Articles tagged as Military | Smithsonian Magazine

A newly promoted group of petty officers stand in formation in Yokosuka, Japan. The blue working uniforms they are wearing will start to be phased out this October.

Aquaflage is so 2010

August 5, 2016

What secrets do those lonely ice sheets hold?

Age of Humans

A Radioactive Cold War Military Base Will Soon Emerge From Greenland’s Melting Ice

They thought the frozen earth would keep it safely hidden. They were wrong

August 5, 2016

Australian press photographer Gary Ramage photographs British troops in Afghanistan in 2010.

Updated Law of War manual removes references that equate journalism to participation in hostilities

July 22, 2016

Merchant Mariners aboard a training ship working in the boiler room.

The Merchant Marine Were the Unsung Heroes of World War II

These daring seamen kept the Allied troops armed and fed while at the mercy of German U-boats

May 27, 2016

Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leaving their plane, "Pistol Packin' Mama," at the four-engine school at Lockbourne AAF, Ohio, during WASP ferry training.

Seventy-five years later, WASPs have won one last battle

May 23, 2016

A sketch by Bert Brocklesby of his fiancée, Annie Wainwright. Annie's brother was killed at the front and Bert traveled to Vienna to do aid work after the war. Annie objected, and broke off their engagement

Cool Finds

Curators Are Preserving Graffiti Scrawled By WWI Conscientious Objectors

The cell walls at Richmond Castle are still covered in drawings and notes

May 19, 2016

Amateur historians have called into question the identity of a soldier in Joe Rosenthal’s 1945 Pulitzer prize-winning image

May 3, 2016

The HMNZS Bellona in April 1947, just before the crew mutinied.

Cool Finds

Following WWII, New Zealand’s Navy Was Rocked With Peaceful Mutinies

More than 20 percent of the Royal New Zealand Navy was discharged for protesting low pay

April 1, 2016

A New Addition to #MyDaguerreotypeBoyfriend Is the Civil War’s Most Daring Naval Officer

Who is this cool cat, posing for an unusually casual photo for famed photographer Alexander Gardner?

April 2016

Much of the bunker looks the same as it did when it was fully functional.

Switzerland

Switzerland’s Historic Bunkers Get a New Lease on Life

As the shadow of war fades, the country’s former fallout shelters now house everything from museums to cheese factories

March 23, 2016

The Peacekeeper missile was the most powerful weapon in the U.S. military's arsenal until its decommissioning in 2005. This photo is of a test launch in California in 1983.

Wyoming Is Turning a Former Cold War Nuclear Missile Site Into a Tourist Attraction

The U.S. Air Force is working to recreate a Cold War stronghold

February 8, 2016

Hospital Apprentices second class Ruth C. Isaacs, Katherine Horton and Inez Patterson (left to right) were the first black WAVES to enter the Hospital Corps School at National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD. Photographed March 2, 1945.

Cool Finds

Photographs Document Some of the First Black Women to Serve With the U.S. Navy

Black women were not allowed to join WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) until 1944

February 5, 2016

Three F-14 Tomcats fly in a tight formation over the Red Sea during Operation Desert Storm. The F-14s primary function was to intercept multiple airborne threats in all weather conditions and at night.

Operation Desert Storm Was Not Won By Smart Weaponry Alone

Despite the “science fiction”-like technology deployed, 90 percent of ammunitions used in Desert Storm were actually “dumb weapons”

January 20, 2016

Cool Finds

Here’s What Military Rations From Around the World Are Made Of

From bibimbap to beans

January 18, 2016

A dog mascot named Whisky in the arms of his captain Wolfgang Erhart on board a German ship in the harbor of New York in 1962

Cool Finds

The British Navy Has a Long History of Adopting Animal Mascots

Ships’ pets included dogs, cats and some other animals that were more unusual

December 10, 2015

A new Smithsonian Book by Gus Lee tells the untold story of Norman Schwarzkopf's work with young cadets at West Point.

How the Unflinching Norman Schwarzkopf Became One Man’s Guiding Light

In a new book, the general who successfully commanded one of the largest military operations in the Middle East is remembered by a man he mentored

December 2, 2015

Archival Footage of Parachuting Military Dogs

Shot in 1948, this incredible footage shows paratroop dogs landing in the Arctic to learn how to rescue plane crash victims

November 27, 2015

Cool Finds

During the Cold War, the Military Had Plans to Wage War in Space

The U.S. Army’s Future Weapons Office proposed theoretical ways to defend non-existant lunar bases

November 11, 2015

Soldiers of the 44th Division at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in a gas mask drill. The experiments however, exposed troops to chemical weapons without such protection.

An NPR investigation is looking for victims of the U.S. military tests

November 5, 2015

Document Deep Dive

The Telegram That Broke News of the Civil War

After Confederate forces seized Fort Sumter, a U.S. Army officer dashed off this message to Washington

November 3, 2015