Operation “Prairie Fire”

                                              23-27 MARCH 1986                                       OPERATION “PRAIRIE FIRE” After Muslim strongman COL Muammar al-Kadhafi overthrew the monarchy in Libya in 1969, he began agitating against two perceived enemies, the US and Israel.  He defiantly and arbitrarily extended his territorial claims to include all Read More

Navy 4, Libya 0

                         4 JANUARY 1989                         NAVY 4, LIBYA 0 Since 1973 Libyan strongman COL Muammar Kaddafi had claimed territorial sovereignty over the international waters of the Gulf of Sidra–a claim the United States never recognized.  In obvious rejection of Kaddafi’s claim, our warships Read More

Operation “Deliberate Force”

                                  30 AUGUST-20 SEPTEMBER 1995                                 OPERATION “DELIBERATE FORCE” The Balkan cease fire brokered by former President Jimmy Carter in 1994 had failed.  United Nations’ efforts at peacekeeping in the war-torn former Yugoslavian republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina had given way to NATO and its Read More

The Trouble in Bosnia

                                                  1992-PRESENT                                         THE TROUBLE IN BOSNIA Bosnia-Herzegovina, the central-most state in the former Yugoslav nation, is a melting pot of all the diverse Yugoslavian cultures.  Serbians, Croatians and Balkan Muslims each control their respective regions of Bosnia–a close association that has bred Read More

The 10-Day War

                                            25 JUNE-5 JULY 1991                                                THE 10-DAY WAR The culturally diverse and ethnically proud peoples of eastern Europe’s Balkan region have been subjected to domination for centuries.  Between 600-650 AD, Slavics from further east gained control, in particular, Yugoslavs moved into Serbia, Read More

Last Navy EA-6B “Prowler”

                                                   27 MAY 2015                                    LAST NAVY EA-6B “PROWLER” On this day the last of the Navy’s premier electronics countermeasures (ECM) aircraft, the Northrop-Grumman EA-6B “Prowler,” was retired after a short flight from Squadron VAQ-134 at Whidbey Island to the Seattle Museum of Read More