''Duffel Blog'' is an American military

news satire News satire or news comedy is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism, and called a satire because of its content. News satire has been around almost as long as journalism itself, but it is particularly popular on t ...

organization featuring satirical articles reporting on national security and

US military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

topics. It is often described as "the military version of ''

The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is currently based in Chicago, but originated as a weekly print publication ...

''." It was founded in March 2012 by Marine veteran Paul Szoldra, originally as a way to drive web traffic to the now defunct website CollegeVeteran.com. It eventually branched out and became its own entertainment

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

. The site has a following among civilians, veterans, and servicemen alike. As of 2012, the

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

had over 300,000 fans on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and about 40,000

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

followers. Among their spoof articles is one suggesting a speech by the commanding general of

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

resulted in a deadly riot, and another that said uncounted military absentee ballots would have resulted in

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

winning the

2012 US Presidential Election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, were elected to a second term. They defeated the Republican tick ...

. In November 2012, the site launched an online petition to the White House to lift the services' bans on hands in pockets. The website counts retired Marine General

James Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired Marine Corps four-star general, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, th ...

, the subject of several Duffel Blog posts, as a fan. It has also received praise from former

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

spokesman George E. Little, various national security journalists, and

Scott Dikkers Scott Dikkers (born March 1, 1965) is an American comedy writer and entrepreneur. As a former co-owner of ''The Onion'', he was the publication's longest-serving editor-in-chief, holding the position from 1988–1999 and again from 2005–2008. H ...

, the founding editor of ''

''. In 2017, Duffel Blog published ''Mission Accomplished: The Very Best of Duffel Blog,'' which included a hundred of the best Duffel Blog stories, hand-picked by contributors, along with additional commentary from creator, Paul Szoldra, and a foreword by Terminal Lance creator Maximillian Uriarte.

Mistaken for truth

An article about Guantanamo detainees getting GI Bill benefits resulted in a formal inquiry by

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...

. The letter from McConnell's office to the Pentagon leaked in 2013, generating national headlines and subjecting the senator to mockery on cable news. The site drew attention in March, 2021, when during a congressional hearing on extremism in the US military, US representative Pat Fallon made the false claim that the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...

(SPLC) had included the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

and the

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States Armed Forces, United States war veterans who fought in wars, Military campaign, campaig ...

on their list of American hate groups. SPLC chief of staff Lecia Brooks noted that this claim had originated in a Duffel Blog satirical article that had appeared on the site in 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duffel Blog Internet properties established in 2012 2012 establishments in the United States American satirical websites Military humor Works about American military personnel

Mistaken for truth

See also

References

External links