In 1975, a bloody civil war erupted in Lebanon, with Palestinian and leftist Muslim guerrillas battling militias of the Christian Phalange Party, the Maronite Christian community, and other groups.
During the next few years, Syrian, Israeli, and United Nations interventions failed to resolve the factional fighting, and in August 1982 a multinational force arrived to oversee the safe and peaceful withdrawal of Yasir Arafat and the PLO from positions within Beirut and ensure the safety of the Palestinian civilians that remained behind.
The participants included contingents of U.S. Marines and Navy SEALs, units of the French 11th Parachute Brigade, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment, the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment, the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment and units of the French Foreign Legion, Italian soldiers, and British soldiers.
Withdrawal of the PLO was accomplished by early September, and the bulk of the multinational force soon withdrew to ships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. 
However, the assassination on September 14, 1982, of 
Lebanese president-elect Bashir Gemayel-the Phalangist leader of the Lebanese Forces, a unified Christian militia - sparked a wave of violence. Christian militiamen retaliated for Gemayel's death by killing hundreds of Palestinians (estimates range from several hundred to several thousand) at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. In the wake of the killings, troops were swiftly returned to Lebanon. It was the beginning of a problem-plagued mission that would stretch into months and leave hundreds of the multinational force dead and wounded.
On two occasions in 1983, terrorists bombed United States targets in Beirut, Lebanon.
The first target, on April 18, was the U.S. embassy, where 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed and wiped out the CIA's Middle East bureau.
Half a year later, on October 23, the terrorists struck again, this time at barracks that housed members of an international peacekeeping force sent to help restore order in the war-torn nation. Killed in this second attack were 242 Americans.
Less than ten minutes later, a similar attack occurred against the barracks of the French 3rd Company of the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment, 6 km away in the Ramlet al Baida area of West Beirut. As the suicide bomber drove his pickup truck toward the "Drakkar" building, French paratroopers began shooting at the truck and its driver. It is believed that the driver was killed, and the truck was immobilized and rolled to stop about fifteen yards from the building. A few moments passed before the truck exploded, bringing down the nine-story building, killing 58 French paratroopers.
Many of the paratroopers had gathered on their balconies moments earlier to see what was happening at the airport. It was France's worst military loss since the end of the Algerian War in 1962.
Until September 11, 2001, the October 1983 assault would remain the most devastating terrorist attack on American citizens, and it remains the bloodiest terrorist assault on Americans outside of the United States. The group Islamic Jihad, affiliated with Hezbollah and ultimately Iran, claimed responsibility for both attacks.
Following is a detailed, well-written minute-by-minute account of the bombing told by eyewitnesses to the terrorist attack:
Dawn broke over Beirut at 0524 local time on Sunday, October 23, 1983. The temperature was already a comfortable 77 degrees F, but perhaps a bit warm for 24th Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) sentries posted around the perimeter of the MAU headquarters compound at Beirut International Airport. They were in full combat gear--helmets, upper body armor--and carried individual weapons. Since it was Sunday, the compound was relatively quiet for a modified holiday routine was in effect. Reveille would not go until 0630, and brunch would be served between 0800 and 1000. In the afternoon, there would be time to write letters, read, and perhaps toss a football about. In the afternoon, there might be a barbecue--hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the trimmings.
Relatively little traffic was observed in the early morning hours on the airport road, which runs between Beirut and the airport terminal. This road is just west of and runs parallel to the MAU compound. The Marines had been warned to be alert for suspicious-looking vehicles, which might, in fact, be terrorist car bombs. 
And so Lance Corporal Eddie A. DiFranco, manning one of the two posts in front of and south of the building housing the headquarters compound and attached elements of BLT 1/8 (Battalion Landing Team 1/8, built around the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines), closely watched a yellow Mercedes Benz stake-bed truck, which entered the parking lot south of his post.
The truck circled the lot once, then departed, turning south at the gate and heading towards the terminal.
A little less than an hour later, at 0622, DiFranco saw what appeared to be the same truck enter the same parking lot. This time, the vehicle accelerated to the west, circled the lot once, then headed toward the wire barricade separating the parking lot from the BLT building. Turning right, it ran over the wire barricade and sped between Posts 6 and 7 into the lobby of the building, where it detonated with the 
explosive force of more than 12,000 pounds of TNT.
Lance Corporal Henry P. Linkila, who heard the truck as it sped across the concertina fence, inserted a magazine into his M-16 rifle, chambered a round, and shouldered his weapon, but could not fire. The truck had already entered the building.
