Military History

Green Beret Combat Divers play as Russian Spetsnaz

I was with 1st Group of the Green Berets (GB) Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 155 at Aleutian Island chain Naval Air Station (NAS) Adak, Alaska. We were the combat dive detachment in my battalion. We were been given a most unusual mission to execute in Adak as part of a training exercise: mimic a Russian Spetsnaz […]

Today in Aviation History: 1979 first flight of the Navy’s Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk

December 12, 1979 marked the first flight of the US Navy’s Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk. Derived from the Army’s UH-60 Blackhawk the Navy uses the Seahawk in a variety of missions including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, search and rescue, replenishment, mine detection and medical evacuation. It entered service for the Navy on 22 June 1989. Watch […]

The Army Marksmanship Unit cross-trains 3/75 Ranger Snipers

The Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU), based out of Ft. Benning, Georgia, produces some of the world’s best marksmen. It does not matter if the discipline is rifle, 3-Gun, shotgun, pistol, or air rifle, the AMU continuously remains among the top of elite shooters, both military- and civilian-wide. The AMU has a very unique relationship with 3rd Ranger Battalion snipers. In […]

The Navy’s deadly Mk6 Attack Dolphin Program

In the Fleet’s Operational Marine Mammal Systems (MMS), the Navy uses dolphins and sea lions to find and mark the location of underwater objects. Dolphins are essential because their exceptional biological sonar is unmatched by hardware sonars in detecting objects in the water column and on the seafloor. Sea lions are used because they have […]

Phillip Knightley, journalist who helped expose Kim Philby as Soviet spy, dies at 87

Phillip Knightley, an Australian-born journalist who helped reveal that British spy Kim Philby was a double agent of the Soviet Union and who later interviewed Philby in Moscow, and who wrote compelling books about journalism and the history of spycraft, died Wednesday in London. He was 87. His death was first reported by the London […]

Throw a nickel on the grass… save a fighters pilot’s ass

2016 seems to have had a more than usual number of military pilots that have been lost. As you read the many stories of crashes and accidents you may have seen someone comment, “Throw a Nickel on the Grass.” There may be a bit of debate about the exact origins of the saying but all […]

Recently released source code reveals a human side to Apollo 11’s guidance programming

We’ve all had jobs that asked a lot of us. Sometimes the work that needs to get done requires more hours than it seems like any sane person would give, leaving you and your coworkers with no choice but to find ways to make another few hours bearable, another long night survivable, and another humorless […]

America’s secret Cold War plan to nuke the Moon

In 1958, the United States Air Force launched Project A119, also known as “A Study of Lunar Research Flights.” While the US would not visit the moon with a manned mission for eleven more years, this project involved sending something quite different to the lunar surface: a nuclear missile. As the United States and the […]

John Glenn dies at 95; hero was first American to orbit the Earth

John Glenn, who became an American hero as the first U.S. citizen to orbit the Earth and then relived that glory 36 years later as the oldest man to go into space, has died. He was 95. Glenn, who also served for 24 years as a U.S. senator from Ohio, died after being hospitalized in […]

Pearl Harbor Survivors do the mannequin challenge like seasoned pros

Viral challenges aren’t just for youngsters. In fact, some of the nation’s most respected and longest-lived military veterans just participated in the most popular challenge of the moment: the #MannequinChallenge. Watch below as Pearl Harbor survivors visiting the Hawaiian island of Oahu for the 75th anniversary of the attack give young whippersnappers a run for […]

One died at Pearl Harbor, the other lived. Seventy-five years later, they’ll be reunited.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — When John D. Anderson reached his battle station in the USS Arizona’s No. 4 turret that morning, he realized the gigantic guns could do nothing against the swarms of attacking Japanese airplanes. But his twin brother, Delbert “Jake” Anderson, was manning an antiaircraft gun out on deck, and was in the […]

Pearl Harbor survivor remembers: ‘All hell broke loose’

It was 75 years ago Wednesday that Oxnard resident Edward Waszkiewicz, then a 20-year-old fireman with the Navy, witnessed what he said sounded like the “end of the world coming.” On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Waszkiewicz looked up and saw three planes swooping down onto what was known as “Battleship Row,” a group of […]