John Sloan

28 MAY 1933 - C1 - 20200

Center for Oral History Interview

John Sloan Web Page

Xenophon Web Page



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[My granddaughter took this photo - 28 MAY 2023]



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Sloan Family Photo
[John's 90th Birthday - MAY 2023]



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[Dave McNerney Funeral]



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[Dave McNerney Funeral]



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[Dave McNerney Funeral]



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[Dave McNerney Funeral]



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[Dave McNerney Funeral]



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[Dave McNerney Funeral]



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[Dave McNerney Funeral]



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John Sloan and Durf McJoynt
[Washington's Estate - Durf and Barbara are Docents, and
Durf created and built this sign - MAY 2023]



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Rich and Inez Cardillo, Connie Franklin, John Sloan,
Kip Volkstadt, Ruth Sloan, Dick and Sandy Wargowsky,
Jim Cutchin, Matt Schepps. (Betty Schepps took the picture.)
[DC Class Lunch - JAN 2023]



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Sloan's 7th great, great offspring
[2022]



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                                                               John and Ruth Sloan 2021 Christmas Letter

                                   Jesus Christ, son of Mary; is the Lord of all time: come, let us adore HIM, alleluia!

Dear family and friends,

We have been blessed with another year of no major health issues, and this is truly a blessing at our ages.

Mostly, there are changes in our grandchildren’s lives.

Our children and spouses: - Julie and Mike, John and Petra, still are working hard and look forward to the year they can retire. John and Petra are in the process of building an exercise jacuzzi at their Front Royal Property. Jared and Kristen have huge projects of creating a business so Jared can quit his Amazon job. They have purchased much equipment for land clearing and forestry, produce their own vegetables and animals, and are building rental homes. Their web site is www.7Bforestrymulching.com James unfortunately, has not worked since the start of the COVID situation, but would like to return to his job at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in D. C.

Julie and Mike family: Elizabeth married John Barker on 9 April with a beautiful Mass at St. John’s in Leesburg, VA., followed by a wonderful reception at their favorite winery They were fortunate that the restrictions were lifted in time so that they could have all their guests attend. Baby Paul Francis Barker is expected in February (what a joy) Amanda and Peter Kruger still live near Denver with, Michael (3) and twins, Alex and Charlie (1). Monica has begun her Nurse Practitioner Course, which will require several years, as she works as an Emergency Room Nurse. Carly and David have been in Manassas, while David attends a Marine School at Quantico. We are so happy that their next assignment will be right here at Ft. Belvoir VA., which is only about 30 min away. So they are house hunting. Michael, graduated from Virginia Tech in May and continues to work at the same contractor from home. Dan had a full schedule of classes at the Community College but now plans to move on to Franciscan University in January. John and Petra’s family: Philipp and Alex both moved to new jobs: Philipp is a data analyist contractor for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Exploisives. Alex is a consultant health care data analyist.

Jared and Kristen’s family: Connor left the Coast Guard and moved to the family home in Sand Point, Idaho, where he works with Jared’s company and as a prep cook at a restaurant. Aidan is graduating a year early from Hampton Sidney College and plans to work for a year before applying for Medical School. The remaining five children; Andrew, Eva, Theresa, Margaret and Nickolas (ages 17 to 7) are involved with more activities than I can keep up with; 4-H Club projects, Church groups, TKD, basketball, volleyball, soccer, Lacrosse; all while being home schooled by Kristen, They are all ready to spend the ski season on the slopes, which are just minutes from their home
.
Our favorite family activity is the annual beach week in N.C. This year Jared, Kristen and children will be able to be with us. We are really looking forward to that.

We pray for each of you and for our country.

May the Joy and Peace of our new born Savior be ever with you and your family.

Love,

Ruth and John

Family identification: Back row: Philipp, Petra, John Jr., John Sr., James, Mike, John B., Peter, w/Alexander, Monica w/Nora, David w/Ben, Dan, Michael Front row: Alex, Kavi (Alex’s friend), Ruth, Julie, Elizabeth, Amanda w/Michael & Charlie, Carly w/Lucia, Julia (Michael’s friend)



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Rich Cardillo and John Sloan
[Don Hilbert Funeral - JAN 2021]



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2020 Christmas Letter



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2019 Christmas Letter



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Nick Negaard and John Sloan
[Tank Museum Show - SEP 2019]



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John Sloan
[Tank Museum Show - SEP 2019]



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4 Sloan Generations @ Duck
(Missing 2 and 1 who took picture)



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[Frank LeCates Funeral - OCT 2018]

More Funeral Pictures

Funeral Video



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[Tom Herren Funeral - SEP 2018]

More Funeral Pictures



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Sloan Vacation
[Duck NC - JUN 2018]



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Sloan Rental House (9 bedrooms)
[Duck NC - JUN 2018]



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John and Ruth Sloan - son John and wife Petra and their son Philipp - front right
daughter Julianne and her daughter, DVM Elizabeth [Local beer joint - JUN 2018]



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Wargowsky - Cutchin - Sloan
[DC Party - DEC 2017]



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Frank Ceglowski Armour - Nick Negaard - John Sloan
[C-1 Mini - JAN 2018]



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Pages' and Ruth Sloan
[South Carolina - SEP 2015]



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Fred Woerner, Patty Page, Sloan's
[South Carolina - SEP 2015]



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George Page, Fred Woerner, John Sloan
[South Carolina - SEP 2015]



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Ruth Sloan and Sybil Michalove
[60th Reunion - May 2015]



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Ruth Sloan
[60th Reunion - May 2015]



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Maurer, Lilly, Cooper, Sloan
[60th Reunion - May 2015]



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Vern Pace and John Sloan
[60th Reunion - May 2015]



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LTC(R) John F. Sloan, USMA '55 interviews with
the Center for Oral History [May 2015]



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John and James Sloan (son)
[B-17 Tail @ Manassas Air Show - MAY 2015]



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John and Andrew Sloan (grandson]
[MAY 2015]



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John Sloan, Durf McJoynt, Dan Troyan
[DC Party - DEC 2014]



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Ruth and John Sloan
[DC Party - DEC 2014]



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Fred Woerner and Jared Sloan
[DEC 2014]



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Fred Woerner and John Sloan
[DEC 2014]



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Fred Woerner and Jared Sloan
[DEC 2014]



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John Sloan, Carl McNair, Bill Harris, Mary Longbottom, Marie Spara (Arlington Lady), Tommy West [Dean Longbottom Funeral @ Arlington - JAN 2013]



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John Sloan Jr. and Marty McGuire
[DC Party - DEC 2012]



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John Sloan Jr., Rich Miller, Julianne and
Mike Byers [DC Party - DEC 2012]



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George Page, Diann and Dick Gottron, John Sloan Jr.,
Mike Byers [DC Party - DEC 2012]



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Dick Gottron, John Sloan Jr., Julianne Byers
[DC Party - DEC 2012]



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Diann and Dick Gottron, John Sloan Jr.,
Julianne Byers [DC Party - DEC 2012]



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Ruth Sloan and Marcia Cathey
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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Ruth Sloan, Barb and Norm Blahuta, Elaine West,
Marcia Cathey [Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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Ruth Sloan and Linda Newton
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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Al Spaulding and Ruth Sloan
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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John Sloan
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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Marcia Cathey, Rod Vitty, Ruth Sloan, Connie and Joe Franklin,
Rich Miller [Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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John and Ruth Sloan
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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Anita and John Rudzki, Ruth Sloan
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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John and Ruth Sloan
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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Anita and John Rudzki, Ruth Sloan
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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Dan Troyan, Ruth Sloan, Elaine West, Dot Spaulding
[Bob Newton Farewell - SEP 2012]



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Ruth Sloan, Mary Monahan, Dick Wargowsky
[DC Party - DEC 2011]



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Ruth Sloan, Durf and Barbara McJoynt
[DC Party - DEC 2011]



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John and Ruth Sloan
[DC Party - DEC 2011]



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Ruth Sloan and Ted Livesay
[DC Party - DEC 2011]



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Lorna Malooley, Ruth Sloan, Lorna's daughter
[DC Party - DEC 2011]



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Ruth Sloan, Betsy and Ed Anderson
[DG Mini - May 2011]



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John Sloan and Phil Enslow
[DG Mini - May 2011]



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Ruth Sloan and Rod Vitty
[DG Mini - May 2011]



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Ruth Sloan and Bob Strati
[DG Mini - May 2011]



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John and Ruth Sloan
[Nancy Cutchin Funeral - MAY 2011]



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Rich Miller, Tommy and Elaine West, Ruth Sloan
[Nancy Cutchin Funeral - MAY 2011]



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Dave McNerney, Dick Wargowsky, Matt Schepps, Tommy West,
Ruth Sloan [Nancy Cutchin Funeral - MAY 2011]



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Patty Page, Ruth Sloan, Barbara McJoynt
[DC Party - DEC 2010]



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Ruth Sloan
[Pop Warner Funeral - OCT 2010]



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Ruth Sloan, Marcia Cathey, Mac McIlroy
[Pop Warner Funeral - OCT 2010]



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Jim Ryan and Ruth Sloan
[Pop Warner Funeral - OCT 2010]



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Ruth Sloan and Jim Ryan
[Pop Warner Funeral - OCT 2010]



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Ruth Sloan, Bob Newton, Tommy West
[Chuck Roades Funeral - AUG 2010]



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Bob Newton, Ruth Sloan, Barb Blahuta
[Chuck Roades Funeral - AUG 2010]



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Ruth Sloan, Tommy and Elaine West, John Rudzki
[Chuck Roades Funeral - AUG 2010]



