This is the second in a series of articles dedicated to our Veterans. According to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Veterans Day is a day to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. Of course, every man or woman who has honorably served our nation in the military is a patriot and is honored on Veterans Day. There are some who have gone that one step farther, who have done that one deed that is truly...

You know my penchant for using regular Americans’ letters to the editors of their hometown newspapers to make a point or to support a position or issue. Of course, such is not an entirely objective method, but what is, and who is…. Anyway, here are two gems from today’s Austin American-Statesman: Re: Oct. 29 article “Cheney will back Hutchison.” Former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Sarah Palin endorsed Gov. Rick Perry. Good...

November 11 is Veterans Day. A day—a celebration—to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. This is the first of three articles honoring those men and women. Two months ago, in “Leave No Man Behind—65 Years Later,” I praised the spirit and culture of our military as reflected in the creed that you don’t leave anyone behind—whether captured, injured or dead. I also acknowledged the risks...

I just finished reading a fantastic and timely book. Fantastic because of how the writer, Doug Stanton, brilliantly and in gritty, sometimes grisly detail describes the unprecedented actions of a band of American Special Forces heroes who rode into Afghanistan after 9/11 during the opening days of what is now the Afghanistan War. Timely, not necessarily because of what these magnificent men did on horseback in the mountains and the valleys of Afghanistan eight years ago, but because of the...

Two questions that come up when I write on the subject of our nation’s highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, are why it sometimes takes so long for the Medal to be awarded and whether an award can be “upgraded” to the Medal of Honor. (I use that term reluctantly because I don’t want to make awards and decorations for our brave troops sound like a product that can be improved—“upgraded.”) I am well aware of how long it can sometimes take for a hero to receive the Medal of...

Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés and I have been posting on a Texas criminal justice case that has now become an issue of national interest. It is the now infamous case of Todd Willingham who was executed almost six years ago for the 1991 arson related death of his three children at his home in Corsicana, Texas. The Texas Forensic Science Commission was reviewing the case and hired the noted fire scientist Craig Beyler to once again investigate the case The Texas Forensic Science Commission was established...

One doesn’t normally expect to find articles of an inspirational nature in an in-flight magazine. On a flight yesterday, I started my perfunctory flipping of pages of the “American Way” magazine, and there, tucked among descriptions of alluring vacation paradises, interesting travelogues and colorful promotions for fine dining and wining, were not one, but two gripping and inspiring stories about our wounded warriors. What stopped my page-flipping was a full page photo of a double amputee hand...

A few days ago, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés shared with us a letter from former president George H. W. Bush (#41) informing his “Fellow Members of the Texas A&M Family” of the gracious invitation he had extended to President Obama to come down to Aggie land to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bush’s “points of light” initiative, and to talk about “an issue that unites all Americans,” community service and its importance to our nation. Bush also said:...

You know me by now. I find that Letters to the Editor generally depict the unvarnished views of “regular” Americans, and I often use them support a particular point of view. Of course, these same letters can also express points of view that I do not agree with. I am sure that those who oppose my views can and will use those in order to support their views. Anyway, in the debate to eliminate discrimination in our armed forces based on sexual orientation, those who would like to retain...

I have always believed that if there is a clear and present danger to the security of the United States or an imminent attack, our country has every right to launch a preemptive military strike against the potential source of such a threat. Regrettable, such a valid doctrine, in my opinion, was adulterated by the previous administration. Early in his administration—and, yes, as a result of 9/11—Bush modified such a valid doctrine to one where the United Sates would have the right to...

I am sure most of our readers were glued to the television sets for almost two hours this afternoon, hoping and praying for the safety and life of 6-year-old Falcon Heene, if he happened to be aboard the ill-fated silvery balloon. We all held our breath when the balloon more-or-less-gently touched down in a field, and while the rescuers and emergency personnel searched for the boy and, at the time we thought, fortunately, did not find the boy inside. As I am writing this, the frantic search efforts...

Even though I live in Texas, the first I heard or read about a case that is now getting nation-wide attention was at The Moderate Voice (TMV). Two weeks ago, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, TMV’s Deputy Managing Editor, published a guest voice by Elijah Sweet bringing to our attention the disturbing news that Texas Governor Rick Perry had, on Wednesday, September 30, “without prior notice” replaced three of the members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission that was reviewing the...

As freethinking Americans, we all have our own thoughts and opinions about homosexuals and homosexuality; about same-sex marriages and same-sex unions; about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and about so many other related issues. As Americans, we are fortunate that we can express our opinions freely on these issues in healthy, sometimes argumentative and emotional debates, as we often see on TMV. Sometimes we catch a lot of flak for expressing our opinions, but that comes with the territory....

