MTMcGurk
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mtmcgurk.bsky.social
MTMcGurk
@mtmcgurk.bsky.social
IWI Fellow 2025. Views are my own and do not represent DoD or the Irregular Warfare Initiative.

Dad, Army Recruiter, aspiring historian, poet, #irregularwarfare, #poet. #cats #LetsGoPens 🐧 #library #milsky #zettelkasten

It’s a great day to recruit!
Shoofly thanksgiving this year
November 26, 2025 at 9:57 PM
28/2025 Mannerheim: Marshal of Finland 🇫🇮 A life in geopolitics by Henrik Meinander.

Fascinating biography. I like how the author discussed the historiography, myth, memory of Mannerheim.

This leads to a Cold War focused biography of Urho Kekkonen by Gordon F Sandor
@cornellupress.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by MTMcGurk
#OTD in 1863, 23,000 Union Troops storm Missionary Ridge in one of the all time epic charges in American military history decisively routing Confederate forces and opening the literal and symbolic “Gateway to the South” (1
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
So @dienekes.bsky.social book “Splintered Empires” led me to Henrik Meinander’s “Mannerheim” biography.

Nearly done with it so I’ll start “THE HUNDRED DAY WINTER WAR” by Gordon F. Sandor over the Thanksgiving holiday.
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by MTMcGurk
Looking for a distraction from the news? Turn your attention the latest JSMS issue found here www.tandfonline.com/toc/fslv20/3..., volume 38, issue 3, including papers about fascists, and antifascists... we'll let you delve into which is which...
The Journal of Slavic Military Studies
Volume 38, Issue 3 of The Journal of Slavic Military Studies
www.tandfonline.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by MTMcGurk
When the lockdowns started, I posted a list of substantive works of science fiction/fantasy to help people get through the pandemic while maintaining their sanity. Today, I thought I would make a similar list, only this time, works of military history dealing with World War II.
December 8, 2024 at 5:05 PM
#Histbookchat alert 🚨
you know you're getting old when you start getting excited for a book "1942: CRUX OF WAR" a year ahead of publication

global.oup.com/academic/pro...
November 25, 2025 at 2:13 AM
This was a hit at the office.

Feeling pretty good about that!
Banana bread complete

Added chocolate chips because #whynot
November 24, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Reposted by MTMcGurk
Some of you may recall this post. I thought I'd provide an update on how planning for my analog course is going...

It's been a mix of expected and unexpected, but welcome, surprises --
Fellow academics, I'm doing it. Going all in. Pulling the plug, literally.

This is on my syllabus for Spring 2026: "This is an analog class. No Canvas; this syllabus is your guide."

All readings are printed books; hand-written exams; no laptops. #academicbluesky #Highered #academia #Rutgers
November 24, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Banana bread complete

Added chocolate chips because #whynot
November 24, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by MTMcGurk
November 23, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Old bananas 🍌 = baking banana bread 🍞
November 23, 2025 at 10:55 PM
In today’s episode of “why did I wait so long to learn this / do this, this is easy” a local shop in SLC showed me how to clean my #fountainpen nibs and it is that easy?!

Blessings to Tabula Rasa in #SLC. #utah
November 23, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Cats must have a sensor in their brains that alerts them anytime a human sits or lies down.

Me: lies down

**2 seconds later

Cat: occupies lap by force
November 23, 2025 at 12:02 AM
#LetsGoPens 🏒 🥅 🚨
November 22, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Worth the watch. I had not understood the lore about it until I saw it referenced with burning man.

Come for Edward Woodward of “Breaker Morant” fame, stay for Christopher Lee because… you always stay for Christopher Lee!
“THE WICKER MAN” (1973) dir. Robin Hardy

Edward Woodward, Ingrid Pitt, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Christopher Lee

🎬 British Lion Films 🇬🇧
November 22, 2025 at 11:11 PM
New cat house who dis?
November 22, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Salt Lake City your library system is a gem 💎
November 22, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by MTMcGurk
What happened to war correspondent Richard Tregaskis following his severe wounding in Italy on this day in 1943? He was taken to the 38th Evacuation Field Hospital. Major William Pitts had already performed two brain operations before he started on Tregaskis at about two o’clock in the morning.
November 22, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Watching King & Conqueror on prime. I don’t watch much TV so this works.
November 21, 2025 at 9:03 PM
What’s everyone reading this weekend?

These, plus a couple chapters a day of Don Quixote. (Still peeved that book gets reduced to “chasing windmills”)
November 21, 2025 at 2:47 PM