When the Army Put Grenades Inside Footballs
If you’ve thrown a Nerf football, you can throw a grenade against invading Soviets. At least, that’s what the U.S. Army thought in 1973 — and put that theory to…
A Vietnam Medal of Honor Recipient Shares Leadership Lessons
Lt. Gen. Robert F. Foley has led a distinguished career in the U.S. Army. Graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he served as a company commander in…
Inside the US Army’s Failed Nuclear Ice Lair in Cold War Greenland
As Soviet ICBM tests and the launch of Sputnik in the 1950s added intensity to the Cold War, the United States turned its attention to the ice sheets of Greenland…
Letters from the Sheridan Field Hospital
A gloomy and tragic scene—one with which the inhabitants of the oft-contested city of Winchester, Va., were unfortunately all too familiar—unfolded throughout the night of September 19, 1864, as thousands…
This Excelsior Brigade Soldier Became an Accidental Journalist
When 21-year-old Arthur McKinstry left Chautauqua County, N.Y., in early June 1861 to join the Excelsior Brigade being raised by then-Colonel Daniel Sickles, he was better prepared to write than…
During the War Years, Posters From the American Homefront Told You What to Do — And What Not to Do
“The First World War saw the first widespread use of propaganda to stir patriotic fervour,” note Gill Saunders and Margaret Timmers in The Poster: A Visual History. “The need to…
Teen Drives WWII Tank to Prom Escorted by Flaming Unipiper Dressed As Darth Vader
Listen close, fellas. If you want to woo your significant other, know that limos and boutonnieres are out — tanks are in. Sherman Bynum, a junior at Washington State’s Camas…
How the Debt Ceiling Went From Boring Economics to Apocalyptic Politics
The Biden administration remains in a tense standoff with congressional Republicans over the national debt ceiling. On June 1, the U.S. will default on its obligations for the first time…
Get to Know the Heroic Namesake of the Newly Christened Fort Johnson
The Army redesignated Fort Polk, Louisiana, as Fort Johnson on June 13, concluding a move made in accordance with a 2021 Naming Commission policy requiring the removal of any names…
Why We Need The ‘Great Men’ Of History
Those who study warfare will inevitably run into the so-called “great man theory” of history. Simply put, it denotes the study of individual leaders and their abilities. In earlier times,…