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Ruth and John Sloan
[50th Anniversary - AUG 2010]



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John Sloan
[50th Anniversary - AUG 2010]



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Carla Hilbert, Ruth Sloan, Greta Masson
[DC Party - DEC 2009]



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Pat Ryan and Ruth Sloan
[DC Party - DEC 2009]



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Ruth Sloan and Anne Malone
[DC Party - DEC 2009]



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Emily Karam and Ruth Sloan
[Ray Karam Funeral - DEC 2009]



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Ruth Sloan and Ray Gunderson
[Ray Karam Funeral - DEC 2009]



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Ruth Sloan and Dick Traut
[Ray Karam Funeral - DEC 2009]



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Don Hilbert, Danielle and Dan Troyan, Ruth Sloan
[Ray Karam Funeral - DEC 2009]



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Ruth Sloan and Jack Doyle
[Ray Karam Funeral - DEC 2009]



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Ruth Sloan and Emily Karam
[Ray Karam Funeral - DEC 2009]



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Mary Andrews, Dave McNerney, Ruth Sloan
[Ray Karam Funeral - DEC 2009]



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Pat and Dick Dinwiddie, Paula and Jack Campbell,
Ruth and John Sloan [Salado TX - JUL 2009]



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Jack Campbell, John Sloan, Dick Dinwiddie
[Salado TX - JUL 2009]



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Ted Gay, Dan Ludwig, Ruth Sloan
[Bill Welter Funeral - MAR 2009]



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Don Hilbert, Sherry Welter, Ruth Sloan, Carl McNair
[Bill Welter Funeral - MAR 2009]



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Carla Hilbert, Elaine West, Pat Strati, West,
Ruth Sloan [Scribe to CO Party - MAR 2009]



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Ruth Sloan and Linda Newton
[Scribe to CO Party - MAR 2009]



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Pat Strati, Linda Newton, Betty Schepps, Ruth
Sloan [Scribe to CO Party - MAR 2009]



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Pat Strati, Linda Newton, Betty Schepps, Ruth Sloan,
Elaine West [Scribe to CO Party - MAR 2009]



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Barb and Norm Blahuta, Ruth Sloan
[Scribe to CO Party - MAR 2009]



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Chuck Roades, Ray Karam, Ruth Sloan
[Scribe to CO Party - MAR 2009]



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Ruth and John Sloan
[Scribe to CO Party - MAR 2009]



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Greta Masson, Pat Strati, Ruth Sloan, Chuck
Roades [Scribe to CO Party - MAR 2009]



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Patty Page and Ruth Sloan
[DC Party - DEC 2008]



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Ruth Sloan and Quent Bates
[DC Party - DEC 2008]



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Matt and Betty Schepps, Ruth Sloan
[Ted Bishop Funeral - OCT 2008]



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John Sloan and Tommy West
[Ted Bishop Funeral - OCT 2008]



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? and Ruth Sloan
[DC Party - DEC 2007]



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[DC Party - DEC 2007]



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[DC Party - DEC 2007]



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Rear: Hilbert, Troyan, Deardorff, Page, Malone, Ryan, Nidever, Gay, Middle: Carpenter, Peg Robinson, Anne Malone, McNair, Front: Pat Strati, Ruth Sloan, Joan McCulla, Jo Ann McNair [DC Party - DEC 2007]



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Rear: Strati, Robinson, Hilbert, Troyan, Deardorff, Page, Middle: Barb Blahuta, Carla Hilbert, Carpenter, Peg Robinson, Anne Malone, Front: Marly Carpenter, Ruth Sloan, Pat Strati, Joan McCulla [DC Party - DEC 2007]



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Rear: Strati, Hilbert, Middle: Blahuta, Myrna Williamson, Barb Blahuta, Carla Hilbert, Carpenter, Front: Elaine West,
Marly Carpenter, Ruth Sloan [DC Party - DEC 2007]



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Rear: Blahuta, Myrna Williamson, Strati, Hilbert, Troyan, Deardorff, Page, Middle: West, Barb Blahuta, Carla Hilbert, Carpenter, Peg Robinson, Anne Malone, Front: Elaine West, Marly Carpenter, Pat Strati, Ruth Sloan, Joan McCulla, Jo Ann McNair [DC Party - DEC 2007]



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Ruth Sloan and Ute Bergen
[Moving to CO party for Bergen - NOV 2007]



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Elaine West, Ruth Sloan, Linda Newton
[Moving to CO party for Bergen - NOV 2007]



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Elaine West, Ruth Sloan, Linda Newton
[Moving to CO party for Bergen - NOV 2007]



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Ruth Sloan, Jack and Nancy Conklin '56, Dave Maurer
[Toni Maurer Funeral - OCT 2007]



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Marvel LaFrenz and Ruth Sloan
[Toni Maurer Funeral - OCT 2007]



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Marvel LaFrenz, Lori O'Neill (Toni's sister), Ruth Sloan
[Toni Maurer Funeral - OCT 2007]



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Sloan's - Bob Meisenheimer - Michalove's - Rich Miller's -
Doris (Mize's Friend) [China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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John Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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John Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth and John Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Michalove's and Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Rich Miller's and Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth and John Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Rich Miller's and Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan and Sybil Michalove
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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John and Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Rich Miller's - Michalove's - Ruth Sloan - Bob
Meisenheimer and Doris [China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth and John Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth and John Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Michalove's and Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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Ruth Sloan
[China Trip - MAY 2007]



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John Sloan Postcard from China
[c2007]



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Ruth Sloan and Mary Ann Miller
[DEC 2006]



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Ruth Sloan and Val Bundren
[DEC 2006]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Norma and Dick Auer, Ruth Sloan
[DEC 2006]



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Don Hilbert and John Sloan
[Al Bundren Funeral - DEC 2006]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Sybil and Larry Michalove, Ruth Sloan
[Al Bundren Funeral - DEC 2006]



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Jack Doyle and Ruth Sloan
[Al Bundren Funeral - DEC 2006]



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Ruth Sloan, Dick and Norma Auer
[North Carolina - JUN 2006]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *





May, Carpenter, Heyer x55, Norm Smith, Andrews, Welter, Lichtenberg, Streett, Cardillo, Fralen, Drummond, Vitty, Sloan [DG Mini - MAY 2006]



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Welter, Ruth Sloan, Drummond
[DG Mini - MAY 2006]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Ruth Sloan and Kelly Lichtenberg
[DG Mini - MAY 2006]



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[DG Mini - MAY 2006]



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Bob Carpenter and John Sloan
[c2006]



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? - Rich Miller's - Sloan
[DEC c2005]



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Sloan, Schauer, Capt. Ruski, Anderson
[JUN 2005 Russia Trip]



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[50th Reunion Bio]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Lynn, Bazilwich, Vitty, Regnier, Jack Campbell, Strom, Bossert,
McCloskey, Munroe, Sloan, Pirkey, Andrews [50th Reunion]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Page, Pirkey, Sloan, Andrews, Sechrist,
C. Johnson, Negaard [50th Reunion]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



John Sloan
[50th Reunion]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Sloan, Father Oscar, West
[50th Reunion]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Sloan, Sherry Welter, Father Oscar, West,
Zaire, Enrique [50th Reunion]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *





Brook Hardy Agnew, Nancy Cutchin, Matt and Betty Schepps, Bergen, Cutchin, Russell, McCulla, Roades, Ruth Sloan, Gay, Welter, McNerney [John Hardy Funeral - JAN 2005]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



McCulla, Cutchin, Betty and Matt Schepps, Ruth
Sloan, Gay [John Hardy Funeral - JAN 2005]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Russell, Ewing, McCulla- Sloan, Rich Miller, Bergen,
McNair [John Hardy Funeral - JAN 2005]



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Miller's and John Sloan
[DEC 2004]



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Drummond, Trobaugh, Meisenheimer,
Ruth Sloan [DG Mini - MAY 2004]



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Minich, Bazilwich, Meisenheimer, Sloan, Bundren, R Miller (kneeling), Traut, Howie Stone, Follett, Maurer (part hidden), Ship captain, Fiscus, Parks, Wheeler, J Strickland, Werner, Black, Bergen, Michalove, Tennant [JUN 2003 Russia Trip]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



John Sloan
[JUN 2003 Russia Trip]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Caye Wheeler, Ruth Sloan, Mary Ann Miller
[JUN 2003 Russia Trip]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Ruth and John Sloan, George Gordon
[JUN 2003 Russia Trip]



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Sloan, Wheeler's, Page, Bates, Armour,
Newton, Bergen, Dienst [1999]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



: - Page's - Sloan's - ?
[c1997]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Ruth Sloan - Carla Hilbert - Marcia Cathey - Vitty's -
Roades' - McNair's - Lo Dienst [c1997]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Horst - Sloan - Page
[NOV 1996]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Sloan - Wheeler's - Page - Bates - ? -
Newton - Bergen - Dienst [c1996]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Strati and Sloan's
[c1996]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Dienst - ? - Page - Wheeler - Fikaris - Bergen - ? - Bill Anderson - Sloan -
Newton - Vitty - Masson - Strati - Bates - Horst - Lichtenberg [c1996]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Bob Carpenter, John Sloan, Rich Miller
[c1993]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



John Sloan, Dick Baker, Marty McGuire
[Ft. Myer - c1991]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Fontaine, Sloan, Wargowsky, Russell, Carol
Baker, John and Jane Rudzki [c1990]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Carpenter, Sloan, Newton
[1989]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Bob Carpenter and John Sloan
[1989]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Ruth Sloan, Tommy and Elaine West
[1988]



