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ORDINARY MEN: RESERVE POLICE BATTALION 101 REVIEW

January 28, 2026 by David Gillaspie

After watching a portion of a documentary on German Reserve Police Battalion 101 I’m left with concerns. As the story is told on Netflix, ordinary men were recruited into police work. The idea of joining a police staff was better than going to the front. The guys selected got some extra training, then loaded up […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Alex pretti, America, americans, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, Constitution, Death, die, dog song, due process, education, father, fellow citizens, following, following orders, friends, government, history, holocaust, killing, learning, liberty, life, mass killing, mother, murderers, neighbors, orders, ordinary men, police battalion 101, property, sing, singing, true americans, writer, writers, writing, WWII

FAMILY TREE BRANCH OF RICHARDSONS

December 7, 2025 by David Gillaspie

As people age up and out they look for meaning in different places. Where some look to DNA, others shake the family tree. That’s what my Grandma did years ago. This is what dropped out:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: admiral, admiral richardson, Army, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, club life, December 7, education, family tree, following orders, future, general, general richardson, history, illegal orders, learning, Navy, orders, Pearl Harbor, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Texas state historical association, WWII

FOR THOSE GIVING AND FOLLOWING ORDERS

November 22, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Was it a treat to see an ocean of men and women trained in giving and following orders all in the same place? It was for me. These people are all Hall of Fame worthy, and already enshrined in my personal hall. While most of us packed our gear and went home after two, three, […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, boomers, education, family, following orders, give orders, giving orders, history, illegal orders, learning, Love, MARRIAGE, married, millennials, North Bend, orders, Oregon, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, story, wife, writer, writers, writing

UNIFORMED SERVICE: THE SOFT TIMES

August 22, 2025 by David Gillaspie

The uniformed service is the backbone of every country that uses effective traffic control on their busy streets. It’s either the guy in a uniform pulling drivers over for traffic violations, for not following the rules of the road, or before traffic lights, a guy in a uniform directing traffic in the street like the […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: army shirt, army uniform, baby boomer, bank robber, bank robber beer, beer, BOOMER, code of silence, England, follow orders, following orders, history, legacy, Magic roundabout, man trust, mask, matching outfits, no mask, shame, shameful, soft times, traffic control, uniform, uniformed service, uniformed services, wanted poster

DIFFERENT STORIES FOR DIFFERENT PEOPLE

August 14, 2025 by David Gillaspie

New stories, different stories, hold our interest. No one hangs with a snoozer story that repeats itself until a predictable ending. It needs cliff-hangers, narrow escapes, unimaginable risks to overcome. Most of all, it needs a hero, someone to cheer for, someone to welcome into our hearts. What does a hero need?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, attention, citizen, citizenship, democracy, different, different people, different stories, entertainment, following orders, freedom, hero, kidnapping, law, law abiding, law and order, laws, people, primetime, readers, readers' attention, registered voter, stories, submitted, tactics, television vision, Tom Hanks, truth, United States, villain, voter

LIFE CHOICE MAKES YOU GREAT

July 26, 2025 by David Gillaspie

One life choice can make all the difference. Things were tough on the Oregon Trail and people needed a break. The Donner Party started with a little known shortcut through the mountains. If you don’t know the story, click here. It turned out to be the wrong choice.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blogger, blogger life, boomerpdx, earth, education, explore, failure to communicate, family, following orders, france, German leadership, history, human awareness, life, life choice, living life, millennials, paris, shameful reminder, space, tank man, writer, writing, writing life, WWII, your life

WRITTEN RULES TO FOLLOW

July 12, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Written rules started early for baby boomers. “Do this, not that, and do it better than you did last time. I’ll write it down so you don’t forget.” From yard work to school work, to spending time with friends, there were rules. Ignore the rules and you might be the kid standing in the corner […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Army, Baby Boomers, boomers, condition report, following orders, law, magna carta, Meaning, NPR, Oregon, oregon guys, Portland, reading, reading people, rules, rules of conduct, words, write, write it, writing, written, written rules

HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS FROM WWII

July 11, 2025 by David Gillaspie

I’m full of historical reflections because I read sources from history, also called history books. Those were the main readings for graduating with a history degree. It also helps to have spent two decades in historical agency work. The lasting lesson for me was seeing both sides of a story and how close things came […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: D-Day, Dunkirk, facing history, following orders, hiroshima, historical, historical accuracy, historical documentaries, history stuff, loyalty, Pearl Harbor, peer pressure, teamwork, Tokyo bay, war crimes, WWII

BRAGGING RIGHTS ON THE WALL OF FAME

June 10, 2025 by David Gillaspie

You’ve got bragging rights when you’re got a good dog like this. We went to class together, graduated together, and one of us peed on the floor during class. We’re still going strong but the teacher and the store she worked for moved on. Education is funny like that. What we learn stays with us […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: advanced degree, Army veteran, bragging, bragging rights, college diplomas, doubters, fame, following orders, free spirits, generations, high school, high school diplomas, home team, homer, honorable discharge, Korean War, rights, service, skeptics, the Beatles, veteran, Vietnam, vietnam era, wall of fame, WWII, young guys

INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

June 9, 2025 by David Gillaspie

I’ve been personally indivisible for quite some time. It could be from growing up with brothers where you carved out your own identity, and a sister who had it all figured out. And I wasn’t the first born, which is important, so I never had everything to myself without some pesky little creature making sounds […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, american free speech, Army, Baby Boomers, Bandon, blogger, caring community, dignity, education, effect change, family, Florence, following orders, history, hope, indivisible, justice, kindred spirits, liberty, marching, pepper spray, Portland, present and accounted for, protest, SPORT, spring chicken, travel, wrestling