The Shopping Cart Theory

By | December 12, 2024

[December 12, 2024]  I honestly never heard about this shopping cart theory before this morning. After reading an article about it, click, I immediately understood the idea behind the theory. The “theory” states that you can tell whether somebody is fundamentally a member of civilization or a savage based on whether they return their shopping cart. It’s obviously… Read More »

Iraq War Pre-Surge: Oil & Gas

By | December 11, 2024

[December 11, 2024]  On this date in 2006, the Iraq War was entering a new phase. There was yet no new Army Operations Order, no special briefings, no new command guidance, or change in leadership. We would not even recognize this date for what would later become – the beginning of pre-Surge deployments of troops designed to destroy… Read More »

President-Elect Trump vs Hamas 

By | December 10, 2024

[December 10. 2024]  The foreign policies of President-Elect Donald Trump are going to be radically different from the Biden Administration. We see this difference most easily regarding the Hamas strategy of holding hostages since October last year. “Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World,… Read More »

Aaron Elson’s Gift to America 

By | December 9, 2024

[December 9, 2034]  Aaron Elson is the son of a World War 2 combat veteran. After Aaron’s dad was hospitalized in 1980, Aaron bought a Sony Recording Walkman to use in one-on-one interviews with the soldiers of his dad’s unit – the 712th Tank Battalion. Later, he would interview troops from all branches of the U.S. military. The… Read More »

Kick the Tires

By | December 8, 2024

[December 8, 2024]  From my earliest memory as a child, I remember my dad kicking the tires on our old car.  “Why do you do that, Dad,” I asked, completely clueless. “Well,” he said, “that’s how you check to make sure the tires don’t fall off when driving.”  Dads are always right, of course, so that’s always what… Read More »

The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor

By | December 7, 2024

[December 7, 2024]  We see, published today, many obligatory articles about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, occurring almost a century ago, 83 years. The attack was an operational masterstroke, given that the country of Japan could send six aircraft carriers 4,000 miles undetected, execute an air attack, and return home unmolested. As brilliant as this operation was,… Read More »

Judging the Character of Others

By | December 5, 2024

[December 5, 2024]  A crucial skill for any leader to possess is the ability to judge the character of others. Leaders are looking for specific traits that predict successful mission completion or are obstacles to teamwork. Sadly, we often see inexperienced leaders who misjudge character, leading to unforeseen problems. I wrote these words in January 2021 after looking… Read More »

We See Our Lives Through Stories

By | December 4, 2024

[December 4, 2024]  There have been some serious discussions in academia, particularly among psychologists, that we see our lives through stories. We can say, with some certainty, that those stories have undergone inspection and reinforcement by people who were part of that story and significant others in our lives.  This helps ensure that any particular story is believable,… Read More »

Women in Combat: My View

By | December 3, 2024

[December 3, 2024]  With Pete Hegseth’s nomination as Secretary of Defense by President-elect Donald Trump, an age-old argument about women serving in combat is back in the public eye. In an interview on The Shawn Ryan Show, November 7, Hegseth made it clear that he believed, “We should not have women in combat roles!”*  What he said previously… Read More »