Richard E. Killblane
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Richard Eldon Killblane (born April 15, 1955) is an American military historian, author and martial arts instructor. A West Point grad in 1979 and a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School. He has served in the U. S. Army and became an Intelligence Analyst in the 1st Special Forces Group, on Okinawa, Japan and was cross-trained onto a team as a demolitions man. Killblane is a veteran of Central American counter-insurgency and
Operation Just Cause Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
. He served as the Command Historian of the U.S. Army Transportation School at
Fort Lee, Virginia Fort Lee, in Prince George County, Virginia, United States, is a United States Army post and headquarters of the United States Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM)/ Sustainment Center of Excellence (SCoE), the U.S. Army Quartermaster Sc ...
for 18 years and traveled extensively in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
and
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
to research convoy operations. He has published numerous articles and books on military history and is considered an authority on military convoy security. In 2003, Killblane co-authored ''The Filthy Thirteen: The True Story of the Dirty Dozen'' detailing the life and World War II 101st Airborne Division exploits of Jake McNiece.


Military service

Born in Kansas and raised in Oklahoma, Richard Killblane graduated from
Ponca City High School Ponca City High School is a public high school that serves approximately 1,500 students in grades 9–12, located in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The current main principal is Thad Dilbeck. The school operates on a semester schedule. Students attend six, ...
in 1973. He enlisted in the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
in 1973 and became an Intelligence Analyst in the
1st Special Forces Group The 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) (1st SFG) (A) is a unit of the U.S. Army Special Forces operating under the United States Pacific Command. It is designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions throughout the Indo-Pacific Command ...
on
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
, Japan and was cross-trained onto a team as a demolitions man for one mission before his unit was inactivated. He was selected to attend the U. S. Military Academy Preparatory School and then was appointed to
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
in 1975. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army
Ranger School The United States Army Ranger School is a 62-day small unit tactics and leadership course that develops functional skills directly related to units whose mission is to engage the enemy in close combat and direct fire battles. Ranger training wa ...
. Killblane was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant in 1979 upon graduation from West Point. He was assigned to the 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) in
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
during the Cold War from 1980 to 1982. However, he soon joined the
7th Special Forces Group The 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (7th SFG) (A) is an operational unit of the United States Army Special Forces activated on 20 May 1960. It was reorganized from the 77th Special Forces Group, which was also stationed at Fort Bragg, Nor ...
where he trained Honduran and three El Salvadoran battalions in counter-insurgency operations. He then served as a war planner on 1st Special Operations Command staff from 1985-1986 where he originated the Army
special operations Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...
concept for contingency operations in Haiti that would come to fruition in 1994 during
Operation Uphold Democracy Operation Uphold Democracy was a military intervention designed to remove the military regime installed by the 1991 Haitian coup d'état that overthrew the elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The operation was effectively authorized by t ...
. As a captain, Killblane was transferred to
Fort Ord, California Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, m ...
where he commanded a rifle company in the 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment (Manchus). After command, he became a 7th Infantry Division war planner for military operations in Panama, both Nimrod Dancer and Just Cause. After serving 11 years as an officer in the Infantry and Special Forces, Killblane left active duty in 1990, having served at every level from private soldier, to company commander to joint task force.


Historian

He earned his MA in History at the University of San Diego in 1992 with the goal to teach soldiers how to use history. During his freelance years, he met Jake McNeice and began writing ''The Filthy Thirteen''. He later became Assistant Command Historian at the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
Technical Applications Command in 1999, and in 2000, he accepted the position of Command Historian for the US Army
Transportation Corps The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Qua ...
While serving as command historian, Killblane traveled five times to Kuwait and Iraq, twice to Afghanistan, and finally to Haiti during the earthquake response. He was one of less than a dozen federal historians to deploy to the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. He subsequently wrote historical publications on those wars. His research into convoy operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom incorporated his firsthand experience riding with convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan. This first hand experience and his research on Vietnam War convoys, have made him the leading authority on
gun truck A gun truck is an armored vehicle with one or more crew-served weapons, typically based on a commercial vehicle. Gun trucks often have improvised vehicle armor, such as scrap metal, concrete, gravel, or sandbags, which is added to a heavy truck ...
s and convoy security. He authored four books on the subject. He also wrote a study that transformed the last remaining railroad operating battalion into the expeditionary railway center with an advisory capability, and authored the white paper that defined its capability. He finally retired from the Department of the Army in 2019 and ''Delivering Victory'' was the culmination of 18 years of research as the Army Transportation Corps Historian.


