High Praise for The Line from Publishers Weekly: “Mayer has crafted a military thriller in the tradition of John Grisham’s The Firm.” Kirkus: “So convincing, that by the last page, readers may doubt the official version of the last 50 years.” Written by a New York Times Bestselling Author, West Point Graduate and Green Beret.

I wrote The Line some years ago. My main inspiration was to update the classic Seven Days in May. But I was also concerned about the growing power of the military-industrial cabal. The one that has kept us in forever war for varying reasons.

No other institution has had such a great impact on our history as the United States Military Academy. Two Presidents of the United States; the President of the Confederate States of America; 18 NASA astronauts; 76 Medals of Honor; Grant, Lee, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Bradley — the list of graduates and their accomplishments is long.

But deep…

Basic Facts: Length: 5,500 miles (8,850 kilometers) With all branches included, it measures 13,171 miles (21,196 kilometers) Started: Various walls were initiated as early as the 7th Century BC. But it was Shi Huang, in 220 BC, who is credited with starting what we now know as the Great Wall. The majority of the current wall was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).

Why was it built? Besides defense, it was also built for border control, so tariffs could be imposed on trade goods, and control of immigration and emigration.

During early construction of the wall, the labor force was…

Officially known as The Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. Realizing that they would be behind the west in technology for weapons, particularly in the nuclear field, the Japanese turned to experimenting on humans to discover biological and chemical weapons to tip the balance of the war in their favor. Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army.

It was located in Harbin, in Manchuria. This was outside of mainland China and where a steady supply of Chinese prisoners could be experimented on.

It is estimated that 250,000 people (men, women and children) perished in…

The Warren Commission determined in 1964 that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. In the half a century since, polls have never indicated more than 30% of American believe that.

Vincent Bugliosi estimates that 214 different people have been accused in various conspiracies ranging across 42 groups with 82 possible gunmen.

In 1979, the United States House Select Committee on Assassination concluded that a second gunman besides Oswald probably fired at Kennedy. Afterwards, the acoustic evidence it used for this determination was dismissed.

From the beginning there was a rush to cover- up what happened. Discrepancies include the body being taken…

Over 4,500 years ago, the Great Sphinx was carved out of a quarry on the Giza Plateau. It has the body of a lion and the head of a man.

It is part of a larger complex with Temples and causeways containing the Giza Pyramids.

Could the Revolution Have Ended in 1776?

Travel back in time to Staten Island, New York on 11 September 1776 A.D. The day Benjamin Franklin and John Adams meet Admiral Lord Howe to discuss the possibility of peace between Britain & the Colonies. There is the slight complication that a few years previously, Benjamin Franklin had left the sister of Admiral Howe with child while visiting England.

This occurred after George Washington was defeated in what would be the biggest battle of the Revolution, on Long Island and forced to withdraw up Manhattan Island. The British would occupy then New…

Major Robert Rogers in 1759 wrote Standing Orders, Rogers Rangers, from lessons learned in the first 3 years the Rangers were formed. These are at least 17 rules. Simple rules, but learned at the cost of blood. All SOPs are guidelines.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP): A step by step procedure written down that delineates how things should be done correctly. They can serve many purposes, but for a survival situation they give you a proper plan of action in the midst of stress. It is too late once an emergency occurs to come up with SOPs.

1. DON’T forget nothing.

…

Propane doesn’t smell. It’s odorless in its natural state. But if there is a leak, you smell a nasty odor.

Ever wonder why? It wasn’t always that way. What caused the changed?

It would have been fortuitous if this had been done from the start as more and more buildings began to use propane and gas for heating. But no one thought of doing it until they realized they had to.

Lessons learned that save lives later, Blood Lessons, often come at high cost.

The Facts

On March 18, 1937, a gas leak was sparked, causing an explosion that killed…