Keep the video suggestions coming!

WWI: Wrong Turn WWII: Bad Art WWIII: Tree

I love how the South Korean special forces came armed for a battle, while the US special forces came armed for the apocalypse. It's very indicative of how the US military operates.

After they cut it down, the commander of US forces in the South Korea had some of the wood turned into a swagger stick that he ceremonially gave to his replacement. Also, when the North Koreans showed up, those South Korean special forces guys with the claymore mines strapped to their chests went to the other side of the bridge of no return and screamed at them, daring them to cross while brandishing the detonators. ROK Black Berets are insane.

I cannot express to you how crazy it is that one of the American soldiers who died was named Captain Bonifas when Saint Boniface is famous for having taken an axe to a pagan tree idol. History is amazing.

Operation Paul Bunyan is the most relevant and accurate mission op title ever.

My Dad was an MP in Korea just after the end of the war. He had an incident where his troop hit a baseball over the line. It set off a moment where they had to go into one of those little trailers you saw during Trump's visit. They tried to negotiate getting the ball back but after some time they realized they weren't getting it back. My Dad reached across the line & snatched a pair of glasses off one of the Koreans that were there to negotiate. He uttered this in Korean “These now belong to the US Army” then walked away. From that moment, his soldiers followed him around the globe for about twenty years. Gary if you're out there, my family needs those glasses!

Overkill is under-rated. I just kept rolling laughing as he listed more and more equipment in increasing levels of lethality.

“Buff got to do hot laps?!? Fuck, fuck, FUUUUUUUCK!!!!” -Raptor

"We can't have weapons IN the JSA....Nobody said 💩 about having them ABOVE the JSA..." BRILLIANT! 👏👏👏👏

I was legitimately laughing out loud hysterically at the "appropriate response" as he kept escalating the amount of force that was present. Insane.

NK waking up to 10,000 US soldiers eyeballing them from across the DMZ must of been one hell of a "OH SHIT...!" moment for Kim Il Sung and his ilk.

Not a tank, it’s a M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle and that “tiny” gun is a 165mm demolition gun.

"that time America accidentally turned a manhole cover into the fastest manmade object of all time. Because they yeeted it into outer space with a nuclear warhead." You have my attention.

Knew the story but by god, can't pass up hearing it in the FE style.

3:58 The original plan was to simply trim the tree’s branches to obtain visibility on checkpoint 3 not chop it down entirely. The plan changed however, with the US and South Korea deciding to chop down the tree instead in response to North Korea’s reaction and hostile response (that led to the Korean Axe Murders) to the tree being trimmed under the supervision of an overwhelming force.

Loved this one. I served in the Midway battle group from 1980 to 84 on a guided missile cruiser. The USS Reeves CG-24.

Okay, that's amazing. The continuous build from pistols, to m16s, to Hueys, to fighter, to Stratofortress's was well done. It reminds me of Praying Mantis, when we trashed Iran's navy. Edit: "huey," not "hughey."

These commies bout to find out that YES George Washington DID chop down that cherry tree 🌲 🍒

The logical extreme of "it's about sending a message."

I absolutely love our idea of "appropriate" response, warms my American heart every time.

Uncle Sam's idea of a "show of force" is always my favorite part of this country's military.

I"ve been to the DMZ when i was stationed in Korea, there's a museum before you get up to the DMZ and a display case there is made out of the tree that was cut down containing articles of that day. I love how we gave NK such a massive show.

So...about a month or so ago I stumbled onto your channel and spent the next couple hours laughing my ass off. Somehow or another, "It's never a war crime the first time" and "Warheads on foreheads" became common utterances, so much so my girlfriend commented on it... Then I saw the Doc episode and linked it to her by way of explanation. I spent six years as Doc to my Marines and can say for absolute certain that if I died, I died secure in the knowledge we were going to win. I got a birthday coming up, and the girlfriend found the "It's never a war crime the first time" T-shirt after noticing the Doc reference I had missed, she ordered it and it arrived at my house today. I have a new favorite t-shirt.

The manhole cover video absolutely needs to happen.

Operation Paul Bunyan has to be the best "hold my beer" moment of the Korean conflict. The amount of money and manpower used in the operation to get rid of one tree is incredible!

