My Army Life...and other things

Freedom

2010-09-11T16:56:00.000-04:00

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." -- Ronald Reagan

Yeah, I guess I've had a pretty good run...

2009-10-31T22:26:00.003-04:00

I was on Facebook and there's a DINFOS Alumni page. DINFOS, or Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Maryland, is where all the services send their Public Affairs people for training, officers, enlisted and civilians. So I add my name to the list and posted my 'PA bio.' I showed it to Dbie and said, "guess I've had a pretty good career..." Here's my post:

I graduated in Jul 2000 from the RC 46Q course. PA is the best job in the Army. I was part of the Nationwide Exercise in 2001. I went to JRTC in 2001. RSOI in Korea in 2002. I've had the privilege of being the PAO for the US military Pentathlon Team in 2002, 2004, 2005. I deployed to Bosnia in 2003. I deployed to Afghanistan in 2004/2005. I did a five-month tour at USARC headquarters in 2007. I was the print section sergeant and acting first sgt for the 204th MPAD; went to Bosnia with the 343rd MPAD; was in the 2125th and 3220th GSUs, I was the NCOIC at the Office of Military Cooperation - Afghanistan; First Sergeant for the 300th MPAD; and now the PA Ops Sgt for the 70th Training Division at Fort Knox.
I've been to Alaska, Korea, Germany, Bosnia, Hungary, France, Afghanistan, Qatar, Austria, Belgium, and all over the US. I've seen buffalo close enough spit on; I've driven through the Badlands of South Dakota; I ate dinner on the Danube River; I've stood at the base of the remnants of the Buddha statues the Taliban blew up in Bamian, Afghanistan; I visited the tomb of Mossoud, The Lion of the Panjshir; I stood in the mountains around Sarajevo and looked down on all the grave markers from the Bosnian War; I stood at the top of the Olympic Stadium in Sarajevo looking at the grave markers that filled one of the practice soccer fields; I celebrated ringing in 2005 in Kabul in a celebration I will never forget; I watched the sun set over St. Trope Bay in the South of France; I was in Afghanistan when theu elected President Karzai the first time; I watched Afghan children learn what Christmas is all about;
I was on Hooker Hill in Itewan in Seoul; I shot pool with a KGB agent is Seoul; I visited a Wild West town in Austria; I watched Russian Spetznatz give a martial arts display that left several of them bleeding; I got to see the most beautiful place in the world, the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan. I went shopping for rugs in Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan; I got to meet and work with some of the coolest people in the Army, and, unfortunately, some of the most fucked up ones. All of this, because of US Army Reserve Public Affairs, the BEST job in the Army...

Yeah, I've had a pretty good career, and it's far from over...

Racism my ass...

2009-09-16T23:08:00.003-04:00

Jimmy Carter, you just need to shut the fuck up. You weren't much of a president, but for years, I admired the things you did. But lately, every time you open your mouth, stupidity rolls out. And that goes for Kanye West, Eric Dyson and the rest of the idiots who think any criticism of Obama is racially driven. Just because we don't like his political views, doesn't mean it's racial. Just because we don't want socialized medicine, doesn't mean it's racial. Just because we don't want to pay more taxes to pay for those who won't work, doesn't mean it's racial. What IS racial is millions of you ghetto scum voting FOR Obama just because he's black. THAT is racial. Threatening white voters trying to get into vote, THAT is racial. Martin Luther King would roll over in his grave at that. In his 'I have a dream' speech, he talked about a society where a man is judged on his character, and not the color of his skin. Obama got elected BECAUSE of the color of his skin. THAT is racial. And if any of you idiots think I'm racist, remember, I supported Colin Powell. I supported Condileeza Rice. I'd vote for them in a heartbeat, and I'd have Powell/Rice bumper stickers on my pickup truck. So. Just, shut the fuck up.

I am still around....

2009-09-15T00:30:00.002-04:00

I lot has happened over the last five months. I got married to a very beautiful, very sexy, very wonderful lady. I'm trying to make some moves in my military career, specifically, trying to find either a sergeant major or command sergeant major slot somewhere. I started writing my military experiences on Together We Served. So maybe this will go back to being a personal website. Hopefully, I'll have time to take care of it.

Straight to the point....

2009-04-18T08:53:00.003-04:00

Some discrepancies were noted in the prior post that accompanied the poster above. Since I can't validate either way, I decided to delete it. I dislike the man, and will post OPINIONS that are negative toward him. But I won't post facts that may not be true.

Why haven't we seen this on CNN or NBC...?

2009-02-24T21:11:00.019-05:00

I ran across an article the other day that got me to thinking about what I wanted to do with this blog. I wanted a ‘Now and Then’ about my military career. To talk about what I’ve done, and what I’m doing. This follows that theme, sort of.
In November 2003, the initial game plan was submitted for the National Military Academy-Afghanistan, the Afghan version of the US Military Academy. West Point deans and administrators deployed for several months at a time, writing procedures, admin policies and curriculum. They worked with the Afghans, taking into consideration the differences in culture and standards.

Over 1,000 professors were winnowed down by a West Point group to the 30 that were hired for teaching everything from world history to physics to chemistry to psychology.
By the end of November, 353 cadet candidates had completed the competitive entrance exam. The defense ministry, in conjunction with the Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan staff, then conducted personal interviews and selected the top 120 young men to join the first class.
Cadets between the ages of 18 and 23, would earn $80 a month and will receive free books, supplies, housing and food in addition to their education.
The plan was for the Cadets to attend seven weeks of basic training then began their academic studies. In addition to their engineering curriculum, they would study military leadership, ethics and psychology, among other topics.
On February 3, 2005, the students started arriving for basic training.

I was there, taking pictures for OMC-A. It was cold, snow covering everything outside. That winter, Afghanistan had more snow than they had in the previous eight years combined.

Of the 120 selected, only about 106 showed up. I may not be remembering the exact number right, but it’s what I remembered.

There was confusion. The new cadets weren’t getting much direction. The barracks and classrooms weren’t finished. As a matter of fact Lt. Col. Sue Meisner, my boss, and I were walking around with the guys doing the punchlist.

But, they were there. The cream of the crop, from all over Afghanistan. Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimak Turkmen, Baloch. Together, some for the first time meeting other ethnic groups.

Fast forward seven weeks to March 22. They finished basic training, and were now getting ready to start the academics.

It was a very big affair. Minister Wardak, and other Afghan dignitaries attended the festivities. The cadets passed in review.

Even the Turkish band played. Here’s the post I sent to the Castle back then.

Then last week, I read this. 84 of the original Cadets graduated in January. It’s been four years. Four hard years of studying and learning. Four years of living with other ethnic groups, and hopefully, learning that they are all Afghans first. I’m sure there were conflicts. You don’t put 100 young men together and there not be some conflicts. But you know what, 84 graduated.

84 of Afghanistan’s smartest. The next generation of Afghans. The NEW generation of Afghans. Maybe a generation that doesn’t need the Taliban. Maybe they won’t need the radical, militant side of Islam. Maybe they won’t need the backward, stifling mentality that still drags Afghanistan down. They say it takes a couple generations to change a nation. Maybe this generation will be the start. I wish I had been there to see them as they begin that change…

(Portions of this post were borrowed from an article written by Lt. Col. Susan Meisner, OMC-A PAO.)

I've been tagged...

2009-01-10T21:58:00.002-05:00

My lovely bride to be, AFSis, tagged me. Here are the rules of the 'tag'...
Da Rulz:
1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

My six things...

1. All my clothes hanging in the closet have to face the same direction, to the left with the hangar opening to the rear. Don't ask me why, I don't know....

2. It bugs the hell out of me when someone adds an 's' to the end of US Army Reserve. It's either the reserves, talking about all reserve components, or it's Army Reserve. No 's'. Got it?!?!?

3. I love roses, particularly Jackson-Perkins roses. Purple Tiger, Snowfire, Abe Lincoln are my favorites. If I ever retire and am not traveling so much, I'll have a ginormous rose garden.

4. I love border collies, especially the tri-colors, and grays. They are smart, very smart. Something else I'll have when I retire.

5. I listen to books on CD. I don't have time to sit and read, but I've listened to a BUNCH of books on CD while driving. The Kite Runner, 1776, Colin Powell's Autobiography, John Adams, Charlie Wilson's War, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Afghan, The Long Road Home, House to House, etc, etc, etc...

6. I have really sensitive feet. It didn't used to be that way. As a kid, I never wore shoes during the summer. Now, little rocks, sticks, anything hurt like hell....

Now I have to tag six other unlucky people...

1. Barb She's been quiet

2. Beth Just because...

3. ArmyWifeToddlerMom just because she;s a cutie...

4. FreakChylde Because she likes guns...

5. SoLow Because he's a jarhead... (once a jarhead, always a jarhead..)

6. Army Girl my favorite female Soldier...

Okay. I'm done....

Explain this to me....

2008-11-07T00:39:00.002-05:00

Why is going out and rounding up 7.9 million redneck white trash to register and vote against Obama because he's black is racist, but going out and rounding up 7.9 million ghetto welfare scum to register and vote for Obama because he's black is not racist?

It's gonna be a long four years...

2008-11-04T00:19:00.001-05:00

Obama/Biden: The reason stupid people shouldn't be allowed to vote...

Election News...

2008-10-07T21:36:00.003-04:00

Some fact checking on Biden...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,433314,00.html

On Obama and his terrorist friends...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/obama.ayers/index.html

On Biden and his favorite restaraunt....
Joe Biden & Katie's Restaurant that he spoke of during debate. This is the restaurant that Joe Biden bragged about talking to the "Common People" during the Biden-Palin debate last Thursday. He must have a time machine since Katie's has been closed for 15 years!!

He is not only a plagiarizer, he is a bald-faced liar. Come to think about it there's not much difference between the two.
'All you have to do is go down Union street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie's Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years,' said Sen. Joe Biden in the vice presidential debate to bolster his assertion he's in touch with the concerns of the middle class.
It may come as a surprise to you that Joe Biden recently had a meal and talked with patrons at Katie's Restaurant on Union Street in Wilmington in an alternate universe, because the Katie's Restaurant in this universe closed several years ago. It was on Scott Street in Little Italy. The establishment is now a Wings to Go.

"Look, the people in my neighborhood, they get it. They get it." - Joe Biden
Biden apparently doesn't. This is a perfect example of that. It's a lot of fun calling Home Depot locations in the Wilmington area and asking whether or not they've seen Biden (they haven't), but the fact that Katie's has been closed for 15 years and Biden didn't know it shows that Biden has no clue about "his neighborhood" or what people go through there.

You have got to be shitting me....

2008-10-03T23:56:00.003-04:00

WHAT THE FUCK DO THESE HAVE TO DO WITH THE ECONOMIC BAILOUT????

The following are some of the top tax sweeteners in the Senate passed Bailout Bill. Not all the provisions are per se outrageous, but collectively are intended to help Congressional leadership get final passage of the 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization

Act. 1. Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children WHAT???
2. Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility
3. Sec. 308. Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (to the tune of 170 billion fucking dollars!! WTF????)
4. Sec. 301. Extension and modification of research credit
5. Sec. 504. Income averaging for amounts received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation THE VALDEZ WAS 20 YEARS AGO!!
6. Sec. 601. Secure rural schools and community self-determination program.
7. Sec. 201. Deduction for state and local sales taxes
8. Sec 502. Provisions related to film and television productions
9. Sec. 325. Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wool duty refunds
10. Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa

And Congress wonders why they have such a low satisfaction rating.....
YOU PEOPLE SUCK!!!
Can you tell I'm pissed....?

The History of the Wall Street bail out.....

2008-10-03T20:44:00.003-04:00

Wow. Imagine that...

1997
Fannie Mae is a GSE (Govt. Sponsored Entity) regulated by Congress.
Fannie Mae buys mortgages from other companies.
It is backed by the taxpayers for all losses, but keeps all profits.
President Clinton loosens Home Loan Requirements.

1998
Banks begin making thousands of bad loans,0 down, no documentation, for 120%! (1998 – 2008).
Executives at Fannie receive huge bonuses if loan targets are met.
Franklin Raines and Jamie Garelick from the Clinton Administration are appointed to run Fannie Mae.

2003
President Bush proposes a new oversight committee to clean up Fannie Mae, but Democrats derail the effort.
Rep. Melvyn Watt, (D-NC) Committee on Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit. stated, “I don’t see much other than weakening the bargaining power poorer families to get affordable housing.”

1999-2004
Raines earns $100 million in bonuses. Garelick earns $75 million in bonuses. In 2004, Enron collapses, congress investigates, Executives Skilling & Lay go to jail, for fraudulent bookkeeping. Congress responds with the Sorbanes-Oxley Act, more heavy regulation of corporations.

2004
An OMB investigation finds massive fraudulent bookkeeping at Fannie Mae.
False numbers triggered executive bonuses every year.
Congress holds no hearings, no one goes to jail, or is punished.
WHY NOT?

1999-2005
Fannie Mae gives millions to Democratic causes, examples: Jesse Jackson & ACORN.
Fannie Mae pays millions to 354 congressmen and senators, from both parties.
Who got the most money?

