Destinations Unknown

I have been travelling around the world for almost forty years. Much of that travel has been through airports and quite often those trips have been just before and just after holidays. I can remember surprising my folks a few times coming back unexpectedly from a patrol and seeing my Mom cry with such joy. […]

Bullies Redux (Part 2) – Send me their email addresses

The school system where I grew up has a brand new campaign that is trying to raise awareness of bullying. People are putting signs up in their yards and attending meetings and the fear of kids dying by the hundreds. In fact, it appears to be a worse fear then that of those people who […]

First, they came for the copper…

I remember the famous poem by Reverend Martin Niemöller about not standing up for something because at least they weren’t coming for you. It has been used many times over the past fifty years to point out that even though your own ox might not be in danger of goring at this particular moment, after […]

The Flowers of The Forest

In the misty legends of Scotland, there are many songs that are interwoven with the victories and defeats of her native sons in glorious conflicts. The great pipes blew violently across the field as part of the offensive tactics of the Chiefs. You can almost feel them pierce the air of a cold Scottish morning […]

GO NAVY

Beat Army A decade of dominance… sorry to all my Army readers!

How to fix everything

Yesterday I saw an article about some staffers in Washington who thought that it was okay for them to start drinking at 9:00 AM and use Twitter to mock their boss and the American people who pay their salaries. Fortunately, they will be looking for a new job now since they got caught. But what […]

How’s that Reset Button working for ya?

“We are the largest nuclear power,” Putin said, addressing supporters during a televised meeting. “And our partners have certain concerns and shake us so that we don’t forget who is the master of this planet, so that we remain obedient and feel that they have leverage to influence us within our own country.” http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20111208-315227.html Its […]

Hu Said What?

Normally I would think of a routine from an old Abbott and Costello movie when I see something a comical as the title of this post. Not this time though. Hu Jintao (the President of the People’s Republic of China) has been very vocal recently about upgrading and preparing the military in general and the […]

Listen to the Music

We live in an amazing age. Technology has exceeded almost everyone’s expectations and everything about how we work, live and play has been impacted in one way or anther. I write these words in full understanding that one day a few years from now, some younger person will be “thinking” into their blog about how […]

Flight 19

I haven’t thought about this story in years and was reminded this morning about the tragedy of Flight 19. On December 5, 1945, Flight 19, made up of five TBM Avenger Torpedo Bombers left Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale to conduct advanced overwater navigational training. As I began thinking about it, it occurred to me […]