Category Archives: US Army

The Light Fighters of the 1980s

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To the surprise of some, infiltration operations by light infantry have become common on the battlefields of Ukraine.

In “The Light Fighters,” historian Don Wright recounts how the U.S. Army introduced light infantry units in the 1980s that specialized in infiltration and other missions requiring stealth, physical toughness, and mental stamina.

Of course, being “Light Infantry” in the 1980s just meant you had to carry twice as much stuff as your average infantry in other units.

Read the article here.

Big Army to keep (some) Horse Units Afterall

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Leading the Way. Army Capt. Megan Korpiel, commander of the Horse Cavalry Detachment, 1st Cavalry Division, leads soldiers while waving to a crowd during the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 1, 2026. Army photo 260101-A-WV576-1153M by Army Spc. Steven Day

The above troopers have a reason to be smiling under their Stetsons.

We reported last July on the move by the Trump administration to slice the number of Army military working equid (MWE) programs (horses, mules, and donkeys owned by the Department of Defense and housed on Army installations) from seven to two, with 141 U.S. Army horses rehomed.

The last two MWE programs would continue with the Caisson units of The Old Guard at the Military District of Washington and at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.

There has been a bit of a backpedal on this, with the MWE programs at Fort Hood, Texas (the Horse Cavalry Detachment, 1st Cavalry Division, which was established in 1973) and Fort Riley, Kansas (the circa 1992-founded Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard, CGMCG) now retained as well.

Plus, the Army recently established a new military occupational specialty (MOS), “Army Equestrian” (08H), that replaces the “military horseman” identifier (D2) and “creates a specialized career path dedicated to the professional care of military working equines.” It is currently open to infantry Soldiers in grades E5-E9.

When the smoke clears, just three of seven programs will be discontinued: the circa 2001-formed 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) Horse Detachment, Fort Irwin, California; B Troop, 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment (Memorial) at Fort Huachuca, Arizona (established in 1974); and the Artillery Half Section at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The latter, a unique horse artillery unit, is the most senior.

The Fort Sill Artillery Half Section in Oklahoma was established in 1963 as a ceremonial unit to preserve the tradition of the Great War era horse-drawn artillery, featuring a six-horse team pulling a Model 1897 French 75 field piece, and became a permanent fixture around 1970. The horses wear 1904 McClellan saddles, while the Doughboy is the uniform of the day. It is sad to see them go

You can’t save ’em all.

Garryowen!

Climb to Glory: Air Scouts out, UAS Company(s) Real In

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Transformation is the buzzword.

The 10th Mountain Division (LI) made a quiet move last week to case the colors of the 164-year old (constituted 4 May 1861) 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment (“Fighting Six-Six”) and disband the heavy attack reconnaissance squadron (HARS), sending its 24 AH-64D Longbow Apaches and six RQ-7Bv2 Shadows to other units.

In its place, Fox Company, 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment (F, 1-10 Attack Battalion), a new company dedicated to achieving “drone dominance” on the modern battlefield, was activated.

The other three companies in 1-10 Attack will be Apache units, fielding 24 of the birds, at least for now. In the meantime, the Army is retiring older AH-64D models (starting FY2026) to focus on modernizing smaller numbers of AH-64E, which notably have counter-drone capabilities and allow for more UAV integration. Further, with the long-planned Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program canceled last year, you can bet Apaches in general will likely be replaced by unmanned assets sometime in the 2030s.

“As the 10th Mountain Division’s first dedicated Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS) and Launch Effects (LE) company, these Soldiers are now at the forefront of the Army Aviation Transformation Initiative,” said the Army of Fox 1-10 Attack.

Meanwhile, new Multifunctional Reconnaissance Companies (MFRC), focused on Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) employment, are standing up in the 10th Mountain as well as the rest of the Army at the brigade level.

