The Aftermath of World War I

“History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.” — Alexis de Tocqueville

In remembrance of “Armistice” Day I posted an entry stating my proposition that World War I had more impact on the current state of the world than World War II. I stated; “While it is important to teach the causes and aftermath of both world wars World War One’s aftermath had more impact on the world as we know it today. WWI began as a war of nationalism but ended as the beginning of the new world order — an order that affects us to this day.”

Dr. George Friedman, the founder of the global intelligence service — STRATFOR, agrees with me. In his new series of reports on “Borderlands” Dr. Friedman states; “I have been accused of thinking like an old Cold warrior. I don’t think that’s true. The Soviet Union has collapsed, and U.S. influence in Europe has declined. Whatever will come next will not be the Cold War. What I do not expect this to be is a region of perpetual peace. It has never been that before. It will not be that in the future. I want to understand the pattern of conflict that will occur in the future. But for that we need to begin in the past, not with the Cold War, but with World War I.”

About twenty years ago a series of programs was aired on television that explored the causes, prosecution and aftermath of the First World War. I found the series to be a very good depiction of the war to end all wars. It covered all aspects of the war including a segment of the Paris Peace Conference. The series is still aired today on the Military Channel and History Channel in various episodes. To my knowledge it is the only scholarly work on WWI that is available.

There have been numerous books written covering various aspects of the War, with Barbara Tuchman’s “The Guns of August” being the best known. Tuchman’s book covers the run up to the war and how Germany, England, The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia (the four major powers) blundered their way into a global conflict that caused so much death and destruction. The consequences of WWI forever changed the world — changes that we live today.

The Second World War was a war of greater death and destruction due to the technology of war and the creation of weapons of mass destruction and racial democide. When WWI ended the world saw the same nations that had entered the war, but with different political alignments. Great Britain had lost all of its colonies, including India, and the world was divided into two spheres of influence — the United States and the Soviet Union. These spheres resulted in a Cold War that lasted 47 years. During that time there were numerous wars of independence and civil wars that created nation states that were either ethnically homogeneous or once colonies of European nations. It also saw the rise in power or the Islamic world due to their vast oil reserves.

Two of the regions that were the affected the most by WWI was the Austro-Hungarian Empires and the old Ottoman Empire. World War I created a radically new architecture in this region. The Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires collapsed, the Russian empire was replaced by the Soviet Union, and the German empire was overthrown and replaced by a republic. No region in the world suffered more or was left more impoverished by the war than this region. Indeed, the war didn’t end for them in 1918. It went on as the grip of empires reluctantly subsided and the new nations struggled within and among themselves.

The collapse of empires allowed a range of nations to emerge as independent nations. From the Baltic States to Bulgaria, nations became nation-states. Many of the borders and some of the nations were fixed by the victorious powers at Versailles. They invented Yugoslavia, which means “land of the southern Slavs,” out of a collection of hostile nations. They reshaped their borders. One of the nations that was affected the most by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire was Turkey. Click here for a map of the region.

After the end of WWI and the Paris Peace Conference the old Ottoman Empire became one of the plums sought after by the victorious European powers. Great Britain wanted control of the Dardanelles with its access to the Black Sea, the old Mesopotamian Empire (present day Iraq), Iran and the Arabian Peninsula (present day Saudi Arabia). France wanted control over Syria and the Suez Canal. Greece wanted total control of the eastern Aegean and the new Soviet Union wanted the mineral rich areas of Armenia and Azerbaijan with its oil rich Caucasus Mountains and Baku on the Caspian Sea.

This left Turkey surrounded by competing interests for its fertile plains and access to the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas. From 1919 to 1921 the Greek Army occupied parts of Turkey to within 50 miles of Ankara and as far south of Bursa. After the Battle of Sakarya the Turkish forces, under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, defeated the Greeks and became the leader of the newly formed Turkish Republic. Kemal established a secular state casting off all vestiges of Islam that ruled he Ottoman Empire even to extent of banning the Fez, the tradition hat worn by men.

Over the ensuing years Turkey became more westernized in its culture and education system. While 90% of the population claims Islam as their faith the nation is secular and adheres to no sanctioned state religion and allows the free practice of all religions.

After WWII Turkey became a lynch pin in the foreign policy of the United States and a bulwark against the expansion of the Soviet Union in he region. For this reason she became a stalwart member of NATO with U.S. bases in Batman and Incirlik. This placed U.S. air power within striking distance of the Caucuses and Iran.

Turkey is a place I have spent time both visiting and working over the past decades. I believe Turkey will be a great power in the next 50 years or so. I’m comfortable with my long-term prediction, but the next decade will be a period of transition for Turkey, from being one of the countries confronting the Soviets under the U.S. alliance system to being a resurgent power in its own right. It will be no one’s pawn, and it will be asserting its interests beyond its borders. Indeed, as its power increases in the Balkans, Turkey will be one of the forces that countries like Romania and Bulgaria will have to face.

Turkey is a member of the European Customs Union, an organization allowing for the easy import and export of good between its members. For years the United States supported Turkey’s entrance as a full member of the European Union.

When I began working with the United States Trade and Development Agency in Turkey, in 1995, Tansu Çiller of the True Path Party (DYP) was the Prime Minister. Educated in the United States at the University of Connecticut, Yale and the University of New Hampshire Çiller was close to the United States and President Bill Clinton. She was often called “Clinton’s Pet” by her detractors in Turkey. Our relations with Turkey at this time could not have been better.

In 1997 Çiller was replaced as Prime Minister by Mesut Yılmaz of the Motherland Party (ANAP). Yılmaz continued Çiller’s policies towards the United States, but had a differing view of the European Union. He spoke at a conference I attended in Washington, D.C. in 1998 where he called the EU and “Christian Club”, a club that Turkey would never be admitted to as a full member. His remarks were not widely reported in the US press, but they resounded in Europe and Turkey.

When Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 20, 2003, the Prime Minister of Turkey was and still is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the former Mayor of Istanbul, of the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti). While the Turkish military supported the United States and was willing to allow our military access to Iraq through Turkey the Parliament did not. Our relations with Turkey went south and have not been the same since.

Erdoğan looks towards Europe and the Turks have been in negotiations with the EU for seven years with no movement towards full membership in the EU.  With today’s economic crisis in the EU and Germany’s resistance to financing he debts of Greece and Spain along with her growing alliance with Russia it is doubtful that Turkey will ever become a full member of he EU.

