4 of the 30 casualties from the Chinook were from the Kansas City region in some fashion. Yesterday, we buried Specialist Spencer Duncan for Fort Leavenworth. Today, CW2 Bryan Nichols will be buried over in Hays, Kansas, his hometown. Bryan
The newspeak is getting to me. “Time-limited, scope-limited military action.” Isn’t that the definition of a drive-by shooting? “But your honor, I was just conducting a “time-limited, scope-limited military action” in defense of my peeps!” Hmmmmm. Mebbe I should be
Around here, we appreciate the efforts of volunteers, from the USO to Soldier’s Angels and beyond. Here’s the story of another angel, in a different war, in an America most of us never knew, and those who did know it
On a cold, foggy morning, 66 years ago, there were panzers in the mist… All pictures courtesy the US National Archives. The first two come from captured german film of the opening phases of the Battle of the Bulge, and
The latest Wikileaks dump – it’s a wonderful way to highlight some, um, issues with cyber-security, and allows the chattering classes to bloviate ponderously on topics they really don’t know that much about. I, for one, am not stunned by
It’s nice to be noticed, so to speak, from a wholly unexpected source. This is possibly the nicest note that wasn’t from my mother or wife that I have ever received. My company does not take this day as a
It has been one year since Major Hasan opened fire at Fort Hood. That he’s alive is a sad result of the realities of marksmanship under fire. Aiming while bullets are hitting you isn’t as easy as movies make it
No, not whoever your disfavored party is this election cycle. The *real* enemy – the one trying to kill you directly. Not that we can’t get patriotic about it, in conformance with the season: The rocket’s red glare, the bombs
Then: TF 3-15 conducts a “Thunder Run” into the heart of Baghdad: Now: 4th Stryker BCT, 2nd Infantry Division, conducts a mostly simple (still watching for those IEDs) road march out of Baghdad, headed home: The 4th SBCT is the
Albeit a bit late for General Lavelle. A note from DoD rattling about in the email box… Lavelle Posthumously Nominated to General The Department of Defense announced today that retired Air Force Major General John D. Lavelle has been nominated
…is a doozy. This is a very interesting and unique week for the Medal of Honor. On 2 August… nothing happened. There are no Medals awarded for actions on the 2nd of August. On 3 August, Major General Henry Lawton
Well, she’s really always had them. Today the President will acknowledge them, too. At a White House ceremony around noon today, the President will decorate 13 citizens with the Presidential Citizen’s Award. And some of you here know one of
I know the issues involved with trying to improve the ability of deployed soldiers and civilians to actually get an absentee ballot in sufficient time to vote it and return it are multi-jurisdictional, cost money, require civil servants at the
This week, I chose 30 July as the day to represent the Medal, as it has an interesting concatenation of awards. We start, as most days do for the Medal, with the Civil War, and 23 Medals, 21 of them
Each week, Big Peace is going to dedicate a post to the Medal of Honor, choosing a day in the week that has an interesting and representative selection of awards of the Medal. Award criteria have evolved over the history
How low has dipped the inspiring rhetoric of the party of John Kennedy in terms of lofty goals and ideals? Kennedy said in his speech to a Joint Session of Congress in May 1961: “First, I believe that this nation
Now we move to World War II, and a darker chapter in the history of the Medal. Namely, the formal discrimination by the US Army regarding the heroism of minority soldiers, particularly African-American and Asian-Americans. (If you missed Part 1,
As we celebrate another Independence Day that finds the nation at war, let’s take a look at some men who, when asked by their children, “What did you do in the war, Daddy?” were able to say they did far