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The annual runup to Memorial Day, the holiday that honors the service and sacrifice of America’s armed forces, is traditionally accompanied by a wave of special offers for troops and veterans.

Most are quite mainstream — freebies or discounts on restaurant meals, venue fees, store merchandise and the like.

But an outfit in Scranton, Kan., just south of Topeka, seeks to honor troops and veterans in a rather unusual way — it’s a nudist colony that is waiving all admission fees over the three-day holiday weekend to any guest who shows a military ID card or proof of military service.

via Nudist resort offers free holiday admission to troops, vets.

As the old saying goes, most people who would go to a nudist colony, shouldn’t.

And I say that as someone who has.

YORK COUNTY, SC (WBTV) –

A high school in York County has spoken out after students protested Thursday morning when a senior said he was asked to remove an American flag from his pick-up truck.

Thursday morning, several students, parents, and veterans protested the incident, many setting up across from school grounds waving flags.

Just before noon Thursday, officials at York Comprehensive High School said Peyton Robinson could keep the flag on his vehicle as long as no safety hazard exists.

“Due to the outstanding display of patriotism through peaceful demonstration, it is apparent to us that many are not happy about this policy,” the school district posted on its website. “School officials have reviewed the standing policy regarding flags and have decided that an exception will be made for the American flag, as long as the size of the flag(s) does not create a driving hazard.”

“We appreciate the passion and pride of all who have called or come by YCHS over the past 24 hours. America was founded by Patriots who led positive change in a myriad of ways.” the district continued. ” We believe today is a great example of peaceful demonstration leading to positive change. This is the very process we advocate in our Social Studies classrooms and the fabric of American citizenship. Thank you for helping us as we educate the students of our community.”

via School responds after York Co. senior asked to take down America – wistv.com – Columbia, South Carolina.

What the heck is wrong with school administrators (and HOAs for that matter)?

This always ends badly for them. Here’s a hint. The vast majority of the American public, even if they don’t fly the flag themselves, strongly support others doing so. And they really don’t like high-handed petty bureaucrats arbitrarily exercising power over people for no good cause.

So now the school has to make some mealy mouthed  statement about safety and whatnot, when clearly that wasn’t the motivation that lead some flunky to overstep his bounds.

Principals, how about taking a moment to tell your employees that it is always a good idea to think twice before even thinking the first time about taking down the American flag.

And when something like this does happen, don’t issue the bland statement that York did. Just say one employee screwed up, and that you won’t let it happen again.

Dubai: Another cargo ship has come under fire from Iranian authorities sending jitters through the shipping industry as the vital Strait of Hormuz becomes increasingly unstable.

According to CNN, five boats from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard opened fire in international waters on the 46,105-dwt chemical tanker Alpine Eternity this morning.

The Singapore-flagged ship only managed to escape further shots by changing course (see satellite image below courtesy of VesselsValue.com) and heading into United Arab Emirates waters where three local coast guard vessels came to protect the tanker.

None of the crew were harmed, initial reports claim. The ship is now moored at Jebel Ali port.

via Chemical tanker latest to be fired on by Iranian Navy – Splash 247.

This is pretty clearly Iran thumbing its nose at the US and its international partners.

The US Navy announced it would escort US flagged vessels through the straits. Turns out, it wasn’t really escorting them, but coordinating with them. Even worse, that plan lasted only a week.

That sent a pretty clear signal to Iran that US policy wasn’t serious.

Iran has long made claims about its territorial waters in the straits that no nation has ever recognized, and that the US Navy for over thirty years has actively challenged. There’s a concept that deals with the concept of territorial waters (that is, the 12 nautical mile limit from the shoreline) and the narrow passages commonly used for commerce. While the US is not a signatory of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, it has always subscribed to the concept of Transit Passage, which itself is one of the oldest concepts of international law, dating back practically to antiquity.

Iran, of course, sensing weakness from the US, is acting provocatively  mostly just because it can.

Kayce M. Hagen is a pen name assumed by an active duty enlisted airman. She wrote the following words to capture her thoughts after attending mandatory annual training given by her base’s Sexual Assault Response Coordination (SARC) office. I’m publishing her letter here not just because it captures in visceral form a sentiment I’ve heard repeatedly from airmen who are frustrated by increasingly tone-deaf and overwrought approaches to this issue, but also because I believe her input raises (or renews) two important questions. First, what is the current Sexual Assault Prevention program doing for the Air Force? Second, what is it doing to the Air Force? Kayce’s input explores these questions in a powerful way. Enjoy and respond. -Q.

via One Airman’s View: Open Letter to the SARC : John Q. Public.

