Independent military reporting for those who’ve served — and won’t stay silent.
The U.S. Army has always had a complicated relationship with men like Joe Ronnie Hooper. When the shooting starts, they’re priceless.When the shooting stops, they’re a problem. Hooper wasn’t misunderstood by the Army. He was fully understood. Leadership knew exactly what he was—volatile, undisciplined, aggressive, unreliable in garrison, unstoppable in combat. The institution made a…
Editor’s Note: This guest article reflects the author’s reporting and analysis. It addresses a disputed historical event and draws on on-the-record interviews and publicly available sources. The Salty Soldier does not independently adjudicate competing accounts related to the Abbottabad raid. By Benjamin Reed I spoke with Rob O’Neill recently about a dispute that, more than…
Newly filed court records show that retired U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Clinton James Bonnell had virtually no money remaining in his personal bank accounts by the time his estate was inventoried—months after he went missing and weeks after his remains were formally identified. Probate documents filed in Cumberland County Superior Court list zero balances…
A Russian-controlled court in eastern Ukraine has sentenced four Russian soldiers for brutally torturing and killing an American who had spent a decade fighting and propagandizing on behalf of Moscow’s war effort. Russell Bentley, a 63-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Texas, was a well-known figure in Donetsk, where he lived, fought with pro-Russian separatists, and…
A newly surfaced law-enforcement disclosure has revealed that the FBI seized what it described as a “manifesto” written by an active-duty Green Beret, citing national-security concerns. The document — recovered by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department after the January 1, 2025 explosion of a rented Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas…
An FBI agent who once investigated Americans for the January 6th Capitol riot has now avoided jail himself—after shooting and killing a U.S. Army veteran in the middle of a Virginia street. Special Agent Benjamin Spinale, a 13-year FBI veteran, was convicted of two misdemeanors this month in Stafford County, Virginia. Despite killing Army veteran…
Military culture runs on discipline, reputation, and the idea that the uniform stands for something larger than any one of us. That’s why a North Carolina couple—both identifying as veterans—has sparked debate across the veteran community after building a social media persona that blends military identity with highly public displays of their private relationship. Their…
It’s 2014. Syria’s burning, ISIS propaganda videos are flooding the internet, and half the planet’s glued to grainy footage of trucks with machine guns welded to the bed.But this time, one of those trucks wasn’t some beat-up Toyota from the desert.It was a Texas plumber’s Ford F-250, still rocking the company logo and phone number,…
In the military, we like to believe we’re trained to endure anything. But no training prepares you for burying your spouse, watching addiction dismantle your life, or pulling yourself out of a hole so deep, you’re not sure daylight even exists. For Natalee King, a United States Air Force veteran, Gold Star widow, and recovery…
A New York woman who claimed to be a decorated combat veteran was sentenced Tuesday to over a year in federal prison for defrauding veteran-focused charities and falsely claiming to be a Purple Heart recipient — all while building a house of lies on the backs of real homeless veterans. Sharon Toney-Finch, a 43-year-old Army…