Professor of Military and Strategic Studies @USAFA, Military Historian
Colorado, USA
Joined March 2016
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Mark Grotelueschen retweeted
A speech at the Royal Albert Hall in celebration of Thanksgiving, 1944:
We have come here tonight to add our celebration to those which are going forward all over the world wherever Allied troops are fighting, in bivouacs and dug-outs, on battlefields, on the high seas, and in the highest air. Always this annual festival has been dear to the hearts of the American people. Always there has been that desire for thanksgiving, and never, I think, has there been more justification, more compulsive need than now.
It is your Day of Thanksgiving, and when we feel the truth of the facts which are before us, that in three or four years the peaceful peace-loving people of the United States, with all the variety and freedom of their life in such contrast to the iron discipline which has governed many other communities—when we see that in three or four years the United States has in sober fact become the greatest military, naval, and air power in the world—that, I say to you in this time of war, is itself a subject for profound thanksgiving.
We are moving forward in this struggle which spreads over all the lands and all the oceans. We are moving forward surely, steadily, irresistibly, and perhaps, with God’s aid, swiftly, towards victorious peace. There again is a fitting reason for thanksgiving.
* * *
I have spoken of American Thanksgiving. Tonight here, representing vaster audiences and greater forces moving outside this hall, it is both British and American thanksgiving that we may celebrate. And why is that? It is because under the compulsion of mysterious and all-powerful destiny we are together. We are joined together, shedding our blood side by side, struggling for the same ideals, until the triumph of the great causes which we serve shall have been made manifest.
But there is a greater Thanksgiving Day which still shines ahead, which beckons the bold and loyal and warm-hearted. And that is when this union of action which has been forced upon us by our common hatred of tyranny, which we have maintained during these dark and fearful days, shall become a lasting union of sympathy and good-feeling and loyalty and hope between all the British and American peoples, wherever they may dwell. Then, indeed, there will be a Day of Thanksgiving - and one in which all the world will share.
- Winston Churchill
Mark Grotelueschen retweeted
Excellence in all he does. 🏆
Paul Skenes is your 2025 National League Cy Young award winner!
#FlyFightWin
Mark Grotelueschen retweeted
“I have been impressed afresh with the truth that all of life here is but a preparation for, a pilgrimage toward, and an investment in heaven.” – Joseph Stowell
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
-G.K. Chesterton
I’ve long avoided talking about religion here. Even in my own church, I was taught it divides more than it unites.
But the world is unraveling. And after burying a close friend today, I can’t stay silent.
Here’s what I believe:
No matter what comes next - chaos, war, collapse - I have zero doubt that the United States will endure.
Why?
Because if even one percent of Americans feel what I feel when The Battle Hymn of the Republic plays…
We. Cannot. Be. Defeated.
And no, it’s not pride.
Not courage.
Not patriotism or discipline.
It’s love.
Unfiltered, unshakable love for those who share our values, and for those we are duty-bound to protect.
This isn’t to dismiss the zeal of a jihadist or the steel resolve of a kamikaze pilot.
Nearly every faith grants men the will to face death for a divine purpose.
But what I feel isn’t about Christ.
It’s not about going to heaven.
It’s not about glory or ribbons.
It’s not even about country.
It’s something more earthly and paradoxically, more divine.
It’s love for my fellow man.
Christ didn’t die for God.
He died for us.
He died to save his fellow man.
And that matters because we don’t fight for martyrdom.
We don’t seek glory or paradise.
We don’t storm that machine gun nest for divine reward, but we will storm a dozen machine guns to save one brother or sister in arms.
We fight for each other.
For our brothers in the trenches.
For the children who haven’t yet learned the words to our anthems.
For the women who hold the line at home.
We don’t welcome death. We don’t chase sainthood.
We only die for one reason:
To save someone else.
We go forward knowing we’re flawed.
Many of us are damn sure we’re not getting into heaven.
But we still fight—
So others, especially our women and children, might live, might love, might earn the grace we fear we’ve lost.
This is why veterans are often the loudest voices against war.
Not out of weakness.
But out of love.
They’ve tasted the darkness.
They carry the weight.
And while they know, theologically, that forgiveness is possible…
They struggle to believe it.
Because war asks men to make impossible choices.
And they don’t want anyone else to bear that burden.
Because victory doesn’t come from reason.
It comes from something deeper. Older. Holier.
A sacred truth:
The most powerful force on Earth isn’t hate.
It isn’t fear.
It’s love.
Love for your fellow man.
Love for the future of mankind.
Even when you know the darkness lives in you, too.
And maybe…
because it does.
Not everyone feels the way I do when this song is sung at church but, we don’t need everyone to protect our Republic. We just need one percent to feel how I do when this is played.
To feel unadulterated love and determination.
The truth is this is not a nation of Christ. We are a multicultural nation that welcomes and loves all good men of all races and religions.
But we ARE a nation protected by men blessed by the love of Christ.
youtu.be/Jy6AOGRsR80?si=1Tai…
Mark Grotelueschen retweeted
That’s our USAFA grad! ⚾️
#FlyFightWin #AmericasTeam🇺🇸
“Next, I insist that Europe must, as a whole, provide in the long run for its own defense.”
Fascinating, as no one was more committed to collective security than Ike.
Ike on collective security, 1951: “….each county must provide the heart and soul of its own defense. If the heart is right, other nations can help; if not, that particular nation is doomed. Morale cannot be imported.”
Milton Eisenhower, on leadership (after serving as president of three major universities and serving as confidante/advisor for his big brother…): “The first challenge for a leader is to induce the people to believe in him; the second is to induce them to believe in themselves.”
Tremendous picture. And we know Ike’s deputy had just told him that the Airborne drops should be cancelled because they would fail and lead only to slaughter. Ike disagreed, but went to see them off…
A treasure. Some say Ike was talking about fishing…
Most iconic photo of WWII taken #OnThisDay 81 yrs ago-6/5/1944-shows Gen. Eisenhower speaking to troops of @101stAASLTDIV before they board planes to jump into Normandy. Lt. Wallace Strobel is #23; his uniform is in our museum today.
Image: Eisenhower Pres. Library, 77-18-112.
Happy Cantigny Day!
28 May 1918: American forces captured German positions at Cantigny, their first significant engagement of #WWI. This marked the emergence of the AEF as an effective fighting force. For analysis,see M. Grotelueschen’s article on U.S. Warfare 1917–1918: encyclopedia.1914-1918-onlin… #OTD
Mark Grotelueschen retweeted
They gave everything. For us. For freedom.
Memorial Day is not a tradition – it’s a promise.
At the American Battle Monuments Commission, we keep that promise. We care for their final resting places.
Honor their sacrifice. Tell their stories. They represent the best of us. A legacy worthy of our collective memory.
Today, and every day, we remember.
#MemorialDay
@US_EUCOM @USArmyEURAF @USArmy @USNavy @usairforce @usmarines @uscoastguard @DeptofDefense @DeptVetAffairs @dodpaa
Mark Grotelueschen retweeted
"Learn as much as you can from those who know more than you, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you."
~Dwight D. Eisenhower.
#ilikeike #ikelife #Eisenhower #POTUS #abilenekansas #wisdom
