John Ready's Blog

For most of my 17-year career in the New York Army National Guard, I was an Infantry officer. A combat arms guy, attack an armed enemy, blow shit up. “Kinetics.” You get the picture.

Toward the end of my career, I transitioned toward a form of warfare called “soft power”. This is different from traditional military operations in that it is not coercive. In the past, it was referred to as the battle for the “Hearts and Minds”. This was the effort to win over the civilian populace a...

[image error] [image error]

I was a brand new Detachment Commander, in a Civil Affairs battalion not far away from my home town. Up until that point,  I’d been serving in the Army National Guard, but in order to get promoted to Major, I had been forced to find another unit. It’s complicated.

We had just received our mobilization orders for Iraq, and were headed to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Reserve Center was a beehive of activity: Our country was going to war, and we would play a part in it.

There was a young Spe...

It hadn’t seemed real up until that moment inside that tent in Kuwait 16 years ago. My Army Reserve Civil Affairs unit had been called up the previous month, and had undergone mobilization training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Then it was time to cross The Pond: the Atlantic Ocean.

We loaded up on an L-1011 jumbo jet at Pope Air Force Base next to Bragg. The airline transporting us had a contract to ferry troops into Kuwait for Operation Iraqi Freedom. This contractor, unlike so many others...

c[image error]

The 16th anniversary of the United States’ invasion of Iraq is almost here, and every March I sit reminiscing about this time in 2003. My Army Reserve Civil Affairs battalion was mobilized the previous month. After 17 years in the National Guard-only being called up for disasters-I was heading into a combat zone.

Our government and that of the UK invaded Iraq because they believed that Saddam Hussein had supported al-Qaeda, and that he himself had developed weapons of mass destruction. In...

[image error]

The 16th anniversary of the United States’ invasion of Iraq is almost here, and every March I sit reminiscing about the runup to my deployment. My Army Reserve Civil Affairs battalion was mobilized the previous month. After 17 years in the National Guard-only being called up for disasters-I was actually heading into a combat zone.

I had joined Army ROTC after my sophomore year in college. Serving my country was something I’d wanted to do for a very long time. During the late 60s and early...

Okay, I just need to start off by saying that I’m NOT a guy who routinely writes stories containing sexual innuendos. If you want to blame someone, blame the founders of the town in question. In 1754, the Old King’s Highway and the road from Wilmington, DE to Erie, PA intersected each other. The founders named the intersection “Cross Keys”. Later on, the village took on another name, which continues to spawn jokes. You’ll see why in a bit.

2000: I’m working at a library automation software...

Collins Dictionary

phrasal verb:

If you take something back, you return it to the place where you bought it or where you borrowed it from, because it is unsuitable or broken, or because you have finished with it.

If I buy something and he doesn’t like it, I’ll take it back.

The US 2003 invasion of Iraq has become a take-back. Once it became clear that Saddam Hussein did not possess significant weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), many people and organizations who initially supported and justif...

Collins Dictionary

phrasal verb:

If you take something back, you return it to the place where you bought it or where you borrowed it from, because it is unsuitable or broken, or because you have finished with it.

If I buy something and he doesn’t like it, I’ll take it back.

The US 2003 invasion of Iraq has become a take-back. Once it became clear that Saddam Hussein did not possess significant weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), many people and organizations who initially supported and ju...

[image error]

That’s where we are now: the American people have sub-contracted our military conflicts out to Congress and the Pentagon. At any given time, only 1% of the population serves in the military. It’s an all-volunteer force: there is no draft, and there is no such thing as National Service. There is support for those who serve, but not necessarily for the wars in which they serve.

The problem with that mindset is, that it’s not just the military that goes to war. The entire country does. When t...

I’ve started referring to my parents’ home as The Puzzle Palace: I just never, NEVER know what to expect to see when I visit.

One night in the middle of Winter, I paid them a visit. My mother was doing the dishes and shaking her head sideways. “Your father”, she muttered.

“Oh, no!” I thought. “What’s he done now?”

You see, my father is a true do-it-your-selfer. His belief is that ‘why should you give money to the big chain stores, when you can build the same thing from spare parts lying...