Celebrating a Million Views; Almost 2,000 Posts; Top Posts are Cold War, Iraq War and WWII

 

A Million Views

When I started this blog it was to record my deployment to Iraq in 2009-10. I landed at Camp Adder on my 56th birthday and thought it would be worth keeping a record of life for an Old Cold War Soldier in a 21st Century War.

When I returned from Iraq, I did not know how long I would stay. I kept writing blog posts about my part-time service in the National Guard. Over time and after I left the Guard, I wrote more about my service in the Cold War, then about books I was reading, and about soldiers I served with.  

I plan to keep writing about soldiers I served with. I will be going to a reunion of my Cold War tank unit later this year.  Once most of the world is vaccinated, I plan to visit more Cold War landmarks in Europe, Vietnam and Israel.  The wars in Korea, Israel, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Grenada and other places between 1946 and 1991 are also part of the Cold War legacy.  I hope to visit as many as I can and write about it.

All of life follows the exponential curve and my blog posts are no exception.  The top ten of more than 1,900 posts have almost 100,000 views, or one-tenth of all the views of my posts. Five of the top ten are about the Cold War, four from the Iraq War and one about a veteran of World War II.  

The top posts in order of number of views: 

A friend from the Iraq War promoted to Colonel:    https://armynow.blogspot.com/2017/12/who-fights-our-wars-sons-of-veterans.html

A World War II bomber pilot who flew with the author of Catch-22:    https://armynow.blogspot.com/2018/08/reality-catches-up-with-fiction-70.html

My first military haircut, February 1, 1972:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2018/02/my-first-military-haircut-february-1.html

The best top sergeant I ever served with:    https://armynow.blogspot.com/2016/02/who-fights-our-wars-command-sgt-major.html

The smell of diesel takes me back to the Cold War Army:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2009/10/diesel.html

One of the most dramatic moments I experienced, watching a half dozen B-52 Stratofortress bombers scramble on Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in 1974:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2018/09/unforgettable-moment-b-52s-scramble.html

Outside Lowry Air Force Base in 1972 was the Topless Shoeshine Parlor:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-topless-shoeshine-parlor-draft-era.html

The saddest story on my blog about a World War II veteran and Cold War scientist:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2018/01/boris-libman-terrible-life-of-soviet.html

A Blackhawk helicopter pilot from my Iraq tour in 2009-10:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2018/02/who-fights-our-wars-doc-dreher.html

My Home Sweet Trailer Home in Iraq:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2009/05/home-sweet-trailer-home.html

And a few more of my favorites:  

Tanks from the inside and outside:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2018/06/tanks-from-inside-tanks-from-outside.html

C-Rations vs. MREs:   https://armynow.blogspot.com/2018/01/mre-vs-c-rations-for-me-21st-century.html

Post-Cold-War Hero:  https://armynow.blogspot.com/2017/11/cold-war-hero-who-served-after-1991.html