Dahlonega
Literary Festival
An Annual Celebration of Readers, Writers, and Books
Ladson Mills
Ladson F. Mills III is a native of Rock Hill, South Carolina and a graduate of The Citadel,(the Military College of South Carolina). In 1973 he was commissioned in the Marine Corps, and trained as an artillery officer before earning his NAO wings and flying in that capacity. In 1982 he transferred to Navy Reserve and retired with the rank of Captain.
He is a former trustee of the University of the South and Fellow of the Graduate Theological Foundation. He is the former president of the American Study Program of Oxford and a regular contributor to Virtueonline and The Covert Letter. He is the founder of Setebos-Sixpence Freelance Writing Ltd. He lives with his wife in Charleston, South Carolina
Abandoned Shipmate
Captain Ernie Blanchard left for work January 10, 1995, a successful officer. Respected by superiors and subordinates, his personal and professional values seemed perfectly aligned with the institution he served, the United States Coast Guard. By day's end his career was finished.
At a speaking engagement at the Coast Guard Academy, Blanchard's icebreaker--a series of time-tested corny jokes--was met with silence. Within hours, an investigation was underway into whether his remarks constituted sexual harassment. Several weeks later, threatened with a court-martial, he shot himself.
The author investigates Blanchard's "death by political correctness" in the context of the turmoil surrounding the U.S. Armed Forces' gender inclusion struggles from the 1980s to the present.
