One of my favorite places to visit is Castle Argghhh, www.thedonovan.com. Run by John Donovan, a retired major, Argghhh is a gathering place for military people and those interested in the military.

John links to current stories that you might not otherwise hear about along with original posts. Both the linked stories and original posts are worthwhile, informative and sometimes just plain fun.

Billed as "The Home of Two of Jonah's Military Guys" Argghhh actually has three main contributors; John, Dusty and Bill. Jonah is Jonah Goldberg, an editor of National Review Online, www.nationalreview.com an online version of National Review.

One of the features about Argghhh that I particularly like is the Whatziss. John will dig through the armory of Argghhh and find some weapon that has a unique feature and take a closeup of it. Denizens of Argghhh are invited to guess what the Whatziss is. If no one guesses correctly John will reveal incrementally more and more of the Whatziss until someone gets it right. I have yet to figure out what the Whatziss is before some other denizen reveals its identity but I have a lot of fun trying.

Another feature of Argghhh isn't so much fun, but it is necessary. John has connections with a lot of active duty people and they report on what they are up to, within the limits of operational security. Sometimes it's good. They report on some activity or other helping the Iraqis or some other group with the mainstream media ignoring the story. It helps to balance out the bias the national media has against the military in general and especially anything good happening in Iraq.

One of the things John does at Argghhh is to give an account of the sacrifice made by individuals serving in our armed forces who reside in Kansas and Missouri. It is a feature I wish could become very rare, but happens with much too much regularity. You won't get such details from the MSM. I am often humbled when I read of what these (usually) young people have accomplished and what we, as a nation and a people have lost.

As I get older I seem to find more and more things about the younger generation that bother me. But what I didn't expect is the fact that I also find more and more things about the younger generation that please and even amaze me. The younger denizens of Argghhh fall into the latter category. Go visit them. See what they are up to. You'd be proud to know them, I'm sure.

While I'm on the subject of the younger members of our military I'm going to take the opportunity to welcome my new nephew back from Iraq. Rodney Bastow and my niece Leona were married in January but only had a couple of days of wedded bliss before Rodney had to return to Iraq. From what I hear he's back. I haven't seen him yet, but then I did mention that my niece and he were only married a short time before he shipped back didn't I? I expect that, like the groundhog in February, the two of them will soon stick their heads out and decide to emerge into the sunlight.