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Rear: Cathey's, Monahan's, Ed Anderson's, Sloan Front:
Vitori's, Wargowsky's, McJoynt, Nidever and Guest [1987]



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Marly and Bob Carpenter, John Sloan
[1986]



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Sloan's - Strati's - Chikalla's
[DC Party - c1985]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Sloan's and Malone's
[c1985]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Peters - Sloan - Rich Miller's- Newton -
Strati - Ladies [c1985]



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[25th Reunion - 1980]

Row 10: Bergen, Cathey, Chapman, Gamble, Todd Graham, Don Smith, ?, Polly, McCloskey, Row 9: Blitch, Secord, Jim Ryan, Wing, ?, Row 8: ?, Matuszak, Wayne Smith, ?, Fleeger, Lynn, Joe Franklin, Charlie Johnson, Gunderson, Row 7: Regnier, ?, Reed, Stone, Herren, Weaver, Matteson, Hayes, ?, Enslow, Cliff Jones, ?, Reid, Feagin, Row 6: Wargowsky, Lichtenberg, Sanderson, Baker, Dienst, McCulla, Schick, Ludwig, Soper, Bean, Shideler, Lenio, Pirkey, Row 5: Goldstein, Fralen, Le Cates, Meisenheimer, Wheeler, Horst, Whittaker ?, Cardillo, Page, Newton, Prater, Lucas, Row 4: ?, Sloan, Traut, Rich Miller, Hoeferkamp, Heye, ?, West, Bill Graham, Row 3: Andrews, Perkins, Gay, Pace, Olvey, Strati, Dugan, Jackson, Whtitaker ?, Ralph Henry, Gallup, Murray, Ewing, Fikaris, Row 2: Hornbarger, Al Edwards, Robinson, ?, Thorsen, Dickson, Vitty, Tom Phillips, Bill Anderson, Giddings, Jacobs, Dryer, Row 1: Bazilwich, Samos, Wray, Trobaugh, Brokenshire, Bossert, Hagedorn, Walton, Poirier, Hasbrouck, LaFrenz, Nourse, Malooley



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *





[10th Reunion - 1965]

Standing [L to R]: Weaver, Lewis, Turner, Chikalla, Gallup, O'Brien, Freed, Hadly, Wix, ?, Streett, ?, Reb Young, Quinn, Lenio, ?, Perkins, Thorsen, ?, Nieves, Sherman, Burroughs, Giza, Traut, Sloan, Gay, Paul Parks, Andrews, Ginter, Bates, McNair, ?, Lichtenberg, Nidever, Secord, Feagin, Cathey, Herren, ?, ?, Ludwig, ?, ?, ?, Ralls, ?, Shimunek, Macdonald, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, Bob Strickland, Front [L to R]: Soper, Newton, Dax, Chance, Schmidt, Shideler, Bergen, Matteson, Hargrove, Hornbarger, Steakley, Stevens, Drummond, Rudzki, Knierem, Wargowsky, ?, Stern, ?, ?, Livesay, Dickson, Michalove, Hagan, Landers, ?, Blitch, ?, Cardillo, Ordway, Trobaugh, Crancer, Maus, LaFrenz, Sydenham, Strom, ?, Howie Stone, Schepps, Raymond, Spellman, Sanderson ?, Wray , Fikaris, Stevenson, Sims, ?

Larger Size



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Quent Bates, John Sloan, George Page
[California - JUL 1960]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Page, Bates and Sloan camping trip
[California - SEP 1960]



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John Sloan and Driver
[Korea - 1956]



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'55 Engineer Officer's Basic Course
Ft. Belvoir - NOV 1955

Row 4: Lathrop, Hagedorn, Craven, J Campbell, Bazilwich, Gay, Vanden Bosch, Staudaher, Domeck, Row 3: Sietman, Sloan, Norvill, Maurer, Bates, Muller, Ginter, W Brown, Horst, Schow Row 2: Auer, S Johnson, Bishop, Gray, Polly, Sanderson, Fontaine, Gallup, L Warner, J Strickland, Row 1: Wheeler, JRC Miller, DeMaris, Carpenter, J Franklin, Guthrie, LaFrenz, Schauer, McKinney, Ludwig

Larger Size



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C-1 Firsties - 1st Row: Griggs, Page, Sietman, Hayes, Negaard, Bates, Maurer, 2nd Row: Giza, Murphy, Staudaher, 3rd Row: Fleeger, Isbell, Charlie Johnson, 4th Row: Fred Phillips (CO), Domeck, Sloan, Samos, 5th Row: Viney, Ceglowski Armour, Passafiume, Humphrey, Lozier, McClelland (Absent: Norvell)



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John Sloan and Lew Olive
[California - PR Trip APR 1955]



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John Sloan
[1955]



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Sloan, underclass players, Turner,
Russell [c1954]



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John Sloan
[Fort Eustis - 1953]



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John Sloan
[Air Force Trip - 1953]



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



John Sloan
[Monmouth - 1953]



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Sloan, Page, Poorman
[Monmouth - 1953]



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John Sloan
[Camp Buckner - 1952]



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2012 AOG Online Register Entry

Register Glossary



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Howitzer Entry

Berkeley, California, Honor Military School, C-1 Contrary to popular belief, all cadets don't seek the easy way around academics. Many are the 'P's who nodded wisely as John told them the facts of their business. However, books didn't claim all his time, for John found an avocation in wrestling and took fiendish delight in showing a hapless opponent the ceiling. Soccer 4-3-2-1, Monogram; Wrestling 4-3-2-1, Numerals, Monogram; Debate Council 4-3-2-1; Forum 2-1; Howitzer 4-3-2-1; Ordnance Club 3-2-1; Pistol Club 3-2-1; Russian Club 4-3-2-1; Weight Lifting Club 3-2-1; Sergeant 1.


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Register Entry

B-IL
[28 MAY 1933]; A-HS; CE; MS OSU 61; Soc Sci Dept USMA 62-67; MA Columbia U 64; Hq2FFV 67-68 AM]; DLI 69; Inst for Study USSR 69-71; DIA 71-74 MSM]; DIA Ln Det England 74-76; Ret 76 LTC; Researcher Military Hist & Soviet Affairs 76.


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How I got my appointment to West Point

Being brought up in WWII with my father a Federal Communications commission engineer in charge and visiting his sandbagged office in San Francisco plus of course the blackouts and air raid drills, I was interested in things military. Plus I have to admit reading reams of romantic literature like Howard Pile and stories of knights and all. My father got me a subscription to Infantry Journal - I had hundreds of Britians soldiers (still do) that I lined up on table to try to emulate Hannibal and Caesar and Frederick et cetera. Had copies of Machiavelli and Clausewitz and Lee's Lieutenants and many more books.

So I started study for West Point and started taking the congressman and senator qualifying exams when I was 13 and again at 14 - they would send me kind replies that I was too young and to try again later. But not counting at all on a political appointment I talked my folks into sending me from Berkeley down to San Diego to enter Brown Military Academy - boarding school because it had an 'Honor Military Academy' nomination for sure. That was to be 11th grade.

Attended BMA for year and a half and graduated early. Attended a prep school in San Francisco just to be sure - the entire program was devoted to test taking strategies.

At Letterman Hospital I took the same set of tests others have described and passed all _BUT I opened my big mouth to the doctors and revealed that I had double vision - turned out that is permanently disqualifing - if I had passed would have been in class of '54 - so turned out a lucky break.

With West Point out of the question I entered Cal with major in petroleum engineering =- was thinking of a career with AMCO - rowed on great crew and joined the ROTC program as well - I figured I could get a military officer appointment that way.

Suddenly in May or so as crew was preparing for major regattas I get a letter from West Point that I have been nominated by Brown Military Academy AGAIN - unbelievable. Plus I don't have to take any exams except the medical. So off I went to Letterman again. Naturally this time I kept my big mouth shut and the doctors of course could not notice I have double vision.

BUT this time due to the extensive sitting on my butt in a shell I had a pilonodal (sp?) cyst - known in WWII as 'jeep's disease' which is also disqualifying - but the doctors said if I could get that fixed I would be OK - so right back to Cal medical department and the plastic surgeons there promptly did their job - my crew coach was disappointed to say the least as he had to very suddenly and quickly find a replacement #1 in the freshman shell.

Meanwhile I did get the freshman award as honor cadet in the Pershing Rifles group at Cal and had a nice review. Still the time was getting short for my re-exam at Letterman. In fact the time was expiring. I am not exactly sure because my dad never told me, but I gathered later from my mom that he called Washington to the Chairman of the FCC and had some strings pulled so as to delay the final medical until the very, very last moment. I passed and flew east a couple days later. So there I was with the rest of you great guys.

Now, the epilogue - many years later when going to officer personnel in DC to look at my records I found all the file for the pre-West Point stuff - and right there was a big note 'PERMANENTLY DISQUALIFIED' for the medical reasons.

Well it is a big army and files are not checked very much.

John Sloan
27 July 2010


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How I met that special Her

Before attending WP I was an usher at the San Francisco Opera house for several years. Spent much of my limited leave time as a cadet going to Met and other concerts in NYC So when I returned to grad school at Ohio State I saw a note that the great Mershon concert hall on campus there had openings for ushers - I was in geodesy department - not one likely to have co-ed's around. So I thought I would do a double deal and sign up as an usher and also see if there would be any coed's among the ushers.

I was RIGHT - first usher orientation session I was made an usher captain due to my prior experience so I made sure a certain young coed I noticed would be assigned to my section and have same performances and location that I had. She was a junior major in education department.

I think after 2 or 3 of the concerts I asked her out for a date and was accepted. Rest is history.