At Camp Beauregard, LA, Soldiers from Sioux Company (Multi-Purpose Company), 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, prepared to launch a Medium-Range Reconnaissance (MRR) Ghost-X drone while utilizing the Soldier Borne Mission Command Surrogate (SBMC-S) system during a training exercise. The SBMC-S empowers Soldiers to task and hand off Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) assets, simultaneously providing access to high-resolution, full-motion video (FMV) streamed directly from the drone. (U.S. Army photo by Zach Montanaro, PEO Soldier Public Affairs)

Just Cause Sheridans

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Following up on the recent mention of the anniversary of Just Cause here on the blog, I would be remiss to point out something super interesting in that 1989 intervention.

It was the only instance of the M-551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle (AR/AAV) being used exactly as it was designed: as an airdropped light tank.

Crewed by the 3rd Battalion of the 73rd Armor Regiment, 82nd Airborne, the 10 M-551A1s that were hurled to the earth from speeding C-141 Starlifters on 20 December 1989, were the only air drop into combat of the vehicle.

One was damaged and another destroyed when their chutes failed to deploy properly (an 80 percent success rate!), but the use in Panama of the eight functional survivors was “considered highly successful.”

The Sheridan went on to see combat once again in Desert Storm (being the first American Army armor on the ground) and run around the Mojave with the NTC for years, but other than Panama, its claim to fame was in Vietnam.

Albeit without airdrops.

Double Deuce: Keeping the Watch

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This image by Cal Obson of the Mexico-United States border in Agua Prieta, Sonora/Douglas, Arizona captures the old international boundary some 110 years ago today, 22 December 1915.

Arizona Historical Society. PC 1000 Tucson General Photo Collection, Places-Douglas-F1 #58732

Pvt. M.R. Pankratrte of Company A, 22nd US Infantry Regiment, stands guard with his M1903 Springfield at hand while Pvt. Montes Simon, of the 3rd Company, 20th Batallion de Siniloy (Batallón de Sinaloa), Mexican Army, has a Mauser with plenty of ammo, and what looks to be a big S&W on his belt.

The old “Double Deuce” was originally founded in May 1861 as a battalion of the 13th Regulars before earning its own regimental status during the great reorganization of 1869. Famously including a company of Seminole Negro Scouts during the Indian Wars who earned four MoHs, the 22nd saw much service across the frontier in the Old West, shipped to Cuba in the war of ’98, fought across the Philippines from 1900-05, helped San Francisco during the great earthquake of ’06, then shipped to Alaska for two years to help establish order and communications amid the Klondike gold rush.

In garrison at the Presidio, the 22nd was sent to the Border during the tense Mexican Revolution and Civil War then, in April 1917 was about to sail for the Philippines again when the U.S. entered the Great War and was rushed to New York City and Washington, D.C. to guard docks and infrastructure during the conflict, missing out on going “Over There.”

The 22nd only made it to France on 6 June 1944, landing on Utah Beach with the 4th Infantry Division, before being assigned to the 2nd Armored Division, the 83rd Infantry, and back to the 4th, breaking through the Siegfried Line and finishing the war in Germany. The regiment suffered an incredible 1,653 killed and 7,706 wounded in less than a year of fighting.

It later served with the 4th Infantry again in Vietnam (earning a  Presidential Unit Citation) and, with a battalion sent to the 10th Mountain, has since seen service in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Today, the Fort Drum-based 2nd of the 22nd is the regiment’s only active battalion, and, naturally, is known as the Triple Deuce.

The regiment’s motto: Deeds, not Words.

Panama flashback

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Panama Defense Force patches, including that of the Macho de Monte jungle commandos, captured during Operation Just Cause in December 1989, at the USAF Armament Museum, Eglin AFB (Chris Eger)

More Just Cause PDF patches, including the desk plate and helmet from Noriega’s desk, are at the Infantry Museum, Fort Benning. (Chris Eger)

I once worked with a guy, let’s call him Dan, who I now list as a friend, on a government contracting job about 20 years back, who had just retired as a Marine SNCO.

One cold night, while talking over a way too tough pot of coffee, the subject matter turned to Panama, and Dan fished a photo from his wallet of a younger version of him, clad in M81 Woodland BDUs and a high-and-tight, war face, and an M16A2 dutifully on display.

“That’s when I was stationed in the Canal Zone.”

