Eldon Bargewell knew he would serve in the military from a very young age. With Vietnam War heating up, he enlisted in the Army in 1967 and went straight to Special Forces selection. Once he received his Green Beret, he deployed to Southeast Asia. There, he further volunteered for the elite Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies […]
About Stavros Atlamazoglou
The Thing: How the KGB used kids to plant a bug in the US embassy
FeaturedA few weeks before the end of World War II, a delegation of youngsters from the Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization presented Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, with a carved wooden plaque of the Great Seal of the United States. A sign of friendship in the closing days of […]
The incredible (and unique) firepower of the US Army’s Night Stalkers
FeaturedThe 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is the U.S. military’s premier rotary-wing special operations unit. Created in the 1980s after the failed attempt to rescue the American hostages from Iran, the “Night Stalkers,” as the unit is nicknamed, has seen action in every major and minor conflict ever since. These are the pilots who flew […]
Makin Atoll Raid: The first submarine commando raid in history
FeaturedAlmost 80 years ago, U.S. special operations forces conducted the first-ever submarine-born commando raid. On August 17, 1942, Marine Raiders exited two submarines and took the fight to the Japanese at Makin Atoll. Although the operation produced mixed results, the raid still informs special operations doctrine to this day. America Strikes Back Following the […]
MG John Singlaub: The 100-year-old legendary commando
FeaturedThe U.S. special operations community is packed with legendary commandos who have turned the tide of battles and even campaigns with their heroic actions. From World War Two, when the U.S. special operations community came into being in the form of the Rangers, Marine Raiders, and the men of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), […]
How the largest airborne operation in history went wrong
FeaturedOperation Market Garden, the largest airborne operation in military history, was full of heroics, ineptitude, and bad luck. Envisioned and planned by the Allies to accelerate the defeat of Nazi Germany, Operation Market Garden fell short of its goal at the cost of thousands of casualties. The eight-day (September 17 to September 25) mission […]
Japan planned to launch biological attacks on California with submarine-borne planes
FeaturedAfter the likely victors of World War II had been determined, but before Japanese forces surrendered to the Allies, the Japanese military developed a desperate plan to attack America’s west coast with biological weapons. It was one of the most controversial proposed missions of the war. Because it never took place, it’s hard to imagine […]
Attack on FOB 4: The worst day in US Army Special Forces history
FeaturedEven before the U.S. military deployed significant forces to Vietnam, Army Special Forces operators were on the ground advising and training South Vietnamese troops. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Green Berets fought and trained in Southeast Asia. Out of the approximately 3.2 million American troops that deployed to Vietnam, 20,000 were Green […]
Cabanatuan Raid: The largest rescue in American history
HistoryPacific theater, late 1944. Allied forces have been gradually uprooting the Japanese forces and pushing them back to Japan. As its foothold in the Pacific shrinks by the day, the Imperial Japanese Army is getting desperate. Already the Japanese have shown a willingness to fight to the last man, an echo of the country’s ancient […]
Cowboy: A legendary commando in America’s secret war in Vietnam
HistoryDuring the Vietnam War, there was a small group of special operations troops who took the fight to the enemy. Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was a highly secret outfit comprised of Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and Air Commandos who conducted covert cross-border operations deep into Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam. SOG […]