#1 Sen. Christopher Dodd, (D-CT) Chairman of the Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs Committee
#2 Sen. Barack Obama, (D-IL) Federal Financial Management Committee
#3 Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D-NY) Chairman of the Finance Committee
#4 Rep. Barney Frank, (D-MA) Chairman of the House Financial Services Committe

2005
Franklin Raines & top execs are forced to resign from Fannie Mae.
They do not go to jail.
There is no media “perp. walk.”
They keeps all of their bonuses
They finally pay $31.4 million in civil fines.

2005
The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act is sponsored by:
#325 Sen. John McCain, (R-AZ) Armed Services, & Commerce, Science, & Transportation
“If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.”
None of the top 4 recipients support the legislation.
The reform act is blocked by Democrats, never even making it out of committee.
None of the politicians return any of the money, tainted by fraud.

2008
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac go bankrupt and the govt. takes them over completely.
Lehman Brothers, goes bankrupt from investing in bad mortgages.
AIG gets $85 million in loan guarantees, after insuring bad loans & projects.
Taxpayers will ultimately pay BILLIONS.
Franklin Raines is now an advisor to the Obama Campaign which wants the govt. to take over more of the economy.
Did government involvement in the mortgage market work out?
How will even MORE government involvement make it better? Do you want to be Sweden?
McCain favors revising regulations & loan standards, selling off Fannie & Freddie.

Sources
Congressional Record, 5/25/06
“Hannity & Colmes,” Fox News, 9/16-9/17/08
Herald Tribune, 4/18/08
New York Times, 9/13/03www. govtrack.com, 9/17/08

George W.'s War Legacy...

2008-09-25T20:15:00.002-04:00

No one likes war. War is a horrific affair, bloody and expensive. Sending our men and women into battle to perhaps die or be maimed is an unconscionable thought.
Yet some wars need to be waged, and someone needs to lead. The citizenry and Congress are often ambivalent or largely opposed to any given war. It's up to our leader to convince them. That's why we call the leader 'Commander in Chief.'
George W.'s war was no different. There was lots of resistance to it. Many in Congress were vehemently against the idea. The Commander in Chief had to lobby for legislative approval.
Along with supporters, George W. used the force of his convictions, the power of his title and every ounce of moral suasion he could muster to rally support. He had to assure Congress and the public that the war was morally justified, winnable and affordable. Congress eventually came around and voted overwhelmingly to wage war.
George W. then lobbied foreign governments for support. But in the end, only one European nation helped us. The rest of the world sat on its hands and watched.
After a few quick victories, things started to go bad. There were many dark days when all the news was discouraging. Casualties began to mount. It became obvious that our forces were too small. Congress began to drag its feet about funding the effort.
Many who had voted to support the war just a few years earlier were beginning to speak against it and accuse the Commander in Chief of misleading them. Many critics began to call hi! m incompetent, an idiot and even a liar. Journalists joined the negative chorus with a vengeance.
As the war entered its fourth year, the public began to grow weary of the conflict and the casualties. George W.'s popularity plummeted. Yet through it all, he stood firm, supporting the troops and endorsing the struggle.
Without his unwavering support, the war would have surely ended, then and there, in overwhelming and total defeat.
At this darkest of times, he began to make some changes. More troops were added and trained. Some advisers were shuffled, and new generals installed.
Then, unexpectedly and gradually, things began to improve. Now it was the enemy that appeared to be growing weary of the lengthy conflict and losing support. Victories began to come, and hope returned.
Many critics in Congress and the press said the improvements were just George W.'s good luck. The progress, they said, would be temporary. He knew, however, that in warfare good fortune counts.
Then, in the unlikeliest of circumstances and perhaps the most historic example of military luck, the enemy blundered and was resoundingly defeated. After six long years of war, the Commander in Chief basked in a most hard-fought victory.
So on that historic day, Oct. 19, 1781, in a place called Yorktown, a satisfied George Washington sat upon his beautiful white horse and accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
What? Were you thinking of someone else?

Like Democrats??

2008-09-20T10:27:00.000-04:00

I couldn't resist......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpU8sX10_4

Divorce...

2008-09-16T21:46:00.001-04:00

… is such an ugly word. One would think that after three years of trying to get it done, after years of wanting more in a relationship, that when it finally happens, you’d be happy. It doesn’t quite work that way. The day finally got here, and it wasn’t that happy of an occasion. I could hear the pain I caused at the other end of the phone. The pain I am sorry for causing.
Not just in my ex-wife, but also in my two daughters. Hearing the disappointment in their voices, and seeing it in their eyes, when the man they held up on a pedestal hurt them, was the hardest part. When I said that I had been unhappy for a long time, they took that to mean that I had been unhappy with all of my family life. Nothing could be further from the truth. There were happy times, a lot of them. Most involved family things. The birth of my daughters was indescribable. Watching Aimee get her first hit in a Little League game right after we got her new glasses. Watching Katie catch her first fly ball in left field at practice. Watching Aimee walk across the stage to get her high school diploma, her bachelor’s degree and her Master’s. Looking with surprise at Katie at her senior awards ceremony when she got an award for graduating with a 3.1 gpa. Saluting her as she marched by as she graduated from Air Force basic training, Getting to pin on her wings when she graduated from AWACS school. Walking both down the aisle so they could start their own journeys. Walking around the Smithsonian Museums. Throwing tennis balls at them as they rode their ATCs at my mom and dad’s. Watching them hammer countless nails in the hurricane straps on our house, or pulling cable through the walls. And I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting. I was never unhappy with them. I hope someday that they realize that.
Are there things I could have done to improve my married life? Probably. And I don’t put all the blame on my ex. I’m not the easiest person to live with. But I needed more. That’s why I thought finalizing it would be different. I was wrong. I am ready for the next stage in my life, but that’s the topic for another day. I think I need a beer…or three….

One for the Jarheads...

2008-09-11T00:13:00.000-04:00

Found this today on BlackFive. Hats off to the Marines. Thank you for a job well done.

I'm still here....

2008-09-04T20:50:00.002-04:00

What's up....
I know, it's been almost year since my last post. Some things have changed since my last post. I took an early retirement from my job at the power plant and now work with the Army Reserve at Fort Knox, Kentucky. My divorce is almost final. I'm no longer the first sergeant for my old unit in Atlanta. I'm still doing Public Affairs, but now as a PA Operations Sergeant at Fort Knox. Not as much fun as being 'Top' but I'm having fun. I have a couple articles that are supposed to be published shortly. Maybe I'll post them here.

Election 2008
I watched both conventions. I never planned on voting for Obama, but wasn't overly joyed at McCain. Obama. What can I say about Obama....? What a piece of shit. He's the most liberal candidate the Dems have ever nominated, and that says a lot. He's so far left, he'd fit in with Stalin and Trotsky. He has no experience. he hasn't even completed ONE term as a US senator. When he was a state legislator, he had 138 "Present" votes, meaning he couldn't make up his mind. He hates the military. He wants to retreat from Iraq. He socializes with known terrorists. He went to a racist church for 20 years and was friends with a racist preacher, married to a racist wife. He says he will never use a nuke, no matter what. I don't understand how anyone can vote for someone like him?
I watched Sarah Palin last night. I am now enthusiastic about the McCain/Palin ticket. I will be voting for them. Campaign for them. Support them however I can. More to come....

The big Three-O

2007-10-17T19:47:00.000-04:00

Looks like I'll be hitting 30,000 hits today or tomorrow. Wow... Even when I don't post, I get 40 or 50 hits a day. I'll never catch up with John, Beth, Fuzzy Beth, Ala, AFSis, Barb, or hundreds of others. All of the ones I listed are who got me started doing this. I just wish I had more time to post like my blog bretheran. Maybe some day. Anyway... Who's going to be number 30,000? Someone from one of the many countries that visit my site? Or, maybe, one of my blog buds. Tell you what. Whoever is number 30,000 can have an 8X10 of any of my photos from Afghanistan. Check out my Tour in afghanistan in the right hand column.Let me know....

I need to know...

2007-09-29T13:14:00.000-04:00

Someone sent this to me. It's pretty cool. It is how most of us in the military feel at times. Just watch it. Oh, the girl in the 'aunt' page is an Air Force public affairs officer I was in Afghanistan with.

This is why I serve...

2007-09-11T07:45:00.000-04:00

I posted this a couple weeks ago or so, but decided that it should stay up at the top for a while. If you want to see the words, go to www.badassmarine.com. It gives me chills every time I watch it. Good kind of chills.

Powerful. This Bad Ass Marine says what a lot of us feel. We ARE fighting for HER. For America. We are not an Army at war. We are a Nation at war. To finish, quoting Toby Keith at the end of his concert I attended recently: "To those who give you grief for being patriotic, FUCK 'EM!"

A little fun on a Sunday afternoon...

2007-09-09T14:45:00.000-04:00

Go watch this video. I tried to post it, but it made my right column go all wonky...

Veteran's History Project

2007-08-28T22:19:00.000-04:00

In case you haven't heard, The Library of Congress is collecting stories and memorabilia about war veterans. It's been going on a few years. With only a few World War I veterans left alive, and World War II veterans dieing at a rate of about 1800 a day, it won't be long before there won't be any left to tell their story. Ken Burns has put together a program about World War II, along the same lines as his Civil War series. Click on the link to check out "The War." If you have any family members, friends, neighbors who are war veterans of any war, look for someone recording stories. The Veteran's History Project website has a list of organizations participating. I'm trying to get my reserve unit involved. Since we are print and broadcast journalists, it will give them more experience doing their jobs, and let them hear about how war was fought the old fashioned way. And maybe we'll get a few more stories recorded before they aren't available anymore.

Soldier-daddy

2007-08-21T22:03:00.000-04:00

My daughter, son-in-law, and 2 year-old granddaughter were flying home to Oklahoma today and had a three-hour layover in Atlanta. I was able to get a pass to go down to the gate to meet them since I was in uniform.
I met them and we went to TGIF to get dinner. It was a 40-minute wait so we were standing there talking. I had Eleanor up on my shoulders like I used to do with my kids. This lady and little girl about 3 or 4 years old walk up. The lady says, "Her Soldier-daddy was just killed. She saw you and wanted to say hi." So I leaned over and said Hi, and she responded, "Hi, Soldier-daddy." We talked for a minute or so, and the lady said she had to go, and told the little girl to wish me good luck. The little girl said, "Good luck. Bye, Soldier-daddy." As the two were walking away, the little girl said to the lady, "He looks just like my Soldier-daddy."

Irregardless of what the left-wing nut jobs think, no one in the military likes war. We train for it, prepare for it, try to succeed at winning it. Let's get the job done. Let's teach the Iraqi and Afghan military and police how to be good at their jobs, to defend and protect their country. Then let's bring everyone home. We don't need any more little girls growing up without their Soldier-daddies.

the big 20,000...

2007-02-22T20:50:00.000-05:00

This all started almost 19 months ago. Weddings, Queen Eleanor, CIOR, Boy Scout Jamboree, Bosnia, Dusters, MilBlog Conference, Afghanistan and assorted other topics. There too many sites to name, but my favorites are The Castle, Ala's, Blackfive, Maggie's, AFSis, Barb, etc, etc. I wish I had more time to write, but shit, and life, happens. This is a short post, but I do appreciate all the visitors. From all over the world. England, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Australia, France, Kuwait, Brazil, and numerous others. Tonight I hit 20,000 visits. The 20,000 visitor was from Chester, Pennsylvania. Someone doing a google search. Welcome to my world....

