Having been in the Army for almost 25 years and separated from my wife and/or children for much of that time, one of my greatest pleasures these days is telling stories to them during our family dinnertime. And when I say “stories,” I mean outrageous ...
The Five SOF Truths: COVID-19 Edition
On their official website, the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) lists five fundamental truths that underpin the ethos of all Special Operations Forces (SOF). The list includes truisms such as “humans are more important than hardware,” “quality is ...
How the Coronavirus is Impacting National Security
The COVID-19 pandemic is an international event that will define 2020 and likely an entire generation around the world. At the time of publication, the “novel coronavirus” has infected over 2.8 million people, and killed over 200,000. The ...
Divided: How the Latest Fight for Gun Rights Ignited a Showdown in Virginia
There is a crisis in the state of Virginia, and it is coming to a head on Monday, January 20 with a planned protest in the state capital of Richmond. After flipping Virginia completely blue in 2019, progressive lawmakers in the state legislature have ...
Uniformly Excellent: The Importance of America’s Noncommissioned Officers
As part of a large, strategic-level staff section, I currently work with junior enlisted soldiers, noncommissioned officers (NCOs), warrant officers, commissioned officers, Department of the Army (DA) civilians, and contractors. The manning in my ...
The Real ‘Call of Duty’: In Memory of Irish and Yardbird
Dan “Yardbird” McCants and John “Irish” Quinlan were pilots in the U.S. Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment — known as the Night Stalkers — one of the units made famous in the movie “Black Hawk Down” and in the book “Not a Good ...