[January 10, 2020] Two Saturdays ago, a call went out to local people in my community that a military veteran was to be buried soon, and there were no relatives to claim the body. A short time later in a driving, cold rainstorm over 200 people turned out to be at the grave site of a fallen comrade. … Read More »
[November 11, 2017] A few days ago Boy Scout Troops from across the rural area where I live, gathered at a local Veterans Cemetery to plant American flags on each grave. Yes, that’s what we call “old-fashioned leadership” and it works like it has always worked. Communities throughout the world have relied on small-town leadership since the beginning… Read More »
[November 11, 2016] Speeches sometimes have good information in them, sometimes the speaker is actually good, and sometimes both come together for remarkable experience. I don’t personally believe that I’ve reached that pinnacle but nothing will stop me from trying. For Veterans Day my speech at an upstate New York college is presented here in full. The speech… Read More »
[August 28, 2016] Army Vet writes for us today that the U.S. Army is EMBARRASSED by the choices that its junior Officers are making in their own self interests. I first noticed it as a junior in college. Each of us in my Army ROTC1 class at Penn State University were anxious to select which branch each of… Read More »
[May 25, 2016] We’ve all met military veterans and most of us thank them for their service and sacrifice to our nation and yet there remains one overlooked group that is just as important. The families of those veterans are frequently treated as second-class citizens. Yesterday, while traveling through the state of New Jersey, I happened to visit the… Read More »
[August 1, 2015] The message of optimism and perseverance is what Scotty Smiley shares with us in his personal journey from an explosion in Iraq that blinded him to Ironman competitor. Now a retired U.S. Army veteran, Scotty continues to give back to his country by encouraging us to overcome obstacles through grit and determination. These are just… Read More »
[January 08, 2015] In Part 1 of this why veterans fail series, I proposed that military veterans who fail more than their peers would likely have failed anyway. Many veterans will see this if they look closely at the issue, as surely as I have. I argue that there are two possible factors. First, the self-election of those… Read More »
[September 29, 2014] Bill and Joanne were married after high school, joined the U.S. military for education benefits, deployed to Afghanistan, served honorably, and finally were able to enroll in Mississippi State University after their four-year tour in the Army. The problem? They both failed out of their first year of academic studies despite being provided with tutoring,… Read More »
[August 20, 2025] In a TEDx Talk, Andrew ‘Drew’ Steadman speaks on leadership in the first 10 minutes of any crisis. He asks, “How do you plan to get through the first ten minutes of the toughest day of your life?” He speaks to us as an Army veteran, at the time, a Captain responsible for guarding a… Read More »
[January 27, 2023] All this week, I’ve been around New Jersey (I live in South Jersey, which is rural). Part of the reason was testing for an upcoming medical procedure, where I spoke with several folks in the medical profession. I always come home from them in a better mood, but it was especially true this time. Several… Read More »