Veterans Day 2018

Happy Veterans Day To all my fellow veterans!   Somebody has to be at the pointy end of the stick and you all took up the challenge,

American Military Cemetery with WWI war dead at Epinal, France

Today is Veteran’s Day in the US and Armistice Day in Britain and France. It is a day to remember the end of the fighting in World War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. It is also the day set aside in the US to remember all veterans, not just those of World War I but also those that served in our nation’s other wars and those that served during peacetime. It takes something special to serve your country and a little bit more to do so voluntarily. There is always the possibility of going to war and giving your life for your country while in the military. I hope that everyone takes a moment today and remembers the sacrifices of all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who have served and fought for the United States. If you meet a vet today, shake his hand and thank him for his service. Remember, less than 1% of US citizens currently serve, yet they do so to protect that other 99%.

US Department of Veterans Affairs site about Veterans Day

 

Book Review: Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans by ADM James Stavridis

Sea Power is a book that takes a fresh twenty-first century look at the world’s oceans and the geopolitical challenges facing the United States in the century ahead. As always, the stats.  There are 343 pages of texts divided into 9 topical chapters with an index and recommended reading/sources list.  The chapters cover an introduction to ocean geography and a detailed treatment of each ocean and the history and current challenges associated with it for the United States.  The final chapter is a look and a recommendation for what America’s maritime strategy should be going forward. The book is well written and while ADM Stavridis is no Robert Kagan in … More after the Jump…

Veterans Day 2017

Happy Veterans Day To all my fellow veterans!   Somebody has to be at the pointy end of the stick and you all took up the challenge,

Today is Veteran’s Day in the US and Armistice Day in Britain and France. It is a day to remember the end of the fighting in World War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. It is also the day set aside in the US to remember all veterans, not just those of World War I but also those that served in our nation’s other wars and those that served during peacetime. It takes something special to serve your country and a little bit more to do so voluntarily. There is always the possibility of going to war and giving your life for your country while in the military. I hope that everyone takes a moment today and remembers the sacrifices of all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who have served and fought for the United States. If you meet a vet today, shake his hand and thank him for his service. Remember, less than 1% of US citizens currently serve, yet they do so to protect that other 99%.

US Department of Veterans Affairs site about Veterans Day

Book Review: A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America by Bruce Cannon Gibney

A Generation of Sociopaths is an interesting book with an interesting thesis, to say the least.  The main thesis of the book is that the Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1944 and 1964) has used its power at the voting booth to essentially bankrupt the nation and impoverish those of us in succeeding generations to ensure that the Boomers themselves enjoy the kind of life they want to have. First the details.  The book is divided into 17 topical chapters that are internally organized somewhat chronologically.  There is an afterword, appendices, a large notes section, and an index. The first chapter presents the central thesis of the book, that … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg

Liberal Fascism is to me, a fascinating look inside the historical and philosophical roots of the modern liberal/progressive movement. It is also a scathing indictment of the totalitarian tendencies of the modern liberal/progressive movement but that is essentially the whole point of the book. The numbers first. The book contains 406 pages of text in an introduction, 10 chapters, and an afterword. There are also 50+ pages of endnotes and an index. The book was published in 2007 in the waning days of the Bush presidency but the intervening 10 years have not done anything to change the conclusions if anything, the author’s conclusions seem prescient. The book itself should … More after the Jump…

Brief History of the Iconic AR-15 Rifle

Many rifle enthusiasts will be able to pick this semi-automatic rifle out of a line-up. Known for its distinctive features, the AR-15 rifle has a long history of use stemming back to its inception in 1964 as the Colt AR-15. Although it is undoubtedly one of the most popular rifles ever constructed, the chances are that there are a lot of aspects of the AR-15’s history that you were not aware of. Let’s dig in and find out what kind of events lurk in the history of the AR-15 and how it came to be one of the most sought-after semi-automatics. The Founding of ArmaLite in 1954 Ever wonder what … More after the Jump…

D-Day 73rd Anniversary

This is an annual tradition at Battles and Book Reviews.  This year is the 73rd anniversary of the Allied Landings at Normandy in France during WWII. Just a reminder for everyone to stop today and take a moment to reflect on the events that happened 68 years ago today on the shores of Normandy in France.  This year, the text of General Dwight Eisenhower’s message to the troops of the Allied invasion force the morning of the invasion. Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying To Destroy America by James E. Mitchell Ph.D.

