Brown served in the
U.S. Army from 1954 to 1957 and again from 1964 to 1985. He was a
Green Beret, served with Special Forces in
Vietnam, and retired from the US Army as a
lieutenant colonel. At one point, Brown was the Vice Chairman of the
NRA. In 1970, he founded a book publishing firm with Peder Lund named
Paladin Press. Brown began publishing
Soldier of Fortune in 1975 in Boulder, Colorado. In April 2022, Brown announced he had sold Soldier of Fortune to journalist Susan Katz Keating, a frequent contributor to the magazine. A
Chicago Tribune reporter doing a story on Brown's involvement in the
civil war in El Salvador in March 1984 witnessed Brown become the victim of an accidental shooting when one of Brown's friends pulled the trigger of a gun he thought was unloaded. The friend shot himself through the hand and the bullet struck Brown in the calf. "You stupid son a bitch, you shot me," Brown said. "And now I can't go to El Salvador." Editors of
Soldier of Fortune instructed Salvadorans in subjects ranging from weapons marksmanship to basic military skills such as water purification. They told
The Washington Post, in an article of 1983, they accompanied
Salvadorans on at least three combat patrols as observers, armed solely with handguns for self-defense and without firing. Alexander McColl, one of the editors that took part in April and August, claimed that expenses were covered by the magazine. These
Soldier of Fortune members briefed military personnel of the US embassy on how well Salvadoran soldiers fought in the field. In 2011, Brown supported Steve Schreiner's campaign for the
National Rifle Association Board of Directors. Schreiner was not endorsed by the NRA's Nominating Committee. In 2013, Brown published a book co-authored by "Vann Spencer," who is listed on the book jacket as holding a number of educational degrees, and having taught law and international security at universities in Colorado. These claims have not been independently verified. "Spencer" is widely believed to be a pseudonym. ==Publications==