Stranded on a beach; 400,000 lightly armed soldiers; fully-loaded enemy fighter planes bearing down on you — there’s a word for that: Dunkirk.
It’s a moment in history that gives every veteran that sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach, a sense of utter helplessness staring straight at death spitting from the wings of an enemy attacker with no way to fight back.
But the story of Dunkirk is much more than that, and the latest trailer released by Hollywood moviemakers who tell the story of that fateful episode demonstrates that hope, courage and tenacity played as much a role in that historic moment as fate.
In this modern adaptation, Christopher Nolan has now applied his moody and precise visual style on World War II. The “Inception” and “The Dark Knight” director tells the story of the “Miracle at Dunkirk,” a large-scale evacuation that saved around 338,000 Allied troops.
“Dunkirk” features frequent Nolan collaborator and “Mad Max: Fury Road” star Tom Hardy, Academy Award winner and “Bridge of Spies” star Mark Rylance, and Shakespeare master and robot-spider enthusiast Kenneth Branagh.
“Dunkirk” opens July 21, 2017. Watch the trailer below.
We all have our favorite military movies. Whether or not they depict combat isn’t as important as the aspects of military life they bring to the screen. Military films remind us of our own experiences and those with whom we deployed. The characters in these movies have been with us so long, it’s like we know them personally. Like the real-life people you deployed with, the characters are mixed bag: you like some more than others. Some you can’t stand, some you absolutely love. These are the military movie characters closest to the hearts of America’s veterans.
These are the military movie characters closest to the hearts of America’s veterans.
1. Everyone in “Full Metal Jacket”
“Full Metal Jacket” is supposed to be an anti-war movie, a treatise on the effects of overly macho masculinity, brainwashing in military training, and the combination of those forces in war.
Inside of the military, however, it’s the single most quoted movie ever. Everyone knows these characters and R. Lee Ermey’s performance as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman cemented everyone’s view of the Marine Drill Instructor in his own image, forever. Everyone from Animal Mother to Joker to Private Pyle makes this the perfect storm of characters.
2. Sgt. 1st Class Norm “Hoot” Gibson, “Black Hawk Down”
Hoot is actually based on three real people, based on Sgt. 1st Class John Macejunas, Sgt. 1st Class Norm Hooten and Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Rierson. In a movie full of memorable lines and moments, Hoot’s stand out and stay with you, especially his speech at the end.
Brad Pitt is really getting into World War II movies. On top of 2014’s “Fury,” he has another coming out in 2016 called “Allied.” Before all that, he was Aldo Raine, the gung-ho leader of a band of Jewish troops dropped into Fortress Europe to strike fear in the hearts of Nazis. It worked and we loved watching him do it.
4. Staff Sgt. Sykes, “Jarhead”
Swoff’s scout sniper training instructor is funny, good at his job, cares about his Marines, and is one of the most memorable Marines in film and television history. Which is saying a lot.
5. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, “Apocalypse Now”
Apocalypse Now is an older film, the second oldest on this list (1979), so it may move a little slower than audiences today are used to. Still, in a movie full of legendary characters and performances by the actors portraying them, Kilgore stands out among them because he’s not paranoid or crazy, but he genuinely enjoys war.
6. Lt. (j.g.) Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, “Top Gun”
Goose was the ultimate wingman, the guy who always has your back.
Trip was angry, brooding, and resentful of the country he had to fight for. He’s the first to voice his displeasure with the idea that nothing will change for blacks in post-Civil War America. He’s the first to protest unequal pay. It makes you wonder why he bothers to fight at all until you realize he’s fighting for everyone around him and for what lives they could have.
8. Gen. George S. Patton, “Patton”
This is the oldest movie on the list here, but is so chock full of moments that, in movie buff circles, more people remember George C. Scott’s depiction of the man than the man himself.
9. Lt. Dan Taylor, Forrest Gump
Even Gary Sinise once said that Lieutenant Dan became a part of the actor himself and make Sinise dedicate his time and energy toward wounded veterans. When the actor walks through veterans hospitals, the attitudes of the patients literally change because Lt. Dan just walked in. That’s powerful.
10. Pvt. Dewey “Ox” Oxberger, Stripes
It’s not easy to choose which character in “Stripes” stands out the most. There are strong cases for Bill Murray’s John Winger and Harold Ramis’ Russell Ziskey, but John Candy’s Ox will steal your heart.
