SGM Mike Vining @ Blasting Through Official✓

Welcome to my official X account. As an original member of Delta Force, I share insights on military & corporate leadership, mentoring, ethics, & moral injury. My book “Blasting Through” is under review at the Pentagon with a hopeful release for Christmas 2026. Stay tuned.

Thanks to Eric Lawrence for inviting me to be on his podcast. We had a great conversation. I encourage you to watch it when you have the time.

Operation URGENT FURY was the operation name for the invasion of Grenada, which occurred 43 years ago today, on 25 October 1983. I was part of the rescue force (B Squadron) to free the Grenadian political prisoners being held in Richmond Hill Prison (today known as His Majesty's Prisons). In six Blackhawk helicopters, we took a lot of Cuban and Grenadian fire at the prison. Seventeen of the rescue force were wounded, eight 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment crew were wounded, and the pilot of helicopter number four CPT Keith J. Lucas was mortally wounded and number four crashed. We were hit by two ZSU-23-2s that were mounted on top of Fort Frederick.  The sky was filled with 23mm, 12.7mm, and 7.62mm ammunition directed at us. We freed the Grenadians from a Marxist coup. Today in Grenada, the 25th of October is known as Thanksgiving Day, a national public holiday, which celebrates the United States helping to free Grenada. I cover Operation URGENT FURY in great detail in "Blasting Through."

Grenada operation suffered from poor planning. As a result, US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) was created to conduct these types of joint missions.

Here's a closeup of a tag on the Arlington flowers and the laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown.

Here's an example of an EOD flag and flowers on a grave at Arlington National Cemetery.

This is a pic of J.B. "Texas Jack" Omohundro's grave.

Here's a photo of W.F "Buffalo Bill" Cody's grave:

I’ve been named a recipient of the newly established Ordnance Order of Thomas J. Kane. I’ll be presented with the award during EOD week in May 2027. COL Thomas J. Kane is considered the father of Army Bomb Disposal. In May of 2026, the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Association initiated a program to ensure that Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel receive recognition for their deeds that go above and beyond the norm. To recognize and honor the best of the best within the specialty, the association created the "Ordnance Order of Thomas J. Kane." The first three awards went to the Army names on the EOD Memorial, LTC Ret. Robert E. "Bob" Leiendecker, and to me. I am honored to have been selected for this award.

Have you heard of the term “PMIE”? It stands for Perpetration and Betrayal-Based Morally Injurious Events.” In a 2017 study, “Distinguishing War-Related PTSD Resulting from PMIEs” (authors Alexander Jordan, et al), the connection between PMIEs and PTSD sampled 867 Marines who experienced heavy ground combat while deployed overseas. The results showed that over a third of the Marines reported exposure to PMIEs. The researchers concluded that guilt and shame are not adequately addressed within the current classification of PTSD as defined in the DSMV (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition). PTSD tends to focus on danger-based experiences, while shame and guilt are being overlooked in PTSD diagnosis and treatment. This study and many others are pointing to the psychological struggles of guilt, shame, and anger that are contributing to suicidal thoughts. We must educate and continue to study this phenomenon. Our active duty and veteran populations deserve to get the specific help they need.

If you want to hear the entire backstory of the mixup between my friend Bill Cronin and me, listen to this excerpt that Bud Gibson has provided here.

@BlastingThrough He also wasn’t the guy Steve was based lol.. me and Mike have a laugh about that in the clip from a year or two ago

I thought this was a really funny video about me. Just to be clear, though, I was not part of General Schwarzkopf security detail during Operation DESERT STORM.  My mission was the destruction of the Iraqi underground Command and Control complex Taji #2.

Written by Justin Reeves & hosted by Michael Droberg, this video is well-researched. I had no idea that it existed. One of my daughters sent it to me. Thank you, Justin, Michael, & “Forgotten History,” a 10th Legion Pictures Production. Well done.

Allow me to explain the philosophy and a little history about why showing competence and ease while performing a variety of skills is key in low visibility operations. A lot of you have asked about Delta Force and whether we were all Rangers before going through assessment and operations training. Many in OTC 1 and OTC 2 were composed mainly of Special Forces and Rangers — a lot of Vietnam veterans, a lot of MACV-SOG veterans. But Col. Beckwith’s vision was that Delta, as a counterterrorist unit, needed people of different experiences. So, it was opened to all MOSs — not just Special Forces, infantry, Ranger. Recently, I was explaining to Benjamin Braddock, a journalist with IM 1776, that Col. Beckwith believed we needed people of alternate skills and backgrounds as operators. For example, if we needed somebody to operate a bulldozer, somebody who could jump on, start it up, and move it off an airfield, that was a skill we might need. Or we might need somebody who could portray being a cook, someone who could look like they know their way around a kitchen, for example. We needed a variety of skill sets, and we all learned a multitude of specialized abilities so that that we could perform them without being noticed.

Excellent, @JohnNavarSr. I also want to thank my X followers for supporting this amazing project.

1,100 @BreakthroughT1D @Barbie s are officially waiting for us in San Antonio. 🎀 Now we just have to go get them. Then we do it all over again. BarbieQ is October 10th in Corpus Christi. 💙 Also, gotta thank @BlastingThrough for helping us get the last of the funds 🙏🏾 #T1D

The Heroes in Conversation Forum asked me about U.S. ideals, like freedom, liberty, & justice. They asked me which of these values resonated most deeply with me during my deployments. I said: Justice. Without justice, there can be no lasting freedom or liberty. Your thoughts?

Do you know the meaning behind the placement of currency coins on soldiers’ headstones? In America’s military, leaving a penny simply means that you visited. A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at Basic Combat Training/Recruit Training/Basic Military Training “boot camp” together. Leaving a dime means that you served with the deceased in some capacity. By leaving a quarter, you are telling the family that you were with the soldier when he/she was killed. The practice of leaving a certain denomination of coin seems to have started around June 2009 from a website.

I think there is a little misunderstanding on what I wrote. I was just writing about the meaning of the different coins. During Vietnam the practice of leaving coins meant that someone visited the grave. There was no other meaning. Of course it goes back further. I wrote a whole article on this which I will share.

Our nation and way of life face constant internal and external threats. As a soldier, my duty was to protect against these challenges, first in EOD by removing unexploded ordnance hazards, and later in Delta Force working to free those held by terrorists or hostile states. It’s vital that we study our 250-year history to learn from our successes and our mistakes. Revisionist history deprives us of those essential lessons.

People often ask me what plans must be followed before any nation puts “boots on the ground.” Here it is: 1. Clear, realistic goals. 2. An established timeline. 3. Vigilance against mission creep. 4. A nation-building plan. 5. A clear exit strategy.