My Turn! [Author note - the other issues of AMST are probably worth a read to get full context. #1 - #2 - #3.] Summer, 1994 By summer, I’m closing in on PQM - and starting to get some of my “X’s” (graded flights) for Attack Helicopter...
Aviation Mishaps 4
Four.
AMST-3
Spring 1993 - Beginnings and Endings... [Author note: It will probably help if you read AMST-1/Intro and AMST-2 before reading this one for background and context.] When Marines Still Wore Choker Whites - in the background, the CO holds our newest daughter We are...
Born poor, but raised well. Marine, helo pilot, judge advocate, lawyer, tech startup guy... wannabe writer. Lucky in love, laughing 'til the end.
Culture in America – Where It all Begins… and Ends; Part 1, a primer
Merriam Webster online has the simple definition for culture as “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.”
The Essential Way to Destroy Rights
It’s business as usual for me and mine.
COVID19 and the NAP: A Legal/Ethical Analysis, Pt. 2 of 2
In Part 1, I ended with Learned Hand’s famous cost-benefit formulation in the Law of Negligence.
COVID19 and the NAP: A Legal/Ethical Analysis, Pt. 1 of 2
These kinds of questions around the coronavirus are at the heart of any serious course on jurisprudence….
Public Health Hijinks, A Case Study: Cancer, Part 1
I never really knew anything about cancer.
2016 Post-Election Analysis (and Bonus Pre-Election 2020!) for Democrats
A blog post I wrote on election night 2016. I’m likely preaching to the choir on some of this, but thought it worth sharing. Even better, however, is that it now looks prescient for 2020, so I’ve slightly re-purposed it for that, too.
Ozy’s Adventures in China, Part 2
When my boss first returned from China, Shanghai was what he talked about most.
Ozy’s Adventures in China, Part 1
The most interesting exchange of the night occurred in the bathroom….
Chapter 24: After Action
I feel compelled to offer a kind of “after action report” or lessons learned section on the AVIP.
Chapter 23: Conviction
When Court ended that day, I knew that either we got a stay by the next morning or David Ponder and Jason Stonewall would be going to jail.
Chapter 22: Why, Indeed
Indeed, any detailed historical look at DoD and VA actions in the aftermath of large batches of veterans returning home and filing claims, reveals a shocking pattern.
Chapter 21: Back to Okinawa
At Dulles, I left without saying more than a brief goodbye.
Making War Ethically: To Bomb or Not to Bomb
There are entire degrees to be obtained in studying and arguing about theories of warfare, what constitutes sufficient causus belli, and under what circumstances nuclear and/or total warfare might even be considered.
Chapter 20: Why?
Given how flawed the program has been from its inception – and all of the documents involved are public records, most of which were created by the U.S. government itself – the most salient question becomes ‘why?’
Chapter 19: Working Behind the Scenes
I took in the room with a glance. There were two groups of people – ours and theirs.
Chapter 18: The Walking Wounded
Coincidentally, in the first week of October 2000, the House Committee on Government Reform was holding another hearing on the anthrax vaccine program.
Chapter 17: Science Intervenes and Project Badger Surfaces
These studies received little to no attention in the U.S.
Chapter 16: Guard Pilots Quit
The impact of the anthrax program on the Armed Services was substantial.
Chapter 15 – The Stay
From the beginning I’ve had the sense that they have mischarged the offense, perhaps intentionally.
Chapter 14 – Secretary Cohen’s “Four Points”
In December of 1997, the anthrax vaccine manufacturer was shut down and could not manufacture anything related to the AVA.
Chapter 13 – Defense Delay and Praying for a Stay
I sent out the judge’s ruling in Corporal Stonewall’s case to a list of people the same night the judge issued it. I was in despair. Now what would I do?
Chapter 12: The DoD “Evolves” on the Anthrax Vaccine
During the hearings on the Nixon impeachment, Senator Howard Baker (R-TN) asked the now famous question: “What did the President know and when did he know it?”