John Sloan
April 2011


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PROFESSIONAL MILITARY- CIVILIAN SERVICE
John Sloan

1951-1955 - U.S. Military Academy
I entered the U. S. Military Academy in July 1951. Having had considerable ROTC experience at both Brown Military Academy and at Univ. of California. I enjoyed Beast Barracks, but since the Academy did not have then a crew as a sport I tried out for soccer, never having seen a soccer ball before. Somehow I was selected to join the Plebe soccer team, a great boon, as it resulted in the fall semester being on the special corps squad tables in the dining hall, thus avoiding a lot of harassment at meals. For the winter season I joined the wrestling team as combination manager and sparing partner for the varsity wrestlers. Thus another reprieve from company tables. But for most of spring semester I played intramural water polo and joined my classmates at the company tables. At least until time for spring practice for soccer. I was on wrestling and soccer teams for the full 4 years at the Academy.
At West Point I enjoyed the academic courses as well, especially those in the Social Science Dept. (history, geography, economics and international relations) and the course in History of Military Art. I had already taken courses in quite a few of the same subjects such as physics and chemistry and engineering in college. The second summer was field training at Camp Buckner, which was even more fun. The third and fourth summers were devoted to 'orientation' tours to many Army and Air Force bases, so were basically 'boondoggles'. Cadets no longer have such leisurely summers. I was a member of the cadet Forum and Debate Council. I was sports editor of the annual year book - the Howitzer.
At that time Plebes did not have vacation over Christmas, so we had parties and dances. During the remaining years we had vacation at Christmas, but travel to California was too long, so I stayed with an aunt on NYC and attended symphony concerts and ballets. For one summer vacation I did return to Berkeley by train and joined my old Sea Scout crew for a river cruise. For another summer I went 'space available aircraft' with two classmates through Europe to Turkey and back.

1955-1956 - Army Schools
I graduated from USMA in June 1955 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in Corps of Engineers. I drove to California and enrolled in UC grad school for a course and to use the gym and swimming pool for summer. After leave I drove to Ft. Belvoir VA., picking up classmate Dave Maurer in Los Angeles on the way.
We entered the Engineer Basic Officer Course at Ft. Belvoir. I rented a house in Alexandria along with Walt Staudaher and Quent Bates. The course was easy. We had plenty of time to attend musical events at Constitution Hall. (This was before Kennedy Center was built.) From there I moved to Ft Benning, Georgia for the Ranger course. This lasted into Feb or March, 1956. It was good to take the winter cycle as the swamps were lower and with fewer bugs. But it was cold in the mountains of North Georgia at Dalonaga. We had a break over Christmas also, that the summer cycle didn't have.
From Benning I drove back to California and then flew from Travis Airfield to Korea via Hawaii.

1956-1957 - Korea
I was assigned initially to special duty at the Engineer section of Eighth Army headquarters in Seoul. There was a temporary demand for engineers to approve maintenance and construction plans submitted to headquarters by post engineers throughout the country. The task was to approve quickly as much as possible commitment of year-end funds before the end of fiscal year - then on 1 July. They were reallocating funds from Japan to Korea to use up surplus. No one ever wanted to return unused money to the Treasury.
During the early summer we had a monsoon rain that raised the level of the Han River to flood stage and we had to take emergency measures to save the main bridge.
From there I was assigned to A Company of 3rd Engineer Battalion, stationed north of the Imjin river near the DMZ in support of the 19th Infantry Regiment of 24th Division. I was a platoon leader. We had a section of the roads to maintain and also did small construction jobs. Our wartime emergency mission was to blow up the Freedom Bridge. So we had prepared demolition sites and detonating cord and fuses on the bridge with the explosives stored in a secure bunker nearby. We would practice this mission occasionally. But the North Koreans were closer to the bridge than we were, so results in case of war were doubtful.
We also had a pontoon bridge set that would be assembled for emergency evacuation into rafts to enable the other units to withdraw across the Imjin. We practiced assembling and operating the rafts.
The winter was very cold along the DMZ. It was so cold the ground froze making digging very difficult at best. We continued to repair roads, however. We had our own small quarry operation with a bulldozer to dig out a hillside and push the dirt onto a high platform under which our dump trucks could be positioned for easy fill.
The officers had a well built custom-designed quarters. The platoons each lived in a long QUONSET building. In addition the company area had a headquarters building and a large motor pool building. We also had a shower building - very rare in the area - with hot water heated from a coal fired boiler - extremely rare. We had one man permanently assigned to bring water from our own engineer water point and coal to keep the operation running. We would allow a tank or infantry company to come use the shower occasionally. I have photos of the company area and our activities on web site at http://www.xenophon-mil.org/xenophon.htm, along with others from throughout Korea.
In A company I learned the importance of maintenance of equipment. Our motor sergeant was an expert in finding spare parts and supplies from his contacts all over the division area.
One day as I was working on road repair, riding on my grader with the operator, I was stopped as we passed one of the Infantry company areas by a classmate who came out to hail us. He invited us in for lunch - a very nice gesture. Then, after lunch, he asked me to come outside behind the mess hall to look at a problem drainage area. He claimed he didn't know how to cure the small swamp that collected near his mess hall. So we obliged him by using the grader for a few minutes to clear a drainage channel. No problem, glad to help. Of course he had the very same courses at West Point that I had, but he didn't have a grader.
A few days later the motor sergeant came to me to report that someone from an infantry company was in a jeep at the motor pool and asking for me. It turned out that the officers of the infantry company had sent us a case of fine scotch whiskey.
In spring I was transferred back across the river to battalion headquarters to be an assistant S-3. This was a typical rotation to give officers more experience. The battalion was located on a high hill, with the officers' quarters and club at the very top. This was desirable as it raised us above the surrounding rice paddies with their normal stench.
My job there was to schedule the battalion's engineer tasks to the various units and call for support from Corps level engineer units as needed. We also supervised a considerable amount of civilian contractor work done by Korean companies. As one might expect in those days the Koreans had limited experience with technology - their amazing future was yet to come. So we found that they could lay out a football field with perfect drainage slopes with minimum use of anything more elaborate than their eyeballs. And they could build a stone wall or rip-rap a stream embankment to perfection. But when it came to building a gymnasium and installing plumbing and electrical wiring , better double check their work.
Midway during my tour in Korea I took the standard R&R vacation to Japan, along with several friends. We visited Tokyo and Kyoto and enjoyed learning about Japanese medieval architecture. (photos on web)

