Take a peek into the “puntastic” (as one of the readers described the Musings of this Military Mind) collection of articles, anecdotes and topical commentary of global events. The range is huge starting from the US Presidential Elections and Covid 19 to the training regimen of the cadets in the Defence Academies. The author has captured his ruminations in a lucid and simple story narrative. “The Trump Card” The Trump(ets) of the world have heaved a sigh of relief after four years of having been blown non-stop, no wonder all that they produced these days was " Vivekamunandan..." When they were queried on their misery, they responded tongue in cheek that "They were 'biden' their time". “Independence Day the NDA Way” 2475 ft. was one of the peaks of the small hills in Khadakwasla. Why was it called 2475? No one knows. The actual height was probably a couple of feet less. Corporal then explained the modus operandi of the day's climb; we had to front roll up the slope...? Now this was turning out to be literally a bolt from the blue... a royal kick in the derriere provided the much needed booster. So began our very own freedom struggle, we the wretched second and third termers… the very lowly creatures in the food chain bore the brunt. “Oh those Bats” Apart from the social distancing, lockdowns and migrant labours, cricketers and baseball players are up in arms; they have asked for a change in the nomenclature of their “Bats”, they would not like to touch anything so vile in their wildest imagination. “Ode to NDA Masters” "Giving meaningful looks!” was how the charge read, forwarded by Dr (Mrs) SK Singh; the cadet was summoned to the squadron office and questioned. He was punished to be sent on liberty to Pune next Sunday to leave the instructor in question alone... “Quarantined” Covid 19 after all is a teen, adolescent, neither an adult nor a kid, quite confused, not taken seriously by the Americans nor by the Chinese. He is out to prove a point. How I wish the Chinks had waited for two more months before letting it lose, then it would have been christened Covid 20 and would probably have been more reasonable. “A Close Shave” Today's youngsters are all Virat Kohli look alikes... clones, same bearded chins with hardly any clean cut faces. I wonder why this reverse evolution has commenced in the men folk, where they have got so entangled in the facial hair that they have messed up Darwin's treatise itself. At this rate, soon they should be growing their vestigial tails on their derriere! “Close Encounters of the Hairy Kind(!)” The reason why we start to dread the visit to the saloon may be a matter of research. But to me it appears as though the blame lies squarely with our age old ‘samskaras’, ‘mundan’ as we all are aware, is our first introduction with this species of barbers or hair dressers, as they are addressed these days. Naturally after the ignominy of making a public spectacle of being shorn of one’s precious locks, the relations with the barbers were destined to be acrimonious.

‘Maverick’s Musings’ start with a tender tribute to a soul-mate. The young officer (YO) who had wooed and won the heart of a girl from an alien land shares his ‘Jab We Met’ (when we met!) moments of 1958. There was little in common between them except their humanity and core values of two ancient civilisations. They overcame impossible odds to create a relationship that lasted for 55 years. It is a heartwarming story that triggers emotions at a deeper level. The ‘episodic’ narrative then follows a linear timeline. It runs on two intertwined tracks. The personal thread follows his life from infancy to an awkward adolescence. Fortunately he finds a more confident life partner. The Greek girl uproots herself in pursuit of love and finds a new family in the warm folds of Indian military-life. Their life together matures into a well-rounded family. On the professional track the YO becomes a General in 30 years, after a series of trials and triumphs. The challenges include a resignation, a traumatic war injury, sadistic seniors, a cadet’s suicide and so on. He survives and succeeds. The family goes through phases of agony and ecstasy. Their ability to roll with the punches lies in their inner strength which this narrative shows in flashes- that source may be explored later!

The haphazardly written journal of a high school teacher deployed with the Oregon Army National Guard to Afghanistan in 2006-07, and his transition from being a teacher to a soldier.

Black conservative writer and commentator Ron Miller delivers a candid and compelling personal account on race in America in Sellout: Musings from Uncle Tom's Porch.

