According to the Commander of the United States CENTRAL COMMAND, the nation’s longest war ended at 1600, or rather 1559 EST. For those who follow ordinary clocks, that is 3:59. For people without power, like Refuge Farm was today, it is still this morning. But General McKenzie says 1559 local was the moment that the […]

Life is a wondrous thing, ain’t it? We rugged (or ragged) bunch bask in the country sounds. Passing thunderheads, sporadic gunfire, and that sharp hum of insect life that reminds us the land is alive. With the anniversary of 9/11 coming, up, it is interesting to look back on the start of the Global War […]

I was working on a piece about how things are working these days in The Swamp, an interesting topic I wanted to present to the group. That got shut down quickly. We got a note- not addressed specifically to the Writer’s Section- that warned speculation could impact the chain of command. It directed retired personnel […]

(Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris visits a monument in Hanoi, Republic of Vietnam. It depicts the landing spot of an American pilot shot down in a raid on what was then the capital of a divided nation. It was not publicized that way. The pilot depicted hanging in the straps of his […]

Making History is hard work. I thought we had some interesting times in the post-Vietnam era, the two Superpowers glaring at each other. Now it is everywhere, and we have a man in the Presidency who sinks his ship and then brags about how cool the lifeboats are. We have talked about 1968 a couple […]

The Writer’s Section was edgy this morning. “Is it over yet? Can we get back to something pastoral and pleasant? It is the height of a mostly lovely summer, the warmth and vitality of the Piedmont summer is flowing all around us. We have identified native eagles that fly above these sweet green pastures. We […]

If you have not been part of the planning process on what is called a “Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO)” you have missed a lot of fun. A pal summed it up nicely in our own little committee of Vets this morning in the first flurry of notes. “We have all planned, and most of us […]

(At left in the above Air Force image, the workhorse of the Pacific War, the B-29, is posed with the B-36 Convair Peacemaker just after the establishment of the United States Air Force in 1948). I walked with some determination from the bunkhouse down to the Loading Dock at the farm to grab a Marlboro […]

I had one of those dreams in the pre-dawn that left me unsettled as I wandered with divided focus down to the Loading Dock. I had been changing planes in a foreign airport, the international standards apparent, but with something behind them that wasn’t at all like home. I was a little disoriented, and partly […]

The Writer’s Section had some wistful smiles this morning, since it looks like the hurricane is going to hit New England rather than the Old Dominion. The smiles were a bit thin, perhaps, given all the other stuff we are supped to be worried about. But Marlow’s piece from his Coastal Empire this morning brought […]