY VANN SPENCER

1: I SCHEME TO BECOME A TOP GUN PILOT, A HARD-CHARGING MARINE, A SPECIAL AGENT OR . . . ?
2: CUBA . . . THE BEGINNING OF THE ROAD (TO PERDITION?)
3: THE NON-INVASION OF HAITI
4: WANDERING THROUGH THE ARMY; ANGLING FOR NAM
5: A-TEAM ADVENTURES: WHACKING MR. CHARLES . . .AND ALMOST GETTING WHACKED MYSELF
6: JUMPING INTO HELL
7: HOW I WAS TO BECOME DEFENSE MINISTER OF A NEW NATION
8: HELPING OUT IN THE BUSH WAR
9: THE BETRAYAL OF “GENTLEMAN JIM”
10: RHODESIA: THE LAND OF MERCS AND HIRED GUNS
11: CONS, PSYCHICS AND AN ABORTED SEARCH FOR POWS
12: SOF IS SUCKED INTO THE HUNT
13: YELLOW DEATH IN LAOS
14: POWS ON OUR MIND
15: DETOURING INTO A LAOTIAN REVOLUTION
16: SOF BLASTS THE BALLOON WITH THE ROYAL THAI AIR FORCE
17: SAY GOODBYE, COMRADE JAWS: SOF BREAKS BREAD WITH THE KGB
18: AFGHANISTAN, ROUND ONE: TRUMPING THE CIA
19: SOF GOES TO PAKISTAN
20: SOLDIER OF FORTUNE JIHAD: WE ATTACK A RUSSIAN FORT
21: SOF NEVER MISSES A WAR: MISSION TO LEBANON
22: GRENADA—ONE WE WON!
23: A GAME OF “DOMINOS” IN EL SALVADOR
24: THE SOFWILD BUNCH AND THE CONTRAS
25: SOF TRIES BRIBERY; OR HOW I NEVER GOT RICH
26: HOSTAGE TO HOLLYWOOD
27: SURINAM: SLOW BOAT TO A SLOW WAR
28: GUNS BEHIND THE GREAT WALL
29: DESERT STORM DIARY
30: ON THE SHARP EDGE WITH BOSNIA’S COUNTER-SNIPERS
31: HARD ROAD TO SARAJEVO
32: HELL ON THE HO CHI MINH TRAIL: THE HUNT FOR AN EXTINCT COW

CONCLUSION: AS LONG AS TYRANTS AND LIBERALS EXIST AND I AM STILL KICKING . . .
APPENDIX A: MY WAR IN EL SALVADOR BY PETER G. KOKALIS
APPENDIX B: CORRESPONDENCE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX

Lt. Col. Robert K. Brown is a former Green Beret, an author, and founder of Soldier of Fortune magazine.