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Showing : AFGHAN./IRAQ/OTHER Videos

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  Roland Guidry - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  8th Special Operations Squadron

  Early in the planning for the rescue attempt of the hostages in Iran, it was decided that carrier based helicopters would be the key aircraft. They would rendezvous with fixed wing aircraft carrying personnel and fuel in the remote Iranian desert. Pilot Roland Guidry explains why a preliminary clandestine mission was required before planning could continue. Part 2 of 4.

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  Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  After rejoining the Army as an MP, Ed Fulghum returned to Korea where he guarded inspection teams. His next assignment, back in the States, was in a Military Government company, which was trained to rebuild and reset devastated areas. He decide that the Military Police was a career dead end, so he returned to the infantry.

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  George Ferkes - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  8th Special Operations Squadron

  There was some good intelligence available during the planning of the Iran hostage rescue attempt. For instance, pilot George Ferkes knew that an aircraft could easily avoid the radar at the border. That was not the problem, though, once the effort got underway.

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  Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 505th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division

  Clowns in action. That's how Keith Nightingale describes the confusion and snafus during the initial Grenada operation. Most objectives were quickly achieved but there were some difficult battles, including one with a Cuban unit. When the Rangers got to the medical school where American students were waiting, they found out about a second campus with more students. Part 2 of 3.

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  Roland Guidry - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  8th Special Operations Squadron

  The plan was complicated, with a lot of moving parts, but there was high confidence that the team would be able to rescue the hostages in Iran. Pilot Roland Guidry describes how a combination of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters would deliver the Delta Force and the Rangers and then extract them along with the hostages. Part 3 of 4.

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  Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment

  Keith Nightingale remembers that, during the buildup of the new Ranger Battalion, the team researched units from the past including British commandos and Vikings to extract any useful training techniques. Live fire exercises and road marches became very important. In December of 1974, the new Rangers were ready.

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  Olin Rossman - Army +7 Total Videos

  1st Battalion. 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division

  It was only a few days after a Black Hawk was shot down that another one suffered the same fate, only this time there were survivors who were pinned down. Olin Rossman was with the relief force that rushed to the scene and his squad held an important intersection in the fight that would become known as the Battle of Mogadishu. (Caution: strong language)

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  Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

  Joint Task Force Eagle Claw

  Unfortunately, human intelligence had been allowed to wither in favor of satellite technology. This meant that the CIA was little help to the joint task force planning the rescue of the American hostages in Tehran. Every means to extract the hostages was examined and a combination of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters was chosen. Keith Nightingale describes the deliberations that went into this. Pt 2 of 4.

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  Olin Rossman - Army +7 Total Videos

  1st Battalion. 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division

  Not happy with his original MOS, Olin Rossman reenlisted as an infantryman. He was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division and trained at frigid Fort Drum in New York. He was well qualified before he saw combat, went to all the schools, including Ranger School where he suffered a mishap. (Caution: strong language.)

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  Allyn Johnson - Air Force +8 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  As an Air Force pilot, Allyn Johnson flew the big transports like C-97's and C-124's. After flying the long Pacific routes, he was transferred to the Special Air Missions unit which provided air transportation for VIP's and executives.

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  George Ferkes - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  8th Special Operations Squadron

  Operation Eagle Claw was a pivotal moment in Special Operations history. Unconventional warfare had been ignored after the Vietnam War and three veterans of that conflict, who were also deeply involved with the attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran, reveal the inside story of the planning and tragic outcome. George Ferkes, Roland Guidry and Keith Nightingale each offer a unique perspective on the events.

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  Roland Guidry - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  8th Special Operations Squadron

  The rescue attempt failed but it was the genesis of an all out effort to reorganize and improve the special operations capability of the military. Roland Guidry helped manage the air operations as the team began Project Honey Badger, which aimed to mount a second try at freeing the hostages in Iran.

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  Zach Johnson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  The first job for Zach Johnson after his combat tour was at the Marine Security Guard Battalion, which placed elite Marines at American embassies and consulates. Then it was years at Quantico in various training positions. After his twenty years in the Corps, he went to work for Booz Allen Hamilton doing support work for the Marines.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  It began as a simple student march in Budapest permitted by the communist government. Overnight, it became a bloody uprising. Bob Ratonyi was an eighteen year old freshman who was swept up in the moment. It began a course of events that would lead to a brutal crackdown and to his eventual escape to the West. Part 1 of 4.

