There are any number of things that naturally go together:

- Summer and Ice Cream

- Movies and Popcorn

- Military Service and Big Families

     Wait…what? You don’t see the connection on that last one? Well, perhaps I can be of assistance.

     While servicemembers will never get rich on their basic pay (unless you move way up in the corporation), their benefits are second to none. Housing allowances, COLA (at certain duty stations), and subsistence…

     LtGen Richard Mills’ Memorial Day address in Leesburg, VA concluded on a thoughtful note. Toward the end of his remarks, he said that his wife Pat came from ‘good Irish stock’. I thought the phrase was charmingly antiquated, but said with love and affection, and more than relevant to his next point.

     Though we had all gathered to honor our nation’s fallen servicemembers, he suggested that hanging our heads in sadness and sorrow over our lost countrymen was only half of the…

     Ma’am and I took a well-deserved weekend away over Memorial Day. The grandparents were visiting, we had a couple of days off, and the open road beckoned. But it’s not like we were 20 anymore; and it’s not like either of us is the second coming of Jack Kerouac…launching ourselves headfirst into a manic weekend, traveling for traveling’s sake. The thrill of movement. The raw possibility of dizzying adventure. No, those days are merely fond memories now. Oh, and the military has a thing…

     One of the reasons men and women might join the military is to see the world. It's an old idea, but it still rings true. The military still offers intrepid souls the opportunity to seek out adventure in faraway lands. Even with the BRAC closures going on, and choice duty stations all over the world being collapsed into one another, there still remain ample opportunities for servicemembers and their families to experience foreign culture and exotic locales.

     But it was only…