11. Adrian Cronauer, Good Morning Vietnam
The relatively recent death of Robin Williams may have made this performance a little more poignant, but the real-life Adrian Cronauer himself admitted that Williams’ portrayal of him was more epic than he ever was in real life.
Specialist Jeremy Tomlin was afraid of heights but his fear fell away when he was in a Black Hawk helicopter, his mother said April 19.
Tomlin, 22, was killed this week when the helicopter he was on crashed into a Maryland golf course during a training mission. Two other soldiers on board were critically injured.
“Jeremy loved to hunt and fish,” grandfather Ronnie Tomlin said. “Growing up, he never caused anyone trouble. All he wanted to do was play video games. He was just an average kid.”
A UH-60 Black Hawk. (Photo: U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Jasmonet Jackson)
Tomlin, the helicopter’s crew chief, grew up in the Chapel Hill, Tennessee, area. He was assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion and stationed at Davison Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
He started playing video games at age 3 or 4, Jenny Tomlin said.
After graduating from high school in Unionville and turning 18, he headed off. He married his high school sweetheart, Jessica, before shipping off to Germany and they spent two years there, Jenny Tomlin said.
“He loved working on those helicopters and he loved flying,” Ronnie Tomlin said. When Jeremy Tomlin spoke to his grandfather recently, he said he was interested in getting into special operations.
Tomlin was aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter when it crashed in Leonardtown, Maryland, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Washington, D.C., the Army said. The helicopter was one of three on a training mission, the Army said.
Tomlin died at the scene and two others aboard, Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Nicholas and Capt. Terikazu Onoda, were injured and taken to a Baltimore hospital, the Army said.
Nicholas was in critical condition the evening of April 19 and Onoda had been upgraded from critical to serious condition, said Col. Amanda Azubuike, director of public affairs for the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. One witness described pieces falling from the aircraft and another said it was spinning before it went down.
A memorial service for Tomlin is scheduled for April 21 at Fort Belvoir.
“He was scared of heights, but in the helicopter he felt safe,” Jenny Tomlin said. “Not a lot of people can say they died doing what they loved.”
Some aircraft are practically motion picture stars unto themselves — see the Grumman F-14 Tomcats of Top Gun. Perhaps the most prolific military plane on the silver screen is the B-17 Flying Fortress of countless World War II films. Then there’s the F-35 stealth fighter, which has had a disastrous movie career up to (and including) getting ripped apart by The Incredible Hulk.
The A-10 Warthog’s movie career is more subtle. Its on-screen appearances are in supporting roles that reflect its status as America’s best close-air support aircraft. The low- and slow-flying A-10 is tough, durable and anti-glamorous. Its design is utilitarian — and not pretty to look at.
Battle-scarred A-10s head toward their doom in ‘Terminator Salvation.’ | Warner Bros.
Really, it’s a flying 30-millimeter Gatling gun with an armored frame built around it and an enormous compliment of missiles and bombed slung underneath the wings. When directors need something that flies and can blow up objects on the ground, the Warthog is a reliable character.
Not that the A-10 has always done well on screen.
Courage Under Fire (1996)
The Warthog made its first appearance — from what we can tell — in this Denzel Washington-led drama which served as Hollywood’s opening exploration of the Persian Gulf War. While not a classic and (at times) a bit maudlin, Courage Under Fire is a weighty and serious meditation on the inherently confusing nature of combat and the unreliability of eyewitnesses.
Washington portrays a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Medevac Huey commander Capt. Karen Walden, played by Meg Ryan, during combat with Iraqi troops. The White House wants to award her the Medal of Honor, but there are questions about what happened in the moments before her death — which may implicate another soldier. The investigation also forces Washington’s character to confront buried trauma in his past.
The A-10s are only in the film for a brief few seconds, where they napalm the West Texas desert which stands in for the Iraqi battlefield.
Jarhead (2005)
We have mixed feelings about this film. To be sure, Jarhead is a good movie — although Marine veterans will point out errors in detail. It’s a mood picture that gets at the feeling of being in the Marines while the movie Marines do things real ones would never do. The film deserves praise, but it’s not perfect.
