Category Archives: Book News

The Dawn’s Early Light

Ok, it’s time to take a break from what the insane liberal thugs are doing. I’ll give them time for their heads to stop exploding. They now have a new thing to rant about with Ruth Ginsberg expiring. Let the battle lines be drawn on this one.

Have you heard the press conference from our Governor here in Florida? LOVED it. I seriously doubt you’ll see any November riots and destruction here; if only your governor has the set he has!

For those of you who have read my book, you may or may not recall in Chapter 41—Lemoore— I was absolutely bored to tears during my last year there. Sergeants were running the command, we did away with the Commander of the Guard. SNCO’s and officers stood Officer of the Day (OOD)—at home. The only time they got involved was when some airwing Command Duty Officer of the base (Navy Lt Cmdr) found it below him to have to speak to a lowly E-5, our Sgt of the Guard, and demanded to speak to me. Of course, that never happened, the OOD took care of him.

Bored beyond belief I began reading a lot and filled my library with books—mostly of military genre; one of books was the one titled here. Once the tour ended, it was back to the Corps and the reality of the hectic schedule of a field grade office—reading ceased.

After retirement came my book. Five and one-half years of constant 24/7 my editor and I beating ourselves to death. He was 2,500 miles away and we burned up the internet and telephone lines daily over grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc. More often than not he was correct—without him the book would never have happened. Bless you Denny! When the book finally came to fruition in December 2012, the last thing I wanted to do in my life was read a damn book.

During the ensuing four more moves and garage sales I pretty much emptied my library. For some reason I saved the title book. I believe the reason was I grew up there—Baltimore. Now in my forever home and not much to do, I plucked this book off the shelf and read it. My first read since 2012, and it was great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I leaned much from the book. One thing was I finally found someone who agreed with me—Baltimore and Fort McHenry are not on the Chesapeake Bay as everyone seems to believe. In fact, I’ve gotten into some heated discussion with folks, even some from Baltimore, who were convinced they were both on the Bay, some said they never heard of Patapsco River—really? They are on the Patapsco River. I grew up on Bear Creek which empties into the confluence of the River and the Bay at Sparrows Point. I spent my childhood camping, hunting, fishing, and crabbing the two with Dad and my friends. I know the area like the back of my hand.

As a retired military officer, I was amazed at the incompetence, sheer ineptness expressed by both Americans and British during this war. For those of us who have spent our time in hell—combat—we all know too well the best laid plans go to hell as soon as the first shot is fired, and adjustments are made in the heat of battle. However, during this war, there were no “best laid plans.” It amazes me we even came out of the war as survivors.

Not far into the book I got the shock of my life! Who on the British side orchestrated, planned, provide forces and orders for the conduct of the War of 1812? It was the Secretary of War and the Colonies—none other than Lord Earl Bathurst. Yes, he is one of my ancestors. I have a loose-leaf binder given to me by a Canadian named Bathurst who was for many years a diplomat in Washington, D.C. I befriended him through a strange set of circumstances while on active duty. He compiled an amazing history of the Bathursts all the way back to the 15th Century. I dug out his binder and sure enough there is Lord Bathurst. Sorry about that folks! LOL

If you are a reader I highly recommend the title book. It was printed in 1972 and is still available. I’m not making this recommendation because of the Lord. LOL I recommend it for its detailed study of the battles of Bladensburg, Baltimore, and Washington. There are amazing examples of the “Fog of War” often fraught with confusion, incompetence, and sheer luck—both good and bad. If you are a military person and a reader I believe you will enjoy it.

Footnote: As a young Marine I remember being told the reason the Brits didn’t burn Marine Barracks and the Commandant’s house was their respect for the bravery and soldierly virtues of the Marines at Bladensburg. Not true Marines. Sorry. LOL

Originally posted 2020-09-23 10:48:20.

