I first wrote this reminisce about one aspect of my military service in September 2021. I thought this would be a good time to republish it since we’re at war again. Listening to the media coverage of the Iraq withdrawal, one of the most heartbreaking stories was the interview with the widow of the last
When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, nuclear war was considered a real possibility. Every home-improvement show I remember attending had at least one contractor selling fallout shelters. But with the end of the Cold War, we don’t have to worry about that any more, do we? Actually, there is one organization
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ideas. Today I happened to find an article on Yahoo that brought back some Air Force memories — “True to Life But Without the Price Tag: The Decoy Weapons Ukraine Wants Russia to Destroy” by Melissa Bell, Daria Martina Tarasova and Pierre Bairin, CNN (https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/true-life-without-price-tag-051313104.html). In the late
The Möhne dam the day following the attacks. Wikipedia Sometimes the wildest ideas turn out not to be so wild after all. Like designing an aerial bomb that skips across the water like a flat stone and blows up dams. That would be World War II’s Operation Chastise. On the night of May 16-17 1943,
Every generation has its war. My dad’s was World War II; mine was Vietnam. I was in Southeast Asia (mostly Thailand) from the summer of 1972 to the summer of 1973. It was the kind of experience you never forget. We lost more than 58,000 of our finest youth during the Vietnam era. Appropriately, they
Considering your own marriage or relationship, how much influence does your spouse/significant other have over your professional life? With that in mind, have you ever wondered how much impact a wife has had on a famous historic figure? Occasionally, such an example comes to light. It’s been established that Woodrow Wilson’s second wife Edith played
Listening to the media coverage of the Iraq withdrawal, one of the most heartbreaking stories was the interview with the widow of the last servicemember killed. This had an special impact on me because twice in my military career, I had to tell families that they’d lost a loved one. When a death or injury
Occasionally you see something that causes you to sit up and take notice. Today (August 3, 2021) the Army’s Fort Benning, GA is dedicating a memorial to the memory of Felix Hall. A war hero? Sort of. Felix Hall was a 19-year-old soldier who was lynched on the fort’s grounds. He was an African-American who
It is not my intention to rehash the controversy surrounding military installations named for Confederate leaders. But a recent article on Time magazine’s daily email The Brief got my attention. It seems there is a surprising imbalance in who we are choosing to honor in our base naming. According to the article, there are almost
On June 22, 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more commonly known as the G.I. Bill of Rights. It was one of the most farsighted accomplishments in our history. The act is most remembered for allowing veterans to go to college and providing job training. But in addition, it