About Joe

Thank you for visiting! Over the course of my Coast Guard career, I assembled a small collection of original writings and leadership observations. The writing ranges from short posts and slides to essays and even some fiction. It includes both professional topics centering on leadership as well as personal topics and family stories. This site is simply an attempt to organize them - and I am very much still figuring out how to do that. I'll aim to publish blog posts and add to the reading log a few times a month. 

The name of the site comes from my home state of Maryland, which is called the Old Line State. This name dates back to the Revolutionary War where General George Washington bestowed the endearing nickname on the Maryland Regiment (or Line) for their courageous fighting, notably at the Battle of Long Island where the line covered his army's escape. He called it an "hour more precious to American liberty than any other." The home-page art is the "Battle of Long Island" by Alonzo Chappel (1858).

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Keep Reading! ~

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P.S. - the boy in this painting is me when I was about 7. It was painted by our family friend Roxolana Luczakowsky Armstrong.