This is the military version of “WILL YOU STOP TOUCHING ME!!!” on a car ride with your parents at age 4.

I'm sure someone has mentioned it but Ford was a Navy veteran of WWII. During that time when he was the OOD the ship caught fire. Ford descended into the bowels of the flaming ship, figured out the extent of the damage and ship was saved.

They were behind on spending their entire budget that year. Can't let the government think they don't need every penny!

Korean war history is quickly becoming the best part of this channel

Hey man, I just wanna say that I only found your channel recently thanks to a friend, and not only do I love your method of storytelling, but it's also reignited my love of military history and the like and is all gives a good reason why our veterans deserve a lot of the respect I think they don't get enough of.

the US Army really said "Ok now either you make me trim this fucking plant or I'mma get real "PROPORTIONAL" around these parts"

These videos went from 45 seconds long to upwards of 25 minutes long and I am not complaining in the slightest. I just find it amazing to watch him take a breath every now and again.

I've a black belt in Tae Kwon do growing up and once we had someone who came to visit San Diego to look after his nephew. Well I was there practicing, and he stepped up and said that he'd like to give me some pointers because I was early for class and I was struggling with my form (there are 9 black belts available. When you reach 1st degree, you are considered a grandmaster, if memory serves). We practiced together for about 30 minutes and I was amazed by how solid and flawless he made it look. I felt like an absolute newbie under this guy, but I gave it my best. at the end, he shook my hand and smiled. His nephew later told me he was a black beret, and he NEVER smiled, not even at home. Edit: 1st degree is newbie, 9th degree is grandmaster. left the original comment intact.

I remember that whole week, I was an army brat during this incident. Realize there are 1000s of American families. My father rushed home grabbing all his gear and telling my Mom to only pack one suitcase and prepare to evacuate. He leaves while my mother is crying and freaking out and ripping all the pictures out of the photo albums and putting them in the one suitcase allotment per family. As a 8 years I kind of grasp what was going on and was scared shitless. Waiting on the word to get to the buses and taken to the airbase to get flights out.

I have to agree about Scheels, I was planning a trip to visit my nephew in Colorado Springs, she told me I had to visit the store because they had a ferris wheel. Over the course of a couple days I visited that store, the first time it was a lot to take in, but besides sporting goods they had a small beauty section, a toy section and a candy store, plus a couple animatronics and I ended up spending nearly 700.00 dollars over all. what got me was the huge bags of coffee, bags that could last a person months or an above average coffee drinker 3 weeks.

As a follow up, Lt Bulldog may have gotten taken out by his own side years later for being too aggressive during a situation that led to a firefight on November 23, 1984. A soviet defector crossed into SK and the Lt had his men open fire, causing a 40 min firefight. Reports are that him and a subordinate were summary executed after the incident and he was never seen again.

I started learning TKD in the late '80s from a retired US serviceman that spent a lot of time in South Korea. That man did not teach us a sport he taught us how to "end things".

Salute to the families of the 2 fallen soldiers. I was ignorant of this tragedy till now. It's an honor to have you all in the country. God bless and keep safe. Quack Bang Fatty! Love these insights!

America's definition of try me is always so beautiful

I just found your channel a few days ago and you are great. I watch Simon Whistler all the time but I now have someone new to watch. Keep up the awesome job.

I don’t care how many times I hear this story, it will never get old.

Best “Keyboard warrior “performance yet! Lmao

"we are her to finish the work left unfinished" More than one NK officer shat their pants thinking the war was about to go hot again, guaranteed

Haven’t had time to watch in a while. So happy you’re making full length videos.

I worked with an old (E4 Mafia) army vet who was stationed in South Korea when this went down. He said it sucked because he was moved from the motor pool to cleaning and preparing all the surplus M16s packed in cosmoline in case a war broke out then had to repack all of them when things cooled down. That man hated that damn tree!

