In 1942, William Holden he enlisted in the Officers Candidate School in Florida, graduating as an Air Force second lieutenant. He spent the next three years on P.R. duties and making training films for the Office of Public Information. One of his brothers, a naval pilot, was shot down and …
Read More »Fix Bayonets: He led his platoon through heavy enemy fire
Badass Alert! Maj. Edward F. Wright received the Silver Star for his heroism in Vietnam over 51 years ago. Silver Star Recipient (U.S. Marine Corps video by Sgt. Andy O. Martinez) On 21 August 1967, Lieutenant Wright led a 30 man reaction force against a well entrenched North Vietnamese force …
Read More »Master Sgt. John Chapman in the Battle of Takur Ghar: Wounded, He Fought to the End, Saving Lives of Teammates
By Jennifer Spradlin, U.S. Air Force During the initial insertion onto Afghanistan’s Takur Ghar mountaintop, the MH-47 “Chinook” helicopter carrying Chapman and the joint special operations reconnaissance team flew into an enemy ambush. Intense enemy small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire significantly damaged the helicopter, throwing Navy Petty Officer …
Read More »Uncommon Valor: Slam VII: “Shot All to Hell”
Slam VII: “Shot All to Hell.” The action involves a company-sized reconnaissance team from FOB-2 Kontum which has already been on the ground for a week. Ordered in to search, locate, annihilate, and monitor enemy resistance, the members of SLAM VII have already suffered greatly. Eighteen American Green Berets and …
Read More »Blackwater Injustice : Black-listed and betrayed
The Biden four by J.M. Phelps Members of Blackwater are petitioning the Supreme Court in an effort to find the justice that has eluded them. It was September 16, 2007, when a Blackwater security team – following a very massive explosion in Nisour Square, Baghdad – responded to assist another …
Read More »Remembering Joe Galloway, co author with Hal Moore of “We Were Soldiers Once and Young”
Joseph L. Galloway, author of We Were Soldiers Once and Young has died. I first met Joe Galloway during the Gulf War in Ryad Saudi Arabia. I had dinner with Joe several times and attended the daily 5 o’clock Follies News Briefing. He had as little opinion as I did …
Read More »Dostum, the Afghan Warlord Who Led US Special Forces to Topple the Taliban Regime is back?
UPDATE: Is the Warlord Dostum back? The “famous” warlord and the former Vice President of Afghanistan, Abdul Rashid Dostum is finally back, celebrating his return with a vow to “suppress” the Taliban., the Sentinel reported as Doatrom was reportedly in or heading for Afghanistan recently . ‘I predicted this years …
Read More »THE U.S. ARMY IN VIETNAM FROM TET TO THE FINAL WITHDRAWAL, 1968-1975
THE U.S. ARMY IN VIETNAM FROM TET TO THE FINAL WITHDRAWAL, 1968-1975 y the beginning of 1968 the United States had been involved in military operations in Vietnam for over seven years and in major ground combat for two-and-a-half years. In-country U.S. military strength had risen to 485,000, and …
Read More »EL PARAISO AND THE WAR IN EL SALVADOR
EL PARAISO AND THE WAR IN EL SALVADOR (1981–1983) by Charles H. Briscoe, PhD for SOC.mil From 1980–1993, the government of El Salvador, with U.S. assistance, waged a national counterinsurgency (COIN) campaign against guerrilla forces of the FMLN (Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberación Nacional). That COIN campaign was one of the …
Read More »EL SALVADOR: THE PUSH TO VICTORY
By Dr. Martin Brass From the January 2008 issue of SOF In the last four of a five part series on the American merc who had the most impact of any American in the decade-long El Salvador war, SOF chronicled the adventures of Harry Claflin. SOF launched Harry’s wild …
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