*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on February 19, 2018. It can also be found online here. I love the Olympics, in part because they seem to defy reality as a place where dreams really do come true. But geopolitics doesn’t stop while the Olympics are on – countries always use…
*Note: This essay was published on page 5 of the Pikes Peak Bulletin print edition on February 15, 2018. It can also be found online here (or, a one-page PDF).
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on February 12, 2018. It can also be found online here. I almost ran a kid over the other day. It was pre-dawn, a wintry, early morning, and I was out for a run. Shoulders hunched, he shuffled along, the way drowsy teenagers do, and…
*Note: This essay was originally published on the Modern War Institute’s Commentary & Analysis site. Fifty years ago this week, during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, a US Army major famously remarked to a journalist, “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.” Pilloried for its callousness, one fellow officer who claimed to…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on January 31, 2018. It can also be found online here. It turns out tossing some fruitcake might have been the healthiest thing you could have done this past weekend. I did, this past Saturday, at the 22nd annual Manitou Springs Great Fruitcake Toss. Hundreds…
*Note: This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times print edition on January 30, 2018. It can also be found online here. Fifty years ago, the stunning Tet Offensive shattered the American war effort in Vietnam. But its impact wasn’t limited to Vietnam — it created a shadow that has darkened American military strategy ever since.…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on January 22, 2018. It can also be found online here. I’ve always liked libraries, but never knew how vital they are to society. They’re our community’s memories and dreams, and where our collective past, present, and futures collide. It started in the summertime. Mom…
Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on January 16, 2018. It can also be found online here. Two seconds. One, two. Every second second. That’s how often blood is needed each day in the United States, according to the American Red Cross. One car accident victim can require as much as…
*Note: This essay was originally published on the Modern War Institute’s Commentary & Analysis site. I think a lot about the Korean peninsula. When news emerges from there, I take note. Like recently, when both the commandant of the Marine Corps and the secretary of defense made ominous statements that signal the serious likelihood of…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on December 31, 2017. It can also be found online here. I don’t always do it. But I scrolled through the comments in response to a recent opinion column of mine on the giant blue frame in the Garden of the Gods (may it rest…