Martial Arts

Killblane began his martial arts training with boxing and wrestling while in high school and then studied
Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...
and
Hapkido Hapkido ( , , also spelled ''hap ki do'' or ''hapki-do''; from Korean 합기도 ''hapgido'' ) is a hybrid Korean martial art. It is a form of self-defense that employs joint locks, grappling, throwing techniques, kicks, punches, and other s ...
under Son Duk-sung and Sang Soo "Tiger" Kim at West Point, and later Sil Seo Young. His combatives training in the Army taught him some judo and jujitsu. He began training in
aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in aroun ...
under Doug Hanson, a senior student of Hiroshi Ikeda and
Mitsugi Saotome (born March 7, 1937) is a Japanese aikido teacher currently living in the United States. He was a direct disciple of the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. Biography At the age of 16, Mitsugi Saotome began his martial arts training in judo. A ...
, in 1996. He then studied under Pat Crosby, a senior student of
Akira Tohei Akira Tohei (August 20, 1929 – July 2, 1999) was a Japanese aikido teacher. He held the rank of 8th dan in the Aikikai. He began his aikido practice in 1946 under Koichi Tohei, then the chief instructor at Aikikai Honbu Dojo. From 1956 he pra ...
, in 2003. When Crosby moved away in 2011, Killblane became the head instructor of Virginia Aikikai and continued his training under Jim Baker, a student of
Yoshimitsu Yamada Yoshimitsu Yamada (山田嘉光 born February 17, 1938)YAMADA, YOSHIMITSU 山田嘉光
and Hal Lehrman. In 2019, Killblane began studying how aikido would work against boxing and then Muay Thai in response to a
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
challenge by Rokas Leonivicious to prove that aikido would work against other martial arts.


References


Bibliography

*''The Filthy Thirteen'', Richard E. Killblane and Jake McNiece, Casemate. 2003 *''Mentoring and Leading: The Career of Lieutenant General
Edward Honor Edward Honor Sr. (17 March 1933 – 3 September 2008) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as Director of Logistics (J4) on the Joint Staff from 1987 to 1989. Promoted to brigadier general in 1979, he was the first African ...
'', Richard E. Killblane, US Army Transportation School, 2003 *''Circle the Wagons, The History of US Army Convoy Security, Global War on Terrorism Occasional Paper Number 13'', Richard E. Killblane, Combat Studies Institute, 2005 *''Convoy Ambush Case Studies'', MilitaryBookshop.com.UK, 2010 *''War Paint; The Filthy Thirteen Jump Into Normandy'', Richard E. Killblane and Brian Miller, Victory Press, 2013
Convoy Ambush Case Studies Vol. I, Korea and Vietnam, Richard E. Killblane, US Army Transportation School, 2014Convoy Ambush Case Studies Vol. II, Iraq and Afghanistan Richard E. Killblane, US Army Transportation School, 2015Lam Son 719; The Cargo Must Get Through, Richard E. Killblane, US Army Transportation School, 2017
*''Delivering Victory; The History of U.S. Military Transportation'', Richard E. Killblane, Emerald Publishing Limited, 2019. *''They Were the Rough Riders; Inside Theodore Roosevelt's Famed Cavalry Regiment'', Richard E. Killblane, McFarland, 2022


External links

Virginia Aikikai
Virginia Aikikai Web Site 2023
Video
Two Department of Army Historians Visit 3SCE
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Voices of Freedom Project Veterans Oral History of Richard Killblane
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How to Make Your Bunk
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Aikido v Boxing
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Aikido v Boxing 2
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Aikido v Muay Thai
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Aikido v Boxing 3 Blending
{{DEFAULTSORT:Killblane, Richard E. 1955 births Living people People from Kansas Ponca City High School alumni Military personnel from Oklahoma United States Army soldiers United States Military Academy alumni United States Army officers United States Army Rangers University of San Diego alumni American military historians American male non-fiction writers