Author: Michael

For as long as wars have been fought, great military leaders have been able to use the power of the pulpit to motivate their troops. The right words delivered in the right way at the right time have helped to turn the tide when morale was suffering, when casualties were high and ammo was low.

Here are 16 excerpts from the best orations given to key audiences during history’s crucial pivot points:
1. PERICLES appealing for war against the Spartans, 432BCE
Bust of Pericles bearing the inscription “Pericles, son of Xanthippus, Athenian”.

This submachine gun was a weapon that didn’t get any respect – at least as far as its nicknames are concerned.

A British paratrooper wields a Sten gun during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. (U.K. Ministry of Defense photo)
In fact, some were downright insulting.  The more printable epithets include “The Woolworth Special,” “The Plumbers Delight” and “The Stench Gun.”
But there’s no doubt about it: The Sten gun was one of the most widely used submachine guns of World War II, even if it did look like it was made from leftover pieces of plumbing.

In 2017, the United States Special Operations Command tested a high-energy laser on the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, marking the first time such a weapon had been deployed aboard a rotary-wing aircraft. Since then, much has been done in secret to advance the impressive technology. 

According to defense company Raytheon, the test was a complete success, “providing solid experimental evidence for the feasibility of high resolution, multi-band targeting sensor performance and beam propagation supportive of High Energy Laser capability for the rotary-wing attack mission.

When people think of American firearm manufacturers, legendary names like Colt, Smith & Wesson and Springfield come to mind. However, the modern firearms that today’s Springfield Armory makes like the M1A, SAINT AR-15s, XD pistols and Hellcat sub-compact pistol have little, if any, relation to classic American firearms like the M1903 Springfield and M1 Garand rifles that served in the World Wars. To explain, we have to go back to America’s fight for independence.
Springfield Armory’s origin story
In 1777, George Washington was searching for a suitable location for an arms repository.

It was a regular April night around the Luttrell home near Huntsville, Texas. It had been five years since Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell fought the 2005 firefight with the Taliban that was portrayed in the film Lone Survivor. Since then, he received a Yellow Labrador puppy to help him recover from the unseen wounds of the war. He named the pup “Dasy,” an acronym of the names of his fellow SEALs — the ones that didn’t survive the battle.

A shot rang out throughout the area of the house.

iTunes pulled together some of the most riveting and inspiring podcasts hosted by military veterans and put them all on one landing page.

These military podcasts cover a variety of topics such as, self improvement, fitness, comedy, personal war stories, and more. There’s a show for every listener.

Here are 10 shows we found impossible to turn off once we tuned in:

1. Eagle Nation Podcast
Eagle Nation Podcast, iTunes
The Eagle Nation Podcast by Team RWB explores veterans, community, nonprofits, fitness, and leadership.

2.

Adobe
Ceramic coating is a protective measure used in car detailing. In some ways, it’s effectively replaced trusty old carnauba wax and polymer sealants as the go-to post-cleaning protectant. At a pro level, it could even be a less expensive alternative to a paint-protection wrap. Here’s a deeper rundown.
Ceramic coating initially gained popularity as a professional service provided by detailing shops, but it’s lately become more widely available, more affordable, and easier to use for DIY’ers.

Five al-Qaeda militants hijacked American Airlines flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001. The plane was on its way from Dulles Airport outside of Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, CA. The plane made it as far as eastern Kentucky before the terrorists took over the plane, redirected it, and slammed it into the Pentagon.
The FBI added 27 images the agency took on the ground that day to their photo vault, as first responders raced to rescue the wounded and remove the dead from the shell of the nation’s symbol of military power.
Debris from the plane and the building are highlighted.

Gold Star Spouses Day has its origins way back to World War I. The families of servicemen would fly banners and hang them in their windows. These banners had a blue star to represent a service member in uniform. But, if their loved one was killed in action, the color of the star was changed from blue to gold, thus notifying the community the ultimate price that family had paid for their country. 
1. The Gold Star lapel pin was created in 1947
Following the popularity of the banners, in 1947, Congress approved the design for the official Gold Star lapel pin/button.

If you’re a sheep farmer, sheep dipping means you’re literally dipping sheep in a bath made to kill insects and fungus. It’s a good way to keep your flock healthy. If you’re in the military and about to be sheep dipped, it means your life is about to get a whole lot more interesting. It’s a term intelligence agencies use when they pretend to boot someone out of the military but secretly turn them into a covert operative.
Don’t worry, you still get your military retirement time. You just can’t tell anyone about it.