“Talking Proud” honors service and sacrifice, focused mainly on our military, and where I can, on Canada’s as well. Feel free to send me a note using the Contact Form and, if appropriate, I will post your comments in our Letters section. My name is Ed Marek, and I run this site on my own, as a hobby. That said, a donation is always uplifting.
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We have a great menu of stories in the table of contents on the left sidebar. Browse through them and be proud.
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Afghanistan’s hell, the Sangin Valley: Why Sangin?
An American Marine said this in a recent HBO documentary: “Marines do not fight wars. They fight battles.” This report will show that to be true, but it will also show a lot more. The focus here is on what I will call the Battles of Sangin, Afghanistan. These battles were many, and they remain many to this day, one of the most difficult and lethal aspects of the Afghan War. The Sangin District is in the Helmand River Valley, Afghanistan. British forces have called it “Sangingrad,” after the tortuous battle of Stalingrad in WWII. Others have called it the most dangerous place in the world. Others have called it “No Go Valley.” For purposes of my report, ferocious fighting has been in train there daily, often many times in one day, between the Allies and the enemy, largely the Taliban reinforced by fighters from other Islamic countries since 2006. I carry it through until October 2011, but have decided to continue updating it as I am able. November 7, 2011. Go to story.
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A look at the the Ban Laboy Ford, Laos, and Hwy 912, why did we spend so much on them?
Jimmie Butler, an acquaintance of mine, a widely known writer and well known USAF Forward Air Controller (FAC), introduced me a few years ago to a place called Ban Laboy (also spelled Loboy) Ford, which during the Indochina War was on Hwy 912 in Laos. He like so many others who flew over it and around it came to see this location as the most bombed out area of the Indochina War. The Ban Laboy Ford and the immediate region around it were targets of unparalleled interest and action for the roles they played as part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. US air forces sustained heavy casualties attacking this area, and they caused enormous disruption to the flow of enemy men and supplies, and enormous enemy losses. My purpose here is to try to understand why this location was so important. July 4, 2011. Go to story.
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Electric Goons of “Naked Fanny”
This report is about the EC-47 electronic reconnaissance aircraft and crews of Detachment 3, 6994th Security Squadron (6994th SS), Nakhon Phanom (NKP) Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB), Thailand. The EC-47s were fondly known as the “Electric Goons” following in the footsteps of the C-47 being known as the Goonie Bird. NKP was also fondly known as “Naked Fanny.” The base was located in northeast Thailand right where the Mekong River turns south. Laos was across the river. The unit was set up in April 1969 in response to a push from the American Ambassador to Vientiane. The North Vietnamese began sending tens of thousands of troops into supposedly neutral Laos, the war there deteriorated rapidly, and the US ambassador and others urged the introduction of the EC-47s to fly mainly over Laos, hoping to prevent Laos from turning communist. The men and aircraft were also sent to NKP to work against the ever growing enemy logistics activity along the Ho Chi Minh Trail which extended from east-central Laos into Cambodia branching off multiple times into the Republic of Vietnam. The conditions in Laos for this kind of aircraft were unforgiving and hazardous. By Ed Marek, editor, March 28, 2011. Go to story.
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