“IT DIDN’T MAKE ANY SENSE” by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 12, 2019) — The Post & Email’s previous chapter of this story detailed Captain Gary Mason’s 2010 deployment to Afghanistan and ordination as a U.S. Army chaplain, a goal to which he had aspired for nearly seven years between deployments and attending Public Affairs school at […]
“IT WAS ABOVE MY PAY GRADE” by Sharon Rondeau (May 7, 2019) — Our last installment of the story of former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason recapped a number of “bizarre” overseas assignments he was given following his successful completion of Public Affairs school at Ft. Meade in the spring of 2010 while serving with […]
“MAN, WE CAN’T TALK WITH YOU” by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 5, 2019) — This chapter of the story of former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason details his transition from the bad experiences he had in the Infantry’s 3/4 Cav. Unit in Iraq to his position as a public affairs officer with the 8th Theater Sustainment […]
“HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO OUR CHRISTIAN CITIZENS” by Sharon Rondeau (Dec. 25, 2018) — On Monday the government of Iraq tweeted that Christmas is now an “official holiday” throughout the country, once under the control of brutal dictator Saddam Hussein. “Happy Christmas to our Christian citizens, all Iraqis and to all who are celebrating around the […]
“PROBLEMS ON THE HOME FRONT” by Jeff Crouere, ©2018 (Dec. 21, 2018) — In November of 2016, the American people elected Donald Trump to be our nation’s 45th President. He campaigned on a platform of bringing our troops back home from Syria and Afghanistan and focusing on an “America First” foreign policy. By announcing he […]
“THAT’S NOT THE BATTLE YOU WANT TO FIGHT” by Sharon Rondeau (Oct. 15, 2018) — In the last installment of the story of former Army Capt. Gary Mason’s military experience, gleaned between 2000 and 2015 in the U.S. Army, he described officers in his command unit within the Iraq Sunni Triangle war zone as having […]
“WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT QUESTION WHAT’S GOING ON” by Sharon Rondeau (Sep. 21, 2018) — In Part 14, former Army Captain Gary Mason brought us to the point in his story where he was sent back to Hawaii, purportedly on medical grounds, from Joint Base Balad in Iraq. Mason had arrived in-country just days […]
“IT WAS GOING TO BE ME OR THEM” by Sharon Rondeau (Aug. 14, 2018) — This part of former Army chaplain and Capt. Gary Mason’s story focuses on his sense of frustration, anger, despair, and fear of persecution from within after he filed a formal complaint against an enlisted soldier who physically assaulted him at […]
“A REFLECTION OF YOUR LEADERSHIP” by Sharon Rondeau (Aug. 3, 2018) — In the last installment in this series, former U.S. Army Captain and chaplain Gary Mason described how a physical assault by an enlisted soldier at FOB Paliwoda in Iraq went unaddressed and his subsequent discovery that the command in the 3/4 Cav unit […]
“A PROBLEM WITH AFRICAN-AMERICANS” by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 19, 2018) — In Part 8 of our series, former Army Captain and Chaplain Gary Mason took readers to Iraq’s Sunni Triangle, where he was deployed in 2008 with the 3/4 Cavalry on a mission to retake the region from insurgents and set the stage for peace. […]
“NOT READY FOR A BLACK MAN” by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 14, 2018) — Part 7 of our series of former Army Capt. Gary Mason’s story brought readers to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Poliwoda in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle, where Mason was stationed in late 2008 with the 3/4 Cavalry unit after re-entering active duty. For the […]
“WE HAD JUST LOST CONTROL” by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 5, 2018) — Our last installment of Capt. Gary Mason’s story ended on the note that he had asked an Army recruiter if he could return to active duty for financial reasons while finishing his Divinity degree toward ordination as a U.S. Army chaplain. Mason enlisted […]
“IDLIB PROVINCE IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM” by Sharon Rondeau (Aug. 4, 2017) — A transcript from a briefing by the U.S. State Department on Friday reveals that according to Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition To Counter ISIS Brett McGurk, nearly five million people who were terrorized by the brutal Islamic group ISIS are now […]
FOCUS ON “AMERICA FIRST” by Jeff Crouere, ©2017 (Apr. 15, 2017) — In 1986, United States President Ronald Reagan authorized military aircraft to unleash a torrent of bombs in Tripoli, Libya to send a strong message to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The attack was in response to Gaddafi’s involvement in the terrorist bombing of a Berlin […]
IF PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS DID IT, WHY NOT THIS ONE? by Capt. Joseph R. John (Ret), Chairman, CombatVeteransForCongress, ©2017 (Feb. 6, 2017) — In the last ten days, American citizens have been bombarded with fake news and outright lies stating that there have never been terrorist attacks in the United States by foreign nationals from the […]
AND ALL CONTACT SPORT PROFESSIONALS by Dr. Thomas E. Davis, Col., USA (Ret.), ©2017 (Jan. 21, 2017) — Just because you happened to be born black does NOT make me feel sorry for you. This quote from Dr. Ben Carson is so valuable and meaningful, as are the rest at the site from which this […]
“HORRIBLE ACTS” by Michael Gaddy, ©2017, blogging at The Rebel Madman (Jan. 7, 2017) — On April 28, 2004, decent Americans were shocked to see pictures of American soldiers torturing prisoners in a military prison in Iraq known as Abu Ghraib. While there were many who saw nothing wrong with such atrocities, many more were […]
“THE DEPARTMENT OF OFFENSE” by Michael Gaddy, ©2016 (Dec. 31, 2016) — “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” ~ Margaret J. Wheatley Janus, the Roman god who has faces on both sides of his head in order to look forward as well as backward […]
A “CENTURIES-OLD NARRATIVE” by Don Fredrick, ©2016, author of The Complete Obama Timeline (Dec. 17, 2016) — Obama would have been better off doing nothing about Syria. There is no doubt that President Bashar al-Assad is a brutal criminal, but the United States was not threatened by his regime and has no interests in Syria. […]
“THE ILLUSION OF HOPE” by Michael Gaddy, ©2016 (Aug. 3, 2016) — Somewhere down the road of history, someone will write of this period in America and make the observation that most of our population had to be either, drugged, delusional or insane, for this alone could explain people who hold tightly to several conflicting […]