“There you go,” Jaeger says, looking across the lot. He gets in the cab to check Facebook on his phone while Destroyer, Jaeger, Spartan, and I stand with our backs to the truck, rifles in hand, keeping watch for anything suspicious. He has camo paint on his face and a yeti beard. He is a Marine special-ops veteran who did three tours in Afghanistan. In Pain’s absence, Showtime is our commanding officer. Captain Pain and a couple of others go into the store to get supplies. We are in a Walmart parking lot in Nogales. But everything else is square-I’m wearing a MultiCam uniform, desert tan combat boots, and a radio on my shoulder.

Next to everyone else’s commando-style AR-15s, my Ruger Mini-14 with a wood stock is slightly out of place. Unlike the others, I don’t view southern Arizona as a war zone, so I didn’t put steel plates in my chest rig. “Keep your weapons nice and tight,” Captain Pain orders. I crawl out of the back of the pickup with my rifle in hand. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter.

Play mud and blood recon hacked