Vietnam War

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 […]

If the term “blue-collar” could describe any aircraft since the dawn of flight, it is certainly apropos of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. Tagged with such affectionate nicknames as “Double Ugly” and the “Rhino,” there are very few aircraft in history that have played so many crucial roles as successfully as the F-4. From air-to-air and […]

An F-105 Thunderchief avionics technician remembers writes what it was like to work on the jet and live in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. I’ll be writing from memory after 48 years and it grows dimmer with the passage of time and the aging process. But during this revisit to my time in the […]

According to the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), “Special Forces Noncommissioned Officer and CIA officer Wilfred “Squeak” Charette (nicknamed after the squeak his jump boots made when he walked) who was a pioneer in the development of the High-Altitude Low-Opening (HALO) parachute capability. Charette participated in training the first HALO class from SEAL Team Two […]

When recounting the stories of Vietnam, we have a tendency to focus the experiences of the ground troops, fighting their way through unforgiving jungles — but the fighting going on above their heads was also surprisingly hard on American forces. While the air conflict should have been one-sided (or so it seemed on paper) many […]

Special Forces operators from the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) conduct joint exercise with Soldiers from 1st, Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY. The Green Berets are seen wearing the Tiger Stripes camouflage pattern uniform. The Tiger Stripes was worn and popularized by Long Range Reconnaissance […]