The Long War

The Cold War ended, but crises kept coming. This episode opens in the Balkans, where Yugoslavia's breakup pulls Marines into a different mission. Offshore in the Adriatic, they fly strikes, launch rescues, and put infantry ashore as refugee camps, no-fly zones, and patrols blur the line between war and relief. From there, the story follows deployments to Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Albania, and East Timor, where Marines secure embassies, evacuate civilians, and support coalitions trying to hold together collapsing states. Then 9/11 hits, and the long war begins. Task Force 58 pushes hundreds of miles inland to seize Rhino and Kandahar, proving sea-based Marines can operate inside a landlocked country. The chapter ends in Helmand, in places like Garmsir, Now Zad, and the Ganjgal Valley, where patrol bases, IEDs, and hard lessons define a war with no clean finish. Support the Series Listen ad-free and a week early on historyofthemarinecorps.supercast.com Donate directly at historyofthemarinecorps.com Try a free 30-day Audible trial at