In today’s battle against COVID-19, Maryland has great latitude to employ its National Guard in the physical domain, but is hamstrung by policy and perception from fully engaging its cyber force. And while COVID-19 is a biological malady rather than an electronic one, the hobbling of our cyber capabilities will, indeed, cost lives. In fact, in all likelihood it already ...

As I write these words, the soldiers and airmen of the Maryland National Guard are on the front lines of our response to the coronavirus pandemic. They’re risking their health—and perhaps their lives—to fight an enemy they can’t see or hear, and against which the weapons they might ...

By Staff Sgt. Margaret Taylor, 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment— “They must have lowered the standards.” We were talking about the two women who had just completed Army Ranger School, and my brother Tim was playing devil’s advocate. Even knowing that he was only parroting a common negative opinion and it wasn’t his own, I got huffy. I sputtered something about Ranger pride and ...

Over a year ago, at age 17, I was shipped off from my little hometown in Connecticut to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Many Americans don’t go through the sweat and tears that it takes to become a soldier and even fewer choose to take the misunderstood path that I followed through Basic Training. I enlisted into the Army National Guard ...

September is Suicide Prevention Month. Each day service members, veterans, and retirees take their own lives due to a myriad of different stressors. The military isn’t the only organization facing this problem; suicide is a national issue. Military members are often referred to as heroes, but the fact is, service members are only human and are subject to the same ...

I moved to Maryland from the Midwest in the early 2000s when I was 19. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a culture shock, but I saw marked differences between St. Louis and Baltimore. What struck me most about the city of Baltimore was its diversity. In the Inner Harbor, for example, I encountered interracial couples and homosexual couples openly ...

I turned to one side, then the other, and sighed at my reflection in the mirror. “I’m fat.”I poked at the skin on my arm. Yep, there’s definitely a wobble there. My reflection was flabby. I was flabby. Not overweight, but very out of shape: skinny and fat at the same time. That’s not a happy state to be in ...