Category: Military History

I wanted to write about this particular warrior for two reasons, 1) for the amazing accomplishments he has achieved in his life, and 2) I met him and worked with his team on a deployment in 2004 in which he made a huge impression on me. Ivica Jerak, whose nickname in his unit was “Pizza,” […]

23 January 2007, Baghdad, Iraq, east of the Tigris River. Six years ago, January 23rd, 2007, was one of the darkest days in the history of diplomatic security. On that day, five men working as security contractors for the U.S State department were killed in Baghdad, Iraq. The morning had started like any other for the […]

Jake McNiece, considered the heart and soul of the rough and tough ‘Filthy Thirteen,’ passed away January 21, 2013. He was 93. The Filthy Thirteen were a Pathfinder unit of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. McNiece and the group were the inspiration for the 1967 film ‘The Dirty Dozen,’ and famous for […]

I recently found this article written by anthropologist Bruce Whitehouse who lived and worked in Bamako for five years as a Fulbright scholar.  Bruce hits it on the head with his point by point analysis of Western intervention in Mali.  The reality is that there really is no strategic value of Mali to the United […]

The event that gave birth to the world’s deadliest sniper was a short but bloody conflict that Josef Stalin initiated on November 30, 1939, and concluded on March 13, 1940. Known as the Russo-Finnish War, or Winter War, the goal was to reclaim territory lost in the Russian civil war of 1917. Convinced the territory […]

The harshness that became the four battles of Cassino occurring in Italy from January through May 1944 represented the difficulty facing the Allies trying to take what had been described as the “soft underbelly of Europe.” They had witnessed the successes at the fall of the island of Sicily and Salerno beachhead on the mainland, […]

Following the sad news yesterday of General Norman Schwarzkopf’s death, I wanted to better pay my respects to the man by learning more about his background and military career. I was surprised to find out that before he was “Stormin’ Norman” leading coalition forces to a swift victory against Iraqi forces during the Gulf War, […]

Tall, with a refined face resembling a statesman, Phillipe Kieffer was 40 years old when he volunteered for active military service in French Navy after it declared war on Germany in September 1940. He served aboard a battleship, then at Northern Fleet headquarters, as he watched his beloved France crumbled under the heel of German […]

Horses and war were intertwined throughout history until the advent of the automobile. Even though the wide variety of Fighting Vehicles now carry the Cavalry into battle, horses have found their utility in 20th century Law Enforcement and War. Although the day of General George Armstrong Custer and J.E.B. Stewart engaging in major battles are […]

By May 9, 1940 German forces had shocked the world with the lightning successes it unleashed against Poland, Denmark, and Norway. During that time another war, the strange ‘Phony war’ or ‘Sitzkrieg,’ had played out along the French border with Germany. Here, hardly a shot had been fired, and neither side appeared willing to up […]

As you stand there looking at it, as I did in June 2010, it is difficult to grasp the fact that for a brief period in time, it was the most important man-made structure in the world. A tiny drawbridge that spanned a narrow body of water in France. One that was subject to a […]

A SOFREP reader just recently brought this declassified training footage to my attention! -Jack [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj3uLDR2qFg&w=640&h=385]