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The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 122 · Tuesday, 13 October 2026

Army

AI deemed ‘too smart’ to replace infantry

Prototype proved too competent, financially responsible for infantry service

Hegseth opens up new TradWife MOS

DTS works properly after hack by rogue AI

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Vol. 15 · No. 122

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Vol. 15 · No. 122 · Deployed worldwide

Tuesday

13 October 2026

1435 Zulu

Next edition Wednesday

← Front page
· Page 2

Retired sergeant major discovers freedom is free

Filed · 1537

BOULDER, Colo. — Peering over his white picket fence, wearing a red flannel shirt, Stetson, and leather boots, retired Sgt. Maj. Michael Wilson, now a small business owner in Colorado, reports that life after the military has “shattered the very foundation” of what he “believed to be true about freedom in America.”

“When I was a new private, only seventeen, I remember my drill sergeant putting his boot on my head, pushing my face into the mud, and telling me that I had no rights, that I was his bitch, and that I had to earn my freedom,” Wilson said with a hint of nostalgia.

“For 35 years I believed freedom was earned, not given,” Wilson continued. “But then I retired and discovered the truth: freedom is free for everyone in America, and it’s fucking awesome.”

Wilson, who recently opened a marijuana smoke shop called “Float To Blaze Town,” spoke while stroking a wild, unkempt beard.

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