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

Vol. 15 · No. 133 · Saturday, 7 November 2026

Pete Hegseth picks wrong week to stop drinking

Pentagon staffing delays leave secretary sober for worst 48 hours of his career

Pentagon confident U.S. will be ready for 2027 war with China by 2035

Hegseth wears Eisenhower's globe as Halloween costume

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Vol. 15 · No. 133

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Vol. 15 · No. 133 · Deployed worldwide

Saturday

7 November 2026

1644 Zulu

Next edition Monday

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· Page 2

U.S. Tells Kurds it’s just going out for a pack of cigarettes

Filed · 1552

NORTHERN SYRIA — Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, are still waiting anxiously for the U.S. to return after it left on Monday, saying it was “going out for a pack of smokes.”

Sources say the U.S. ruffled the Kurds’ hair, put on its coat, and looked back wistfully before walking out the front door.

“The U.S. mentioned something about it not being our fault and that we didn’t do anything wrong,” said Dozan Aydogan, a Kurdish SDF commander. “Then the U.S. said it was heading to the PX to get some more cigarettes. It’s funny though, I’ve never seen it smoke.”

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