Two weeks ago while speaking to my grandfather, who had just arrived from Moscow for his annual six-month stay stateside, I asked him about the current sanctions ravaging the Russian economy. Sensing the question was too broad, I asked about the price of groceries, about decreasing pensions, and if he had noticed any discontent amongst…
Category: Military History
Studies in Terrorism: Hamas The “Merchants of War” Who Seek to Destroy Israel
In the words of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the tunnels are being dug not only to “defend the Gaza Strip, but to serve as a launching pad to reach all of Palestine.” As one can see from any map of Palestine, “all of Palestine” does not mean living in peace alongside Israel; it means supplanting…
Lessons From Stalingrad 73 Years Later
As an amateur World War Two Historian, there are several theaters of the War you must study to get a grasp on the War as a whole. The European and Pacific Theaters take up the bulk of this study of course, but one that has fascinated me for several years is the German/Soviet Theater of…
Evolving the Marine Corps for Irregular Warfare
The concept of an evolution to a new type of warfare has been understood for decades, but the U.S. military, the Marine Corps included, has failed to adapt to the changing methods of waging war. The type of warfare that goes by the names irregular, counterinsurgency, low-intensity, and hybrid, among others, is not new…
Welcome to the Age of the Commando
A FEW months ago, my wife and I had dinner with a couple we didn’t know very well. It was awkward at first, but there was wine, and conversation soon followed. At one point, the wife asked about my tour in Iraq, where I served four years as a cavalry officer. I began talking about…
Remembering World War I: Designs for First National Memorial
Why it has took this long for a Memorial to be erected for those Americans who were killed in World War 1 is baffling to me. I take it as the Ultimate sign of Disrespect toward men who gave the ultimate Sacrifice. -SF World War I is one of the most pivotal events in U.S. history,…
WW I History: Operation China Snow, The Top Secret Mission of Germany’s Zeppelin L59
“The mission would be a risky one – no airship had ever flown such a distance.” TO DESCRIBE Germany’s Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck as a thorn in the side of the British Empire is something of an understatement. Beginning in 1914, the dashing 34-year-old Prussian lieutenant-colonel led a rag-tag band of 3,000 regulars and 10,000 colonial troops…
World War II History: This Japanese Soldier Hid in the Jungle for 30 years after the War was Over!
Hiroo Onoda was a Japanese intelligence officer who hid in the jungle for 30 years thinking this country was still at war. World War II had been over for nearly three decades by the time Hiroo Onoda stopped fighting. An intelligence officer, Onoda was sent to the island of Lubang — a Philippine island south…
The History of the US Army Rangers from 1775 until Now
Just to show I am not biased in my Military History toward the USMC, here is some good reading on the Rangers…:)-SF The US Army Ranger history predates the Revolutionary War. In the mid 1700s, Capt. Benjamin Church and Maj. Robert Rogers both formed Ranger units to fight during the King Phillips War and…
Cold War Files: Forgetting Castro’s Crimes
‘Fighting Over Fidel: The New York Intellectuals and the Cuban Revolution’ Between the Old Left and the New Left, between the radicalism of the 1930s and the radicalism of the 1970s, there comes the curious figure of Fidel Castro. A celebrated revolutionary thinker. The absolute ruler of Cuba—and, for a time, the man believed to…