“We are Forerunners. Guardians of all that exists. The roots of the Galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms… And the impervious shelter, beneath which it has prospered.”

The Choice by Rudyard Kipling

#BREXIT!!! In honour of this momentous occasion, let the Poet-Laureate of the British Empire give tongue to what has happened: To the Judge of Right and Wrong  With Whom fulfilment lies  Our purpose and our power belong,  Our faith and sacrifice. ...

Lessons from my father

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance...

Vote “LEAVE”, and become great again

Take up the White Man’s burden-And reap his old reward; The blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard- The cry of hosts ye humour (Ah, slowly!) toward the light- “Why brought ye us from bondage, Our loved Egyptian night?” — From The...

Gentlemen Rankers by Rudyard Kipling

One of Kipling’s best poems, this one- referenced, rather fittingly, as a marching song in Starship Troopers, and still one of the finest examples anywhere of what it really means to be a soldier in service to Queen and country: To the legion of the lost ones,...

Voices from the war

On June 6th, 1944, over one million Allied troops stormed the beaches of the French coast at Normandy, in what would become the first phase of a massive assault designed to bring the Third Reich to its knees. It was an invasion that could easily have failed- indeed,...

The English Flag by Rudyard Kipling

I referenced this poem in my Memorial Day post, but I only picked out like two great stanzas from one of Kipling’s best ever poems. Unlike a lot of triumphalist poems or songs, this one doesn’t present imperial Britain as a hegemony built on rainbows and...

“So please remember us”

“Never the lotus closes, never the wild-fowl wake, But a soul goes out on the East Wind that died for England’s sake — Man or woman or suckling, mother or bride or maid — Because on the bones of the English the English Flag is stayed. ...

Bring them home

Every time I see yet another report showing yet another example of how President Obummer has managed to, yet again, screw up somewhere in the world and, yet once more, has to send in American soldiers to clean up his mess, I am reminded of this video: Try watching...

In the words of the Prophet Ringo…

Back in 2009, a certain madcap genius wrote and published a certain book which, if you read it today, makes it seem like the author had one hell of a powerful crystal ball sitting in his living room. The funny thing is, when I first read the book, I have to admit...

Of war without victory

LTC Kratman points out one critically important aspect of 4th-Generation Warfare that I missed in my last post on the subject: My major problem with the notion of 4GW is that it isn’t 4GW; it’s that it’s 0GW V. 2.0. It’s simply a descent into /...