I’m friends with a former SK special forces taekwondo instructor who now has a dojang here in Florida. Several years ago he brought a visiting friend from Korea over to use my range and shoot since that’s a bit difficult in Korea. Turns out the guy is top 10 worldwide taekwondo master and works for Kukkikwon, which is THE world body for taekwondo, and was here to evaluate high level people trying to advance their belt rank. He speaks 5 words of English, I speak 0 Korean, but he had such a good time that whenever he’s back in the southeast he comes over and we have a blast. He’s in his 70s, looks like his late 40s, and could wreck me in a heartbeat. Actual fighting taekwondo is no joke and they go hard in sparring and training. I’d imagine the NK troops parked at the end of the bridge were extra nervous about venturing out onto it because that armored engineering vehicle (tank) was there for the sole purpose of bringing the bridge down if they fucked around, and that demolition cannon was already aimed right at a main structural column.

I moved to Iowa from Alaska about 10 months ago. I’ll tell you right now… Yes, Scheels is the best sporting goods/outdoor store I’ve ever been to. Love that they’re a sponsor! As a new Iowa boy, it’s good to see you holding it down here!

Big. It THANK YOU out of Thailand. Love your videos and way of telling these stories. Absolutely great content. Always brings a smile on my face.

The adventures of the Russian Baltic fleet. Keep up the good work

This is exactly how history classes should be taught. Effing phenomenal storytelling dude. Every video is a gem. If we could live in a world where people were this openly passionate about history and were willing to talk about it as "creatively crude" as you do, this world would be a better place.

This Ole Midway Sailor commends you on your channel! Just subscribed 3 days ago and almost done with your catalog so far and anxiously await your next video! OUTSTANDING JOB !!! Hilarious and definitely puts a smile on my face while dealing with a lot of pain. Appreciate you! QAUCK BANG OUT! 🙂

After finding your channel recently I checked out your back catalogue... Longer form videos are definitely the way to go.

That tank is a CEV (Combat Engineer Vehicle) and it fires a huge watermelon of high explosive to take out bridges, bunkers, Dollar General, etc. it is actually the only tank gun the Army had that was in the danger zone of its own round when engaging targets.

I participated in President Ford’s funeral. Second greatest honor I had in while stationed in DC. The first? Helping to plan the ceremony for and being a rifleman guarding the MoH flag as it was presented to LT Michael Murphy’s family at the Navy Museum and carrying the National Ensign for colors during his induction into the Hall of Heroes in the Pentagon.

South Korea:"We must cut this tree down" North Korea:'No, that was planted by Kim Il Sung" SpongeBob narrator:"three days later" America:"fu** around and find out what the inside of a nuclear warhead looks like"

Bro, I recently found your channel and I absolutely love it. I am binging all your content. you got me hooked on old triple 6 Gid these stores are good

Based on that force deployment, had World War Tree actually kicked off it would have been exciting and brief. I literally said, "They did What?" when you brought up that many BUFF's above. I was expecting the escalation to be gunships. B-52 is an entirely different kind of party.

Been to that site twice. When you take the DMZ tour they tell most of the story but yours is much more in depth. Great vid.

LOVE you videos - thank you so much! You make military history both fascinating and hilarious! And I really, REALLY want to hear the manhole cover story from your perspective. I actually already knew about it and was a little disappointed we didn't find it on Mars. B/c I'm pretty sure it escaped the Van Allen Belt otherwise the space station would have said they found it in orbit.

In reference to “the fastest man-made object yeeted by a nuclear warhead”, it was actually a nuclear powered gun (basically) Instead of gun powder you had a nuke instead of a bullet you had a manhole cover

That gun on the Combat Engineer Vehicle isn't 'small'. It's 152mm demolition gun. It's literally designed to shoot down BUILDINGS.

12:22 “an appropriate Response….”

Not only do you have an engaging way of telling a story, but your editor is amazing. The choice and timing of the BGM in your videos always impresses.

This is the most accurate retelling of the incident I've ever heard. This is what we were told when I went to JSA in 1983. I spent 82-84 at Osan.

Hey T.F.E. just wanted to say i came across your videos and have been hooked ever since ..I love military history and I love my country and have the upmost respect to all who have served I L.M.A.O hearing you speak don't stop!!! i look forward to all the new videos you put out... BUHHHH!!! Have you heard about the highway to hell in 1st gulf war or hamburger hill vietnam?

wasz stationed in SK for three years, and got to go to the DMZ twice, the JSA and visit the infiltration tunnels that north korea didn't dig. Got to see CP-3 and the plaque that was placed there, Great vid, and I have a picture of a north korean guard taking my picture there, it is on my desk, so I don't forget!

