fact or fiction

Is it fact or merely fiction? Fact or Fiction explores the myths and beliefs we hold about the military and the physical, logistical, emotional and moral obstacles involved.

A Penitent man-Conclusion
“What’s going on?” I ask Lukas. He smiles but his eyes remain distant. “We found him.” “Who?” “Rogers.” The peace I have, vanishes. Speaking his name breaks a spell or conjures one, I can’t tell the difference. My mouth goes dry and my heart races as the world moves like a rollercoaster. I knot my fingers together to stop them from shaking. We travel for hours in the dark, in silence. Each man lost in their own thoughts, reliving a nightmare that will forever haunt us.
By JBaz4 days ago in Serve
Preparing For Reality
Written by a human, for humans, always. I was reading a post earlier... It was discussing AI, the future of humanity... And why China and the US should be seeking peace and unity in the development of AI.
By H.E. Dr. Cody Dakota Wooten, COIE, DFM, DHM4 days ago in Serve
A Penitent man- Part 2
My soul flies free of my body, watching this playout from above. As if lidocaine flows through my veins, my muscles become numb. Lukas drags his feet towards his weapon, I follow, so do the rest.
By JBaz4 days ago in Serve
A Penitent man -Part 1. Content Warning.
There is a sense of relief knowing things are over, even if the outcome isn’t favorable. I wonder if this is how an inmate on death row feels when taking that final walk upon their day of reckoning? The difference is not what wrongs were committed, but how things went so wrong.
By JBaz4 days ago in Serve
The Drawstring Harbors: How Geography Picks a Navy’s Home
A good naval harbor often looks, from the air, like a drawstring bag. The sea outside is a moving blue field. The entrance is a narrow neck. Inside, hills, peninsulas, and islands close around a broad sheet of sheltered water. The old rule of thumb is simple: a small mouth, a large bag, good depth, and a tidal range that does not make trouble. A small mouth keeps swell out, makes the channel easy to watch, and gives the defense a chokepoint. A large bag gives room for anchorages, berths, repair yards, and dispersal. Depth lets large ships and submarines move without waiting on the tide. A small tidal range keeps piers, mooring, channel depth, and mine countermeasures from becoming a daily calculation.
By Jin14 days ago in Serve
Who Pays for the Bullet? The Hidden Tradeoff Behind the U.S. Army’s Rifle Upgrade
At the end of World War II, one fact looked odd. Most rifle fights happened inside four hundred meters, while rifle sights and training still pointed to eight hundred meters or farther. The gap did not come from lazy soldiers or worse rifles. It came from the squad’s fire structure. Before light machine guns were common, the rifle was the only weapon between the squad and artillery. Mortars arrived late. Heavy machine guns were scarce and usually grouped. So the rifle had to cover the empty space.
By Jin20 days ago in Serve
America Just Rolled Back Power Plant Rules. The Fine Print Counts the Dead.
Smokestacks, appendices, and authority: six facets of the U.S. power plant carbon regulation rollback Houston, September 14. On the sidelines of the G20 energy ministers’ meeting, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stepped up to the microphone. Behind him, a screen displayed two lines: Affordable. Reliable. He announced the rollback of the Biden-era greenhouse gas emission standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants. On the same day, the EPA issued a supplemental proposal: the agency never had the authority to regulate power plant carbon emissions.
By Jin2 months ago in Serve
The Officer Could Have Written a Ticket. Instead, He Fixed the Young Man’s Tie.
At 1:40 p.m., Officer Marcus Hale pulled his cruiser behind a white Honda Civic with New Mexico plates. The brake lights stayed on. The sun hit the rear window. Heat came off the asphalt.
By Jin2 months ago in Serve
America Just Admitted There Are Weapons in Orbit
In-orbit weapons are already in place. The rules are still stuck in 1967. On September 14, 2026, in Maryland, U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said two sentences at the annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference. The first was: “The Space Force now possesses in-orbit space control weapons capable of protecting joint forces from attack by hostile forces.” The second was: “The timing and wording of the disclosure were carefully considered.” He did not specify the type of weapon, its deployment location, or the conditions under which it would be used. A Space Force spokesperson later added that these weapons cover both kinetic and non-kinetic means, that they can affect adversary capabilities through disruption, degradation, or, when necessary, destruction, and that they can be used for offensive and defensive purposes on the orders of a combatant commander.
By Jin2 months ago in Serve
The Warship That Broke Its Own Crew
In mid‑August 2026, a routine military redeployment sparked unusual attention. President Trump confirmed that the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN‑72), operating in Middle Eastern waters for nearly nine months under an overloaded schedule, would be relieved by the USS George Washington (CVN‑73). But this was not a regular rotation. The carrier being relieved faced a crisis of trust—reports of crew mental breakdowns and suicide attempts by jumping overboard—while its replacement strike group had one of its escorts suffer a four‑day total power blackout en route, unable even to maintain basic sanitation.
By Jin3 months ago in Serve
14 for 14: A Retaliation Felt in Silence
July 23, Brussels. On page three of Annex VII, tucked inside the EU’s 21st round of sanctions against Russia, were the full legal names, registered addresses, and unified social credit codes of 14 Chinese enterprises. No vague “entity” references, no elastic “relevant parties” – black and white, one line per company.
By Jin4 months ago in Serve
The Command Change No One Is Talking About: How Ukraine’s New Drone General Is Rewriting the Rules of Retreat
After the Command Change: A Footnote on a Dirt Road Outside Pokrovsk July 2026. DeepState updated its front‑line map that afternoon. On the southern flank of Pokrovsk, the Ukrainian 47th Mechanized Brigade had pulled back 2.3 kilometres. Hours earlier, reports from Kyiv had surfaced that General Oleksandr Syrskyi was stepping down and that General Andrii Drapatyi would take over as Commander‑in‑Chief. Those two events on the same day say more about the real nature of this reshuffle than any official statement. This is not a punitive dismissal. It is a re‑vote on how the next twelve months of war will be fought.
By Jin4 months ago in Serve