For the United States, Turkey’s emergence is beneficial. The United States is ending its wars in the region, and Turkey is motivated to fill the vacuum left and combat radical Islam. Those who argue that the Turkish government is radically Islamist are simply wrong, for two reasons. First, Turkey is deeply divided, with the powerful heirs of the secular traditions of Kemal Ataturk on one side. They are too strong to have radical Islam imposed on them. Second, the Islamism of the Turkish government cannot possibly be compared to that of Saudi Arabia, for example. Islam comes in many hues, as does Christianity, and the Turkish version derives from Ottoman history. It is subtle, flexible and above all pragmatic. It derives from a history in which Turkish Islam was allied with Catholic Venice to dominate the Mediterranean. So Turkish Islam is not strong enough to impose itself on the secularists and too urbane to succumb to simplistic radicalism. It will do what it has to do, but helping al Qaeda is not on its agenda. Still, it will be good to talk to the secularists, who regard the current government with fear and distrust, and see whether they remain as brittle as ever.

While the United States can welcome a powerful Turkey, the same can’t be said for a powerful Russia, particularly not one allied with Germany. The single greatest American fear should not be China or al Qaeda. It is the amalgamation of the European Peninsula’s technology with Russia’s natural resources. That would create a power that could challenge American primacy. That was what the 20th century was all about. The German-Russian relationship, however early and subdued it might be, must affect the United States.

It is not clear to me that the American leadership understands this. Washington’s mind is an amalgam of post-Cold War clichés about Russia and Europe and an obsession with terrorism. This is not a time of clear strategic thinking in Washington. Washington still thinks of Russia as the failed state of the 1990s. It simply doesn’t take it seriously. It thinks of the European Union as having gone over a speed bump from which it will recover. But mostly, Washington thinks about Afghanistan. For completely understandable reasons, Afghanistan sucks up the bandwidth of Washington, allowing the rest of the world to maneuver as it wishes.

If you want to understand the issues in this region you must be aware of the effects the aftermath of World War One had on the region. Alliances are changing in Europe and NATO is becoming less a factor in the region. The new alliances will be formed around energy and natural resources. France, Great Britain and Poland are already growing fearful of the German-Russian agreements on natural gas. Russia’s oil and gas must pass through Turkey to reach the Mediterranean. The United States must reassess its policies towards Turkey if we wish to maintain our influence in the region. The Cold War is over, but the effects of World War One linger on.

$1.23 per Life

“Abortion is inherently different from other medical procedures because no other procedure involves the purposeful termination of a potential life.” — Justice Potter Stewart

The single most divisive issue in American politics today is abortion or as the media likes to call it “reproductive rights.” No candidate can run for state or local office without being asked their position on abortion. This issue mainly affects conservatives, especially women. If a liberal woman supports abortion she is considered intelligent and a supporter of women’s rights. If a conservative woman does not support abortion she is demonized as anti women and a Neanderthal who wants women to return to the days of back alley, coat hanger abortions.

CNS News reports: “Planned Parenthood received $349.6 million in tax dollars in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2008, and it paid its president, Cecile Richards, $385,163, plus another $11,876 in benefits and deferred compensation”. This amounts to a compensation $1.23 per abortion

According to a “fact sheet” published by the organization, Planned Parenthood Affiliate Health Centers performed 324,008 abortions in 2008 receiving $1078.99 for each abortion from the federal government.

Planned Parenthood’s fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2008 is the latest year for which the organization has publicly released an annual report and published the annual sum of grants and contracts it received from the government.

The $385,163 in pay Planned Parenthood President Richards received in the organization’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2008 was recorded in the group’s publicly available Internal Revenue Service Form 990 filed for that year.

Planned Parenthood’s fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2008 is the latest year for which the organization has publicly released an annual report and published the annual sum of grants and contracts it received from the government.

The $385,163 in pay Planned Parenthood President Richards received in the organization’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2008 was recorded in the group’s publicly available Internal Revenue Service Form 990 filed for that year.

Richards also received $346,285 in total compensation from Planned Parenthood and $38,476 in total compensation from related groups in the organization’s fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2009, according to the organization’s Form 990 for that year.

In January 2009, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) introduced legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers that receive taxpayer funding. His bill, H.R. 614, would amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit “providing any federal family planning assistance to an entity unless the entity certifies that, during the period of such assistance, the entity will not perform, and will not provide any funds to any other entity that performs an abortion.”

“Congressman Pence will continue to fight for the unborn and intends to reintroduce his legislation to defund Planned Parenthood this coming Congress,” Mary Vought, press secretary for the House Republican Congress, told CNSNews.com.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Jan. 21, 2009 where it has since languished.

Ten Reasons Not to Celebrate the Election

“The source of the government's authority is "the consent of the governed." This means that the government is not the ruler, but the servant or agent of the citizens; it means that the government as such has no rights except the rights delegated to it by the citizens for a specific purpose.” — Ayn Rand, "The Nature of Government.

George Will writes in Newsmax Magazine; “As he promised it would be, Barack Obama's presidency has been transformative, but not as he intended. Whether it lasts two or six more years, it is an exhausted volcano because its biggest consequence may already have happened: It has resuscitated the right, making 2010 conservatism's best year in 30 years — since the election of Ronald Reagan.”

On November 2, 2010, the liberals suffered a defeat at the hands of the people over their policies implemented over the last two to four years. As a result, Many Republicans and Tea Party supporters are jubilant in their celebration, and even the often morose Glenn Beck has been heard to be excited about what he calls a turning point. However, the cold, hard reality is that liberalism suffered a defeat but not a crushing one, and the war is far from won. In the past, victories in these minor skirmishes have resulted in people becoming complacent. The battles that are not making the headlines in the war on freedom continue to rage despite the victory.

Although it may not be festive to rain on the victory parade, it is important that we consider the top ten reasons, David Letterman style, why there is a lot more work to be done.

10) The aristocracy is still there in Washington. Although many incumbents were swept out of office, the vast number of them were reelected by their constituents. The ruling elite is still composed of self-styled aristocrats who know what is best for you, your family, and your children. They still look down on the masses as unwashed and slightly stupid. They still possess the same arrogance that allowed them to pass TARP and the auto bailouts over such huge numbers of people in bipartisan opposition. As example the people of California returned Henry Waxman, Maxine Waters, Barbara Jackson Lee, Nancy Pelosi, and Pete Stark some of the most progressive liberals in the House of Representatives. Furthermore there still is no serious talk of term limits at the federal level.

