The 14 Intelligence Company (Part 2): Only few made it through Selection

Read Part I here. “From time to time, there is a requirement for men and women to volunteer to undertake special duties of a hazardous nature in Northern Ireland. Selection and training for the special duties is both rigorous and arduous. For further details, see defense council instructions…” Divine words for anyone stranded in a […]

Winchester Model 1897 Trench Gun

The Model 1897 Trench Gun is an old lead dispenser indeed, but it is the Great Granddaddy of our modern day combat shotguns. Shotguns have come a long way since John Moses Browning introduced the M97 to the world. In modern day warfare shotguns serve to solve a number of different tasks such as breaching, […]

Crystal meth: Performance enhancing drug for the German Wehrmacht of WWII

The topic of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and the debate surrounding them has come up frequently over the course of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The era of perpetual conflict we find ourselves in has led to an unprecedented and rapid growth of military technology and tactics. But the urge to make the warfighter […]

The CIA experimented on animals in the 1960s too. Just ask ‘acoustic kitty’

Drugs, nukes and animal operatives: Project MK-Ultra, the CIA’s infamous human mind control project, wasn’t the only thing that was going on in the ‘60s. In that decade, writes Tom Vanderbilt for Smithsonian Magazine, “the U.S. government deployed nonhuman operatives–ravens, pigeons, even cats–to spy on Cold War adversaries. “ Unlike MK-Ultra, this project was never the subject of a Congressional hearing, but […]

Remembering Green Beret 1LT Loren Hagen Medal of Honor Aug. 7, 1971

As the US involvement was winding down in Vietnam in 1971, there was still dangerous work being down by the Special Operations Forces working under the cover of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group). This in the shadows unit was once active all South and North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos but as […]

See newly declassified photos of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

As World War II wore on, America was faced with a terrible decision: should they use the latest in military technology against the Japanese, a bomb capable of killing more people than any other weapon ever devised… or should they rely on traditional methods to advance the fight in the Pacific, regardless of the cost […]

The “Green Beret Affair” Project GAMMA, A Massive Snafu for the Army

During the war in Vietnam, the US Army Special Forces were headquartered in Nha Trang. During this time, the Special Forces troops had a close liaison with the CIA and the two organizations worked closely on many intelligence and special operations missions. Their most successful covert intelligence unit “Project GAMMA”, had its mission effectively shut […]

The 14 Intelligence Company: Covert surveillance in Northern Ireland (Intro)

You’ve heard about the Special Air Service (SAS).  Perhaps you’ve heard about their maritime brethren, the Special Boat Service (SBS).  Chances are, however, you haven’t heard about their youngest sibling, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR). And for a good reason.  Created in 2005, this shadowy unit is the equivalent of America’s Intelligence Support Activity (ISA), […]

John Moses Browning’s other pistol: The story of the Browning Hi Power

The Browning Hi Power pistol is one of the most popular and effective handguns in the history of modern firearms. Based on a design by John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Herstal, Belgium, the Browning Hi Power is a single-action, semi-automatic handgun has been used by the armed forces of over […]