11 September 2001 is one of the major days everyone remembers. As with the Challenger disaster, it is one of those days where I remember everything. I was commissioned into the Navy on the 25th of May, receiving my diploma and shaking the President’s hand. I spent the summer with…

The weekend after the 6 January events, I found myself watching “60 Minutes.” I don’t normally watch this show but was intrigued that Leslie Stahl would be airing her interview with Speaker Pelosi. I needed to hear her account of what happened. The lead-in to the interview referred to the…

The murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer over the minor crime of attempting to pass a counterfeit $20 bill is the tipping point that touched off international protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. …

I’m not Black. I will never be Black. …

Note: I submitted this letter to Proceedings, the monthly magazine of the United States Naval Institute, for inclusion into their “Comment and Discussion” section. In the May issue of Proceedings, a retired Lieutenant Commander characterized Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly’s January decision to name CVN 80 in honor…

On 6 June 2020, the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, General David Berger, issued MARADMIN 331/20, which: “DIRECTS MARINE CORPS COMMANDERS TO IDENTIFY, AND REMOVE THE DISPLAY OF THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG OR ITS DEPICTION WITHIN WORK PLACES, COMMON-ACCESS AREAS, AND PUBLIC AREAS ON THEIR INSTALLATIONS.” A friend…

Last year we said, ‘Things can’t go on like this’, and they didn’t, they got worse.” — Will Rogers This is an updated version of a previous story that I posted last June. In June of 2019, while driving from the house I own in Florida to the apartment in…

People who know me understand I tend to be a salty man of grit, piss, and vinegar. I’m a very masculine man who only dares to show emotions of anger and disappointment (and the occasional jubilation) in public. I only cried before my first wife when I realized our shit…

A Perspective on Co-Parenting a Year after Divorce Last year, I finalized my divorce, ending my first marriage. My ex has majority custody because I’m serving in the military and move frequently. I’m currently assigned OCONUS (outside the Continental US) so instead of seeing my kid a few times a…