S.L.A Marshall is a very well-known military historian. For decades his perspectives of combat were seminal and uncontested. Even later while his statistical analysis has been questioned his anecdotes remain unchallenged, stirring examples of what battle is like. The Atlantic ran some words from his personal notes where he documented the initial company by company …
“It is nothing; for this are we soldiers.” -Colonel Guy V. Henry-, severely wounded on the battlefield at Rosebud Creek, June 1876. Part I, Part II, Part III of BOTH SIDES OF THE CHOSIN series. Faith decided that on December 1st that he would attempt to take his force back the way that …
There’s been a rash of articles about Gen Mark Milley wanting authority to select the Army’s next pistol. This isn’t new. Gen Milley has been broaching the issue since October not even two months into his tour as the current U.S. Army chief of staff. On the surface, the argument makes a lot of sense …
Special Operations Command recently experimented using two OV10 light observation/utility aircraft in the close air support role in combat against ISIS. This incident has made a small splash in various forums and a discussion of the Air Force obtaining prop engine type light aircraft to do CAS especially with the venerable A-10 being constantly offered …
“…Because Washington permitted soldiers to make and to act on decisions that were beyond the purview of the military, because it forced them to bring purely military thinking into matters that remained in essence political…in short because Washington still sometimes acted as if there could be a separation between war and politics, the United States, …
“A sense of security is very often the beginning of disaster…” -Velleius Patercuslus- re Teutoburger Wald, 9 AD “That’s impossible. There aren’t two Chinese Communist divisions in the whole of North Korea…” -Major General Edward M. Almond- Noon, 11/28/50 when told of eight Chinese Divisions attacking X Corps at Chosin – – – …
The seizure of two US Navy riverine patrol boats January 12th has been widely reported. For those not following or remembering details, two Navy Riverine Command Boats (RCB) were captured by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces near Farsi Island, a sensitive Iranian naval base. One of the boats had engine trouble and somehow the GPS units …
At this point most know the story of SFC Charles Martland. He’s the Special Forces soldier that beat and physically evicted the commander of an Afghan Local Police (ALP) unit who laughed and admitted he raped a boy from the post his Special Forces team was on. Martland and his lesser known commander Captain Dan …
“The water downstream will not be clear if the water upstream is muddied…” -Korean Proverb- Part II, Part III, Part IV of BOTH SIDES OF THE CHOSIN Lt. Colonel Don Carlos Faith Jr. came home to stay on April 18th of 2013. He had been born in Washington Indiana in 1918. Son …
During this joyous time of year military history appropriately takes a back seat to Christmas shopping, family and most importantly the reason for the season. That said and wishing all of you the best holiday I’d like to shine a spotlight on a seminal event often forgotten in our military history, the largest, riskiest and …