Decisions that boggle the mind

2006-12-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody. Nope I haven’t fallen off the edge of the world. With serious knee surgery, powerful drugs, painful physical therapy, a pending divorce, and the holidays, I just haven’t had the time or inclination to do much posting. But I found out something the other day that pisses me off.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I was the PAO for the US Joint Forces Military Skills Training Center. I did that in 2002, 2004, and 2005.
The Center originally was the training camp for Reserve and Guard officers of all five services to compete for slots on the US team to compete at the NATO Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (CIOR) Military Skills Competition held every year since 1948. It’s a pentathlon consisting of rifle marksmanship, pistol marksmanship, 500-meter land obstacle course, 50-meter water obstacle course, and a 10 to 15-kilometer land nav course. The competition moves from NATO country to NATO country every year. What’s interesting is that for the rifle and pistol competitions, the shooters used the weapons of the host country. No race guns. Just off the shelf, out of the armory weapons. 200 meters for the rifle; 25 meters for the pistol. The water obstacle course is swam wearing the host country duty uniforms. The US has always done well at the competitions. Sometimes, very well.
A few years ago, right before Sep 11, a smart team captain came up with the idea of opening up the Center. They had the best marksmanship instructors in the military there teaching how to shoot. Almost all of the instructors wore the President’s One Hundred tab awarded to the top 100 military shooters at the National Matches held each year at Camp Perry, Ohio. They had the top land nav experts teaching advanced land navigation skills. They taught International Laws of War, nutrition, task visualization, combat first aid. So U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Bob Thompson started advertising what the center had to offer. There was a little interest in what the Center had to offer.
Then Sep 11 happened. We were now at war. The Global War on Terrorism. Interest in what the Center had to offer took off. Instead of one three-week training camp each summer, the Center started conducting training courses for anyone who asked. A platoon leader from the 344th MI battalion brought several of his platoon and squad sergeants to learn how to be better shooters. They wrote a short time after leaving and said when they went to the range to qualify, his company had a 100% pass rate, the highest in the battalion, and the battalion commander wanted to know what they did to get their scores up. The 108th Training Division, now in Iraq training part of the Iraqi Army, sent their marksmanship instructors to a four-day training course so they could be better marksmanship instructors for the Iraqis. The head land nav instructor at the Center, A Naval Reserve SEAL, was chosen by the commander of SEAL Team 2 to re-teach advanced land nav to the active duty SEAL’s. Cadre at the Center received emails and letters from former attendees at some of the training camps that said the land nav and marksmanship training they had received had saved their asses in Afghanistan and Iraq. Navy marksmanship instructors from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center came to learn from the Center’s instructors. Facility Engineer Team 19, deploying to Iraq, stop first at the Center for a 3-day team building course. Officers who completed the three week training camps said it was some of the best training they had ever completed, including Rangers, Special Forces, West Point grads.
So it seems that Lt. Col. Thompson was right. The Center could and did provide valuable war fighting instruction to those who need and wanted it. Until this year.
The Center is congressionally mandated to be funded by the US Army Reserve Command. The upper leadership of USARC has for years hated the Center. So much so that when awards were written for cadre and officers, they were turned down. Lt Col. Thompson was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal by an Admiral from the Joint Forces Command because the powers that be at USARC refused to okay the Army award. USARC has tried several times to cut all funding. This year, they finally succeeded. Some pencil pushing geek, who probably couldn’t make the team one year, cut the funding because “if it’s not related to fighting the Global War on Terrorism, it goes.” Back in the 70’s and 80’s, the Center had the reputation of being the “San Antone Jog and Supper Club” as Lt. Col Thompson called it.
That was then, this is now. The Center’s budget was cut in 2006 so that NO training camp was conducted, and just to show a face, funded two 3-man teams to go to the NATO competition. No training, no adjustment for jet lag. Just fly in. Compete. Go home. And I found out last week, there’s NO funding for 2007.
So we can spend millions of dollars to fund a NASCAR car to get some bubbas to enlist, or a dragster, or Army Athlete program, or a high school all-star football game. But a facility that trains Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen to be better warfighters gets cut. Good bonehead decision, asswipes.
At least the website is still up. http://www.uscior.army.mil/

Veteran's Day

2006-10-27T22:03:00.000-04:00

Veteran's Day is a few weeks off. It's a day to honor veterans and their contributions to keeping us free. A lot of blood, sweat, tears, and lives have been spent for a little over a couple hundred years preserving what the Minutemen won for us. I remember standing and watching the 'old guys' marching by during numerous parades. I remember thinking, "I wonder what their stories are? What did they do to earn the medals they are wearing?"
Fast forward to now. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are producing combat-experienced veterans. More and more everyday. But something I didn't think about until today, is that there are LOTS of veteran's out there. Gulf War, Grenada, Panama, Vietnam, Korea, WWII, and of course, the Cold War. What am I rambling about? I got this in my email today.

VA: Wear Medals on Veterans Day
R. James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and leaders of
major veterans organizations have called on America's veterans to
help kindle a new spark of patriotism on Veterans Day by wearing
the medals they earned during military service. "We expect Americans
will see our decorated heroes unite in spirit at ceremonies, in
parades and elsewhere as a compelling symbol of courage and
sacrifice on Veterans Day, the day we set aside to thank those who
served and safeguarded our national security," said Nicholson. The
campaign follows a tradition whereby Australia and New Zealand honor
veterans of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) on
April 25. On ANZAC Day, veterans wear their military decorations
whatever they are doing. Nicholson said he hopes a U. S. tradition
will ensue to emulate this pride in being a veteran and in honoring
our veterans. Visit http://www.va.gov/veteranspride.

I think it's a good idea. Wear what you earned. Not to show off, but to take pride in being a vet. Order some minatures, or just the ribbons. Or maybe just your biggies. Take pride in what you did. What do you say, Vets? I'm game if you are.

New Army Campaign

2006-10-11T18:10:00.000-04:00

On 9 October, the US Army rolled out it's new campaign, Army Strong. It comes with a VERY cool video. Gave me goose bumps..... Here's the official release:
The U.S. Army announced Oct. 9 the start of its communication and education efforts to assist the Army family to communicate to the Nation about Soldier’s skills, leadership, teamwork, and selfless service prior to the launch of a new Army advertising campaign. Army Secretary Dr. Francis J. Harvey unveiled the Army Strong campaign, a key component of the Army’s recruiting and advertising efforts, at the 2006 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
“This morning we will launch our internal communications and education phase lasting several weeks until we formally launch the new advertising campaign on Nov 9,” Harvey said. “It is vitally important that the internal Army family understand and embrace this new campaign. I believe this campaign speaks to an essential truth of being a Soldier”.
The Army Strong campaign builds on the foundation of the previous recruiting campaigns by highlighting the transformative power of the U.S. Army. Army Strong captures the defining experience of U.S. Army Soldiers.
“Army Strong is a strength personified by every U.S. Army Soldier -Active Duty, Army Reserve, National Guard, Cadet and Retired,” said Lt Gen. Robert Van Antwerp Jr., commander US Army Accessions Command. “This campaign will show Americans that there is strong, then there’s Army Strong. I am both inspired and confident that the campaign will build on the positive momentum within our recruiting program.”
Army Strong was developed to specifically address the interests and motivations of those considering a career in the U.S. military. The campaign also speaks to those who understand and support the decision of a family member, friend or employee to serve.
A national advertising campaign for the Army Strong message will launch Nov. 9 and will initially involve television, radio and online spots as well as an updated www.goarmy.com Web site. Print ads are scheduled to begin running in January 2007. The ads will be directed to media that appeals to young adults.
Army Strong is the creation of the McCann Worldgroup, the U.S. Army’s marketing communications agency. McCann Worldgroup was retained Dec. 7, 2005, after a competitive review of potential agency partners. To develop the campaign, McCann conducted extensive research among prospective soldiers and their influencers, and interacted directly with hundreds of Soldiers. “This is a campaign informed by research, and inspired by Soldiers,” said Eric Keshin, McCann Worldgroup’s worldwide Chief Operating Officer and Regional Director-North America.

Why we fight... Why it's Real...

2006-09-11T22:50:00.000-04:00

Never forget...

Just another Soldier.....

2006-08-22T08:49:00.000-04:00

I got this yesterday from one of my DOD email lists. Another example of the type of Soldiers we have in the US Army. I'm sure there's just as many Airman, Marines, Sailors and Coasties that are of the same character Spec. Davis is. I've read over the last few years, and had several conversations with people, about the military. One idiot in particular from California (imagine that....) commented on FBL's site about how the bad the military is, that the ones who re-enlisted were forced to, and other left-wing dribble. The thing is, no matter what is written about Soldiers like Spec. Davis, the left-wingers just attribute it to military propaganda. If it comes from CNN, or The LA Times, or The Washington Post, then it must be true. If it comes from the American Forces Press Service, it has to be propaganda.
One friend of mine, VERY left wing, asked that if so many good things are happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, why don't hear about it. He couldn't believe that there is a left-wing, anti-Bush slant in the MSM. He thought CNN presented a very fair, unbiased account of the news. At that point, I figured there wasn't any use in trying to convince him otherwise.
Anyway, I'm getting off subject. Enjoy the read. One point that I noticed, it looks like someone has filled in for the loss of Fran O'Brien's.

By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2006 - Army Spec. Crystal Davis proved her steely grit the night the up-armored wrecker she was driving in Iraq hit an improvised explosive devise.

Trapped in the destroyed vehicle with her right foot nearly severed, she told her cohorts she'd hoist herself out rather than risk having them come in.

"I think about it every day," Davis told country music singer-songwriter Rockie Lynne Aug. 18, at a dinner for wounded servicemembers and their families. "Every moment that goes by a part will flash back. I tell it differently every time because I remember different things as time goes by."

Davis was one of about 20 severely injured servicemembers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center here and the National Naval Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., who dined on the rooftop of The Exchange restaurant here. Lynne was among the 40 or so family members, veterans and other guests who joined the troops at the dinner hosted and sponsored by Jim Nicopoulos, owner of The Exchange.

"What an inspirational story -- she's amazing," said Lynne, a former Army infantryman, after listening to Davis describe her experience and profess her determination to stay in the Army.

"This is such an example of how today's battlefield is so vastly different than even the Gulf War, because now there are no frontlines. There are no support units in the rear," he said. "In today's military, there is clear and present danger for every single person who joins."

Davis, 22, a native of Camden, S.C., joined the Army in January 2004 to become a track mechanic and also trained as a vehicle recovery specialist. As she put it, her job was to "pick up blown up, broke down or stuck vehicles."

Assigned to the 54th Engineer Battalion in Bamburg, Germany, she deployed to Iraq in November 2005. At first, she said, she didn't feel threatened being there. "I just felt like it was another day at work," she said. "I would go outside the wire three, four, five times a week, doing different missions."

On Jan. 21, 2006, a two-hour firefight ensued outside the wire. Her team chief remarked that he hated to go outside into a bunch of irate Iraqis.

"I just kind of laughed at him and brushed it off," Davis recalled. "He asked if I wanted him to drive that night. I said no, I'd drive. He said we'd be taking the same route we always took so it would be all right -- but it just wasn't all right."

Davis was driving the second to last vehicle in a convoy doing route clearance. As she straightened out of a left turn onto the road, Iraqi insurgents detonated a remote-controlled IED.

"It was about 2 in the morning," she recalled. "I had just taken off my eye protection because I'd been up all day and I wanted to stretch and scratch my eyes and kind of wake up a little bit. I had one hand on the wheel, and as I went to grab for the glasses I saw a red flash and heard a boom. I put my hands on the wheel and hit the gas to get out of the danger zone."

The next thing she knew, she awoke to find the vehicle stopped. She was facing the driver's door, but the door had been was blown off. She had glass fragments in her eyes.

"I turned and saw my weapon was still there but my seat belt had been blown off of me," she said. "My right leg was bent backward on top of the steering wheel and my foot was hanging off - it was still connected, but I guess you could say it wasn't there.

"I couldn't see my left leg. I didn't know where it was. All of a sudden my team chief said, 'Hey Ms. Davis, are you all right? Talk to me; talk to me.' All of a sudden the pain just hit me at once, and I said, 'My legs hurt. I don't know why. My legs hurt.'"

Within what seemed like seconds to the injured soldier, Sgt. Jessie Venable, Davis' best friend and the unit's medic, was there. "She looked at me, and I could see the tears in her eyes, but she kept everything professional and she did her job.

"She took off my helmet and my flak vest and turned to the people who were going to help her and said, 'I don't know how we're going to get her out.' She didn't know I heard her.

Trapped in a vehicle the size of an 18-wheeler with 4-foot-tall tires, Davis told Venable, "'Hold on a minute, let me see if I can get myself out. If I can't then you can try.'

"I'd rather hurt myself worse than have her climb in there and hurt herself and hurt me," she said.

Davis found her left leg crushed underneath the seat. Knowing her right foot was already lost, she put pressure on that leg to lift herself up. She grabbed her other leg and set it on the doorjamb.

"I grabbed my left leg and gently pulled it over, and as I went to go set it down somebody grabbed my foot, so I set my leg on top of my foot where it was disconnected," She said.

Venable told Davis to fall forward and she did. Davis said she believes she fought off death shortly after she was put on an air evacuation plane. "I don't know what happened, but I felt the medic's lips on mine and I felt her pushing on my chest, but at the same time I was looking down at her. It was like someone was telling me, 'You can give up now peacefully, or you can fight.'

"I've never quit," Davis told Lynne. "I've never given up a fight. I'll be the first one in the middle of a brawl."

Davis said some people say she's crazy because she wants to stay in the military. "But, there's a reason to my madness," she said with a slight smile. "I'm doing everything I can to push myself to the limit and past it to get there. They're going to have to put up with me for the next 18 years."

Her original goal was a long-term Army career. "When I signed up, I signed up for four years," she said. "But in my mind and in my heart, I signed up for the whole 20 years.

"I joined to get a change of life, to do something better with my life than what I was doing," she said. "My life was heading down the wrong street at the wrong time, and I wanted to live."

Every bone in Davis's left leg was broken. Her heel, ankle and nerves were crushed. Today, she said she has partial feeling in her foot. She cannot wiggle her toes. She can move her foot up and down a little and side to side. She said it looks like the doctors took a handful of screws and put them in her foot. She has a plate holding her heel together. She also got a prosthetic right leg she's been walking on since mid-March.

Despite such trauma, this young soldier said she has no regrets.

