Like countless others, I am heart-broken and viscerally angry since learning the news of Greg Mortenson’s conflation, exaggeration and fabrication of many of the stories and details in his two best-selling books “Three Cups of Tea” and “Stones in Schools”. Mortenson, a former emergency room trauma nurse, former mountain climber, Nobel Peace Prize-nominated author, and…
At the base of the Green Mountains is an institution like no other in the United States. In the quaint town of Northfield, Vermont sits Norwich University, the country’s oldest private military college. Few American institutions of higher learning as old as it still adhere to the principles of its founders. In a very substantial…
This week I witnessed something I hope my own daughter will see one day—a sea of women in military uniform. More than 1,300 U.S. servicewomen, and a few servicemen, gathered in San Diego, CA this week for the 24th Annual Joint Women’s Leadership Symposium. The two-day event centered on leadership and professional development. Focusing on…
West Point is the nation’s oldest and most respected leadership institution. For more than 200 years, it has been a high-pressure, high-performance, developmental laboratory that produces leaders for the Army and our nation. Its graduates are found at the highest levels in nearly every field: military, business, education, medicine, law, and government. They include: US…
Besides the certainty of taxes and death, we know sex sells. Americans are bombarded with images of women to sell everything from beer to cars. Meanwhile, young women and men searching for role models may have difficulty seeing past the “sex sells” mentality that ties a woman’s worth to her looks. The nearly ubiquitous publicity…
Today President Barack Obama signs into law the repeal measure of the ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the military. In a historic vote on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010, the Senate repealed the 17 year-old Clinton-era policy known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ by a count of 65 to 31. This is a…
Earlier today, the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen announced the results of the Pentagon’s Comprehensive Working Group Review of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. The 10-month study led by US Army General Carter Ham and DOD General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson concluded that the repeal of the…
When I was interviewing to be the executive director of a healthcare non-profit, the People’s Health Clinic (PHC), members of its board of directors questioned my experience. They wanted to know what someone coming from the U.S. Army, known for its hierarchy and “give-and-take orders” environment, could bring to a volunteer-based organization, particularly one with…