Enhanced Interrogation is the book that should have been written 10 years ago when the hype about America torturing captured terrorists was at its height.  Unfortunately, it has only appeared now when false “facts” and attitudes towards the interrogation of terrorists have settled into the collective psyche of the left and attained a life of their own. The book itself is 300 pages of text divided into twelve mostly chronological chapters detailing the establishment, working, and closing down of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program during the Bush administration in the months and years immediately following the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Dr. Mitchell was a psychologist who worked at … More after the Jump…

Pearl Harbor Day

Never Forget Today is Pearl Harbor Day, 75 years ago this morning at 0755 Hawaiian time the Japanese Navy began its attack on the US Navy Fleet anchorage in Pearl Harbor Hawaii.  The attack lasted for two and a half hours and cost the lives of 2,402 Americans and 64 Japanese.  The US Navy lost 6 Ships sunk, 4 of which were Battleships and an additional 13 sips were damaged to a greater or lesser degree. Let us all take a minute today to reflect on the attack on Pearl Harbor and the war it started.  Most importantly, let us remember the men who lost their lives that day and … More after the Jump…

Decoding Civil War Telegrams

The Huntington Library in California is asking for the public’s help in decoding an archive of thousands of Civil War telegrams in the library’s possession.  According to the Library’s News Release there are over 15,000 telegrams from top members of the Lincoln Administration to include the president himself that were sent encoded during the Civil War and the library would now like to decode them. The library has set up a project on zooniverse to crowdsource the decoding project where each participant gets one page of the telegraph logbooks to transcribe and then compare their transcription with those of others to increase accuracy.  This is history in action.  If you would … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Into the Black by Rowland White

[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author and/or publisher. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] I am a space enthusiast and have been since I was a kid and saw the Apollo-Soyuz missions on the TV news. I was thrilled when the Shuttle first flew in 1981 and followed the program through to it’s final mission in 2011. I was thrilled when given the opportunity to review Into the Black and the quality of the story is amazing. The book is the story of the development and first flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia from the … More after the Jump…

D-Day 72nd Anniversary

This is an annual tradition at Battles and Book Reviews.  This year is the 72nd anniversary of the Allied Landings at Normandy in France during WWII. Just a reminder for everyone to stop today and take a moment to reflect on the events that happened 68 years ago today on the shores of Normandy in France.   This is the day that the Allies opened up the long-awaited Second Front against Hitler’s Germany.   The invasion took place along almost 50 miles of French coast using five named invasion beaches.   From south to north the beaches were named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.   The first days objectives … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Pearl Harbor: The Missing Motive by Kevin O’Connell

I will admit that when I first got the request to review Pearl Harbor: The Missing Motive I was skeptical. After finishing it I remain skeptical but will admit that the author makes a well-written, if not necessarily compelling case for his premise. First about the book. The book is 300 pages of text divided into 7 parts/chapters. It has 46 pages of notes and a 14 page bibliography. Also included is an index. One thing about the notes; the notes are endnotes of a sort except that they are not annotated within the text. That is, they do not follow a recognized standard citation system such as MLA, APA, … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Decision Points by George W. Bush

Decision Points is a book I have put off reading for several years but finally got around to. I mainly put it off because I have essentially avoided reading any histories of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars as they hit a little close to home for me. I finally changed my mind because I decided enough time has passed. Don’t get me wrong, I was not angry about the wars, I fought in Iraq in 2003-2004 with the Big Red One, at best I am ambivalent. That is a combination of the military historian and the veteran in me. I decided to read Bush’s memoir because I was curious to … More after the Jump…

CSA PRL Book Review: The Philippine War by Brian McCallister Linn

The 2014 US Army Chief of Staff Professional Reading List (PRL) was released in the Summer of 2014 and I was relieved in the extreme to see that there was only one novel on the list, Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer.  The list is different than earlier lists because it is organized topically instead of by position as earlier lists were.  I have read many of the books on the list already and decided to read the ones I have not and post my thoughts on the books on the list.  This review is the next in that series. Most people that have heard of the Spanish-American War at the turn of … More after the Jump…