US Air Farce Academy

No, I did not misspell Farce, that’s what the academy has turned into. They are trying to be a civilian university, and that’s not what the academies are supposed to be doing. They are supposed to be training “warriors” not college snowflakes. They are getting a free education, albeit not the education they should be getting, and it’s at our cost. This commentary is sad, very sad. If you are a USAF person, this should wrinkle your brow. The sad thing is this same thing is going on in our schools and university only much more intense. Our younger aduklts know very little about our country’s history and more importantly our traditions laid done by our forefathers.

By L. Todd Wood:

It had been a long time since I had visited my Alma mater, the U.S. Air Force Academy, so I decided to bite the bullet and travel to my 30th reunion last October. I must admit, I did so with trepidation. I have a love/hate relationship with the place. Although I received a fantastic education and met some lifelong friends, it’s a nice place to visit, if you know what I mean.

I will say that I received top-notch military training and discipline when I went through three decades ago. In fact, the discipline that was drilled into me has served me well my entire life, giving me a leg up on my competition: once I start something, I just don’t quit, no matter the odds or barriers put in front of me. I credit USAFA for helping me to develop this ability. It is a learned skill acquired from four years of handling the academics and the professional military and athletic training.

During the Vietnam War, many prisoners of war shot down over North Vietnam credited their fourth class year at the Air Force Academy with giving them the fortitude to make it through years of confinement and torture. After all, isn’t that the basic skill of a warrior, to win against all odds?

Unfortunately, these skills are no longer being taught at USAFA. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and so have my classmates.

I realized something was horribly wrong when I arrived at the bottom of the ramp to the cadet area, which used to say “Bring Me Men” above the tunnel entrance. It was an iconic quote, and we were taught at the time that “men” meant the human race, not necessarily only the male sex of such. “I’ll meet you at the bottom of the ‘Bring Me Men’ ramp” was a routine line to girlfriends, boyfriends, parents, et cetera who came to visit their cadet at the academy. I never heard any animosity against this quote during the four years of my stay at the Blue Zoo.

Imagine my shock when I saw the quote had been changed to some PC gibberish about “Integrity First. Service Before Self. Excellence in All We Do.” Ten words! At first, I laughed at the thought of some cadet telling his civilian girlfriend to meet him at the bottom of the “Integrity First. Service Before Self. Excellence in All We Do” ramp. But after a quick laugh, I felt sadness at the loss of tradition and loss of the basic masculinity of warfare being taught at the academy. It was then I knew it was gone. I also felt alarm—if they changed this, what else have they changed? This can’t be good for the training of future Air Force warriors.

My next stop, and next horror, was walking around the cadet area with my fellow classmates from the Class of ‘86 and a few others. The place looked about the same. A monument or static aircraft display was changed here or there, and there was a strange-looking obelisk sticking out of the terrazzo near Arnold Hall, but overall, the place was the same. But there was something very, very wrong.

I couldn’t place it, but then it hit me. It was October. The fourth class cadets should not have been “recognized” yet. That meant being accepted in the ranks of the upper class and the associated privileges that come with it. This entailed walking at attention, squaring corners, greeting upperclassmen, and other general military training.

None of this was happening. They were walking at rest, not greeting anyone. Actually, they were ignoring the upperclassmen walking by. I stopped one of them and asked him, “Cadet, are you recognized yet?”

“No, we are not,” was his response. He kept walking. There was no “sir” in his response. He obviously knew I was an alumnus and former military officer. The problem was that he simply didn’t care. He didn’t care because he had been taught not to care. Military bearing was absent. Completely gone. Removed.

And then, the shock continued.

As the time started to get close to the Noon Meal Formation, where the cadets form up and march into Mitchell Hall for lunch, I again realized nothing was happening. Cadets were nonchalantly walking to the huge cafeteria where they are served all at once during the school week for lunch. I subsequently found out the formation had been cancelled due to high winds. I laughed to myself.  There wasn’t even a breeze. Wow, things really have changed.

