Dispatch: U.S. Military History Magazine

Arsenal: A-10 Warthog in Close Air Support, from the Cold War to the War on Terror follows the United States Air Force’s dedicated tank killer from its Cold War origins in Europe to its brutal proving ground over Kuwait and Iraq in Operation Desert Storm and later fights in Afghanistan and Iraq. Listeners hear how planners defined the close air support problem, how engineers wrapped an aircraft ar...

This Week in U.S. Military History: December 23rd, 2025–December 29th, 2025 traces a late-December calendar filled with turning points, from Washington’s icy Christmas crossing of the Delaware and the surprise at Trenton to the quiet formality of his resignation at Annapolis and the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. Listeners move from the frozen ground at Wounded Knee to a tiny atoll at Wake Island...

Beyond the Call: Technical Sergeant Cleto L. Rodríguez at Paco Railroad Station, Manila, 1945 follows a young Mexican-American infantryman as he breaks away from his pinned platoon to assault a fortified strongpoint during the battle for Manila in World War II. Listeners hear a ground-level narrative of the fight for the Paco Railroad Station, the decisions that pushed him across open ground under...

Arsenal: USS Enterprise (CV-6) in the Pacific War, 1941–1945 follows the “Big E” from the gray dawn over Midway through Guadalcanal and the Central Pacific campaigns, tracing how one fleet carrier helped shift the balance of the war at sea. Listeners hear Enterprise under air attack and launch pressure, the vast ocean problem she was built to solve, how her Yorktown-class design and evolving air g...

Headline Wednesday: USS Johnston and the destroyers at Samar, World War II follows a thin line of “small boys” that suddenly find a Japanese battle line bearing down on them off Leyte Gulf. Escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts meant for anti-submarine work and close air support are forced into a running gun duel with battleships and heavy cruisers. The episode walks through the momen...

In January 1969, the nuclear-powered carrier USS Enterprise faced one of the most devastating peacetime disasters in U.S. Navy history. A single misfired rocket ignited a chain reaction of explosions and fire across her crowded flight deck, killing dozens and threatening to destroy the ship outright. This extended podcast episode builds on the written Trackpads article, showing how a moment of cha...

This Week in U.S. Military History: December 16th, 2025–December 22nd, 2025 invites listeners into a vivid week where snowbound huts at Valley Forge sit beside jet bombers over Hanoi and spacecraft circling the moon. The narrative moves from a Continental Army on the edge of collapse, through the secession crisis and the shattering Union victory at Nashville, to the desperate stand at Bastogne and...

Beyond the Call: Private First Class Lloyd C. Hawks at Carano, Italy, 1944 follows a combat medic who crawls into open ground under relentless fire to reach and save wounded comrades. Listeners hear a vivid account of his repeated crossings between the lines, the desperate conditions on the Anzio beachhead, and the wider Italian campaign of World War Two that framed his actions. The narrative weav...

A tank built for the forests of Central Europe earns its legend in the sands of Kuwait. In this episode of Arsenal, we ride with M1 Abrams crews into the blinding dust of Desert Storm, from the brutal overmatch at 73 Easting to the long armored thrusts that broke Iraqi defenses. Along the way, we unpack how composite armor, thermal sights, and that thirsty gas turbine changed what tank combat look...

In this Living History episode for Dispatch: U.S. Military History Magazine, Dr. Jason Edwards opens a two-part series on the Medal of Honor by stepping back from individual heroes to focus on the medal itself. He traces how a young republic that distrusted decorations created a single combat award in the Civil War, how it was briefly used as a catch-all honor, and how painful reforms and redesign...

Headline Wednesday: Bastogne, Battle of the Bulge follows the story of a snowbound crossroads town that refused to yield under fire. Surrounded by German armor and infantry in December 1944, American airborne troops, tankers, artillerymen, and support units turned Bastogne into a ring of frozen foxholes and gun positions. This episode walks through the encirclement, the “Nuts” reply to a surrender...

On a moonless Atlantic night in 1952, routine carrier operations turned into catastrophe when the USS Wasp and her plane guard destroyer USS Hobson collided during a turn into the wind. In minutes, the Hobson was torn apart and over 170 sailors were lost. This extended version of our written article explores how doctrine, fatigue, and split-second decisions collided with unforgiving physics at sea...

