Vietnam – Professional Copywriter | Wyalusing, PA Bradford County

Friendships Fade as Living Pulls Us Apart

Note: This is an updated version of a Memorial Day blog I wrote about five years ago, both celebrating and mourning personages of the past who can only be reached by memories today. It’s funny how people in your life are there, flashing bright, briefly and with intensity, and then they are gone. This is especially true of military service in general and wartime duty in particular. You mourn the loss of guys you were close to— literally a [...]

By Wes Skillings|2023-02-19T01:49:22+00:00February 19, 2023|Aging, Companionship, Friends, Vietnam, War|

A Night of Ultimate Sacrifice at the Plum Farm

Uncle Sam’s call became more of a challenge during the Vietnam War. Frederick Richard “Rick” Ohler’s name is just one of about 58,000, mostly men and barely old enough to be treated as adults had they avoided military service. They are all dead. Rick, at 24, was one of the older soldiers in the 519th MI Battalion and, like many of us, he was an intelligence analyst. Our compound was in a rather rural place known as [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:45+00:00August 11, 2021|Bravery, Sacrifice, Uncategorized, Vietnam, War|

A Voter’s Journey through Five Decades of Change

Actually, every vote counts toward another vote— from the electors, who are members of the Senate, House of Representatives, and three from the District of Columbia. It was a compromise and it complicates the majority-rules premise. This is my last blog before election day, and more people have already voted than will vote, as my wife and I will, at their local polling places next Tuesday. Changing the minds of voters at this point is very unlikely [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:57+00:00October 28, 2020|Democracy, Elections, Electoral College, Fairness, History, Politics, Presidency, Sacrifices, Vietnam, Voting|

Partisanship: And Never the Twain Shall Meet

Forget that "more perfect union" our founders called for. It's us-versus-them from hereon in. To me it’s a little scary that everyone is so locked into political party regardless of what is right or wrong, true or false and moral or immoral. Where have all the nuances gone on what constitutes a Democrat or Republican? I think of myself as being a moderate, whether as a Democrat or Republican (and I’ve been both), but I don’t know [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:10:30+00:00February 12, 2020|American History, Congress, Conservatives, Donald Trump, Elections, Jim Crow, Liberals, Newspapers, Obama, Patriotism, Politics, Presidency, Social Issues, Vietnam|