Desert Storm and Forward

“Eagle Down; The Last Special Forces Fighting the Forever War” is a powerful book by Jessica Donati that is receiving high praise from many including Sebastian Junger.  Jessica currently covers foreign affairs for the Wall Street Journal. She was the bureau chief in Kabul in 2015 and lived four years in Afghanistan. Eagle Down tells the personal stories of several Green Berets posted to Afghanistan conducting “training operations” following the official declaration that the “longest war in American history was [...]

“Sacrifice: A Gold Star Widow’s Fight for the Truth” by Michelle Black is a powerful read.  News that her Green Beret husband had been killed in action was just the beginning of a nightmare for Michelle and her family. Sacrifice is not a “grief” but rather emphasizes why it is important for our military families to be told the complete truth. Staff Sergeant Bryan Black was a Green Beret medical specialist killed October 4th, 2017 in Niger.  Staff Sergeant Jeremiah [...]

Lt. Col. Charles Faint joins us to further explore a couple of his recent military life related articles. His stories are often humorous but always insightful. (Disclaimer: Charles currently serves in the US Army. His opinions are his own and do not represent the policies or opinions of the US Army or West Point Academy.) Most of his stories usually begin with his two young daughters “ratting him out”. It happens so often he has taken to calling them OPSEC [...]

The Battle of Fallujah tested Dr. Donnelly Wilkes in many ways. It refined his medical skills AND his faith. He tells his story in the autobiography  Wilkes had accepted a Navy scholarship and was in his fourth year of medical school when the September 11th attacks occurred. At that moment he realized his career as a Navy doctor was likely to take a different turn. He chose to embed with the Marines in order to stay closer to his wife. [...]

The Devil’s Hand is the fourth book by bestselling author and former Navy SEAL Jack Carr. It follows on his three other wildly successful novels “The Terminal List”, “True Believer” and “Savage Son”. Jack served 20 years at the tip of the spear, beginning as an enlisted Navy SEAL sniper and rising to the rank of Lt. Commander.  When it became apparent that further promotion would mean he would no longer be in the field “kicking in doors”, he decided [...]

“Three Wise Men” tells the story of one family’s extreme sacrifice during the longest sustained period of conflict in our nation’s history. All three Wise brothers enlisted. Jeremy became a Navy SEAL, Ben a Green Beret and Beau a Marine. Together they would spend 1,600 days deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Jeremy and Ben would be killed in action, triggering the Department of Defense “Sole Survivor” designation for youngest brother Beau. The Fog of War is a recurring theme [...]

One might say that military service is in Col. Joseph Turnham’s DNA. His family traces their military service back to his sixth great grandfather who fought at Valley Forge and was present at Yorktown for the surrender of Cornwallis.  Turnham HAD planned to become a doctor until he took some flying lessons. He now has over 3,600 hours in the cockpit – 1,149 of those in combat. Prior to assuming command of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (one of the largest [...]

Operation Desert Storm would be Jeff “Tico” Tice’s first opportunity to fly combat missions.  Things didn’t turn out as well as planned. On his second combat mission of the conflict, a last minute mechanical issue forced Jeff to switch aircraft and didn’t allow time for his good luck tradition of spitting into the plane’s exhaust. On the second day of the Desert Storm "Shock & Awe" campaign Jeff’s F-16 was hit by an Iraqi surface to air missile.  He would [...]

Col. Michael Drowley has flown a wide assortment of aircraft over his career. Heavy bombers like the B-1 & B-52, the C-130 and C-17 heavy transport planes, F-15 & F-16 fighter jets, the B-2 Stealth bomber and even helicopters. But the slow and tough A-10 Thunderbolt is his favorite.   He is careful to make a distinction between fighter pilots and attack pilots. The A-10 was designed and built with one singular purchase – to support troops on the ground. [...]

Will and Cairo Cairo was a very special dog for many reasons – not the least of which was the fact he was part of the elite team chosen to execute Operation Neptune Spear – the mission to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden. Cairo’s partner and handler Will Chesney joins us to discuss his tribute to Cairo as presented in his book “No Ordinary Dog; My Partner From the SEAL Teams to the Bin Laden Raid.” Fellow [...]