Author: Steve Balestrieri

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley, testified before the House Armed Services Committee. He was asked pointed questions about the, now-infamous, pardons issued by President Trump to three military personnel who had either been tried or were about to go on trial for war crimes in the Global War on Terror. Many […]

We always get good questions about how to pass some of the various selection courses. And while certain things will be looked at differently, many of the key attributes are going to be the same in the successful candidate in any course regardless of the branch or unit.  For today’s purpose, I’ll talk about SFAS […]

Last week when the horrible events in Pensacola, Florida played out, many Americans were shocked to find out that the perpetrator was a supposed ally of the U.S.. Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year old Saudi second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force went on a shooting rampage on the base. He opened fire inside a […]

At least 73 Nigerien soldiers were killed in an attack on a military base in western Niger, according to reports from the Ministry of Defense.  The attack took place at the military base at Inates, along the southwestern part of the country, which borders Mali. Defense Minister Issoufou Katambe said that the troops had been […]

Adolf Eichmann was one of the key architects of the Nazis’ “Final Solution” of the Jews in Europe. His arrest/kidnapping by the Mossad in Argentina and subsequent trial in Israel brought to the public’s awareness the horrors of the Holocaust. And the widespread use of television transmitted them straight to the public’s living room.  His […]

On Saturday night after 22:00, jets pounded three different Iranian militia sites in Syria, including at the all-important border crossing with Iraq. The airstrikes took place in the Abulkamal region of Syria. While no one is claiming responsibility for the strikes, it is believed that they were undertaken by Israel. Israel never comments on airstrikes, […]

The Iranians are taking advantage of the chaos and power vacuum in Iraq to solidify themselves in the country. They are now stockpiling a number of short-range missiles in Iraq. This is part of their plan to increase their leverage across the Middle East and to check the influence of the United States and Israel […]

Reports are surfacing that the United States believes that the unarmed drone, which was brought down recently near the Libyan capital of Tripoli, was shot down by Russian air defenses. General Stephen Townsend of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), was quoted by Reuters as saying that the Russian air defense operators “didn’t know it was a […]

Over Thanksgiving I was looking with friends and family at the webpage of GoRuck. One of my friends was looking for a challenge to push himself for this upcoming spring, so I recommended that he check out GoRuck’s events.  “Why in the world would someone do this for fun? And why would you ever sign […]

Many times we only hear about NFL players in the news for the wrong reasons: when they run afoul of the law; when they are sued for bad behavior; or when they utter something on social media that makes people cringe. But Alejandro Villanueva is not one of those people.  The former West Point cadet […]

In 1964, the United States involvement in Vietnam was a much smaller undertaking than it would become just a year later. The total number of U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1964 was 23,000. They were still considered technically advisors to the South Vietnamese Army. Nevertheless, 216 Americans would die in combat that year against the […]

Al Jazeera television has released several new details on the botched operation, by Israeli Special Operations troops, that took place in Gaza in November 2018. When the dust from the blown operation had settled, one Israeli operative and seven Hamas soldiers lay dead and the Israelis were peppering the area with airstrikes to cover their […]