On Azimuth

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:15-16 Long ago, the Army realized the communications, while critical to battlefield success, required a high degree of technical knowledge and created the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Signal soldiers, NCOs, and officers served as the Army’s repository for all  matters regarding communications and other technical matters deemed too bothersome for the combat arms. In fact, the nascent flying services found their initial home in the Signal Corps; but, that is a story for another place and time. As a young Signal Captain, I found myself assigned as the Battalion Signal Officer in a tank battalion. I headed out with much trepidation. After all, I heard the stories of Signal Officers ma...

9 “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Mark 10:9 English Standard Version Christy and I celebrated forty years of marriage this year. You will note that I did not say forty years of marital bliss. Though the majority of the time has been quite good, there have been rough patches along the way. Sometimes I behaved badly, and sometimes Christy was not at the top of her game. We spent over twenty of those years knocking around the world while I pursued a career as an officer in the U.S. Army. During that time, we endured all the challenges a career in the military offers, deployments to combat, long training exercises, demanding jobs, moves that came at the wrong time, all the things that put stress on a marriage. We raised kids, bought and sold houses, purchased and wore out cars, endured sickness, slogged through unpleasant assignments, struggled with teenagers, and dealt with our share of disappointments and disagreements. Occasionally when someone finds ou...

  “But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to galilee…” Mark 16:7 English Standard Version Initially my father did not respond enthusiastically to my enlisting in the Army. As he put it, he knew that I had a habit of not finishing things and an enlistment in the military was not something I could just walk away from. As a veteran himself, he well understood the level of commitment required by military service. He doubted my willingness to see something as serious as military service through to the end. He was correct in his evaluation of me. I lacked stick-to-it-iveness. I had developed the habit of walking away from difficult situations and tasks. He questioned my ability to summon the commitment needed to fully complete an enlistment in the Army. Surprisingly, not only did I finish Basic Training and my initial enlistment, I made a career out of the Army completing twenty-seven years of service and attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Though I di...

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37 English Standard Version I shipped out to Army Basic Training in February of 1981…eons ago. I arrived at the Fort Leonard-Wood Reception Station wide-eyed and totally unprepared for what faced me. Most of my male relatives had served in the military, my maternal grandfather served as an artilleryman in WW I. They all had small chestnuts of wisdom to toss my way. They all really boiled down to, keep your mouth shut, do what you’re told, and never volunteer. My Combat Engineer grandfather, a WW II vet, also said, “Make sure your boots fit properly. You’ll spend a lot of time with them.” At any rate, basic training soon swallowed me up with learning all the new skills required of a soldier. In 1981 for the first six weeks or so of basic training, we were under what they called, “total-control.” There were no such things as cell phones then. We were...