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To observe the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the US Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing took 3 F-15 Eagles and gave them incredible paint jobs, reminiscent of the colorful and squadron-specific adornments featured on American fighters during the Second Worl…
The soldiers fighting at Little Bighorn in 1876 were facing long odds. The initial attack seemed to favor federal government forces, but they quickly found that the Native forces were much larger and stronger than originally suspected.
The U.S. Military drops big bucks for all sorts of equipment, supplies, and software. But while we spend millions to upgrade computers when better software comes out, we also spend millions to keep older software because, if we don't, it c…
Suffice it to say that John "Mad Jack" Churchill was a take-charge type of guy.
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but they're also great building materials. And the Department of Defense is eyeing a return to stick-based construction in some places where it currently uses concrete and similar materials. Fire and blast te…
Humping is a reality for many of us, and I'm not talking about the kind that has a happy ending. In my Marine Corps career, I estimate that I easily hiked 1,000 miles with a full pack — between 50 and 150 lbs. At a minimum speed of 3 miles an hou…
At the onset of World War I, the warring powers needed all the help they could get on both land and sea. So, when the British Empire lost two of her ships to mines and torpedoes, they did the only logical thing they could think of: welded the remain…
This article is not meant to disparage Beretta's products. The 500-plus-year-old company has supplied arms to every major European war since 1650, and the results are just what a weapons manufacturer intends their products to do. When it came to re…
During its development in the late 1960s, the C-5 Galaxy was more than $2 billion over budget – more than $7 billion in today's dollars, and well more than the cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The troubled program nearly broke the back of i…
The U.S. had laid a lot of plans for late World War II. After the fall of Italy and then Germany, America wanted to finally crush the empire of Japan and get final payback for Pearl Harbor. Luckily for the infantrymen and other troops slated to die …
During the Civil War, the Medal of Honor didn't carry the same weight it does among US troops these days. When it was first conceived in 1861, American troops getting medals for any reason was a new thing, even if it was for "personal valor." Mor…
On August 14th, 1945, as news of the Allied victory over Imperial Japan reached the United States, Life Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt immortalized an unlikely pair in a photograph which has come to represent the jubilation and relief Amer…
Military dress and fashion have been linked for a long time. Bomber jackets were used to save pilots' lives in WWI. Then, in the 1990s, they were used by sitcom bullies on TV shows. US soldiers have been wearing BDU camo pants since the 1980s. Now,…
As of December 2018, nearly 430,000 Americans served in the US Army and Air National Guard, according to Department of Defense data.Guard members sign up to commit one weekend a month and two weeks per year for training — but are often aske…
A pinnacle of wartime technology, the HMS Trident was supposed to patrol the Atlantic, doing submarine things. Maybe sink a ship or two, enforce the blockade, and smuggle a reindeer from Russia to England. If that last part sounds …
Ah, the vaunted Blue Book, known throughout the U.S. Army for being the first drill guide for American land troops. It is more properly known as Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, and it wa…
Please spare some sympathy for the member of the Special Operations Research Office who, in 1964, was ordered to take a good, hard look at the impact of "witchcraft, sorcery, magic, and other psychological phenomena" during the civil war in the Re…
The United States began registering men for the draft well before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor (it's like they knew something was coming on the horizon). After all, you don't want to go to the mattresses without the men and material necessary …
It may surprise amateur historians to discover that wars can take a humanitarian turn. There are many, many recorded instances of exceptional displays of humanity, even during the most brutal fighting. Considering the Nazis' monstrous reputation, i…
The world is full of unwritten rules. Don't make eye contact over a urinal wall. Order your usual or cheaper food when a friend is picking up the tab. I before E except after C or when sounded as eh as in neighbor and weigh, or when its the word sc…