News & Updates

Keep up with host Lt. Col. Denny Gillem & never miss an episode

The Colonel’s Corner

~Comment by the Colonel~

As much as I appreciate the way President Trump has hit the ground running in many areas, and already we have great results in border security and sending criminals back to their home countries, I do have a few concerns. While the situation in Ukraine does seem to be moving in the right direction, I’m not sure about the relationship between our nation and Russia. All I can say is, stay tuned.

And, the 1,400 workers laid off on Monday were all “bargaining-unit probationary employees” in “non-mission critical roles,” including “DEI-related positions,” the VA said in a statement.

Responders with the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line are “mission critical” roles, according to the statement. But a Veterans Crisis Line employee with knowledge of the firing said 15 of their coworkers were fired. And a congressional aide familiar with the issue said more workers on the crisis line were fired than during the first wave of layoffs, when around a dozen lost their jobs. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue.

No system as big as reducing the size of our government works perfectly; I trust the Veterans Crisis Line will soon get its top-priority back.

As a general statement, if you seek a job with our federal government and get the job, and you’re carful not to break any of the clear rules, then you’ve got a job for life and good retirement. There’s a union to protect you. While you’re a public servant, you really don’t serve anyone; you’re set for life. This was created to keep newly elected officials from firing everyone in the government and hiring all those who supported their election. It allowed some experience to stay, but the result was today’s mess.

Thus, we have what is generally called a swamp at Washington, DC. A newly elected president or cabinet member can set any standards they wish; you can pay attention to them or not—your job is secure. Thus, the bureaucracy grows, but little gets done.

Then came Trump and Musk. The swamp is clearly being drained. It will certainly take years to sort things out and create new guidelines, but we’re clearly on the right path. We really do need to know where all the money funding the federal government is going, and what each person is doing—and when we don’t need something to be done any longer—we stop paying for it.

This period is going to be a bit painful, but it’s a housecleaning that we’ll all be happy with.

Defense Secretary Hegseth recently fired several very senior officers, including the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; we need to have people with the right values and attitude at the top of our military if any needed changes are to be made and enforced. This was appropriate.

The Smiling Ranger – This book is a series of short, mostly funny, stories of my time in uniform (it’s for sale at FrontlinesOfFreedom.com): I was thinking about… my time in Vietnam. I had little experience with a .45 caliber automatic pistol before arriving in country as a second lieutenant, but I quickly found one and carried it along with my rifle. The pistol was WWII vintage and badly worn. It jammed so often I really didn’t consider it reliable. When I’d loan it to a trooper who was going into a tunnel, I warned him that often it was good for only one shot.

After my first Vietnam tour I was assigned to Fort Campbell, KY, where I assumed command of an airborne rifle company. My assigned weapon was, yes, a .45 pistol. It might have been the same one I’d left in Vietnam. It rattled when I fired it, the parts were so worn. Then the division was ordered to deploy to Vietnam, so we all had to qualify with our weapons. For the life of me, I just couldn’t hit all those bulls-eyes with my old rattley weapon. When qualifying with a rifle, the shooter shot at a silhouette, but with the pistol it was a bulls-eye target. After about a hundred tries I finally barely qualified. I deployed with my company to Vietnam—wearing that old pistol. That’s why I own only revolvers today. (I have since been converted and own a Glock and a Sig Sauer today, along with my revolvers.)

If you don’t already have one, order your copy of ‘The Smiling Ranger’ today or one for a friend.

~~~

*We should all be proud Americans; despite our current challenges and differences, we live in the best and freest nation in the world. Let’s end all the name calling and appreciate each other and our nation, even if we don’t all agree on everything. Good Americans come in many flavors.

Military History

On 1 Mar 1912, Captain Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from an airplane at Jefferson barracks, Missouri. Captain Berry had a 36 ft. parachute packed into a metal case beneath the fuselage. The parachute had a trapeze bar for him to hold on to as he jumped and descended to the ground.

On 3 Mar 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional act making “The Star-Spangled Banner” our nation’s official national anthem.

On 14 Sept 1814, Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing the massive overnight British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812. Key, an American lawyer, watched the siege while under detainment on a British ship and penned the famous words after observing with awe that Fort McHenry’s flag survived the 1,800-bomb assault.

After circulating as a handbill, the patriotic lyrics were published in a Baltimore newspaper on 20 Sept 1814. Key’s words were later set to music. Throughout the 19th century, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was regarded as the national anthem by most branches of our armed forces and other groups, but it was not until 1916, and the signing of an executive order by President Woodrow Wilson, that it was formally designated as such. In March 1931, Congress passed an act confirming Wilson’s presidential order, and on March 3 President Hoover signed it into law.

On 9 Mar 1847, during the Mexican-American War, US forces under General Winfield Scott invaded Mexico three miles south of Vera Cruz. Encountering little resistance from the Mexicans massed in the fortified city of Vera Cruz, by nightfall the last of Scott’s 10,000 men came ashore without the loss of a single life. It was the largest amphibious landing in US history and not surpassed until WWII.

The Mexican-American War began with a dispute over the US government’s 1845 annexation of Texas. In January 1846, President James Polk, a strong advocate of westward expansion, ordered General Zachary Taylor to occupy disputed territory between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. Mexican troops attacked Taylor’s forces, and on May 13, 1846, Congress approved a declaration of war against Mexico. In March 1847, General Scott’s forces landed near Vera Cruz, and by March 29, with very few casualties, the Americans had taken the fortified city and its massive fortress, San Juan de Ulua. In April, Scott began his devastating march to Mexico City, which ended on September 14, when US forces entered the Mexican capital and raised the American flag over the Hall of Montezuma.

In February 1848, representatives from the US and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, formally ending the Mexican War, recognizing Texas as part of the US and extending the boundaries of the US west to the Pacific Ocean.

On 12 Mar 1824, Marines of the Boston Barracks quelled a Massachusetts State Prison riot. Inmates rioted and holed up in the mess hall with a guard as hostage, Marines from the Boston barracks came to help. Major RD Wainwright led 30 Marines into the mess hall to confront 283 armed and determined prisoners. Wainwright ordered his men to cock and level their muskets. “You must leave this hall,” he told the inmates. “I give you three minutes to decide. If at the end of that time a man remains, he will be shot dead. I speak no more.” In two and a half minutes, “the hall was cleared as if by magic.”

COMING UP ON FRONTLINES OF FREEDOM

On the weekend of Mar 8-9, Dr. John West will discuss or nation’s move away from God. Then LTC Don Robinson will discuss his career. Then Vietnam vet Bob Cook will share his story.

And Gil and Skip will discuss the Border and a Book.

And on the weekend of Mar 15-16, Gen Joe Arbuckle will discuss the DEI in our military.

Then the new Executive Director of Concerned Veterans for America, John Vick will share his story and his vision for CVA’s actions in this new environment.

And Gen Chris Petty will present the Battle of the Month.