A brief history of armed conflict’s most controversial job Snipers play a key role in the world’s armies. They’re excellent scouts and can target commanders on the opposing side with an outsize impact. Working by themselves, they can pin down a group, creating fear and confusion. Thanks to movies such as Enemy at the Gates and…
Military Defense News: U.S. Navy Sinks Frigate with Anti-Aircraft Missile
A modified SM-6 destroyed USS ‘Reuben James,’ and that’s a big deal For more than 28 years, the frigate USS Reuben James served out a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy. Then two years after she retired, the former Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate ate an American missile and sank off the Hawaiian coast. It was no accident. In…
Cold War Files: The Americans are Coming
…or is it the Russians? The popular FX series premieres episode one of season four on Wednesday. (March 16th). In case you’re not already read in on the cold-war drama, prepare to be taken back to 1980s Virginia and into the household of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, a seemingly normal American couple who are actually…
Russian Hybrid Warfare and Other Dark Arts
Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, hybrid warfare has become conversational short form in the West for describing Moscow’s sneaky ways of fighting war. If there’s one thing you’ve learned over the past two years about Russia, it’s that it uses hybrid warfare, a dangerous Kremlin innovation the West must learn to grapple with. In two…
Military History: How the IED Rocked the Modern Battlefield
Brian Castner’s new book offers unflinching testimony of how the IED devastated the EOD community in Iraq and Afghanistan. The face of the man who wanted to kill me wasn’t immediately visible — the photo of him required close examination. My company commander took the picture while deployed to Iraq in 2005. On a…
Espionage Files: Spy vs Spies: Why Deciphering Putin is So Hard for U.S. Intelligence
American intelligence officers are trained to tackle tough targets. But there are tough targets, and then there’s Russian President Vladimir Putin, who plays his cards so closely that it’s hard for his own advisers to divine what he’s thinking, says Gregory Treverton, chairman of the National Intelligence Council. “Putin is so isolated that the chances…
“Mind Shattering” WW2 Vet Recalls Terrifying Din of Battle
“That shrill sound is something I’ve never heard duplicated. It’s just mind-shattering.” BATTLEFIELDS are loud places – deafeningly loud. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, hearing damage is by far the most common disability reported by soldiers in combat. In fact, more than 400,000 Americans who served overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan since…
Another Reason to be Armed: Mississippi Father and Mother Shoot and Kill Home Invader after Being Stabbed
A Happy Ending ONLY because the homeowners were armed and had the CHANCE to get to their GUN. This incident goes to show why you and your spouse should go out and shoot together REGULARLY and why you should go armed 24/7, even in your own home. A Gun does you NO GOOD if you…
Wounded Warrior Foundation: Here a Crook, There A Crook Everywhere A Crook Crook
It seems you cannot get away from Crooks lately…from the Political theater on TV 24/7 (The Bread and Circus Circuit) to Lying Corporate Assholes abusing their office and using money that was supposed to go to helping Wounded Veterans and their Families and instead using it to stay at Expensive resorts and God knows what…
Border Security: The Legacy of Pancho Villa’s Raid on America
Ever since “Black Jack” Pershing rode into Mexico to hunt for Pancho Villa, the United States started a pattern of personalizing Latin American security threats. In the words of one U.S. cavalry officer, Columbus, New Mexico in 1916 was little more than “a cluster of adobe houses, a hotel, a few stores and streets knee…