USS Wasp (LHD 1) Wasp-class amphibious assault ship at BAE Systems Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia to her berth at Norfolk - May 19, 2026 SRC: FB- Hampton Roads & Chesapeake Bay Ship Watchers / Paul Simko 📸
"I didn't come back for a 10-win season. I came back for it all." Arizona's Noah Fifita leads all college quarterbacks in TD passes. His story of sticking around in Tucson is an ode to permeance and building roots in a transient era. https://t.co/ogsV0X23S6
Since I have 14 min left in my 15-min fame from the EPIC FURY Easter CSAR, here's more insight into my community & how we got here.
Many posts list must-read books, but if you want to understand why Apr 3-5, 2026 is a full-circle moment for USAF CSAR & SOCOM, read “The Guts to Try” by Col James H. Kyle (USAF Ret) w/ John Robert Eidson. It's firsthand & candid.
In 1980, USAF CSAR used HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giant helos (Vietnam-informed, flown by the best) supported by HC-130 Combat King for fixed-wing rescue, NVG low-level night ops & AAR. PJs were organic to sqdns.
Yet USAF didn't commit its primary CSAR helos to the main assault/extraction of Op EAGLE CLAW. Plan called for transferring personnel to C-141s at Manzariyeh, then BIP the helos on ground to deny them to Iran.
Col Kyle cites service parochialism & concerns over helo use/disposal. I add: USAF lacked assurance Congress would fund replacements. CSAR forces were on alert for backup SAR only.
GFC was COL “Chargin’ Charlie” Beckwith. Op EAGLE CLAW was Delta's 1st major mission. He led the embassy assault element & was at Desert One when mech issues, haboob & fatal collision forced abort w/ only 5 operable helos (below min force).
Eagle Claw failure drove major reforms: creation of USSOCOM (1987), 160th SOAR (exclusive vertical lift), & AFSOC.
Post-mission, DoD sought an acft w/ helo VTOL + fixed-wing speed/range + troop/cargo capacity → 1981 JVX program → V-22 Osprey.
The complex extraction of DUDE 44B feels like Red Sox beating Yankees to break the Curse of the Bambino.
46 yrs after EAGLE CLAW heartbreak at Desert One (mech failures, dust storm, inter-service friction, 8 KIA), today's SOF, aircrews & planners succeeded: DUDE 44B home safe, zero US fatalities, 150-170 acft armada, deception, real-time coord & “leave no one behind.”
Toast to SOCOM.
As special as it was for Arizona’s current players to make a run to the Final Four, the family reunion it sparked is just as neat. So many legends in Indy this weekend supporting their Wildcats! ❤️💙
Happy heavenly birthday to Fred “The Fox” Snowden, the first African-American head basketball coach at a major college program when Arizona hired him in 1972. He paved the way for Lute Olson, Sean Miller and Tommy Lloyd by turning Arizona into more of a national program, especially from a recruiting perspective. @snowdenhoops