Go read the whole letter. When the military’s own sexual assault training irritates and annoys the very target it is supposed to be helping, maybe it is time to reconsider the approach currently in use. Perhaps modeling the training after the worst SJW and Womyn Studies nuts from academia isn’t the optimum route.

Hagen hits the nail on the head- training, whether sexual assault response, or any other type, is supposed to strengthen and improve the force, not sow division and enmity.

“The day for progress by force has passed,” he explained. From now on, “it will be progress by ideas or not at all.”

He wrote these words in 1910. One politician after another lined up to praise the book. Four years later, the same men started World War I. By 1918, they had killed 15 million people; by 1945, the death toll from two world wars had passed 100 million and a nuclear arms race had begun. In 1983, U.S. war games suggested that an all-out battle with the Soviet Union would kill a billion people — at the time, one human in five — in the first few weeks. And today, a century after the beginning of the Great War, civil war is raging in Syria, tanks are massing on Ukraine’s borders and a fight against terrorism seems to have no end.

So yes, war is hell — but have you considered the alternatives? When looking upon the long run of history, it becomes clear that through 10,000 years of conflict, humanity has created larger, more organized societies that have greatly reduced the risk that their members will die violently. These better organized societies also have created the conditions for higher living standards and economic growth. War has not only made us safer, but richer, too.

via In the long run, wars make us safer and richer – The Washington Post.

Here’s a pretty thought provoking piece. I have a few quibbles, especially with his points regarding Reagan at the end (Reagan may well have been pro-small government, but he was clearly not for a weak government or foreign policy).

At halftime of each home game last season, the New England Patriots invited a soldier on the field to honor the troops. Dressed in camouflage, they smiled and waved to the crowd during the feel-good moment.

However, the “True Patriot” program wasn’t simply patriotism. It was part of a $225,000 advertising deal between the team and the Massachusetts and New Hampshire National Guard.

The military has long advertised at sporting events and during sports broadcasts as a way to reach potential recruits. But new revelations about deals between professional football teams and the National Guard have caused a stir over whether the military and the league should be more transparent about what’s a display of goodwill toward the troops and what’s a paid advertisement.

A report on government waste issued last week by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., detailed the expenditure and questioned why the Guard spent $49.1 million on professional sports sponsorships in 2014. Some of that money funded programs by NFL teams similar to the “True Patriot” program that appeared to honor the military but were actually part of advertising agreements with the Guard.

via Promotional deals between NFL, National Guard cause stir – U.S. – Stripes.

Let me first note that the recruiting for the Guard is entirely separate from the recruiting for the active Army and the Army Reserve.

Each state does its own Guard recruiting, though the National Guard Bureau coordinates an overall national advertising campaign.

I find this somewhat distateful, and given the concentration of spending on a handful of teams, wonder if someone isn’t greasing some palms. I don’t know. Were the Pats ever asked to participate without being paid? Is the New Hampshire Guard that hard up for members? Dunno.

As to recruiting advertising in general, things like this and the NASCAR sponsorship aren’t designed to actually generate recruits. They’re simply designed to put the idea of military service in people’s mind, hopefully  in a somewhat positive light.

Actually getting people to join is the recruiter’s job. Advertising might make it easier. Even better, it might generate contact information for a prospective applicant that a recruiter can work with. But very few people are actual walk-in enlistees, with no previous contact from a recruiter.

In fact, every walk-in I had that actually enlisted, I was able to verify that they had, in fact, been contacted by me, or another Army recruiter, within the previous three years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say Defense Secretary Ash Carter is recommending Adm. John Richardson, head of the Navy’s nuclear program, to be the next chief of naval operations, and is nominating Gen. Mark Milley to be the next Army chief of staff.

Milley heads U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. Earlier this year he was the officer assigned to review the case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who abandoned his post in Afghanistan and was held captive by the Taliban for five years.

via APNewsBreak: Pentagon recommends new Navy, Army chiefs | UTSanDiego.com.

Ash Carter might not have been my choice for SecDef, but he’s light years ahead of Chuck Hagel. And he seems to take the job seriously. I’ve heard very good things about Richardson. And while I don’t really know much about Milley, I haven’t heard too many complaints about him.

Anybody have some background on him?