Charles Maurer - Army Strong Stories

This Week In History (20 June - 26 June)

Charles Maurer — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:56:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On June 20th: 1924-Audie Murphy, recipient of the Medal of Honor and the United States' most decorated Soldier of World War II, is born in Kingston, Texas. On June 21st: 1788-The United States Constitution comes into effect as New Hampshire becomes the ninth State to ratify the document. On June 22nd: 1945-Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet On the Western Front, is born in the German city of Osnabruck. On June 23rd: 1812-Marine Lieutenant John...read more

This Week In History (13 June - 19 June)

Charles Maurer — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:47:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On June 13th: 1777-The 19-year old French nobleman, the Marquis de Lafayette, arrives in South Carolina to aid the colonist's cause in the American Revolution. Lafayette, who volunteers to fight in the patriot cause without pay, fights alongside American troops and suffers with them through the long winter at Valley Forge. On June 14th: 1775-The Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, gives birth to the United States Army when it authorizes...read more

This Week In History (06 June - 12 June)

Charles Maurer — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:53:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On June 6th: 1944-The D-Day invasion begins as thousands of Allied forces storm the beaches at Normandy while Allied paratroopers and paragliders fill the skies over the Normandy region. On June 7th: 1776-Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposes a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence declaring independence from Great Britain to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On June 8th: 1995-United States Marines rescue Air Force Captain Scott...read more

This Week In History (30 May - 05 June)

Charles Maurer — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:29:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On May 30th: 1958-With President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon looking on, unidentified Soldiers killed in World War II and the Korean War are buried at Arlington National Cemetery in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. On May 31st: 1819-American poet Walt Whitman is born. On June 1st: 1813-Navy Captain James Lawrence, Commander of the frigate Chesapeake, upon being mortally wounded utters the famous words which would become the Navy...read more

Gettysburg Staff Ride

Charles Maurer — Fri, 28 May 2010 19:45:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
Last week, our office traveled on a staff ride to what is perhaps the most well-known Civil War battle site, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The staff ride is a military custom and training tecnique whereby lessons from history can be used and applied to the future. Staff rides have been traditionally used to train military officers by studying historical battles. Doubtless, staff rides have been used by generations of warriors. In the late 19th century, the German Army used the...read more

This Week In History (23 May - 29 May)

Charles Maurer — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:37:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On May 23rd: 1900-Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Civil War on July 18, 1863 as part of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Sergeant Carney becomes the first African-American to be awarded the nation's highest military honor. On May 24th: 1962-Astronaut Scott Carpenter (United States Navy, Retired) becomes the second American to orbit the Earth as he flies his Aurora 7 spacecraft into orbit. On May 25th:...read more

This Week In History (16 May - 22 May)

Charles Maurer — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:16:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On May 16th: 2005-Army Specialist Sabrina Harman was convicted in a court martial at Fort Hood, Texas on six of the seven charges she faced for her role in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. On May 17th: 1954-The United States Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, declaring that racially segregated schools are inherently unequal. On May 18th: 1969-The Apollo 10 mission with Thomas Stafford (Lieutenant...read more

This Week In History (09 May - 15 May)

Charles Maurer — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:04:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On May 9th: 1502-Chrisopher Columbus departed from Cadiz, Spain on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere. On May 10th: 1865-Union forces capture Confederate President Jefferson Davis at Irwinville, Georgia. On May 11th: 1944-Allied forces launch a major offensive push in central Italy during the Second World War. On May 12th: 1949-The Soviet Union annnounced an end to the Berlin blockade. On May 13th: 1846-In response to President James...read more

Why Being An Army Lawyer Is One of the Best Jobs a Lawyer Can Have

Charles Maurer — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:48:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
Last week, one of my colleagues, CPT Sonny Carpenter, and I traveled to Arlington, Virginia for three days of legal training sponsored by the Trial Counsel Assistance Program, or TCAP. TCAP has the mission of providing assistance, resources and support for the legal prosecution function in the Army and serves as a source of resolution of problems encountered by Army trial counsel attorneys. Trial Counsel is the term used by the U.S. Army for its criminal prosecutors. Army...read more