1957-1959 - Ft. Belvoir, Virginia
In 1957 I was reassigned to the U.S. And I was quite surprised to be returned right back to Ft. Belvoir, the home of the Engineers. When I reported to the post personnel assignment office, the officer started in by commenting that I should probably go to the Engineer School as an instructor. This was a typical idea, to move an officer who had troops duty to a teaching position. But I was planning on going to West Point to teach so knew a teaching assignment at that time would be very bad. But I couldn't tell this officer this as it would do no good with him. So while he was busy I grabbed the post phone book to see what possible assignments there might be, considering what units were on post. I quickly found an exotic unit - the Arctic Task Force stationed in Greenland. I had no interest in going to Greenland, but it seemed like a good opportunity to avoid going to the school, so I told the assignments officer I just had to go to Greenland to fulfill my strongest dreams. At that he agreed to that assignment. But the task force was already in Greenland and I could not be sent there until the next rotation. Meanwhile, the task force was a subordinate unit of the big Engineer brigade on post. Thus I was sent to the brigade personnel officer for them to find me a temporary job. Once there I didn't mention going to Greenland at all. I asked for an engineer unit. Moral: never leave career decisions up to personnel officers, always plan and execute flow of future assignments yourself.
Not only did I know I was scheduled to return to West Point to teach, but also I knew the Corps of Engineers would insist on sending me to graduate school in some engineering discipline. That would mean 3 years at least of graduate school in two different universities and fields. So an assignment to teach at the Engineer School would eliminate any opportunity to command at a company level assignment. I knew that of course the personnel officer at Ft. Belvoir Hqs. knew nothing of this. I can mention also how it came about. The Corps of Engineers expected all officers to have a graduate degree in engineering. And the Department of Social Science at West Point, of course, expected instructors to have a graduate degree in what they would be teaching. The then chief of Engineers was General Lincoln and his brother was Colonel Lincoln, Head of the Dept. Of Social Science. I was fortunate that they could come to an understanding that I could attend two graduate school programs at two universities. How I selected the degree programs I wanted comes later.
As luck would have it, there was one unit in the brigade that needed a new commanding officer. This was the 100th Float Bridge Company, which had very recently returned to post after years living in Beckley, West Virginia as a special testing unit for development of new bridging, using the controlled flow of the New River. I was delighted to receive assignment as a Lieutenant to command a huge separate company, usually commanded by a Captain at least.
The 100th was indeed a very special unit. A float bridge company is as large as some engineer battalions when it comes to amount of equipment. It had 60 huge 5 ton bridge trucks with hundreds of feet of bridge parts (rubber floats and aluminum planks). It had several bulldozers, several power boats, cranes, wrecker trucks, a complete foot bridge carried on more trucks and trailers. But there was more. Since the unit had lived for years in its own buildings at Beckley it also had brought back all the post equipment it tore out as it left. That included complete mess hall hardware, building furnaces, just tons of stuff. And whoever had organized the move had never considered just what a float bridge - let alone one that was a separate unit - actually possessed by way of equipment. The result was that when I joined the company its material was simply piled up in an open field and its motor pool buildings were far too inadequate for such a large unit. Moreover, there was no good property book - that is record of what exactly the company should have or what might be missing.
I should explain that a 'pontoon bridge' unit has metal pontoons which are long, open and look like boats. They are assembled and metal planks are laid across them to form a bridge. But a 'float bridge' unit has floats, which are rubberized sausages that are rolled out and inflated by a compressor - then assembled, and a similar metal planking is laid on top to form the bridge. The floats, of course, are easier to store but it takes longer to assemble them than pontoons.
The result was that several million dollars worth of equipment apparently might be missing and was written off because I could not locate it or sign for it.
Commanding the float bridge company was a great privilege and joy. The personnel were experts in their trade. The senior non-commissioned officers had years of experience and several had been involved in design of bridges. Being a separate unit we came directly under control of the brigade commander, not under a battalion staff. So we trained and worked according to our own plans. We provided equipment and instruction in bridging to the Engineer School. The big event of the year was the summer field exercise at Camp A. P. Hill south of Fredericksburg VA. This started with a road march from Ft. Belvoir right through Fredericksburg on its narrow streets. Moving a long convoy of huge trucks through this area was an experience in itself. In most combat situations the float bridge company would provide its bridge and equipment plus instruction and supervision to an infantry unit, that would do the majority of the labor and also provide defense of the bridge site. But of course there were no infantry units at A. P. Hill. And for annual testing purposes anyway, we had to demonstrate our skills. So the company had to build its own bridge and establish its defense. This took quite a long time, but we managed.
The following year I was reassigned to command the Headquarters company of one of the engineer battalions. This was a very easy job, as all my personnel, except for 5 or 6 staff, actually worked for the various sections of the battalion staff. All I had to do was house and feed and pay them. And they all were well trained clerks or architects or signal or intelligence specialists.
Then came the most interesting and enjoyable assignment of all. This was to command a separate 65th Camouflage Company. As noted, a float bridge company is huge. Well, a camouflage company is tiny - all of 65 personnel. But all the personnel are even more expert than those in bridge or headquarters companies. In combat a camouflage company would send teams of 4 -6 personnel with special equipment to instruct and assist major units in constructing camouflage or major installations, or the teams would serve as inspectors to discover lapses of camouflage discipline. So again we were on our own to train and we alone knew how.
This produced some humorous moments. One day the first sergeant received a phone call from the brigade staff. I overheard part of it and then asked him what the staff wanted. He informed me that they wanted us to send someone to paint the bulletin boards in front of the enlisted club. This would be easy but I was suspicious as always of higher headquarters. So I called the S-3 officer to ask why, with 4 engineer battalions full of carpenters he wanted our little company to handle this paint job. He said the staff had been looking at a copy of our unit table of organization and equipment out of curiosity as to what we do. They noted that we had 3 large power compressor driven painting machines and thought it would be convenient if we handled this painting assignment.
Well, I asked him how many square feet of wood might be involved in the frame of a glass covered bulletin board. He agreed that it might total to 10 square feet. At that I had to laugh and I replied that we didn't unpack the compressor driven paint guns for less than 10,000 square feet of painting. Simply cleaning the nozzles of the paint sprayers would take hours. However, I would send a sergeant with a paint brush over, if they would supply the paint.
Never count on higher headquarters personnel knowing what your unit can or should do.
In general we practiced what we preached, that is we stayed well camouflaged and out of public eye with our main operating building covered with camouflage nets in the Belvoir woods. But there was one activity in which we did gain considerable official recognition. Ft. Belvoir had monthly pistol and rifle marksmanship competitions. In pistol the winner was almost always the warrant officer pilots from the airfield and otherwise one of the large units composed of school instructors. I was never any of the battalions of the Engineer brigade. So I thought it would be nice for our small company to get involved with pistol shooting. I found 4 volunteers from among my leading NCO's and we proceeded to start practice at the post indoor and outdoor ranges. Pistols and ammunition for 22 cal. and 45 caliber matches were provided by the government. We soon obtained revolvers also for the center fire matches. I bought ammunition reloading equipment and we set up a reloading operation in our hidden building. That was necessary because the government did not supply 38 cal. ammunition. We were firing a full match program at least 3 days a week with me as coach for our company team. The result was we very soon won the monthly pistol championship. Another opportunity came when my motor sergeant was reassigned from post. I quickly interviewed potential replacements from the equipment instructors in the school battalions and selected a fine sergeant who just happened to be the best pistol shot from those units. More wins for us. This brought us to the attention of post and all of our company team became the nucleus of the post team for matches around the eastern U.S. We were traveling on TDY money clear to Florida and north to Pennsylvania as well as all around the Washington DC area. I became the coach of the post team as well. By summer of 1959 we went to the National pistol championship match at Camp Perry, Ohio and won some individual awards and trophies. We were competing against the best pistol experts in the country. The reward our camouflage company received out of this activity was that when we won the post pistol monthly competition for the seventh time we retired a large trophy that I was able to present to the brigade commander. This was the first time ANY unit in his brigade had won in competition against the rest of the Ft. Belvoir units. Suddenly we were in great favor. The very next time unit inspections came around for some reason we learned that we had also won by being declared with the best mess hall, best supply room, best orderly room, and best motor pool in the brigade. Strange.
The penalty I incurred from being team coach was not discovered until later. When I was struggling to learn Russian at the Language school (see below) my significant hearing loss from the noise on firing ranges was diagnosed.
At first I lived in a BOQ on post. I remember listening in my room to the announcement of the Soviet Sputnik orbit. It was convenient as I could have my duty driver pick me up each morning and I would have breakfast in the company mess hall while checking on the day's menus. But the room was very small, so I found a roommate and moved to a rental apartment in downtown Alexandria. The drive in those days on Telegraph road was through a forested area. There was no capital beltway either. And the Shirley Highway between the 14th street bridge and Quantico was a limited access road through mostly woods also. During the evenings I had the opportunity to join the Pentagon Officer's a club and take scuba diving lessons in the pool. I also had two season tickets to the Washington Symphony, which in those days performed in Constitution Hall.

1959-1961 - Ohio State University
As I mentioned, the Corps of Engineers expected me to obtain a graduate degree in some engineering field. I was not particularly interested in the standard Civil Engineering field. So I again looked around at other options. I found that astronomy was one and asked for that, with study at Univ. of California, in Berkeley, where I had attended prior to West Point and my family lived. Seemed an obvious choice. But the bureaucracy didn't like that. So as a compromise I selected geodetic science, for which the Engineers had a considerable need.
In summer of 1959 I entered graduate school at Ohio State University with major in geodetic science. It was another great result of a contingency.
Here I met my wife, Ruth Seidel, and in Columbus our first child, Julianne, was born. We were married on 27 August 1960 and used the short period between academic quarters to drive to California and back.
I took courses in geodesy, photogrammetry, gravimetric analysis, cartography, surveying, advanced mathematics and also extra courses and seminars in national security subjects. The faculty in the Geodesy Department was the best anywhere, including Hungarian and Finnish world-renowned experts. We were three Army Corps of Engineers officers sent because map making is a main task of engineers. Many of the students were Air Force officers. At that time geodesy was a critical subject for targeting intercontinental missiles.
I immediately signed up to be an usher at the Mershon Center, a large opera and concert house. That is where I met my wife. I also did a little coaching of the ROTC pistol team. The ROTC Pershing Rifles (of which I had been a member in 1950 at UC.) was a big social institution on campus in those days before anti-war activities. Their annual formal ball was a highlight of the season.
I graduated in 1961 with a MS in Geodetic Science. My thesis was 'A Comparative Application of the Methods of Stokes and Hirvonen to the computation of the Undulation of the Geoid.' It was a practical application of theories and methods developed by my teachers, Drs. W. A. Heiskanen and U. A. Uotila using data from a test area around Pike's Peak Colorado. In those days we didn't have even hand-held TR computers, so the calculations using large Marchant adding machines was laborious. Ruth pitched in with the compilations and typing of the tables.

1961 - 1962 - Columbia University
In summer of 1961 I entered Columbia University with major in political science, although I planned on teaching Russian History at West Point.. We lived at Ft. Hamilton in Brooklyn, near where the future Verizano Bridge was built. I commuted by subway to the Columbia campus. I focused mostly on courses in Russian history and government. I was able to take a variety of courses from some of the great names in history, economics and political theory, including M. Florinsky and Garett Matingly. But I also was fortunate in another contingency, in that this year there was a graduate seminar in political theory conducted by Neal Wood and devoted to study of the works of Machiavelli. (One of my favorite authors since high school.) I did my masters' thesis on Machiavelli's theory on war.. In one summer session and two semesters I completed all the course work, but it took me another 2 years working part time to finish the thesis, titled 'Machiavelli on War', so my graduation with MA in Public Law and Government (their name for political science) was not until 1964. During that time I was also enrolled in the Ph.D. program and completed more than enough courses for that requirement. But subsequent military assignments overseas prevented me from ever going back to do a dissertation or the oral exams.

