As a baby-boomer who would say he’s achieved the American Dream, much of the credit for my success must go to my father for showing me the way. Obviously, Mom had a lot of influence as well, but this article is a father-son comparison.

Looking back to examine my life compared to Dad’s, the similarities are amazing. As the family’s male role model, his imprint was strong and lasting. So much so, it persists to this day. Dad just turned 90, and I can only hope that my path continues to follow his.

Although he never lectured or tried in any way to orchestrate what I would do in life, he didn’t have to. There was no need. His example was so strong that all it took was observation of his hard work hard and drive to be successful to learn a lesson for a lifetime. Knowing what he wanted to achieve, he invested the effort and made the sacrifice required to fulfill his goals. I watched, naively, not knowing this was a tutorial.

Dad is a World War II veteran. He survived kamikaze attacks in the South Pacific and returned home to go to college, get married and raise me and my brother in a family on the rise. What I mean by “on the rise” is a family that was advancing in strength and prosperity. Dad moved up professionally in the insurance industry and Mom, me and my brother were the benefactors of his hard work. His career required him to travel, a lot. He was frequently out of town overnight, so his presence at home during the week and on weekends seemed special. What we took for granted was Mom’s consistent presence at home. Dad, and the economic conditions of the time, made this possible. There’s something very special, in a confidence building sort of way, about having Mom dependably in the home. It was great for us, but a mother at home was normal then. Today it’s an aberration.

Dad and Mom did well. One could say they prospered, with time enough to sail the Great Lakes and recreate for years and years in a home on a golf resort. They continue to live comfortably to this day. I envy them.

Looking back, I pretty much did exactly what my Dad did, expecting a similar result. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Dad should feel immensely flattered by my conduct.

Coming of age in the 60’s, I can’t recall ever being confused about my path forward. The simple truths prevailed. If I worked hard I could earn whatever I wanted. So I did just that.

At thirteen I got a paper route, and thought I was rich. I earned enough to buy a 10-speed Schwinn bicycle, and later a pool table for the basement. Save and spend. What a concept. That’s what Dad did.

In 1968, I was eighteen. I was not a scholar, more of an entrepreneur. I did manage to graduate from high school that year, and shortly thereafter I was required to register for the draft. I knew enough about the horrors of Viet Nam to avoid being sent there by joining the Navy. Dad was in the Navy, so the choice was obvious. The difference here was that Dad, at seventeen, rushed to join in a war, where I rushed to avoid one, at least the shooting part.

My next six years in the Navy’s submarine service taught me everything I needed to know to be successful in life. I’m sure Dad’s wartime experience did the same for him. Mostly, I learned how I ranked as a human competitor, and what I was able to achieve if I had the confidence to pursue it. Fearlessness is a critical success factor for a fulfilling life. Parents have an obligation to teach their children to be fearless. Dad had it and he handed it off to me.

Over the next thirty years, I pursued one goal after another. All by applying the simple rule I learned from my parents. If you want something, you’ll have to work for it and quite likely sacrifice some of that ‘quality time’ which seems to be more treasured these days. No doubt, ‘quality time’ with family is precious, but if I had to choose between having that quality time with Dad or fully learning from Dad the lessons and rewards of hard work, I’ll take the lessons every time.

So, following that roadmap to the American Dream, so well-demonstrated by my father, I worked my butt off to live a productive life hoping to achieve similar rewards. And, I did achieve similar rewards.

I worked my way through college, choosing a degree program that was not my “passion”, but rather, one that would give me skills in high demand. And, upon graduation in 1979, not the best of times economically, I had multiple offers to choose from. A career in high-tech ensued and has served me well.

I met a wonderful woman and got married, had three sons, travelled a lot and provided a life for my family so similar to what I had experienced through Dad’s example it is startling!

Now, moving into my retirement stage, I’m anxious to continue on that path so well illuminated by my father. A time to recreate with family and friends. A time to celebrate the joy of children and grandchildren. A time to relax in the calm offered by less responsibility and career demands. And finally, a time to be thankful for the lessons, the example, the love and generosity of a wonderful father.

THANKS DAD!

On the surface, U.S. actions in Iraq and Syria involving ISIS seem inexplicable. Armies like ISIS don’t just spring up. They require vast amounts of money and resources to conduct the kinds of campaigns we’ve observed. Big Dogs are clearly feeding this beast, and I believe the U.S. has been one of them. Recently, Vice President Biden and others have admitted as much.

Wanting to understand our policy and have it make sense, I expanded my research to a broad set of sources and finally developed an argument that made the situation explainable.

Here’s my take:

Early in his presidency, Barrack Obama revealed his alignment with the Muslim Brotherhood and sought to ingratiate himself with our allies on the Arabian Peninsula.  Based on events occurring since this time, it seems reasonable to conclude that the President signed up to support the efforts of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, U.A.E. and others to find a way to build pipelines through Syria into Turkey, and ultimately connection to Europe.  With pipelines in place Arab leaders stand to enhance their energy revenues by billions and billions for decades to come.  Their wealth and power would be reinforced, and their gratitude and alliance assured.

