Soldiers of Fortune focus on warrior ways for everyday folks

Stacy J. Willis

Friday, Sept. 24, 1999 | 11:22 a.m.

Woe is the mouthy fascist who wanders into Las Vegas this weekend.

The Soldiers of Fortune are here; they were promised complimentary "neck knives" upon registering for this weekend's 20th annual convention; they are drinking beer from "Death to Tyrants" coffee mugs and learning how to make meals out of rats.

Wearing impossible-to-miss camouflage outfits amid a sea of casually dressed Palace Station gamblers, devotees of the adventurer/ weapons-lover magazine have come to attend seminars on "wound ballistics" and "irregular warfare."

"These are things that normal people don't really think about," said three-time convention attendee Sam Devenney, a 56-year-old Los Angeles security consultant whose business card says, "Cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war."

"You've always got to know how to protect yourself, especially the way the world is today," Devenney said.

Apparently, one can protect oneself with an amazing array of devices. The Soldier of Fortune magazine weapons expo -- which opens to the public today -- is expected to have more than 400 exhibitors, including makers of cutlery and machine guns, brass knuckles and stun guns.

The convention at Palace Station began Wednesday and runs through Sunday. The gun show at Cashman Center runs through Sunday and costs $8 to get in.

Who are these people?

On sale alongside instruments of destruction will be T-shirts that show the American flag and taunt, "Try burning this one."

"There are a lot of ex-military and law enforcement people who come to these conventions, and then there are a few wannabes and wackos," said Devenney, an ex-Green Beret who served two tours in Vietnam and has subscribed to Soldier of Fortune since 1975.

"It takes about 15 minutes to figure out who the wannabes and wackos are. Just by talking to them, you realize they don't know what they're talking about," Devenney said. "There is no room for skinheads or radicals here."

Members of law enforcement make up 11 percent of Soldier of Fortune followers, military personnel make up 12 percent. The rest, according to magazine executives, are everyday men and women who simply want to be prepared in case a band of para-military guerrillas tunnel into their living room one evening.

"We go by one thing: We want to protect the U.S., and that's it," Devenney said.

Protecting the United States seemed a tad more engaging during the Cold War, when the magazine flourished. Subscriptions climbed from 8,500 each quarter in 1975 to 166,000 a monthly in 1985.

But the fall of the Berlin Wall presented issues for the Soldier of Fortune enterprise, according to founder Lt. Col. Robert K. Brown. "We did see a shift in circulation since the Cold War. After the Cold War wound down, nobody really gave a hoot," said Brown, 66, who hobbled through the convention on a broken ankle Thursday. ("I simply twisted it, there was no attack by thugs -- it was mundane, really. Boring.")

Today the magazine's monthly circulation is somewhere around 75,000 a month, he said.

Peace aside, its writers are skilled in the art of scoping out potential enemies. Next month's edition contains an article devoted to shining the light on covert Chinese actions called, "The Hungry Dragon -- The Cold War Is Not Over."

"Weapons are being run into California by the Chinese," Devenney said. "Slick Willie covered it up." Although the convention features a Worst Clinton Joke Contest and Janet Reno Lookalike Drag Contest, Brown -- who was honored by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman earlier this week for supporting law enforcement and the local economy -- is increasingly savvy to the tedium of politician-bashing.

In February he'll host the first World Championship Soldier of Fortune Stock Car Races in Tampa, Fla.

"We're sticking our toes into some other waters," he said.

Vacationing

Meanwhile, there is still a bit of fertile worry to be farmed in Y2K, natural disasters and urban unrest.

Lovebirds Danielle Fick and Steve Tischman have come to Las Vegas to learn how to trap rats for food.

"We like the seminars," Tischman, 47, of Fargo, N.D., said. He and fiancee Fick, 23, signed up for the convention "as kind of a vacation."

After attending a two-hour discussion and slide show about poaching rhinos and elephants in South Africa, the couple planned to attend a seminar called "Urban Meat Trapping."

This course, which was slated to start today at "1300 hours," was described by survivalist/teacher Ron Hood in the convention registration packet:

"The notion of urban meat trapping is not a new one ... I've tasted dozens of different urban meats from dog to rat ... most were palatable and nutritious ... Subsistence trapping is an important skill to know in times of hardship and severe shortages."

"That's going to be good," Tischman, who works in a manufacturing plant, said. "It's for when society fails -- you learn how to go out and trap foods."

"Yeah," Fick, who works in a chiropractor's office, said. "Everybody is so dependent on computers and stores, this teaches you how to survive on nature."

The two conventioneers departed through the casino, hand in hand, saying something about the unconventional nature of Scout rifles, looking for lunch.