Having already taken "Command Staff" training between regular assignments, I qualified to take a Master's degree program at the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks. But only barely, in that I just squeaked in with the minimal number of years-in-service as well as my rank. I was on the "young" and junior side of my class.

I decided to major in National Security Studies. The program ran just under a year. In this, I would be provided a far better insight in terms of international issues and policy that related to my career as a specialist in advanced weapons development.

Need I say that the topic of the Knights Templar once again popped-up, in that foreign military officers were also accepted at the Army War College. Early on I made a close friend out of Edward, a British army officer. He also was a devotee of Templar history. Upon our completing the Master's program at Carlisle, he invited me to visit with him in England. So finished at the college, I took furlough and flew over to London where Edward met me.

After a marvelous tour through the English countryside, we trotted off to Wales. Along the way we stopped to visit a massive country home formerly owned by the Duke(s) of Powys. In Britain there's a large number of these aristocratic houses open, most under the aegis of heritage organizations. Anyway, while touring through the Powys house, entering into their former living areas, I spotted an old photograph-- probably dating back to before World War I--of one such Duke appareled in full Templar regalia.

I asked Edward about this photograph. Smiling, he mentioned that Britain is full of Templar groups--some even holding their rituals in churches around the country. At this point I wasn't much aware about modern Templar organizations. Later we drove up to Edinburgh, where nearby we visited the famed Rosslyn Chapel. At least I knew that this curious place supposedly had Templar connections, though deemed quite tenuous. Edward also mentioned that one such modern Templar organization was connected with one of the family members whose ancestor built the chapel. Again, news to me!

Finally we ended our round-robin touring back in London, where Edward introduced me to the Temple Church.

Not too far from the River Thames, the original portion of the Temple Church was built by the Knights Templar sometime during the late 12th century. I was told that this church was nearly destroyed in 1944, during a Nazi bombing raid. Now rebuilt, it's quite a lovely place. There are two parts to the Temple Church, the oldest being a round building containing effigies of knights. The second part, built later, is more a normal nave.

I knew that the Knights Templar had built Temple churches all over the European landscape, mainly at their preceptories. And their churches were always built distinctively in the "round." London's Temple Church, so I understand, is the premier church of the Church of England.

It was nice to get up close to the European Templars, even if only for a short time. As for those modern Templar organizations that Edward had mentioned, I really wasn't interested. My sense of the Knights Templar was strictly personal, archetypal if you will. However, Edward mentioned that Freemasonry might include an extension of the Knights Templar. I decided upon my return home, I might look into this.

Upon return, I was pretty busy settling into my new assignment at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). A Department of Defense office, located near the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, it consists of both civilian and military personnel. Mainly its function is towards futuristic thinking when it comes to developing advanced weapons systems. A small but very brainy group, I felt I had reached the pinnacle of my specialization.

As most know, the Pentagon is situated directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. With this assignment and this location, I decided to have "fun." To begin, I rented a small townhouse in Capitol Hill--near the Supreme Court. Most importantly, I was within walking distance of the Library of Congress where I hoped to spend much of my free time.

It seemed nearly a lifetime just learning how to use the Library of Congress. Being a government or military employee, I was able to get stack access down in the deep bowels of this really impressive library. At the outset, I realized that--if determined--I could find just about any kind of information I desired. What with DARPA on one hand, and this great library on the other, I was in my element.

I decided to browse into the subject of Freemasonry. For a so-called "secret" organization, there surely seemed thousands of items that discussed its functions rather intimately. There was far too much for me to digest. But I did want to beam in on what interested me--the Templar connection, if there was such to be found.

In a nutshell, I found the following: Even before Freemasonry there were already quasi-masonic groups, craftsmen of a small middle class, claiming connections with the Gothic master-builders. At first Freemasonry was an egalitarian movement, but in due course European aristocracy and landed gentry designed their own Masonic lodges and crept away from those actual masonic craftsmen.

Originally the masonic "Craft" consisted of three grades: Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master. Pretty elementary, designed for the "Everyman." However--the leisured, more educated aristocrats of both Europe and Colonial America aspired to an initiatory approach towards Wisdom Knowledge (and eventual Illumination). Hence thirty more grades were added to the Masonic track, with the 33rd degree Mason being the highest.

Not unexpected, there was a split in Freemasonry: the "Blue" Lodge for the first three grades, again more for the commoner; and the "Red" Lodge (also referred to as the Scottish Rite) which was aristocratic (and later professional), that aspired towards Illumination. And within the "Red" Lodge one can find the Masonic Templars, amongst the initiatory higher grades.

I might add, also, that the Lodge was/is open to all comers who belong to different religious groups. The Masonic Lodge mainly does not subscribe to a particularized religious line or lingo. Yet there's one exception! Because of its medieval links to Christianity, the Templars within Freemasonry are still conceived to be *exclusive* to Christianity.

Reading mainly British authors, they say that right into the mid-1980s that the aristocracy ran Freemasonry in England and Scotland. Dukes were masters of the lodges, and a previous Royal was the Grand Master. And masonic membership permeates the British government, the police, the military, and until recently the Church of England.

As for Colonial America, Freemasonry seemed rampant amongst its own aristocracy. Benjamin Franklin became a Freemason around 1731 c.e., and served as the Grand Master of Pennsylvania. Other Freemasons of the period included George Washington, Charter Master of the Alexandria Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, Paul Revere, Admiral John Paul Jones, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Richard Henry Lee, James Madison, and James Monroe.

Whew! Most of these people were our "Founding Fathers."

As for where the Templar degree in Freemasonry fits into all this, I haven't a clue. I can only surmise that it's all part of what I call the "Templar Myth" that evolved over the centuries after the medieval Knights Templar were tragically disbanded in 1312 c.e. Now I am not deriding any such Templar Myth, because "mythos" can be just as powerful influence as any straightforward history. Regardless, I felt no necessity to join Freemasonry. My own very personal Templar mythos served me well, in that it provided both an inner and outer model and structure to place that primary archetype, that innate life pattern that constantly circulated in my mind (and heart).