Dennis Latham: Life, Fiction, and the Pursuit of Madness

A Marine childhood friend, Bill Maag, took this picture of another childhood friend, US Army Paratrooper James Englert. Jimmy was killed by a sniper in August 1968, not long after I came home. Memorial Day When I was younger, I used to attend Memorial Day services at monuments where I live, and sometimes, I would participate. I don't do it much anymore, but I'm glad people honor our war dead a lot more than they did during my tour of Vietnam. Governments start the wars, not the troops, but we became easy targets for radicals and draft dodgers. I believe as long as a person is in your mind, they still exist. So, Jimmy, up there on the wall, will be 19 forever in the minds of his family and those who knew him: skinny, handsome, full of hope for the future. He is gone, but not forgotten. The Numbers Game Of War I'm currently reading Matterhorn by Karl Malantes, about the fictional 24th Marines of the 5th Marine Division in Vietnam. I was in all three Marine di...

Could he be the first real zombie? The First Real Zombie?  Reported to be the n ew Al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, was also reported killed by a drone in 2008. He's not the guy with a kind of same name who was beheading people in Iraq. This guy above was one they showed on television as being killed in Afghanistan a few years back, Bin Laden's right hand man. Seems like a wag the dog scenario and they (the government) are forgetting who they say is dead and who isn't. Either that or the guy came back from the dead, which would make him the first real zombie, making him eligible for the Book of World Records, if they can find him to kill him again. I figure maybe they can kill him ten or more times before it's over; just to keep our terror level at an all time high. Mantyhose Nylons for men? One company thinks so. I saw this Mantyhose story and thought this company is working daily to take man out of the word man. Mantyhose even sounds like a s...

The sword I keep near my desk, just in case gladiator games break out at my house. La Macha Grande Someone in the media made the ridiculous comment that 110 pound woman can have the same upper body strength as a 200 pound man. All I can say is that's why they have weight divisions in boxing, and this person obviously watches too many Hollywood movies where 90 pound women knock out 250 pound men with one punch in the jaw. Each time I see that happen in a movie I just shake my head. I never realized that some people actually believe it. You're An EXTREME Redneck When...... 1. You let your 14-year-old daughter smoke at the dinner table in front of her kids. 2. The Blue Book value of your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas is in it. 3. You've been married three times and still have the same in-laws. 4. You think a woman who is out of your league bowls on a different night.. 5. You wonder how service stations keep their rest-rooms so clean. ...