Central Texas Ft Hood. MOAA

04/24/2026

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 2579 Reviews

04/24/2026

At the 1966 Academy Awards, Lee Marvin accepted the Oscar for Best Actor, looked out at the most powerful room in Hollywood, and said: "I think half of this belongs to a horse somewhere out in Nevada." The crowd laughed. He wasn't joking. 🎬

The horse — a grey named Smoky — had appeared in every scene alongside Marvin's character in *Cat Ballou*, a legendarily drunk gunslinger who could barely stay upright. Smoky leaned, stumbled, and wobbled with such perfect comic timing that the American Humane Association gave the horse its own award that year.

Marvin dedicated his Oscar to the animal because he genuinely believed the animal had earned half of it.

That was the kind of man he was.

What nobody in that room fully understood was how he had learned to play that role so honestly.

June 1944. The island of Saipan. Lee Marvin was twenty years old, serving as a scout sniper with the 4th Marine Division, when Japanese machine gun fire tore through his unit. A bullet severed his sciatic nerve. He spent the next thirteen months in naval hospitals. He was one of only a handful of men in his company to survive.

He wept for the ones who didn't come home.

He had nightmares for the rest of his life.

After the war, he drifted into acting almost by accident — filling in for a sick actor at a community theater while working as a plumber's assistant. When people later asked where he'd learned to perform, he didn't mention training or technique.

"I learned to act in combat,"he said. "Trying to act unafraid when I was terrified."

That was the foundation beneath every cold-eyed villain, every broken soldier, every man stumbling through his last chance. He wasn't performing danger from the outside. He had lived inside it.

In *Cat Ballou*, he played two completely different characters — the shambling, heartbreaking Kid Shelleen and the terrifying villain Tim Strawn — and won the Oscar for both in a single film.

A first in Academy history.

He kept almost nothing from his entire career. Four things: the Oscar (half of which belonged to a horse, in his mind), a National Cowboy Hall of Fame citation, a gold record for a gravelly talk-sung ballad called *Wand'rin' Star* that somehow reached number one in the United Kingdom to the bafflement of almost everyone including Marvin himself, and one high-heeled shoe that Vivien Leigh had used to hit him with during a scene — kept purely out of affection for her.

Four objects. The rest was just work.

Lee Marvin is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

His headstone lists none of his films. No Oscars. No awards. No credits.

Just four words of rank:

Lee Marvin. PFC. U.S. Marine Corps. World War II.
He knew exactly what mattered. He always had.

And somewhere out in Nevada, one very deserving horse will never know it shares a piece of Hollywood history with one of the most quietly remarkable men ever to walk across a stage.

Half the Oscar. All the character. 🎬

04/21/2026

M. O. A. A. STILL STRONG. STILL SERVING.

04/20/2026

04/19/2026

https://www.youtube.com/live/Weo3WXp9KE0?si=4HNVIUleHcaoEBmi

04/19/2026 - Holy Eucharist - 9:00 - Third Sunday of Easter

04/18/2026

Servicemembers and veterans remain top targets for fraud. This April 22 online event will help you fight back.

04/18/2026

Attempting to verify.

04/17/2026

Then Cardinal Prevost, now Pope Leo is on record nowhere that we could find making similar comments about the Obama or Biden administrations.

Tap the link to get the full story:

https://w-j.co/s/e014c

04/17/2026

For years, America has been dealing with a crisis at the border that never should have been allowed to happen. The surge of illegal immigration has put real pressure on our communities, stretched our resources thin, and weakened the rule of law that made this country exceptional in the first place. Open-border policies have created chaos—costing taxpayers billions in welfare, healthcare, and education, while making it harder for American workers to compete and putting public safety at risk. The solution is simple: enforce the laws already on the books and take back control of our borders.

This didn’t happen by accident. Career politicians in Washington—more concerned with power, money, and special interests than the American people—have let this problem grow through reckless spending, weak enforcement, and a disregard for the Constitution. It’s time to hold them accountable. Prosecuting corruption, abuse of power, and self-dealing would finally start to drain the swamp and restore faith in our government. The rule of law should apply to everyone, especially those elected to uphold it.

Now picture what America could look like if we actually put our citizens first again: safer communities, stronger families, and good-paying jobs going back to American workers. Enforcing immigration law, removing those who entered illegally, and cracking down on criminals would help reduce crime, ease the burden on taxpayers, and bring back the promise of the American Dream. It’s time to stand up for strength, fairness, and common sense—and make America strong again.

04/23/2023

Yes. M. O. A. A. WE ARE STILL SERVING 👍🇺🇸🎯🇺🇸

While those are fun but forcibly instilled personality quirks, there are a few military lessons that you should turn into workplace habits.