Thank God Arrias answered the bell this morning- he captured the moments before Splash slid the tablet across the conference table. Displayed was a large format of Vic’s upper leg with some impressive new deep incisions. DeMille rejected it, of course, but in this week in this town the display had a certain resonance with […]

Socotra Proof of Life An abridged version of yesterday’s segment of the adventure, then Arrias and a muffled silence… I was goint to inlude the medical notes about the surgeyyesterday which seems to have gone well. Today less shooting pain in my leg, so a great release. That is my proof of life for today, […]

January 1st 2024 to January 1st 2025 , Here a win, there a loss, History seemed to be repeating As we stumbled closer to chaos. We started off with a bang, Navy Helos gunned some pirates, Got to wonder ‘bout the Houthis Seem to be tempting the fates. But tragedy in east Asia, A horror […]

Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, the Elder, mastermind of the Franco-Prussian War (among others), said that “Errors in tactics can be corrected on the next battle, but errors in strategy can only be corrected in the next war.” By strategy, he meant the overarching war plan of a nation. And his point was that if […]

A crescent Moon is waning, But the sky – an inky black, Ghostly clouds dart silently by, A fleet of ships maneuvering for attack. Frost is building on the roof, With Thanksgiving a week away, The Dismal Swamp seems mighty cold In this mid Autumn day. Brew some tea, feed the dogs, Two deer glide […]

On the north side of a runway, at an airfield about 60 miles west of Gdansk, Poland, about 10 miles from the Baltic, lies a US Navy operated installation. It is a missile defense base – known as AEGIS Ashore. It was just declared fully operational just a week or so ago, though it has […]

Birch and Pine and Maple, A stand a broad oak trees, Northern forest, hardwoods and soft, And a cold, hard winter breeze. The leaves are falling to the ground, Snow now on the mountain tops, Hear the rustle in the wood, As each leaf through the branches drops. All prepare for winter, Working hard all […]

Author’s Note: After reading some more miserable accounts of life in the trenches, they all want to push the Russians out, but they keep looking around asking “WT…?” Then my Muse dictated this to me: The President has a victory plan, How he’s gonna win the war, Just another year of fighting, That’s all he’s […]

A brilliant full Moon o’er the forest, The dogs give me the eye, Mighty cold for an October night, Under a cloudless lapis sky. Dawn still two hours away, But no deer to be seen, Already have their winter coats, Gray shapes in a gray woodland scene. The leaves are all quite brittle, Quietly crunching […]

A cool breeze, a brilliant Moon, The mountains and forts slide by, Glowing a brilliant white in Moonlight, They glide silently across the sky. Some are smaller, only small islets, Other with towering mountains possessed, Deep valleys and might castles, One after another, they march in from the west. Do those canyons hide more mighty […]