Category Archives: Loose thoughts and musings

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
I was too tired to write anything new today, I started working to finish my latest chapter of my Gettysburg tome, but for whatever reason could not stay focused. Part may be due to the fact that I haven’t slept well this week. The past few weeks I have been reminded of Iraq almost every day, not only in the news, which seems always to be bad, but because the city has deployed a generator to a pumping station located just down the street from me. For those that did not serve in Iraq or Afghanistan this may not be a big deal, however big generators were and are ubiquitous and provide most of the power for our bases. The continues growl of the big motors that power them is something that you get used to when you are in theater, even small FOBs have them, silence is something that is hard to find. So when this recent adventure began it was unsettling to go out all hours of the day and night to the same sound that pervaded my Iraq experience everywhere I went, except in the small Bedouin camps. That produces some anxiety. So I figured I would re-post something I wrote about a year ago about my return from Iraq and my adventure muddling through life with PTSD. I hope that it is helpful to others going through this, or those who have to live with people like me.
Have a great night and weekend.
Peace
Padre Steve+

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
I finally got to see a baseball game tonight and it was nice being out at the ball park. So tonight since it is late I am going to re-publish an older article but one that still has a lot of relevance as certain “experts” with no skin in the game keep advocating military actions of dubious wisdom and promote weapons systems that do not work as promised, are way behind schedule, are breaking the budget. It shows the complete disconnect between the pundits, politicians, and preachers, that unholy trinity who promote war and their benefactors, those defense industry contractors who leave the military which has been at war for over 13 years with weapons and equipment that don’t even support the battle and those that actually serve and put their lives on the line. But I am preaching now so I will sign off for the night. Have a wonderful night and weekend.
Peace
Padre Steve+

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
It has been a busy day, time teaching and meetings taking much of the day. I am still writing my next Gettysburg article and like last night an evening at the ball park has been interrupted by some pretty rough weather. I got home in time to keep our living from from flooding. We live in the Tidewater area of Virginia. For those that don’t know what Tidewater means, it is a more inviting word than swamp. We have been our house for over 10 years. We have been through several hurricanes, tropical storms and a big nor’easter or five… Today we picked up around 3 inches of rain in under an hour. Our back yard and porch flooded and water spilled over the threshold of our French doors and flooded part of our living room. Thankfully we were standing at the door when the water started flowing in and we were able to fight the flooding. Likewise we were thankful that after our water heater blew out in February that we had our floors replaced with tile. Thus other than the inconvenience we survived. The same storm caused a lot more damage to the Virginia Beach waterfront and may have included a tornado touchdown. So for tonight I am republishing an article about Admiral Horatio Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar.
Have a great night and peace
Padre Steve+

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
Today is going to be a fairly busy day and my newest article is again delayed. Since today is July 3rd and it is the 151st anniversary of Pickett’s Charge, I thought I should take a few minutes and re-publish an article on Union General Henry Hunt who commanded the artillery that smashed the Confederate forces on that climactic third day of battle and helped seal the doom of the Confederacy.
Peace and Blessings
Padre Steve+

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
Very busy day teaching and working with my ethics class, so the next new Gettysburg article is still in process. Since it is now July 2nd and the anniversary of the second day of battle at Gettysburg I didn’t want to write about anything else, even though I am planning to write about the recent Supreme Court decision and the ongoing situation in Iraq. So tonight I am re-publishing this article about a nearly forgotten hero of that battle, a man who Like Strong Vincent on Little Round Top helped save the Union at Culp’s Hill, where he helped by his actions bring about a new birth of freedom.
Peace
Padre Steve+

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
Another day of writing, reflecting, discussing Gettysburg and other issues including what is going on in Iraq with other faculty. I have also been preparing for the first meeting of my Ethics elective for this class. The number of students in this class is the largest that I have had since I have been on faculty. It is always challenging because I am not exactly traditional in my teaching methods and since many of our students are STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) majors at the undergraduate and graduate level our ethics course, though very introductory and more concerned with Just War Theory, it is new ground for many. All that being said today is July 1st, the 151st anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. This article is one that I wrote for my Gettysburg Staff Ride class last month, Reynolds was one of the men who helped win the Battle of Gettysburg and though he was killed helped bring about the New Birth of Freedom.
Have a great night
Peace
Padre Steve+

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
It is now the evening of June 29th and 151 years ago two armies, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Federal Army of the Potomac were on a course that would lead them into one of the most decisive as well as the bloodiest battle every fought on the North American continent. This is a short introduction to the movement of the armies leading up to the battle. I am in the process of doing a major revision of it as part of my Gettysburg Staff Ride text that I use to teach that at the Staff College. That being said, apart from being less academic and detail oriented than I prefer I believe that it is a nice introduction to that part of the campaign for anyone with a casual interest in this battle. I will be posting more Gettysburg articles over the next few days, including a new one for my text on Robert E. Lee’s decision to continue his attack on the night of July 1st and if I finish it in time one on Pickett’s Charge. As for the last subject I have three articles on it already, two about the artillery and one about the tragedy of friends at war, dealing with Lewis Armistead and Winfield Scott Hancock. Those are all on this site. I have been working on the article on Lee’s decision the past couple of days, hopefully I will have it completed tomorrow. But then with me it seems that nothing is ever complete when it comes to Gettysburg, I am always reading, researching and discovering new things, some of which cause me to revise previous thoughts or ideas. While in the newer articles I seek to provide as much detail as possible, I also attempt to find current application for leaders, as well as to shape a readable and interesting story. That is harder than it looks. Barbara Tuchman so eloquently wrote “Historians who stuff in every item of research they have found, every shoelace and telephone call of a biographical subject, are not doing the hard work of selecting and shaping a readable story.” To find the balance is what I seek. While this article is less detailed and sourced than my other work, it does tell the story. So until tomorrow,
Peace
Padre Steve+

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
I have spent much of the day writing another chapter of my Gettysburg tome, after which I got together with my wife and friends at our local watering hole. This article is a few years old, but like last night’s is still relevant. Look forward to some material over the weekend, including the Gettysburg article. Have a great weekend.
Peace
Padre Steve+
P.S. Yes I am watching Star Trek the Next Generation episodes on Blu Ray tonight.

Friends of Padre Steve’s World
It has been a long but good day at work today and when I got home I caught up on some the news and found that some nutty stuff is going on in conservative evangelical punditry, stuff that just makes me shake my head. So because I am tired and I have spent the day in writing, research and working with our new students and their families I am doing a timely re-run. It is an older article but so pertinent considering some of the things that are happening, I thought that this warning from history would be a good read.
Peace and blessings
Padre Steve+