The incoming Commander-in-Chief already has a handful of issues waiting for him or her on January 20th and surely doesn’t need any more foreign policy headaches. Unfortunately, the job is “Leader of the Free World” and not “Autopilot of the Worldwide Ramones/P-Funk Block Party.” Inevitably, things go awry. Reactions have unintended consequences. If you don’t…
Category: Warfare
World War II History: These Men Were French Heroes Until They Were’nt
In a book about the French Revolution he was ghostwriting during the 1920s, Charles de Gaulle opined that some of the country’s generals had been stripped “of prestige, often of life, sometimes of honor.” As described in Julian Jackson’s De Gaulle, Marshal Philippe Pétain — the champion of Verdun — suggested the young captain move…
Military History: The Long Forgotten African Conflicts
Heavy fighting erupted between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces at their disputed border on June 12, with shelling continuing into Monday morning as both sides blamed each other for the return of hostilities. Casualties are unknown, but given the use of heavy artillery fire from both sides, loss of life was likely unavoidable. Eritrea claims it…
Military History: The Barbary Wars and the USMC
By John Farnam George Washington, even before he was president, lobbied heavily for a full-time, standing, Federal Army. In 1792, a distrustful Congress gave him and his successors, instead, the Uniform Militia Act, which involuntarily inducts every able-bodied male, in all states, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, into his State’s “Militia,” which can…
Military Defense News: USMC Turning V-22 Osprey Into A Gunship
Corps officials told Scout Warrior weapons for the Osprey could include 2.75inch rockets, missiles and heavy guns. The U.S. Marine Corps is progressing with a new project to arm its MV-22 Osprey aircraft with new weapons such as laser-guided 2.75in rockets, missiles and heavy guns – a move which would expand the tiltrotor’s mission set…
Espionage Files: USMC EA-6B Prowler Fills New Role as Spy Plane
When the EA-6B Prowler electronic-warfare plane first entered service with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps starting in 1971, its main job was to scramble enemy radars and radios with its powerful jammers. But with the Marines and the other U.S. armed services facing severe shortages of various planes, the few remaining Prowlers are now…
World War II History: The Female Russian Sniper that Planted Over 300 Germans
The 2015 film Battle for Sevastopol is the true story of how Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a female Soviet sniper who killed more than 300 Axis soldiers during World War II, became a gal-pal of the first lady of the United States. That’s a topic so compelling in and of itself that it’s worth putting up with Battle…
Military History: 8 Unbelievable Stories from the Second Battle of Fallujah
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…
Military Defense News: US Military Relearning Conventional Warfare
Forces relearning conventional warfare after 15 years of fighting terrorists TWENTYNINE PALMS (California) • Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines was deep in a simulated firefight on a recent morning in the high California desert. A group of Marines on the aptly named Machine Gun Hill unleashed live fire as another group of…
World War II History: We Almost Used Chemical Weapons on Japan in 1945
In May, President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima reignited discussions of whether the United States actually needed to drop atomic bombs to force Japan to surrender at the end of World War II. What these debates didn’t touch on was that the U.S. military prepared to use other horrifying tactics, including starvation induced by…