Military
July 3, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Independence Day is always a good time to recall the heroes of American history, even more so during our 250th anniversary. So let’s take a moment to remember Minnesota’s First Volunteer Regiment. The First Minnesota was the first unit to be volunteered in response to President Lincoln’s call for troops following Fort Sumter. Because the U.S. Army had not yet organized itself into Eastern and Western departments, the First was
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June 6, 2026 — Scott Johnson
You undoubtedly saw the actor Charles Durning in what might have been a favorite movie or two, including such gems as The Sting, Dog Day Afternoon, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and several others. Those just happen to be my favorite of his films. Durning died in 2012 at the age of 89. His accessible Variety obituary is posted online here. Durning was also a decorated Army vet who served
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June 6, 2026 — Scott Johnson
My college classmate John Floberg retired after a distinguished career in neurology. We took Professor Peter Bien’s freshman seminar on Politics and the Novel together during our first term. John is originally from Chicago but we reconnected in the Twin Cities through Power Line 40 years after our studies with Professor Bien. Last year John wrote “Doorstops” for us. Following in a family tradition, John served as a commissioned Navy
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May 3, 2026 — Bill Glahn
Lots of reports floating around like this one from The Hill newspaper, Trump says US will help free ships in Strait of Hormuz. It’s not clear exactly what the “help” on our end would consist of. And that’s likely by design. The Hill quotes Trump, For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out
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May 2, 2026 — Bill Glahn
From The Hill Newspaper, Trump orders withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany amid feud with Merz. I did the math and the war in Europe ended 80 years ago this month. Why are our troops still there? The Hill portrays the move as one taken out of spite. My view would be that it’s decades overdue. The Hill reports, The redeployment of troops will bring the number of service members
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April 19, 2026 — Bill Glahn
Or so it would appear. From the New York Post, US Navy destroyer ‘blows a hole’ through Iranian cargo ship that tried to break Hormuz blockade, Trump says. The Post also reports, Iran’s hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader has effectively taken control of Tehran’s military and negotiation team over the weekend, analysts said. It sounds like the latest round of U.S.-Iran negotiations are off, Iran refuses to join latest
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April 12, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Britain’s Royal Navy has a storied history, but the conflict in the Gulf has exposed its current inadequacy. The Telegraph has a long story on Britain’s naval decline: The most visible sign of strain on the Royal Navy has been the scramble to deploy HMS Dragon to the eastern Mediterranean, where Britain’s sovereign base in Cyprus has come under attack from Iran-linked proxies. HMS Dragon eventually left Portsmouth on March
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April 11, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Centcom has announced that it is clearing the Strait of Hormuz for free passage. The announcement reads: U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces began setting conditions for clearing mines in the Strait of Hormuz, April 11, as two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers conducted operations. USS Frank E. Peterson (DDG 121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) transited the Strait of Hormuz and operated in the Arabian Gulf as part of a
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April 6, 2026 — Scott Johnson
As John observes in the adjacent post, President Trump called a press conference this afternoon in advance of the deadline he has set for reaching some kind of agreement with whoever is running the show in Iran. The press conference addressed the rescue missions that extracted the pilot and weapons systems officer of the downed F-15E Strike Eagle that, we learned, bore the call sign DUDE 44. The success of
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April 5, 2026 — Bill Glahn
A curious headline post on Twitter (X) from the U.K. Daily Mail reporting on the miraculous rescue of that downed airman behind enemy lines in Irain, The underlying Tweet was later deleted. I have seen no news reports of any American lives lost in the operation, much less “dozens.’ It was truly an Easter Miracle It pointed to this Daily Mail article. It appears that the article is no longer
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April 5, 2026 — Scott Johnson
President Trump announced on social media: WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Member Officers, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now SAFE and SOUND! This brave Warrior was
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March 21, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Power Line reader John Flenniken worked as a crew member on the 2000 film Prisoners of Hope, capturing the testimony of former American prisoners of war in North Vietnam. Among them are Leo Thorsness, author of Surviving Hell, published and kept in print by Encounter Books, and Porter Halyburton, author of Reflections on Captivity, published and kept in print by the U.S. Naval Institute. Among other former POWs featured in
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March 16, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Military professionals always learn from wars and other armed conflicts. (In my view, Iran is an armed conflict but not, at least so far, a war.) Ukraine taught lessons about drones, both offensive and defensive. What can we learn from Iran? For one thing, we can evaluate the effectiveness of several nations’ armed forces. The U.S. and Israeli militaries have both performed brilliantly, and in close harmony. Some liberals question
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March 11, 2026 — Bill Glahn
Like you, I’ve been trying to follow events in the war against Iran and feel like I know next to nothing, despite (because of) the advent of the internet, satellites and social media. I think that pundit Richard Fernandez may be on to something with this post, where he writes, You could call it a battle between misinformation and secrecy, between the deceivers and the masters at saying nothing. On
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March 10, 2026 — Bill Glahn
From Skynews, first the good news on that Royal Navy warship, HMS Dragon has finally left Portsmouth and is on its way to protect the UK’s airbase in Cyprus from attack. Now the bad news, HMS Dragon could now take anywhere between six and a half and 11 days to get to Cyprus depending on its speed and conditions in the Bay of Biscay. Will the war still be going
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March 9, 2026 — Bill Glahn
From The HIll newspaper, UK warship to set sail for Cyprus base in ‘next couple of days’ With just a little bit of luck, by the time it arrives, it will be too late to do any good. The Hill reports, via the U.K. Independent, about separate efforts to deploy an aircraft carrier, The Ministry of Defense first announced the ship’s deployment last week. But the aircraft carrier has been
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March 7, 2026 — Bill Glahn
Here we are, more than a week into the war against Iran, and the United Kingdom is still unable to deploy a single Naval ship into the Mediterranean Sea to protect its interests on the Island of Cyprus. Buried within this farce is the revelation that, today and for some time prior, the Royal Navy had zero ships in the Mediterranean. If I were Spain, I would just overrun Gibraltar
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