This Week In History (02 May - 08 May)

Charles Maurer — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:23:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On May 2nd: 1863-Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson is accidentally wounded by his own Soldiers at Chancellorsville, Virginia during the Civil War. General Jackson dies of his wounds eight days later. On May 3rd: 2005-Iraq's first democratically elected government is sworn into office. On May 4th: 2006-A federal judge sentences Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison after being convicted because of his role in the September 11th terrorist...read more

This Week In History (25 April - 01 May)

Charles Maurer — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:04:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On April 25th: 1945-American and Russian forces linked up on the Elbe River in the waning days of the Second World War in Europe. On April 26th: 1607-An expedition of English colonists went ashore at Cape Henry, Virginia to establish the first permanent English settlement in North America. On April 27th: 1805-A force of U.S. Marines captured the city of Derna, on the shores of Tripoli, during the first Barbary War. On April 28th: 1758-James Monroe, Secretary of War...read more

This Week In History (18 April-24 April)

Charles Maurer — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:57:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On April 18th: 1775-Paul Revere began riding from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts to warn American colonists that the British were coming. On April 19th: Armed primarily with little more than pistols and revolvers and sparse ammunition, thousands of Jewish inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland begin an uprising against the Nazis. On April 20th: 1972-John Young (Captain, US Navy, Retired) and Charles Duke Jr. (Brigadier General, US Air Force, Retired) land their...read more

This Week In History (11 April-17 April)

Charles Maurer — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:37:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On April 11th: 1945-American troops from the 6th Armored Division and 83rd Infantry Division liberate Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. On April 12th: 1861-The American Civil War begins as Confederate forces under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard fire more than 4,000 shells upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 13th: 1970-An oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft explodes. The damage to the moon-bound craft, carrying US...read more

This Week In History

Charles Maurer — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:05:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On April 4th: 1949-President Harry Truman and the leaders of eleven other Western nations sign a treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On April 5th: 1869-Daniel Bakeman, the last known surviving Veteran of the American Revolutionary War, died at the age of 109. On April 6th: 1909-Rear Admiral Robert Perry and Matthew Henson succesfully lead an expedition to the North Pole. On April 7th: 1862-Union forces under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant defeat...read more

This Week In History

Charles Maurer — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:46:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
On March 28th: 1969-Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, died at the age of 78. On March 29th: 1973-The last American troops left Vietnam, bringing to a close the United States' direct military involvement in the Vietnam War. On March 30th: 1981-President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by a gunman, John Hinckley Jr., who also shot and wounded White House news secretary James Brady, a...read more

This Week In History

Charles Maurer — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:49:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
"The past is always a rebuke to the present."-Robert Penn Warren "A country without a memory is a country of madmen."-George Santayana "History is philosophy teaching by example and also by warning."-Lord Bolingbroke "If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation."-Lord Acton "Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of...read more

No Means No

Charles Maurer — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:07:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
Last week, I attended the Military Institute On the Prosecution of Sexual Violence held at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C. More than fifty Army criminal prosecutors (and one very high speed Marine) came together from around the globe to attend this very important training. We have all heard the phrase 'no means no.' But far more is needed to protect against sexual assault and rape. It also means no if a person...read more

The "Art" of War

Charles Maurer — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:20:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
Growing up in east central Pennsylvania with a dad who was a long-time high school history teacher, it should be no surprise that Gettysburg was a regular vacation spot for my family. In fact, visiting the battlefields and museums of Gettysburg became a kind of annual pilgrimage for us. Over the years, the bookshelves at my parent's home have become filled with books recounting the history of the Civil War. Perhaps the most compelling of those books are those which recount the...read more

Who Dat Wants To Steal My Hard-Earned Money?

Charles Maurer — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:45:00 GMT

By: Charles Maurer
Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints! My team didn't make it to the playoffs this year but since my team is the Pittsburgh Steelers (six Super Bowl championships), I can't be greedy. I remember growing up and seeing Saints games (on the few occasions when the NFL actually broadcast one of their games) and watching their poor fans sporting paper bags over their heads and referring to their beloved team as the "Aints." It is nice to see that the "S" has...read more