Browsing: Military

A Brief History On March 16, 1945, the battle for the island of Iwo Jima supposedly was won by the US, although fighting would continue for another two weeks.  Famous as a heroic battle won by US Marines, Iwo Jima has history often overlooked. Digging Deeper While 22 Marines earned the Medal of Honor, another five US Navy sailors also earned this highest honor.  Of the Navy Corpsmen that landed on Iwo Jima, 332 were killed and 659 wounded.  The aircraft carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk, killing 318 of her crew, the last US carrier sunk in World War…

Read More

A Brief History On February 24, 2022, days after recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Digging Deeper Russia’s invasion has had five major phases thus far.  The first phase covers the period from February 24th, 2022, when Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, to April 7th, 2022 when fighting focused away from the northeast and Kyiv and towards the south and east of Ukraine.  The second phase covers the period from April 8th, 2022, when the area of heavy fighting shifted to the south and east of…

Read More

A Brief History On March 7, 2021, the military of Equatorial Guinea experienced one of those “oops moments” leading to disaster when a military base near the port city of Bata suffered a series of massive explosions of stored munitions that devastated the city and left over 100 people dead. Digging Deeper Authorities blamed local farmers and their “slash and burn” farming techniques for starting fires that triggered the explosions, although outside organizations claimed such farming fires had not actually been set anywhere near the military camp. President Obiang did admit that the storage of munitions had been “negligent,” and…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More