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.”" On the other hand, 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.