Of history, warfare, leadership, and alcohol
This past weekend, I spent some time re-watching Star Wars episodes IV, V, and VI, or as I call them, Star Wars. Watching them with a critical eye towards leader development, tactics, and strategy, I was struck by a number of critical flaws on both sides that could have been fixed with some basic organizational …
Continue reading "Center for Galactic Lessons Learned"
The world of social media is ever-changing and constantly unnerving. While I am an inveterate Twitter user/addict, I understand that much of my audience may prefer Facebook, which is why you can now get your daily fix of the Angry Staff Officer on Facebook: Here. In addition to my shoddy writing, I also showcase the …
Continue reading "Get Your Cynical Fix On at Facebook"
Today is the 61st Veterans Day. It comes at a time when many see a military-civilian divide. It is a good time to look back and examine why we have a day set aside for veterans and how to bridge the gap. It might strike some as odd that although we have had veterans even …
Continue reading "This Veterans Day, Let’s be Americans"
November 11, 1918, dawned as any other day for the exhausted men of the U.S Army’s 26th Division, nicknamed the “Yankee Division” because it was a National Guard division from New England. The Yankees had been on the front since February, with only one brief rest for two weeks in August. They had taken so …
Continue reading "The Veteran Transformation of November 11, 1918"
There’s a common phrase among military members who have deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq as part of the Global War on Terror: Fobbit. It is a play on the words “hobbit,” from J.R.R. Tolkein’s fantasy works, The Lord of the Rings, and the acronym for Forward Operating Base: FOB. Fobbit tends to also be synonymous …
Continue reading "How Forward Operating Bases Created the Illusion of War in Iraq and Afghanistan"
A lot has been written about the great Civil War general and 18th President of the United States. But the what many do not have is a glimpse into the mind of the great man from Ohio. Therefore, I give you the Life and Times of U.S. Grant, an unfiltered view. Enjoy what you just …
Continue reading "The Life and Times of Ulysses S. Grant"
Hey you. Yeah, you, over there in the corner of the internet, looking behind you to see who I'm talking to. I'm talking to you, lonely awkward kid who always feels out-of-place and unable to "fit in." I'm here to tell you it's going to be okay. There is indeed life out there for all …
Continue reading "Lessons for the Awkward Kid"
This is a response to the CCLKOW post by Gary M. Klein on Social Media and the Military Leader. Read the post and join the discussion on Twitter #CCLKOW. Last week I was privileged to take part in a Military-Twitter Exchange Summit hosted at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, which brought leaders from across the …
Continue reading "The Birds of War: Twitter as a Professional Development Tool"
As I boarded my flight yesterday morning I realized that it was my first since my trip home from Afghanistan. As we took off, I looked at the New England countryside disappearing below me and I stared, captivated, at the glorious panorama that is America. It was similar to the way that I would stare out …
Continue reading "Thoughts On Beauty"
Two years ago, I was sitting in a conference room inside a dusty tent. HVAC systems and passing helos drowned out the voice of the briefer, but the map that was displayed was enough to get the point across: our footprint in Afghanistan was shrinking. And we were there to make it shrink more. Walking …
Continue reading "Closure is Hard to Find"
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