Nk @Nkswfox - Twitter Profile

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6 days ago

Sergeant Major Mike Vining’s career is one of those rare military stories that reads like a compressed history of late 20th century American special operations. Born in Greenville, Michigan in 1950, he enlisted in 1968 after the Tet Offensive and chose Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) because he wanted a combined technical skill with real risk. After EOD school he deployed to Vietnam with the 99th Ordnance Detachment. In a single year he answered hundreds of calls, tunnel clears, cache destructions, unexploded munitions, including the demolition of “Rock Island East,” the largest enemy ammunition dump US forces found in the war. He left the Army in 1971 with a Bronze Star, tried civilian factory life, and quickly realized it was not for him. He reenlisted in 1973. Five years later, when Colonel Beckwith was building a new counterterrorism unit at Fort Bragg, Vining volunteered. He was one of a handful of candidates to complete the first Operator Training Course (OTC) and became Delta Force’s first dedicated EOD specialist, a plank owner of 1st SFOD-D. Over the next two decades he moved between the Unit and other assignments, including a year with an EOD detachment in Alaska, then returned as Chief EOD Technician, Research and Development Sergeant Major, and Breaching Sergeant Major. His operational list includes Operation Eagle Claw in Iran, Urgent Fury in Grenada, Just Cause in Panama, Desert Storm, Uphold Democracy in Haiti, and later work investigating the Khobar Towers bombing and planning for hardened targets. He finished his career at JSOC and SOCOM and retired in January 1999 as a Sergeant Major after 31 years. The internet later turned his official photograph into a meme, “the guy who looks like he would kill you and then do your taxes," but the joke only works because the resume is extraordinary. Among many other honors, Vining was also inducted into the Army Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame. In retirement he climbed mountains, married photographer Donna Ikenberry, and eventually put his experiences into a memoir, which is currently in Pentagon review. He's also active on social media. Quiet competence, technical skill under fire, and a 31-year career that ran from Vietnam to Delta Force. He never looked like the most dangerous man in the room, and that was the point. Respect.