Veterans from 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines share their incredible stories from the Second Battle of Fallujah. This time of year marks the anniversary of one of the most storied battles in recent Marine Corps history: the Second Battle of Fallujah. The city became the scene of brutal urban combat when American, Iraqi, and British forces…
Category: Historical Study
Naval Military History: Grog and the Barbary Wars
Editor’s note: For readers seeking more information on grog and the history of naval drinking, be sure to check out our podcast on the subject here, and articles here and here. America’s military actions in the Middle East and North Africa are not isolated to the modern era. In truth, American military forces have been…
Islam, Europe and the Tet Offensive, Take Two
Matthew Bracken is a former Navy SEAL with a BA in Russian Studies from the University of Virginia. In 1983 he led a Naval Special Warfare detachment to Beirut, Lebanon. Links to his short stories and essays can be found at EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com. More than a decade ago I wrote my first novel, Enemies Foreign and…
Giving Thanks to the OSS
As today’s security depends increasingly on intelligence and special operators, Congress should act to honor those who paved their way. What do attorney James Donovan (portrayed by Tom Hanks in “Bridge of Spies”), the “French Chef” Julia Child, Virginia Hall (the only American civilian woman to receive the Distinguished Service Cross during World War II),…
1943: A Bloody Thanksgiving in the Pacific
As we celebrate Thanksgiving, take a moment to remember the many Americans who gave their last full measure 72 years ago in the attack on the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. Almost two years after Pearl Harbor, the assault by the 2nd Marine Division on a Japanese-held stronghold started on Nov. 20, 1943, five…
Political Correctness Goes to War on American History
“Where will the impulse to purge the past of its sins end? Should Washington, DC, named after a slave owner, adopt a new title? Should the Jefferson memorial be torn down?” -Jacob Heilbrunn George Orwell once remarked that Stalin’s Soviet Union was a place yesterday’s weather could be changed by decree. America, it seems,…