Twenty-Four Years Ago Today In Beirut…
Read about it…and remember.
Read about it…and remember.
…in choosing a swampy, fetid pit of humours to locate the nation’s capitol was prescient – before air-conditioning. It had to be since days like the last few (heat index +130 deg F) drove Congress and the balance of the ruling class out of town and in so doing, protected the rest of the country…
By 1965, the US participation in Vietnam was reaching a juncture where it could choose to disengage (and thus concede the loss of South Vietnam to the Communist juggernaut – which then would then sweep across the rest of the SE Asia landscape). It could “stay the course,” with a limited ground role using advisers…
At the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month…the guns fell silent along what was known then as the Western Front as the Allies and Germany observed the agreement to end this “War to End All Wars.” While fighting continued sporadically elsewhere, in what were fast becoming the former empires of Russia…
Several years back I had the extraordinary privilege to get to know a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack who had been assigned to one of the gun turret crews onboard the USS Nevada (BB-36). As a junior "hinge" (O-4/LCDR) I was both captivated by the re-telling, first hand, of the accounts of that morning, and…
Today’s post comes by way of AT1 Charles Berlemann, Jr. Currently assigned to VAQ-135 (World Famous Back Ravens), he enlisted in 1998 and has made five deployments (see “Postcards from Deployment”). Interested since 1995 (Charles calls himself an “unofficial member), he joined the Institute in 1999. We have maintained correspondence for a few years now…
In every battle there is a moment when the combatants, and the world, seem to catch their breath. It is a fleeting moment, lost in the blink of an eye. But in that same blink, everything changes. Such moments are borne of desperation, of courage, of plain dumb luck. But they are pivotal – for…
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Well, there is at least ONE foe that has stuck around-and is still spilling American blood- since the Maritime Strategy of ’86 was penned….
Indeed. I am not sure though, is it a transnational foe or a rogue state foe, or a non-state actor, or a terror network? Hmm…
Indeed. I am not sure though, is it a transnational foe or a rogue state foe, or a non-state actor, or a terror network? Hmm…
As my Constitutional Law prof would put on the weekly quizzes – the answer could be “Any, None or All”… (and Skippy knows well of whom I speak…)
– SJS
SJS,
Thanks for the trackback. Trust me, I remember them. I also remember LT. Mark Lange, LT. Bobby Goodman, and CDR Edward K. Andrews (CVW-6) along with all the suits at the Puzzle Palace and Foggy Bottom who got involved in mission planning that lead to thier lost.