Military History

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 […]

Buzz Aldrin, an accomplished pilot and academic best known as the second human being ever to set foot on another celestial body, is popular in a number of circles.  His participation in the history making Apollo 11 mission earned him a place in America’s heart, and his appearances in movies like “Transformers” and on TV […]

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, […]

As a former Special Forces soldier, I love reading books about the Special Operations Forces of not only the United States but other countries as well. But after devouring everything I could get my hands on about Special Forces during the Vietnam war especially those men from SOG some of whom trained me when I […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Anyone who follows or flew military aviation knows about and loves Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada. There is not a military pilot in the world who is not excited when they hear they might be going to Nellis for Red Flag or even just a gas and go. It may just be a […]

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 […]

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 […]

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), […]

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 […]