09) The bureaucracy in Washington has never been more powerful. The list of government agencies with the power to control every aspect of your life is astonishing. The FDA, EPA, IRS, DHS, DOE, DE, HUD, and HHS are still out there, and that doesn't even scratch the surface of the alphabet soup of unelected bureaucracies not beholden to the voter and the whims of the electorate. The power of these agencies has grown massively during the Bush and especially the Obama administrations. They are the government within our government. This is really a shadow government. In many cases, from my experiences in Washington, Congressmen don’t even know what these agencies do and he power they have.

08) The Federal Reserve still remains unchecked. There may be a bill garnering bipartisan support from nearly three-quarters of Congress to audit the Federal Reserve, but this bill has been stalled in committee, and the Fed still remains able to do pretty much anything it wants to our currency, including the QE2. Printing money is no longer necessary in a world governed by computers. All someone at the Fed has to do is enter a number in a computer somewhere, and there are suddenly billions more dollars in existence. The Federal Reserve is not an agency of Congress, and Congress has little power to audit it. In fact, the power of the Federal Reserve to control our economy is patently irrational. If you asked Americans if it would be OK that a private cartel of bankers would have the power to do anything they want with the economy and create money at will, I doubt few would say yes. However, that is currently the state of affairs. Perhaps we should begin to take Ron Paul more seriously when he calls for abolishing the Fed.

07) The spending obligations are still there, and the economy is still bad. Walk around your neighborhood and ask people if it is OK that you cut their government check. Most will be happy if you cut the checks of others, but they don't want their cut of the supposed pie reduced. Our unfunded financial obligations totaling in the tens of trillions of dollars haven't gone away because of the election. They are still there, racking up interest and ticking away to financial disaster. Combined with high taxes and increasing regulation, the economy doesn't look about to improve much anytime soon. In fact, if taxes go up in January, it is likely to get much worse. Until we get taxes and regulation under control and people start to realize that they need to lose that government check, we are still in big trouble.

06) The unions still have control of the government. In this election cycle the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has come out of the shadows and placed advertisements directly attacking candidates who wish to rein in AFSCME's ridiculous pension and benefit packages. The government is infested with unions who have lost all shyness in forwarding their free-stuff-for-us agenda. Through union dues collected from taxpayer-funded salaries, they use our tax money to run advertisements for candidates and issues. On top of that, these unions still get health care plans that no one in the private-sector middle class can afford, and they still get ridiculous pension plans that allow some to retire at 55 with 85% of their largest career salary pension as well as health benefits for life. Even this ridiculous compensation is not enough for AFSCME; they want more.

05) The Republican Party hasn't become conservative yet. The RINOs and progressives in the Republican Party have been dealt a blow, but not a severe one. Several RINOs got reelected, and the Republican Party establishment is still something of a good old boys network who believe they have a moral imperative to rein in those evil Tea Party people. Republican Party insiders are still coming up with revolting vitriol for Sarah Palin (never on the record, of course), and many of the party bosses are still entrenched in the idea that they are entitled to their power as part of the aristocracy. Those who would save the republic are still hampered by the party. Until the Republican Party changes course, the Tea Partiers and other independent conservatives and libertarians will still be rolling a rock uphill. A perfect example of this is what is happening in Alaska with Lisa Murkowski in her write-in campaign against the Tea Party endorsed Joe Miller. Defeated in the Republican primary Murkowski would not accept the vote of Alaskans and decided to run a write-in campaign to retain her Senate seat. This is a perfect example of political entitlement.

04) They still are neither reading nor writing their own legislation. Congress has become a somewhat sleazy money-raising, telemarketing center that sometimes actually votes on things. The fact that they don't read their own legislation has become infamous of late, but the fact is that they don't write it, either. The writing of the legislation is farmed out to armies of lawyers and often lobbyists. These lawyers draft immense pieces of legislation totaling in the thousands of pages that are not only impossible to read before voting, but impossible to understand without a hundred lawyers and ten years of work. Yet our congressmen and senators continue to approve these pieces of legislation without having a real clue what is in them.

03) It is still impossible to obey the law. If Congress doesn't know what is in its legislation with its army of lawyers, how likely is it that the average citizen will know what is in it? We have a situation where there are thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of pages of laws that every citizen is subject to every day. Do you know them all? Remember, ignorance is no defense for breaking the law. After you figure out all the laws that apply, now go work on the regulations. Regulations passed by the EPA, DHS, HHS, SEC, and so on still have the full force of law, and you can still go to jail for violating them. Of course, even the most diligent citizen would not be able to know the law because it is intentionally written in a confusing manner. Chances are you have violated a few laws and regulations today without even knowing it. When you have a state where it is impossible to obey the law, you have tyranny and the Justice Department becomes the Gestapo.

02) There is no animal quite as dangerous as a lame duck. Right now there are dozens of quasi-socialist legislators who have nothing left to lose. Although we have seen an unprecedented expansion of executive branch powers under the last two presidents, it could very well get much worse in the coming months. Until January, the liberals have an iron grip on both the House and Senate, and they no longer have to fear the voting populace. They are caged and cornered, and they will most likely lash out. You can expect to see several pieces of legislation fly through Congress at breakneck speed. The card check bill, cap and trade, and every other piece of left-wing legislation will potentially be on the table. The liberals know that Republicans will have to wait at least two years to get any of it reversed, and they see this as a golden opportunity to push through such legislation now, when Obama will veto any attempt to repeal it. Furthermore, they know, as I do, that any hopes that Obama will tack to the right and moderate are the very foundation of naiveté.

01) The socialists and Marxists still have your children. Throughout America, leftist teachers dominate K-12 education, and they have no moral or ethical problem with indoctrinating your children. They are doing it daily in their selection of books, movies, reading materials, lecture content, and so on. When you take your kids to school today, realize that you are dropping them off at something akin to a Maoist reeducation camp, where they will be taught the glorious benefits of Marxism and Socialism whether you want them taught these things or not. Those fortunate enough to be able to afford private school may be able to avoid this, but the vast majority of children are being marched into Orwellian academies on a daily basis to build the future for the Marxists and progressives. By the time they get to college, transformation of these kids is almost complete, and it will ramp up in full force in college. Professors with tenure and no fear of sanction will actively fail any child whom they suspect of being conservative and have no qualms about doing it. This has been the progressives' major project for fifty years, and they have it mastered. The teachers' unions keep out all but a few token conservatives here and there, and they know exactly what they are doing. The teachers and their unions aren't even trying to hide their agenda. They speak openly about it, and many conservatives stick their heads in the ground pretending they didn't hear it.

The November 2nd election was not the end of the war, but rather one minor victory in a small side skirmish. The battle rages on, and the war is still very much in danger of being lost — if not in this generation, than in the next. If conservatives, Tea Party activists, and others get complacent, the war will be lost. It's not time to celebrate; it's time to get to work.

