US Military

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Introducing Our Special Issue on America at War

The nation's epic, expanding fight against terrorism overseas

Previously deployed service members raise their hands at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

New Poll of U.S. Troops and Veterans Reveals Their Thoughts on Current Military Policies

In a new Smithsonian poll, conducted with the help of Stars and Stripes, current and former members of the armed forces take aim at conventional wisdom

A patrol returns to Forward Operating Base Tillman, in eastern Afghanistan. It was closed in 2012, the year after this double exposure was made.

The New Archaeology of Iraq and Afghanistan

The once-fortified outposts that protected U.S. troops are relics of our ambitions abroad

A dog-tag memorial at Old North Church in Boston, which has honored service members killed in the Iraq and Afghan wars since 2006, making it the oldest such memorial in the country

How Should We Memorialize Those Lost in the War on Terror?

Americans have erected countless monuments to wars gone by. But how do we pay tribute to the fallen in a conflict that might never end?

Drawing of a helicopter on a wall of a house located at the first American helicopter crash site in Mogadishu. The Somali word on the helicopter's side, kulva, is an attempt to spell the word "Cobra," which was one kind of helicopter used to attack the village.

The Legacy of Black Hawk Down

Twenty-five years after the battle chronicled in the best-selling book, the author argues that we've learned the wrong lessons about fighting terrorism

Army Reservist Xiao Meng Sun, who left China six years ago, believes that military training teaches one to meet challenges.

Fighting to Be American

For centuries immigrants who served in the military could become American citizens. But are the women and men pictured here among the last?

Kristi Casteel holds her son Joshua Casteel's dog tags.

The Priest of Abu Ghraib

Inside Iraq's most notorious prison, an Army interrogator came face to face with a shocking truth about the war—and himself

Dyngo served three tours in Afghanistan before retiring to Washington, D.C.

The Story of Dyngo, a War Dog Brought Home From Combat

I brought a seasoned veteran of the conflict in Afghanistan into my home—and then things got wild

A member of the U.S. Army 3/187th Scouts from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, takes a break at a bombed out building on April 12, 2002, at Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan.

A Veteran Combat Photographer Recalls His Most Memorable Shots

Originally stuck in a darkroom, Jeremy Lock traveled the world capturing life on the front lines and the homefront

At Fort Sill, Oklahoma, you can see "Atomic Annie," the first and only cannon to ever fire a nuclear shell.

This Veterans Day, Visit America’s Top Military Sites

A new book offers a guide to the museums, bases and once-secret locations that reveal America’s complex military history

From left to right: Sgt. Harold J. Higginbottom, Brigadier General Amos A. Fries, 2nd Lt. Thomas Jabine

How Three Doughboys Experienced the Last Days of World War I

The end of the war was a welcome reprieve for these three American soldiers, eager to return home

View of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum from above.

A New Museum Honoring America's Veterans Opens in Ohio

Personal stories take the place of military artifacts at the new National Veterans Memorial & Museum

In July 1942, the "Lost Squadron," a unit consisting of two B-17 bomber planes and six P-38 fighters, landed on a remote Greenlandic glacier

The Wreck of a WWII Fighter Plane Will Be Unearthed from a Greenland Glacier

The P-38 fighter is a member of the famed Lost Squadron, which landed on ice caps after running afoul of poor weather in July 1942

U.S. Troops in the Pacific Treat Themselves to a Little R&R

A brief respite from the frontlines of the Pacific War sees American troops trying to inject a little comfort into their lives

This Pacific Island Gave U.S. Troops a Chance to Recharge

For the vast majority of American troops, Saipan was their first experience of tropical living

Rare Color Footage of WWII Navy Hazing Rituals

Many WWII naval recruits serving on U.S. ships had never been away from home. To strengthen their bonds, they organized colorful initiation rituals

Why the U.S. Military Pushed $10 Million Worth of Helicopters Overboard

It's 1975, and a small Vietnamese civilian aircraft is desperate to land on the flight deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier

The Air Force's X-37B space plane.

The U.S. Military Has Been in Space From the Beginning

While the proposed branch of the armed forces may be controversial, the history of the so-called "Space Force" is longstanding

The Wise U.S. Tactic Used to Win the Battle of Midway

For the U.S., the Battle of Midway wasn't just a turning point in the Pacific, it was also a brilliant naval gamble that paid off in spectacular fashion

Remains of Tuskegee Airman Found in Austria

Researchers and archaeologists have recovered the remains of distinguished flyer Lawrence E. Dickson whose plane crashed during a mission in 1944

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