Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

  This morning as I was preparing to leave for work I watched a reporter interview a young Honduran couple. They were part of the so-called caravan that is headed toward our southern border. The couple was pushing a two year old child in a stroller. Weariness was etched on their faces. For me as a father and grandfather it was heartbreaking realizing their plight. I could not imagine traveling that far in the stifling heat of Mexico under those conditions with a small child. Their options are very limited. Turn back and face the hell that they escaped from or go forward with no guarantee that they will be able to enter the United States. The third option is to seek asylum in Mexico. If I was in their shoes I would probably do the same thing they are doing. As an American, however; I realize that we simply can't allow illegal immigration to continue. We face the ultimate prospect of becoming what these people are escaping from at some point in our future. We must protect our so...

  People my age may remember the Walt Disney movie The Great Locomotive Chase. If any historical event deserves a more in depth retelling by Hollywood it is this story. In the Spring of 1862 Union Brigadier General Ormsby Mitchell was camped with his army at Shelbyville Tennessee. Mitchell had his eye on capturing Chattanooga. The capture of Chattanooga would disrupt the Memphis and Charleston railroad and the fall of Chattanooga would open up the deep South to invasion. A black market trader named James Andrews devised a plan to go deep behind Confederate lines with a small group of volunteers. They would tear up and destroy the Western & Atlantic railroad along with the telegraph lines between Big Shanty Georgia and Chattanooga. If they could tear up the rails and bridges on the Western & Atlantic, along with cutting the telegraph lines, they could prevent the Confederate Army from shifting troops from Atlanta in order defend Chattanooga. Chattanooga would then be ...

  I know that many of you are as tired of hearing about Judge Kavanaugh. Especially now that he has been confirmed by the Senate. The fight is not over, however. If the Democrats win the House and Senate in November they will try to impeach him along with president Trump. There is no one who believes in justice more than I do. No matter who you are nobody is above the law. If Kavanaugh had been brought before a criminal court for the crime of attempted rape, which could still happen, he could not be convicted without evidence proving his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. With the lack of hard evidence this case would not even have made it to a Grand Jury. I know a little something about sexual assault. As the parent of a seven year old child who was sexually assaulted by a thirty three year old man there is no way that I want to see a person guilty of such a crime go free. In our case the justice system failed us. The man plead guilty and instead of killing him I put my trust in ...

      We went to see Unbroken - Path To Redemption today. I enjoyed this movie much better than the first movie Unbroken directed by Angelina Jolie. My son Rob turned me on to the book Unbroken by Laura Hildebrand about ten years ago. She also wrote the book Sea Biscuit. The book was incredible and I didn't want to put it down. I was disappointed by Jolie's movie because it stopped short of the most important part of the story. Zamperini's lifesaving transformation by Jesus Christ. He had survived air combat, a plane crash into the pacific ocean, 47 days adrift at sea in an an open life raft without food and water and capture by the Japanese. He spent two years in Japanese prison camps being used as a human guinea pig and brutally beaten by a sadistic guard named Matsuhiro Watanabe or "The Bird".  The first movie covered all of this but Zamparini's fight for survival was not over at the end of the movie. The book and movie was called Unbroken but if Zam...

  I was stationed at North American Air Defense Command inside of Cheyenne mountain during the height of the Cold War. Not long after reporting for duty in June 1971 I was promoted to SSgt. Without a doubt N.O.R.A.D. was the most interesting place that I have ever worked. Upon arrival I would check out my weapon and ammunition from the armory. Then I would stand Guardmount where our Sergeant would pass on any relevant orders for the upcoming shift and our post assignments. Half of us would be assigned to posts outside of the mountain and the rest inside the mountain. We had permanent day shifts, swing shifts, and midnight shifts that ran in nine day cycles. Our shift was the relief shift. We started the cycle working 3 swings, 3 midnight shifts and finishing up with 3 day shifts. After a 72 hour break we would start the cycle all over again. I was in charge of those men posted inside the mountain. We would walk through a turnstile and exchange one restricted area badge for anot...

 In the Fall of 1960 we hopped in our 1960 model Ford Falcon station wagon and drove down to South Pittsburg Tennessee. This was before interstate 24 was built. South Pittsburg had warehouses that sold fireworks at wholesale prices. Daddy wanted to set up a fireworks stand and bought about 300.00 dollars worth of fireworks of all kinds. Today 300.00 dollars might buy you a couple of hours of entertainment but in 1960 that was enough fireworks to last a mighty long time. It was rainy and we were on the road much of the day. We packed all the fireworks we could get into our station wagon. When we got home we filled up our den to the ceiling with fireworks. Daddy's goal was to set up a stand for the New Year but he procrastinated and never got it done. One day he came home and told us that the fireworks were ours. I was ecstatic. We told all of our friends in Charlotte Park subdivision. Soon we were dividing up in teams and having fireworks wars. We fired rockets at each other an...

  Bipartisanship is defined as agreement or cooperation between two political parties that usually oppose each others policies. What it means to the Democrats and the media is that the Republicans cave and agree to everything that the Democrats want. Republicans are then thrown a meaningless bone and that passes for bi-partisan compromise. Democrats in the mainstream media and social media are crying crocodile tears for John McCain right now. Hugely offended that Donald Trump would treat a war hero like McCain with such disrespect. As if they really care for war heroes or the military for that matter. The only reason that they liked him was that he was a useful idiot for them. A master of the pseudo bipartisanship between the Republicans and Democrats. He once said “I believe my party has gone astray. I think the Democratic Party is a fine party, and I have no problems with it, in their views and their philosophy.” Any Republican who could say this about the Democrat Party and m...