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

Vol. 15 · No. 136 · Sunday, 15 November 2026

Navy & Marines

Marine with extremely low IQ thrilled by switch to Super Intelligence

Marine Corps announces major technological advancement requiring millions of dollars in new signage and PowerPoint slides

Homeless veterans receive 10% off cardboard boxes this Veterans Day

Hegseth asks staff to make next execution more like ‘The Running Man’

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Vol. 15 · No. 136

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Duffel Blog

Established 2012 · Deployed worldwide

Vol. 15 · No. 136 · Deployed worldwide

Sunday

15 November 2026

1802 Zulu

Next edition Monday

← Front page
· Page 2

Report: Chinese balloon pilot was attempting to defect to US

A tragic end to a heartbreaking flight for freedom or beer. Or possibly both.

Filed · 1104

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina — While attempting to escape the communist regime of China for the sanctuary of the United States, aerial balloonist Dong Chao Feiyu met a grizzly end over the waters of the U.S. East Coast last month. Following the orders of President Joe Biden, the Air Force blew both the balloon and Dong’s aspirations to smithereens, employing a million dollar missile to puncture a hundred dollar inflatable airship.

“Fuck,” Air Force spokesman Captain Buck Turgidson told reporters. “We didn’t know.”

Dong, a balloon pilot normally assigned to fly balloons for the Great Leap Forward Weather Observation Squadron Number 6, absconded with a heavily guarded spy craft. How he did so is still being investigated, according to anonymous sources in China’s People’s Ministry for State Security.

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