In Herman Wouk’s masterpiece “The Caine Mutiny,” the clever, intelligent but execrable LT Keefer manages to maneuver and manipulate his shipmates into committing a de facto mutiny, removing Captain Queeg from command of his ship. In the court martial that follows, the lawyer turned Navy pilot, (again a lawyer as he recovers from being shot […]

Author’s Note: Keeping current on the war… My Muse had some thoughts… – Arrias Blue Sky Blue sky, green grass, the smoke a dirty brown, Can’t hear a drone, can’t see a drone but a Round incoming, better keep your head down; Another piece of battlefield arcana. War grinds on, young men die, this will […]

Author’s Note: This was another struggle… the more I pick at it, the worse It think the situation is – I’m not sure we can get out of this mess… – Arrias Strategic Bombing and Gentle War Much of the modern way of war springs from the writings of 4 men from the 1920s: Gen. […]

In case you’ve missed most of the last 2 years, there have been several excellent examples of Western Technology on display that really must leave the rest of the world both a little bit in awe and at the same time wanting to buy some. I’m speaking of the capabilities of some of our radars […]

The French Frigate Alsace is on its way home today; she is out of missiles. It would almost seem a modern version of a Pyrrhic victory. Plutarch relates that Pyrrhus was a descendant of fleet-footed Achilles, king of the Molossians, later king of Epirus, then Macedonia, and after that, tyrant of Syracuse. He was above […]

Author’s Note: Everyone else is writing about what is going to happen, thought I’d throw in my two cents… – Arrias Will Clausewitz summed it up nicely: “War is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.” Will is the only real “coin” in war. Everything else is a tool […]

Rain is Falling Rain is falling, a constant tapping, A flash of lightning splits the dark, Thunder rumbles, shakes our house, The dogs uneasy, answer with a single bark. Holy Thursday in the Dismal Swamp, A good friend and true under the knife, Bypass surgery never routine, A prayer – Dear God, safeguard his life. […]

We See Money for your missiles, A billion for another floating beauty, Billions for bombers and AI, But none for corporals on duty. Politicians take their pictures With some PFC who lost an arm, Spread that picture around, The voters for to charm. But the PFC still has no arm, And his buddies are still […]

The story really begins yesterday, on June 17th, 1775. But my real grasp of it began nearly 200 years later, on an early March day, while I was in high school. My mom was having a big party as a fund raiser for the hospital where my dad worked. We had a large, mostly unused […]

My Muse poked me again this morning, but light-hearted… Archimedes wasn’t the very first, But he did get pretty near, And Ptolemy was very handy In addressing a sphere. The Chinese also chipped in, And Liu Hui shaved it even closer, Though to the average schoolboy It is still a poser. Aryabhata of Pataliputra, A […]