[December 30, 2025] I was sitting inside a command and control bunker in South Korea being briefed on the amount of ammunition and fuel that would be required to defend against a North Korean army invasion. The briefers were U.S. Army colonels, talking in thousands of tons and square feet of space needed to ship and store supplies. … Read More »
[December 27, 2025] May 22 came and went without much fanfare. It was indeed my 55th birthday, but little more than a blip on my mind’s radar. I scribbled “birthday” at the top of my notes. That was it. In a way, it was a day to reflect on what Engineers lacked to complete our jobs on time… Read More »
[December 23, 2025] In the U.S. military, I’ve always noticed differences among unit commanders, especially when I was a field-grade officer. There are two kinds of commanders you could work for if you were in their unit. There was the commander who kept his thoughts close to his chest, tightly reined in information, and surrounded himself with tight-lipped… Read More »
[December 20, 2025] Shortly after assuming command of a Mechanized Infantry Company in the late 1980s, I was assigned a brand-new second lieutenant. Because of his actions while in my unit, the men began calling him ‘Lieutenant Mud Flap.’ That year, we would all learn lessons that helped us master the art of leadership. A leader does the… Read More »
[December 19, 2025] My friends and I had long conversations about Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein and his role in the Iran-Iraq War. The debate over whether he was an evil dictator or a grandfatherly figure protecting his country raged on and off, even after he used chemical weapons to attack Kurdish civilians in 1988. Known as the Halabja… Read More »
[December 12, 2025] By May of 2007, the preparation for the Surge was fully underway. Everyday, we brought more resources into play as we readied the Coalition to expand both in personnel and combat capability. This was a critical phase as we prepared the battlefield for GEN Petraeus’ new military strategy. Our job as Engineers was to ensure… Read More »
[December 9, 2025] There never was a time when Soldiers said the weather in Iraq was beautiful. Typically it was clear, windy, dusty, and warm (or hot as Hell). We paid close attention to the weather because it was a major factor in the speed of construction; the hotter it was, the less efficient we could get… Read More »
[December 5, 2025] Where is this nation headed? When the Democrat Party uses the force of law to target their political opponents who are helping pregnant women? That’s the state of New Jersey when a lawyer for NJ’s Attorney General’s office subpoenaed First Choice, a pro-life group that assists women with their pregnancies and discourages abortion. And, yes,… Read More »
[November 27, 2025] The Coalition Engineers would become more involved in the Iraqi reconstruction effort than perhaps originally planned. Reconstruction was meant to be an international effort, but that too failed to materialize. There was plenty of talk among diplomats and large businesses that wanted to participate in rebuilding Iraq, yet most of their efforts never got off… Read More »
[November 19, 2025] David and I were 16 when he decided to hop onto a train and head out West; to ride the rails. We had been infected by the cowboy spirit, “Head West, young man, head West.” Just before our junior year in high school, we were exploring the abandoned towns that lay far out into the… Read More »