Lance Corporal John W. Berthiaume was guarding the fence just below the southwest corner of the BLT headquarters. He correctly guessed the truck's mission but could not react in time either to fire at the truck or to take cover in his guard bunker. He was knocked to the ground by the explosion.
Sergeant of the Guard Stephen E. Russell was at the main entrance of the building at his post, a small sand-bagged structure that looked toward the back entrance of the building, when he heard the truck as the driver revved up its engine for the dash into the lobby. Russell turned to see the vehicle pass through the permanent fence encircling the compound and head straight for his post. He wondered what the truck was doing inside the compound. Almost as quickly, he recognized that it was a threat. He ran from his guard shack across the lobby toward the rear entrance, yelling, 
"Hit the deck! Hit the deck!" Glancing over his shoulder as he ran, he saw the truck smash through his guard shack. A second or two later, the truck exploded, blowing him into the air and out of the building. Severely injured, Russell regained consciousness and found himself in the road outside the BLT headquarters with debris from the explosion all around him.
It had finally happened. An explosive-laden truck had been driven into the lobby of a building, billeting more than 300 men, and detonated. The force of the explosion ripped the building from its foundation. The building then imploded upon itself, crushing or trapping most of the occupants inside the wreckage.
Many Lebanese civilians voluntarily joined the rescue effort. Especially important was a Lebanese construction contractor, Rafiq Hariri of the firm Oger-Liban, who provided heavy construction equipment including a 40 ton P & H crane from nearby BIA worksites. 
Hariri's construction equipment proved vitally necessary in lifting and removing heavy slabs of concrete debris at the barracks site just as it had been necessary in assisting with clearing debris after the April U.S. Embassy attack.
While the rescuers were at times hindered by hostile sniper and artillery fire, several Marine survivors were pulled from the rubble at the BLT 1/8 bomb site and airlifted by helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima, located offshore.
When the last body had been retrieved from the ruins, and the final death count had been tallied, it reached a total of 241 Americans: 220 were Marines; the remainder, Navy medical personnel and soldiers assigned to the MAU. For the Marines, this was the highest loss of life 
in a single day since D-Day on Iwo Jima in 1945.
Within four months, elements of the multinational force began to withdraw to ships offshore, and on February 26, 1984, the last U.S. Marines left Beirut.
A U.S. investigation blamed lax security for allowing the bomber to get into the Marines' compound.
In memory of the 241 American servicemen - 220 marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers - killed in the October 23, 1983, Beirut barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, a Beirut Memorial was officially dedicated on October 23, 1986. It is the site of an annual commemoration of the victims of the suicide 
attack that took their lives. It is located outside the gate of Camp Gilbert H. Johnson, a satellite camp of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
In a moment of quiet reflection, Ed Ayers sat in front of a wall etched with the names of 241 Americans who were slaughtered 31 years ago when a suicide bomber drove a truck into a four-story military barracks in Beirut.
America's entrance into World War II back in 1941 triggered the golden age of pinups, pictures of smiling women in a range of clothing-challenged situations. The racy photos adorned lonely servicemen's lockers, the walls of barracks, and even the sides of planes. For the first time in its history, the US military unofficially sanctioned this kind of art: pinup pictures, magazines, and calendars were shipped and distributed among the troops, often at government expense, to "raise morale" and remind the young men what they were fighting for.
became concerned about being typecast in 'Hispanic' roles.
Back in the 1940s, the studio system still ruled Hollywood, and actors and actresses were usually contracted exclusively to particular studios. Ava Gardner was an 'MGM girl,' discovered by the studio at age 18 after talent scouts spotted a photograph. A surprised Gardner quickly relocated to Hollywood.
As well as pinup photos, the US Army Air Force also unofficially permitted 'nose art,' drawings of scantily-clad women on the fuselage of bombers and fighter planes, as a way of boosting pilot morale. 
Artists, often servicemen themselves, drew their inspiration from men's magazines, popular actresses, and real-life models.
Pinup drawings were not just limited to planes: many of the most popular pinups of the time were produced by commercial artists. 'Elvgren girls' was the nickname given to pinups drawn by artist Gil Elvgren. He began his focus on pinup art in 1937, but his long career also involved advertisements for Coca-Cola and General Electric.
