Of history, warfare, leadership, and alcohol
My father passed on Easter Sunday. While I've found some solace through writing, there's just that feeling of wondering why the world goes on when yours has stopped. I wrote this poem to try to express how I feel. Hopefully it will help those also grieving in this time of pandemic. Why doesn't the whole …
Continue reading "Why doesn’t it"
There’s an interchange on I-185, right outside of Fort Benning. It’s a big, glorious waste of taxpayer money, featuring statues of eagles and Old Bill and Iron Mike, embodiments of Armor/Cavalry and the Infantry, respectively. Big fountains that must be hell to maintain in the soul-sucking Georgia summers. And twenty American flags; ten on each …
Continue reading "Guest Post: Hashtags are not Enough"
Why do we write? That’s a thorny question for many authors. We’d rather give a terse reply and chug some bourbon rather than give an honest answer. Because posing that query forces us to look inward and ask the hard questions. And we’d rather ask those questions about other people than ourselves, for fear of …
Continue reading "Why Do We Write?"
So 2017 is over, and what a year it has been. We’ve had drama, scandal, disasters, wars, outbreaks, and diseases, and I think that was just in August alone. I recall after 2016 we all said, "Well, we sure aren’t gonna do THAT again” and apparently we didn’t mean it. Still, with all the latent …
Continue reading "Predictions for 2018"
So it's Monday afternoon, and I've set some time aside to write. And as is usual when I do this, the words have decided to hide themselves beneath my keys and they refuse to come out. Classic case of writer's block. So this is my attempt to coax the words out, to try to charm …
Continue reading "Defeating Writer’s Block"
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine! America: a Poem for July 4th (1911) A few years ago, I traveled back to my Ohio hometown for …
Continue reading "How I Lost at Patriotism – And How We All Lose"
Hey all, I realize you're all in your post-2016/pre-2017 drunken stupors, because really, who wouldn't be? If I could drop in for one quick second to steal a moment of time where you could be drinking, I'd appreciate it. I've said a lot of things this year. Over fifty pieces, actually, which means that I …
Continue reading "Thank You: No, Really, I Mean It"
I sat down on the chair across from my grandpa’s wheelchair. Grandpa was 97. He was smaller, more stooped than he had been, but the eyes were the same: alert, focused, interested. His hands, rested on the arms of the wheelchair, were those of a man who had spent his life working. He had just …
Continue reading "A Life Well-Lived: Memorial to my Grandfather"
So, the other day I was talking with a noncommissioned officer within my organization. We were having an interesting discussion about different issues facing the Army right now, when he made the somewhat alarming remark that he thinks multiculturalism is destroying this country. This line of thinking isn't new at all; in fact it's …
Continue reading "Retaking the American Narrative: A Challenge to the U.S. Army"
This wasn't supposed to be this hard to write. I'd thought about writing this weeks ago, and it all seemed to flow so well. That was before emotion got involved. See, emotion can be a blessing and a curse. It can tie your reader to your story and get them involved. But it can also …
Continue reading "To my Cat, on the Occasion of his Parting"
The Angry Staff Officer 
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