[November 8, 2018] If you are one of the doubting-ninnies that thought the terror group ISIS was just another religious movement meant to bring a different brand of Islam to the Middle East, you were wrong. Now that ISIS has been pushed back and large swaths of Iraq territory retaken, the evil of their ideology is finally being… Read More »
[April 14, 2018] It has been said that it is a person’s own mind, not the enemy or foe, which lures a person to evil ways. Evil (what it is and is not) is humankind’s greatest mystery which remains unresolved yet continues to be tenacious in its damage to countless civilizations. I often chuckle to myself when I… Read More »
[December 26, 2017] It has been said that throughout human history when leaders ignore or appease evil it means to invite even more evil. We see this in the schoolyard bully who continues his bad behavior despite the disapproval of but not punished by teachers and administrators. The case of the rogue regime of North Korea is a… Read More »
[April 16, 2015] Senior leadership, by its very nature, is political in many aspects. This means that the most important issues of any nation should be publically addressed, strategies developed, and plans created to ensure the safety and survival of that state. Foreign policy is the mechanism of senior leaders to do just that. Recently, the U.S. foreign… Read More »
[September 07, 2014] While World War I started in 1914, it was not until April 1917 that the United States entered the fray and only after a number of incidents lead the American people to distrust the Imperial German government. Many do not know the U.S. role was decisive but late in coming. When the U.S. entered the… Read More »
[June 08, 2014] In the 1980s, my friends and I had long conversations about Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein and his role in the Iran-Iraq War. The debate about whether he was an evil dictator or a grandfatherly figure protecting his country raged off and on; even after he used chemical weapons to attack Kurdish civilians in 1988. Yet,… Read More »
[January 31, 2014] Leadership means many things but ultimately it means getting people to accomplish a goal. Leaders come in a range of abilities and outcomes in performance – great, good, bad and yes evil. But there is one category, the evil leader, which deserves special mention. Several years ago I was presented with a DVD of recordings… Read More »
[September 2, 2025] Never betray your team. The idea of loyalty is as ancient as a human association, although it is often revealed in its opposite (disloyalty, betrayal, ingratitude). The world’s greatest thinkers have studied the notion of human commitments, whether to God or each other, and they regard loyalty as a remarkable virtue worthy of true wonder.… Read More »
[August 18, 2025] I’m disappointed that I missed the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II; Victory over Japan, VJ Day. More fanfare in the media was given to how bad the New York Yankees baseball team is this season, and I failed to pay sufficient attention. Looking at articles written, which I missed, more attention… Read More »
[August 11, 2025] The weather in the latter half of April was heating up and our Engineer effort was as well. There is nothing like inbound American BCTs on a fixed, but secret timeline (I was on the “need to know” list) to motivate us. Our Engineer missions at a variety of bases, large and small, had to… Read More »