The War to End All Wars Ends

“I have loved but one flag and I can not share that devotion and give affection to the mongrel banner invented for the League of Nations.” — Henry Cabot Lodge

Today marks the 92nd anniversary of the end of the End of the First World War. In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of “Armistice Day” with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”

On May 13, 1938, Congress made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—“a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of WWI. In 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

The Uniform Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) was signed on June 28, 1968, and was intended to ensure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. It was thought that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities and stimulate greater industrial and commercial production. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holidays on their original dates.

The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971. It was quite apparent that the commemoration of this day was a matter of historic and patriotic significance to a great number of our citizens, and so on September 20th, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. This action supported the desires of the overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans’ service organizations and the American people.

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ended. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. The First World War left nine million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded, with Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. In addition, at least five million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure.

On June 28, 1914, in an event that is widely regarded as sparking the outbreak of World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot to death with his wife by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Ferdinand had been inspecting his uncle's imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the threat of Serbian nationalists who wanted these Austro-Hungarian possessions to join newly independent Serbia. Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the problem of Slavic nationalism once and for all. However, as Russia supported Serbia, an Austro-Hungarian declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention.

On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe's great powers collapsed. On July 29, Austro-Hungarian forces began to shell the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and Russia, Serbia's ally, ordered a troop mobilization against Austria-Hungary. France, allied with Russia, began to mobilize on August 1. France and Germany declared war against each other on August 3. After crossing through neutral Luxembourg, the German army invaded Belgium on the night of August 3-4, prompting Great Britain, Belgium's ally, to declare war against Germany.

For the most part, the people of Europe greeted the outbreak of war with jubilation and patriotically assumed that their country would be victorious within months. Of the initial belligerents, Germany was most prepared for the outbreak of hostilities, and its military leaders had formatted a sophisticated military strategy known as the "Schlieffen Plan," which envisioned the conquest of France through a great arcing offensive through Belgium and into northern France. Russia, slow to mobilize, was to be kept occupied by Austro-Hungarian forces while Germany attacked France.

The Schlieffen Plan was nearly successful, but in early September the French rallied and halted the German advance at the bloody Battle of the Marne near Paris. By the end of 1914, well over a million soldiers of various nationalities had been killed on the battlefields of Europe, and neither for the Allies or the Central Powers was a final victory in sight. On the western front-the battle line that stretched across northern France and Belgium-the combatants settled down in the trenches that stretched from the North Sea to Switzerland, for a terrible war of attrition.

In 1915, the Allies attempted to break the stalemate with an amphibious invasion of Turkey, which had joined the Central Powers in October 1914, at a place called Gallipoli on the Dardanelles’ coast. But after heavy bloodshed the Allies were forced to retreat in early 1916. The year 1916 saw great offensives by Germany and Britain along the western front, including the Battle of the Somme where the British Army had 60,000 casualties on the first day, but neither side accomplished a decisive victory. In the east, Germany was more successful, and the disorganized Russian army suffered terrible losses, spurring the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917. By the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks had seized power in Russia and immediately set about negotiating peace with Germany. In 1918, the infusion of American troops and resources into the western front finally tipped the scale in the Allies' favor. Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies on November 11, 1918.

World War I was known as the "war to end all wars" because of the great slaughter and destruction it caused. Unfortunately, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles — the peace treaty that officially ended the conflict forced punitive terms on Germany that destabilized Europe and laid the groundwork for World War II.

I would venture to say that if you asked 100 college students what the causes of WWI were no more than 10 would be able to render a knowledgeable answer. This also applies to World War II. While it is important to teach the causes and aftermath of both world wars World War One’s aftermath had more impact on the world as we know it today. WWI began as a war of nationalism but ended as the beginning of the new world order — an order that affects us to this day.

So what were the effects of WWI?

Europe and the Ottoman Empire were carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey by diplomats and special interest groups at the Versailles Peace Conference. Nations were created, such as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia containing peoples of varied ethnic groups that had no historic bond with one another. This eventually led to wars and ethnic cleansings.

The victors demanded onerous reparations from Germany, reparations they could not meet, eventually causing the Weimar Republic to fail. This would eventually become cause célèbre for the rise of Adolph Hitler and his NAZI party.

The progressive idealism Woodrow Wilson was shattered by his allies at the peace conference when his Fourteen Points for Peace were rejected. Furthermore his League of Nations, a feckless international body, was rejected by the U.S. Congress, which did not ratify the Versailles Peace treaty. This left the world with a polyglot debating society that did the world more harm than good.

Germany’s colonies in Africa and the Pacific were striped and allocated to the victors creating more French, Belgian and British exploitation in Africa.

A communist government was established in Russia creating the Soviet Union. Communist governments would be responsible for the death of at least 250 million people by democide over the ensuing years. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 communist totalitarianism still enslaves people in nations like North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and China. The communist philosophy of Karl Marx still corrupts governments and academia today.

Fascism, the marriage of big business and totalitarian government, took hold in Italy with the rise of Mussolini and eventually spread to Spain where it came into conflict with communism during the Spanish Civil War in 1934. Eventually the fascism of Francisco Franco would win out and Spain would remain a fascist state until his death in 1975.

Fabian socialism would take hold in the United Kingdom eventually spreading its tentacles to the United States. While we have resisted socialism the United Kingdom has fallen to its effects.

Japan’s rise to a global power leading to her ultimate attack on the United States to gain total control of the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia.

These are just a few of major effects of World War I. There are many more ramifications, albeit less notable, of WWI. I believe we live in a world more influenced by the political, social, cultural, economic and geo-political effects of World War I than World War II. Today you will be hard pressed to find more than a passing paragraph on WWI in a high school history book. This can also be said for WWII, two events that changed our modern world, the world we live in.

The November 11, 1918 armistice was merely a 21 year pause in the fighting that resumed on September 1, 1939.

Spending Less for Better Education

“I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated.” — Al McGuire, head coach of the Marquette University men's basketball team from 1964 to 1977

“The GOP's victories on November 2 have once again raised the call for smaller government, and given soaring budgets and lack of improvement, reducing K-12 education spending is one obvious target. This will not be easy, but there is a sensible strategy.”