Dan said he loved it. Kid in a candy store kind of duty in 1988, shifting to the big bad Just Cause in 1989 when things weren’t so much fun.

He said the night Just Cause kicked off, he was on a one-man post shared with a PDF corporal on an oft-forgotten back gate of some naval base (Rodman?), when the phone rang– a call Dan had been advised was coming– and was told to go ahead and take the Panamanian into custody one way or another.

It almost turned into a 1911-on-1911 “gunfight in a phone booth,” but eventually de-escalated, and my friend was able to sit back down at his desk with an extra pistol and no shots fired.

“I’d have blown his brains out,” Dan said, sipping coffee. “Glad I didn’t have to.”

Fast forward to today, where Just Cause is now 31 years in the rearview, and these pictures came into my feed, part of the expanded formalization of efforts for the DOD/DOW getting involved with Panama’s mil/LE counterparts.

A combined U.S. Navy SEALs and Panamanian special operations team conducted a complex crisis scenario at the U.S. Embassy in Panama City, according to information shared on December 9, 2025, by U.S. Special Operations in Central, South America, and the Caribbean. Officials familiar with the drill described it as a full-spectrum validation of how quickly partner units can synchronize communications, access sensitive areas, and stabilize a rapidly evolving threat within a diplomatic facility. The mission paired U.S. Navy SEALs from Naval Special Warfare with Army Special Forces operators from 7th SFG(A), who worked alongside embassy security elements and Panama’s elite Dirección Nacional de Fuerzas Especiales, or DINFEE.

Members of the U.S. Marine Corps and Panamanian security services practice contact drill techniques during the Combined Jungle Operations Training Course at Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, Panamá, Dec. 8, 2025. U.S. Southern Command is focused on increasing partner nation capacity and interoperability in the region and reflects the United States’ enduring promise of friendship, partnership, and solidarity with the Panamanian people. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Trey Woodard)

Glad to know things are healing.

Maybe I’ll text Dan later.

Defense Bill Includes Selling Milsurp Shotguns Through CMP

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230214-N-NH267-1484 INDIAN OCEAN (Feb. 14, 2023) U.S. Navy Fire Controlman (Aegis) 2nd Class Cody McDonald, from Spring Creek, Nev., fires an M500 shotgun during a visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) gun shoot on the flight deck of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Elliot Schaudt)

The military could soon begin passing on surplus pump-action shotguns to the public via the Civilian Marksmanship Program.

Both the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act defense policy spending bill for 2026, under Section 1062, call for the Army, Navy, and Air Force to transfer such scatterguns to the CMP.

The one-time transfer would cover guns that are “surplus to the requirements” of the respective service– including being surplus to military history and museum use. Further, they can’t be a shotgun that “is a modern ancillary addition to a service rifle” such as a “Masterkey” style gun that fits under an M16/M4. Also, guns that legally meet the definition of a “short-barreled shotgun” are barred from transfer.

The services would have to report to Congress, at least 60 days beforehand, the number of shotguns, including the make and model, that meet the surplus requirements and the number of which they intend to transfer to CMP.

Furthermore, the NDAA will modify the sale authority under U.S. law to permit the sale of surplus pump-action shotguns. Currently, the federally chartered non-profit, which is dedicated to promoting marksmanship nationwide, can only legally sell surplus rifles such as M1 Garands, M1903 Springfields, M1917 Enfields, M1 Carbines, and .22 trainers, as well as surplus M1911/1911A1 .45 pistols.

The U.S. military has been using pump-action breechloading shotguns for over 130 years, including the Winchester 1893, 1897, and M1912 Riot and “Trench” guns; as well as the Remington Models 10, 12, 31, and 870; the Stevens 520 and 620; the Ithaca 37, and the Mossberg 500/590– the latter of which are still under active contract.