"I wouldn't take back a thing," Davis said. "I believe that even if I wasn't in the military that this would have happened to me some way or another somewhere down the line. I'm glad I was in the military because they can pay for it.

"It's a miracle that I'm here, and I thank God every day," she concluded.

The Queen's First Birthday

2006-07-27T22:43:00.000-04:00

I am in Oklahoma celebrating my granddaughter's 1st birthday. It's hard to believe she's a year old already. Seems like yesterday I was holding this tiny little thing two weeks old. Now she's one. Next thing you know, she'll be graduating college or getting married or something like that. But for now, she's still my cute little E. She's really a happy little kid. She was up late the night before her birthday because Daddy and Grandma Gordon were heading to San Antonio to watch Daddy's sister graduate from basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, but that's the subject of another post. She had cake, and lots of presents, and cake, and some books from her Papa (that's me...), and...cake... Great Aunt Louise sent her one of those 'Killer Clowns'. She does have a way of winning one's heart. I'm gonna miss the little munchin when I go home. A lot.

Above and Beyond....

2006-07-22T03:14:00.000-04:00

Recently, a US Army Soldier was recommended for the Medal of Honor for his actions in Fallujah, Iraq. Notice I didn't say Congressional Medal of Honor. The MOH is awarded by the President on behalf of Congress, but the official title is the Medal of Honor. Staff Sgt. David Bellavia. Bellavia kicked some serious Iraq insurgent ass and saved a bunch of his guys. Click on the link and go read the citation, then come back so you have a reference for the rest of my post. When I was reading the recommendation, it reminded me of another MOH recipient, US Army Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez.
In July 2001, I had the privilege of traveling around the country as part of the Nationwide Exercise, covering US Army Reserve units at their Annual Training. I went to Atlanta for a few days for planning then went to Fort Bliss, Texas; Camp Guernsey, Wyoming; Custer National Park, South Dakota; Rosebud Souix Indian Reservation, South Dakota; Rapid City, South Dakota, then back to Atlanta.
While I was in Fort Bliss, a supply sergeant for one of the units I covered was an artist who painted a portrait of Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez to hang in the Reserve Center that was being renamed in honor of Benavidez. The ceremony was being held after I left El Paso. The recommendation for his MOH reads like something out of a Sgt. Rock comic book. Just unbelievable...
Master Sergeant, then Staff Sergeant, United States Army. Who distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely glorious actions on 2 May 1968 while assigned to Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne). 1st Special Forces, Republic of Vietnam. On the morning of 2 May 1968, a 12-man Special Forces Reconnaissance Team was inserted by helicopters in a dense jungle area west of Loc Ninh, Vietnam to gather intelligence information about confirmed large-scale enemy activity. This area was controlled and routinely patrolled by the North Vietnamese Army. After a short period of time on the ground, the team met heavy enemy resistance and requested emergency extraction. 3 helicopters attempted extraction, but were unable to land due to intense enemy small arms and anti-aircraft fire. Sergeant Benavidez was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters returned to off-load wounded crew members and to assess aircraft damage. Sergeant Benavidez voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt. Realizing that all the team members were either dead or wounded and unable to move to the pickup zone, he directed the aircraft to a nearby clearing where he jumped from the hovering helicopter, and ran approximately 75 meters under withering small arms fire to the crippled team. Prior to reaching the team's position he was wounded in his right leg, face and head. Despite these painful injuries he took charge, repositioning the team members and directing their fire to facilitate the landing of an extraction aircraft, and the loading of wounded and dead team members. He then threw smoke canisters to direct the aircraft to the team's position. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. He then provided protective fire by running alongside the aircraft as it moved to pick up the remaining team members. As the enemy's fire intensified, he hurried to recover the body and classified documents on the dead team leader. When he reached the leader's body, Sergeant Benavidez was severely wounded by small arms fire in the abdomen and grenade fragments in his back. At nearly the same moment, the aircraft pilot was mortally wounded, and his helicopter crashed. Although in extremely critical condition due to his multiple wounds, Sergeant Benavidez secured the classified documents and made his way back to the wreckage, where he aided the wounded out of the overturned aircraft, and gathered the stunned survivors into a defensive perimeter. Under increasing enemy automatic weapons and grenade fire, he moved around the perimeter distributing water and ammunition to his weary men, reinstilling in them a will to live and fight. Facing a buildup of enemy opposition with a beleaguered team, Sergeant Benavidez mustered his strength, began calling in tactical air strikes and directed the fire from supporting gun ships to suppress the enemy's fire and so permit another extraction attempt. He was wounded again in his thigh by small arms fire while administering first aid to a wounded team member just before another extraction helicopter was able to land. His indomitable spirit kept him going as he began to ferry his comrades to the craft. On his second trip with the wounded, he was clubbed with additional wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary. He then continued under devastating fire to carry the wounded to the helicopter. Upon reaching the aircraft, he spotted and killed 2 enemy soldiers who were rushing the craft from an angle that prevented the aircraft door gunner from firing upon them. With little strength remaining, he made one last trip to the perimeter to ensure that all classified material had been collected or destroyed, and to bring in the remaining wounded. Only then, in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood, did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft. Sergeant Benavidez' gallant choice to voluntarily join his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least 8 men. His fearless personal leadership, tenacious devotion to duty, and extremely valorous actions in the face of overwhelming odds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.

It is amazing to me what these guys did. What makes Benavidez do what he did, injured like he was, while others with lesser wounds could do nothing? I'm willing to bet he didn't feel like he was a hero. You have to wonder what was going through his head at the time, or Bellavia's, or Sgt 1st Class Paul Smith's, or Sgt. 1st Class Randy Shughart's or Master Sgt. Gary Gordon's, or... or...

True heroes. Not sports stars, or actors, or singers who are wrongly considered heroes. But truely heroes. The kind that a lot of American families are glad stepped up so that their Soldiers were able to come home, alive. And because of the actions of these MOH recipients and others, a lot of guys did come home alive. And I haven't seen one single article about Staff Sgt. Bellavia in the MSM. Imagine that...

You gotta watch this...

2006-07-02T08:23:00.000-04:00

I was reading Princess Crabby's site and watched this video. You gotta watch it, especially if you like the Beatles...

Why are we in Iraq?

2006-07-01T11:03:00.000-04:00

A friend sent me this. It's a little longer than I usually like to post, but it is very well written. The problem is, I'm preaching to the choir. The left wing idiots it's intended for won't read it. Or, if they do, won't think it applies to them. That's the sad part.

Important History Lesson, from Raymond S. Kraft, a
California lawyer, that sheds light on the Big Picture!
Sixty-three years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat, and had sunk more than four hundred British ships in their convoys between England and America for food and war materials.

The US was in an isolationist, pacifist, mood, and most Americans and Congress wanted nothing to do with the European war, or the Asian war.

Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in outrage Congress unanimously declared war on Japan, and the following day on Germany, which had not attacked us. It was a dicey thing. We had few allies.

France was not an ally, the Vichy government of France aligned with its German occupiers. Germany was not an ally, it was an enemy, and Hitler intended to set up a Thousand Year Reich in Europe. Japan was not an ally, it was intent on owning and controlling all of Asia. Japan and Germany had long-term ideas of invading Canada and Mexico, and then the United States over the north and south borders, after they had settled control of Asia and Europe.

America's allies then were England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Russia, and that was about it. All of Europe, from Norway to Italy, except Russia in the east, was already under the Nazi heel.

America was not prepared for war. America had stood down most of its military after WWI and throughout the depression, at the outbreak of WWII there were army units training with broomsticks over their shoulders because they didn't have guns, and cars with "tank" painted on the doors because they didn't have tanks. And a big chunk of our navy had just been sunk and damaged at Pearl Harbor.

Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England that was the property of Belgium and was given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler - actually, Belgium surrendered one day, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day anyway just to prove they could. Britain had been holding out for two years already in the face of staggering shipping loses and the near-decimation of its air force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinkin g the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with later and turning his attention to Russia, at a time when England was on the verge of collapse in the late summer of 1940.

Russia saved America's butt by putting up a desperate fight for two years until the US got geared up to begin hammering away at Germany.

Russia lost something like 24 million people in the sieges of Stalingrad and Moscow, 90% of th em from cold and starvation, mostly civilians, but also more than a million soldiers. More than a million.

Had Russia surrendered, then, Hitler would have been able to focus his entire campaign against the Brits, then America, and the Nazis would have won that war.

I say this to illustrate that turning points in history are often dicey things. And we are at another one.

There is a very dangerous minority in Islam that either has, or wants and may soon have, the ability to deliver small nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, almost anywhere in the world, unless they are prevented from doing so.

The Jihadis, the militant Muslims, are basically Nazis in Kaffiyahs - they believe that Islam, a radically conservative (definitely not liberal!) form of Wahhabi Islam, should own and control the Middle East first, then Europe, then the world, and that all who do not bow to Allah should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel, purge the world of Jews. This is what they say.

There is also a civil war raging in the Middle East - for the most part not a hot war, but a war of ideas. Islam is having its Inquisition and its Reformation today, but it is not yet known which will win - the Inquisition, or the Reformation.

If the Inquisition wins, then the Wahhabis, the Jihadis, will control the Middle East, and the OPEC oil, and the US, European, and Asian economies, the techno-industrial economies, will be at the mercy of OPEC - not an OPEC dominated by the well-ed ucated and rational Saudis of today, but an OPEC dominated by the Jihadis.

You want gas in your car? You want heating oil next winter? You want jobs? You want the dollar to be worth anything? You better hope the Jihad, the Muslim Inquisition, loses, and the Islamic Reformation wins.

If the Reformation movement wins, that is, the moderate Muslims who believe that Islam can respect and tolerate other religions, and live in peace with the rest of the world, and move out of the 10th century into the 21st, then the troubles in the Middle East will eventually fade away, and a moderate and prosperous Middle East will emerge.

We have to help the Reformation win, and to do that we have to fight the Inquisition, i.e., the Wahhabi movement, the Jihad, Al Qaeda, the Islamic terrorist movements. We have to do it somewhere. We cannot do it nowhere. And we cannot do it everywhere at once. We have created a focal point for the battle now at the time and place of our choosing, in Iraq.
Not in New York, not in London, or Paris, or Berlin, but in Iraq, where we did and are doing two very important things.

(1) We deposed Saddam Hussein. Whether Saddam Hussein was directly involved in 9/11 or not, it is undisputed that Saddam has been actively supporting the terrorist movement for decades. Saddam is a terrorist.

Saddam is, or was, a weapon of mass destruction, who is responsible for the deaths of probably more than a million Iraqis and two million Iranians.

(2) We created a battle, a confrontation, a flash point, with Islamic terrorism in Iraq. We have focused the battle. We are killing bad guys there and the ones we get there we won't have to get here, or anywhere else. We also have a good shot at creating a democratic, peaceful Iraq, which will be a catalyst for democratic change in the rest of the Middle East, and an outpost for a stabilizing American military presence in the Middle East for as long as it is needed.

World War II, the war with the German and Japanese Nazis, really began with a "whimper" in 1928. It did not begin with Pearl Harbor. It began with the Japanese invasion of China. It was a war for f ourteen years before America joined it. It officially ended in 194 5 - a 17 year war - and was followed by another decade of US occupation in Germany and Japan to get those countries reconstructed and running on their own again .. a 27- year war.

World War II cost the United States an amount equal to approximately a full year's GDP - adjusted for inflation, equal to about $12 trillion dollars, WWII cost America more than 400,000 killed in action, and nearly 100,000 still missing in action.

The Iraq war has, so far, cost the US about $160 billion, which is roughly what 9/11 cost New York. It has also cost about 2,200 American lives, which is roughly 2/3 of the 3,000 lives that the Jihad snuffed on 9/11. But the cost of not fighting and winning WWII would have been unimaginably greater - a world now dominated by German and Japanese Nazism.

Americans have a short attention span, now, conditioned I suppose by 60 minute TV shows and 2-hour movies in which everything comes out okay.

The real world is not like that. It is messy, uncertain,and sometimes bloody and ugly. Always has been, and probably always will be.

The bottom line here is that we will have to deal with Islamic terrorism until we defeat it, whenever that is. It will not go away on its own. It will not go away if we ignore it.

If the US can create a reasonably democratic and stable Iraq, then we have an "England" in the Middle East, a platform, from which we can work to help modernize and moderate the Middle East. The history of the world is the clash between the forces of relative civility and civilization, and the barbarians clamoring at the gates. The Iraq war is merely another battle in this ancient and never-ending war. And now, for the first time ever, the barbarians are about to get nuclear weapons. Unless we prevent them. Or somebody does.

We have four options

1. We can defeat the Jihad now, before it gets nuclear weapons.

2. We can fight the Jihad later, after it gets nuclear weapons (which may be as early as next year, if Iran's progress on nuclear weapons is what Iran claims it is).

3. We can surrender to the Jihad and accept its dominance in the Middle East, now, in Europe in the next few years or decades, and ultimately in America.

