veterans’ service reflections Archives

Gulf War – The Battle of Khafji

By late January 1991, the "war" part of the Gulf War still looked strangely distant. Since Operation Desert Shield transitioned to Operation Desert Storm, the war appeared very one-sided. Coalition jets had been pounding Iraqi command posts, radars, and armored columns in Kuwait and southern Iraq. That was all about to change. Saddam Hussein aimed to strike back in The Battle of Khafji On the ground, Saddam Hussein still had large forces dug in, and he wanted to prove they could strike...

The Kandahar Giant

Military Myths and Legends

The story of the Kandahar Giant sounds like something from a pulp adventure novel. According to this modern military legend, a unit of U.S. Army Special Forces encountered an enormous, red-haired humanoid in the remote mountains of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, in 2002. Over the years, the tale has spread far beyond military circles, capturing imaginations but lacking any hard evidence. Soldiers Reported Finding The Kandahar Giant As the legend goes, an American patrol had gone missing in...

Break in the Chain-Intelligence Ignored by W.R. Baker

Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War

W.R. "Bob" Baker's "Break in the Chain — Intelligence Ignored: Military Intelligence in Vietnam and Why the Easter Offensive Should Have Turned Out Differently" is both a war story and an indictment. It's part memoir from the cramped intel bunkers of I Corps in 1972, and part after-action review of how a major enemy offensive can roar through a command system convinced that it "can't happen here." Break in the Chain shows how one analyst made a difference Baker isn't an armchair critic...

Anglo-Zulu War: Wolseley And Rorke’s Drift (1879)

Battlefield Chronicles

I recently reviewed a biographical history of the men who flew on the famous Doolittle Raid of 1942 where I professed strong approval of that kind of book. Rorke's Drift Emerges as More Than a Single Famous Battle We now must jump back further to the year 1879 for a similar and equally effective work by the respected Zulu War historian James W Bancroft. This book, "Rorke's Drift: The Zulu War, 1879", is the sum of decades of work, provides biographies of the men awarded the Victoria Cross for...

War in the Pacific – The Battle of Manila

Battlefield Chronicles, World War II

On February 3, 1945, American forces entered the outskirts of Manila, capital of the Philippines, beginning the Battle of Manila, a ferocious and destructive urban battle against the Japanese that would leave Manila the second-hardest hit Allied capital (following Warsaw) of World War II. The Road to Manila and the First Days of Battle As part of his campaign to retake the Philippines from the Japanese (who had captured it from the Americans in 1942), General Douglas MacArthur first...

WWII – The Defense of Wake Island

Battlefield Chronicles, World War II

In December 1941, as Japan ripped across the Pacific, most American outposts collapsed in days. Guam fell between Dec. 8 and Dec. 10 to a larger Japanese landing force after only brief resistance by a small, lightly armed garrison of sailors and Marines. Wake Island was supposed to be another speed bump. Instead, a few hundred Marines, sailors, and civilian contractors turned it into a two-week fight that delivered the first American tactical victory of the Pacific War and a badly needed...

Capturing Skunk Alpha By Raúl Herrera

Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War

In "Capturing Skunk Alpha: A Barrio Sailor's Journey in Vietnam," author Raúl Herrera does something a lot of Vietnam books promise but very few deliver: he keeps you at "deck level" the whole time and still shows you the bigger war. Capturing Skunk Alpha Brings the War Down to Deck Level On the surface, it's the story of one mission: the July 1967 hunt for a North Vietnamese resupply trawler, codenamed "Skunk Alpha," and the small Swift Boat, PCF-79, that helped stop it cold off the coast of...

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Send Us More Japs!

Military Myths and Legends, World War II

The defense of Wake Island in December 1941 became one of the only bright spots in a month of disasters for the United States and its Allies in the Pacific. A tiny garrison of Marines, Sailors, Army radiomen, and civilian contractors held out from Dec. 8–23 and even stopped the first Japanese landing attempt cold, sinking two destroyers and inflicting heavy casualties in the process. Early war coverage turned the defenders of the tiny atoll into instant heroes. Wake Island Myth Became A...

Custer’s Last Stand

Battlefield Chronicles

In 1868, many Lakota leaders of the Sioux nation agreed to a treaty, known as the Fort Laramie Treaty that created a large reservation for them in the western half of present-day South Dakota. They agreed to give up their nomadic life, which often brought them into conflict with other tribes in the region, with settlers, and with railroad surveyors, in exchange for a more stationary life relying on government-supplied subsidies. However, some Lakota leaders such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse...

Taco Rice and the Legacy of Marines on Okinawa

Military Myths and Legends, World War II

In 1984, Matsuzo Gibo added traditional Mexican-style spices to ground beef and put the spicy meat mixture on a bed of rice, then added lettuce and shredded cheese. He started selling it from his food stall as a quick lunchtime meal. The simple dish, now known the world over as "taco rice," conquered Okinawa faster and with far less resistance than the U.S. military did during World War II. How Taco Rice Became a Beloved Dish Near Camp Hansen Gibo, who died in 2014, was the owner of the...

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Gulf War – The Battle of Khafji

The Kandahar Giant

Break in the Chain-Intelligence Ignored by W.R. Baker

Anglo-Zulu War: Wolseley And Rorke’s Drift (1879)

War in the Pacific – The Battle of Manila

WWII – The Defense of Wake Island

Capturing Skunk Alpha By Raúl Herrera

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Send Us More Japs!

Custer’s Last Stand

Taco Rice and the Legacy of Marines on Okinawa

Everything You Never Knew About the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

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