Archive for the ‘military’ Category:


7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Bushwhackers, and Jayhawkers (Kansas in 1861 – 1865)

This is a 10 minute video interview recorded on January 14, 2012, at the Trapper’s Rendezvous campout west of Newton, Kansas. This historian shares some history about Kansas in the U.S. Civil War. He provided background about the 7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, the Bushwhackers, Jayhawkers, Quantrill’s Raiders and the scorched earth tactics which eventually

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Why Veteran’s Day is November 11th

Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States. To all our veterans, active duty members of the military, and family members of veterans around the world I say THANK YOU. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your honor and integrity. Thank you for your patriotism and your sacrifices for our nation. We are

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Sunset over Doha [video]

Local time in Doha, Qatar, is eight hours ahead of U.S. central time. This evening before heading out for our evening dinner, I recorded a 4.5 minute reflection about some of my experiences and thoughts after being in the Middle East about 24 hours. One correction to my video: Our conference is sponsored by Qatar

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Oren Lee Peters – Stories of My Life

On April 16, 1921, Oren Lee Peters was born in Edmond, Oklahoma. He served as a soldier in the US Army and the Oklahoma National Guard in both World War II and Korea. After returning from World War II, he finished his senior year of high school but also served as the coach of his

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Support Wings of Valor: The Jimmy Doolitte Air & Space Museum in California

Do you know know about the contributions of Jimmy Doolittle to the United States military during World War II? Do the names “Doolittle Raid,” “USS Hornet,” and “North American B-25 Mitchell bomber” bring stories of historical significance to your mind? If not (and especially if you’re a U.S. citizen) they should. If you’ve seen the

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TEDxOU in January 2012 and TEDxOKC 2011 Videos

This past April, Oklahoma City hosted the first TEDx event in our state: TEDxOKC. As expected, it was a fantastic day of inspirational and moving talks. Today at lunch I ran into Ken Stoner, who was the primary organizer of TEDxOKC, and he told me a TEDxOU event is being scheduled for January 2012. A

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Why was Osama Bin Laden Buried at Sea?

The top CNN headline today, on May 2, 2011, is the death of Osama Bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special forces. The following detail from the article about his killing and death likely raises questions in the minds of many: Bin Laden’s body was later buried at sea, an official said. Many Muslims

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Podcast376: Reflections on the 2011 Intellectual Warrior’s Conference

This podcast is a reflection from the road by Wesley Fryer following the morning sessions of the 2011 Intellectual Warrior’s Conference held at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on April 12th. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to Wesley’s presentation slides (on SlideShare) for his opening address, “Effective Uses of Educational Technology: Blended, Continuous Learning

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Application of OBTE Principles by Randal Wickman

These are my notes from Ltc Randal Wickman’s presentation, “BCT—A Success Story (Application of OBTE Principles)” during the 2011 Intellectual Warrior’s Conference at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on April 12th. “I am not an educator by trade, I am a commander” We want operational adaptability: flexibility, critical thinkers, make sound decisions – Net-gen students: collaborative, work

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Military Development at West Point by Col Casey Haskins

These are my notes from Col Casey Haskins’s presentation, “Military Development at West Point” during the 2011 Intellectual Warrior’s Conference at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on April 12th. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST PRESENTATIONS I’VE EVER HEARD ON LEARNING / TRAINING DESIGN AS WELL AS ASSESSMENT. GREAT

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Tony Wagner discussing learning at the 2011 Intellectual Warrior’s Conference

These are my notes from Dr Tony Wagner‘s presentation: “Overcoming the Global Achievement Gap: Learning, Leading and Teaching in the 21st Century” at the 2011 Intellectual Warrior’s Conference at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on April 12, 2011. Tony is an Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, and the author of “The

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Blended, Continuous Learning in the 21st Century Military

I’m sharing a presentation tomorrow at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, at the Intellectual Warrior’s Conference convened to help U.S. Army leaders explore the ideas embodied in the 72 page report, “The U.S. Army Learning Concept for 2015.” The title of my presentation in the morning is, “Effective Uses of Educational Technology: Blended, Continuous Learning in the

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Podcast366: Interviews with Navy WWII Ace Ed Wendorf and Docents Aboard the USS Midway

This podcast is a series of recordings from our family’s tour aboard the USS Midway in San Diego, California, on March 17, 2010. The first part is an interview with World War II Navy Ace Ed Wendorf, who scored eight kills in the Pacific theater as a Hellcat pilot. Ed holds the distinction of being

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US Army Deploying iPhones

According to today’s ABC News article, “Army to Deploy iPhones in Combat: Military Could Deploy First Units With BlackBerrys, Androids by Spring,” the US military has not only recognized the constructive power of mobile computers in troops’ pockets but is moving quickly to deploy them into combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. …as early as

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Video Tributes to Oklahoma and Kansas Military Veterans

Happy Veterans Day, to all our military veterans from all branches of service! This year on Veterans Day, I encourage you to take a few minutes and watch some of the tribute videos which have been created in the past few months by students and teachers in Oklahoma and Kansas, participating in Celebrate Oklahoma Voices

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Bring on the EVs (electric vehicles,) EV Conversion Kits, ZERO Emissions Cars and Plug-In Hybrids

This evening, after having the physical DVD from Netflix at our house for several months, I finally watched the outstanding 2006 documentary, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” This is an excellent film, which can inspire audiences to activism much like the 2003 documentary, “The Corporation.” I have several thoughts as well as links I’d like

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Podcast354: Behind the Curtain of the NORAD Tracks Santa Program

This podcast is a fortuitous interview recording with Stacia Reddish, who was the US Air Force Public Affairs officer in charge of the “NORAD Tracks Santa” program for five years. Stacia was responsible for getting Google involved with NORAD Tracks Santa and taking the program (which dates from the 1950s) to the next level with

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Want to understand political Islam better? Yaroslav Trofimov is an excellent teacher

I posted the following as a book review for Yaroslav Trofimov’s 2005 book, “Faith At War: A Journey On The Frontlines Of Islam, From Baghdad To Timbuktu.” Trofimov is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and wrote this book detailing his investigative reporting about Islam around the world from 2001 through 2005. This book

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Mining could transform the economy of Afghanistan

If you were concerned the U.S. doesn’t have compelling economic reasons to remain engaged militarily in Afghanistan, this NYT article suggests you might want to reserve judgement: “The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals

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Message for Oklahoma Christians: Muslims are NOT our enemies

This evening at our church’s annual congregational meeting, a leader of the mission committee stood up and talked about a recent trip he’d taken to Uganda. He commented that this time, he noticed more Muslim mosques in the towns they visited, and said this was evidence “the enemy is advancing.” I almost fell out of

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