Independent military reporting for those who’ve served — and won’t stay silent.
A former U.S. Army soldier who previously served prison time for killing a fellow troop in Alaska and was recently arrested in a child exploitation investigation has been found dead inside a Florida jail. According to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, 36-year-old Marshall Derrill Drake was discovered unresponsive in his cell Thursday at the John…
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Newly filed court documents reveal additional detail in the murder case against the wife of retired U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Clinton “Clint” Bonnell, alleging she knowingly and willfully dismembered or destroyed human remains in an attempt to conceal his death. A Cumberland County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment…
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a rule that changes how disability ratings are evaluated when a condition is controlled by medication — and it’s raising real questions among veterans who rely on those ratings for compensation and healthcare. The new regulation, effective February 17, 2026, clarifies that VA disability ratings must…
A retired U.S. Army colonel who later worked at U.S. Central Command has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for transmitting classified military strike planning information using his personal cellphone, federal officials announced. Kevin Charles Luke, 62, of Parrish, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized communication of information relating to the…
Editor’s Note: This article has been formatted in accordance with advertiser content guidelines. A more detailed version of this report is available at TheSaltySoldierUncensored.com. This report uses the pronouns and identity publicly asserted by the subject in legal filings and media appearances. This usage reflects standard journalistic practice and should not be interpreted as endorsement…
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…
