Archive for the 'Character Discipline' Category


Help Children, Both Foreign and Domestic

My wife sent me a link to an article on Yahoo about the "One Laptop per Child" project. You can read the article here: Donate One Laptop per Child, Get One In a nutshell if you buy a laptop for $400, a laptop will be sent to you and a laptop will be sent to [...]

Happy Birthday, Marines

The Marine Corps turned 232 years old today. I think there is a lot to be learned from an organization that has been around this long -- especially one that holds the reputation as the finest fighting force (or finest anything) in the world. Here is a link to a page I made about the [...]

When We Hit the Wall

Eighteen years ago today the Berlin Wall became irrelevant. I was in Berlin when it happened. About one million people from east block nations, starving for freedom, flooded into West Berlin in a matter of hours. The whole city was "standing room only" as people exercised the kind of freedom that we take for granted. [...]

Marines: Break Out in Case of Emergency

Cam pointed me to an article about how the Marines will train to help put out wildfires in the wake of latest outbreak of fires in California. You can read the full article here: Marines to Train for Calif. Wildfires I think this is a good idea, but nothing new. I talked to Marines from [...]

Mitchell Paige

Today I learned that six Eagle Scouts have earned the medal of honor. One such Eagle Scout was a man named Mitchell Paige who, according to usscouts.org, "walked 200 miles to enlist in Marines on his 18th birthday in 1936 . . . Presented his eagle award in 2003 after it was verified that he'd [...]

Mike Wieringo, A Man Worth Emulating

Comic book artist, Mike Wieringo, passed away last weekend from a heart attack at 44. If you don't follow comic books, you may not know who Mike was; however, if you are surrounded by good people, you may know someone like him. Mike was the kind of person who would take the time to help [...]

Mentorship and the American Revolution

Unlike the Powell Doctrine - which calls for overwhelming force - during the American Revolution, the colonies had exactly what they needed for victory and no more. It is well known that our country was gifted with founding fathers who forged America on the Enlightenment principles of freedom and self-governance. Take away any one of [...]

Officer Material

The Marine Corps not only maintains its standard of excellence from one generation to the next, it magnifies it. The Marine Corps improves, because continuous improvement is a cornerstone of its ethos, and because Marines do not believe that perfection can be achieved. There is always room for improvement. Every Marine has opinions on how [...]

Leadership Philosophies of Marines and Civilians

I did the following analysis for an organizational psychology class a few years back. I have not written much about the character discipline in the blog yet because much of what I believe is contained in the following articles. I am updating and republishing the paper here as a frame of reference for future discussions [...]