Inside the noon meal, all former military decorum and training at the lunch table had been vaporized. There was nothing. The freshman cadets didn’t even have the civilian decency to serve their alumni guests first, not to mention any military bearing. They just took the food and ignored everyone else at the table.

It gets worse: after lunch, my colleagues walked into the academic building. Before my eyes, where there used to be formal lecture halls, was a Dunkin’ Donuts. My jaw hit the floor and I actually took a picture– I was that amazed. This was no longer a military academy; it was UCLA in uniforms.

We then visited the dorm rooms. We nonchalantly walked into one cadet’s room who had the door open, which was the custom. We asked them a few questions. They didn’t get up. They didn’t greet us formally. They just sat there. These were fourth classmen. I guarantee you that in the past, if an alum had walked into a fourth class room, the residents would be at attention within seconds and the “sirs” would be flying like birds on a high wire.

Finally, before the football game and other class-specific events, we headed to Arnold Hall to listen to a briefing from the Superintendent on what was going on at the academy. Literally, one of the first things we heard was, “Things are not as tough as they used to be.”

Really? Ya think? was my immediate reaction.

We were presented with an hour-long briefing about how cadets were being trained to be able to “function” within the bureaucracy of the regular Air Force. We heard all about the statistics of the institution—how many awards it had won, where it stood in the rankings against other colleges, how well the sports teams had done, et cetera, et cetera.

Not once did I hear the word warrior. In a flash, I got it. The academy was no longer training cadets to be Air Force warriors. They were no longer training to fight for our country and win wars. They were being trained to function in the bureaucracy. The academy was all about competing with civilian institutions in a variety of ways.

We heard about the new facilities that had been built. We heard all about the new honor chamber to discuss ethics. That happened to be the strange object poking out of the terrazzo.

When the briefing was over, I raised my hand. I had to ask the question. I simply said, “The discipline here no longer exists. Not once did I hear the word ‘warrior’ in your briefing. It seems the mission has changed. Were we no longer about ‘Fly, Fight, and Win?’”

The response I got was laced with derision at my wrong-headed thinking. “We are not here to haze people. They go to the lunch meal to eat, not get trained,” said the Superintendent, who was, by the way, in the first class of females to graduate from the academy. “We have theme rooms to talk about war,” said the commandant of cadets. Yes, he really said that. “We have mock funerals to talk about war.”

Excuse me, but what right do these new leaders of the institution have to throw away decades of training that had worked so splendidly to create warriors like Medal of Honor winner Lance Sijan, who crawled through a rock-filled landscape after being shot down in Vietnam for 46 days with compound fractures throughout his broken body until his bones protruded through his skin, only to escape twice before being killed by the enemy, all the while never giving up any classified information under torture? Do you think he learned that from a theme room? No, he learned that from a full year of military training and discipline, learning attention to detail, how not to quit, how to perform under pressure, day after day after day. That’s where he learned that.

It is obvious the Air Force Academy is no longer training warriors to lead men, or women, into battle. They are no longer into the type of training that created the greatest air force ever known to man. In fact, they are more interested in a military version of safe spaces and trigger warnings, so it seems.

As far as the other academies are concerned, I can’t speak for them. However, I have seen evidence of the same with pictures of black female cadets giving the black power salute, images of female cadets on their cell phone while marching, et cetera, et cetera.

President Obama did a very good job of weakening the institutions that made our military and country great. Military academies are not made to “compete” with other civilian universities. They have a special purpose. I very much hope President-Elect Trump and his appointees can reverse this pathetic trend. Our children’s future depends on it.

Todd Wood is an OpsLens contributor, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, flew special operations helicopters supporting SEAL Team 6, Delta Force and others. After leaving the military, he pursued his other passion, finance, spending 18 years on Wall Street trading emerging market debt, and later, writing. The first of his many thrillers is “Currency.” Todd is a national security columnist for The Washington Times and has contributed to Fox Business, Newsmax TV, Moscow Times, the New York Post, the National Review, Zero Hedge, The Jerusalem Post, and others. For more information about L. Todd Wood, visitLToddWood.com.

