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Staff Sgt. Zachary Tomczak was a stern but passionate leader while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division. (Photo courtesy of the Tomczak family).
Staff Sgt. Zachary Tomczak was on leave between his first and second deployments to Iraq and eager to hunt deer while back in his home state of South Dakota. So, he borrowed his dad’s .30-06 hunting rifle, sighted it in, and then headed into the field for a hunt. 
Later, his father Blaise Tomczak heard his phone ring, and when he picked up, he heard Zachary say, “Dad, I got one.

Originally published 2/20/24
Host L Todd Wood speaks with Marine Corporal Karl Lippard who killed hundreds of Viet Cong of 7th VC BN during the defense of Ca De River Bridge, Vietnam.
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Ukraine’s U.S.-supplied M1A1 Abrams tanks are getting new production-standard anti-drone armor screens, also commonly known as “cope cages,” on their turrets. Pictures of one of the modified Abrams show it has also received additional explosive reactive armor (ERA), modifications that have also been appearing elsewhere in the field.
This all comes roughly a month after U.S.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command carried out simulated missile strikes against Taiwan on Friday. It also sent “multiple batches of fighters equipped with live ammunition” and bombers toward “strike positions” near a city on the island nation’s southeastern coast, official Chinese state media reported.

The air-launched version of the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), the GBU-39, has been used in combat by Ukraine, a U.S. official confirmed today. Previously, Ukraine had only been confirmed as having received the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), although the value of this weapon in combat has recently been questioned.
“One U.S. weapon used by aircraft, the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, has proved resilient to jamming,” according to The Washington Post, in an article today citing confidential internal Ukrainian assessments.

Footage has emerged showing the recent destruction of a Russian S-300 or S-400 air defense system by a U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), a short-range ballistic missile that Ukraine has used in a string of high-profile strikes since its introduction last year. The video is perhaps the most dramatic demonstration so far of Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to nullify the threat posed by these long-range air defense systems, which threaten Ukrainian aircraft and standoff weapon operations over a radius of up to 250 miles, depending on the variant.

Originally posted Oct 7, 2023
War Stories Host L Todd Wood speaks with Frank de Varona about his experience before, during, and after the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
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The Space Development Agency is reworking its effort to provide ground infrastructure for upcoming experimental satellites to focus solely on advanced fire-control capability demonstrations, according to SDA Director Derek Tournear.
In late 2023, the agency initiated contracting efforts for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture Future Program (PFP) Ground Segment Integration (PGI) program — intended to provide ground infrastructure and resources for a range of experimental missions on orbit.

Satellite imagery confirms a Russian strategic early warning radar site in the southwestern end of the country was substantially damaged in a reported Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week. This looks to be a first-of-its-kind attack on a site linked to Russia’s general strategic defense. As such, it points to a new and worrisome dimension to the conflict, especially when it comes to the potential use of nuclear weapons.

Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Why do maps show north as being up? Anyone who’s bothered to ask has probably gotten a simple answer: “Because Europeans made the maps, and they wanted to be on top.