“American M1897 Winchester Trench Shotgun, 12 gauge; American M1917 Enfield rifle; and M1903 Springfield rifle. General Headquarters, AEF Ordnance Department. Chaumont, Haute Marne, France, 4 January 1919.” Signal Corps photo 111-SC-154935. National Archives Identifier 313154926

Shotgun-armed Navy sentry on guard in port, August 1943. Navy Photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress PR-06-CN-215-5

Dec. 1942 Production. B-17 heavy bomber Army sentry Boeing's Seattle plant Winchester 12 shotgun riot gun

Dec. 1942 Production B-17 heavy bomber, Army sentry, Boeing’s Seattle plant, Winchester 12 shotgun, riot gun

“PFC. Art Burgess, a candidate in the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP), 2nd Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), fires a Winchester-built Model 12 combat shotgun during special weapons training at Range 31, 13 January 1982.” The gun has been modified with a heat shield over the barrel, a bayonet lug/sling swivel, an over-folding buttstock, and a pistol grip. DA-SN-83-09168 Via NARA

As to how many of the above are still on hand in armories, depots, and arsenals– and are considered surplus– is anybody’s guess. Still, U.S. martial shotguns of any type are extremely collectible, leading them to be often faked (always be careful on a “good deal” M97 Trench Gun), so the prospect of a vetted quantity of these veteran guns headed to market is exciting.

The Republican-backed bill would still need to make it to President Trump’s desk and earn his signature, which is likely.

Now, if we can just get Congress to transfer all of those millions of old M16s that are in storage to the CMP, even if it is just the uppers, we’d really be cooking.

Could you imagine…(Don’t get too excited, these are over at Bowman Arms, or will be in early 2026)

Olive Drab Bofors (by the Tens of Thousands)

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With all the talk of the 40mm Bofors in naval applications during WWII in last week’s Warship Wednesday (The Dutch Avenger), this image came to mind of the gun in unsung use with a U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery unit in Northwestern France in 1944.

(U.S. Air Force Number 56270AC) National Archives Identifier 204889544

While the Navy used them to shoot down 742.5 enemy aircraft in WWII, the Army bought just an ungodly amount of stripped-down, single-barreled towed models (40mm Automatic Gun M1) with the first specimens delivered in April 1941, a full year before the USN got theirs.

Chrysler alone made 30,095 gun mechanisms and 51,684 gun tubes for the land-based 40mm M1. Keep in mind that the Army had 781 AAA battalions that stood up in WWII, many of which were 40mm units.

Talk about Detroit Muscle.

NOV 08, 1943 – Chrysler Corporation ~ Life Magazine “Boss a Bofors 40mm.”

The Many faces of the Triple Three

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Pre-Mayberry, actor Andy Griffith, exempted from service at age 18 in 1944 due to a herniated disk,  made a couple of military service comedies during the late 1950s: the better-received Korean War-set USAF-based No Time for Sergeants, and the lesser-known Onionhead.

In Onionhead, Griffith portrayed country simple Cook 3rd Class– now known as a Culinary Specialist Third Class (CS3)– Alvin Woods, who signs up for the Coast Guard during World War II and is assigned to the fictional buoy tender USCGC Periwinkle, cue laugh track and burned cinnamon roll hilarity.

Periwinkle somehow sinks an enemy U-boat, and Wood/Griffith ends up with the girl in the end.

Based on a novel by William R. Scott, a native Oklahoman who served in the USCG during “the Big Show,” the movie was filmed at Coast Guard Base Alameda and Yerba Buena Island circa 1958, with at least some footage of the USCGC Yamacraw (WARC-333) making it to the finished, albeit ill-received, movie.

Yamacraw was a very interesting ship.

Constructed during WWII at Point Pleasant, W. Va., by the Marietta Manufacturing Co as Hull 480, a 1,320 ton, 188-foot Coastal Artillery mine planter for the U.S. Army as USAMP Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray (MP-9), she was delivered to the Army on 1 October 1942.

USAMP Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray (MP-9). Records (#742), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

After serving on the East Coast during WWII, once the threat of Axis invasion passed, Randolph transferred to the Navy on 2 January 1945. She was then converted into an auxiliary minelayer by the Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., and commissioned there on 15 March 1945 as USS Trapper, designated ACM-9, a Chimo-class auxiliary minelayer, Lt. Richard E. Lewis, USNR, in command.

