Soldier of Fortune

Soldier of Fortune (SOF), The Journal of Professional Adventurers, is a monthly mercenary magazine devoted to world-wide reporting of wars, including conventional warfare, low-intensity warfare, counter insurgency, and counter-terrorism. SOF magazine is published by the Omega Group Ltd., in Boulder, Colorado.

History

Soldier of Fortune magazine was founded in 1975, by Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve, (Ret.) Robert K. Brown, a Green Beret who served with Special Forces in Vietnam. After retiring from active duty, Brown began publishing a 'circular' magazine with information on mercenary employment in Oman, where the Sultan Qaboos had recently deposed his father, and was battling the Dhofar Rebellion. Brown's circular soon evolved into a glossy, large-format, full colour magazine. Significant to the early development of SOF magazine was its unprecedented, successful recruitment of foreign nationals to serve in the Rhodesian Security Forces, during the Rhodesian Bush War (1964–79). During the late 1970s and the 1980s, the success and popularity of a military magazine such as SOF led to the proliferation of like magazines such as Survive, Gung Ho!, New Breed, Eagle, Combat Illustrated, Special Weapons and Tactics, and Combat Ready.

"Gun for Hire" lawsuits

Grievous injury

During the late 1980s, Soldier of Fortune was sued in civil court several times, for having published classified advertisements of services by (private) mercenaries. In 1987, Norman Norwood, of Arkansas, sued SOF magazine, because of injuries he suffered during a murder attempt, by two men hired via a "Gun for Hire" advert in the magazine. The US District Court denied the magazine's motion for summary judgment, based upon the Constitutional right of free speech, under the First Amendment. The Court said, "reasonable jurors could find that the advertisement posed a substantial risk of harm" and that "gun for hire" ads were not the type of speech intended for protection under the First Amendment. In the end, Mr Norwood and Soldier of Fortune magazine settled his lawsuit out of court.

Wrongful death

In February 1985 John Wayne Hearn, a Vietnam veteran, shot and killed Sandra Black, for a $10,000 payment from her husband, Robert Black. Black communicated with Hearn through a classified advertisement published in Soldier of Fortune, wherein Hearn solicited "high-risk assignments. U.S. or overseas". In 1989, Sandra Black's son, Gary, and her mother, Marjorie Eimann, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against SOF magazine, and its parent publishing company, Omega Group Ltd., seeking $21 million in redress of their grievance.

The jury found Soldier of Fortune grossly negligent in publishing Hearn's classified ad for implicit illegal activity (murder) and awarded the plaintiffs $9.5 million in damages. However, in 1990, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the verdict, saying that the standard of conduct imposed upon the magazine was too high, because the advertisement was ambiguously worded.

Contract killing

In 1989, four men were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, in the 1985 contract killing of Richard Braun, of Atlanta, Georgia. The killers were hired through a classified services advertisement published in Soldier of Fortune magazine, that read: "GUN FOR HIRE". Braun's sons filed a civil lawsuit against the magazine, and a jury found in their favor, and awarded them $12.37 million in damages, which the judge later reduced to $4.37 million. Nonetheless, in 1992, the United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judgement of the jury, saying "the publisher could recognize the offer of criminal activity as readily as its readers, obviously, did". The Brauns and SOF magazine settled the wrongful-death lawsuit for $200,000. One consequence of the lost lawsuits was the magazine's suspension of publication of classified advertisements for mercenary work either in the U.S. or overseas.

Resources

• Ward Churchill Mercenaries in Southern Africa: The Recruiting Network and U.S. Policy Africa Today Vol. 27, No. 2, 2nd Qtr., 1980. (pp. 21-46)
• Ward Churchill 'Soldier of Fortune’s Robert K. Brown' CovertAction Information Bulletin, No. 22. Fall 1984.

Notable contributors

• Col. David "Hack" Hackworth, US Army, (ret/deceased)
• Wayne Laugesen
• Ltc. Robert C. MacKenzie, US Army, (ret/deceased)
• Ltc. Oliver North, US Marine Corps, (ret.)
• Dale Dye, US Marine Corps, (ret.)
• Al J Venter
• Michael Echanis (1950–1978), Vietnam veteran, Purple Heart recipient – martial arts editor
• John Plaster, US Army, (ret.)