Jarhead is heavily adapted from the 2003 book of the same name by Marine veteran Anthony Swofford, who served during the Persian Gulf War. In the film version, the Marines advance into Iraq when they see five A-10s flying past them. “Warthogs, baby! Those things are fucking tank killers,” one Marine shouts. “That shit’s a fucking monster!”
Pumped up at the sight, he falls out of formation, which triggers two of the planes to turn around and attack the unit. Note that none of this ever happened. In the book, Swofford references an A-10 strike on a Marine LAV during the Battle of Khafji, which killed 11 U.S. troops. There was no Warthog friendly fire attack on Swofford’s unit in real life.
The scene also flubs several other details. Listen closely.
Transformers (2007)
Fans of the Transformers franchise are more familiar with A-10s appearing in toys depicting shape-shifting alien robots from the 1980s. The A-10 does not turn into a robot in the 2007 Michael Bay ode to military hardware pornTransformers, but they do arrive for a battle with Scorponok.
It’s easy to see why — the Pentagon provided an unprecedented level of support for the film, helped rewrite the script and provided (paid) uniformed extras. The A-10 scene was even filmed at the U.S. Army’s White Sands, New Mexico testing range, which stood in for an Egyptian village.
Don’t expect 100 percent accuracy with sound effects and combat tactics — but the aircraft are real. Remember that the Pentagon doesn’t concern itself so much with unerring accuracy in movies. It cooperates with studios as a recruiting tactic (the military prefers films that have a generally positive take on the institution) and to boost morale for service members and their families.
Terminator Salvation (2009)
It’s a compliment to the A-10’s durability that director McG included it in his post-apocalyptic take on the Terminator franchise. Skynet has nuked the planet and the Resistance relies on the slow-flying planes for close-air support owing to their (relatively) low maintenance requirements.
But the results are … mixed. The United States built the Warthog to destroy Soviet tanks in Europe, so it seems like a perfect fit for striking back at the metal-boned terminators. But when the planes appear in the film, they’re easily shot down by Skynet’s air defenses.
Pentagon watchers will recall that the A-10 is at a center of a heated debate between Congress and the Air Force regarding the future shape of American air power. Terminator Salvation, in a way, illustrates the argument for scrapping the Warthog.
Proponents of retiring the aircraft argue that the A-10 is only useful when the enemy can’t shoot back, as the Warthog is too visible and slow to survive over a battlefield featuring sophisticated radars and surface-to-air weapons, like the kind fielded by Russia and China. Advocates for keeping the aircraft note that the U.S. military largely fights insurgencies and hybrid enemies, which the A-10 is well suited to combat owing to its ability to loiter for long periods.
OK, true, Terminator Salvation is just a movie. But we can expect robotic armies — with sophisticated sensors to boot — to slowly become an emerging reality over the 21st century. Arguably, they’re already here … if you include drones.
Iron Sky (2012)
The absolutely ludicrous Nazi-sploitation film Iron Sky by Finnish director Timo Vuorensola features a President Sarah Palin (portrayed by Stephanie Paul), a soundtrack by Slovenian industrial band Laibach and an invading fleet of Nazi flying saucers launched from a secret moon base.
That’s on top of the space-battleship USS George W. Bush … and a cameo by A-10 Warthogs (digital, of course).
We could complain about the Warthogs acting as the first line of defense in an air battle. The A-10 can carry air-to-air weapons but is a dedicated ground attacker. But this is a movie about Nazis invading the planet from the moon. At the least, you’d want to fight back with everything you’ve got.
I have seen this movie against my better judgement. (I’m a Laibach fan.) But I couldn’t finish it, and would not recommend it. I’ve put up with a lot of schlock-filled action movies — but I have my limits.
Man of Steel (2013)
We’ve previously observed that the U.S. Air Force gets its ass royally kicked in Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot Man of Steel. F-35 Joint Strike Fighters fly en masse toward the invading Kryptonian forces of General Zod only for them to do more damage to the civilian population than the enemy. Same goes for the Warthogs.
Two A-10s feature briefly during the battle for Smallville but get blown out of the sky. The U.S. Air Force assisted the production of Man of Steel, which curiously features perhaps one of the worst on-screen performances by the American military in a film — although it’s a valiant effort considering the otherworldly enemy threatening the planet. That’s ultimately a job for Superman, with terribleconsequences for humanity.
