Military History

Know Your History: The Invisible Hand of Conquest – How Smallpox Defeated Armies, Toppled Empires & Changed History

Posted on 15 March 2020 by The Tactical Hermit

Getting a Big Picture understanding of how contagions have shaped our history can put things in perspective. “Its presence shaped the fate of North America fully as much as any bullets, blades or bayonets.” By John Danielski THE CORONA VIRUS is not the first contagion to threaten the stability of civilization. Throughout history, disease…

The Last Living Paratrooper from MacArthur’s return …..

Posted on 2 March 2020 by The Tactical Hermit

Amazing Story. Thanks GP!

Columbia Hostage Rescue: A Vignette On Personnel Recovery

Posted on 21 February 2020 by The Tactical Hermit

Sent in by a reader, this is the full version of the clip referenced in the Jungle Crash post. Its an important watch for a number of reasons, but chief among them is the critical role of personnel recovery: Students in class have heard me emphasize in every course the importance of personnel recovery- as… via…

Uncommon Valor: The Making of the Marine Corps Memorial

Posted on 19 February 2020 by The Tactical Hermit

75 years ago, from February 19th to March 26th, 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima raged in the Pacific Ocean. For 35 days, American and Japanese forces fought for control of the strategically important island. That battle produced one of the most iconic images of war, a photograph taken four days into the battle by… via…

This Marine sniper left Vietnam with 103 confirmed kills

Posted on 7 February 2020 by The Tactical Hermit

This Marine sniper left Vietnam with 103 confirmed kills And it’s not Carlos Hathcock!

Henry Johnson the One-Man Army Who Fought Off, Dozens of German Soldiers During World War I

Posted on 31 August 2019 by The Tactical Hermit

Amazing piece of WW1 History.

John Stryker Meyer and MAC-V-SOG

Posted on 27 August 2019 by The Tactical Hermit

Not long ago I read John L. Plaster’s amazing book Secret Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines with the Elite Warrior’s of SOG. Then as I was perusing Jocko Willink’s podcast the other day I ran across three episodes Jocko did with John Stryker Meyer, another member of that elite unit, MAC-V-SOG that served in Vietnam. I…