Here you go
This is my blog.
I write about the military, culture, and military culture, among other things.
I suppose this blog is my public notebook, where I post various things I find in public records and elsewhere (like the recesses of my mind?). Want me to write for you? Email me to book a call.
Cpl. Cameron Halkovich (left), a combat engineer attached to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, assists another Marine up a steep hill during an urban assault May 16, 2017, at Range 200 aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California. (Jesus Sepulveda Torres/U.S. Marine Corps)
Six years after reporter Paul Szoldra broke a story about an insider attack in Syria that “the Pentagon denies ever happened,” the DOD finally gave me a few pages of records on the incident.
Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz helping clear debris with fellow soldiers following the aftermath of a hurricane. (Photo courtesy of Katie Celiz)
In 2018, the leader of a team of Army Rangers on patrol in southeastern Afghanistan used his body to shield a U.S. crew in the cockpit of a medical evacuation helicopter from enemy machine gun fire. It would cost him his life.
Official Army photo of Sergeant First Class Johnnie Johnson. Johnson went missing after U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division questioned him about his university degrees in December 2015. (U.S. Army)
Things began to unravel in the summer of 2015, as investigators got wind of alleged fraud. By that Christmas, Sergeant First Class Johnnie Johnson would be gone, never to be heard from again.
Distinguished Flying Cross medals sit on display during a Distinguished Flying Cross ceremony at Travis Air Force Base, California, Dec. 9, 2022. U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Corey Martin, 18th Air Force commander, recognized 24 Airmen for their heroic actions during Operation Allies Refuge. The Distinguished Flying Cross is awarded to any officer or enlisted person of the U.S. armed forces for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Nicholas Pilch)
Two U-28A Draco crews were awarded the nation’s highest honor for extraordinary aerial achievement for their efforts in support of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 as the country fell into chaos.
Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee cradles an infant during the noncombatant evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, days before her death in an August 2021 suicide bombing. Gee was assigned to the Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. (Isaiah Campbell/U.S. Marine Corps)
Phone calls—and donations—poured in to the nonprofit that flew Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee’s remains to Arlington National Cemetery after a since-discredited Fox News story prompted outrage.
