The Army-Navy game is back this Saturday. For the 122nd time, the two squads will go head-to-head on the gridiron for service academy bragging rights. It’s also a chance for Army to win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy outright (rather than sharing it with Navy and Air Force — lame). For Navy, it’s been a disappointing season. […]
Everything they got wrong about the Harrier in ‘True Lies’
Off DutyThe 1994 movie “True Lies” is a classic Arnold Schwarzenegger action-comedy flick with several memorable scenes, but perhaps none more iconic than Arnold flying in an AV-8B Harrier to (spoiler alert) rescue his daughter from terrorists. That twenty minutes or so of film time involving the Harrier is particularly important for a relatively small community […]
This Day in History: First Hubble servicing mission begins
History28 years ago today, Space Shuttle Endeavor launched from Kennedy Space Center for the first mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Mission STS-61 was smack in the middle of the 30-year Space Shuttle era, so what made this mission so notable? Related: Ingenuity: NASA lands its first helicopter on Mars The crew of the […]
This day in history: Marine Corps is born at Tun Tavern
History246 years ago today, the United States Marine Corps was born at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA. Several months after the first shots of the American Revolution were fired, the Continental Congress saw the need for a force that could fight both on land and at sea. Future president John Adams drafted the resolution that […]
This day in history: The Iran Hostage Crisis begins
History42 years ago today, militant students that supported the new Islamic regime of Iran stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 90 diplomats there captive and touching off the 14-month Iran Hostage Crisis. The spiderweb of events that preceded (and for that matter, followed) the crisis is worthy of a dissertation, but the situation in […]
That time I ran into my drill instructor — on my first date with my wife
Off DutyYou never forget your drill instructor’s voice. It makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Anything tied to fear or anxiety takes up some prime neurological real estate. This feature of the human brain might not be very helpful with modern-day problems like knowing what the deafening silence of a tough crowd sounds like. But a […]
Dramatic ‘United States of Al’ season 2 premiere is Thursday
Off DutyThe Season 2 premiere of “United States of Al” airs this Thursday with a plot centered around America’s recent withdrawal from Afghanistan and the evacuation efforts that came with it. For veterans who served in Afghanistan like me, it’s heavy watching for a sitcom, but a spoonful of comedic sugar just might help America’s medicine […]
The first US air to air kill was in a French airplane
HistoryOn Feb. 5, 1918, Lt. Stephen Thompson recorded the first combat victory in American aviation history. It certainly wasn’t the most conventional way to get a win. Thompson was in a French aircraft, and he wasn’t even supposed to be in the air! Lt. Thompson was in France assigned to the United States’ 12th Aero […]
‘I am where I’m supposed to be’ – HistoryFlight’s SgtMaj Justin LeHew
Off DutyIf you were to do some research on the opening stages of Operation: Iraqi Freedom, you would undoubtedly come across the story of Private Jessica Lynch and the rest of the Army’s 507th Maintenance Company. The 507th got lost in the midst of the blistering pace of the opening days of the offensive, ended up […]
Tokyo Olympics: Update on 19 service members and more
Off DutyThe greatest athletes in the world had to wait an extra year to display their abilities on the world stage, but the Tokyo Olympics have finally come. The one-year delay due to the pandemic was worth the added anguish for many athletes who have already competed in the six days since the opening ceremonies on […]