Her armament included one 40mm Bofors mount and four 20mm mounts, and she was fitted with both listening gear and radar.

USS Trapper (ACM-9), ex-USAMP Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray (MP-9), off San Francisco, California, circa 1945.Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, Corte Madera, California, 1973. NH 77370

It was planned that she was to take part in the last push for the Japanese home islands in late 1945/early 1946, but that never materialized, and she only made it as far as Pearl Harbor by the time the Pacific War ended.

Trapper arrived at Kobe on 25 November 1945 and operated out of that port repairing minesweeping gear until 1 February 1946, when she shifted her base of operations to Wakayama for a month. She was then sent back stateside and arrived at San Francisco on 2 May, where she was decommissioned.

Transferred to the USCG on 20 June 1946 for use as a cable layer, USCGC Yamacraw (WARC-333), after a traditional cutter name, ex-Trapper/ex-Murray was struck from the Navy list on 19 July 1946.

She remained in USCG custody until early 1959.

This included filming of Onionhead and a 1957-1958 lease during the International Geophysical Year to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for acoustic studies of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. In that task, the ship towed a cable that recorded ambient sound in the ocean, plus a thermistor chain for measuring temperature.

The Navy then re-acquired the old Army mine ship on 17 May 1959, painted her haze gray, kept the USCG name, and redesignated her as ARC-5, a cable repair ship.

The difference as told by two Jane’s entries:

USS Yamacraw (ARC-5), port quarter view of cable repair ship USS Yamacraw (ARC-5) anchored in an unidentified location. Previously served as minelayer USS Trapper (ACM-9) and Coast Guard Cutter Yamacraw (WARC-333).NHHC L45-314.01.01

As a Naval auxiliary, she operated from Portsmouth to Bermuda and spent much of her at-sea time conducting research projects for the Office of Naval Research and for the Bell Telephone Laboratories.

On 2 July 1965, Yamacraw was decommissioned by the Navy for a second and final time, transferred to the permanent custody of the Maritime Administration, and struck, again, from the Navy list.

Her final fate is unknown.

Mossberg Lands $11 Million Army Contract for M590A1 Shotguns

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The military’s nearly 40-year love affair with the Mossberg 590 pump-action 12 gauge has no end in sight.

The oldest family-owned firearms manufacturer in America announced last week that the Army has awarded it a contract valued at approximately $11.6 million for additional Mossberg 590A1 shotguns. It is unclear if the award is an extension of the $19 million maximum value contract for 17-inch M590s issued in September, but either way, the Army is getting a lot more 12-gauge Mossys.

The M590 is based on the company’s legendary M500 platform, but features a heavy-walled barrel, metal trigger guard and safety, a clean-out magazine tube, and a thick Parkerized or Marinecote finish. Numerous stock, forend, and barrel length options exist, as well as the always popular heat shield and bayonet lug.

A Mossberg 590M on display at the U.S. Army’s National Infantry Museum located at Fort Benning, Georgia. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The M590 series famously withstood the military’s grueling MIL-SPEC 3443E testing protocol for riot-type shotguns, which included running 3,000 shells with two or fewer malfunctions. As TFBTV’s James Reeves has extensively documented with his 500-round shotgun burndown series, that’s a heck of a standard, and few scattergatts can meet it.

A well-used 30-year-old Mossberg 590M that survived Hurricane Katrina and is still kicking. This thing can’t be killed. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The Army has used shotguns since before World War I. As noted by Canfield, the first Army contract for the M500 series was issued in 1979 for guns with oiled wood furniture, a standard which soon shifted to synthetic stocks.

The first contract for the updated 590s with a heatshield and bayonet lug was issued in 1987 and, since then, all branches of the U.S. military, as well as the Coast Guard, have ordered the gun at one time or another for tasks including security, EPW control, EOD use, and in door breeching with barrel lengths varying between 14 and 20 inches.

The guns have seen frontline service in Panama, Desert Storm, and during the GWOT era in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Trench Grenade, a GunTuber who is an active duty Army infantry instructor in his day job, last week did a 500-round burn down with the M590, further underlining it as the people’s champ.

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