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  Roland Guidry - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  Alaskan Air Command

  Roland Guidry didn't just fly any old C-130, he was flying a C-130D, outfitted with skis. The vast network of radar sites in the Distant Early Warning system needed supplies and servicing. Some of the Arctic sites were so distant and isolated, there were no runways for a wheeled landing. It was during this time that he first went to Vietnam on temporary duty supporting the construction of a new base.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  When Bob Ratonyi heard that a good friend had fled the country after the Hungarian Uprising, he decided to do the same. He recruited another friend and they began to plan their escape. Their group of two expanded to seven and they naively set out for the Austrian border. Part 3 of 4.

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  Changiz Lahidji - Army +8 Total Videos

  Green Beret

  When Green Beret Changiz Lahidji was in the Philippines during the coup there, he encountered the men of SEAL Team 6. He did not appreciate their swagger.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  The student led march to the parliament building had been exhilarating for Bob Ratonyi and he got up the next morning to go to his classes but there were no streetcars running. Then he saw two dead Russian soldiers in their vehicle. The peaceful march had turned into the bloody Hungarian Uprising. Part 2 of 4.

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  Geoff Farrell - Army +8 Total Videos

  2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment

  He considered it the finest education available. Geoff Farrell went to West Point, where he soaked up all the history and knowledge available there. He was assigned to Europe, where he patrolled the German border as Soviet Communism was dying. There was a brief period of jubilation when the wall came down, then they heard about Saddam Hussein.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  It was all propaganda, everything on the radio and in the newspapers. That was life in communist Hungary as Bob Ratonyi was coming of age. He urged his mother to take an offered post as the party representative at her factory so she could take advantage of it.

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  Bill Greinke - Army +18 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  His time with the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood was the best time of his Army career. Bill Greinke bested a well known commander in a war game and he went on splendid maneuvers in Europe at the Fulda Gap. Then he moved on to specialized training in media and information.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  It was a shakedown. Bob Ratonyi saw that he had to go off the trail and around the soldier collecting the money. Along with six others, he was making an attempt to escape communist Hungary after the brutal putdown of the Hungarian Uprising. He stumbled through the dark and found a group of peasants, but they were part of the operation, too. Part 4 of 4

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  Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

  Joint Task Force Eagle Claw

  When the Iranian Revolutionary Guard seized the American embassy, the joint chiefs began looking for the means to rescue the hostages. It was decided to build a team around Delta Force, the elite special ops unit led by Charles Beckwith. General James Vaught was selected as the overall commander of the operation and on his staff was Keith Nightingale, who was then immersed in the urgent planning process. Part 1 of 4.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  He was free. Bob Ratonyi had made it out of communist Hungary into Austria. His first stop was a refugee camp, which was overcrowded. He made it to Vienna with the help of a Catholic charity and, once there, he made straight for the American embassy. Unfortunately, the quota for refugees had been met. He had three choices, Australia, Sweden and Canada.

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  Geoff Farrell - Army +8 Total Videos

  2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment

  After the battle, the men of the 2nd Armored Cavalry did humanitarian work for the Iraqi civilians, then it was time to return to Germany. For Geoff Farrell, a feeling of unreality set in on the flight home. How do you decompress from combat? At least those who fought in this war were not going to experience the humiliation that Vietnam veterans had faced.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  It was near anarchy in Budapest following the fall of the Nazis. Many were starving surrounded by rubble. Bob Ratonyi was overjoyed when his mother returned from a labor camp but then he watched as communists turned Hungary into a Stalinist dictatorship.

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  BG Robert L. Stewart - Army +16 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  After the Challenger tragedy, NASA mission specialist Bob Stewart returned to the Army where they made him a general. He worked at the Strategic Defense Command, a legacy of Ronald Reagan's SDI program. At some point the Army wanted him in Washington DC, at which point he promoted himself to ski bum.

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  Brig Gen Tom Fleming - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  Joint Staff (JS)

  As Operation Desert Shield gave way to Operation Desert Storm, the Pentagon needed someone like a fighter pilot to brief the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense on biological and chemical warfare in language they could understand. So, Tom Fleming became the "bugs and gas guy."

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  His family was not very religious, but they followed all the Jewish traditions and holy days. Bob Ratonyi had barely survived the Holocaust and then he was faced with more oppression of religion when Hungary became a Communist satellite of the USSR.

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  Changiz Lahidji - Army +8 Total Videos

  Green Beret

  Born in Iran, Changiz Lahidji served in the Shah's special forces before emigrating to the US in 1973. Feeling a need to prove himself in his new country, he enlisted in the military.