4. Or we can stand down now, and pick up the fight later when the Jihad is more widespread and better armed, perhaps after the Jihad has dominated France and Germany and maybe most of the rest of Europe. It will be more dangerous, more expensive, and much bloodier then.

Yes, the Jihadis say that they look forward to an Islamic America. If you oppose this war, I hope you like the idea that your children, or grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and the Sharia, an America that resembles Iran today.

We can be defeatist peace-activists as anti-war types seem to be, and concede, surrender, to the Jihad, or we can do whatever it takes to win this war against them.

The history of the world is the history of civilizational clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win.

Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win. The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.

In the 20th century, it was Western democracy vs. communism, and before that Western democracy vs. Nazism, and before that Western democracy vs. German Imperialism. Western democracy won, three times, but it wasn't cheap, fun, nice, easy, or quick. Indeed, the wars against German Imperialism (WWI), Nazi Imperialism (WWII), and communist imperialism (the 40-year Cold War that included the Vietnam Battle, commonly called the Vietnam War, but itself a major battle in a larger war) covered almost the entire century.

The first major war of the 21st Century is the war between Western Judeo/Christian Civilization and Wahhabi Islam. It may last a few more years, or most of this century. It will last until the Wahhabi branch of Islam fades away, or gives up its ambitions for regional and global dominance and Jihad, or until Western Civilization gives in to the Jihad.

It will take time. It will not go with no hitches. This is not TV.

Remember, perspective is everything, and America's schools teach too little history for perspective to be clear, especially in the young American mind.

The Cold war lasted from about 1947 at least until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Forty-two years. Europe spent the first half of the 19th century fighting Napoleon, and from 1870 to 1945 fighting Germany.

World War II began in 1928, lasted 17 years, plus a ten year occupation, and the US still has troops in Germany and Japan. World War II resulted in the death of more than 50 million people, maybe more than 100 million people, depending on which estimates you accept.

The US has taken a little more than 2,200 KIA in Iraq. The US took more than 4,000 Killed in action on the morning of June 6, 1944, the first day of the Normandy Invasion to rid Europe of Nazi Imperialism. In WWII the US averaged 2,000 KIA a week for four years. Most of the individual battles of WWII lost more Americans than the entire Iraq war has done so far.

But the stakes are at least as high . . . a world dominated by representative governments with civil rights, human rights, and personal freedoms; or a world dominated by a radical Islamic Wahhabi movement, by the Jihad, under the Mullahs and the Sharia (Islamic law).

I do not understand why the American Left does not grasp this. They favor human rights, civil rights, liberty and freedom, but evidently not for Iraqis. In America, absolutely, but nowhere else.

300,000 Iraqi bodies in mass graves in Iraq are not our problem? The US population is about twelve times that of Iraq, so let's multiply 300,000 by twelve. What would you think if there were 3,600,000 American bodies in mass graves in America because of George Bush? Would you hope for another country to help liberate America?

"Peace Activists" always seem to demonstrate where it's safe, in America.

Why don't we see Peace Activist demonstrating in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, North Korea, in the places in the world that really need peace activism the most?

The liberal mentality is supposed to favor human rights, civil rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc., but if the Jihad wins, w herever the Jihad wins, it is the end of civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc. Americans who oppose the liberation of Iraq are coming down on the side of their own worst enemy.

If the Jihad wins, it is the death of Liberalism. Everywhere the Jihad wins, it is the death of Liberalism. And American Liberals just don't get it.

Raymond S. Kraft is a writer and lawyer living in Northern California. Please consider passing along copies of this to students in high school, college and university as it contains information about the American past that is very meaningful TODAY - - history about America that very likely is completely unknown by them (and their instructors, too). By being denied the facts and truth of our history, they are at a decided disadvantage when it comes to reasoning and thinking through the issues of today. They are prime targets for misinformation campaigns beamed at enlisting them in causes and beliefs that are special interest agenda driven.

And I'll bet you didn't know that there were more deaths in Detroit, right here in the USA, in January than there were in Iraq...and those citizens were not voluntarily signed up for combat pay. But the liberals will probably blame Bush for that, too.

I'm back..sort of..

2006-06-30T06:14:00.000-04:00

It's been six weeks or so since my last post. Working 12 hours per day, six days a week doesn't leave a lot of time to do much of anything. I've had a few ideas for posts that I'll eventually do. Right wing/left wing conspiracies; my granddaughter Eleanor; things going on in my personal life. But for now, I'll tell you about my Annual Training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, covering Exercise Golden Medic, the US Army Reserve Command's premier medical exercise.
We were supposed to have 20 journalists covering the exercise. We had five. But I did have a good group. The Air Force had some Combat Camera folks there. They got to go up in helo rides and C17 hops. But all we got from them was four or five usable pics..and a lot of glamour shots. Guess that's what the flyboys like to look at.
Anyway... We made the base paper(page 10) for two weeks. We put out a 12-page publication. And a video. A pretty good video. One of my Staff Sergeant's put it together at our Battle Assembly. It's pretty good size, so right click and download it. Not bad for a bunch of weekend warriors...

A different kind of Terrorism...

2006-05-12T22:06:00.000-04:00

My daughter sent me this information the other day. She wasn't sure I'd do a post because so many of the people who are listed on my blog are conservative. Well, this is one topic that I don't agree with the Right. Everybody has their beliefs, including me. I don't figure I can change your mind if you don't agree, and you sure as hell aren't going to change mine, so no snarky comments. If you leave me harassing comments, I will edit them and make you look stupid. With that said, here's the info:

An Indiana mother recently accompanied her daughter and her
daughter's boyfriend to one of Indiana's Planned Parenthood
clinics, but they unwittingly walked into a so-called "crisis
pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group, one that shared
a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic and was
designed expressly to lure Planned Parenthood patients and
deceive them.

The group took down the girl's confidential personal information
and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said
would be in their "other office" (the real Planned Parenthood
office nearby). When she arrived for her appointment, not only
did the Planned Parenthood staff have no record of her, but the
police were there. The "crisis pregnancy center" had called
them, claiming that a minor was being forced to have an abortion
against her will.

The "crisis pregnancy center" staff then proceeded to wage a
campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days,
showing up at the girl's home and calling her father's
workplace. Our clinic director reports that the girl was "scared
to death to leave her house." They even went to her school and
urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion.

The anti-choice movement is setting up these "crisis pregnancy
centers" across the country. Some of them have neutral-sounding
names and run ads that falsely promise the full range of
reproductive health services, but they dispense anti-choice
propaganda and intimidation instead. And according to a recent
article in The New York Times, there are currently more of these
centers in the U.S. than there are actual abortion providers.
What's more, these centers have received $60 million in
government grants. They're being funded by our tax dollars.

A bill has just been introduced in Congress to stop the
fraudulent practices of fake clinics, but it desperately needs
more support. Tell your representative to take a stand:
anti-choice extremists must not get away with this any longer!
Go to:
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/clinics

Whether you believe in abortion or not, you can’t reasonably justify this tactic. I personally don’t think abortion should be used as birth control. If you’re doing the horizontal bop, use protection. That said, I don’t think that I, or you, or some governmental agency has the right to tell THAT female over there what they can or can’t do with their body. I have no problem with an anti-abortion group opening an office next to Planned Parenthood presenting alternatives to abortion. Adoption is a good choice because we always hear about some couple who have been trying but can’t get pregnant. But, when that female gets up and walks out, any harassment becomes terrorism, plain and simple. It’s the same as the Phelps idiot family who protest at funerals of military members who died in Iraq. How can someone say how horrible Phelps is, then turn around and say that the anti-abortion terrorists are justified? Can’t do it. Can’t go there. The Phelps asswipes and the anti-abortion terrorist asswipes are in the same category. Flush ‘em where they belong..

Eleanor...

2006-05-08T22:56:00.000-04:00

Just some new pics of my granddaughter. She is such a happy kid. The other day, Katie says she's spoiled, "I didn't spoil her, she must have come out that way..." Hehe... Just wait 'til she's 14, Katie. Paybacks are hell......

A little help, please...

2006-05-03T21:33:00.000-04:00

I received an email the other day from a reader of my site. It seems her daughter is in Afghanistan. I'm not saying where, or with whom she is deployed. But her group has adopted a girl's school of about 100 girls and they need stuff. Here's part of her letter:

Mom: March30, 2006

I have a question. We are going to work with a school for girls in *****. I was wondering if you could maybe ask your church and the school if they would be willing to donate school supplies and sports equipment. Things such as notebooks, pens, pencils, folders. For sports equipment: volleyballs and soccer balls. The school has about 100 girls between the ages of kindergarten and 12th grade.
We are going to take care of the medical side with classes, but it would be nice to get those other things for the girls. I could send some pictures and more information if that would help grease the wheels. I'm sure you can think of something cool, but only if you have the time. Thanks.

Love, H

Okay, There's the request. I've collected about two boxes of notebooks and pencils to send and I'm working on more. Any teachers out there interested in an end-of-the-year project? Send me an email and I'll hook you up with the right person.

MilBlog Conference update

2006-05-02T20:44:00.000-04:00

I ran across this last night. It seems that the DoD IS paying attention to MilBloggers. This is from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Public Affairs Research and Analysis.

The First Milblogger Conference – Washington, D.C. (April 22)
In addition to sharing ideas and experiences, discussion points from some of the most well-known military bloggers coming out of the conference focused on two areas:

Criticism for the media
 The general attitude towards the mainstream media is distrust
 The media ignore hero stories and good news, including the stories of Sergeant First Class Paul Smith and Marine Sergeant Rafael Peralta
Discussion about the military’s response to milblogs
 Attendants feel “the military brass are blowing it big time” with blogs – by not embracing bloggers and by creating “potentially onerous rules” for milbloggers
 Praise for the military taking note of Milblogs, as a Centcom representative was at the conference
 Bloggers alleged that “PAOs are reactionary and not proactive enough, and need to help educate the media about military matters”
 Argghh! blog
o said the Pentagon’s current milblogging efforts are “clumsy” and consist of sending “obvious pieces of recruiting propaganda”
o “The services do a crappy job of sharing info with the public. Milbloggers fill this niche”
o No one questions the importance of OPSEC – milblogges just want a “better working definition”
 Bill Roggio of The Fourth Rail: advised the Pentagon to “accept us like you accept the media”
 Matt of Blackfive: "If the Army restricts bloggers, all you will have are ... dissident bloggers who are willing to take a risk"

THE FIRST MILBLOGGING CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

National Journal's BeltwayBlogRoll: Milbloggers With Attitude – April 25
Written by K. Daniel Glover, managing editor of National Journal's Technology Daily.
…About 200 soldiers, veterans, family members and assorted others who gathered to celebrate the military blogging community spent much of their time chastising the media, denouncing peace activists and lamenting the military's lukewarm response to the blogosphere.
The milbloggers' rap against the Pentagon was more respectful and subdued but no less assertive. They think the military brass are blowing it big time when it comes to the blogosphere, both by failing to embrace bloggers and by pondering potentially onerous rules for blogging by soldiers.
The military certainly has taken note of the blogosphere. At least one official from U.S. Central Command, for instance, attended the conference. That is just one example of attempts at blog outreach that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mentioned in a February speech…
But bloggers see room for improvement. John Donovan of Argghhh, a milblogger at the event, said in an interview that the Pentagon right now is just sending "obvious pieces of recruiting propaganda" that milbloggers are rejecting. "They're frankly clumsy about it because they still don't understand blogs," he said.
Bill Roggio of The Counterterrorism Blog and The Fourth Rail offered this message to the Pentagon public affairs team: "Accept us like you accept the media. ... Allow your people to talk. The risk you take with [operational security] is miniscule compared with the benefits you can get from engaging the milbloggers."
Engaging them is only half the equation, though; the other half is not quashing them. Panelists repeatedly urged milbloggers to remember one key principle before posting content to a blog: that their words can be read by enemies like al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. That means milbloggers need to write responsibly.
Missteps may well come, the panelists said, but the military should not respond by regulating blogs. "If the Army restricts bloggers," said Matt of Blackfive, "all you will have are ... dissident bloggers who are willing to take a risk."
John Noonan of OPFOR offered another idea instead: "We will help you and do it in a less abrasive way."

Several postings of this Stars and Stripes article: Military bloggers speak out against more restrictions. Portions posted online include:
o Overregulation of military weblogs by the defense officials will not only demoralize troops but also silence many of the military’s strongest advocates, a panel of leading bloggers said Saturday…
o But the blogging experts also warned that servicemembers and military families who use weblogs must be vigilant in what they post, because carelessness could easily enrage military leaders and possibly risk lives…
o Still, the bloggers who spoke Saturday believed that self-regulation by the blogging community and attentiveness among military writers is the best solution, as opposed to more military regulation.

Arghhh! The First Milblogging Conference - April 24
So - what's the take-away?
…The services do a crappy job of sharing info with the public. Milbloggers fill this niche.

Milbloggers also nip at the heels of power - which isn't going to stop, so the Generals ought to learn to live with it - because it's the most powerful mostly-friendly voice on the Internet.