I really enjoy the emphasis on the Korean War era. I feel as if this period of our history isn’t talked about anymore. Thank you for the top notch content!

10:01 "Also they brought a tank" Not going to lie I burst out laughing at that part. Of _course_ America would be the ones to bring a fucking tank to a knife fight.

Yep, you definitely need to talk about the manhole, and i can't wait to get my second hat. The stars and stripes are a great look!

Just watched your John Deere episode. You should check out the Minneapolis Moline NTX. They beat jeep to the jeep and came out with a dual transmission vehicle powered by a model U engine. It was a straight torque machine used by the navy and army in WW2. My grandpas buddy had one and they went to a tractor pull and when the last tractor of the final pull off was stopped they went out and hooked up there he was stopped dropped it in double low and walked the sled all the way past the the full pull line.

A couple things i heard that were not included. 1. The nearby check points were renamed after the Americas that died. 2. One of the Americas didn't die right away, he was alive in a ditch, the North Korean then took turns beating him and hitting him with a axe they stole, until he died. 3. The North Koreans kept the axe and hang it in a near by checkpoint, like a war trophy.

I sincerely hope you do talk about Operation “Plumbob”. Absolutely hilarious. That manhole cover was on that camera for 2 frames before it was just gone. And nobody found it.

I love watching your marvel end credit tidbits/ foreshadowing

In August of 1976, I was stationed on Guam as a B-52 Radar Navigato (Bombardier) and flew one of the B-52s that took part in Operation Paul Bunyan. To set the record straight, only three B-52s actually flew up there that day. Iwas on the lead BUFF of a three ship formation. We were only armed with 50 cal ammo for the Gunner and a bunch of aluminium chaff for Electronic Warfare. We were the first B-52s to fly over South Korea. As a result, a low level training route was estabished in South Korea and we started flying missions theree on a weekly basis. I did enjoy the video.

I love how you get so far into the story you forget what it’s about and then it all circles back to the tree

I would absolutely love to hear about the fastest manhole cover in history.

I was there.. At Camp Stanton... Assigned to the 284th...attached to D Trp 4/7 Cav... RKSR was where all the choppers and grunts held in place so the political minds could decide what to do...

you know what is massive! That god damn musket, awesome and what is better is the shark tooth sword right next to it. My man that interior decoration is on point

You should be a history professor. I never liked it myself but when a teacher has this much knowledge on the topic and can present it in an entertaining way; it makes it stick with you forever.

So I am new to the channel but I think I have watched all your videos, and all the unsubscribe pods casts too. You have a timing, and delivery unmatched. Thanks for all the laughs.

Just found your channel brother and love it, telling everyone. HM2 FMF/SW. 1998-2006

I've been to the JSA back in 2022. Thanks for the story. Brought back some memories. JSA, home of the deadliest game of golf lol.

Takes a lot longer to watch one of these history lessons than you might think, I keep doubling back to replay bits I missed because of laughter.

I'm fairly certain that that was not a tank, it was a CEV (Combat Engineer Vehicle) and the gun on the front is for punvhing holes through hardened bunkers and not for anti-tank missions. The gun fires a 165 mm round with is one of the largest land based round that was in the US inventory.

