News & Updates

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

The Colonel’s Corner

~Comment by the Colonel~

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that China is our nation’s major and most hostile enemy. China has been buying lots of land in our nation, especially farm-land, and land near our military sites. We really don’t want them with a major involvement in the food we eat. And they’ve got lots of students at our universities.

China is deep in our universities, and they’re demanding answers after House Republicans stepped up scrutiny of Chinese nationals studying here. Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, who leads the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, recently sent letters to six elite institutions requesting detailed data on Chinese students enrolled in science and technology programs.

The schools targeted include Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Southern California. I helped run the Army ROTC program at Stanford in the early 1970s; even then there was a lot of advanced technical research going on there.

Lawmakers asked for information about student research, previous schooling and financial backing, citing growing concerns that China is exploiting academic access to gain an edge in military-related technology. Why would we let a nation that has made it clear that they plan to take us out have any students here, much less ones involved in military-related technology?

Beijing’s spokesperson claimed their students have helped drive innovation here and accused Congress of overreach. She said we should stop using national security as an excuse and protect Chinese students from what she called discriminatory treatment. Hey, that’s what I’d say, too, if I represented China—but it’s BS; everything China does here is to push themselves ahead of us.

Thankfully, Congressional Republicans aren’t backing down. Moolenaar stated that “America’s student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing,” and warned that without action, China will continue to benefit at the expense of our research and national security. He pointed to a pattern of their scholars gaining access to our advanced laboratories and funneling sensitive findings back to China.

I sincerely hope that this monitoring of Chana’s presence in our land by our government increases, and that we begin forbidding these enemies of our nation access to our nation.

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 Apr 1945, during WWII, after suffering the loss of 116 planes and damage to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 US combat troops of the 10th Army, under Lieutenant General Simon Buckner Jr., landed on the southwest coast of the Japanese island of Okinawa, 350 miles south of Kyushu, the southern main island of Japan.

On 6 April 1917, two days after the Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the House endorsed the declaration by a vote of 373 to 50, and America formally entered WWI.

On 7 April 1776, Navy Captain John Barry, commander of the American warship Lexington, made the first American naval capture of a British vessel when he took command of the British warship HMS Edward off the coast of Virginia. The capture of the Edward and its cargo turned Captain Barry into a national hero and boosted the morale of the Continental forces.

On 9 April 1865, at Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert Lee surrendered his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses Grant, effectively ending our Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option.

On April 10, 1778, Commander John Paul Jones and his crew of 140 men aboard the USS Ranger set sail from the naval port at Brest, France, and head toward the Irish Sea to begin raids on British warships. This was the first mission of its kind during the Revolutionary War.

On 12 April 1861, the bloodiest four years in American history began when Confederate shore batteries under General Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, US Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to quell the Southern “insurrection.”

On 14 April 1865, during our Civil War, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington.

On 14 April 1918, six days after being assigned for the first time to the western front, two American pilots from the US First Aero Squadron engaged in America’s first aerial dogfight with enemy aircraft. In a battle fought almost directly over the Allied Squadron Aerodome at Toul, France, US fliers Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow succeeded in shooting down two German two-seaters. By the end of May, Campbell had shot down five enemy aircraft, making him the first American to qualify as a “flying ace” in WWI.

COMING UP ON FRONTLINES OF FREEDOM

On the weekend of April 5-6: James LaCoursiere, the national commander of the American Legion will share his insights. Bill Forstchen will discuss Electro Magnetic Pulses. And Gen John Teichert will discuss leadership. Then, Navy vet Theresa Robinson will introduce another female veteran.

And on the weekend of April 12-13: General Jerry Boykin will share his view of our nation’s challenges. Dr. Chris Meek will present the Soldier Strong Foundation. Army vet Joe Yurick will discuss how The Sober Vet helps vets who need it. And, Gil and Skip will discuss the Border and a Book.

And Diane Raver will present the Movie of the Month.