In April 2009 we hosted a wedding reception for our second oldest daughter, Louissa, at our Texas home; Elwood. I thought many of you who read my blogs would love to see a few photos of her wedding reception at the homeplace, with all its Texas flare and flash that Louissa and her sweetheart wanted. Dad was wearing his blues and then his mess blues for the two different stages of the reception. A general's Aide-de-Camp showed up in full blues also, adding a great deal of...read more

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Last week I forecast that I was going to gain 7 pounds over the Thanksgiving holy days and I was both right and wrong. I gained all 7 pounds I had foreseen, but then I exceeded my expectations and leveled off at 8 pounds. How was that for exceeding one's goals just a smidgeon? It has something to do with that sinfully refreshing grapefruit pie we learned to make from 2006-2009 when we lived in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and could pick our own grapefruit right off...read more

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Thanksgiving is just a few days away. That means that most of the Army will take a nice slow four-day weekend from lunch Wednesday until Monday when we waddle back in to work about 7 pounds heavier, thanks to the amazing reality of living in a provident, plentiful, hard-working and beloved America. And since I just took my Army Physical Fitness Test this morning and smoked it, I am ready and qualified for some heavy feasting and soul-felt gratitude to God and His Beloved Son, my...read more

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One of those remarkable benefits of being on active duty in the US Army is that we are sent all over the world, and in the process we get to discover a million new worlds, most of which are just around the corner. Dianne and I are quite the adventurers, so as soon as we moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky, we started checking out the caves, the bluegrass horse racing and the Amish world around us. Back in July, we decided we were going to find a great Amish get-away and go there for a weekend...read more

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Here is the essay that my 12-year old daughter, Liesel, wrote last year about her “Texas Hero”. It won First Place in her Middle School and so she was selected to read her essay over the intercom to the entire school. She told me afterward that “a whole bunch of teachers were in tears when they heard me read this. They hugged me and told me how much my essay touched them.” I did not know she had written a “hero” essay , so I did...read more

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I love it when I see the American people turn out and VOTE in droves. As an American Soldier it gives me great hope for the future of our Republic ("and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God..." you'll remember the Pledge of Allegiance of course), when Americans believe their vote counts, matters and can strengthen a nation. I remember the excitement of Reagan's second term election of 1984 when he won 59% of the...read more

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Diane, (Dr. Diane Mazur, an open blog/letter) Just a little stunning to read that you, a professor of law at the University of Florida, could go through 60 years of complex political/academic/administrative American and Harvard history covering the pre-departure, departure and post-departure of the Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC programs from Harvard University, with volumes written from Harvard campus itself covering and reporting this 60 year intellectual-elitist, anti-military saga, and...read more

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Two weeks ago I was in Las Vegas with our multi-national-award winning WeberShandwick ArmyStrongStories team and we had a great show and bloggers lounge. 1.2 million quality impressions for the Army and our Army blogging and social media outreach between our teams' 25+ on-floor interviews and our thousands of push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups we calibrated for a whole bunch of friendly and patriotic bloggers who came by to cheer us on, win an Army Stories t-shirt and see if they...read more

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Now for some of those great photos of Andre Elvin Dean II's Eagle Court of Honor I promised. Andre earned his Eagle back in May of 2010 with the Boys Scouts of America Troop 667 out of Brandenburg, Kentucky, BUT once earned you have to submit all the paperwork and send notification to the White House and other national leaders who have expressed their desire to honor all BSA Eagle Scouts, so the usual wait time is a few months after the official "date of...read more

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Big Eagle Court of Honor last night for my 14-year old son, Andre Elvin Dean II, and hence a BIG deal for the whole Dean Family. He is an Eagle Scout now and joins his older two brothers in that lofty "Eagles Nest" where only Eagles dare venture. Photos and the story tomorrow if I can pull it all together. The Dean family had a lot of fun, especially when Andre II and Dad (me) sang our very first duet together and we sang it "a cappella", just our voices...read more

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