A couple of stories from my year in Korea at Osan AB. I was an intel targeteer, working in the targets flight in 03-04. We had a combined flight, half USA and half ROK. The ROK guys were pretty cool, only one spoke really good Enligh, because he was actually born in the USA and went to school at the University of Illinois. He made the mistake of coming to Korea to visit family after graduating college and got conscripted by the ROK Air Force. They sent him to Officer School, made him a LT, and assigned him to the target intelligence unit. He was not a happy guy. Another guy in the flight was TSgt Park (not the tall one, the other TSgt Park). Seriously, there were 12 Koreans in our flight and 4 of them were named Park. (something like 50% of all South Koreans share 3 surnames; Park, Lee, and Kim) Anyway, TSgt Park was a ROK Ranger detailed to the flight to do target intel on North Korean specops. 5 ft 4 inches tall and 140 lbs of twisted steel. He was a pretty cool guy in the way only total badasses can be. He used to leave for a week every quarter to keep up his Ranger quals; fun stuff like night jumps from a C-130 at 800 feet, rucks across half the peninsula. You know, fun stuff. One of the things I used to do while I ate lunch in the vault was to watch the cameras we had at the JSA and several border posts. One camera looked directly on to a North Korean vehicle checkpoint. If you remember the NK soldier who defected in the JSA in 2017, he drove his jeep right thru that checkpoint. In 2004, it was basically a shack with a wooden gate that raised and lowered to let vehicles go by. So one day I'm watching at lunch and the guard at the shack fell asleep; dude leaned up against the shack and a couple of minutes later started sliding to the ground. About a minute later 3 other soldiers come running and kick the shit out of him and drag him off. If he isn't dead, he's in a prison camp somewhere. Another time I thought the war was on. One of the cameras looks out from the JSA to a farmer's field in the North Korean side of the MDL. Farmer Kim was plowing a field with an ox. Right in the middle of the field was a broken down tractor that probably hadn't run in 20 years. All of a sudden, two green trucks - North Korean equivalents to the deuce and a half - pulled up to the edge of the field and about 30 dudes in black with rifles come pouring out. They start sneaking across the field right towards the JSA. Farmer Kim just keeps plowing. I'm thinking its game on, which is both scary and exciting. The dudes in black get to the edge of the field and then a bus pulls up and they get on. I felt letdown.

I was in my 3rd phase of Marine Corps Boot Camp in San Diego when this happened. There was a lot of talk from the drill instructors that we may graduate early and head to Korea.

William Cushing a navy officer during the civil war has to be the most interesting officer I’ve ever seen check him out! (Also this video is a blessing my dog literally died today you literally made my day a little bit better thank you)

Man, I am so glad you got away from doing TikTok shorts and started doing these longer form videos. These have all been awesome!

Jesus christ I lost it with your superimposed head in the background at 6:47... 😂🤣

I was in 1st Brigade, 2ID from 98-99. A varnished piece of that tree was on display in the brigade headquarters.

This story is of the best examples of Fuck Around and Find out and the phrase "That escalted quickly" that exists. Also, the video about the yeeted manhole cover needs to happen because the situation is funny as hell.

While stationed in Seoul '85-'86, I took the JSA tour with a couple of my squad mates. This story figured prominently in the tour. A few years after that, I wrote a paper on the subject for one of my college classes.

The whole air wing was just there to watch. Got to love having am overwhelming ability to do overkill. So rarely necessary but oh so much fun. Keep educating us on this stuff. Love it.

We have always had a hell of a way for coming up with names for operations 😂

The defeated "buh" cracks me up 🤣

The tank is an M728 CEV, Combat Engineer Vehicle. The tree trimmers was B Co 2nd Engineer Battalion. I was a member of 2nd ENG Bn 2000-2001. The chainsaw used to make the final cut almost didn't get brought. That tree chewed up a lot of chainsaws.

Good Old Fat Electrician teaching us more about the Korean War and adjacent conflicts in 2-3 sub 1 hour videos than the whole of the American education system

In Jan 1996 the first time I went to South Korea (three times total), I had to go on a tour of the DMZ. There was a small museum with the stump inside of plex-glass, about 4x4'. Also the south Korean soldiers standing half exposed at the edge of the building (1:56) are at the "R.O.K. Ready" position. The rubber mats under them, tells you how often the position is manned. Half way down the blue buildings is a concrete line, it represents the separation line of north and south within the DMZ. Inside the blue building my group was taken to was a table at the half way line inside the building. At one point the tour guide left us alone in the room. I will not confirm or deny, weather anyone walked to the north side of the table. We were told not too, by our tour guide before being left alone. From the picture (1:56) the museum would be to the left, if I remember correctly. On top of going to the DMZ unarmed, we had to be in our class A uniform. We were cold.

Dude, the way you speak and tell your stories and the way you write your scripts are wonderful and you could easily be a star in the stand up comedy field. You could be the masculine, badass "Jerry Seinfeld" as far as popularity and success would be concerned.