Tag: Vietnam War

Situated in the northwestern portion of South Vietnam, along the border with Laos, lies the A Shau Valley.  At 25 miles long and one mile wide, A Shau the valley consists of tall and thick elephant grass flanked on either side by steep mountain ranges, dense with jungle, that rise between 3,000 and 6,000 feet. […]

Charles Ernest Hosking Jr. was a career soldier who fought as a U.S. paratrooper in World War II and was one of the original Green Berets when the unit was created in 1952. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam. A desire to serve Hosking was born in May […]

Crossbows have been around since humans could pick up tools, being mentioned as early as Biblical times. The crossbow has shaped the course of humanity, being the weapon of choice for countless armies throughout history. The history of the crossbow is certainly a long one. What is a Crossbow A crossbow is a weapon, composed […]

Have you ever heard the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? Well, this adage comes to mind when I think about the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun and the M79 grenade launcher. Both of these weapons have a very long, respected history and are still in service. They have been used by […]

Former Secretary of Defence General James Mattis’s no-nonsense approach to life is well-known. Before and during his tenure as SecDef, he pushed for more focus on warfighting and less emphasis on senseless exercises and training.  Gauging by his time of military, and now public service, the Secretary of Defense appears to prefer logic, and not […]

We’ve had the privilege to be able to sit down with a number of veterans who have represented our country and the veteran community well. Too often it seems, that only the negative side of the veteran community gets attention these days, while the vast majority is doing tremendous work both in uniform and when […]

On August 2, 1964, four North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the destroyer USS Maddox (DD731). This did not turn out well for the North Vietnamese. Between American guns and air support, one NV patrol boat was left dead in the water with the remaining badly shot-up. The Maddox took a few machine-gun hits. In spite […]

Special Forces soldiers and members of the Son Tay prison rescue force at the back of a C-130. Son Tay prison was located close to Hanoi and believed to contain a significant amount of American Prisoners of War (POWs). The military launched a raid to rescue them on November 21, 1970. The assault force engaged […]

This is the second part of a series. You can read part one here. The next day, D Company returned to the “butcher’s yard” in full (and dry) daylight.  This was a bad decision: a fresh unit should have been sent so that the morale of D Company would not be affected.  The day was […]

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 […]

Anyone who loves history comes to learn that it is messy.  They must not only accept this reality, but learn to embrace it. Unlike an epic saga, history is only of value when it is presented to us with “the bark on…” This becomes even more important when dealing with pivotal events. One such for […]

Command Master Chief Rudy Boesch, an old school, hard-charging Navy SEAL who came to prominence after his participation in the first season of “Survivor,” died last week. Master Chief Boesch died aged 91 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He died peacefully in hospice in Virginia Beach, VA. The legendary Navy SEAL served in […]