Introduction Cambodia, a nation upended by colonialism, war and genocide in the twentieth century, is still a very poor nation. Jerry Collins, who taught writing and Asian studies on American military bases in Asia for over 20 years for the University of Maryland/Asian Division, […]
The greatest gift one can give is thanksgiving. In giving gifts, we give what we can spare, but in giving thanks we give ourselves. —David Steindl-Rast While chatting with my daughter about Thanksgivings of days gone by, I recalled a Thanksgiving disaster I myself created many years ago. (What a surprise 🙂 […]
The reason the American military does so well in wartime, is that war is craziness, and they practice craziness on a daily basis. 🙂 ∼Author unknown Like all things in life, military service has it’s share of humor, which turns up in many different situations. Day-to-day life in the […]
My friend Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese American, left Vietnam in 1970, the same year as my military service in that war-torn nation. Le Ly settled in San Diego with her husband, an American Civilian she had met in Danang. I did not know Le Ly at that time and would not come to know […]
Fun times in LA! Southern California in the early 1970’s was a great place to be. Although the hippie era was coming to an end, there was still enough “peace, love and rock n roll” to go around. After having spent one year in North Dakota and one year in Vietnam, I […]
Introduction I went on an Honor Flight in May of this year, and it was a tremendous experience. (Ref blog June 5th, 2023) My friend, fellow Vietnam War Veteran and writer Tom Keating, recently attended his Honor Flight. Tom has shared his experience with us, please enjoy it. […]
A Magnificent Aircraft The SR-71, is indeed a marvel of modern technology. Although in fact…. not that modern. Known as “The Blackbird”, the SR-71 was first brought into service fifty-seven years ago. A high-tech, high-performance reconnaissance aircraft, the titanium sheathed Blackbird could obtain speeds of 2,200 mph and fly […]
Donald A. Ranard’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, New World Writing Quarterly, The Washington Post, Gargoyle, Litro, The Best Travel Writing, 100 Word Story, and elsewhere. His one-act play about a wounded war veteran, ELBOW. APPLE. CARPET. SADDLE. BUBBLE., placed second in Veteran Repertory’s 2021 playwriting competition and was recently performed at Vet […]
In war, everyone loses. Participants sacrifice their lives, limbs and sanity; perpetrators their morality. ∼Joe Campolo Jr War is the unfortunate endeavor which mankind seems intent on carrying out on a never-ending basis. Maybe we’re just too damn good at it. And one of the most unfortunate aspects of that unfortunate […]
My long-time friend George Dooley has contributed another blog article for us. George and I both served in the US Air Force, and met through a mutual friend who I served with at March AFB, California back in the early 1970’s. George and his wife Diane currently live in North Western Washington […]