Pilots call it the Dragon Lady because the U-2 is tough to handle when taking off and landing – and isn’t easy to fly at altitude, where thin air at 70,000 feet is a tricky environment. The U-2 airframe that played a significant role during the Cold War appeared in …
Read More »My Father, an Old Photograph, and a Legendary Marine: Gen. Alfred M. Gray
by Heath Hansen As a child, I enjoyed looking through the photo albums of my father’s old military pictures. There was one, in particular, that stood out because it was of a serviceman other than my father. The black and white picture displayed a Marine Brigadier General clad in woodland …
Read More »We Worked Through the Night to Fix a Helicopter Engine Sensor – and Then Came the Crash
by Brian Dykeman, The War Horse The funny thing about memories is that your brain will let most of them drift off into a place where they only make an appearance if you see a picture, smell a smell, or if a certain song comes on the radio. Then there …
Read More »The Dark Side of a Soldier: A Battle Buddy Remembers a Fallen Friend
by Fred A. Ganous, SGM, USA (Ret) My wife and I decided that we were due for a much-needed vacation. Our home was less than a three-hour drive to the beach; that was the destination we were headed for. As we were driving, I received an unexpected phone call from …
Read More »Florida Deputy Saves Infant Trapped in Car After Deadly Crash
A Florida law enforcement officer saved the life of a six-month-old baby who lost consciousness and stopped breathing while trapped inside a car following a horrific high-speed crash. The baby was strapped securely in the back seat of her mom’s car when a motorcyclist slammed through the baby’s window on …
Read More »Hero Dog ‘Shimanski’ Honored for Courage Under Fire
An American multi-purpose canine (MPC) Belgian Malinois was honored for heroism under fire while serving four tours of duty with the U.S. Marine Corps. Shimanski was deployed to Jordan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia during his seven-year career and received the Animals in War and Peace Medal of Bravery for his service, an …
Read More »How I Got My M1911: Military History I Can Take to the Range
by Scott Stipe My first exposure to John Moses Browning’s iconic .45 caliber 1911 pistol was in the 1980’s, during my enlistment in the Arizona Army National Guard. Our unit had a weapons cage with a grumpy old sergeant who allowed us to touch and fire the M1911A1 45’s during …
Read More »Wounded Russian Soldiers Being Sent Back to Fight in Ukraine
Russian soldiers, mercenaries and militia fighters are being returning to the battlefield in Ukraine with untreated wounds and even after limb amputations, according to the British Ministry of Defence. This comes at a time when Russia is suffering a shortage of healthcare workers who fled the country in order to …
Read More »Would Putin Launch a Nuclear First Strike Against NATO?
“If Russia believes they have escalation dominance, Putin might get it into his head to launch a surprise attack.” Russia is far more willing to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield than NATO, a study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies has suggested. Tactical nuclear weapons are small …
Read More »Iran’s Underground Bunker for Fighter Jets
Iran has established an underground base for fighter jets designed to withstand possible strikes by U.S. bunker-busting bombs, state media reported. The base, named Oghab 44 (Persian for “eagle”), can accommodate “all types of fighter jets and bombers, in addition to drones,” the official news agency IRNA said, releasing images …
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