0. What The Hell is the Purpose of This Blog?
The aim of this essay series is to promote hard questions; not offer hard conclusions. Some data may be very well-developed (and will be identified as such), but other ideas are unquestionably in the realm of opinion (yet make a great deal of sense). Understand, however, that the population about which I write is also one into which I myself squarely fit. Replace “they/them” with “I/me” and you have, in the following essays, a glimpse into my own service and transition experiences, my own mistakes and soul-searching and, I should hope, some more balanced conclusions on the other side. No part of this is intended to question character, dismiss sincere patriotism or level insult. Instead, consider that true, pragmatic self-examination cannot really take place if it accompanies a fanatical unwillingness to admit weakness, targets a culture that fails to reward growth or, a recurrent theme throughout this work, inability to acknowledge one’s own humanness. In any case, I anticipate that th...