David Axe#War is Boring

David Axe was born on April 11, 1978, in Arlington, Texas.{{cite web|url=https://filmfreeway.com/DavidAxe|title=David Axe|website=FilmFreeway|access-date=December 20, 2022}}{{cite news|last=Lomando White|first=Patricia |date=March 26, 2007|url=https://www.chronicle.pitt.edu/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/pc070326.pdf#page=7|title=Pitt to Feature Editorial Cartoonists Who Take Aim at Iraq War|newspaper=Pitt Chronicle|volume=VIII|number=11|page=7|access-date=December 20, 2022}} He attended Eisenhower High School from 1992 to 1996. After graduation, he enrolled at Furman University and earned a bachelor's degree in history in 2000.{{cite web|title=David|url=https://myspace.com/david_axe|website=MySpace|access-date=December 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080707011823/https://myspace.com/david_axe|archive-date=July 7, 2008|url-status=dead}} Then he went to the University of Virginia to study medieval history before transferring to and graduating from the University of South Carolina with a master's degree in fiction in 2004.

Axe was engaged in freelance writing before joining the Columbia, South Carolina-based weekly newspaper Free Times to cover county politics. In late 2004, he persuaded his editor to let him cover South Carolina guardsmen's deployment to the Iraq War and moved to Iraq in January 2005.{{cite web|last=Grant|first=Will|date=August 4, 2012|title=David Axe: A Face of Modern War Correspondence |url=https://dpxgear.com/blogs/dangerous-magazine/david-axe-a-face-of-modern-war-correspondence|website=DPx Gear|access-date=December 20, 2022}} Leaving the Free Times soon after, Axe continued to work in Iraq as a war correspondent for The Village Voice, The Washington Times, C-SPAN, BBC Radio, Popular Science, Fast Company, and Cosmopolitan.

Beginning in 2007, Axe began writing a webcomic called War Is Boring and illustrated by cartoonist Matt Bors.{{cite AV media|date=November 21, 2010|title=War Is Boring|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?296688-5/war-boring|publisher=C-SPAN|access-date=December 20, 2022}}

The publication gained particular attention for its coverage of the defense industry, especially Axe's coverage of Lockheed Martin's controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.{{cite news|last=Haberman|first=Clyde|author-link=Clyde Haberman|date=January 24, 2016|title=Despite Decades of Stealth, Sticking Points Bedevil F-35 Jet|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/us/despite-decades-of-stealth-sticking-points-bedevil-f-35-jet.html|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=December 20, 2022}}

In 2012, Axe reported in The Diplomat that U.S. special operations on the Korean Peninsula may have been infiltrating North Korea to gather intelligence based on quotes he attributed to U.S. Army Brigadier General Neil Tolley. U.S. officials condemned the report, accusing Axe of making up quotes and attributing them to Tolley.{{cite news|last=Harlan |first=Chico |date=2012-05-29|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/us-denies-n-korea-commando-operation/2012/05/29/gJQA4viVyU_story.html |title=U.S. denies North Korea commando operation |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=2019-06-15}}

Retired Navy SEAL Brandon Webb circulated a suicide note ostensibly written and signed by Axe, which depicted him killing himself in shame for making up the story. The note circulated on Twitter and Facebook and caused rumors of its authenticity. Webb later took Axe's name off it and said that it was meant to be satirical.{{cite web|last=Webb |first=Brandon |author-link=Brandon Webb (author)|date=June 4, 2012|title=Bullshit Journalism Has Consequences|url=https://thenewsrep.com/7752/bullshit-journalism/|website=NEWSREP|access-date=December 20, 2022}}{{cite tweet|last=Axe|first=David|user=daxe|number=208028241674518529|title=A former Navy SEAL named Brandon T Webb (@sofrep) wrote online that I killed myself. sofrep.com/7608/reporter-kil…|access-date=December 20, 2022}} Several other reporters who were in the same room publicly came to Axe's defense, saying they heard the same things and that Axe's story accurately quoted Tolley's remarks. Tolley stated that Axe had misquoted him as he was speaking hypothetically.{{cite news|last=Ryall|first=Julian|date=May 31, 2012|title=US special forces head admits North Korea comments 'could have been clearer'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9301863/US-special-forces-head-admits-North-Korea-comments-could-have-been-clearer.html|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=December 20, 2022}}

David Axe left War Is Boring in 2019.{{cite tweet|last=Axe|first=David|user=daxe|number=1258160350706499585|title=In early 2019 I was coming off a bad few years running War Is Boring for a chain of shitty owners. [...]|access-date=December 20, 2022}}

Axe has been a member of the staff of Forbes since 2020 as a war correspondent.{{cite web |title=David Axe |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/?sh=4a43362f1cc0 |website=Forbes |access-date=11 May 2024}}

{{Reflist}}

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• {{Medium.com|daxe}}
• {{Twitter|daxe}}
• [https://www.wired.com/dangerroom/ Danger Room] on Wired
• [https://web.archive.org/web/19990423023141/http://www.warshipsifr.com/ Warships International Fleet Review]
• {{C-SPAN|1013915}}

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Category:1978 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American journalists

Category:American graphic novelists

Category:American male bloggers

Category:American bloggers

Category:American male journalists

Category:American military writers

Category:American war correspondents

Category:Furman University alumni

Category:Journalists from Texas

Category:People from Arlington, Texas

Category:University of South Carolina alumni

Category:War correspondents of the Iraq War