The following is an excerpt from Nine Weeks: A teacher’s education in Army Basic Training. One of DS Jefferson’s good friends was DS Jones, of Second Platoon, with whom he had much in common. For one, they both hated Fourth Platoon. Jones’ reason for despising us was that we weren’t…

Note: This post was originally published to DVIDS on Aug. 27, 2014. KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — When Capt. Allison Anderson returns home to Fort Hood, Texas, from her deployment to Afghanistan sometime this fall, she’ll show up with a neatly folded U.S. flag that flew over the Regional Command-South headquarters…

My oldest son, Joseph, is very extroverted. Gabriel, his younger brother by two years, is the opposite. On any aptitude or intelligence test, I would bet that the older one scores higher. Joseph is creative and bright. Very bright. At nine, he asks questions like, “If atoms are the smallest…

They say in the Army, “you’re only as good as your last meal.” If so, Utah National Guard Soldiers are doing pretty darned good. Soldiers assigned to the 1457th Forward Support Company (FSC), competed in the “Final Four” of the Philip A. Connelly Competition, the top honor for food services…

Utah National Guard members can work any time, from any place — Americans are in a deep debate about the prudence of remote work. Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon have made headlines by taking a strong stand against their workers staying home. …

July 2022 — Hezekiah was a righteous king who trusted in the Lord. He also had great faith. Is trust different from faith? In a sense, yes. Trust is the demonstration of faith. We grow our faith by exercising it through trust. And when we trust in God, our faith grows. …

You are extremely fortunate to have many good men in your life. One of those men crossed the semi-centennial mark today. Uncle Matt is 50 years old. That merits a moment of honor. Now there is a tension in the Stowell family. As a rule, we celebrate achievement and good…

The following was first published on Blogger in 2011 DJ Lance would make a nifty Soldier. If you don’t know who he is, you are missing out on one of the most captivating and entertaining characters on all of Nick Jr. I was watching “Yo Gabba Gabba!” with my brother-in-law…

One of the best leaders I have had commanded the public affairs unit I served in for nearly ten years. This is a story about how she focused on what was important and blocked out the nonsense, even when it rained down heavily from her superiors. We were participating in…