by Heath Hansen Murders, kidnappings, shootings, and drug trafficking should slow down during the fight. The big fight between Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez and Terence “Bud” Crawford drew tremendous interest among the fans, up until the moment Crawford emerged the victor. This clash and others like it also have had a …
Read More »The KA-BAR: America’s Iconic Fighting Knife, Proven in Battle
by Austin Lee The KA-BAR fighting knife has been a steadfast companion to U.S. Marines for more than 80 years, earning its place as one of the most legendary blades in military history. Adopted by the Marine Corps in 1942, the KA-BAR has slashed through jungles, pierced enemy defenses, and …
Read More »‘Arm Yourself’: We Went to DefCon 2 When North Korea Captured the USS Pueblo
by Ed Meagher, The War Horse I’d been communicating with B-52 pilots on the verge of nuclear war, and I hadn’t even known it. January 23, 1968, was an exciting day for me. I had no idea just how exciting it would turn out to be. I’d recently returned from …
Read More »Forward Air Controllers Called in Fire From Above in Vietnam
by Friedrich Seiltgen During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force’s Forward Air Controllers (FACs) became critical to the war effort, serving as eyes on the battlefield and marking enemy targets. The overall mission began during World War II with Air Liaison Officers directing close air support from the ground …
Read More »Alice in Chains, a Train Ride, and the Ghosts of Vietnam
by Heath Hansen I take my seat on the train. I’m in the Southwestern part of Drenthe, on the way to Amsterdam, so I’ll be on this ride for a while. As the train departs, I pull out my headphones, and a familiar tune fills the speakers. Rooster, by Alice …
Read More »Four Marines and a Night on the Town: What Possibly Could Go Wrong?
by Al Hagan The night started off fairly typically, just four Marines in a car, going out on the town to slam down beers. And it was innocent for most of the night, drinking and shooting pool. I’ll call my companions Mike, John, and Steve, to pick some random names …
Read More »Russia’s Field-Expedient Bomb Disposal: 44th Army Corps in Action
by A.R. Fomenko VIENNA BUREAU — The men move slowly in single file, scanning the forest floor. They are in Karelia, near Russia’s border with Finland. In footage from one recent patrol, the team encounters a bomb. Like their American and British counterparts, they neutralize the bomb by blowing it up. …
Read More »Project Acoustic Kitty: The CIA’s Cold War Feline Secret Agent
by Austin Lee Project Acoustic Kitty was a real CIA initiative in the 1960s during the Cold War, aimed at using cats as covert listening devices to spy on Soviet officials. The plan involved surgically implanting a microphone in a cat’s ear canal, a small radio transmitter at the base …
Read More »‘The Taliban Are at My Door’: The Whispered Message From a Friend in Afghanistan
by Susan Katz Keating “The Taliban are behind my door.” The whispered words came through the phone in the pitch of night, hours after Kabul fell on August 15, 2021. My friend “Hakim,” a man I had been trying from afar to help leave Afghanistan, called me from inside his …
Read More »Russians Work Their Quads: Boot Camp for Killer Drones
COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating Russian soldiers have been working their quads – the drone version. We snagged this vid from their Ministry of Defence, showing a quadcopter threading its way through a makeshift obstacle course in the woods. The setup looks crude, almost laughably so, with planks nailed into frames, …
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