1962 - 1967 - U. S. Military Academy
In summer of 1962 I returned to the U. S. Military Academy as an instructor in the Department of Social Science. I taught U.S. and European history for a year and then became Assistant Professor of Russian History. I taught this elective course, which I designed myself. It was an elective course open only to highly qualified cadets. We met in a secluded seminar room. As main text I used my mentor, Michael Florinsky's, two volume History of Russia. In addition to teaching this elective course I was a coach of the Academy debate team and organized a 'Fine Arts Forum' to take cadets to museums, concerts and theater in New York City.
This became an immensely popular cadet activity. Since I scheduled events for Saturday afternoon, evening, and Sunday, the trip section had to depart by noon, right after morning class and before inspections. There was no 'Fine Arts Forum' in existence and I didn't ask anyone's permission to create one. My motto was that if something is not already prohibited it is authorized until someone stops it. Some of the Tactical officers were amazed, but did nothing. The only prerequisite for the cadets was to attend an evening lecture I gave during the week before a trip, to describe what we would be doing and seeing.
We had many memorable adventures on this trips. The cadets were in uniform for the events but could wear civilian clothes while on their own in the evening. Among the frequent events were the performances by the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center.. The cadets were a great hit with Lincoln Kirsten ( the financial angel), and George Balenchine, the choriographer. Short story is that they took the cadets back stage after performances to meet the dancers and examine the stage. And then they insisted I tell them in advance when we would be attending in future. Then they set up buffet with dancers in attendance after the performances. Soon some ballerinas were dating cadets and spending the weekend at West Point, including some famous ones staying with my wife and me.
In summer of 1964 with very helpful funding from Dept. of Social Science I went on a month tour of Russia - Moscow, Yalta, Pytagorssk, Georgia Military Highway, Tbilisi, Tashkent, Samarkand, Bokhara, St. Petersburg - photos on web.
While we lived at the Academy two of our sons, John and James, were born in the post hospital. I was promoted major during that tour.
My tour at West Point was extended several times, from 3 years to 5. In spring of 1967 my long time friend, Bill Odom, took over the course in Russian history. We had played soccer as cadets and sat together in classes at Columbia University.

1967 - 1968 - Viet-Nam
In April 1967 I was reassigned to the headquarters of the U. S. Army II Field Force with station at Long Binh, Viet-Nam. I left the family in Ohio and flew to Saigon via Travis Air Base in California. I was taken from the airport in Saigon to the IIFF replacement unit at Long Binh. But since, I had already arranged with the Engineer Branch assignments office for a position as an Engineer intelligence officer, the replacement unit merely sent me immediately to IIFFV headquarters. Initially the officers lived in leased civilian apartment building on a secured street in down town Bien Hoa where several of the assault helicopter companies had been living for several years. The helicopter pilots I soon recognized as the hussars of the modern army. They were very hospitable in sharing their officer's clubs with us Corps headquarters staff. We would drive the several miles each day to work at IIFF headquarters on the huge compound at Long Binh. At that time Bien Hoa was a secure city so we were also able to enjoy an occasional dinner at a fine French restaurant in the city. Fortunately, as it turned out, after several months, we moved to austere wooden barracks BOQ quarters on Long Binh.
My duty was in the corps headquarters staff as engineer intelligence officer. This involved keeping track of construction at all the new CIDG (special forces) camps being built in isolated places. To do this I spent a considerable time flying as passenger in helicopters all over the III Corps area. Initially I was able to drive to many locations also, as many roads were still secure. Among the more interesting locations visited was the special forces camp high atop Nui Ba Dinh mountain. Of course we visited it by helicopter. The position was ideal as the location of a special radio intercept station, defended by CIDG troops and their American special forces officers. The duty enabled me to learn a great deal about the Special Forces programs and meet the Montanyards and Nung warriors who were their fighting forces. Each camp had a dirt airfield for resupply and this airfield, many still under construction, was the chief purpose of our inspection visit. We also gave some advice on the layout of defensive positions. The camps came under regular attack, so security was vital. In the mountain areas they could clear fields of fire and establish trenches and dug in bunkers. But in the delta lowlands the water table prevented this, so some camps were built with the shipping containers (CONEX) floating on logs.
I also was assigned to monitor the use of the famous Rome Plows in the IIFFV area and compile monthly data on the total acres achieved. This huge machine, originally designed to destroy jungle and clear it for agriculture in South America, was in great demand by the several divisions to clear land, especially along highways and in areas for forthcoming operations. The machine was a huge bulldozer with a large spike welded to the blade with which it could shred even large trees. I always felt it was the equivalent of Hannibal's elephants. Seemed to me that its use sometimes drove combat operations rather than reverse. At any rate they were assigned by IIFFV headquarters to the divisions and the results were closely monitored. One day I received a phone call from a senior colonel, operations officer of one of the divisions. He was complaining that his division was not getting proper credit for its use of these machines. The reason was that in other divisions there were large level areas (frequently rubber plantations) that were easy to clear and for which the results could be calculated readily. But in his division area the terrain was mostly rice paddies with thick but narrow strips like the hedgerows in Normandy between each paddy. He wanted to know how he could calculate the acres cleared. Well, I asked him how thick were these hedgerows and he gave an answer in feet. Then I asked how long in feet were the hedgerows being cleared. He agreed that this could be determined. Then I told him simply multiply the width times the length and convert the square feet into acres. Another vexing staff problem solved.
Another duty was as liaison officer to the CORDS headquarters in Bien Hoa. This staff, headed by the illustrious Paul Vann was involved in civilian reconstruction and development - building roads and facilities to help the Vietnamese economy. For this work I had occasion to visit many projects including in Long An and even as far south as I Corps area in the delta. One project was to quarry rock from a mountain near Vung Tau and transport it by barge directly to road projects up the many rivers. These operations were protected by 9th Infantry Division riverine units and U.S. naval river patrols. Along with this I was told one time to prepare a study showing the number of miles of secure highways and show how this total had improved from the early 1960's until the present (1967). But when I asked the old hand civilians at CORDS about road conditions in the 1963-5 period they told me that prior to the influx of the large US military forces the roads were all clear. All the civilians had to do was pay protection money to local VC operators. That ended my study of the success of the U.S. road clearing campaign.
Part way through my year in Vietnam I had the opportunity to go for a week vacation (R&R) to Hawaii where I met Ruth for a very enjoyable stay at the Army recreation center right on the Waikaki beach front.
In the evenings I taught a course in Russian history for the University of Maryland program.
Then in February 1968 came the famous TET offensive. At the time we were monitoring closely the major Marine Corps operation in the far north at Kei Song to which also Army units had been despatched. It turned out later that we learned that this was one of the North Vietnamese diversion efforts to pull American units out of the main cities. A similar operation took our key reaction force, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment north in the III Corps area to near the Cambodian border. However, I don't think our commanding general was too surprised, although us lowly staff officers were not privy to all the secret intelligence. At any rate, with fore knowledge or simply intuition, he had begun construction on an underground command post on base. A remember thinking at the time that 'if we were winning this war as advertised why was it necessary to construct a fortified underground command post'. Two days before the TET I drove the fairly long road down to Vung Tau port to check on engineer activities and then drove back through was turned out to be VC preparation areas. I did note that the Australian Army units in the area seemed to be out on unusually active operations around the road.
At any rate I was asleep in my small BOQ room when the huge explosion came as the Viet Cong sappers blew up a large section of the nearby ammunition supply center. The explosion lifted our building and shifted it in such a way that the door to my room never would close completely after that. We spent the rest of that night in a drainage ditch next to the building as several rockets landed nearby. But no one was injured. For the rest of that week we slept in a reinforced bunker that was quickly built nearby.
As part of their coordinated assault a VC unit infiltrated the village directly across the highway from the headquarters and began firing at it. The fortified command post came in handy for sure. We were defended only by some headquarters staff and the military police unit. Very soon, helicopters brought in a team (platoon or company) of the 9th Infantry Division and they cleared the VC from that village. Among the dead bodies were individuals who had served as barbers and other labor right on post.
The next night or maybe the one after we were glad to hear the noise of the tanks and armored personnel carriers of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment as it came back from Loc Ninh to defend the headquarters and clear the VC and North Vietnamese out of Bien Hoa city. The ARVN (Army of Vietnam ) III Corps headquarters was in that city and was a higher priority target of the VC as they overran the area. The 11th ACR made short work of them. Soon after, when visiting III Corps headquarters as usual to meet with their engineers I saw for the first time the results of using 'beehive' rounds from tank guns in urban areas. The 'beehive' round was a projectile that split into thousands of tiny needle shaped darts which would spread out and kill personnel. The results of these hitting a wall were evident.

1968 - 1969 - U. S. Army Language School
In spring of 1969 I was reassigned from Viet Nam to the U. S. Army Language School at the Presidio of Monterey Calif. The course was in Russian language. We lived on post at Ft. Ord and drove through Monterey to class. The language class was difficult, (as it turned out, it was then that my hearing loss was diagnosed) but the location was ideal. My parents lived then in Pebble Beach so we were able to visit quite a bit. And my mother, a retired school teacher, established a private school just for our three children.

1969-1971 - U. S. Army Russian Institute, Garmisch Germany.
In summer of 1969 we moved from Monterey to Garmisch, Germany. En route I was assigned as temporary duty at Ft. Belvoir to complete the Engineer Officer advanced course. Then we sailed to France on the U. S. United States liner. That was an exceptional treat. From the port we went by train to Garmisch and were met by our sponsor student from the Institute. While we lived in military quarters next to the Institute our third son, Jared, was born at the Army hospital in Munich, Germany. I was promoted Lt.Col. while at Garmisch. The two-year program was excellent, taught by Russian emigres. Study of Russian was difficult, occupying all my spare time during the academic semesters. But the children learned to ski and had a great time. The courses were in Russian but the subjects covered all aspects of culture, politics, economics, history and daily life. I was able to write my graduation paper as an annotated bibliography of references on Russian military history.
We elected to arrive at the Institute early in the summer in order to take our annual leave in Europe rather than in the U.S. prior to the move. We had ordered a VW camper bus from the local car dealer in Garmisch and it was ready when we arrived. So we immediately drove to Rome via Switzerland, passing also through Florence, Sienna, Perugia and many other wonderful Italian cities. We took several more vacation camping trips into Italy in the following two years, visiting Venice, Pisa, Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii and many other places. One summer we drove for a month through France, Spain and Portugal, camping all the way. Upon graduation and reassignment back to Washington we elected to take our vacation again in Europe. So we drove to England and camped all around England, Wales and Scotland. Then we flew from Mildenhall Air Force Base after shipping our car out of London.

