Wednesday Wisdom: 3 June 2026

OSS SGT Frederick Mayer and Operation Greenup 

Mayer in a German Uniform

In the dark room, the Gestapo officers slapped and punched Mayer in the face. His cover wasn't holding water, and so the tall one stripped him from head to toe. Despite the agent's bullish strength, the SS men brutally manhandled him, shoving him to the floor. Cuffing his hands in front of him and pulling his arms over his bent knees, they forced him into a constricting fetal position, then shoved the barrel of a long rifle into the tiny gap behind his knees and his cuffed hands. With a man on each side of the rifle, they lifted his naked, rolled-up body and suspended the human ball between two tables, like a piece of meat on a skewer. Uncoiling a rawhide whip, the tall one put his full weight behind each swing, mercilessly thrashing the agent's body like a side of beef.

Mayer was a Jewish-German immigrant whose family emigrated from Freiburg to Brooklyn in the late 1930s to escape the Nazis. He kicked around the borough at mechanic jobs until Pearl Harbor when he enlisted. He trained in demolition, infiltration, raiding, sniping and hand-to-hand combat. His knowledge of German, French and Spanish led him to the OSS. In the film, “The Real Inglorious Bastards,” about their mission, Mayer said, “It felt like I had my chance to do what I set out to do — kill Nazis. That’s why all the Jewish boys joined.”

OSS Sgt. Frederick Mayer's Colt Model 1903 Hammerless Service Pistol

Mayer, his friend Hans Weinberg and a third agent known as Franz Weber planned for Operation Greenup for several months. Fred Mayer and his comrades parachuted into Austria in 1945 and spent months organizing elements of the anti-Nazi resistance, collecting vital intelligence about German troop movements, spying on war factories and infrastructure, and tracking the whereabouts of Mussolini and Hitler. In the two months he spent behind enemy lines, Fred Mayer often dressed in a German officer's uniform.

However, during the mission Mayer was betrayed and the German's captured him. While in German hands, Fred Mayer convinced a top Nazi to surrender Innsbruck, Austria, and all German forces in the area. He then met the advancing U.S. Army, crossing German and American lines in a combat zone at great risk to himself, to inform the Americans of the surrender. Fred Mayer's actions are credited with saving "countless lives" on both sides, according to the OSS Society.

 ____________________

Knives 101: Knife Steels, Their Attributes, and Their Purpose

Everything you wanted to know about knife steels. Not all knives are created equal. A crucial determining factor in a knife’s construction that makes it unique is the steel it is made of. Assuming the heat treat is done properly, the steel itself determines factors such as purpose, performance, edge retention, durability, cost/value, etc.

 ____________________

Microsoft Edge Keeps All Saved Passwords Unencrypted

If you use Microsoft Edge and save passwords in its password manager, there’s a security risk you should know about. According to a new disclosure, whenever you open Edge, the browser immediately loads all saved passwords into memory in readable form — not just the password for the website you’re logging into. That means credentials for every account saved in Edge could be exposed if malware, a compromised admin account, or another attacker gains access to your device or user session.

 ____________________

Applying Covert Field-craft in Your Daily Life

 

Many people might find it surprising but much of the field-craft that goes into such things as surveillance detection and special protective operations—even some of the sexier stuff—can be applied in your own life as well. There’s a reason why stalkers usually start by following their victims on social media, then close in on their victim’s residence and workplace, and then begin following them to see where they go from there. This is a classic hostile planning process in which the hostile planner, or stalker, initially pulls their intel from readily available open sources before transitioning to static surveillance and then moving on to mobile surveillance.

 ____________________

M14: Past, Present & Future

Retro has been all the rage in recent years, and the interest level in guns from the Cold War era has skyrocketed. Ignoring the nuclear reality of the geopolitical situation during the time period, the guns in question have become something of a cozy nostalgic experience against the constant barrage of bad international news and rampant domestic consumerism in the industry today.

Simpler times, if you will.

The past few years have seen a growing appreciation for the early War on Terror era and its various attempts to adapt Cold War systems to the needs of the time, among them the venerable M14. We look at the state of the rifle today and what might be to come for the legendary rifle.

 ____________________

“We Both Know Why You Don’t Like Combatives”

The Soldier’s Creed says: “I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.”