OPSEC. No one questions the importance of same. We'd all like a better working definition of same. And - we know the services have people who are reading the blogs watching for it - most of us will entertain polite, reasonable requests to withdraw data. You just have to be able to explain it --- and ask. But the services, especially for the active duty milbloggers, need to develop doctrine and guidance.

A warning for the Generals. Shut 'em all down, and what will be left? The malcontents will blog - anonymously - with no countervailing voice which currently overwhelms the discontented. Which is an expression of the fact that most of the troops are generally satisfied in the big sense with how things are going (we *always* bitch about the details) and the positive voices drown out the unhappy voices. Bring down the Crushing Boot of Doom... and only the malcontents will be left. Think about it, Powers-That-Be. Listen to your PAOs, and not as much to your lawyers and weak commanders who don't like any critical voice, however much else positive comes from those voices. But mostly, listen to your warriors. They have all our best interests at heart.

Fuzzilicious: Milblogging Conference Wrapup - April 26
Another theme from the first session seemed to be frustration and outright anger over the "mainstream" media. Several panelists cited that as their motivation for blogging. They were almost equal in their condemnation of Army Public Affairs, saying that PAOs are reactionary and not proactive enough, and need to help educate the media about military matters--from technical terms such as "air assault" to things like the UCMJ and military culture…
One thing that was a bit unexpected was the way Vietnam hung over the panel's discussions. As the Iraq war vets cited specific examples of the media either ignoring a story or misreporting it, or spinning it negatively, they spoke passionately about the pride they felt in their Iraq service and the anger they felt about what they saw as the media smearing them as a whole over things like Abu Ghraib that were limited to one chain of command. Smash spoke with great passion on that subject, directly addressing the media in the room and telling them how ashamed American soldiers were over what they saw at Abu Ghraib and how strongly they condemned it, while chastizing the media for treating that scandal as emblematic of the behavior of typical American military personnel.

Iraq War Today - Milblog Conference Wrapup – April 25
One of the highlights for me was when Capt. B was speaking of the difference between how the MSM covered a story, and what happened. He talked about a terrorist who killed his own nephew in an attempt to shoot U.S. troops - because his nephew happened to be standing between him and his targets. Casualties in that incident were covered, but there was no mention of the fact that a terrorist was willing to kill his own family to get to our Heroes.

TCS Daily: Military Bloggers of the World Unite! – April 27
Harold Hutchison is a military blogger for Strategypage.
At the conference, the general attitude towards the mainstream media was one of distrust. To illustrate the basis for that distrust, the blogger who ran the blog "In Iraq for 365" related an instance where American soldiers came under fire from a mosque. The American troops did not enter the mosque, however, though the media reported they did. To compound this misreporting, a network had footage of the American troops taking fire from the mosque, and MSM gatekeepers chose not to use this. As a result, the US military had to deal with international PR fallout from the incident.Milbloggers also discussed how the media ignore of hero-stories and good news (such as these recent examples). Several panelists mentioned how the media largely ignored Sergeant First Class Paul Smith, who held off an attack on a U.S. Army unit during the liberation of Iraq in 2003 and received the Medal of Honor for his heroism. Another ignored hero is Marine Sergeant Rafael Peralta, who during a battle covered a grenade to protect fellow Marines. Yet the "knuckleheads" (to quote milblogger Blackfive) of Abu Ghraib got far more coverage than these heroes…”
One Marine's View: The Good, Bad and the Ugly – April 23
An overview of the conference was that the “word” wasn’t getting out to the American people and Milblogs and Blogs in general filled that gap and continued to overflow and may take over the entire information requirement one day.

(I ran out of time. Sorry the links don't work)
Lot's of quotes from a couple Castle Denizens. The question to ask is, will they(DoD) listen? I hope so. We really are on their side. We want to get the good news out there just as much as the readers want the good, and sometimes not so good, news. The thing is, most Americans want the truth. They CAN handle the truth. Just give them the facts and let them decide what their opinion is. Which is a LOT more than they are getting from the MSM.

Scary...

2006-04-29T22:27:00.000-04:00

This is scary...really, really scary....

MilBlog Coference 2006 (a day late and a dollar short...)

2006-04-29T15:47:00.000-04:00

Dateline: Washington, DC
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the first MilBlog Conference in Washington. I spent about 3 hours Tuesday night putting together a post with links, photos, etc, and just as I was finishing up when Internet Explorer 'encountered a problem and had to shut down.' AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I'm working six days per week/12 hours per day so I don't have a lot of time to do much of anything. So I finally got around to doing it again today.
For those of you who do not know, MilBlogs are military bloggers who have their own weblog, for the most part, or are very strong supporters. There were a lot of the biggies in the MilBlog world there. Some of the ones I met were Andi, who organized the conference, Matt, Jimbo, Smash, Smink, CJ, Carla, Chuck and Carren, Deb, Jeff and a lot of others. John from the Castle was live blogging on Saturday from the conference and he covered the days events pretty well.
I also got to meet some of the Castle Denizens/Denizennes, like John and Beth, AFSis, Sgt. B, Boston Maggie, and miss Fuzzy. I read on Andi's site that there were over 1,000 attendees, both in person and on the web. Several of the Castle folks were participating online. It gave them a chance to 'be there without being there.' Click on any of them to get their take on the day's activities. Others I got to meet were ArmyWifeToddlerMom, HomefrontSix, LL, SK, and probably some I'm leaving out. Oh, and talk about a small world. I was talking to SK at FOB Friday night, and it turns out she sent me videotapes in Afghanistan for my Read To Your Kids program. She had read about it on AnySoldier.com. Marty Horn from AnySoldier was there, but he left before I got a chance to shake his hand.
Those following the conference on the web missed out on the Friday night 'meet and greet' at Fran O'Brien's. THAT is an entire story by itself. Fuzzy has a pretty good collection of FOB stories. The web watchers also missed out on the pub crawl Saturday night. It was fun and if you read some of the other bloggers, you'll see some of the fun happenings. I also had a chance to do some sightseeing while I was there. Arlington was my favorite and always will be. The history that is there is just fascinating.
I'm looking forward to the next one, whenever and where ever it may be. I wouldn't mind going back to DC. I've been there four or five times and still haven't seen everything.
If you go to the various sites to read about the conference, remember that it was a week ago and you may have to go looking.

Heading for 10,000...

2006-04-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

My blog is approaching 10 months old. And, according to my Sitemeter, I'm approaching 10,000 visits. I know, chump change when compared to other Castle Denizens, but hey, I go for quality not quantity. (just kidding...I can't be good at EVERYTHING...). At the current rate, I should hit the big 10K mark sometime in the next week or so. I started following my sitemeter, and am amazed at some of the visits. Visitors from all over the world. Canada, Spain, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Saudia Arabia, Korea, Saint Lucia... all in the last two days. And different search engines... I'm number 13 for a Google search for 'M42 Duster'; number 2 for an MSN search for 'MY OLD ARMY DAYS'; number 3 for 'Castle throwaways'... not sure about that one...; then there are the one's I'm unsure of... 'bad experiences in the army reserve'; 'family background on teenage prostitutes'; 'romanians in the US army'; but the strangest...? 'army men f*ck out door'.... um...okay.... not sure why THAT one brought them to me...
Anyway. I would like to thank everyone who has visited my site. I wish I could write more, but my schedule doesn't allow it. I spent 3 hours Tuesday night writing my MilBlog conference post with links, photos, etc. And, just as I was linking the last one, Internet Explorer crashed ... and it was all gone. I will post it this weekend, but everyone else has so it's old news. And, I promised the mom of a certain female medic in Afghanistan that I would post about her daughter collecting school supplies for a girl's school in Gardez. I'll have that post up this weekend too.

So who will be visitor number 10,000? Maybe a prize of some kind. A free dinner on me. I think I still have some MacDonald's coupons left...

Vile, simply vile...

2006-04-14T21:25:00.000-04:00

I don't usually do a lot of posts offering commentary on different things going on in the world. Mostly because there are a lot of bloggers out there that do a lot better job than I ever could, so why try to outdo them. Just click on the links in the right column and you'll see what I'm talking about. Besides, most of the people that read my site come from places like The Castle and a few others. But I read something on BlackFive's site about Rev Phelps and his church of scumbags protesting at funerals of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Check out this video. It's ten minutes long, and you'll need sound. I'm sure these asswipes are NOT what the writers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment protecting freedom of religion. What I think is cool is the response various groups have given to Phelps and his maggots. Even if you don't support the war, how can someone even think that putting already grieving families through extra pain is okay? These guys don't even begin to fall under the description of Christians. Go home, Phelps. Take your shitbags with you.

Meeting a fellow blogger and a few other things...

2006-03-21T21:30:00.000-05:00

I got to meet a blogger Sunday. My blog buddy Barb, who saves my butt on this site on a regular basis, came to Florida last weekend. We were able to get together for an early dinner. She was very nice, and very easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean... I had to leave for work, but we probably would have sat there talking for hours. Nice to meet you, Barb...

I've had a few people email me that they had heard about my Afghanistan video I put together last year. For those who didn't know, and as a refresher for those that do, I was in Afghanistan for nine months. My job included taking photos all over the country. I took probably 8,000 photos while I was there. The good folks over at the Castle ran my posts because I didn't have a blog yet. The description John ran near the end of my deployment is a pretty good description, so I won't repeat it. The video is set to Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, the long version. Almost all of the photos are mine, with 5 or 6 that fit the words of the song better. I did a post about it back in September, but unless you knew where to look, it was difficult to find. Thanks to Barb, now to see the video, scroll over to the column that says "My Tour in Afghanistan". The last post is the video. Read the description, then right click on the link to download.

I received an email last week from the new PAO in Iraq, asking if I was interested in putting a link to their Multi National Corps - Iraq on my blog. Heck yeah! Anytime I can help put out correct info that the MSM hasn't put a twist to, I'm happy to oblige. Go check out their stuff.

And, thanks to blog bud Barb. She's the one who put the links where they belong. Couldn't have done it without her.

Playing with the Butter Bars...

2006-03-12T21:54:00.000-05:00

Over at The Castle, a former officer and I exchanged a few darts
over the besting of officers by NCOs. I promised a couple stories about two officers in particular that I got to initiate into our unit.
A little setup...
Way back when, I was in an Air Defense unit. At the time our weapon system was the M42 Duster, twin 40mm guns mounted on an M4 tank chassis. The guns were the pom-pom guns from navy ships during WWII. The Army experimented with a couple different track-mounted versions in the early '50s, with the final one being the M42. At 240 rounds per minute from both guns, they could kick some serious ass on '50s high speed aircraft. As the aircraft got better and faster, the Duster wasn't as effective. During Vietnam, Dusters were used as perimeter defense around firebases. The VC had more than just a little respect for the Dusters (notice the desert. It's not Vietnam and that's me again on the far right. Disregard the yellow can in my right hand...). Nothing like 240 rounds per minute to clear a jungle in a hurry. After Vietnam, the National Guard got all the Dusters. They were notorious for engine failures (yeah, that's me on the far right..) and in 1988, they were removed completely from the Army inventory.
We used to go to Camp Blanding in North Florida once per quarter to do range firing with the Dusters. I always went on the advance party to draw the Dusters and set up the range for when the main body got there. On one particular Friday, I was in the last of five Dusters leaving the motor pool, headed for the range. We had to take the tracks the back way since they were allowed on the pavement. Just as I pulled up to the gate, my Duster stalled. The platoon sergeant came over and we figured out someone had shut off the fuel valve. It started back up, but I wasn't sure on how to get to the range. "Just follow the tracks in the dirt," said the platoon sgt. Luckily it had rained so the only tracks were the rest of my group. So off I went. I was drinking a Diet Coke. The Duster is steered with a T-handle. Along the way, the road crosses a creek. Sometimes deep, sometimes not, depending on how much rain had fallen. I came down the hill and hit the creek. The last thing I remember was looking up and seeing this wall of water, this HUGE wall of water, coming over the top of the Duster. The wall hit me so hard it knocked my glasses off. My Diet Coke can was nowhere to be found. The water hit me so hard, the money in my wallet got wet. I found my glasses and continued on to the range. When I pulled on the range, 1LT Paul Reickhoff came up to me, looked at my soaking wet uniform, and said, "Sgt. Johnson, I have a job for you." He wanted me to drive one of our new 2LTs back through the creek when we returned to the motor pool after firing.
Fast forward about 36 hours. We're done firing. We are getting ready to head to the motor pool. "Hey, Lt. Wedower, want to ride with me?" "Sure," he says, unsuspecting. I was the second Duster heading back. From the range, there's a long sloping hill with the creek at the bottom, then a steep hill and sharp right turn. Staff Sgt. Mickey Vause was the lead vehicle. He knew what was planned. He went slow through the creek, pulled up the hill a little way, then stopped and turned to watch.
I had slowed down, then when I was about 50 feet away or so, I floored it. I hit the water with the engine redlining. I held onto my glasses, and pinched my nose shut. Mickey said that the wall of water came up and the last thing he saw was the LT's eyes and mouth wide open in a look of "HOLY SH*T!!" The wall of water, before it came crashing down, was so high, the only thing Mickey could see was the radio antennas. The LT stood up in the commander's seat, water dripping from every inch of his body. He looked at me. I looked at him, held out my hand, and said, "Welcome to Charlie Battery, sir."
That was 1982, maybe early 1983. In late 2000, I was at my new public affairs unit in Orlando, and an MP Lt. Colonel walked in. I instantly recognized him. I walked up to him and said, "Lt. Colonel Wedower. How are you doing?" He looked at me. I said, "Do you remember getting soaked in a Duster at Camp Blanding?" He said, "Yes. I still tell that story whenever I can."
In '84 or '85, I did it again to another new butter bar. 2LT Addison Turnquist. Same results. He eventually became my battery commander, one of the best officers I've had the pleasure of working for. Yeah, I got wet both times, but sometimes you just gotta make sacrifices.