1971 - 1974 - Defense Intelligence Agency, Arlington Hall Station, Virginia
After graduation from the Russian Institute I was assigned to the DIA in Washington, D.C. as chief of Soviet logistics section in the Soviet ground forces division. The following year I moved up to be chief of the Ground Forces division. We developed intelligence documents based on use of the materials collected by all- sources, that is photography, signals and COMINT, (human agents and open sources). We wrote and published assessments of Soviet Army capabilities and also supported the DIA current intelligence branch for its daily briefings in the Pentagon. We had many meetings with analysts in the CIA on joint estimates of Soviet Military capabilities. I had four teams of analysts - Soviet doctrine and theory - Soviet order of battle - Soviet logistics - and Warsaw Pact country military.
We were amazed and shocked at the prices of houses in the Washington D.C. area and thought we were committing financial suicide by spending a huge amount of around $40,000 for a home in Springfield. We sold that place in 2005 for over $550,000. We selected Springfield VA because of its good schools and convenient transportation to the Pentagon and Arlington Hall Station. I could easily drive to Arlington Hall Station and return.

1974-1976 - London England.
In summer of 1974 we moved to London, England, where I was assigned as the U. S. Army and Defense Intelligence Agency liaison officer to the British Ministry of Defense. I had been offered the position of Army Attache in Moscow, which would have been a better assignment from a career point of view. But when we learned that the two eldest children would have to board at an Army dependent school in Germany we turned that down. Then, instead, came the plum assignment to England. I recognized that this would be my last active duty assignment so we made the most of it by using weekends and leave time to drive all over England, Wales, Scotland and even Ireland. Work with British Army professionals was a delight also. I attended a week of intelligence school at the British school and also visited Sandhurst and Camberly.

1976 - Retirement.
In summer of 1976 we returned to Washington D. C. where I was retired from Army active duty at Ft. Myer Virginia. I could have remained another year or maybe two in London, but I was offered a job by the famous historian, Trevor Dupuy, as vice president of his Historical Evaluation and Research Organization, located near our home in northern Virginia. I could not expect this honor to wait for two more years.

1976 - 1980 T.N. Dupuy Associates - Vice President
I was responsible for developing a successful three day course on 'Understanding the Soviet Military', given to military and civilian audiences throughout the country. In this course Bill and Harriet Scott, Trevor Dupuy and I lectured on Soviet military doctrine, strategy, operational art and tactics. I assisted with the development of the Quantified Judgement method, a tactical level battle simulation and analytical tool. I supervised and participated in research on numerous military historical and contemporary subjects, some of which were included in Dupuy's many books. We had contracts with various agencies to prepare historical analysis for current defense issues. To further professional attention to basing simulations and models of future warfare on sound historical bases we founded the Military Conflict Institute, which soon had an international membership of military scholars. .

1980 - 1983 U.S. Army, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence - Operations Research Analyst
I was invited to join a new special team within the Army Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence ( G-2) (led by my long time friend Maj. General Bill Odom) as a GS Civil Service member. But our main work was to support the work of the analytic efforts of the Army G-3.
I was responsible for monitoring the application of Soviet ground force strategic, operational and tactical doctrines and concepts in wargames, computer simulations, and net assessments within the Dept. of Army and Department of Defense. My primary interest was focused on wargames at division level and above, especially theater strategic and national games. I reviewed reports, studies and other documents on Soviet military strategy and doctrine to ensure that Soviet military doctrine was faithfully represented, as well as military history in general. I wrote studies on Soviet logistics, automated troop control, and historical development of national strategy including sections of the first edition of the Army Soviet Battlefield Development Plan. I organized the 'red' team - that is Soviet-side game team - for theater and world-wide war games conducted by the National Defense University or U.S. Army War College. I attended the Defense Management School course at Monterey Calif.

1983 - 1987 Science Applications International Corporation - Senior Analyst and Consultant, Foreign Systems Research Center:
In 1983 I was invited to do essentially the same type of work as a civilian with other Soviet specialists in SAIC. I conducted research and assessments of Soviet military doctrine, operational and tactical theory and theater warfare. I continued to participate in development of wargaming for training of U.S. Army officers. During these four years I worked closely with two former students at Soviet higher military academies to integrate their knowledge of Soviet military theory and practice into a variety of studies for OACSI, USCACDA, C3CM JTF, and other agencies. And subsequently we published three volumes (see list below).
While our group's office was in McLean, Virginia, our senior leadership in the full office was in Denver, Colorado, so frequent flights between offices was necessary.

1983 - 1990 Defense Intelligence College - Adjunct Faculty
While continuing to work at SAIC, I was invited to join the faculty at the Defense Intelligence College located on Bolling Airfield. There I prepared and taught graduate level courses on Soviet military doctrine, operational art, and the general introductory survey of the Soviet Union. The courses emphasized student understanding of Soviet and Russian military terminology, Marxist-Leninist military doctrine, and military technology.

1987 U.S. Naval Postgraduate School - Adjunct Faculty:
While still at SAIC I was invited to teach at the US Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. There I taught post-graduate level military officers and civilians working for their masters' degree with courses on Soviet military doctrine, strategy, and theater war planning.

1980's
With partners, Curt Johnson and Durf McJoynt we published a quarterly military history journal - Gorget and Sash - focused on early modern warfare. I was managing editor and wrote several articles - see below.

1986 - 1991 Editor, Voroshilov Academy Materials
The Army and Department of Defense wanted to publish the huge volume of material I had been developing for several years while working at SAIC with two former Afghan Army officers who had led the resistance fight against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. For this purpose, I created a business organization that could receive 'sole source' government contracts - John Sloan Associates - to edit for publication by NDU Press an extensive set of lecture material taken by an Afghan Army student at the Soviet Academy of the General Staff and another Afghan officer who had attended the Frunze Academy. Both were extensively experienced in teaching Soviet military doctrine. The extensive volumes of verbatum course lecture notes had to be translated from Dari into Russian and then into English. We then prepared reports and lectures based on the material. We presented courses on these topics to U.S. Army War College, National Defense University, Army Command and Staff College, Army Intelligence Staff and various civilian contractors who were supporting Army and Air Force development. We worked with the Foreign Military Studies office. We trained the 'red' team for the U.S. Army Battlefield Command training organization and participated with them in division and corps-level wargames and simulations at Ft. Leavenworth and elsewhere. We also gave lecture courses in foreign countries as well. (See list of publications below). In support of all this we prepared numerous wall sized operations maps depicting a hypothetical Soviet campaign across Western Europe to Spain plus many overlays and diagrams and planning tables of tactical - operational planning from regiment to front level. Years later I donated all the maps and overlays to the Library of Congress, Map Department, which established a special collection.

1993 Military Encyclopedia - Editor:
Simultaneously with the other work, I was an editor of the International Military and Defense Encyclopedia published by Brassey's. I wrote several articles in the encyclopedia. (See list below).

1991 - 1997 - Xenophon Group International
I incorporated this company to develop and lead professional military tours to Russia and Ukraine. After the initial collapse of the Soviet Union DOD interest in expanding teaching of Soviet tactics and operations drastically declined. I decided it was time to open direct contacts with Soviet military historians and Academy faculties. I visited Russia in December 1991 (and was there when the split occurred) and Ukraine in early 1992 to meet military officers and historians to propose that they act as guides for the tours I wanted. They were very interested, especially after I laid out detailed descriptions of the historical battlefields, fortresses and museums I wanted to include. We had very successful tours to both countries in summers of 1992 and 1993. In 1992 we were the first foreigners to stay overnight in Sevastopol and be guests of the Commander, Black Sea Fleet for the Navy Day celebration. (See reports)
In subsequent years I arranged for other tours by American military historians to visit Russia.

PUBLICATIONS

Since most of the written work while on active duty and later as a civil service member of U.S. Army Intelligence Staff was for the government and classified it is not available for general use. The following reconstruction includes at least the major work.
For the Defense Intelligence Agency, the agency's Logistics Guide to Soviet Forces and the similar guide written by DIA for publication by NATO. Sections of several National Intelligence Estimates on Soviet logistics. DIA reports and studies on Soviet and Warsaw Pact ground force order of battle, tactics, organization, training, mobilization and other topics.
For the Historical Evaluation and Research Organization, several studies and reports including on Soviet breakthrough operations in WWII and on Soviet combat performance during WWII; a study on Tank Losses during WW II; articles, such as one on Soviet division organization during WWII for the journal 'History, Numbers and War'. I also assisted Trevor Dupuy with editing of several books including 'Elusive Victory' and his Encyclopedia of Military History.
For the Army Red Team in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, a major classified book on Soviet Army operations, a very influential report on Soviet ground force logistics, as well as numerous short papers on Soviet tactics or doctrine.
For SAIC, reports in which I contributed include the following:
These reports were written in collaboration with Ali Jalali and Ghulam Wardak, two retired Afghan Army officers. They supplied the Dari and Russian original materials and I wrote the English language versions.
The Unforeseen in Soviet Front Planning, Sept. 1986
Soviet Radioelectronic Warfare, August 1986
Soviet Strategic Airborne Operations, August 1986
Discussions with Voroshilov and Frunze Students - Long Term Struggle, May 1986
Discussion with Voroshilov and Frunze Academy Students - Soviet Planning Data, May 1986
Discussion with Voroshilov and Frunze Academy Students - Some Soviet Military Planning Norms, May 1986
Discussion with Voroshilov and Frunze Academy Students - Soviet Concept of Operations and Tactics May 1986
Discussion with Voroshilov and Frunze Academy Students - Soviet Combat Arms Assembly Area, May 1986
Notes on discussion with former Voroshilov and Frunze Academy Students Based on Lectures and Soviet Advice - Chemical Warfare Issues, June 1986
Discussion with Voroshilov and Frunze Academy Students - Southwest TVD - Draft
Discussion with Voroshilov and Frunze Academy Students - Soviet Operational Style in Nuclear War, June 1986
Planning Soviet Frontal Air Operations, January 1987
Soviet Command Structures and Relationship: VGK, General Staff, Military Districts, TVD, and Commanders in Chief, Sept. 1986
Discussions with Voroshilov and Frunze Academy Students - Correlation of Forces and Means
Terminology and Format of Soviet Orders from Hierarchical Levels, Sept. 1986
High Commands, Command, and Operational Groups, August 1986
Soviet Reconnaissance, August 1986
Soviet Special Forces, August 1986