It does not say: “I stand ready to discuss conflict in a collaborative professional environment.”

The Soldier’s Creed statement implies more than technical proficiency with weapons systems. It implies psychological comfort with controlled violence, physical dominance, and aggression under life and death pressure. Modern militaries do not send soldiers into buildings, compounds, tunnels, vehicles, and densely populated urban terrain because they intend to kill everyone they encounter. If that were the objective, cruise missiles and air strikes would often suffice. Soldiers are sent because modern warfare, even in a peer to peer engagement, requires discrimination, restraint, physical control of human beings, and the ability to dominate complex environments occupied by civilians, detainees, noncombatants, and actively hostile enemies simultaneously.

The post-deployment research from Iraq and Afghanistan strongly reinforces this reality. In one of the most important studies conducted on the subject, Peter Jensen of the Center for Enhanced Performance at West Point analyzed 30 post-combat surveys administered to U.S. Army soldiers returning from deployments between 2004 and 2008. Out of 1,226 soldiers surveyed, 216, approximately 19%, reported using hand-to-hand combat skills during at least one combat encounter (Jensen, 2014).

 ____________________ 

AXIO 9mm – From Shadow Systems

Shadow Systems has launched the AXIO 9mm pistol platform, a new full-size, duty-capable handgun engineered from the ground up around an all-steel chassis design. It is offered in two trim levels: AXIO and AXIO Pro. The platform is also available in a 4.4-inch configuration for shooters who prefer a longer sight radius and enhanced controllability. Unlike iterative updates to existing designs, AXIO represents a clean-sheet project centered on first principles of handgun performance: mass distribution, geometry, recoil management, and control. At the core of the platform is a precision-machined steel chassis. This chassis places weight where it is most effective, delivering balance, rigidity, and a precise slide-to-frame fit. 

 ____________________ 

Choosing a Carry Gun

A lot of guns are sold on uninformed reasoning - because the gun looks cool, feels good, or Dad was issued one way back when. Some people choose a sexy cartridge - 10mm or .45, for instance - then choose a gun around that. Others, the "gun hipsters," buy something just because it's different. Those are all fine reasons if the gun is a range toy. If you are purchasing a firearm for self-defense, these criteria are terrible. You might get a good gun, or you might not. With bad selection criteria you're leaving it to dumb luck.

 ____________________ 

Observe, Orient, Decide Act -- An Introduction

Boyd’s OODA loop has become the standard nomenclature for combative decision making. In essence, each person must Observe what is happening; Orient to the observations- basically interpret the sensory input; Decide what to do about it; and Act. This isn't new- I remember one martial arts instructor from long ago who had the "Four P's": Percieve, Present, Plan, Perform. My sensei taught it as the elements of speed- perceptual speed, interpretation by experience, the decision tree and then neuromuscular speed. It isn't new or even fresh, but OODA has become standard.

 ____________________ 

Leupold’s Freedom RDS Red Dot Sight

Leupold makes two versions of the Freedom RDS. The base model has a 1 MOA red dot and standard windage and elevation adjustments like any red dot. The RDS BDC model has an elevation turret that’s pre-calibrated for 5.56/.223 55 grain ammo at 3100 fps. If you like to shoot a different load, Leupold’s Custom Dial System lets you get a dial calibrated for your favorite load.

The point of the BDC model is that it lets you dial your distance anywhere from 100 to about 550 yards and be right on target. That’s something other 1X red dots don’t do.

  ____________________ 

Getting Zeroed: A Laser Bore Sighter Is a Useful Tool, But . . .

Let’s talk about laser bore sighters. Used correctly, they can help you get on paper faster and save a few rounds. But if you’re not thinking a few steps ahead, they can also lead you into problems that compromise the performance of your optics and cost you time, precision, and confidence.

Here’s how to use a laser bore sighter without undermining your gear or your results. What a laser bore sighter actually does. A laser bore sighter projects a visible laser beam from your barrel or chamber, to help align your optic’s reticle with the bore of the rifle. It’s meant as a time-saver, a way to get “close enough” before sending that first round.

That part works, but here’s the problem...too many shooters take the laser as gospel. They drop the sighter in, match their reticle to the beam, and start cranking on their turrets like they’re dialing in a long-range shot. That’s where the trouble begins.