Reddit user admonishment, a British soldier who served in Helmand, Afghanistan, uploaded a set of photos of his mates and him on deployment with “Billy the Teddy Bear” in 2010.
Billy kept a Brit-style stiff upper lip even when an IED struck the vehicle he was riding in. Click through the photos above to see Billy’s deployment. And check out the original reddit post to see a ton of bear puns about warfare.
Who doesn’t love a good underdog story? This is especially true when you’re the underdog. Throughout history, armies have committed to fighting in the face of overwhelming odds. There are many reasons for this. Maybe it was to buy time for a greater force to escape. Or maybe it was because a small army was all that stood between a nation and its ruin.
No matter what the reason, the list of underdog victories is an engaging one, no matter why they chose to fight or why the army was so outnumbered in the first place.
Here are five of the best outnumbered victories in military history.
1. The English at Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt, Wikimedia Commons
If there is one clear reason why an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 English troops were able to decimate a much larger French force on their home turf, it’s the technological advancement of the longbow. The French Army may have shown up with 15,000 men, but they left with a whole lot fewer.
As Henry V rode into battle with the handful of troops that were using longbows, the English archers rained death on the Frenchmen. The French, wounded and sinking into the mud wearing heavy armor, were easy pickings for the Englishmen. When the archers ran out of arrows, they joined in on the slaughter. The French lost more than 6,000 men and were beaten so badly they had to marry off a princess to Henry to stop the war.
2. The Nazis at Belgrade
Although we are loath to give the Waffen-SS credit for anything besides being grade-A scum, the 1941 capture of Belgrade was probably a special operations coup that would be talked about forever, if only anyone else had won. Belgrade has been destroyed 44 times in its centuries-long history, so perhaps at the very least, this saved some civilian lives.
Using just six men, the SS infiltrated the heavily-defended city and fought its way to the town square, capturing Yugoslavian troops along the way. Once there, they raised the German flag. When the mayor saw the raised flag and the captured troops, the Nazis made a bluff, claiming the city was already overrun. The mayor surrendered the city and its defenders.
3. Napoleon at Jena-Auerstedt
In total, the French Emperor was outnumbered by more than two to one against Prussia and Saxony at Jena. Complicating his situation further was the fact that his army was divided. An entire corps, 27,000 men, was to the north of his main force. Luckily, his opponents were divided as well. If anyone knows how to conquer a divided foe, it’s Napoleon.
Also in Napoleon’s favor was the fact that his corps commander was Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout, one of the finest field marshals in military history. Prussia and Saxony weren’t so lucky. Their commanders were old and slow-moving, which allowed the two brilliant French leaders to take the initiative and occupy Prussia, taking just a fraction of the casualties they inflicted.
4. Oda Nobunaga at Okehazama
Oda Nobunaga (Wikimedia Commons)
Japan’s military history gets overlooked by armchair historians when it’s not about World War II. But anyone interested in military history should take a look at the Shogunates because it’s awesome. Oda Nobunaga was just a local warlord when Imagawa Yoshimoto raised an army of 30,000 men to topple the feudal government based in Kyoto. Despite fielding just 3,000, Oda decided his best strategy was to go on the offensive.
Oda Nobunaga and his men made the appearance of a much larger force using just banners and flags before secretly leaving their camp on the morning of the battle. By afternoon, Imagawa’s troops were busy celebrating their string of wins during a hot day, unaware they were being flanked. They weren’t even dressed for battle. Oda’s men routed the enemy army and Imagawa was killed.
5. The Parthians at Carrhae
Money can’t buy happiness or military glory. When Marcus Licinius Crassus, the richest man in Rome, marched 43,000 troops into Parthia (modern-day Iran), he did it without the consent of the Senate or the advice of military allies. He wanted to expand the power of his triumvirate by placing a puppet king on the Parthian throne. After all, there were only 10,000 Parthians in his way.
Crassus learned a lot that day. He learned that overwhelming infantry numbers don’t assure victory, he learned about super heavy cavalry, and he learned that fast-moving horse archers are hard for a legion to fight against. It would have been a good lesson to take forward, if 30,000 Romans hadn’t been killed or captured in the effort. Crassus was one of them.
