Schedule

During the Cold War, much of the Soviet Union's economy went into developing weapons. With paranoia about U.S. technical superiority at a height, even the craziest sounding idea stood a chance--the military-industrial complex incubated ambitious, but often unfeasible weaponry. We focus on the sinking of M-256, which lost 37 submariners, and the Ekranoplan, a super-secret flying ship capable of carrying thousands of soldiers or missiles over great distances at high speeds under radar detection.

R. Lee Ermey, who portrayed the sergeant in "Full Metal Jacket", applies his gruff sense of humor in this half-hour series that answers viewers' mail about what the armed forces were, and really are, like! Shot on location, Ermey reads the questions on air and then sends them out to military experts in the field for answers and brief demonstrations. Find out how Civil War cannoneers aimed their artillery pieces; exactly how night vision technology works; and how to clear a minefield.

R. Lee Ermey, who portrayed the sergeant in "Full Metal Jacket", applies his gruff sense of humor in this half-hour series that answers viewers' mail about what the armed forces were, and really are, like! Shot on location, Ermey reads the questions on air and then sends them out to military experts in the field for answers and brief demonstrations. Ermey learns how to operate the Landing Craft, Air Cushion Hovercraft; what kind of saddles the cavalry used in the Old West; and how gas masks work.

In June 1995, two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter-bombers were enforcing the U.N. no-fly zone over Bosnia when they were engaged by Surface to Air Missiles from Serb territory. One was hit and Captain Scott O'Grady ejected. For five days, he evaded Serb forces until a fellow pilot picked up a faint signal from his emergency beacon. This is the story of his spectacular rescue by an elite Air Force and Marine Corps pilot rescue unit, a helicopter-borne force that picked up O'Grady deep behind enemy lines.

Examines U.S. intelligence gathering--from inception in the 1920s and development during WWII through the Office of Strategic Services and the Allied Intelligence Bureau. We investigate espionage during the war, the breakthrough in aerial reconnaissance technology, cracking of the Japanese naval codes by Navy intelligence, and birth of the Central Intelligence Agency. We also look at the darker side. Did the CIA strike a deal with Nazi war criminals in return for their help in the Cold War?