Radioactive before, they did now, and b) somehow he was gonna be the I read that quote I figured a) if the brass didn’t consider Brown I want to be on the lead tank into Kuwait City.” “I didn’t come over here to sit around in briefings with a bunch of dorks who don’t know anything. Which prompted him to unburden himself of the following sentiment to the Journal reporter (I’m quoting from memory here): In due course a reporter for the Wall Street Journal interviewed Brown, who by then had discovered that a) some reporters had a lot more access to both the troops and the Coalition command than others, and b) he was not one of the chosen. By week three the reporters took to interviewing each other (never a good sign). For the next five weeks, the war consisted of relentless air attacks and not much else. 17, 1991, with massive allied air strikes on Iraq and Kuwait. The war began in the early morning hours of Jan. A month later Brown landed in Saudi Arabia.
would use military force to toss him out. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in early August of 1990, and by mid- December it was clear that the U.S. My favorite SOF story is about how Brown rode into Kuwait City during the 1991 Gulf War together with the first coalition troops to enter. He would set it up on a table outside the UMC with a donation jar in front of it.
Brown had acquired use of a big, tripod-mounted 20mm anti-tank gun with a long, menacing barrel.
His appeal was about as subtle as a Code Pink pie in the face. In 1957, Brown raised money on the CU campus for the Fidelistas. My name still appears on the masthead as Gun Rights Editor.Īnyway, by the time the Bay of Pigs operation went down, Brown had been a Cuba liberation activist for at least five years - first as a supporter of Castro and then, following a visit to Havana after Castro took over, as an opponent. In the late ’80s and early ’90s I worked for SOF as an editor and later as a freelance contributor. Then, as now, he gave a terrific interview. Brown, a CU alum who at age 29 was 11 years my senior, was back on campus to talk about the invasion (it didn’t collapse for another day or two) and drum up support for the rebels. But we were both all for getting rid of Castro.Īt the time I was a freshman reporter for the Colorado Daily. OK, we weren’t on the beach, on the boats, in the loop, or any closer than 2,500 miles from the action. Brown, the future editor and publisher of Soldier of Fortune Magazine, in 1961 during the Bay of Pigs invasion.
So in honor of the occasion I thought I’d share some SOF stories.īut first full disclosure. Soldier of Fortune Magazine, liberal Boulder’s favorite mad aunt in the attic, will put out its 35th anniversary issue next month.