[November 5, 2025] I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was headed to the local grocery store after finding a good parking spot. And it was cloudy with a mild Winter breeze. My daughter was with me, looking forward to getting a peach cobbler pie and vanilla ice cream for our dinner. A middle-aged woman asked me, “Is that your granddaughter?”
I was surprised. I’d just turned 44, my daughter was five. And, a year earlier, I had been selected to be an Army Engineer Company Commander, and I was probably in the best physical shape of my life. I was trim, walked with purpose, and friendly as I waved to locals shopping there. How could someone make such a mistake?
I was mildly insulted, but I didn’t show it. The lady had been polite and certainly meant well; no insult intended. She was inquiring about a small child and thought nothing of it. Then I remembered something I’d been told a year earlier. The folks who lived in this small town, a town shaped by the discovery of Anthracite coal, were poor, and the town was in decline economically and demographically.
I was new there. My family didn’t exactly fit in. Folks here married early, usually at the end of high school, started their families, got menial jobs (that’s about all that was left), and did their best to support the town’s football team. The town’s people were friendly and very polite, mostly, except for a few alcoholics.
What I’d not known to this point was the impact of the collapse of the “coal as king” era. Coal was big, or, it had once been big. In the mid-1990s, the cost per ton of coal was less than it had been at the end of the 1800s, not adjusting for inflation. This fact was startling. The economic crash had been sudden and the most destructive event seen in this part of the country.
My daughter asked, “Dad, who is that woman?” I smiled and said she was our neighbor.
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Whenever I read stories about Gen. Satterfield’s childhood, it harks me back to my days as a kid growing up in southern Chicago. Those were the days where families were first, along with God and Country. Southern Chicago is a rats nest today and I’d never go back. Violence is allowed to fester there and the poor suffer from the criminals and gangs, nearly all blacks. They have sieged themselves but too many ignore the poor suffering. The solutions never address the big gorilla problem in the room – a culture without direction or corrective institutions in place to deal with it. Oh, Happy Veterans Day.
Sir, another wonderful story about learning about different cultures and in this particular instance, about coal country in Pennsylvania. When I was in the US Marines, and before teaching in High School, I met a young man, much like myself, who wanted to return to Pennsylvania, where he had grown up, and work in the coal mines. Like all his male realtives he was doing his time in the military so that he could be a veteran like the others and then work to raise a family in the old homestead. Good man. I hope it all worked out for him. Once he ETSed out of the Marines, I didn’t hear from him again.
Mr. Asper, it is good that you use these real life expreinces to teach your HS kids on how to be good people.
BEAUTIFUL PHOTO
This is what I get with a rural population that is more agrarian. I love the since I grew up on the farm in Ohio and my family is getting their livelihood from the earth. There is something about farming and bringing good, quality food to people’s table. But, having lots and lots of kids makes everyone live in a loving place where they can count on support. U definitely want this. ❤️❤️❤️❤️. And, yes regular reader, first time posting.
Good story, I’m sure that the lady meant well.
Thanks, sir, for keeping us informed on the subcultures that are out there, often unseen.
Good one, Gen. Satterfield. The dynamics of the family has changed and I’m not so sure those dynamics are good for our country. The debate on families is on-going. Democrats in America see the family as something to avoid or to be controlled by the government. Republicans see it as the most important of American institutions and must be supported. Which is right? Well, I think the answer is obvious that we should fully support and encourage families. Without them, we become the old USSR.
King Coal Is a Powerful Requiem for an Appalachian Myth
https://jacobin.com/2023/08/king-coal-documentary-elaine-mcmillion-sheldon-west-virginia-history-myth-mining
Yep, the decline of coal has been on-going for many years. The decline of the coal industry in America has been multifaceted, influenced by a combination of factors including environmental regulations, economic shifts, and global market dynamics.
Very interesting and something I did not know. 👍
COAL AS KING — this was a time when the Industrial Revolution was taking off and big time. The coal areas in the NE was “king.” And this is why this area became the economic engine that made America what it is today. The problem was that once oil began to come online, coal had less and less of a part to play in our growth. As you say, “What I’d not known to this point was the impact of the collapse of the “coal as king” era. Coal was big, or, it had once been big. In the mid-1990s, the cost per ton of coal was less than it had been at the end of the 1800s, not adjusting for inflation. This fact was startling. The economic crash had been sudden and the most destructive event seen in this part of the country.”
Gen. Satterfield’s story is not that uncommon. The distance between generations spreading out is a phenomenon since the birth control pill was introduced. What is the impact? I’m not sure we really know.
Good story, Gen. Satterfield, and like McStompie noted, we are in a new era, the “modern” era that doesn’t appreciated children. Just look at the lack of either understanding or compassion for all the aborted babies. Young women think nothing of aborting their babies. And of course there is plenty of literature in psychology that these women will eventually regret aborting and, for those without children, the vast majority will regret that too. These scars, all voluntarily self-inflicted, will follow them for the rest of their lives. Now, these are the young women who will be older and known by families who live near them as the “cat lady.” Yep, that is their ultimate fate; no one to care or love them. And they will wither in a no-quality life and seeing their mistakes in life will probably not happen either. Families are good. Period.
Sir, you are looking back to a time when this was the norm. Your generation, the boomers, started having kids later in life, if at all. And now we are where your kids are doing the same, plus they are not marrying at all or having kids at all and America and the West as well as the East are also not having kids are in demograhic feline.
… and I’m sure this is having an impact on recruiting quality candidates for the US military.