-
Recent Posts
The Dog Tag Chronicles
Categories
Archives
- December 2022
- February 2022
- December 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- January 2020
- July 2019
- June 2019
- July 2018
- June 2018
- July 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- February 2017
- November 2016
- September 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- April 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- June 2013
- March 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- 9/11
- Afghan
- Afghanistan
- Air Force
- Army
- Bosnia
- Combat Zone
- current-events
- Danny Chen
- Deployment
- dogtag chronicles
- Enlisted
- Experiences
- FOB
- Fort Lewis
- Germany
- Greatest Generation
- Grunt
- grunt v. POG
- GWOT
- Harassment
- Hazing
- Hero's Journey
- IFOR
- Infantry
- Iraq
- Joseph Campbell
- Kandahar
- Leadership
- Life Skills
- Management
- Marines
- Military
- Military leadership
- Mission
- My Deployment
- Navy
- Navy SEAL
- Officers
- Osama bin Laden
- POG
- politics
- Post Traumatic Stress
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- POW
- PSYOP
- PTSD
- Ranger
- Rank
- Remember the Fallen
- Sailor
- September 11
- Service
- SFOR
- Soldier
- Soldiers
- Soldier Suicide
- So There I Was
- Special Forces
- Star Wars
- Stolen Valor
- Suicide
- Taliban
- The hero's journey
- the hero's journey home
- Training
- VA
- Veteran
- Veterans
- Veterans Affairs
- Vets
- Victim
- Village
- Women in Combat
- WWII
Tag Archives: Life Skills
You fight on your terms but you win on their terms
By: Peter Sessum Why did the U.S. win WWII? it wasn’t because we coordinated with the Soviets to overrun Berlin or we dropped a couple atom bombs over Japan. That is how we fought the war, we won because both Germany and Japan surrendered. That is … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Kicking Some Knowledge
Tagged Army, current-events, dogtag chronicles, Enlisted, Fight on your terms, Life Skills, Military, Military leadership, North Korea, North Korea Tunnel, Officers, politics, Special Forces, Veterans, Vets, win on their terms, WWII, Zombies
Leave a comment
No matter what you think you are made of, you are most likely wrong
By: Peter Sessum The History Channel recently completed the first season of The Selection, their social experiment where they took 30 civilian through a mock special operations selection course. I know it wasn’t their intention, but my veteran friends and … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, So There I Was
Tagged Air Force, Army, Basic Training, Boot Camp, Burpees, Cross Fit, CrossFit, dogtag chronicles, Experiences, Fun Mudder, Grunt, History Channel, If Only Ranger, Infantry, Life Skills, Military, navy seals, POG, PSYOP, Quit, quitters, So There I Was, Soldier, Spartan, Spartan Run, Special Forces, The Selection, Training, Veterans, Vets
1 Comment
Sometimes the military does some good
BY: Peter Sessum Every veteran I know has stories about discussions with young, idealistic civilians that didn’t go well. At some point we have all been lectured about all the babies that we are killing, all the countries we are invading … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Kicking Some Knowledge, So There I Was
Tagged Afghan, Afghanistan, Army, Civilian, Combat Zone, dogtag chronicles, Enlisted, Grunt, Hearts and Minds, Infantry, Kandahar, Life Skills, Military, Mission, My Deployment, OEF, Operation Enduring Freedom, PSYOP, reconstruction, So There I Was, Taliban, Veterans, Village
Leave a comment
Don’t be a Dick on Veteran’s Day
I have been seeing articles popping up lately by vets about Veteran’s Day. Some are insisting they are not a hero and some are pissed that some furniture store is having a sale because this day is about sucking up … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary
Tagged dogtag chronicles, Life Skills, Military, Veteran's Day, Veterans, Vets, what is a vet?
Leave a comment
Random Memory: The Power of the Sham Shield
By Peter Sessum A recent post on social media about the attitudes of the enlisted ranks in the Army prompted me to write this. The breakdown of ranks were pretty accurate but I thought the Specialist one was too limiting … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Kicking Some Knowledge, Military Leadership, Random Memories
Tagged AR 670-1, Army, CSM, dogtag chronicles, E-4, E4, Enlisted, Experiences, Germany, Leadership, Life Skills, Management, Military, Military leadership, Rank, Rnadom Memory, Sergeant Major, Sham Shield, So There I Was, Spec-4 Mafia, Specialist, Veterans, Vets
Leave a comment
The Duality of the American Veteran
By: Peter Sessum Serving in the military is one of those few jobs that brand you for life. No matter what you do, you will always be a veteran. It is one of the few professions that stays with you … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Kicking Some Knowledge
Tagged Air Force, Army, current-events, Experiences, Life Skills, Marines, Military, Navy, PTSD, Soldier, Veterans, Vets
1 Comment
Random Memory: Sledding in Bosnia
By: Peter Sessum I started the Dogtag Chronicles because of experiences I had on campus at the University of Washington. Too many people seemed to think people in the military are a bunch of clone troopers waiting to be sent … Continue reading
Posted in Random Memories, So There I Was
Tagged 1-26 INF, Army, Big Red One, Blue Spaders, Bosnia, Camp Dobol, Deployment, dogtag chronicles, Enlisted, Experiences, FOB, Grunt, IFOR, Infantry, Life Skills, Military, Mortars, Mount Vis, My Deployment, NATO, Operation Joint Endeavor, POG, SFOR, So There I Was, University of Washington
Leave a comment
When Hearts and Minds Fail: The Infamous Matchbooks
By: Peter Sessum The hunt for Osama bin Laden took far longer than it should have. For years everyone was wondering how the most famous man in the world stayed hidden in Afghanistan with the might and resources of the … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, So There I Was
Tagged Afghan, Afghanistan, AK-47, al-Qaeda, Army, Combat Zone, Cultural Awareness, dogtag chronicles, Experiences, Kandahar, Leadership, Life Skills, matchbooks, Military, Military leadership, Mission, My Deployment, Osama bin Laden, Pashtun, Psychological Operations, PSYOP, PSYOP product, So There I Was, Soldier, Taliban, Urdu, Village
Leave a comment
Random Memory: Shark Attack
By: Peter Sessum This week is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel and what better way to celebrate than to talk about a real life shark attack. Unfortunately, I don’t have an underwater experience to share, but this should be … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Random Memories, So There I Was
Tagged 1/50, Army, Basic Training, Boot Camp, Cattle car, Charlie Company, dogtag chronicles, Experiences, Fort Benning, Grunt, Infantry, knife hand, Knifehand, Life Skills, Military, Pathfinders, privates, Shark Attack, So There I Was, Soldier, Training
1 Comment
The Dogtag Chronicles 
Three Guiding Principles of Enlisted Leadership
By: Peter Sessum I’ll bet if you put the authors of books on military leadership in one room you would get a bunch of former field grade officers jacking each other off about how great they are. Every book on … Continue reading →