“Begin by recognizing that abolishing any specific program, even clear-cut ineffective boondoggles, is doomed to fail. All have constituencies -- education school professors, benefiting parents, program employees, foundation experts, bureaucratic administrators, plus erstwhile pro-education members of Congress who can readily mobilize to defeat axe-wielders. Scanning the budget line by line to cut waste is a cost-saving dead end. GOP skinflints will be overwhelmed and labeled mean-spirited enemies of "helping the children."  Robert Weissberg, American Thinker November 10, 2010.”

Robert Weissberg, a Professor of Political Science-Emeritus, University of Illinois-Urbana goes on to say in the article; “Successful cost-cutting requires satisfying three conditions. First, reductions must improve  education, not just make mediocrity less expensive. Second, measures must defeat interests who sustain an expensive, personally lucrative status quo. Finally, cutbacks must create powerful counter-constituencies to resist the inevitable rear-guard action from teachers' unions and all profiting from government's largess.”

“The aim should be to reduce demand for conventional K-12 schooling: lower enrollments bring lower expenses, so cut enrollments. In practice, this requires ending the largely failed efforts to keep kids in school who are dying to leave. Here's how: award every currently enrolled student past the age of sixteen a lifetime GI Bill-like, no-expiration-date voucher cashable at any government-approved vocational school, internship, or union or business apprenticeship (and simultaneously remove all financial incentives for schools to prevent dropouts).”

“A ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card for millions, but we'll call it "Lifetime Learning." The exact amount is negotiable, but to prevent cries of cheapness, $10,000, yearly adjusted for inflation, would suffice, since this is about what the average U.S. schools spend per pupil.”

“This voucher would undoubtedly heighten an already large exodus from schools, but it is unambiguously pro-education! It acknowledges that learning occurs over a lifetime while conceding the uselessness of keeping a restless, bored sixteen-year-old cooped up in school. The pattern is a familiar one whereby an immature teenager drifts aimlessly and gets into trouble, then grows up and "gets religion," and then seeks -- but cannot always find -- a better job. Now, however, thanks to the Lifetime Learning voucher plus a little maturity, he or she is finally motivated and in a position to acquire market-relevant skills. This was the secret of the GI bill -- college for those hungry to learn with minimal bureaucratic overhead.”

“American schools would dramatically improve almost overnight and without any multi-billion-dollar Washington panaceas or massive bureaucratic directives. With few exceptions, refugees would be the most rambunctious, those  who impede the learning of classmates. Many violent, low-performing "bad" schools would suddenly turn "good" almost by magic, and diligent students could now learn unimpeded. In addition, while there now would be fewer staff, those who remain would relish the improvement, and without all the miscreants, the teaching profession would attract better recruits. And by ending make-the-numbers pressures to bestow diplomas at all costs, this exodus would restore the value of the high school diploma, a substantial economic benefit for those who stay the course. A more effective, quicker, less expensive way to improve schools academically is hard to imagine.”

“The cash savings would be immense. If the Lifetime Learning voucher were equal to a single year of school expenditures, and if those who took it departed at the end of their sophomore year, the instant overall education budget savings would be huge. This savings would be especially large in school districts showering immense resources on kids struggling with basics, e.g., Washington, D.C. Relieved of uplifting the troublesome bottom, schools could cut back educationally unproductive school security, the armies of counselors ministering to disruptive students, paperwork to ensure racial fairness in school discipline, and countless resource-draining social welfare-type programs. Administrators would also no longer be pressured to fudge the numbers regarding "progress" for those disinclined to learn.”

I find professor Weissberg’s comments interesting and provocative; however, I cannot see this ever happening in the United States. To some extent his proposal works in other western nations. The best known and most successful example would be Germany. The Germans, known for their passionate regard for education have been doing something similar to what Professor Weissberg is proposing for well over 100 years.

The Germans have what is known as a three track educational system. Each student begins at the age of five in a kindergarden similar the U.S. system. In fact the word kindergarden is an anglicized version of the German “Kindergarten” or child’s garden. All students advance through the early grades (Grundschule) in an equal manner until the sixth grade. This is when the German system becomes unique.

At the sixth grade, based on test scores and I.Q. tests the students are noted for their learning abilities and educational aptitudes. Since the states (Lands) are responsible for education in Germany the federal government plays little part in the schooling of German children. It also should be noticed that, also depending on the state, private (mainly Parochial) schools are supported by he state.

After the sixth grade German children have three tracks to follow. The first track, for the brightest students with the highest learning aptitudes is a course that will take them through the Gymnasium (university preparatory school). The course study in the Gymnasium is weighted towards the academic, i.e. history, language, mathematics, science, world history and philosophy. All students, no matter what track get a heavy dose of German and German history.

The second track is the Realschule with has a broader range of emphasis for intermediate pupils. These pupils finish with the final examination Mittlere Reife, after grade 10 (16 years old) and can either leave school, petition for the Gymnasium, go on to a technical college where they can learn engineering or business skills or they can enter the work force. If the go to the technical college they have the option of working in the profession they are studying in school — sort of a work and learn program.

The third track is the Hauptschule, which prepares pupils for vocational education. Like the Realschule the student finishes with the final examination at grade 10 and has two options. They can petition to enter the Gymnasium or enter the work force in a apprenticeship program. This apprenticeship usually runs for four years while the student studies his craft while working under master craftsman. Here is where most of Germany’s skilled work force comes from.

Keep in mind that in all tracks the student learns German, German literature, German history and German culture. In essence they are prepared for responsible German citizenship. Graduates from the Gymnasium, based on their final examination scores, are eligible to enter a German university. this is where the educators, doctors, scientists and business leaders come from. It will take 13 years of Grundschule and Gymnasium to enter the University and another five to receive the equivalent of a Masters Degree.

Germany has a population of about 85 million and is culturally homogeneous. This is why their system works for them and would probably not work for us. To me Professor Weissberg is proposing an American hybrid of the German system. While Weissberg makes a few good points for several reasons I do not think his “Get Out of Jail Free” card or permanent G.I Bill would work.

America is not Germany. We do not have a homogeneous society and a common culture. The Germans do not have immigrant gangs ruling the streets of their big cities. If a German student gets a high grade he is respected by his peers. Conversely, if an inner city student gets a high grade he is mugged or beaten by his peers. This is real disincentive to education.

All pupils in Germany must learn to speak, read and write in proper German. This is not the case with our government schools. Even students graduating from high school are not proficient in English, the common language of the land. If a student drops out a age 16 and then wants to reenter the education system several years later he or she will still not be proficient in English.

Professor Weissberg is placing a great deal of faith in the dropout growing up and deciding to reenter the education system. My question is, what will they do during the growing up period and how long will it take? Will they acquire a criminal record and how many babies will they have? Hopefully, some would be able to make it through this period, but the odds are stacked against them. Many will drop out of school to join gangs, become indolent and come to rely on the state for their existence.