A U.S. congressman and former Army infantry officer has started a company that makes an exact replica of the rifle wielded by soldiers he fought against in Iraq.
Dubbed the “Tabuk,” the Iraqi-made AK-47-style rifle remains a rare collectible and cannot be brought back to the United States. However, veterans who want a souvenir of their service in Iraq can get one made in detail to look and act the part.
And best of all, they have Iraq veteran to thank.
Army Lt. Col. Steve Russell is one of the founders and owners of Two Rivers Arms in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is making the replica Tabuk rifles and other Iraqi-designed arms. Retired from the Army in 2006 after helping lead the mission to capture Saddam Hussein in Iraq during Operation Red Dawn, Russell is now a Republican congressman representing Oklahoma’s 5th district.
Two Rivers Arms co-founder Steve Russell, retired in 2006 after 21 years of service. In that time, he served in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq receiving the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device and Oak Leaf Cluster. While serving in Iraq Lieutenant Colonel Russell’s unit played a key role in Operation Red Dawn, the capture of Saddam Hussein. (Photo from Jorge Amselle)
The replica Tabuk his company makes is a semi-automatic, long-stroke gas piston operated rifle chambered in 7.62×39 mm with a rotating bolt and firing from a detachable 30-round box magazine. And all of the original markings on an Iraqi Tabuk have been replicated to exacting detail.
In the Late 1970s Saddam Hussein ordered his Ministry of Defense to start production on a domestically made variant of the AKM. This was in the middle of the on again, off again war between Iraq and Iran and a reliable supply of small arms was needed. As the Iraqi military already had a good relationship with the former (at that time current) Yugoslavia an easy partnership was formed and tooling and training delivered.
The new Iraqi made AKMs were dubbed the Tabuk and were identical copies of the Yugo M70B1 and M70AB2 rifles.
Russell and his company spared no expense in making the replica Tabuk as close to the ones U.S. troops saw in Iraq as possible. In fact, they’re so authentic looking, Two Rivers Arms-made Tabuk rifles were used in the movie “American Sniper.”
The right side of the rear sight base on the Two Rivers-made rifle is marked “Tabuk” and “Cal. 7.62x39mm” in English just as on the original. Two Rivers Arms took special care to match the style, size and font of all the engravings using original samples. On the left side of the rear sight block is found the same text as on the right but in Arabic.
(Photo from Two Rivers Arms)
In between the name and caliber designation is the lion circle emblem that appears on all Tabuks. This is supposed to represent the Lion of Babylon standing in front of a pyramid and surrounded by a circle. The lion is standing over a prostrate man and has a saddle on its back as in legend it was ridden by Ishtar the Babylonian goddess of love and war.
A final touch of authenticity is that every rifle comes with an exact reproduction of the Iraqi instruction manual issued to troops and manufactured from an original and hard to find manual. It is of course in Arabic.
The Two Rivers Arms Tabuk replica rifle comes in at about $1,200.
Nearly 20 years after America was born, an Irish architect named James Hoban began laying down the first piece of stone for what would become The White House during an elaborate Freemason ceremony.
Less than 24 hours later, the first piece of stone that was laid down vanished and no one appeared to know its whereabouts. Since then, the search for the stone continues as various participants have attempted to locate the historic piece of foundation.
Although the formation of the Freemason’s fraternity is a fiercely guarded secret, their history dates back to 1390 when they were first referenced in a Regius Poem.
A commonly accepted theory is the group emerged from the stonemasons guild amid the middle ages.
In the late 1940s during President Harry Truman’s administration, the White House underwent major renovations as crew members brought in metal detectors in hopes to locate the stone by picking up its metallic minerals and many believed they may have discovered its location.
President Harry Truman — Freemason
When Truman got wind of the search, he ordered them to halt the exploration immediately, which caught everyone off guard. In response, Truman then sent pieces of the White House to several various Freemason locations throughout the country.
Watch the History Channel‘s video to see how many have tried to unlock the mystery.
Fun Facts: George Washington, James Monroe, and Andrew Jackson were some of the 14 U.S. Presidents who reportedly claimed the title of being a part of the Freemasons.
8 signers of the Declaration of Independence and 9 signers of the U.S. Constitution were known Freemasons.
