A Brief History On March 1, 1939, the land version of an “Oops moment” happened at Hirakata, Osaka, when a Japanese Army ammunition dump exploded, killing 94 workers and soldiers. Digging Deeper Military operations are dangerous even when not in combat, with a variety of accidents that can cost lives, and dealing with high explosive munitions has caused major explosive accidents throughout military history. Some of these events include: The Delft, Holland explosion of a gunpowder storehouse in 1654 that leveled the city and killed over 100 Dutch citizens. The Birgu, Malta explosion of a gunpowder warehouse in 1806 that…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On February 29, 2020, the American Trump administration and the Afghan Islamist group known as The Taliban, met in Doha, Qatar, and signed an agreement by which the US would pull out military forces and bring an end to the longest war in US history. Digging Deeper The Taliban agreed to cease hostilities to allow the US to safely pull out of Afghanistan in exchange for the US to stop offensive action. Unfortunately, both parties did not bother to include the Afghan government, an incredible oversight. The US lived up to its promise of restricting military operations…
A Brief History On March 1, 2024, American sci-fi movie fans will be treated to the opening of the latest of the movies based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune. After the highly successful Denis Villeneuve 2021 reboot of the Dune story, the 2024 film, Dune: Part Two, is a sequel also brought to us by Villeneuve and with the same main cast. Digging Deeper Casting is indeed great, with Timothée Chalamet returning as the main character, Paul, and his frenemy/love interest Chani played by Zendaya. The all-star cast includes Christopher Walken, David Bautista, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Rebecca Ferguson,…
A Brief History On February 28, 1983, the 11-season journey of TV viewers finally came to an end with the airing of the final episode of M*A*S*H. An incredible audience of 110 million people watched the bittersweet finale, with their beloved characters planning their return to a non-war America. Digging Deeper A major downer in the episode was key character Hawkeye Pierce receiving psychiatric care due to extreme trauma caused by an incident where he witnessed a mother smother her own baby to avoid detection by a communist patrol. The rest of the episode is a blur eclipsed by this…
A Brief History On February 27, 2015, Russian physicist Boris Nemtsov found out personally why publicly taking issue with Vladimir Putin is dangerous to his health. A liberal leaning politician, Nemtsov had become a vocal critic of Russian dictator Putin since about 2000, ultimately leading to the assassination of Nemtsov. Digging Deeper Nemtsov had expressed fear of being murdered at Putin’s behest only a couple weeks before the murder, a murder by five Chechen men contracted for the killing. Nemtsov was gunned down while walking across Moscow’s Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge shortly before midnight. Despite being the victim of a crime,…