Elvgren was well-known for painting his pinup subjects in imaginative situations: water skiing, climbing trees, doing yard work, even skeet shooting. Many pictures featured a young woman in a situation that accidentally revealed her stocking tops and garters. Rather than overtly titillating imagery, Elvgren seemed to go more for personality and even humor.
oss America sacrificed half of their peripheral vision to imitate this hairstyle. Lake's acting was praised by critics, but she gained a reputation for being difficult to work with, and her career didn't last past the end of the decade.
One of only a few female pin-up artists in a male-dominated field, Zoe Mozert, had the advantage of being able to use herself as a model, something the male artists presumably never did. In fact, Mozert paid her way through art school in the 1920s by modeling, and would later often pose using a camera or a mirror to compose her paintings.
censors who were concerned about the amount of cleavage she showed. Comedian Bob Hope once joked about how difficult it was to describe Jane Russell without moving your hands, a reference to her hourglass figure. Russell's most famous set of pinup shots shows her lying relaxed in a pile of hay, holding a revolver.
and was later best known for her part alongside Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
artist when he signed a contract with Esquire magazine to produce monthly pinup art in 1940. He worked with Esquire for five years, during which time millions of magazines were sent free to World War II troops. Vargas received piles of fan mail from servicemen, often with requests to paint 'mascot' girls, which he is said to have never turned down.
Bettie Page rose to pinup fame only during the 1950s, later than the other models on this list. Although her entire modeling career lasted only seven years, she's probably the most enduringly popular and recognizable pin-up model today. Her distinctive bangs (a photographer thought them up to hide her high forehead) are still copied by young women. According to her fans, Page's unique appeal lies in her natural smile and joyful appearance. Instead of pouting, she made sexiness seem fun.
provided five million copies of this iconic picture to distribute to troops. And her success outlasted the conflict: after the war, Grable became not only the top female box office draw but the most highly paid woman in America, earning about $300,000 a year.
Since the days of the Barbary pirates, United States Marines have called themselves "leathernecks." Legend and lore have it that the term leatherneck was derived from leather neckbands worn in the late 1700s to protect Marines from the slash of the cutlass. Another more likely reason is that the high stocks were worn for discipline to keep the Marines' heads high and straight. Neither explanation has ever been verified.
Since World War II, Marines have been called "jarheads." The term originates from the "high and tight" haircut that many Marines have, which makes their head look like a jar. When used by civilians or other U.S. military, it could be considered derogatory, but it is often used among Marines.
fight with any Marine, especially if said with plenty of sarcasm.
The phrase "grunt" grew in popularity during the Vietnam War when referring to Marines serving as an infantry rifleman. The opposite of a "grunt" is a "pogue," which is a derogatory reference to pretty much anyone who isn't a grunt, but normally reserved for Marines who work in an office or some other rear-echelon job as part of their regular duties ("In the rear with the gear"). Call a pogue a "grunt," and they love it, but call a grunt a "pogue" and see what happens :-)
At the peak of the war, over 6,000 Army Security Agency (ASA) soldiers were assigned to every major U.S. Army unit operating in Vietnam. They were sworn to secrecy and, for the most part, never receiving any recognition for the magnificent job they did. That, however, changed over the last few years, allowing two ASA veteran authors, Lonnie Long and Gary Blackburn, to chart the years that ASA operated in Vietnam - occurring from 1961 to 1973.
Perhaps the most salient message made by the authors is that these ASA men were all volunteers and the absolute cream of the crop. They may not have been the most military or the most disciplined, but they were the best in the world at the jobs they were trained to do. Most had little or no combat training, other than what they received in basic training. Some, including Lonnie Long, did not complete basic training but were sent on to Ft. Devens for their ASA training, and then ended up in the middle of a shooting war.
they were 
busting their butts. In this book, the authors provide the answer by describing the various missions, equipment used, and accomplishments made. Grunts will also relate to the extreme danger field ASA team members put themselves in on every operation.
About the Authors
Lonnie M. Long was born in North Carolina and served with the Army Security Agency from August 1962 to November 1965. After completing ASA training at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, Lonnie served with the 76th Special Operations Unit, Shu Lin Kou Air Station, Taiwan. In 1964, he volunteered for duty in Vietnam and began a fifteen-month tour with the 3rd Radio Research Unit, Aviation Section Tan Son Nhut Air Base Saigon.
Gary B. Blackburn is a native Iowan and served with the U.S. Air Force Security Service from April 1961 to November 1964. Gary studied Mandarin Chinese at the Institute of Far Eastern Languages, Yale University, followed by assignments to the Joint Sobe Processing Center, Torii Station Okinawa, working for NSA, and the 6987th Security Group, Shu Lin Kou Air Station, Taiwan.