My first drill as first sgt...

2006-03-08T22:00:00.000-05:00

I had my first drill this past weekend with my new unit. We had a 3-day weekend, reporting at 0630 Friday morning, then driving to Ft. Gordon, GA for range firing. We are authorized 20 people, but have a lot less due to deployments. The weekend went pretty well. Our entire battalion was invloved in the range firing so it took all weekend. I liked this being my first drill. Going to this type of training gives me a chance to see who jumps in and gets things done and who hangs back. I have some good NCOs working for me. I think I'm going to like this. I have to do some recruiting to get some broadcasters in the unit.
Oh the picture. I picked up my dress blues from the alterations shop. Had the new 1SG stripes sewn on. There's a certain symmetry to the way it looks. I like it.....

MilBlogs...

2006-03-07T23:40:00.000-05:00

It's funny how things come around. I first learned what a blog was a little over a year ago, and while I was in Afghanistan, the good folks at The Castle started running some of my updates from the 'Other Sandbox.' As a matter of fact, my first post there was on 7 Mar 2005. I started looking around at some of the other blog sites. Quite a few good ones out there with LOTS of readership. Not all were MilBlog sites, some were people who had something to say and nowhere to say it. Some were ex-military, or military supporters. Quite a few were wackos, left and right wing wackos. I tend to stay away from those because, 1.) I get too worked up about their stupidity, and 2.) I could never get them to see another side by leaving a comment.
Apparently, MilBlogs have started attracting a lot of attention. A LOT. Some good, some bad. The guys in country who were posting about the missions they were doing, and the results, were bad OPSEC ideas. You can't do that because THEY read them too, and will use that information to KILL YOU. Period. The good attention is what is the point of this post.
A while back, most bloggers with any type of military theme were contacted by a PR firm representing the US Army. A big stink was raised, by the left, about the military pushing propaganda. The thing is, and the MSM fails to realize, if the MSM would have been presenting the good along with the bad, the US Army wouldn't have had to hire a PR firm to get the good news out. I've gotten a couple emails from the PR firm, but I haven't used any of the stuff they sent. I don't do the posts like that. There are way too many MilBloggers out there that are doing a helluva lot better job covering those items. And I don't have the time or inclination to compete with them.
How much of an impact are bloggers having on the military? Enough that CENTCOM requested bloggers to add a link to their website. I added it to this site, although I don't visit it as often as I would like. I would also add a link to any command's site if they requested it.
DefenseLink recently ran an article about CENTCOM's reliance of blogger's to get out CORRECT information that the MSM seems to have overlooked.
Bloggers are also important enough that one of the breakout training sessions at the Worldwide Public Affairs Symposium is how to use bloggers to expand your coverage.
And, there's a MilBlog Conference planned for DC in April, organized by some of the big names in the MilBlog world, supported by the VFW. I hope to be able to go, depending on if I can get off work. It will be interesting to hear the panelists discussing MilBlogging. I also would like to meet some of the Castle Denizens I've been talking to online for the last year.
My MilBlog isn't as big or as widely read as some of the biggies. But, I do my part. I average about 25 readers per day. I do get readers from all over the US as well as all over the world. The last four days have seen hits from New Zealand, Turkey, Germany, Cote D'lvoire, Faroe Islands, Canada, Spain, Italy, Taiwan and Singapore. And the Information Security guys at the Pentagon read my site almost every day.

MilBlogs. Imagine that....

Looks like I'm going to be busy..(update at the bottom)

2006-02-26T22:00:00.000-05:00

I AM A FIRST SERGEANT
My job is people -- Every One is My Business.
I dedicate my time and energy to their needs;
their health, morale, discipline, and welfare.
I grow in strength by strengthening my people.
My job is done in faith; my people build faith.
My job is people --EVERY ONE IS MY BUSINESS.
-- First Sgt's Creed

If the NCOs are the backbone of the armed forces, then the First Sergeant is the heart and soul. No other enlisted person carries near the responsibility and authority of the First Sergeant, no other person in the squadron or company, including the commissioned officers, possesses the First Sergeant's breath of experience, professional knowledge, or education. A First Sergeant MUST be an unqualified expert in promotions, demotions, military law, civilian law, counseling, discipline, leave & passes, evaluations, inspections, public speaking, billeting, PCS moves, TDYs, pay problems and procedures, child and family support, bad checks, budgeting, loans, requisitions, dress and appearance, awards and decorations, unit history, parades, ceremonies, family advocacy, medical benefits and requirements, re enlistments, retirements, weight control, professional military education, ID card privileges, off limit areas, restrictions, etc. The First Sergeant is the primary liaison with the commander on all matters concerning the enlisted corps. He or she is the eye and ear for the commander, and the mouth for the enlisted force.
-- usmilitary.about.com

I have been in the Army, National Guard and Reserve, for 31 years. I have been a cannoneer, gunner, section sergeant, platoon sgt, and acting first sergeant. For those with time served, officer and enlisted, you know of the importance of the First Sgt. The 'Top'. The 'First Shirt' for the Air Force pukes. Serving as an 'acting' First Sergeant isn't quite the same. The insignia of the Army First Sergeant is three stripes up, three stripes down with a diamond in the middle. THE Diamond. Very few ranks get people's attention faster than a First Sergeant. Command Sergeant Major, maybe. General, maybe. Drill Sergeant, probably. But only a First Sergeant wears 'The Diamond'. Not an acting First Sergeant. And the First Sergeant is the first rank that is referred to by full rank. Staff Sergeant, Sgt 1st Class, Master Sgt. can be and are called 'sergeant'. But NEVER call a First Sergeant, 'sergeant'. If you do, you'll only do it once...

On Thursday, I got a First Sgt slot, and as soon as the orders are processed, I will pin on The Diamond. Finally. (Hope posting this now doesn't jinx it...) I have a few years left in my career. THIS is how I wanted to finish it up. To me, being a First sergeant is more important than being a Sgt Major. Being 'Top' is more about taking care of his or her people. I could have gone to Sgt Major from Master Sgt. But I think I would have missed out on the ultimate chance to be a leader. I know I'm a good NCO. I know from my past experiences, I am a good leader. Now, I get the chance to be a good First Sergeant. From the description above, it looks like I have a lot of work to do. I hope I don't let my guys and gals down. I'll keep you posted...

26 Feb UPDATE:

I have my orders, effective 1 Mar 2006. And next weekend is my first drill with my new unit. We're going to the range for 3 days. Should be fun....

I'm trying to get approval to go to the World Wide Public Affairs Symposium next week, if anyone will be in DC then.

Tagged by Beth...

2006-02-19T16:38:00.000-05:00

Beth tagged me with this...

1: Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies?
Mostly color, although 'Young Frankenstein' wouldn't have been the same in color...

2: What is the one single subject that bores you to near-death?
Economics...

3: MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music?
MP3s, recorded on CDs. You can get 150 mp3s on one CD...

4: You are handed one first class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and ten million dollars cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going ... ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run?
No. I love my family, my military career and the future too much to just up and leave. I'd rather die broke...

5: Seriously, what do you consider the world's most pressing issue now?
Have to agree with Beth on this one: Terrorism.

6: How would you rectify the world's most pressing issue?
Find out who they are, hunt them down and kill them on THEIR turf, then bury them with pig carcasses, and make sure everyone sees it.

7: You are given the chance to go back and change one thing in your life; what would that be?
I would have gone into public affairs a lot sooner. I was Air Defense for 24 years and never went anywhere. I got into public affairs in 1999, and have been all over the US, to Alaska, Korea, France, Germany, Bosnia, Budapest, Austria, every corner of Afghanistan, Qatar, and Belgium.

8: You are given the chance to go back and change one event in world history, what would that be?
The assasination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914. This started WWI, considered by many to be one of the most brutal in terms of suffering of the combatants. Although, the war probably would have started with something else starting it.

9: A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole' Opry --Which do you choose?
Grand Ole' Opry, of course. Country boy at heart...

10: What is the one great unsolved crime of all time you'd like to solve?
Who pulled the trigger on JFK?

11: One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal?
Well, Gen. Colin Powell is famous, and he's an author, so he's my pick. I'd have to do some research to see what type of food he prefers.

12: You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky -- what's the first immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact?
Only one???

TAG!! you're it!! Boston Maggie and Punctilious and Kat-Missouri and FBL and Army Girl
...

Meme...

2006-02-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

A cool MEME is going around. (Can someone please tell what WTF is a MEME...?) Since no one tagged ME, I'm posting anyway....

4 Jobs You Have Had In Your Life
Not gonna bore you with the normal stuff like tire changer, security guard, gas jockey. Here are some of my more interesting ones
1. Chicken Farmer (lasted two days)
2. Ironworker/Welder- best job I had was walking a 12 inch wide beam 90 feet in the air. It was so cool!!
3. Citrus fruit picker- have a very good respect for the work they do
4. Police Officer- Whitesburg, Georgia. Town was so small we didn't even have a stoplight...

4 Movies You Would Watch Over and Over
1. Big Chill
2. Gardens of Stone
3. The Alamo (Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett)
4. Any Clint Eastwood movie

4 Places You Have Lived
1. Kabul, Afghanistan (deployed 2004/2005)
2. Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina (deployed 2003)
3. Columbia, Ala..pop 602
4. Ft. Pierce, Florida (still here... for now...)

4 TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. Lost
2. Invasion
3. ER
4. CSI-Miami

4 Places You Have Been On Vacation
1. Budapest, Hungary R&R during deployment. VERY cool place! Wouldn't mind going back.
2. Qatar R&R during deployment to Afghanistan. Reminded me of Orlando.
3. Calgary, Canada to Petersburg, Alaska. For our 25th Anniversary in 2001, the Mrs. and I flew to Calgary and drove across the Canadian Rockies to the coast, then took the ferry north to Petersburg. It was Freaking awesome!!!! Maybe some day I'll do a post.
4. Virginia/West Virginia mountains. Fall trip a couple years ago. Spent a week driving through the mountains taking pics of the leaves, waterfalls, creeks.

4 Websites You Visit Daily
1. The Castle
2. Blonde Sagacity
3. All of the Castle Denizen;s
4. Army Girl

4 Favorite Foods
1. Breyer's Vanilla Ice cream
2. Pizza
3. Most Seafood
4. Almost anything mexican

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now
1. Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan. THE most beautiful, breathtaking, awe-inspiring place I have EVER been. I've seen the mountains in West Virginia, Canadian Rockies, Alaska. Nothing compares. Well, one thing does....
2. Somewhere north of here. Florida has gotten too crowded.
3. Would like to go back to Alaska and see the Denali Mountains.
4. There...

4 People to Tag
Looks like almost everyone's been tagged so I'll throw out a few new ones..
1.Ala
2. AB (through Ala's)
3. TrekMedic TrekMedic
4. Alix

Friday Musings...

2006-01-27T10:16:00.000-05:00

I got a few items in my email this morning. Thought I'd pass them along.

Reserve Chief Supports Cut
Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, said he expects his 205,000-member force to be cut and that he supports some of the reduction. He refused to provide numbers, although a senior, defense official said the Army is looking at a reduction of 5,000 reservists between fiscal 2007 and fiscal 2011. In addition, the National Guard could drop by 17,000 in fiscal 2007, with more cuts later. Many state National Guard leaders oppose the cuts. Helmly agreed that it is possible to cut the force too much, but "we're a long way from doing that," he said. The cuts were recommended in a classified Program Decision Memorandum, which is the Defense Department vehicle that guides future budget submissions. Helmly said he was comfortable with the level proposed by the PDM.
Related stories... Reductions
Thin Green Line
Restructure
(Let's see...they are using the Guard and Reserve more and more... The Army is stretched thin... "Yeah, I know a solution. Let's get rid of Guard and Reserve members. Yeah, that's the ticket...")

Army Enlistments, Re-enlistments Rebound
Army re-enlistments in fiscal 2005 were the highest in five years, said Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey Jan. 18. More than 69,500 soldiers re-enlisted between Oct. 1, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2005. The enlistment record also looks brighter than it has for years, with 11,522 recruits signed up by mid-January against a goal of 11,000. Nevertheless, the Army needs some 80,000 new recruits each year to balance its current strength of 492,000 active-duty personnel against losses. Last year, it missed that goal by about 6,600 troops, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
(guess the ones who ARE there already, like what they see, and want to stay in. So much for the 'decimated morale' theory...)