Rather than a “Get Out of Jail Free” card I would much rather see a total restructuring of our educational system that would result in:

• Eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and all federal monies for local schools.
• Return all school decision making to the local level
• The option of local school boards to opt out of teacher unions and hire non-union, qualified teachers
• The institution of vouchers that would allow parents to select the schools they want their children attend, including private and parochial schools
• Requiring that all classes be taught in English
• Mandate that all pupils study US History, World History (including WWI and WWII) US Geography, mathematics, civics and the US Constitution.
• Institute and dress and discipline code in all public schools
• Do not pass a student to the next grade level unless they can demonstrate proficiency in their present grade.
• Steer students towards vocational schools after graduation from high school. All students do not need to go to college.
• Make students aware of the possibilities of using online universities for their higher education. They can get a university degree at a much lower cost without the left-wing political indoctrination offered by today’s colleges and universities.
• Stop hindering those who want to home school their children and provide hem he same assistance the local school board provides the local schools.

I believe that if we would take the steps I have listed we could once again have a world-class primary and secondary education system, a system that would produce informed citizens and people well qualified for higher paying jobs.


You can read Professor Weissberg’s complete article by clicking here.

Jet Plane or Missile

“Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody’s power, that is not easy.” — Aristotle

There has been a great deal of news covering the video of a mysterious object leaving a contrail in the evening sky over the Pacific Ocean near Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California. Click here for a video and report by Shepard Smith of Fox News.

The “experts” appear to be divided on the source of the contrail. Military officials decline to issue a firm statement and aircraft experts weakly claim it was the contrail of a jet airliner. Watch the video and decide for yourself.

I would think that in five minutes the reporters could confirm whether or not it was in fact a jet plane. A simple call to the FAA air controllers at Los Angeles International Airport would verify if it was a jet plane. The FAA controllers check their radar records to see what was over Catalina Island at the time the video was shot. They would also know the schedules for all aircraft in the vanity of LAX.  Why the mystery, why contact the military and why ask “experts” who do not have the radar plots.

In 2004 Nelson DeMille wrote Night Fall, a fictional thriller based on the facts surrounding the tragic 1996 crash of TWA 800 off the Long Island coast. On July 17, 1996, Trans World Airlines Flight 800 departed New York City's John F. Kennedy international Airport en route to Paris, France, carrying 212 passengers and 18 crew members. It departed JFK at about 8:16 p.m. eastern time and was climbing through 13,760 feet when, 14 minutes into the flight it exploded and fell into the Atlantic Ocean approximately 9 miles off Long Island. All 230 people onboard were killed. This is fact.

Nelson DeMille's novel "Night Fall" is based on factual evidence. The author explores the controversy surrounding the cause of the disaster which the US government still officially attributes to a spark in Flight 800's center fuel tank. The FBI interviewed 154 "credible" witnesses - including scientists, schoolteachers, Army personnel and business executives - who described seeing a missile heading through the sky just before TWA 800 exploded. They reported a "streak of light" hitting the plane just before it blew up." Their testimony was disregarded. Today, more than eight years after the event, questions are still being raised about the accuracy of the findings - about a possible cover-up. DeMille's research is impressive. He stresses that the novel draws on published accounts, plus interviews with investigators and eyewitnesses to the crash. He says he has "tried to represent all sides of this controversy," but adds that he has taken "dramatic liberties and literary license when there is conflicting evidence." This is, after all, a work of fiction. It is up to the reader to determine the level of believability.

Bud Mitchell and Jill Winslow, an affluent couple in their thirties, are in the middle of an illicit love affair. They're set for a romantic evening at the beach. It's a rare occasion when the two can get away from their respective spouses for an entire night. They find a cozy spot below a dune overlooking the ocean at Cupsogue Beach County Park on Long Island, bringing with them wine, a blanket and a video camera. Planning to make passionate love on film, Bud and Jill are excited by the thought of watching themselves later on the VCR. Suddenly a terrible explosion lights up the sky. The sound of a tremendous explosion follows. The couple flees, taking the camera with them, as police cars speed toward the scene, sirens blaring. In the car, on the way back to their hotel, Jill discovers that the camera has captured the entire event. Jill and Bud are no longer the main feature. The date is July 17, 1996.

Five years later, July 17, 2001, the crash of Flight 800 has been officially attributed to a mechanical malfunction. Kate Mayfield and her husband, John Cory, are both members of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force. Together they attend the fifth year memorial service for TWA Flight 800's victims' families and friends. Kate was involved in the investigation and the case still haunts her. She has never been satisfied with the resolution and convinces John, an ex-NYPD detective, to take an interest in re-opening the investigation - on his own. Since they have been strongly warned by the FBI to stay away, the rogue, anti-establishment ex-cop becomes interested. When Kate introduces her hubby to credible eye witnesses and gives him a tour of the reconstructed airplane, his interest peaks. John is a superb detective and soon learns about a possible piece of crucial evidence that was never brought to light. He is determined to discover if it still exists, and in his search begins to see signs of a monumental cover-up.

Kate and John are obviously conflicted about John conducting his own unofficial investigation regarding the possible existence of a definitive videotape showing the crash; they realize that their discovery may not only ruin their professional careers but could possibly be life threatening if there really has been a cover up involving foreign terrorists and the clandestine operatives of US Government intelligence agencies. Of course, the reader knows that they will pursue the truth whatever the price they pay personally, both because that is the sort of individuals who they are and because otherwise DeMille wouldn't be able to tell his story. And have no doubts, this would have been a wonderful story even if it were totally fiction; the fact that the author did such a marvelous job of never contradicting the known facts concerning the crash makes it absolutely riveting. The discussion of the obvious flaws in many of the wild theories that have been advanced (e.g. a military cover up of a stray missile fired as part of the naval exercises being conducted in the area that night) on occasion added to my knowledge of the events and made the story quite plausible.

If you have not read the book I strongly suggest you get a copy. You will not it be able put it down. It is classic DeMille with his wise-cracking detective doing his job of unearthing the facts. the ending will absolutely shock you.

Here are two things to consider about this “so called” jet plane theory.

I have taken hundreds of commercial jets and fro the looks of the contrails this so call jet plane was climbing at such a step angle and at a speed that the passengers must have thought they were riding an Apollo rocket to the moon. I sure would like to hear from them.

