Reflections from the River

Farm boy breakfasts to military chow hall breakfasts to scrambled eggs in the halls of Congress, it's still my favorite meal.

My wife thinks I’m crazy. Now that’s not uncommon for couples who’ve been married as long as we have. She shares why she thinks I’m crazy with friends and neighbors, who then mostly agree with her that I’m crazy. Now my bike riding friends all think I’m perfectly normal. She, of course, thinks they’re crazy too, as do our non-bike riding friends and neighbors...

Rainy June 6th and the anniversary of D-day, the Allied invasion of Nazi occupied Europe, and one old soldier's thoughts about murder in our schools, churches, grocery stores and city streets.

Four-dollar coffees, thirteen-dollar-an-hour baristas and a billionaire CEO

The Ukraine-Russia war has dominated headlines for months. This is the untold story of the Illnois National Guard in Ukraine.

“Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth,” world champion heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson said when he was asked how he planned to defeat Evander Holyfield’s fight plan. Tyson was infamously disqualified for biting off part of Holyfield’s ear in one of the two championship bouts they fought. Vladimir Putin had a plan. Had a plan until he got punched in the face. Putin’s plan was to...

I’ve been thinking about simple ways to explain Putin’s war on Ukraine. You all, I’m sure, remember that painting I loved as a kid. The one with all the dogs sitting around a table playing poker...

Like every retired military person in the world, the situation in Ukraine has occupied much of my mind for the last several weeks. In a phone conversation with another retired general last week, my former mentor asked me how I would go about defeating Putin’s attack.  Here's that strategy...

One of my listeners wrote me to ask: “Can you imagine your life without having had the military experiences you have?” As a non-veteran, he had other questions, too, such as: “How does the discipline of the military experience transform the future of young people’s lives? Not career people, but just those who do their stint.” Frankly, I can’t imagine my life without my military experience. I suspe...

The television analysts keep asking: "Why Ukraine? Why now?" Having spent a lot of time in Poland, a former Warsaw Pact country and done NATO war games in Ukraine let me suggest some answers to those questions.

I collect witty sayings for the treasures they are. Some are down home, like: “I been to two county fairs and a goat ropin’ and I ain’t never seen anything like that.”  Some...

Just as I do every morning, this morning I rolled over and glanced at the alarm clock. The digital face read 5:56 am. Four minutes to six. No special meaning, unless you’re a veteran or a gun enthusiast. The numbers 5.56 happen to be the size of the military’s combat rifle weapon system in millimeters...

Eight inches of snow and the world's fastest recumbent trike awaiting me in the garage.  Melt baby, melt!

It's all fun and games until disaster looms...

An old general's musings on where the world may or may not be headed in the next several weeks.  CAUTION: probably not a good idea to listen to this before bed.

When you’re eighteen-years-old, you're gonna live forever. Only old people die. Well, except for car accidents and war. Fall of 1967. Seatbelts wouldn’t be required in new cars for another year...

Russian tanks are poised and ready to roll. It's not the first time...

With Thanksgiving dinner over and the dishes done and Christmas dinner not yet planned, let’s have a conversation that guarantees a family food fight in Southern Illinois. Or at least it would in my family...

 I may not be a starting linebacker any longer, but I’m still on the team, so I’ll show up and be ready to go in the game, just in case...