Military History, Book Reviews, and Other Things

Category Military Culture

Ft Hood Shooter Trial starts Tuesday- It’s about damn time

The Court-Martial of Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan (left) is set to start on Tuesday almost four years after the 5 November, 2009 rampage at the Fort Hood Deployment Readiness Center that left 13 people dead and over 30 wounded.  He… Continue Reading →

Murder in Iraq

This is kind of an amusing story, unless of course you are the guy that got killed.  When I was deployed to Iraq in 2004 with C Troop 1/4 Cav we had a platoon of National Guard soldiers assigned to… Continue Reading →

“Middle War”: The new normal going forward

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has just released Beyond the Last War: Balancing Ground Forces and Future Challenges Risk in USCENTCOM and USPACOM.  The report makes for interesting reading.  What I found the most interesting aside from the scenarios considered… Continue Reading →

Happy Veterans Day! To all my fellow veterans, I say thank you for your service and dedication in protecting this great nation from her enemies, both foreign and domestic

Book Review: The Color of War: How One Battle Broke Japan and the Other Changed America by James Campbell

[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the publisher for purposes of reviewing it. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] The Color of War is one of… Continue Reading →

Book Review: Road to Valor by Aili & Andres McConnon

[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the publisher for purposes of reviewing it. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Road to Valor is the story of… Continue Reading →

Saw this update on SFC Taylor’s case yesterday and decided to add it to my page as well.   From the LA Times: Court-martial decision postponed for soldier in Afghan shooting.   His Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of… Continue Reading →

Pentagon Gay Pride Parade

Pentagon holds first gay pride event I don't whether to laugh or cry.   I think the latter though

Pentagon holds first gay pride event I don’t whether to laugh or cry.   I think the latter though

A Travesty Calling for Action

In today’s edition of Stars and Stripes and the LA Times is an article about a combat engineer facing charges for actions he took in combat in Afghanistan last year.  The gist of the story is that the soldier involved shot an unarmed female… Continue Reading →

The Reality of War – Violent Death

Today I was reading a selection of articles from Foreign Affairs magazine dealing with modern Counterinsurgency and its perceived success or failure.   One of the things that struck me about the articles and that Bing West brings out in… Continue Reading →

Some Videos from Iraq in 2004

I figured I would embed both of the videos I took in Iraq in 2004 on the site.   I have included brief captions below each video.   plus, I took them all personally, none of them are graphic and… Continue Reading →

Everyone should Read This

Truth, lies and Afghanistan: How military leaders have let us down LT. COL. Daniel L. Davis probably just ended his career by publishing the above linked article in the Armed Forces Journal. LTC Davis is calling out the administration and… Continue Reading →

Blitzkrieg and Other Funnies

I saw these posters several years ago at a site I can no longer remember and saw them again today in my random pictures folder.  As graphic design college students know, sometimes the words that accompany images can make them… Continue Reading →

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everybody but especially to all my Brothers in Arms deployed around the world. May you all complete the mission and come home safe. Patrick Shrier

Happy Veterans Day

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… Continue Reading →

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