Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Mark Hertling Profile picture
@MarkHertling
Jun 6, 2021 • 5 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
La Fiere bridge, a few miles west of Ste Mere Eglise, was a key objective of the 82d Airborne. Securing would ensure the flow off Utah Beach. The 15th century farmhouse is today a B&B
A few yards away, an “Iron Mike” - similar to the one at Ft Bragg SC - stands watch over the Merderet River
Every year, Airborne troopers from @USArmyEURAF @173rdAbnBde reenact this mission...and so far, none have landed on the steeple of the church in Ste Mere Eglise (as occurred in the original drop)
My last year in command of @USArmyEURAF I was honored to meet a few of the REAL heroes of that fight...
...and then some French reenactors invited me to ride with them on their Sherman tank into the town. Heard some great stories that day from American veterans and French citizens.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Mark Hertling

Mark Hertling Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @MarkHertling

Mark Hertling Profile picture
Nov 5
It's interesting & emotional that @VP will be spending election night at her alma mater @HowardU in Washington, D.C.

A beautiful campus, an excellent institute of higher learning...

...and one that is connected to my own alma mater, @WestPoint_USMA

How so? A short 🧵 1/ Image
Howard U. is name after one of its founder & its first university president, Oliver Otis Howard.

An 1850 graduate of Maine's Bowdoin College at the age of 19, Howard entered & became a member of the class of 1854 at West Point.

He graduated 4th in his class of 46 cadets. 2/ Image
In 1855, Howard married Lizzy Waite (they would have 7 children).

Howard's 1st assignment was Florida during the Seminole Wars. While there, he converted to evangelical Christianity & considered being a minister.

After the war, he was sent to West Point to teach Math. 3/ Image
Read 10 tweets
Mark Hertling Profile picture
Nov 4
Today, I remembered a couple of Iraqis I met during my last deployment in 2007-8, during the surge

It had to do with trust, confidence...and voting.

A short 🧵 1/10 Image
Image
The 1st was Muhammed, the man in the white thobe.

The battalion commander in the area asked me to come meet him, as Muhammed had been an insurgent who pledged allegiance to the new Iraqi government.

A fascinating guy. Spoke good English, had been a university student. 2/ Image
He told me he had been fighting the coalition, but he realized the "power of the finger was better than the power of the gun."

He was talking about the finger tdipped in blue ink indicating voting.

He said he would stop fighting, go back to school, & study politics. 3/
Read 10 tweets
Mark Hertling Profile picture
Oct 4
Watching the Israeli operations in S. Lebanon today, as the IDF releases numerous photos of arms caches found in & near homes. 1/7Image
Image
Image
These are similar to what US forces found throughout Iraq when we were there.

Using civilian locations provides terror organizations w/ unique advantages:
- difficult to find
- difficult to target
- when found, striking/destroying results in civilian casualties. 2/Image
This morning, the IAF also struck a 3.5 km tunnel complex between Syria & Lebanon that provided a means of bringing those weapons to Hezbollah.

Between 0900-1100 hrs local time today, Hezbollah launched over 100 rockets & drones into N. Israel. 3/Image
Read 7 tweets
Mark Hertling Profile picture
Sep 22
During a break in an MBA leadership class, a student asked me: What's it like serving in government, and what did you do to keep yourself fired up?

A thread 🧵 1/11
My response?

Sometimes it's tough - especially during deployments & the tough times being away from family.

But the vast majority of the people you work with, and the things you get to do, make it all worthwhile. 2/
Having never been on an airplane & having never left my hometown until I joined the Army, the adventures and the places I went to serve were awesome!

New countries, unique cultures, different languages, seeing the world, meeting new people? Yeah, nothin' better. 3/
Read 11 tweets
Mark Hertling Profile picture
Sep 18
A few thoughts on what occurred in two different conflicts yesterday...the use of "killer pagers" by Israel and Ukraine's attack on the large ammo cache at Toropets military base 300+ miles inside Russia.

A short 🧵 1/12
First, the pagers.

In this article (gifted) from the @nytimes, the author claims there "no clear strategy" for this coordinated attack.

I disagree. Having used electronic & signals countermeasures in Iraq, the strategy is clear. 2/

nytimes.com/2024/09/18/wor…
Terrorist organizations - unlike conventional militaries who have encrypted signal capabilities - must find ways to communiate. It is important to continue to disrupt & counter this ability.

In Iraq, terrorist use of cell phones allowed US and ISF to glean valuable information & disrupt their networks. 3/
Read 13 tweets
Mark Hertling Profile picture
Sep 4
On a daily basis during my time in command of Army forces in Europe, every day the intelligence "black book" would provide more information on Putin's Russia attempts at malign influence against the west...and especially against the US.

Today, the @TheJusticeDept has taken action...but because of current divisions in the US, many Americans will have questions.

So let's talk about it...

A thread 🧵 1/12
During my service in Europe, I saw intelligence on:
-Rusian acts of sabotage within allied governments
-The creation of "frozen conflicts" w/in the territorial integrity of nations (including Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia/Azerbaijan, two of the three Baltic countries, and the Balkans)
-the stoking & support of migration & human trafficking
-malicious cyber activities against whole of governments (most egregious example was Estonia)
-disinformation campaigns and election interference
-attempted and successful assassinations on foreign soil. 2/
In my last year of command of @USArmyEURAF (that was 2012), the Russian television station @RT_com asked me to do an interview, as we had just conducted an exercise with the Russian Army and I had invited the Chief of the Russian Ground Forces Col-Gen Chirkin to a conference. 3/Image
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(