The “Miracle at Dunkirk,” when 338,000 troops were evacuated in Operation Dynamo where optimistic estimates topped out at 45,000 might be rescued, was a turning point for the allies, allowing them to salvage troops that would fight in North Africa, at D-Day, and beyond.
In 7 steps, here’s how the British Expeditionary Force was trapped on the beaches of France and then rescued in Operation Dynamo.
1. The Brits arrive on the continent
British troops from the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, march through Cherbourg, France, in late 1939. (Photo: Imperial War Museums)
The military maneuvers and buildup between the two sides were dubbed the “Phoney War.” Belgium, the Netherlands, and other countries across Europe prepared for the likelihood of a German invasion.
2. The Germans invade
On May 10, 1940, the “Phoney War” came to a violent end as the Germans invaded the Netherlands and Belgium. The Germans quickly took ground and captured bridgeheads on the River Meuse, allowing them to invade France through the Ardennes Forest.
3. Allied countries collapse
Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium was thought to be one of the strongest forts in the world in 1940. German paratroopers exploited weaknesses to capture it in hours. (Photo: Public Domain)
The German blitzkrieg advanced faster and harder than most Allied leaders could believe, and countries quickly collapsed. One of the world’s greatest forts was captured in Belgium in only hours. The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and others surrendered within weeks.
4. The French and British withdraw towards the beaches
As army after army and country after country surrendered to the German war machine, those still fighting were forced to withdraw further and further east and north. They were pushed against the beaches of France. Panzer forces attacked and captured the French deep-water ports at Boulogne and Calais on May 25 and 26, limiting the potential evacuation options.
5. The Panzers stop
German panzers invade western Belgium in May 1940. (Photo: German Federal Archives)
The 48-hour timeline was agreed upon because it was the longest that forces could reliably hold out against German armor. But the German tanks had mysteriously stopped their push towards Dunkirk itself on May 23 by order of Gen. Ewald von Kleist. The next day, a full “stop order” was given by Hitler.
The Allies responded by quickly shoring up their defenses as best they could. What was a loose line of troops on May 23, likely to be brushed aside quickly, became a much more formidable line of dug in but exhausted forces.
One of the most shocking events in the evacuations began on May 27 when the Royal Navy requisitioned small vessels for use in the evacuations. Most of the ships were manned by the Royal Navy, but some ship owners insisted that they would pilot their craft to assist in the evacuation.
The British Army evacuation from Dunkirk (Source: Public Domain)
The fleets of navy and civilian vessels crossed back and forth across the English Channel, rescuing about 338,000 troops, mostly British and French, by June 4 when Operation Dynamo ended.
Learn more about the events of May and June 1940 in the video below:
Air Force intelligence analysts and operational leaders moved quickly to develop a new targeting combat plan to counter deadly ISIS explosive-laden drone attacks in Iraq and Syria.
In October of this year, ISIS used a drone, intended for surveillance use, to injure troops on the ground. Unlike typical surveillance drones, this one exploded after local forces picked it up for inspection, an Air Force statement said.
The emergence of bomb-drones, if even at times improperly used by ISIS, presents a new and serious threat to Iraqi Security Forces, members of the U.S.-Coalition and civilians, service officials explained to Sout Warrior. Drone bombs could target advancing Iraqi Security Forces, endanger or kill civilians and possibly even threat forward-operating US forces providing fire support some distance behind the front lines.
Air Force officials explained that many of the details of the intelligence analysis and operational response to ISIS bomb-drones are classified and not available for discussion.
Specific tactics and combat solutions were made available to combatant commanders in a matter of days, service experts explained.
While the Air Force did not specify any particular tactis of method of counterattack, the moves could invovle electronic attacks, some kind of air-ground coordination or air-to-air weapons, among other things.
However, the service did delineate elements of the effort, explaining that in October of this year, the Air Force stood up a working group to address the evolving threat presented by small commercial drones operated by ISIS, Air Force Spokeswoman Erika Yepsen told Scout Warrior.
Working intensely to address the pressing nature of the threat, Air Force intelligence analysts quickly developed a new Target Analysis Product to counter these kinds of ISIS drone attacks. (Photo: Scout Warrior)
“The working group cuts across functional areas and commands to integrate our best experts who have been empowered to act rapidly so they can continue to outpace the evolution of the threat they are addressing,” Yepsen said.
