Some years ago, when preparing for battalion command, I joined others attending a pre-command course to brush up on Army operations, planning, training, and personnel matters. There is much on the plate of a battalion commander. For the most part, those selected for command are strong leaders with a solid record of Read more…
In 1992, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) penned an article in The American Spectator titled “Defining Deviancy Down: How We’ve Become Accustomed to Alarming Levels of Crime and Destructive Behavior”. In it, Moynihan addressed the permissive decline of society in the 1990s. If he was alive today, he would wonder if the country had fallen Read more…
It’s so easy to complain about the government these days. Particularly the Federal government that has grown in power and reach for the last 100 years. Our Founding Fathers would be horrified by the aggregation of power from the states to the federal authorities. While they saw a need for a federal system Read more…
It’s easy to grow weary of politics, despite the fact that for 16 years as an elected member of the Virginia General Assembly I was clutched by its talons. It wasn’t as if I was unwilling prey. But it was a tight grip that held me. In 2017, the grasp was loosened, and Read more…
The French revolutionaries of the 18th century were so committed to overthrowing their monarchy that they went so far as to scrub from existence the very calendar of the year. Their goal was quite radical; revising the number and length of weeks in a month and even the number of minutes Read more…
Thirty-two years ago today, the US and its Gulf War coalition were enjoying our first day of ceasefire after vanquishing the Iraqi Army. It was a remarkable accomplishment that was the result of building the most capable military the world had ever seen. Certainly, the building of that coalition by Read more…
On 23 February 1991, we were all very focused and ready to “get on with it.” For the previous 7 days we had conducted destructive artillery raids on the Iraqi 26th Infantry Division that sat in front of us blocking our way into Iraq. They would not obstruct us much longer. That day Read more…
It’s been thirty-two years since the first rounds went downrange in what would be eight days of artillery raids on Iraqi forces opposite the 1st Infantry Division. In that war, the First Gulf War, we sought to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s invasion when I was part of the Division Artillery Read more…
Here is a State of the Union address we need to hear. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and my fellow Americans, Article II: Section 3 of our Constitution states that the President should “from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, Read more…
Recently a very thoughtful colleague in an online discussion group concerning national security challenged us to draft a paper on what politicians should know about employing the US military. Such would be a tutorial of sorts with historical vignettes, lessons learned, and perhaps an assessment of how other selected nations think Read more…