The Office of the Inspector General of the United States Army is the agency tasked with investigating the army. Its stated mission includes "advice and oversight to the army through ... inspection, assistance, investigations, and training". George Washington and members of the Continental Congress requested an inspector general for the Continental Army in 1777, and Thomas Conway was appointed the same year. His successor was Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian military officer who later served as Washington's chief of staff. The office has been reorganized many times, and has varied in size dramatically. In its early days, the inspectorate was frequently merged with, or proposed to be part of, the Adjutant General's department. It expanded greatly after the Civil War, and had grown to around 2,000 officers by 1993. Leslie C. Smith (pictured) has been the inspector general since February 2018.
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1959:
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon held an impromptu debate at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Debate
1987:
Iran–Iraq War: In opposition to the American plan to protect Kuwaiti tankers, Iran laid mines and damaged the SS Bridgeton, resulting in a propaganda victory for Iran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton_incident
2009:
The MV Arctic Sea, reportedly carrying timber, was allegedly boarded by hijackers off the coast of Sweden, but much speculation remains as to the actual cargo and events. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Arctic_Sea
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
quakebuttock: (formerly obsolete, rare, now humorous) A coward. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quakebuttock
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
War was return of earth to ugly earth, War was foundering of sublimities, Extinction of each happy art and faith By which the world had still kept head in air. --Robert Graves https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Graves