''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. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

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 based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August ...

''." It was founded in March 2012 by

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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 a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...

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

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

had over 300,000 fans on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

and about 40,000

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

followers. Among their spoof articles is one suggesting a speech by the commanding general of Fort Benning 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 politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusett ...

winning the

2012 US Presidential Election The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, were re-ele ...

. 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

General

James Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 26th US secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps, he commanded forces in the Per ...

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

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek language, Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is ...

spokesman

George E. Little George E. Little is a former Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Defense and was replaced by Brent Colburn. He was appointed to his position on July 19, 2011. Professional career Little was app ...

, various national security journalists, and

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

, 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 the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConn ...

. 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 Patrick Edward Fallon (born December 19, 1967) is an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he has been the U.S. representative for since 2021. He served the 30th district of the Texas Senate from 2019 to 2021. F ...

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 su ...

(SPLC) had included the American Legion and the

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or ...

on their list of American hate groups. SPLC chief of staff

Lecia Brooks Leica Camera AG () is a German company that manufactures cameras, optical lenses, photographic lenses, binoculars, rifle scopes and microscopes. The company was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869 (Ernst Leitz Wetzlar), in Wetzlar, German ...

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