Of history, warfare, leadership, and alcohol
When I sat down to write this post, I had planned to say a few things about current veterans’ organizations and ask where the new generation of veterans fits in. However, in doing my research on past veterans organizations, I found that veterans issues have been rife with problems since the very founding of our …
Continue reading "We know Old Soldiers just fade away, but where do Young Soldiers Go?"
When I was a shiny new soldier, fresh out of Army basic and advanced training, I was placed in the rear detachment of a unit that was forward deployed. Â There were a few other brand new soldiers in the detachment, but quite of few of the soldiers were coming off of Active Duty into the …
Today, we will hear a lot about giving thanks, and giving, and family, and food, and sales, and consumer demographics, and (if you live in the Northeast) snow. Â There is always a lot of talking and yes, I could rant about consumerism, commercialism, and the basic cheapening of values. Â But I want to instead talk …
Continue reading "On Giving Thanks: My Perspective"
In the timeless children's classic The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, the character of the professor is attempting to explain how there can be parallel universes to the children, but is encountering disbelief. "Bless me," he says, "It's all in Plato.  What DO they teach them in these schools?"  Similarly, one could tell …
Continue reading "Tilting at Windmills: Army Officer Education versus Training"
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the old proverb, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Well, I've gone and mixed my metaphors most dreadfully by combining it with, "Beware Greeks bearing gifts."Â Yes, I am now taking a proverb about horse teeth, mixing it with Greek history/mythology, and am going to use …
I will be perfectly honest (unlike a certain Senator): the inspiration for this post was spawned by a Washington Post opinion column by retired Army Lieut. Gen. David Barno. The opinion piece can be found here and I highly recommend it. Barno makes a series of excellent points concerning the so-called "end" of the thirteen years of …
First things first: yes, I still have all my toy soldiers. There are buckets and boxes (yes, plural of both) in the basement of my parents' house, awaiting my maturity to adulthood to be given to another child. News flash: I refuse to mature. As a kid, I was obsessed with war. In the most …
Continue reading "Backyard Battles: Childhood, Military, and Perception"
I recently read a great article from Foreign Policy citing a lack of critical thinking skills on the part of U.S. Army officers, and it stated that a solution lay in a better groundwork in history. First off, anyone who's spent time working on staff at any level can agree to the lack of critical thinking. …
This post first appeared on Medium here. It has been reposted in its entirety. A famous person once said, “No modern army has ever lost a war when they had unicorns on their side.” I have not found any empirical evidence to show that this is not the case, so the adage must be true. …
Continue reading "Unicorns At War: Leadership in the Army"
This post first appeared on Medium here. It has been reposted in its entirety. This was my first blog post. Some say that beginnings are hard to do. For beginning a war, this might seem to be the case, as the months of planning, logistical coordination, and troop movements come to fruition in the first …
Continue reading "Retrograde: The Least Sexy thing in the Army"
The Angry Staff Officer 
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