Arc Light marked beginning of B-52 involvement in Vietnam

By 1972, the war in Vietnam had persisted for more than eight years, characterized by a gradual, but massive buildup of U.S. forces.

That massive buildup began in April 1965, with the highly-publicized event of U.S. Marines wading out of the sea and onto the beaches of Da Nang, South Vietnam. Concurrent to this, and to support those ground forces, the Air Force deployed a portion of its tactical fighter-bombers to air bases located in South Vietnam and later Thailand. However, prior to this and in a less publicized move, Strategic Air Command deployed its first contingent of B-52 Stratofortresses to the tiny island of Guam in support of what became known as Operation Arc Light. Continue reading →

Distinguished Warfare Medal

The Distinguished Warfare Medal is a United States military decoration announced by U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on February 13, 2013. It is the first American combat-related award to be created since the Bronze Star Medal in 1944. The new blue, red and white-ribboned medal will be awarded to individuals for “extraordinary achievement” related to a military operation occurring after September 11, 2001. It is intended to recognize military achievement in cyberwarfare or combat drone operations for actions that do not include valor in combat. Continue reading →

The Ho Chi Minh Trail is arguably one of the greatest feats of military engineering in history, a Goliath of ingenuity and bloody determination. At its peak this 20,000km transport network spread like a spider’s web through Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, an indestructible labyrinth through which the North Vietnamese fed the war in the South.

Without the trail, there could have been no war, a fact the Americans knew only too well. In a sustained eight-year campaign to destroy it they flew 580,000 bombing missions, dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on neutral Laos, denuded the jungle with chemicals, and seeded clouds to induce rain and floods. At one point Nixon even mooted the notion of deploying nuclear weapons. Continue reading →

Ordered to Germany, Pvt. Hagel wound up in Vietnam

By ROBERT BURNS | Associated Press – Thu, Jan 31, 2013.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chuck Hagel says a funny thing happened on his way to the Vietnam War as an Army private 45 years ago.

He almost went, instead, to Germany as one of nine soldiers entrusted with a top-secret shoulder-fired missile designed to shoot down Soviet MiG fighters in the event the Soviets launched an invasion of Western Europe.

After two months of training on the weapon in New Mexico, and while packing up for his flight to Germany, Hagel decided he’d rather go to an actual war — Vietnam. His Army superiors, however, seemed to doubt the sanity of that choice and decided it better take a closer look at his motives for volunteering for combat. Continue reading →

The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is a subunified command of the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).  It is charged to study special operations requirements and techniques, ensure interoperability and equipment standardization, plan and conduct special operations exercises and training, and develop joint special operations tactics. Continue reading →

Bud writes:

I’m sure you have heard about the cruise ship that lost power and left the passengers stranded for five days without power/running water/hot food.

Well, I know of a group who were stranded for almost a year.  They had to eat out of cans that were thrown to them from a helicopter.  They were without cell phones and internet. Their only contact with the outside world was to write letters.  They didn’t get a change of clothes or a bath for weeks.  They slept on the ground and stayed soaked by the heavy rain for days at a time and people shot at them.

Don’t you feel sorry for those poor folks on the cruise ship?

Mission:

Provide fully capable Special Operations Forces to defend the United States and its interests. Synchronize planning of global operations against terrorist networks. Continue reading →

Mission:

The United States Army Special Forces have five primary missions: unconventional warfare (the original and most important mission of Special Forces), foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR), counter-narcotics, counter-proliferation, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, information operations, peacekeeping, psychological operations, security assistance, and manhunts.Special Forces have the ability to be virtually everywhere at once; this guarantees that they are the first on the ground or already at a crisis location when trouble starts. Continue reading →

Mike Stokes writes via Email:

It’s been 45 years since we were invited to celebrate the lunar new year in Kontum Vietnam. It was not a celebration any of us wish to repeat but it was an event which brought all of us closer together.

None of us will forget what we experienced that February of 1968 and the things we witnessed. Each of us carries a different emotion for what we were asked to do during our tours and I know many still carry deep scars.

My prayer for this New Year is that each of us will be able to separate a little further from trauma and pain. I pray we can each share our experiences of that time with those around us so that can help us unburden.

I thank all of you for your friendship

Mike Stokes