These reports were prepared by SAIC and I was one of a larger group of authors.
Operational Level Norms, April 1984, SAI-84-041-FSRC, (UNC)
Soviet Regimental Operations: vol I, Oct. 1984, SAI-84-092- FSRC, Secret.
Soviet Army Level Decisionmaking: vol I-II, Feb 1985, SAIC-84-115- FSRC, Secret.
Soviet Division Level Decisionmaking: vol I-II, June 1985, SAIC-85- 6006 FSRC. Secret.
Soviet Front Level Decisionmaking: vol I-II, August 1985, SAIC-85-6035 FSRC, Secret.
Course on Soviet Troop Control, Nov 1985, SAIC-85-6098 FSRC, Secret.
A Methodology to Estimate Non-strategic Nuclear Forces Based on Deterrence Objectives, July 1986, SAIC-86-6069 FSRC, Secret.
Soviet Operational - Tactical Warfare: Examples of Logic Employed During Execution of Combat, August 1987, SAIC-87-6049 FSRC, Secret.

Brassey' International Military and Defense Encyclopedia, Washington D. C., 1983,
'Crusades', Vol.2, pgs. 684-688;
'Charlemagne', Vol 2, pgs. 475- 476;
'Peloponnesian War', Vol 5., pgs 2117 - 2119;
'Scipio Africanus', Vol 5, pgs 2370 - 2372

Gorget and Sash Journal of Early Modern Military History
'Meterhane: The Turkish Field Music,.' Vol I, # 1
'Evolution of Russian Army: The 16th Century,' Vol I, # 1
'Evolution of the Russian Army.' Part II, Transformation of Russian Army, Vol I, # 2
'Russian Hussars in the Seven Years War', Vol II, # 2
'History of the Butirski Regiment,' Vol III, # 2
'Passages from the Diary of Patrick Gordon,' part I, Vol III, # 3.

National Defense University, Wash. D. C. 1989 - 1991 'The Voroshilov Lectures, 3 vol. Materials from the Soviet General Staff Academy':
Although quite a few other government officials and sponsors of our work received credits in the front of the books, since it was done under government contract with their funding, the work was actually performed by John Sloan Associates. That means by Ali Jalali and Dastagir Wardak and myself through several years of intense editing work in which Colonel Wardak orally described in Russian his Dari course translations from Russian using many technical terms he coined himself to render the Russian concepts into Dari. Then Colonel Ali Jalali orally translated that into English while considering what the technical Russian terms should mean in English. I typed this into a computer word processor. Then I revised and edited the rough English into standard English grammatical format. The process took many hours of our discussions and revisions over several years time.

Books, articles and book reviews published in Web site - http://www.xenophon-mil.org/xenophon.htm

Alexander the Great summary and comments on Arrian's Campaign of Alexander the Great
AliaBattle of, Roman defeat by Celts that led to traumatic sack of Rome
Bobbitt, Philip - Shield of Achilles - review by John Sloan - Table of contents
Bobbitt, Philip - Terror and Consent - summary and comment on this important book by John Sloan
Blondel, Sigfus, The Varangians of Byzantium summary and comment by John Sloan
Boot, Max - Invisible Armies - review by John Sloan
Borodino battle - photos from our visits to the battlefield and essay with chronology of entire campaign of 1812
Bouvines, battle (1214) original essay, being revised now.
Cannae, The Ghosts of Cannae by Robert L. O'Connell - review by John Sloan
Cannae - essay by John Sloan describing the battle
Cannae - annotated bibliography of some important books on the battle by John Sloan
Charlemagne - encyclopedia entry and material compiled by John Sloan
Coyle, Diane - GDP - review by John Sloan
Crusades - an essay by John Sloan
Summary of Crusades - a table compiled by John Sloan
d'Este, Isabella - original essay on this Italian Renaissance princess and her family by John Sloan.
Duncan, Richard - The New Depression - book review by John Sloan
Gettysburg - by Iain Cameron Martin - book review by John Sloan
Great Northern War - by Telpukhovski, Col. B. S. - translation and review by John Sloan
Great Northern War - The Founding of Russia's Navy - by Edward J. Phillips, Review by John Sloan
Great Northern War - bibliography compiled by John Sloan
Hammond, Jeremy R. - Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman - book review by John Sloan
Jones, Dan - The Plantagenets book review by John Sloan
Khalka River, Battle of - summary article by John Sloan
Kaplan, Robert The Revenge of Geography - book review by John Sloan
Katusa, Marin - The Colder War - book review by John Sloan
Kazan siege of by Ivan IV, summary article by John Sloan
Keegan, John , A History of Warfare Comment and review by John Sloan
Kiev historyText of a summary history of the city compiled by John Sloan.
Kievan princes - Genealogical charts and brief biographies created by John Sloan
KrugmanThe Return of Depression Economics - book review by John Sloan
Kulikovo Battle, bibliography compiled by John Sloan
Lawrence, Christopher, America's Modern Wars - Understanding Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam - review by John Sloan

Machiavelli's views on the art of war are described and analysed in this essay. these are supplements to my MA thesis
An oral book review delivered to the Military Classics Seminar of The Art of War, analyzing Machiavelli's views and comentary on them by Neal Wood and Hans Delbruch is at Review
A detailed summary of the content of Machiavelli's Art of War is found at Art of War.
An outline of the contents of Machiavelli's Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy is provided at Discourses. by John Sloan
Machiavelli - On War - summary and comment by John Sloan
Marathon Battle - reconstruction essay by John Sloan
Marathon Battle, by Professor Billows - review of book by John Sloan
Marathon Battle - annotated discussion of a list of references by John Sloan
Moscow History of the city and Kremlin compiled by John Sloan
Peloponnesian War - original essay by John Sloan
Poltava battleby Peter Englund - review by John Sloan of the excellent book
Pskov city fortress - text guide and history by John Sloan
Punic War article by John Sloan
Raines, Edgar, Eyes of Artillery - book review by John Sloan
Raines, EdgarThe Rucksack War: U. S. Army Operational Logistics in Grenada, 1983 - book review by John Sloan
Reden, Sita von Money in Classical Antiquity - book review by John Sloan
Report on trip to Russia in December 1991
Report on trip to Ukraine in January 1992
Report on trip to Russia and Ukraine in summer 1992
Report on trip to Ukraine in 1997
Report on trip to Russia in summer, 1998
Report on trip to Russia in June 2005
Rickards, James, Currency Wars - book review by John Sloan
Rickards, James, The Death of Money - book review by John Sloan
Ritholz, Barry Bail out Nation - book review by John Sloan
Alexander Filjushkin Ivan the Terrible: A military History - book review by John Sloan
Alexander MikaberidzeThe Battle of Borodino: Napoleon against Kutuzov - book review by John Sloan
Brian L. Davies Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500-1700 - book review by John Sloan
Carol Stevens Russia's Wars of Emergence - 1460 - 1730 review by John Sloan
Chernov, Organization of the Russian armed forces translation of sections by John Sloan
Epifanov On The Question of the Military RFevorms of Peter the Great translation of parts by John Sloan
Russian History Essay on Russian Military History by John Sloan
Russian History Bibliography of books and articles on Russian military history- compiled by John Sloan in 1971
Russian - essay on military history from 1400 to 1600 by John Sloan
Russian history - chronology between 1604 and 1689 compiled by John Sloan
Russian history - chronology from pre-history to 1800, being expanded compiled by John Sloan.
Russian medieval arms and armor - text and illustrations compiled by John Sloan
Russian Rulers and related family compiled by John Sloan
Russian wars with neighbors shown in tables by John Sloan
Sawyer, Ralph D.Ancient Chinese Warfare - book review by John Sloan
Scipio Africanus essay by John Sloan
Smick, David The World is Curved - book review by John Sloan
Smolensk history and photographs created by John Sloan
Steil, BennThe Battle of Bretton Woods - book review and comment by John Sloan
Tsouras, Peter Disaster at Stalingrad - book review by John Sloan
Tsouras, PeterScouting for Grant and Meade - book review by John Sloan
Tsouras, Peter Warlords of Ancient Mexico - book review by John Sloan
Tsouras, Peter Over the Top - book review by John Sloan
Urbino essay by John Sloan on the Montefeltro Dukes and family
Vasil'ev M. Osada i vzhatie Vborg 1710 translation by John Sloan
Volga river cruise is a lengthy description of all the villages and cities along the Volga to Samara from our cruises in 1998, 2003 and 2005


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