Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
jendolsen.bsky.social
Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
@jendolsen.bsky.social
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Willy T also has the best way of terminating annoying conversations:

“See the books. This is the conclusion of our correspondence, which I did not begin, and terminate with satisfaction.”

Sherman to Hood, Sept 14, 1864
This memoir I'm reading should be called William T. Sherman: Warrior Poster

"...the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride."
Letter of William T. Sherman to James M. Calhoun, E.E. Rawson, and S.C. Wells, September 12, 1864 · Civil War Era NC
cwnc.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu
December 10, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
The confusion of SOCOM and SOUTHCOM among people who should know better is going to drive me nuts.
December 4, 2025 at 6:09 PM
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My latest this AM with @warontherocks.bsky.social. Of note: "[Military officers] will be active participants with choices to make about the degree to which they continue to serve civilians intent on undermining the liberal values enshrined in the Constitution."

1/

warontherocks.com/2025/12/the-...
The Soldier in the Illiberal State is a Professional Dead End
The American political system today is indeed in crisis. Government function is in doubt, the administration has politicized and weaponized a previously
warontherocks.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
'Four cones wins, but in order to get a cone you have to build a civilization. Which is where the spirit cards come in'
November 15, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Came across this PBS/American Experience IG post yesterday on the anniv. of journo Seymour Hersh breaking the My Lai massacre story, and it’s still so wild that the public would’ve never known Calley died last year were it not for a law grad stumbling upon his death certificate in public records.
November 14, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Sometimes I think about the question someone put on the bad site, asking women how old they were the first time an adult man came on to them or made a sexually suggestive remark to them. I want to say the vast majority of us were between 11 and 13.

I've been thinking about it a lot today.
November 14, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Too cute by half.
DoD on legality of the boat strikes:

"Military personnel are legally obligated to follow lawful orders and as such are not subject to prosecution for following lawful orders."

"Lawful orders" in this formulation being a function of what POTUS and his pliant OLC say.

www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Military personnel seek legal advice on whether Trump-ordered missions are lawful
Military service personnel have been seeking outside legal advice about some of the missions the Trump administration has assigned them. The strikes against alleged drug traffickers and deployments to...
www.pbs.org
November 14, 2025 at 12:56 AM
And y’all better tip service workers no fewer than 20+% on that free food. Don’t embarrass us.
Happy Veterans Day to those of us who endured years of complete & utter nonsense interspersed with the occasional bit of Did I Almost Die. Enjoy your free food & have a beer.
November 11, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
You have no idea how many retirees living paycheck to paycheck in [checks map] woke states like TX, SC, NC, and GA depend on these commissaries.
November 8, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Albert Camus, born on this day in 1913 into one world war to live through another, on how to live whole in a broken world www.themarginalian.org/2024/06/22/a...
Albert Camus on How to Live Whole in a Broken World
Born into a World War to live through another, Albert Camus (November 7, 1913–January 4, 1960) died in a car crash with an unused train ticket to the same destination in his pocket. Just thre…
www.themarginalian.org
November 7, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
I am begging some reporter for a large regional or national newspaper to go to their nearest military hospital or clinic and interview staff about how things are going. The bulk of military healthcare is provided by DoD civilians who haven't been paid in over a month. Physicians even longer.
November 4, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
we live in hell
November 4, 2025 at 12:13 AM
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I don’t need a movie about Bruce Springsteen. I need a movie about what the hell happened to the chicken man.
October 30, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
"Without the civilian workforce, commanders couldn’t move tanks to a maneuver location, manipulate targets on a range, provide fuel for the force, or food in the mess halls."

@markhertling.bsky.social on what shutdowns do to the military: www.thebulwark.com/p/for-the-mi...
For the Military, a Shutdown Is About a Lot More Than Just Pay
It also affects many other people, institutions, and services necessary for readiness.
www.thebulwark.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Gents, how you respond to controversy — and other hard times — will stick with people much more than the precipitating event.
October 21, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Like, I 99.99% know why there would've been a Croatian tattoo shop that had Nazi totenkopfen mingling with other flash on the walls in 2007, but that's still a reported feature story I would read
October 22, 2025 at 1:55 AM
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Significantly *more* live artillery rounds were launched over Interstate 5 during Friday’s rehearsal, defense officials said, with one estimating the number at 30.
October 20, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Not mentioned here — and it seems worthwhile to point out — is that with hindsight, he said he wouldn't have done it. That complicates things to an extent

I wrote about that here

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/05/c...
October 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
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NPR's veteran defense reporter Tom Bowman: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon Pass

www.npr.org/2025/10/14/g...
Opinion: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon press pass
Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scen...
www.npr.org
October 14, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
It's so important to keep the "non-consensual" part of generative AI front and center.
I don't know how many times to point out that is absolutely ghoulish and non-consensual and disgusting behavior.
To exploit the image of a dead woman who was also exploited in real life so you can live out your momentary fantasies of "what is possible" with AI is bad science journalism, also.
Sick.
October 13, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Revisited books I read 20+ years ago lately. Sarah Vowell’s Take the Cannoli stands out. Her essay on This American Life Ep. 76: Mob| The Freshman is some of her best www.thisamericanlife.org/76/mob/act-o...
The Freshman - This American Life
Writer Sarah Vowell explains why she watched The Godfather every day while she was in college.
www.thisamericanlife.org
August 2, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Reposted by Maneuver Ghoul of Christmas Past of Excellence
Being a columnist is so cool. You can have absolutely no experience whatsoever and still drop whatever takes you want. Serve in the military? No? Work in natsec? No? Have an academic background in defense? No? Have any government experience at all? No?

Who cares! Fire that column off anyways!
October 4, 2025 at 5:32 AM
I desperately needed to laugh the way this has me laughing.
October 2, 2025 at 5:54 PM