Personnel from the 15th IS, along with contributors, conducted a 280-plus hour rapid analysis drill to acquire and obtain over 40 finished intelligence products and associated single-source reports, Air Force commanders said.
Commercial and military-configured drone technology has been quickly proliferating around the world, increasingly making it possible for U.S. enemies, such as ISIS, to launch drone attacks.
“Any attack against our joint or coalition warriors is a problem. Once it is identified, we get to work finding a solution. The resolve and ingenuity of the airmen in the 15th IS (intelligence squadron)” to protect our warriors, drove them to come up with a well-vetted solution within days,” Lt. Col. Jennifer S. Spires, 25th Air Force, a unit of the service dealing with intelligence, told Scout Warrior.
While some analysts projected that developing a solution could take 11 to 12 weeks, the 15th IS personnel were able to cut that time by nearly 90 percent, Air Force officials said.
“While we cannot talk about the tactics and techniques that the 15th IS recommended, we can say that in every case, any targeting package sent to the air component adhered to rules that serve to protect non-combatants,” Spires added.
The 363rd Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing provides a targeting package in support of the Air Component. (Photo: Scout Warrior)
“The supported command makes the final decision about when and how to strike a specific target. Once the theater receives the targeting package it goes into a strike list that the Combatant Commander prioritizes,” Spires said.
Also, Air Force Secretary Deborah James recently addressed an incident wherein two Air Force ISR assets were flying in support coalition ground operations — when they were notified of a small ISIS drone in the vicinity of Mosul.
“The aircraft used electronic warfare capabilities to down the small drone in less than 15 minutes,” Erika Yepsen, Air Force Spokeswoman, told Scout Warrior.
While James did not elaborate on the specifics of any electronic warfare techniques, these kinds of operations often involve the use of “electronic jamming” techniques to interrupt or destroy the signal controlling enemy drones.
The United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan in August of 1945, attacks that convinced the Japanese leadership to surrender by destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killing 120,000 people, most of them civilians.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi has the dubious distinction of having been within two miles of both blasts.
Yamaguchi designed tankers for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. He was in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 finishing up a three-month business trip to the shipyards there when he heard the low, distinctive drone of a bomber overhead.
“It was very clear, a really fine day, nothing unusual about it at all,” he said in 2005. “I was in good spirits. As I was walking along I heard the sound of a plane, just one. I looked up into the sky and saw the B-29, and it dropped two parachutes. I was looking up at them, and suddenly it was like a flash of magnesium, a great flash in the sky, and I was blown over.”
The atomic cloud over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. Photo: US Air Force 509th Operations Group
He rushed to an air raid shelter where he found two of his colleagues who were on the trip with him. They rushed to grab their belongings and flee back to their hometown of Nagasaki. As they made their way to the train platform, they saw firsthand the destruction and carnage around the city.
The aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing. (Photo: US Navy Public Affairs)
“They didn’t cry,” Yamaguchi said. “I saw no tears at all. Their hair was burned, and they were completely naked. Everywhere there were burned people, some of them dead, some of them on the verge of death. None of them spoke. None of them had the strength to say a word. I didn’t hear human speech, or shouts, just the sound of the city in flames.’
He made it to the hospital in Nagasaki and was treated for the burns that covered much of his body. Despite his injuries, he reported Aug. 9 for work at Mitsubishi.
There, his boss did not believe the rumors that the devastation at Hiroshima was the result of a single bomb.
“Well, the director was angry,” Yamaguchi told the Daily Mail. He quoted his superior: “‘A single bomb can’t destroy a whole city! You’ve obviously been badly injured, and I think you’ve gone a little mad.'”
As his boss was discounting his story, the second bomb went off overhead. “Outside the window I saw another flash,” Yamaguchi said. “The whole office was blown over.”
The nuclear cloud spreading over Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945. Photo: Hiromichi Matsuda via Public Domain
Again, Yamaguchi was less than two miles from the bomb when it detonated. The second blast blew off his bandages and severely injured the formerly skeptical director he’d been talking to.
This time, the hospital that had treated Yamaguchi was destroyed so he simply ran home. He sheltered there, dazed by a bad fever until Aug. 15 when he heard that Japan had surrendered.
Yamaguchi went on to become an advocate against nuclear proliferation. In 2010 he died of cancer.
