Bringing Iraq — and my experience in Somalia — to the homeland by MARK WILKERSON Memorial Day is over. You had your barbecue. Now, you can stop thinking about America’s wars and the casualties from them for another year. As for me, I only wish it were so. It’s been Memorial Day for me ever since I first met…
Category: Warfare
Brush-Up On Your History: The Little Known Story of Operation Tonga
As part of Operation Tonga, the British airborne component of Operation Neptune (the official name of the D-Day), the 9th Parachute Battalion was tasked with capturing the Merville Gun Battery, whose guns were trained on Sword Beach and the British troops who would be assaulting it on the morning of the invasion. The gun battery’s defenses…
Profiles in Courage: The Tank Killers of Roughneck 91
I highly recommend the book Roughneck 91: The Amazing True Story of a Special Forces A-Team at War. This happened early on in the War and did not get a lot of coverage, but next to the Marines at Fallujah, this is definitely one of the most amazing stories of the War. -SF When a group…
Military Defense News: “Virtual Eye” Gives Soldiers The Edge in Urban Warfare
DARPA’s VirtualEye program could change the way soldiers maneuver on the urban battlefield. In just a few years, American soldiers might have the ability to see what’s inside a room before they ever breach it. And while it may not sound like much, that ability could transform the way combat operations are conducted in urban…
World War Two History: The Secret War Before Pearl Harbor
FDR ordered American military forces to ‘shoot on sight’ months before Pearl Harbor, just as Charles Lindbergh, the original America Firster, was about to address an anti-war rally. In 1941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War, historian Marc Wortman depicts how President Franklin Roosevelt led America into war long…
Military Naval History: Lessons From the Battle of Jutland
May 31st marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland. There, off the Danish coast, British and German naval forces fought as the Royal Navy sought to bottle up the German battle fleet in the North Sea and the Germans aimed to cripple the Royal Navy. In The World Crisis, Winston Churchill’s eloquent and…
Vietnam War History: Trying to Find Viet-Cong Tunnels with Witching Rods?
The Military Has Been Known to Try Almost Anything Once, Regardless of it’s Effectiveness For more than five centuries, farmers, treasure hunters and others have applied a pseudoscientific practice known as “dowsing” to find water, caves, graves and more. During the Vietnam War, American troops tried using the method to divine the location of…
Military History: 10 of the Most Insane Military Disguises That Worked
Modern militaries use relatively standard camouflage patterns and netting to try to hide themselves from prying forces, but not all camouflage and disguise is so boring. Some military disguises that actually worked were outlandish and ridiculous. 10. Israeli Commandos Fooled Sentries By Cross-Dressing In 1973, Israel launched Operation Spring of Youth as part of a…
World War I History: You Can Thank World War I Veterans For Making the Wristwatch Popular
After World War I, an entire generation of battle-hardened veterans came home sporting military-issued ‘trench watches,’ or wristwatches as we know them today. Essential for keeping track of time and much more practical than pocket watches for troops in the trenches or flying aircraft, ‘trench watches’ became a “newly endowed emblem of masculinity, modernity, and First…
World War II History: Bomber Plane Missing for 72 Years Found in the Pacific
TBM-1 Project Recover discovered its sixth WWII bomber plane since 2012. World War II American bomber plane the US Navy TBM-1C Avenger, missing since July 1944, was found in waters surrounding the Pacific Island nation of Palau, according to multiple news reports. It was discovered 85 feet under water within a lagoon. The plane was…