Every veteran has a story. You just have to listen to it. It can be surprising how difficult it is...and also how easy...for a veteran to be able to tell their story. The impacts of combat, deployments, or even just military experience in general are felt long after a veteran leaves the service. The guns do not always go silent when a veteran leaves the military...neither should the veteran. When combat veteran and retired Army Noncommissioned Officer Duane France retired, he knew he wanted to continue to serve his fellow veterans. As a grandson, nephew, and son of combat veterans, he grew up knowing the impact of combat and military service on veterans and their families, and as a leader with five combat and operational deployments, he saw the same things happening in the service members of his generation. After starting to work as a clinical mental health counselor exclusively for veterans and their spouses, Duane started to write his observations and experiences on his blog, Head Space and Timing, located at www.veteranmentalhealth.com. This book is a collection of 52 articles designed to help veterans, those who support them, and those who care for them to understand the military experience and to change the way they think about veteran mental health.

The autobiography every true American has been waiting for: a shockingly candid and raw confessional from a national treasure. From his humble beginnings in a desolate Iowa coal mining town, his years at Our Lady Queen of Chewbacca High School to his odds-defying climb to the dizzying heights of becoming America’s most trusted and beloved television News Anchor, Ron Burgundy pulls no punches in Let Me Off at the Top! In his very own words Burgundy reveals his most private thoughts, his triumphs and his disappointments. His life reads like an adventure story complete with knock down fights, beautiful women and double-fisted excitement on every page. He has hunted jackalopes with Bobby Kennedy and Peter Lawford, had more than his share of his amorous exploits, and formed the greatest on-air team in the history of televised news. Along the way, he hobnobbed with people you wish you knew and some you honestly wish you didn't -- celebrities, presidents, presidents' wives, celebrities' wives, dogs, and, of course Veronica Corningstone, the love of his life. Walter Cronkite, Barbra Streisand, Katie Couric, the list goes on. Who didn’t Mr. Burgundy, or “Ron” as he is known to his friends, rub elbows with in the course of his colorful and often criminal life? This may well be the most thrilling book ever written, by a man of great physical, moral and spiritual strength and not surprisingly a great literary talent as well. This book deserves a real shot at a Pulitzer Prize. In fact if it doesn’t win one then we will finally have proof that the Pulitzer is rigged. Ron Burgundy has taken the time to write a book. We owe it to him, as honest Americans, to read it.

Whether enemy or ally, demon or god, the source of satisfaction or the root of all earthly troubles, the penis has forced humanity to wrestle with its enduring mysteries. Here, in an enlightening and entertaining cultural study, is a book that gives context to the central role of the penis in Western civilization. A man can hold his manhood in his hand, but who is really gripping whom? Is the penis the best in man -- or the beast? How is man supposed to use it? And when does that use become abuse? Of all the bodily organs, only the penis forces man to confront such contradictions: something insistent yet reluctant, a tool that creates but also destroys, a part of the body that often seems apart from the body. This is the conundrum that makes the penis both hero and villain in a drama that shapes every man -- and mankind along with it. In A Mind of Its Own, David M. Friedman shows that the penis is more than a body part. It is an idea, a conceptual but flesh-and-blood measuring stick of man's place in the world. That men have a penis is a scientific fact; how they think about it, feel about it, and use it is not. It is possible to identify the key moments in Western history when a new idea of the penis addressed the larger mystery of man's relationship with it and changed forever the way that organ was conceived of and put to use. A Mind of Its Own brilliantly distills this complex and largely unexamined story. Deified by the pagan cultures of the ancient world and demonized by the early Roman church, the organ was later secularized by pioneering anatomists such as Leonardo da Vinci. After being measured "scientifically" in an effort to subjugate some races while elevating others, the organ was psychoanalyzed by Sigmund Freud. As a result, the penis assumed a paradigmatic role in psychology -- whether the patient was equipped with the organ or envied those who were. Now, after being politicized by feminism and exploited in countless ways by pop culture, the penis has been medicalized. As no one has before him, Friedman shows how the arrival of erection industry products such as Viagra is more than a health or business story. It is the latest -- and perhaps final -- chapter in one of the longest sagas in human history: the story of man's relationship with his penis. A Mind of Its Own charts the vicissitudes of that relationship through its often amusing, occasionally alarming, and never boring course. With intellectual rigor and a healthy dose of wry humor, David M. Friedman serves up one of the most thought-provoking, significant, and readable cultural works in years.