Santa Catalina Island lays 26 miles off he coast of Southern California. With the exception of Avalon, on the northeast coast the island is a barren, deserted place. the western coast is rugged and desolate. The island also lays directly under the approach path for commercial aircraft coming from the north (Seattle and San Francisco) to John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County. I have flown over it numerous times. When you cross over Catalina you are at a height of about 10,000 feet or less and your speed is around 350 knots. If you were a terrorist you could not pick a better location to launch a surface to air missile (SAM). The Russian made SAM-7 (Strela-2) has a range of 3,700 meters (12,000 feet), well capable of hitting a commercial airliner doing 350-400 knots at 7-10 thousand feet.

I became educated in the capabilities of the SAM-7 while working with the Sri Lankan Air Force during my time in Sri Lanka. You can read about it in my book Footsteps on the Land, Chapter 39.

In no way am I suggesting that this was an accidental or trial firing of a surface-to-air guided missile from Santa Catalina Island. I am not postulating a conspiracy theory and a cover up, but consider what such an act would do to commercial air travel if such a terrorist act became public. Keep listening to the reports from the Pentagon and see if they come up with a plausible explanation. As of this posting none has come forward. Click here for the latest AP report — Nov 9, 10:22 PM EST

Semper Fi for 235

“If the Army and the Navy ever look on Heaven's scenes; they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines.” — United States Marine Corps Hymn.  

 235 years ago, on November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia passed a resolution stating that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces with the fleet. This resolution established the Continental Marines and marked the birth date of the United States Marine Corps. Serving on land and at sea, these first Marines distinguished themselves in a number of important operations, including their first amphibious raid into the Bahamas in March 1776, under the command of Captain (later Major) Samuel Nicholas. Nicholas, the first commissioned officer in the Continental Marines, remained the senior Marine officer throughout the American Revolution and is considered to be the first Marine Commandant. The Treaty of Parris in April 1783 brought an end to the Revolutionary War and as the last of the Navy's ships were sold, the Continental Navy and Marines went out of existence.

Following the Revolutionary War and the formal re-establishment of the Marine Corps on 11 July 1798, Marines saw action in the quasi-war with France, landed in Santo Domingo, and took part in many operations against the Barbary pirates along the "Shores of Tripoli".

In preparation for the Quasi-War with France, Congress created the United States Navy and the Marine Corps. The "Act to provide a Naval Armament" of 27 March 1794 authorizing the construction of new frigates for the war specified the numbers of Marines to be recruited for each frigate. Marines were enlisted by the War Department as early as August 1797 for service in these frigates. Daniel Carmick and Lemuel Clerk were commissioned as Lieutenants of Marines on May 5, 1798.

Under the "Act for establishing and organizing a Marine Corps", signed on 11 July 1798 by President John Adams, the Marine Corps was to consist of a battalion of 500 privates, lead by a major and a complement of officers and NCO's. The next day, William Ward Burrows was appointed a major. In the Quasi-War, Marines aboard the USS Constitution and other ships conducted raids in the waters off Hispaniola against the French and Spanish, making the first of many landings in Haiti and participating in the Battle of Puerto Plata Harbor.

Among the equipment Burrows inherited was a stock of leftover blue uniforms with red trim. These uniforms became the the basis for the modern Blue Dress Marine uniform. When the capital moved to Washington, D.C. in June 1800, Burrows was appointed Lieutenant Colonel Commandant of the Marine Corps. In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson and Burrows rode horses about the new capital to find a place suitable for a Marine barracks near the Washington Navy Yard. They chose the land between 8th and 9th, and G and I streets and hired architect George Hadfield to design the barracks and the Commandant’s House, in use today as Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.. Burrows also founded the United States Marine Band from an act of Congress passed on July 11, 1798, which debuted at the President's House on 1 January 1801 and has played for every presidential inauguration since. The most famous conductor/composer of the Marine Band was John Philip Sousa, whose famous march Semper Fidelis became the official march of the United States Marine Corps.

The Marines' most famous action of this period occurred in the First Barbary War (1801–1805) against the Barbary pirates, when William Eaton and First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led a group of eight Marines and 300 Arab and European mercenaries in an attempt to capture Tripoli. Though they only made it as far as Derne, Tripoli has been immortalized in the Marines' Hymn. The Ottoman viceroy, Prince Hamet Karamanli was so impressed with the Marines that on December 8, 1804, he presented a Mameluke sword to O'Bannon inscribed in memory of the Battle of Tripoli Harbor, a tradition continued today by the swords worn by Marine officers. Several years ago, while vacationing in Spain, I had an opportunity to visit the factory in Toledo where each Marine sword is painstakingly forged and crafted to perfection.

Marines participated in numerous naval operations during the War of 1812, as well as participating in the defense of Washington at Bladensburg, Maryland, and fought alongside Andrew Jackson in the defeat of the British at New Orleans. The decades following the War of 1812 saw the Marines protecting American interests around the world, in the Caribbean, at the Falkland Islands, Sumatra and off the coast of West Africa, and also close to home in the operations against the Seminole Indians in Florida.

During the Mexican War (1846-1848), Marines seized enemy seaports on both the Gulf and Pacific coasts. A battalion of Marines joined General Scott's army at Pueblo and fought all the way to the "Halls of Montezuma," Mexico City. Marines also served ashore and afloat in the Civil War (1861-1865). Although most service was with the Navy, a battalion fought at Bull Run and other units saw action with the blockading squadrons and at Cape Hatteras, New Orleans, Charleston, and Fort Fisher. The last third of the 19th century saw Marines making numerous landings throughout the world, especially in the Orient and in the Caribbean area.

Following the Spanish-American War (1898), in which Marines performed with valor in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, the Corps entered an era of expansion and professional development. It saw active service in the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902), the Boxer Rebellion in China (1900). and in numerous other nations, including Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Mexico, and Haiti.

In World War I the Marine Corps distinguished itself on the battlefields of France as the 4th Marine Brigade earned the title of "Devil Dogs" for heroic action during 1918 at Belleau Wood, Soissons, St. Michiel, Blanc Mont, and in the final Meuse-Argonne offensive. Marine aviation, which dates from 1912, also played a part in the war effort, as Marine pilots flew day bomber missions over France and Belgium. More than 30,000 Marines had served in France and more than a third were killed or wounded in six months of intense fighting.

During the two decades before World War II, the Marine Corps began to develop in earnest the doctrine, equipment, and organization needed for amphibious warfare. The success of this effort was proven first on Guadalcanal, then on Bougainville, Tarawa, New Britain, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. By the end of the war in 1945, the Marine Corps had grown to include six divisions, five air wings, and supporting troops. Its strength in World War II peaked at 485,113. The war cost the Marines nearly 87,000 dead and wounded and 82 Marines had earned the Medal of Honor.

