Since we were old enough to hold wooden guns, my brother and I have shared an interest in great battles. Pittsburgh Landing, a forgotten piece of land skirting the border of Mississippi and Tennessee, is one of those places. Driving up from Florida, we are engulfed in farm country, endless Read more…
“See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket…We can take all the northern ports of the Confederacy, and they can defy us from Vicksburg.” – Abraham Lincoln Read more…
Philip II of Macedonia in a message to Sparta: “You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.” Sparta’s reply: “If.“ I was planning this trip for months. Ever since Read more…
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. – William Tecumseh Sherman I took a Read more…
This is the second part to my “Alamo” story. I have tried to recreate this event, locales and conversations from my memories of them. Writing this post has been a challenge. In order to maintain their anonymity, in some instances I have changed the names and home towns of individuals Read more…
Rules of War: Young warriors die You cannot change Rule #1 Someone must walk point I’m writing this post about a day I lived and should have died, in August 2010. It was nearing the end of my seven month deployment. “Alamo” is the code-word used over the radio informing Read more…
History is full of examples of successful military surprises. Examples of effective early warning strategies are more difficult to find, but they range from the simple to the sublime. Animals such as dogs, horses, and even guinea hens have been used to warn of the enemy’s approach. According to the Read more…
Fallujah, Al Anbar Province “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes; If you fuck with me I will kill you all.” – General ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis USMC (Spoken to Iraqi tribal leaders) Leading up to 2007, the overall situation Read more…
Musa Qala, Helmand Province “The British were chickens, but these men… the American Marines…They fight like animals, like they’re not even human.” -Intercepted radio transmission from a Taliban commander after losing Karamanda to 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marine Regiment. May 2010. Afghanistan is notoriously nicknamed “the graveyard of empires.” Empire after Read more…