Originally posted 2017-02-04 15:08:42.

You Decide!

Hmm, interesting copy of an email, if it is an actual copy of an email, and I kind of think it is. I know one thing for sure, it “ain’t” about going to some concert. You decide.

This is going to be an election for the history books. The first Banana Republic-style election in American history.

voting-machines

Originally posted 2016-11-02 10:13:29.

Hello Pence, are you there, hello?

penceJeez, some people are not even followers, let alone leaders. Some  one grab this fellow by the stacking swivel (if you do know where that is, ask a Marine), and let him in on a secret, he’s the freaking VP, wake up son! Your Marine brother and son are probably wondering where you are?

kasichAnd that POS Kasich, it doesn’t surprise me, he was too much of a smooth talker, another politician who only lies when his lips are moving. Can’t say that about Trump, he says the same thing regardless of the audience.

Hmm, lips moving? He’s lying

col-andy

 

 

 

http://acoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/2016/11/mr-trump-talks-crooked-straight.html

 

 

Originally posted 2016-11-02 10:00:09.

RESIGNATION LETTERS PILING UP AT FBI

You know what? I would like to believe this story, but this election has made me so cynical I have my doubts. I wonder if this is smoke to draw attention away from all the other baggage the bag lady has in her grocery cart, of course you know of whom I speak. Does anyone have a clue as to how corrupt this election is going to be? I mean “her” talking behind closed doors with the head election official of Broward County, Fl is a what, a happenstance? OMG. The war clouds are growing folks. Stay tuned.

james-comey-house-hearing

 

The decision by FBI Director James Comey to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server and her mishandling of classified material came after he could no longer resist mounting pressure by FBI agents described as “mutinous.”

In an article for Britain’s Daily Mail, bestselling author Ed Klein reports some of Comey’s top deputies were in on the mutiny, according to a source close to the director.

“The atmosphere at the FBI has been toxic ever since Jim announced last July that he wouldn’t recommend an indictment against Hillary,” said the source, who Klein says has known Comey for nearly 20 years and spends family outings together.

“Some people, including department heads, stopped talking to Jim, and even ignored his greetings when they passed him in the hall,” said the source. “They felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist.”

The source says Comey agonized over the issue for months and even talked about it with his wife, Patrice.

Comey told Patrice the stack of resignation letters from livid agents was making him depressed, as they reminded him that morale at the bureau had hit rock bottom.

“He’s been ignoring the resignation letters in the hope that he could find a way of remedying the situation,’” said the source, according to Klein.

“When new emails that appeared to be related to Hillary’s personal email server turned up in a computer used by [her close aide] Huma Abedin and [Abedin’s disgraced husband,] Anthony Weiner, Comey jumped at the excuse to reopen the investigation.

“The people he trusts the most have been the angriest at him. And that includes his wife, Pat. She kept urging him to admit that he had been wrong when he refused to press charges against the former secretary of state.”

“He talks about the damage that he’s done to himself and the institution [of the FBI], and how he’s been shunned by the men and women who he admires and work for him. It’s taken a tremendous toll on him. It shattered his ego. He looks like he’s aged 10 years in the past four months.”

Klein says Comey’s decision to reopen the case “was more than an effort to heal the wound he inflicted on the FBI.”

“He was also worried that after the presidential election, Republicans in Congress would mount a probe of how he had granted Hillary political favoritism,” Klein wrote.

The new look at Hillary’s emails, coming just 11 days before Election Day, is said to have shocked U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and prosecutors at the Justice Department.

“Jim told me that Lynch and Obama are furious with him,” the source said.

Klein notes that President Obama indicated his choice of Comey as FBI director was “my worst mistake as president.”

“Lynch and Obama haven’t contacted Jim directly,” said the source, “but they’ve made it crystal clear through third parties that they disapprove of his effort to save face.”

 

Originally posted 2016-11-01 14:09:00.