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Marines in Panama, 1903-04 (Part I)

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Marines in Panama, 1903-04 (Part I)

Fix Bayonets! by Mustang

Arguably, the most important action President Theodore Roosevelt ever took in foreign affairs related to the construction of the Panama Canal.  It was controversial abroad —it was controversial at home.  Those who opposed the canal claimed that Roosevelt’s actions were unconstitutional.  If true, then so too were Thomas Jefferson’s actions when he acquired the Louisiana Territory.  At different times, the congressional do-nothings accused Roosevelt of usurping their authority. They must not have known ...

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Front Page, Marines

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First Principles about America

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First Principles about America

FIRST QUESTIONS:

Is America an accident? A freak of Nature?  Or, is America the product of Intelligent Design?

I don’t intend to try to answer the second half of that question here as that requires an inquiry into philosophy and theology. But by the longest list of scientific and common sense proofs, I think I can say without equivocation that America is no accident. We cannot be a freak of Nature. So you can sort of figure out the rest yourself.

This is something we ...

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Front Page, Readers' Tales, Vets In Class

By an Angel’s Kiss, SSG Chrisopher Slutman, 43, SGT Benjamin Hines, 31, CPL Robert Hendrik, 25, US Marine Reserves (Afghanistan)

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By an Angel’s Kiss, SSG Chrisopher Slutman, 43, SGT Benjamin Hines, 31, CPL Robert Hendrik, 25, US Marine Reserves (Afghanistan)

Kissed by an Angel, Where Violins are the Angels’ Voices, and the Cello Sings Harmony

USMC Reserve SSG Christopher A Slutman, 43, of Newark, NJ, and

USMC Reserve SGT Benjamin S Hines, 31, of York, PA

USMC Reserve CPL Robert A Hendrik, 25, of Locust Valley, NY

were killed near Bagram AFB, Aghanistan when the vehicle they were riding in was blown up ...

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BY an Angel's Kiss, GWOT: Afghanistan, Marines, Readers' Tales

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The Error of Our Ways

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The Error of Our Ways

BUNKERVILLE | God, Guns and Guts Comrades! by Mustang

At the end of World War II, Harry S. Truman was looking for ways to switch the United States from its war-time economy to one better suited to a society that wanted —and needed peace.  Unhappily, the President’s cost-cutting measures involved a one-third reduction of the military services: Army, Navy, and Marines.  Washington, D. C. was a busy place between 1945-1950:

  • World War II veterans were expeditiously discharged
  • The Department of War was transformed into ...
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Front Page, Navy, Navy

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY Prince Archie: 1885 Historic Treaty Tapestry, Mountbatten Family in Bulgaria, 1 of only 7

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY Prince Archie: 1885 Historic Treaty Tapestry, Mountbatten Family in Bulgaria, 1 of only 7

Not for everyone, but if you want to claim favor with the British Royal Family and their Mountbatten kinsmen, and newly acquired American relations, this may be the ticket.

Alexander Battenberg of Hesse, (Germany) was the first Tsar of Bulgaria, after the state was created in 1879 from  the Treaty of San Stefano was signed ending the Russo-Turkish War, 1878-79. But half the Bulgarian state created by this Treaty was stripped away by the major European Powers, so Alexander reclaimed it ...

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Readers' Tales, Sales Gallery

Doris Miller, the ‘negro messboy’ who became an American hero

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Doris Miller, the ‘negro messboy’ who became an American hero

I ran across this story of a “Negro” mess attendant by the name of Doris Miller.  Besides being noticeably Black, “Dorie” as known to his shipmates and friends more importantly is an American hero.

In 1939, Miller who enlisted in the U.S Navy as Mess Attendant, Third Class was later commended by Secretary of the Navy, advanced to Mess Attendant, Second Class and First Class, and was eventually promoted to Cook, Third Class.

Navy History and Heritage Command (excerpt)

Following training at ...

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Navy, Navy, Readers' Tales, WWII

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When Incompetents Cluster

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When Incompetents Cluster

A writer-friend of mine sent me a review of  a Cornell study from 1999, from a military website, about South Africa. You may find it interesting on a several planes, but essentially it confirms what we’ve always suspected, that incompetents often don’t know they’re incompetent. And when they are put in charge of a project, rather than shrink away from the task, they embrace it with vigor, then fail with pride…and denial.

And when there are several of them, as ...

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Readers' Tales

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Early History of US Army Advisers and MAAG Mission in Vietnam, 1959-1963

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Early History of US Army Advisers and MAAG Mission in Vietnam, 1959-1963

Seems you can’t turn your head without finding our friend SGM Fred Barnes in the middle of history. Last year we introduced Fred as an E-3 trooper whose unit was brought into to witness (as guinea pigs) the first and only firing of the Army’s famous atomic cannon in the Nevada desert in 1953.

(Fast forward six years, and Spec 5 Barnes found himself at the front of the history known in America as the “Vietnam War”, only four years before ...

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Army, Front Page, Readers' Tales, Viet Nam

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