When the President asked how he could help, the overwhelming response was certainly: help us remove Bashar al-Assad from power so we can build our pipelines.  What an opportunity this was for President Obama to be adored by his Arab friends, and most certainly by Europe, and so many others who would benefit from competitive gas supplies to Europe.  And certainly, such a fantastic relationship with Arab oil suppliers would have political benefits if gas prices ever needed to be manipulated.

So, what was it going to take to overthrow Bashar al-Assad?  Well, it just so happened that there were thousands and thousands of unemployed men of all ages, from all over the Mideast, who would sign on for a paycheck, and a chance to share in the spoils of war.  Through covert and sometimes haphazard methods (Benghazi), money and arms and other resources were shipped to rebel/mercenary leaders with a simple directive, “Get that guy Assad out of power.”

The U.S. mustered a direct strategy as well.  With the help of Turkey or Qatar or both, the plan was to facilitate a false flag chemical attack on poor Syrian civilians, and with this action they would have the impetus to legitimize direct intervention with U.S. forces.  Recent evidence revealed in an article by Seymour Hersh seems to indicate that this plan was in play and supported by “Washington”.

False flag or not, it’s just strange to watch us predict Assad would use chemical weapons on his own people only to have it happen, just as predicted.  And, of course, we had our not-to-be-crossed “red line” preemptively in play with the threat of serious consequences for such an act.  We just knew al-Assad would commit the evil deed.  Funny how he met our expectations so perfectly.  It’s hard to believe that we could be so prescient without being an instigator of sorts?

There is just one giant impediment to the whole plan, Russia.  Threatening Russia’s energy monopoly in Europe is, to Russia, an existential threat worthy of direct war with its competitors.  This became evident when our “red line” was crossed and we did nothing. It’s also evident from Russia’s behavior in Ukraine that they see the U.S. as weak.

It is unknown what Vladimir Putin did to cause President Obama to back off so quickly, but whatever it was it worked, and it made this President look like the ninety-eight pound weakling.  If we had any insight we should have known Putin would do whatever it takes to keep al-Assad in power and maintain their pact to keep Arab pipelines in check.  It is also likely that President Obama’s direct assault on Syria would have had such disastrous political ramifications that it became easy for him to retreat and proclaim that removing Assad’s inventory of chemical weapons would be a satisfactory outcome for the American people.

Meanwhile, the abundance of support for Plan “A”, the mercenary overthrow, was creating a monster soon to be called ISIS.  Certainly, all the President’s men knew the rebel forces were growing strong and taking territory in Syria.  In the halls of the CIA, it was probably high fives all around.  However, over time, these ISIS guys were developing their own agenda; that would be the fulfillment of Islam’s plan of record for any powerful true believers, a Caliphate and the creation of an Islamic State.

More recently, a fly on the wall of the Oval Office may have heard a conversation something like this: “Hey, these ISIS guys are out of control.  They’re taking over Iraq, and their methods are causing the world to erupt with outrage.  This wasn’t part of the plan.  What now?”  “Well, we must consider the politics of the situation.  We’ll need to realign the team around a plan to degrade and destroy ISIS from the air.  No boots on the ground, and it could take years.  That will placate the sheeple.  Mind you, our strikes against ISIS will be minimized and not meant to really debilitate their strength.  We’ll be dropping bombs in Syria, and conveniently, some of them will do more damage to Assad than ISIS.  Sooner rather than later ISIS will take down Assad and we will have achieved our original goal.”

“But we could lose Iraq in the process!”  “Well, Iraq, as we’ve defined it, is an illusion. What’s happening in that region of the world is a transformation of old states into new states.  How borders ultimately map out is not nearly as important as the political alignments that are formed.  Assad will be removed.  His secular government will be dispatched.  New Islamic leaders will emerge.  Islamist will align with Islamist and not Russia.  Trust me; our friends have the money to pull this off.”

Granted, this argument can be rebutted, but it offers a rational explanation for the events observed.  Consider, once again, Obama’s enthusiastic support for the Muslim Brotherhood, his embrace of Muslim allies, bowing before Saudi King Abdullah.  It explains the panic around Benghazi and our exaggerated response trying to keep our covert activity with the Turks out of the headlines.  It explains why the Emir of Qatar was shopping around for mercenaries to conduct a false flag chemical attack, and saying he had Washington’s support.  It explains why ISIS was allowed to grow without restraint.  It explains why our “degrade and destroy” campaign is such a joke.  It explains why the cold war has been reignited.  Like I said, the argument explains a lot.

The questions for our political leaders are as follows:

Where are the flaws in this argument?
Do you support a policy to overthrow Assad?
Are covert methods such as false flag attacks a reasonable means to that end?
How far should the U.S. go to make Russia compete in European energy markets?

This above argument is the only logical explanation I can come up with.  Comments are welcomed.

It’s almost surreal that a multitude of men and women have died before ever getting to a stage in life where they could truly appreciate what they are striving to preserve; and those who grow old in comfort, having never served, cannot fully appreciate the sacrifice made on their behalf.  It’s an undeniably sad reality.  I think this is why we need a Memorial Day, a time when we are challenged to make the connection between their deaths and our lives.  A time to reflect and try to understand that the accumulated sacrifice of those we honor today is the costs incurred so that those of us more fortunate than them can enjoy the comforts of liberty, relative safety, and the rewards of our labor.  As difficult as this may be for some, it doesn’t matter, it’s still our moral duty to try and make this connection.