‘Slay dragons, do noble deeds… and never, never, never, never give up’
Patriot, Vietnam vet, publisher, and Cold War legend Robert Brown has passed away, leaving behind generations of gun enthusiasts who spent much of their youth scanning newsstands for his publications.
Born in Monroe, Michigan, in November 1932, Brown served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1957 and again from 1964 to 1985. A Green Beret, he served with Special Forces in Vietnam and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
Long the beacon in the newsstand for those who yearned to meet interesting people in far-off lands– and maybe get into a firefight with them, Brown founded “Soldier of Fortune, The Journal of Professional Adventurers,” in 1975 after having a hand in founding field manual outlet Paladin Press five years prior.
Based in Boulder, Colorado, SOF provided an outlet for legitimate and would-be professional military contractors and helped fill urgent positions in Africa, the Middle East, and South America, while fueling untold Walter Mitty fantasies in the more chairborne commando.
Noted contributors included Col. David Hackworth, Lt. Col. Oliver North, and sniper guru Maj. John Plaster.
While at the helm of SOF, Brown continued to globetrot and, through the magazine’s offices, helped support pro-Western groups in El Salvador, Afghanistan, and Laos, among other Cold War hotspots. If the Russkis showed up there, Brown was not far behind.
SOF pulled off a number of coups for the good guys over the years, including effectively grounding Sandinista Mi-24 Hind helicopters during the Contra years after Brown published an offer of a $1 million reward for the defection of a Nicaraguan pilot with his gunship. Brown also spirited out the first bulk caches of the then-new Soviet 5.45x45mm AK74 round seen in the West as well as other equipment of intelligence interest from Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The Soviets even targeted Brown in propaganda efforts (left) largely for his support for Mujahideen groups in Afghanistan and Contras in Nicaragua. His offer to buy a Sandinista-operated Mi-24 Hind reportedly grounded the entire force for weeks. In December 1988, a Nicaraguan Air Force captain defected to Honduras in a Soviet-built Mi-16 transport helicopter.
At least six correspondents from the magazine were killed while on assignment in such third-world hotspots as Burma, Angola, and Sierra Leone, going that extra mile for the story.
A member of several Hi-Power and Marksmanship Unit teams while in the Army, Brown was long a power in the gun rights community and sat on the board of the National Rifle Association since the early 1980s. He played a prominent, though behind-the-scenes, role in electing pro-gun political leaders for generations.
In disclosure, this author spoke with Brown, whose email address was simply “Maximus,” numerous times over the years, and was invited to an annual retreat in New Mexico with RKB in 2019. He was always a great storyteller and a true gentleman. He was a welcome regular in the media room at SHOT Show and NRAAM every year.
My buddy, Ben Philippi, also spent time with Brown in Colorado in 2014 and captured an image of him for his book, “We the People.”
Still very spry in his 80s, Brown cautioned Philippi, “Certainly, the Second Amendment and a ‘God-given right’ are substantial reasons for the right to keep and bear arms. But for me, the key criteria for justification of an armed populace, is for it to serve as an ultimate protection from the tyranny from an oppressive government. Think 1776.”
Lt. Col. Robert K. Brown, USAR, (Ret.), publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine, NRA BOD, photographed in Boulder, Colorado, 2014, sporting his DPMS-Panther Arms SASS .308 rifle topped off with an Aimpoint Hunter scope. He leans on his “arrest-me-red” ’93 Vet convertible. (Photo: Ben Philippi)
The motto of SOF during the Brown era was “Slay dragons, do noble deeds… and never, never, never, never give up.”