In the winter of 2004 a joint US, Iraqi, and British operation kicked off in Iraq. Local forces called it Operation Al-Fajr. Allied troops titled it Operation Phantom Fury. The world came to know this simply epic scrap as the Second Battle of Fallujah.
Will Dabbs
1SG Bradley Kasal: A Real-Live Superhero Amidst a Company of Superheroes
Published: November 13, 2022 { 9 comments }Bukit Kepong: The Malaysian Alamo
Published: November 4, 2022 { 6 comments }There is something visceral about the last stand. A small forlorn band bereft of support arrayed against insurmountable odds fighting to the last simply strikes a primal chord. Examples are well-documented. The Hot Gates at Thermopylae, Custer’s slaughter, and the Alamo stand out. These many tales of selfless bravery are profound and powerful. One lesser-known example is the siege of Bukit Kepong.
Albert Johnson: The Mad Trapper of Rat River
Published: October 25, 2022 { 18 comments }Why the heck couldn’t they have just left this poor guy alone? He lived in a cabin about the size of a large dinner table some sixty miles from civilization. He clearly just wanted to be by himself. Yet the Canadian government just couldn’t stand it.
Roy Chapman Andrews: The Real-Life Raider of the Lost Ark
Published: October 23, 2022 { 13 comments }The similarities between Roy Chapman Andrews and the fictional Indiana Jones were uncanny.
Marc Lépine, Militarized Misogyny, and the Ecole Polytechnique Massacre
Published: October 14, 2022 { 18 comments }I don’t carry a gun every day because I am paranoid or insecure. I carry a gun because my family and I share the planet with homicidal lunatics like Marc Lépine. If you feel differently then good for you. Do whatever you want, just leave me alone to make my own choices. There was exactly one thing that could have stopped Marc Lépine on that horrible day in 1989, and it wasn’t some ill-conceived piece of feel-good legislation. It was a good guy with a gun.
Joseph Stalin: The Short-Statured Weatherman who Killed 9 Million People
Published: October 8, 2022 { 21 comments }Stalin was likely personally responsible for the deaths of around 6 million people. His lunatic policies claimed another 3 million lives beyond that.
Terrion Pouncy: Tactical Darwinism and One Perforated Hot Dog
Published: October 2, 2022 { 11 comments }As anyone who has watched the news will tell you, Chicago has a bit of a violence problem these days.
Abu Khayr al-Masri and the Ginsu Missile
Published: September 25, 2022 { 8 comments }A friend of mine was one of a group of five military officers who first developed the concept of arming an unmanned surveillance drone. Then these guys decided to hang a couple of missiles under the wings, and the whole earth moved just a little bit.
Maria Susan Flores Gamez: Beauty and the Beasts
Published: September 17, 2022 { 8 comments }Maria Gamez was not the first Mexican beauty queen to get caught up in cartel violence. However, she was the first I could find reference to who was killed in action. Powerful criminals always seem to surround themselves with pretty girls. It has become a trope in movies.
The F4U Corsair: The Gull-Winged Whistling Wife Killer
Published: September 11, 2022 { 23 comments }Arguably the most venom I have ever seen has come from spouses spurned. It is simply amazing to see the depths of unfettered hatred that can spawn from a relationship presumably originally based upon mutual love and affection. Such powerful angst can precipitate some remarkably egregious behavior.