[April 13, 2020] American novelist Ernest Hemingway once wrote that “courage is grace under pressure.” Having spent many decades in the U.S. Army, I can attest to the truth of Hemingway’s quote. An old, grizzly Marine gunny sergeant once told me that in combat, you had better keep your head or the enemy will. Today, my topic is… Read More »
[April 9, 2020] Growing up in a community with many military veterans, I developed an interest in military history. The many stories told by these veterans fascinated me; a little boy from a town that didn’t have a traffic light, and the highlight of the weekend was a local dance. Maybe that is why I also came to… Read More »
[April 7, 2020] Last Thursday, April 2, U.S. Navy Captain Brett Crozier was relieved of his command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier conducting operations in the Pacific. Capt. Crozier was relieved by Navy Acting Secretary Thomas Modly because he had lost trust and confidence in Crozier. The decision by Modly was the right thing to… Read More »
[March 19, 2020] For my birthday in 2001, my dad sent me a new book by Tom Brokaw titled, The Greatest Generation. It covered many of the extraordinary stories of a generation that gave new meaning to courage, sacrifice, and honor during WW2. This generation gave so much and asked so little. Today, our young men and women,… Read More »
[March 16, 2020] I was a junior military officer and saw many self-inflicted mistakes made by my peers. These errors formed a pattern, and, at the time in the 1980s, I wrote them down in my notebook (that I found recently tucked away in an old footlocker). Here are the 12 biggest mistakes junior officers can make: Thinking… Read More »
By guest blogger Sadako Red [see disclaimer] [March 15, 2020] Duty is the essence of humanness. No words written are more pointed to the reason modern men and women are so unhappy … unhappy because they fail to realize that not doing one’s “duty” is the denial of our obligation to act righteously. For the past several weeks,… Read More »
[March 11, 2020] Back in November last year, U.S. Presidential candidate Joe Biden called a woman in his audience a lying dog-faced pony soldier.1 Darn it; I wish he had called me that name. If he had, I would be the envy among my combat veteran peers. I like the expression, and I thank Joe Biden for saying… Read More »
[March 2, 2020] H. Jackson Brown, Jr. is an American author of several inspirational books. I’m a fan of his and often quote him because he makes plain sense. One of my favorite quotes is the one below. Brown has often written about the idea of success and easy it can be to achieve if we were only… Read More »
[March 1, 2020] Like all little boys, I was fascinated by a military last stand. The tales told to me by WWII, and Korean War soldiers were a part of my growing up, and they help instill in me a sense of duty, honor, and courage. Today, I will highlight one of the most vivid last stands in… Read More »
[February 26, 2020] My maternal grandmother, Bigmama, used to shake her finger at my cousins and me and say, “get your act straight.” I’m sure many of us have had similar experiences with grandparents and had that wagging finger pointed our way just after we did something wrong. She was saying that that to be someone good in… Read More »