Although I have written a couple of commentaries on the Afghanistan war, mainly illustrating the complexity of that conflict, I will be the first one to admit that I am by no means an expert on that issue and that I have no relevant suggestions on how to proceed. The real experts are hard at work, hopefully to come up with a successful strategy, corresponding troop levels, etc. However, when I say “real experts,” I would not include those who have taken our country and our troops into disastrous...

We have seen reactions from just about everywhere in the world on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to president Obama. How about from Norway where its Parliament appoints the Nobel Committee that selects the Laureate for the Peace Prize? Yesterday, the Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen presented a Norwegian view. In “A Bold Peace Prize,” translated at Watching America (watchingamewrica.com), the author, Ivar A. Iversen, says that “Obama’s peace prize could be difficult to...

While I strongly disagree with most of Charles Krauthammer’s ideology and politics, I must admit that the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist is a brilliant journalist and probably the most influential commentator in our country. That’s perhaps why I am disappointed at his latest column that appeared this morning in the Washington Post. As I have pointed out in a previous post, president Obama is faced with an overabundance of advisers and advice when it comes to making what will certainly...

Just yesterday, I wrote about how the opinions and suggestions —expert and non-expert— about what to do in Afghanistan are all over the map, ranging pretty much from “How to Win in Afghanistan” to “How to Lose in Afghanistan,” and making one of our nation’s most critical and perilous endeavors look like a do-it-yourself project. This morning’s New York Times has a similar compendium of ideas on how to achieve victory in Afghanistan, this time reading like one of those “Happiness...

Some readers occasionally comment that some of our contributors write or comment more frequently and extensively on events or news items that support their own political views or their own opinions on issues. Without admitting that my colleagues do such, and speaking strictly for myself, I find that this is a natural tendency, but one that I try to “control,” periodically. For example, I believe that way too few Medals of Honor have been awarded to our heroes from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars—a...

While doing some research on the Afghanistan war for another publication, I soon discovered that there is no shortage of opinions—many of them “expert” opinions—on how to conduct and conclude that war. It made me realize how excruciatingly difficult it must be for the president—faced with an overabundance of advisers and advice—to divine the right policy and strategy to bring that war to a satisfactory conclusion and, inextricably tied to that, to make what will probably...

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, on a visit to Northrop Grumman’s Newport News shipyard yesterday, effectively said “Don’t worry over the quality of our submarines.” After visiting the submarine building facility at Newport News—one of only two shipyards in the nation to build nuclear-powered submarines— Mabus said during a brief news conference: “I’m absolutely comfortable with the quality of the submarines that are being produced here…I’m comfortable with what Northrop...

One of the stories behind the story of the demise of the F-22 Raptor fighter is the “developing story” of the increasingly important role unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are playing in today’s and certainly in tomorrow’s Air Force. In my story behind the story of the F-22 demise, I quoted Fred Kaplan’s comments that, during the most intense period of the Cold War, “much higher status was given to pilots of nuclear bombers.” Then, the Vietnam War “paved the way...

Some of our readers, I am sure, read the New York Times. Some—perhaps many—do not. They don’t know what they are missing. Some love the New York Times. Some don’t. They have quite different feelings towards the venerable publication—too graphic to describe here. But we’ll forgive them for that. I, for one, read, like and—most of the time—agree with the New York Times. So, sue me! Many of the New York Times’ editorials and opinion pieces often...

By now, most of the stories behind the dazzling rise and ignominious demise of a proud, magnificent bird, the F-22 Raptor, have been told. Stories about the brilliant design and cutting edge manufacturing and assembly technology. A technology that has been described as “the only thing more complex than the human body.” (I was fortunate to visit the “mile-long” Lockheed Martin F-16 assembly line; the F-22 line must be even more spectacular.) Stories about the awesome performance of...

Women in the military have been—by tradition, by law, policy or regulation—excluded from various duties. One of the last remaining exclusions is women serving in “front-line combat jobs.” But, even here, according to the Navy Times, “combat roles have become blurred during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in which irregular warfare marked by insurgent roadside bombs and a lack of the frontlines evident in traditional warfare have brought women assigned to jobs as corpsmen,...

First, a personal story intended as full disclosure for the second part of this post. I immigrated to the United States at the age of 17 from the Netherlands. Immediately upon reaching my 18th birthday, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. In those days, the 50s, a legal immigrant could join the U.S. armed forces upon signing a “declaration of intent” to become a U.S. citizen. Serving in the U.S. armed forces also expedited one’s path to citizenship to three years of military service...