The Northcountry Chronicle

My father, the KC-135, and me

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by Ed Palm If you have been keeping up with the war news, you know that our first major setback was the crash of a KC-135 jet tanker, killing all of the six crew members aboard. Not to make light of that tragedy, but the airplane itself—the KC-135—has long held a special place in my heart. It was on a KC-135 that I once chanced to have an impromptu flying lesson. In July of 1966, my absentee Air Force officer father invited me up to his duty station at the time—the K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He wanted me to get …

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Yet Another Undeclared War

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by W.D. Ehrhart So here we are again, engaged in another war that can only be called “legal” by the most dubious and twisted reasoning while ignoring the right to go to war vested only in Congress by the Constitution. Let’s call this one the “Who-Is-Jeffrey-Epstein-Anyway?” War. And it’s certainly working. Once again, as he has done over and over and over again in his charmed life, our Grifter-in-Chief has evaded responsibility or accountability for his immoral, amoral, criminal behavior. Nevermind if the primary beneficiary of crippling Iran happens to be Israel, a nation that has maintained an apartheid state for over 80 years, has …

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King For a Day

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by W.D. Ehrhart Recently a young man who is in a college ROTC program and about to embark on a career in the U.S. Army seems to have read enough of my writing that he saw similarities between me and the point of view suggested by David Hackworth in his 1990 memoir About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior. My young correspondent, whom I’ll call Emmett, wanted to know if I thought problems like “ticket-punching” and “careerism” still existed in the military, and what he might do to change or at least mitigate them. Did I have any advice for him? “I don’t know …

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Do Not Thank Me for My Service

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by W.D. Ehrhart For the past two decades, I’ve been patient with this ridiculous insistence by my fellow Americans on thanking me for my service. I have tried to imagine that they mean well and are sincere in their thanks, however misdirected the sentiment may be, however oblivious to reality the well-wishers may be. For two decades, whenever someone has thanked me for my service, I’ve simply said, “You’re welcome,” and let it go at that. But I have finally run out of patience. I just can’t keep my mouth shut anymore. I’m tired of their stupidity and ignorance, and the utter emptiness of their …

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Iran in the Crosshairs

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by W.D. Ehrhart So after waging open warfare against Venezuela for months, obliterating a village in Nigeria, and bombing Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Somalia, our intrepid president, in his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize, is making noises about invading Greenland—Greenland, for cryin’ in a bucket!—Cuba, and maybe Mexico. Perhaps most ironic of all, he’s threatening to attack Iran in defense of Iranian civilians being murdered by the repressive ayatollahs for taking to the streets in protest of tyranny.  Given what’s been happening in this country—think Senator Mark Kelly, Renee Nicole Good, Tim Walz and Jacob Frey, just for starters—there’s something laughable about the MAGAPrez …

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Does God Love Losers, Too?

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by W.D. Ehrhart Right after the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LIX last year, Coach Nick Sirianni proclaimed, “God’s blessed us very much. He gave us all the talents to be able to get here. So first and foremost, thanks to Him,” adding later, “Thank you, God, thank you, Jesus.” At the time, such proclamations worried me quite a bit. In an essay I wrote called “Thank God for the Eagles Victory,” I found myself wondering if Coach Sirianni believed that God is an Eagles fan who made sure the Birds had enough talent to defeat the Chiefs last year? What about the other thirty …

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