Remembering Michael Herr, Author of the Vietnam War Memoir ‘Dispatches’ If you have positive notions of war, read this book to get that smacked out of you I was sad to learn that Michael Herr, the author of the Vietnam War memoir Dispatches, died Thursday at age 76. When I first opened a copy of…
Category: Military History
Cold War Files: The Secret US/UK Plan To Bomb Middle East Oil Facilities
Recently uncovered documents shed further light on an ultra-secret plan, devised by the British and American governments, to destroy oil facilities in the Middle East in the event the region was invaded by Soviet troops. The documents, published on Thursday by George Washington University’s National Security Archive, were found in the British government archives and…
Modern War: How Tactics Used in Iraq and A-Stan Can Make The U.S. More Vulnerable in Future Wars
We need to ask ourselves which lessons are worth retaining versus which do we think we should retain but make us more vulnerable. Editor’s Note: This article is drawn from a talk given by the author to the Special Operations Medical Association Scientific Assembly in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 24, 2016. Question: Do the…
Military Weapons From The Past: Smallest Guy Gets The BAR?
One of the most beloved and hated weapons of World War II was the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Another of John Browning’s classic designs, it was literally the first Squad Automatic Weapon. Though it lives on in weapon lore, like we said earlier, it had its detractors. World War II Marine William Manchester wrote in…
Modern War: Drone Choppers Help Hunt Top-Tier Terrorist in Africa
On Jan. 14, 2014, USS Elrod left her home port in Norfolk, Virginia for what, to outsiders, might have seemed like a routine six-month trip to the Mediterranean. Carrying a detachment of four MQ-8B Fire Scout drone helicopters, the nearly 30-year-old frigate would visit various ports and train with America’s allies, according to an official…
World War II History: The Anniversary Of The Great Patriotic War: June 22, 1941
For all you Fellow WW2 Historians out there understand this video was put out by RT, Russia Today, which is the Propaganda Machine of the Russian Federation. Now I am not disputing the facts of the video but I do take issue with it’s arrogance. Although the Soviet Union did suffer during WW2, if it…
Surveillance State: The U.S. Governments New Spy Sattelite
The second week of June 2016, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office launched NROL-37, carrying its latest spy satellite into geosynchronous orbit via a Delta IV-Heavy rocket. But it only took amateur space enthusiasts a few days to locate the mysterious new craft in the skies near Malaysia, over the Strait of Malacca. While the contents and…
World War II History: Barbarossa And It’s Lesson For The Living
75 years ago this morning at 0315 Central European Time, the valiant and ruthless German race was thrust into a war of annihilation against the Soviet empire, in what became the dominant theatre in the largest-scale conflict in world history, World War II. Named after Frederick I, the red-bearded King of Germany and Holy Roman…
Profiles in Courage: Hershel “Woody” Williams Explains the Qualities of a Good Marine
Medal of Honor recipient Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams discusses the Battle of Iwo Jima’s impact on his life and the sacrifice of his fellow Marines. To Hershel “Woody” Williams, the Medal of Honor he wears around his neck does not belong to him. It’s not because he isn’t worthy of it, he undoubtedly is. For Williams,…
Crusader Corner: 7 Myths of the Crusades
Spearheaded by the likes of Obama. Editor’s note: The following book review of Seven Myths of the Crusades by Alfred J. Andrea and Andrew Holt, eds., first appeared in the Summer 2016 issue of the Middle East Quarterly and was written by Raymond Ibrahim, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. As the editors make…