Photography by John Michael

2009 – The Year of the NCO

The sergeant is the Army.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates."

thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953-1961

The "Kansas Cyclone"

The 34th US President, Dwight David Eisenhower played football for the United States Military Academy at West Point where he was known as “The Kansas Cyclone” and ran seventy yards in a game against Yale in 1912. A knee injury in his second year ended his football career (but not his military career). Eisenhower went on to coach the Ft Benning Doughboys and during his military career arose to the Rank of General – Supreme Commander of the Allies in Europe during WW II and then later served two terms as President of the United States of America

In 1956, he established the marksman unit in the US Army that often provides keen competitors to the Olympics. They have brought back over 40 medals from those competitions, while acting as a research and improvement unit for the entire US Army. They’re based at Ft Benning, GA.

The distinction of the Ft Benning Doughboys is that the football team in the 1960s was undefeated.

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

I’ve been doing some research and found this among the WW II archives. If you didn’t know Churchill, despite a rather challenging time in his youth with delivering everyday speech, became one of the most memorable speakers and statesmen.

He like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, were great leaders at the time. It’s sad we have few to none today of such caliber. Those who might be ascending to the leadership roles are tormented and torn down for their character and ethics.

Dwight D. Eisenhower on the Total Effects of War…

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the lives of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children… this is not a way of life in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Fort Benning Doughboys…

I recently was asked by one of my friends to restore a photo of a championship football team from 1962 of the Fort Benning Doughboys. They were undefeated in their season and are planning a reunion later in 2008. It was a rewarding challenge to take a 40 year-old photo and bring it back to life in a current version.

The photo turned out so well, that I suggested to this fine athelete and retired US Army Special Forces officer that I could then turn it into a notecard. What you see below is my latest creation from that effort.

I also did some research about Fort Benning, located in Georgia, and found that the installation is located on what was originally farmland that previously contained many Native American settlements and has been a launching pad for many outstanding names in the annals of history — “Fort Benning’s long history has produced an impressive alumni list. Eisenhower coached its football team. Marshall rewrote the curriculum. Patton pushed men to prepare for battle. Bradley organized its Officer’s Training School, a source for men of rank in World War II. Powell and Schwarzkopf were honor graduates, as were Eaton and Freakley and other heroes from the sands of Iraq.”

Key to the success of the infantry of the US Army, soldiers learn how to jump from airplanes, the US Army Rangers are now there, and the powerful mobility of helicopters was discovered at “Benning”