Month: January 2024

     One of the coolest aspects of doing these tours on Saipan & Tinian is getting to share these islands with folks interested in a wide range of types of tourism including Atomic Tourism, War Tourism, Ecotourism, Thano Tourism (look it up!), Pacific island culture, historical sites, abandoned buildings and more!

     I’ve been fortunate to hang out with geologists, bird watchers, nuclear physicists, foamers (yep, look it up!), and of course war buffs and authors. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of giving Fred G. Brems a two-day battlefield tour of Saipan and going in search of Hara-Kiri Gulch. (Fred gifted me the topographic map and Campaign in the Marianas by Philip A. Crowl he brought with him and that we used in our adventure and that I’ve since used to enhance the detailed nature and accuracy of my tours! Thanks, Fred!) See Fred’s tour below.

     Little did I know at the time that Fred was already several years into an 18-year project chronicling his father’s participation in World War II. We’ve kept in touch over the years and so I’ve had on-going behind-the-scenes access during the writing and development!

     So, it is with great pride that I announce that Fred’s almost two-decade project and ode to his WWII veteran father has been picked up and published by Stackpole Books! (See press release & below)

     Knights of Freedom With the Hell on Wheels Armored Division in World War II, A Story in Photos by Lt. Col. Frederick C. Brems USAR (RET) With Fred G. Brems was released worldwide on January 16th, 2024! Check it out and order on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RXQ2iy

 

 

 

THINGS FALL APART
“One of the more fascinating phenomena to observe in modern society is that of people with limited life experience, inadequate vocabulary and delusional thinking attempting to understand, navigate and explain reality to themselves and others.”—Walt F.J. Goodridge

When people who don’t know how the world works
start to work in the world,
the world no longer works as it should

When people who don’t know why policies are enacted
start to enact policy,
ideology steers policy

When people who don’t understand why laws are made
start to make laws,
laws become toothless

When people who don’t know how jobs function
are hired to function in jobs,
incompetence abounds

When people who don’t understand the natural order
try to re-order what’s natural,
feelings replace facts

When people who’ve never been held accountable
face ethical decisions,
ethics are abandoned

When people who’ve failed based on merit
are allowed to advance,
self-entitlement soars

When people who can’t define the words they use
speak from positions of influence,
words lose their meaning

When people who prioritize opinions over facts
are given control,
opinions become reality

When systems that prioritize quotas over quality
are placed in operation,
systems implode

When people who don’t respect others’ individual authority
are given authority over others,
authority becomes authoritarianism

When people who never learned how a society advances
advance in society,
society regresses

When people of limited life experience and intelligence
rise to positions of governance,
Idiocracy ensues

In other words…
When people who don’t know how things work
start to work on things
…things fall apart