"Trust your NCOs" is common advice given to every new lieutenant. This adage, the overwhelming majority of the time, is valid. But when it’s not, it’s not. When Chris Liggett was a lieutenant, he deployed to Afghanistan as an infantry platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division. His weapons squad leader was fit, aggressive, capable, and confident—and his hard work earned him Liggett's trust. So when his platoon was given responsibility for gate security at Forward Operating Base Fenty—an unglamorous but vital job—it was a natural decision to place the weapons squad leader in charge of the night shift. It was a mistake, Liggett later learned, with serious consequences.
In the late summer of 2021, after years of service to his country—including four years at the United States Military Academy—Major Naqib Mirzada, an...
In 1962, while on a year-long break from college, Barry Broman was first shot at in South Vietnam while working as a photographer for...
This episode features a story from Joe Ritter, an Air Force officer and MQ-9 Reaper pilot. The MQ-9, the largest remotely piloted aircraft in...