This Week in U.S. Military History: December 9th, 2025–December 15th, 2025 follows a week where early Patriot volunteers, Civil War armies, and modern expeditionary forces all leave their mark. Listeners move from the muddy causeway at Great Bridge and the quiet but foundational ratification of the Bill of Rights to the bloody slopes at Fredericksburg and the decisive Union victory at Nashville. A...

Beyond the Call: Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class William David Halyburton Jr. at Awacha Draw, Okinawa, 1945 follows a young Navy corpsman attached to a Marine rifle company in one of the fiercest battles of the Pacific War, tracing his path from North Carolina to the fire-swept ravine where he gave his life shielding a wounded Marine. Listeners hear the story of the Okinawa campaign, the deadly ter...

Arsenal: F-14 Tomcat in U.S. Navy Fleet Air Defense, the Cold War follows the big twin engine fighter from tense patrols over the Gulf of Sidra to long patrol arcs above carrier battle groups in the North Atlantic and Arabian Gulf. The narrative shows the Tomcat in action as a fleet defender, explains the bomber and missile threat it was built to stop, and walks through its design choices, crew ro...

Headline Wednesday: The Foggy Tank Battle at Arracourt, Second World War traces a days-long armored clash fought in thick Lorraine fog, where American crews in Shermans and tank destroyers met German Panthers and assault guns at point-blank range. Set among the rolling fields, orchards, and low ridges east of the Moselle, this episode follows the United States Fourth Armored Division as it holds a...

From the smoke-filled skies above Fleurus in 1794 to the buzzing wooden Kettering Bug of 1918, militaries have long searched for ways to see and strike without risking pilots. Balloons, target drones, and early reconnaissance craft were fragile, often flawed, yet each altered the rhythm of warfare by extending vision and reach. This extended podcast episode builds on the written Trackpads article,...

This Week in U.S. Military History: December 2nd, 2025–December 8th, 2025 invites you into a week where a fledgling navy hoists its first unified flag, a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor shatters an uneasy peace, and a quiet ceremony in Kabul marks the end of a long combat command. Listeners follow the story from Washington’s risky retreat across the Delaware and the ratification of the Thirteenth...

Beyond the Call: Private First Class Clarence Byrle Craft at Hen Hill, Okinawa, 1945 follows a young rifleman’s one-man assault that helped crack a key Japanese strongpoint during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II, placing listeners on the muddy slope as he charges through machine-gun fire, grenades, and a deadly cave stronghold. This episode weaves the larger context of the Pacific campaign w...

Combat engineers have long been the arsenal behind the lines, shaping victory in ways that rarely make the history books. From minefield breaches to river crossings, from urban rubble turned into strongholds to lifelines of supply carved under fire, their work determined the tempo of campaigns and the fate of armies. This episode is an extended version of our written article, bringing fuller scope...

Dispatch: U.S. Military History Magazine is your daily return to America’s battlefields, flight decks, foxholes, and flight lines—now brought to life in audio. This trailer introduces the magazine and its mission: to tell the story of the U.S. military with respect, detail, and energy, one focused feature at a time. From frontline grit to high-level strategy, each edition is built on clear, engagi...

In October 1993, a mission meant to last just ninety minutes unraveled into one of the most intense urban battles of modern times. Task Force Ranger entered Mogadishu with precision and confidence, only to face a city that turned every alley, rooftop, and crowd into a weapon. Helicopters fell from the sky, convoys became trapped in endless ambushes, and soldiers fought through the long night in a...

The clash between failure and triumph defines the story of amphibious warfare. In 1915, Allied troops rowed toward Gallipoli’s unforgiving cliffs, only to be broken by terrain, fire, and poor planning. Thirty-five years later, Marines stormed Inchon’s seawalls, scaling ladders against the tide and reshaping the Korean War. This extended version of our written article explores how decades of painfu...

The First World War opened with the thunder of hooves and the proud banners of cavalry still carrying centuries of tradition. Within a generation, those horsemen faced extinction at the hands of trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns, replaced by the roar of engines, radios, and steel treads. This extended podcast episode expands on our written article, tracing how the decisive shock once deliver...

World War II’s front lines were never as fixed as maps suggested. In the forests of Belarus, Soviet partisans derailed trains and severed supply lines. In the mountains of France, the Maquis carved out fragile sanctuaries, daring to declare a Free Republic on the Vercors plateau. Across the sea, American Rangers scaled cliffs at Pointe du Hoc and paid dearly at Cisterna, proving both the promise a...