I was musing over the summer about bringing my humble blog back to life. This will serve as a rusty out of practice first. As time slips away from us, I hope to give up even less of my time to corporate social media. We will see how this pans out.

For those of you who were not aware, I am a veteran of the US Army. It was my first full time job, in that it went on for more than a season.

I got to go to some interesting places and do some interesting stuff. Since my actual profession was inside the intelligence community, I will keep this sparse on details. Much of my work was in Europe at the height of the Cold War. Three years of it was an afternoon stroll from the old East/West border. The shiny side of that coin was the opportunity to live in Bavaria for free.

Why am I writing this, you might ask. To vent, and perhaps make some amends. I was raised in a military family, which is a bit of a microcosm. As a young person, I just sort of assumed that I would do it as well. No one stopped me. No one even tried to talk me out of it.

I didn’t realize what this was until years later. Indoctrination. Just like taking minors to church. (That will be another essay) It was forcing someone else’s views on me, if only by omitting views that didn’t fit their narrative.

This was the perfect next step for someone like me, raised by parents who taught me (quite by accident) all of the bigotry they inherited from their parents. At that age, it never occurred to me to question any of it.

I stayed with it until long after the USSR dissolved and Germany was reunified. As strange as it sounds now, I just sensed it was time to do something different.

Which brings me to the current state of the US and its military. They have become the textbook case of mission creep. Trying to control cities with military force, using drones to commit war crimes against fishermen, being frightened of DEI, erasing non white history, you get the picture.

What exists here in 2026 is NOT the army that I served in. It’s a weak man’s version of strong. It flies in the face of everything that people believe the military is about. At times, it makes me cringe when it comes up in conversation. Or when people thank me for my service.

What exists now is not the country I was all gung ho about when I was 19. It’s a weird caricature of something that once had potential.

Here we arrive at something I hinted at recently on another platform. I am planning to gather up whatever bits of physical militaria I have left and set it on fire for New Years Eve. A very tangible way of distancing myself from whatever we have now.

Someone talk me out of it.