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9/11 - Have You Forgotten?
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 started out like any other clear, crisp, late summer morning. That is until 0846 when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center and began a chain of...
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Mabus: Confidence Lost & True Colors Exposed
Mabus /mābəs/ noun. Professional politician who regards career preservation as lexically superior to interests of; sound judgement, military lethality, and/or national security. Not long...
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You Are Expendable. You Are Free.
To be clear, this is not an anti-war, “Born on the 4th of July” type of write up by someone who is overcome with a deluded sense of morality over past actions taken. I liked war. I liked what the...
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Knock, Knock Jokes: America's Virtue Signaling and The Syrian Refugee Debate
"I lie in bed to the sound, of the wolves at my door. They are speaking in tongues Oh, they join on my floor”-Senses Fail It seems common sense is beginning to once again fade into a blur, not only in...
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Why More Art Needs to Come From the Warrior World
“I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.”― John Quincy Adams Yep, that's right—I'm going to talk about why art is important to a bunch of...
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Worth The Watch: 13 HOURS
“I’ve seen those hush hush looks you give, when you’re talking to him.”-The Spill Canvas I just finally got around to seeing the movie 13 Hours last weekend. It was quite the spectacle. I can’t say...
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Examining The Narrative of 22
Don’t kid yourself, when someone thinks “veteran suicide" in 2016—the focus is dead center on the GWOT. Keep that in mind as you read on, because when someone cries "the 22 refers to veterans in...
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Oregon Standoff: Wishing For Little Big Horn
“I am a coward masked in courage and just admitting it will not save me this time”-Counterparts Let me go ahead and preface with the disclaimer that I think exercising your constitutional rights is...
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The Short Happy Life of Military Identity
Many people join because they were drawn to the awe-inspiring sense of purpose. Their branch, the uniform, their unit, an MOS, saving ‘Merika for a buck-o-five—the whole beans-and-bullets bundle gives...
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A BlackWater Goons Savage Journey to Robert McDonald's House
It had to end eventually—defense contracting. Granted it never actually “ended” as it is alive and well; it’s just… different. The ultimate ex-military, money gun-club, the “golden age of contracting”...
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Career After Conflict: What's Your Plan For The Future?
A few years ago I learned a valuable lesson while sitting on the flight line in Jalalabad, Afghanistan waiting on a bird that never arrived: always have a clear extraction plan. During my time in the...
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Spent Shell Casings
"... in a singular way, we were more like the men we were fighting than the people hugging us at the airport. It fades, at least for most of us. The rage. The thoughts of life-taking that make...
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Ghosts
Buried in my Facebook notifications is a ten-year-old friend request from a ghost. A high school friend who battled internal demons for a long time and passed away around 2010. At the time I didn't...
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Authenticity
Books and movies—the military kind. Do you watch them? Read them? Today we’re going to talk about them, and how the facts aren’t always… accurate. And a little bit about why that is. Two elements to...
View ArticleQuit Tomorrow
Most people have heard sayings like “You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with.” This is one of the advantages of belonging to a SOF community. When everyone around you is...
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The Gold Coast of Africa Pt. III: Slave Castle and Homecoming
Before going home, Phyllis took our team to see a place I’d never forget. From Cape Coast, we ventured West past thatched-roof huts and giant anthills to the seaside city of Elmina. Elmina was...
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Lessons from Achilles the Monster
Achilles, the most renowned warrior in Western culture. The hero of the Trojan War. The monster. On the off chance you have no idea who Achilles is, let me sum up. Achilles was born to Thetis, a...
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Soldierstone
Deep in the Rio Grande forest of Colorado lies a hidden monument to the Vietnam War dead. The exact location is not a secret, but it’s not advertised either. It is not my place to share. Like all...
View ArticleEvents, Beliefs, and Consequences
One of the universally desirable traits across selection courses is what psychologists call low neuroticism. This doesn’t mean being dead inside or emotionless. The best translation would be “high...
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Movie Review: The Outpost
I have a love-hate relationship with war movies, and I think it’s safe to say most of us do. David Rose aka Mr. Blonde’s last piece on authenticity pretty much spells out why, so I won’t rehash the...
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