Raymond A. Spruance gets plaudits for what he did at the Battle of Midway. And deservedly so, since he won the battle while outnumbered and against a very capable foe.
But he arguably pulled off a much more incredible feat of arms two years after Midway, when the U.S. Fifth Fleet appeared off the Mariana Islands.
When the Japanese learned the Americans were off the Aleutians, they sent their fleet — a much larger force than Spruance faced at Midway, including nine carriers with 430 aircraft, escorted by a powerful force of surface combatants. Japan also had planes based on the Marianas.
Raymond A. Spruance, the victor of Midway, and commander of the American fleet during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. (U.S. Navy photo)
To protect the transports, Spruance had to operate west of the Marianas. His 15 carriers were equipped with the F6F Hellcat, a plane designed with lessons from combat against the Mitsubishi A6M Zero in mind (of course, finding a nearly-intact Zero on Akutan Island didn’t hurt).
According to CombinedFleet.com, Japanese admiral Jisaburo Ozawa planned to use the Japanese bases on the Mariana Islands to hit the Americans from long range — essentially shuttling his planes back and forth between the islands and the carriers. He was dealing with pilots who were very inexperienced after nearly three years of war had devastated Japan’s pilots.
Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters. (Wikipedia)
Spruance, though, had enough time to hit the land-based airfields first. Then he set his cruisers and battleships in a gun line ahead of his carriers. In essence, his plan was to use the advanced radar on his ships to first vector in the Hellcats. Then, the battleships and cruisers would further thin out the enemy planes.
Spruance’s plan would work almost to perfection. According to Samuel Eliot Morison in “New Guinea and the Marianas,” between 10:00 a.m. and 2:50 p.m., four major strikes totaling 326 planes came at Spruance’s fleet. Of those planes, 219 failed to return to their carriers. The Americans called it “The Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
Sailors aboard USS Birmingham (CL 62) watch the Marianas Turkey Shoot. (US Navy photo)
The worst was yet to come. On June 19, American submarines sank the Japanese carriers Taiho and Shokaku. The next day, Spruance began his pursuit. Late in the evening of June 20 the Americans sent out a strike of their own with 226 aircraft. The attack would sink the Japanese carrier Hiyo and two oilers.
A Japanese log said it all: “Surviving carrier air power: 35 aircraft operational.”
Spruance had just won a devastating victory – perhaps the most one-sided in the Pacific Theater.
A former Russian-backed separatist in Eastern Ukraine recently completed U.S. Army training, Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Washington Post reported Monday.
The 29 year old French-American citizen, Guillaume Cuvelier, reportedly spent his youth in the French far-right before going to Eastern Ukraine in 2014. During his childhood in France, he was a member of a neo-fascist group that broke from the National Front. The association presumably fostered his anti-European union views.
Cuvelier’s assumed the militant name Lenormand and fought for the Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist region of Eastern Ukraine sponsored by the Russian government. A photo WaPo reviewed shows him standing shoulder to shoulder with a militant accused of orchestrating the shoot-down of Malaysian Flight 17.
After arriving in Ukraine, he also set up a unit that declared France is “a slave of the American Empire” and the NATO alliance is a “terrorist military alliance.” Cuvelier appeared to change his tune after going to fight with U.S. backed Kurdish militias in Iraq in 2015. He was eventually kicked out for beating a fellow American volunteer with a rifle. He then made his way to the U.S. to join the Army.
His status in the U.S. military is currently under review “to ensure the process used to enlist this individual followed all of the required standards and procedure,” according to a U.S. Army spokesman’s statement to WaPo.
When confronted with his lurid past, Cuvelier pleaded with Gibbons-Neff not to publish the story saying, “I realized I like this country, its way of life and its Constitution enough to defend it.” He continued, “By publishing a story on me, you are jeopardizing my career and rendering a great service to anyone trying to embarrass the Army. My former Russian comrades would love it. … so, I please ask you to reconsider using my name and/or photo.”
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Working intensely to address the pressing nature of the threat, Air Force intelligence analysts quickly developed a new Target Analysis Product to counter these kinds of ISIS drone attacks. (Photo: Scout Warrior)
The 363rd Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing provides a targeting package in support of the Air Component. (Photo: Scout Warrior)