While Marine units took part in the post-war occupation of Japan and North China, studies were undertaken at Quantico, Virginia, which concentrated on attaining a "vertical envelopment" capability for the Corps through the use of helicopters. Landing at Inchon, Korea in September 1950, Marines proved that the doctrine of amphibious assault was still viable and necessary. After the recapture of Seoul, the Marines advanced to the Chosin Reservoir only to see the Chinese Communists enter the war. After years of offensives, counter-offensives, seemingly endless trench warfare, and occupation duty, the last Marine ground troops were withdrawn in March 1955. Of the 54,000 Americans killed in the Korean War more than 4,000 were U.S. Marines (4,267 Marines were killed and 23,744 wounded) with 42 being awarded the Medal of Honor.

One of the legends that are attributed to the Marine Corps is their famous evacuation from the Chosin Reservoir. The 1st Marine Division after landing on the East Coast of the Korean Peninsula at Wonsan had advanced to the Yalu River near the Chinese boarder to a place on the map identified as the Chosin Reservoir. The Chosin Reservoir is a man-made lake located in the northeast of the Korean peninsula. The name Chosin is the Japanese rendition of the Korean place name Changjin, and the name stuck due to the outdated Japanese maps used by UN forces. The battle's main focus was around the 78 miles (126 km) long road that connects Hungnam and Chosin Reservoir, which served as the only retreat route for the UN forces.

On the night of 27 November, 1950 thousands of Chinese troops surrounded the 5th, 7th and 11th Marines. It soon became apparent to Major General Oliver P. Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division that they had run into a trap and would have to withdraw. This was not an easy task as the topography and weather was against the Marines and there was only one road that could be used and this road was under constant attack by the Chinese.

With temperatures reaching as low a 35 degrees below zero and the use vehicles not feasible due to the constant Chinese attacks the Marines had to walk the 78 miles to safety. When asked about the retreat General Smith replied “that the “Marines weren't retreating, they were simply attacking in a different direction.” This response has gone down in history as a mark of the U.S. Marine Corps.

One of the Marines involved in this operation is my friend Jimmy Toler. Jimmy was a Navy Corpsman (Marine Medic) who received a Navy Cross during this operation. He was holed up in a cave attending to over 30 wounded Marines when the cave came under attack by hundred of Chinese troops. Jimmy, he only able-bodied fighter in the cave used every weapon he could gather from he wounded Marines to repel the attack. Finally after about 15 minutes he was able to turn the attackers away after killing 33 and wounding scores of others. He saved every one of those wounded Marines and for his actions he was awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest medal in the United States Navy, second only to the Medal of Honor. Jimmy received several other medals while he served in Korea with the Marines.

The landing of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Da Nang in 1965 marked the beginning of large-scale Marine involvement in Vietnam. By summer 1968, after the enemy's Tet Offensive, Marine Corps strength in Vietnam rose to a peak of approximately 85,000. The Marine withdrawal began in 1969 as the South Vietnamese began to assume a larger role in the fighting; the last ground forces were out of Vietnam by June 1971. The Vietnam War, longest in the history of the Marine Corps, exacted a high cost as well with over 13,000 Marines killed and more than 88,000 wounded. In the spring of 1975, Marines evacuated embassy staffs, American citizens, and refugees in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Saigon, Republic of Vietnam. Later, in May 1975, Marines played an integral role in the rescue of the crew of the SS Mayaguez captured off the coast of Cambodia.

The mid-1970s saw the Marine Corps assume an increasingly significant role in defending NATO's northern flank as amphibious units of the 2d Marine Division participated in exercises throughout northern Europe. The Marine Corps also played a key role in the development of the Rapid Deployment Force, a multi-service organization created to insure a flexible, timely military response around the world when needed. The Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPS) concept was developed to enhance this capability by prestaging equipment needed for combat in the vicinity of the designated area of operations, and reduce response time as Marines travel by air to link up with MPS assets.

The 1980s brought an increasing number of terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies around the world. Marine Security Guards, under the direction of the State Department, continued to serve with distinction in the face of this challenge. In August 1982, Marine units landed at Beirut, Lebanon, as part of the multi-national peace-keeping force. For the next 19 months these units faced the hazards of their mission with courage and professionalism. In October 1983, Marines took part in the highly successful, short-notice intervention in Grenada. As the decade of the 1980s came to a close, Marines were summoned to respond to instability in Central America. Operation Just Cause was launched in Panama in December 1989 to protect American lives and restore the democratic process in that nation.

Less than a year later, in August 1990, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait set in motion events that would lead to the largest movement of Marine Corps forces since World War II. Between August 1990 and January 1991, some 24 infantry battalions, 40 squadrons, and more than 92,000 Marines deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Desert Shield. Operation Desert Storm was launched 16 January 1991, the day the air campaign began. The main attack came overland beginning 24 February when the 1st and 2d Marine Divisions breached the Iraqi defense lines and stormed into occupied Kuwait. By the morning of February 28, 100 hours after the ground war began, almost the entire Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti theater of operations had been encircled with 4,000 tanks destroyed and 42 divisions destroyed or rendered ineffective.

Today I have a close family friend serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. Major Mike, a life-long friend of my nephew, is a Marine aviator flying sorties against the jihadists out of his base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Major Mike always wanted to fly fighter planes for the Marines. After his graduation from high school he attended Arizona State University where he joined the Marine ROTC. Upon his graduation from ASU Mike went into the Marines where he learned to fly F-18 Hornets and was eventually assigned to a squadron attached to the aircraft Carl Vinson (CVN 70). After several tours on the Carl Vinson Mike was stationed at MCAS Miramar. Early this year Major Mike was deployed to Afghanistan where he is now serving and giving tactical air support to the Marines that are killing the Taliban and Al Qaeda jihadists. 


Today's Marine Corps stands ready to continue in the proud tradition of those who so valiantly fought and died at Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, Fallujah and Kandahar. Combining a long and proud heritage of faithful service to the nation, with the resolve to face tomorrow's challenges will continue to keep the Marine Corps the “The Few, The Proud, The Marines.””

A Marine friend of mine once told me when I asked him the meaning of the eagle, globe and anchor in the Marine logo — “We stole the eagle from the Air force, the anchor from the Navy, the rope from the Army, and when God rested on the seventh day when he finished creating the world, we over ran his perimeter and stole the globe.”

Click here for the Marine Hymn.

Happy 235th Birthday to the United States Marines with many more to come.

Semper Fidelis!