by Mark Krutov, RFE/RL The elderly and sick died quietly. Crowded with hundreds of others held captive by Russian soldiers for four weeks in an airless, unsanitary school basement in Yahidne, a village in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, the ill and the frail were particularly vulnerable. Several could …
Read More »The Bloody Shores of Iwo Jima: A Veteran Tells His Story
Donald Raasch is one of the few men alive who fought in the fiercest battle in Marine Corps history. by Lance Cpl. David Brandes and Lance Cpl. Ethan Miller MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – The corporal dragged his body up the obsidian sheet of sand speckled with other water-logged Marines. He clambered …
Read More »Soldiers Kidnapped in Central African Republic: Among the Shadows, Where the Dead Tend to Stay
by Gatimu Juma The last anyone saw of Celestin Bakoyo and Elie Ngouengue, they were stepping into a police station in Bangui, in the Central African Republic. That was on January 24. Since then—nothing. No official charges, no explanations, just silence. And in a country where men vanish and never …
Read More »Islamic State Launches Deadly Attack on Military Base in Somalia
by Mohamed Olad Hassan Nearly 100 people were killed and up to 60 others wounded when members of the Islamic State terror group launched a deadly attack on a military base belonging to security forces from Somalia’s Puntland region, officials said Tuesday. At least 27 Puntland soldiers and more than 70 …
Read More »Into the Taliban Stronghold: Marines in Now Zad, Afghanistan
A look back at operations in Now Zad, Afghanistan. No jokes, no talking, just business. The stern-faced Marines in the six-wheeled armored vehicle, known as the “Cougar,” listened intently to the chatter over the radio. “The Afghan army just got their first kill in combat,” said a Marine on the …
Read More »The Deadly Battle of Takur Ghar in Afghanistan
The fight became a cauldron that forged both heroism and tragedy, and produced the first-ever video recording of actions that resulted in the posthumous Medal of Honor for one participant, Air Force Special Tactics Combat Controller John Chapman. In March 2002 a joint military operation was mounted to surround and …
Read More »Ed Freeman and Bruce Crandall Flew Unarmed Helicopters Under Fire in Vietnam
Ed Freeman was close to retirement when war broke out in Vietnam. He was an experienced pilot by then and assigned to the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, which was sent to deliver troops to what became known as the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major battle between the United …
Read More »‘You Cannot Unsee the Evil’: A Report on the Graphic Hamas Terror Video, From Combat Veteran John Spencer
I am an American veteran who watched the footage of Hamas’s atrocities on October 7. People should know what it shows. by John Spencer I watched the roughly 45-minute footage of the atrocities conducted by Hamas on October 7 at a private screening at the Israeli Consulate in New York …
Read More »War in the Tunnels: When Combat Goes Underground
by Susan Katz Keating As the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel have brought urban combat into the forefront, U.S. defense officials are addressing what the complex realm of subterranean warfare will mean for American troops in future scenarios. “Our adversaries have adapted their capabilities against our weaknesses by expanding their …
Read More »Ty Carter Raced Through Withering Fire to Rescue a Wounded Soldier in the Battle of Kamdesh
by Katie Lange The morning of October 3, 2009, brought a hail of gunfire to Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan – and for Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter and American soldiers from his unit, it was a day of tremendous courage in combat. READ MORE about brutal combat in Afghanistan …
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