Of history, warfare, leadership, and alcohol
Summer means many things: vacation, lazy days by the beach, cook-outs, and the smell of freshly mowed lawns. Or it means yet another NTC rotation, another deployment, a PCS move, or other less-fun Army experiences. Whether you're burying your toes in the sand on the beach or trying to get the sand out of your …
Continue reading "ASO’s Summer Reading List"
There are many iconic images in U.S. military history: Washington crossing the Delaware, the surrender at Appomattox, troops landing on Omaha Beach, to name a few. But few paintings or photographs have managed to capture one of the most significant weapons in the U.S. arsenal: the knife hand. Able to cleave the air with a …
Continue reading "The History of the Military Knife Hand"
With the recent news that Arrested Development creator Ron Howard will be directing the new Star Wars one-off movie about Han Solo, we would be negligent if we did not consider what that could look like. So, without any more introduction, I give you... Now the story of a family of dysfunctional Jedi who lost everything and the one …
Continue reading "Here’s Some Memes, Go See a Star War"
When World War II came to a close in 1945, about 13 million service members began the transition into civilian life. Some had been in uniform for the whole four years; some, for just a few months. Some had served overseas; some had served at home. Many had been in terrible combat; many more had never …
Continue reading "We Need a Universal Veteran Symbol for America’s Recent Conflicts"
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW Wonder Woman struck the big screen in a blaze of action and glory last week, depicting the heights to which people will go for each other - and the lows of which humanity is capable. The settings for the film could not have been more different - a paradise island where the …
Continue reading "Wonder Woman & the Great War: How WWI gets the Heroine it’s Always Needed"
There's one of those old pithy military sayings that is so old that it has been attributed to everyone and no one: "Friendly fire - isn't." I'd like to paraphrase that regarding military terrain: "Impenetrable terrain - isn't." Terrain is one of those features of military history and analysis that I feel never gets its …
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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"
By Mike Denny You don’t have to be a Level 20 dungeon master to enjoy dressing up on Halloween and getting into character. For non-nerds, LARPing is Live Action Role Playing, which typically describes people getting into character to create fantasyland environments (e.g. Lord of the Rings), but it can encompass the whole realm of …
Continue reading "Guest Post: LARPing for Leader Development"
We’re in the early months of the centennial of U.S. participation in World War I, the so-called, “War to end all wars.” With the vantage of 20/20 hindsight, we now know that rather than “making the world safe for democracy,” as Woodrow Wilson hoped, World War I instead set the stage for the next round …
Continue reading "How Experience in WWI brought the U.S. Army to Victory in WWII"
It's no secret that we in the U.S. military love us some Star Wars. If you needed a concrete example, however, one need look no further that the Twitter feeds of various Department of Defense agencies, units, and installations on May 4, otherwise known as #StarWarsDay, or #MaytheFourthbeWithYou. The parent organization, the Department of Defense, …
Continue reading "How the U.S. Military Celebrated Star Wars Day"
The Angry Staff Officer 
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