Great Grandmother Completes Deployment
A 73-year-old great grandmother has returned from a volunteer deployment to the Middle East. Mrs. Lena Haddix served the first six months in Kuwait, then went to Camp Liberty in Baghdad for six months as a supervisor at the 30,000-square-foot PX. "My proudest time was seeing the soldiers smile when they saw somebody from home," she said. "And some of them recognized me from home," she added. They called her "Mom," and made a point to tell her they were OK when they stopped into the exchange. What does she think of the troops over there? "They're doing their job. Their morale is good. They know they're there for a reason. They're willing, and want to get the job done." An exchange worker for more than 30 years, she's back at the Fort Sill, Okla., PX from where the odyssey began.
( I hope I am able to volunteer like this when I'm 73. How about the rest of you. What have YOU done...?)

I started this blog as a way of putting down on paper some of my military experiences from my career. Looking back over my posts from the last few months, there hasn't been a whole lot of 'military experience' posts. I want to post more more. But, in comparison, how can I post about things like my activation for the 1980 Miami Riots, or for the Pope's visit in 1987, or Hurricane Andrew in 1992, or my deployment to Bosnia in 2003, or any number of minor things that have happened during my military career, when Soldiers are fighting and dieing in Afghanistan and Iraq? My experiences pale greatly compared to theirs. Maybe I will anyway, for my grandkids, so they can know what I did during my career. Maybe I won't. Maybe I'll get a 'Memoir Kit' from the Veteran's History Project, and write it for Eleanor and whoever comes next. We'll see.

Eleanor's Christening...

2006-01-18T19:53:00.000-05:00

My granddaughter, Eleanor, came home for her christening service last week. We picked up her, Katie and Travis, Aimee and Randy at the Orlando airport. The service was done by our family pastor, David McEntire, in West Palm Beach. David used to be the pastor at our church in Ft. Pierce, but he was moved to West Palm Beach about 12 years ago. Anyway, lots of family attended. It was cool. Eleanor was beautiful. They head back to Oklahoma on Saturday. I'm gonna miss the little munchkin.

The Dress...

2006-01-14T00:17:00.000-05:00

My granddaughter, Queen Eleanor, is coming home for her christening service this Sunday at church. My wife wrote the following for the occasion:

It has been 30 years since my mother in law lovingly turned yards of satin, lace and tiny pearls into the wedding dress of my dreams. I am sure that her thoughts were of her middle son, how young he was, and what his future would hold. She had no idea that his two daughters would be her only grandchildren, and that one day, the dress would be turned into a christening gown for her great grandchild. Tonight, as I sew the same tiny pearls onto a bonnet, my thoughts are of the past. And of what the future holds for MY grown baby and grandchild. Life goes on.

That's my Mom and Dad with us in the photo. And, no, I'm not a cradle robber. We were BOTH 19. My Dad was 45 then. I'm 49 now. Holy shit.....

Our pastor is letting me take a few pics during the service. I'll have another post in a few days.

Video Collection...

2006-01-02T19:14:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, Everyone! And what better way to start the new year but with a few chuckles. Here are some cool videos I've collected. You may have seen some already. Not all are office or kid friendly, or PC friendly. So here we go...

Be careful where you lean your arm... (not office/kid friendly)
Cute kid videos...
Another "cute" kid...
LA blondes have so much more to offer...
Turn up the sound for this one...
Not too PC, but WTF, it's funny...
Fun in the snow...
A romantic evening...
Drill team...

The next two were shot in Bosnia in 2003 and put together by my broadcast NCOIC, Sgt. 1st Class Brian Stribling. Both are large files. Right click and download. If you have dial-up, it will take a while.
The first one was of the Russian Spetznatz putting on a show for allied forces at their base. If you look real close, these guys are bleeding when it's done, and the guy in the blue suit being pulled behind the jeep, winds up with a broken hip after he hits the curb.
The last video is of a particular master sergeant trying to complete an interview without being too successful.

Enjoy!

The Year in Pictures 2005

2005-12-30T22:24:00.000-05:00

Check this out. Pretty good for a bunch of amateurs.... (just kidding)

http://www4.army.mil/yearinphotos/2005/slideshow.html

2005-12-23T22:06:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!!

We finally put our tree up. Rather, we finally decorated it. It's been up for a couple weeks. I've been working 6 days per week, 12 hours a day since 1 Oct, so there hasn't been a lot of time for the normal stuff. I only have a few lights up outside this year. Not my normal decorating habits. And I'm working 12 hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But, most of the family will be here New Year's weekend and I'm off then. This is the first year that at least one or the other or both kids haven't been here to help decorate. But they are both married now and starting their own family traditions. Although, both took copies of The Statler Brothers 'Christmas Card' cd, and both have told their new hubbies that Santa puts icicles on the tree on Christmas Eve, not before. Randy and Travis...get used to it....

A few funnies...

2005-12-22T21:35:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about posting some of the funny stuff I've gotten in emails lately, then my daughter goaded me. So here goes... The last one is Aimee's...

A little girl is in line to see Santa. When it's her turn, she climbs up on Santa's lap.
Santa asks, "What would you like Santa to bring you for Christmas"?
The little girl replies, "I want a Barbie and G.I. Joe".
Santa looks at the little girl for a moment and says, "I thought Barbie comes with Ken."
"No", says the little girl. "She comes with G.I. Joe, she fakes it with Ken!"

Two men went golfing. One man took his pipe out of his gold bag and askedthe other one if he had a lighter. The other man pulled out a 12-inch Biclighter and handed it to him. The first man said "Where did you get that?"The second man said, "From my genie." The man pulled a lamp out of his bagand rubbed it. The genie appeared and asked what he wanted. He said amillion bucks and the genie went back into the lamp. As soon as hedisappeared, a million ducks flew overhead."Wait a minute," the first man said, "that's not what you asked for." The second man said, "My genie has bad hearing. Do you really think Iasked for a 12-inch Bic?"

A guy sticks his head into a barber shop and asks, "How long before I can get a haircut?"
The barber looks around the shop and says, "About 2 hours.
The guy leaves. A few days later the same guy sticks his head in the door and asks, "How long before I can get a haircut?"
The barber looks around at the shop full of customers and says, "About 3 hours."
The guy leaves. A week later the same guy sticks his head in the shop and asks, "How long before I can get a haircut?"
The barber looks around the shop and says, "About an hour and half."
The barber looks over at a friend in the shop and says, "Hey, Bill, follow that guy and see where he goes. He keeps asking how long he has to wait for a haircut, but then doesn't come back."
"A little while later, Bill comes back into the shop, laughing hysterically.
The barber asks, "Bill, where does he go when he leaves here?"
Bill looks up, tears in his eyes and says "Your house".

French Terror Alert
AP and UPI reported that the French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "run" to "hide." The only two higher levels in France are "surrender" and "collaborate." This may have been precipitated by the recent fire which destroyed one of their White Flag factories, disabling their Military for the time being.

A guy came into a bar one day and said to the barman, "Give me six doublevodkas."
The barman says, "Wow!, you must have had one hell of a day."
"Yes, I've just found out my older brother is gay."
The next day the same guy came into the bar and asked for the same drinks.
When the bartender asked what the problem was today, the answer came back,"I've just found out that my younger brother is gay too!"
On the third day the guy came into the bar and ordered another six doublevodkas.
The bartender said,"Jesus! Doesn't anybody in your family like women?"
"Yeah, my wife..."

A farmer had five female pigs and, as times were tough, he had determinedto take them to the county fair and sell them. While at the fair he metanother farmer who owned five male pigs. After talking a bit, they decidedto mate the pigs and split everything 50/50.Now the farmers lived sixty miles away from one another, so they eachagreed to drive thirty miles and find a field in which to mate their pigs.The first morning, the farmer with the female pigs got up at 5 a.m.,loaded the pigs into the family station wagon (which was the only vehiclethey had) and drove the thirty miles.While the pigs were mating, he asked the other farmer, "How will I know ifthey are pregnant?"The other farmer replied, "If they're in the grass grazing in the morning,then they're pregnant, but if they're rolling in the mud, then they're not."The next morning they were rolling in the mud, so he hosed them off,called the other farmer, loaded them again into the family station wagon and proceeded to try again.The following morning, in the mud again! And the next morning, MUD again!This continued all week until the farmer was so tired that he couldn't get out of bed.He called to his wife, "Honey, please look outside and tell me if the pigs are in the mud or in the field grazing."The wife looked out the window and then yelled back, "Neither, they're inthe station wagon and one of them is honking the horn."

A man went into a local pharmacy and asked to talk to a male pharmacist. The woman behind the counter informed him that she was the pharmacist. She told the man that she and her sister owned the store, so there were no male pharmacists employed there. She then asked if there was something she could help the gentleman with, as she had been a licensed pharmacist for many years.The man shrugged his shoulders and agreed to share his problem. "Okay,"said the man, "but this is a bit embarrassing for me. I have a permanent erection, which causes me lots of problems and severe embarrassment. I was wondering what you could give me for it? "The pharmacist said "Just a minute, I'll go talk to my sister."When she returned, she said, "The best we can do is 1/3 ownership in the store and $3,000 a month in living expenses."

Anchors Dan Rather and Peter Jennings, NPR Reporter Cokie Roberts, along with a U.S. Marine assigned to protect them were hiking through the Iraq desert one day when they were captured by Iraqis.They were tied up, led to a village, and brought before the leader. The leader said, "I am familiar with your western custom of granting the condemned a last wish; so, before we kill and dismember you, do you have any last requests?"Dan Rather said, "Well, I'm a Texan; so I'd like one last bowlful of hot spicy chili." The leader nodded to an underling who left and returned with the chili. Rather ate it all and said, "Now I can die content."Peter Jennings said, "I am Canadian, so I'd like to hear the song 'O Canada' one last time." The leader nodded to a terrorist who had studied the Western world and knew the music. He returned with some rag-tag musicians and played the anthem. Jennings sighed and declared he could now die peacefully.Cokie Roberts said, "I'm a reporter to the end. I want to take out my tape recorder and describe the scene here and what's about to happen. Maybe someday someone will hear it and know that I was on the job till the end." The leader directed an aide to hand over the tape recorder and Roberts dictated some comments. She then said, "Now I can die happy."The leader turned and said, "And now, Mr. U.S. Marine, what is your final wish?""Kick me in the ass," said the Marine. "What?" asked the leader. "Will you mock us in your last hour?""No, I'm not kidding. I want you to kick me in the ass," insisted the Marine. So the leader shoved him into the open, and kicked him in the ass. The Marine went sprawling, but rolled to his knees, pulled a 9mm pistol from inside his cammies, and shot the leader dead. In the resulting confusion, he leapt to his knapsack, pulled out his M4 carbine, and sprayed the Iraqis with gunfire. In a flash, all the Iraqis were either dead or fleeing for their lives.As the Marine was untying Rather, Jennings, and Roberts, they asked him, "Why didn't you just shoot them? Why did you ask them to kick you in the ass?""What," replied the Marine, "and have you three assholes call me the aggressor?"

A man walks up to a woman in his office each day, stands very close to her, draws in a large breath of air and tells her that her hair smells good.After a week of this, she can't stand it any longer! The woman goes into her supervisor's office and tells him that she wants to file a sexual harassment suit against the man and explains why.The supervisor is puzzled by this and say's what's wrong with the co-worker telling you that your hair smells nice.The woman replies, "He's a midget!"

One day a young cowboy and cowgirl decided to get married. He was a man of the world. She was an innocent bride with no experience.After the wedding they left for their honeymoon. While driving down the road, the new bride sees two cows having sex.The new bride asks, "What are them cows up to honey?"The husband, a bit flustered, answers, "Why can't you see? Them cows, they're roping!"She replies, "Oh, I see!"After a few more hours of driving they pass two horses having sex.Again the bride asks, "What are them horses doing honey?"The husband answers again, "Them horses, they're roping!"She replies, "Oh, I see!"Finally they arrive at their hotel. The couple washed up and started to get ready for bed. When they got in the bed, they start to explore each other's bodies. Things are going along fine until the bride discovers her husband's penis."Oh my!" she cries, "What is that?""Well, darlin'" he chuckles proudly, "That's ma'rope!"She slides her hands down further and gasps, "Oh my goodness! What are those?" she asks."Honey, those're my knots!" he answers.Finally the couple begins to make love. After several minutes the bride says, "Stop honey, wait a minute!"Her husband, panting a little, asks, "What's the matter honey, am I hurting you?""No," the bride replies, "undo them damn knots, I need more rope!"

A recent news story detailed a medical implant which offers women thechance to experience orgasms with the press of a button. Tiny electrodesare implanted into the spine and a small signal generator in the skinunder the buttocks. The patient then controls the sensation with ahandheld remote.
Side Effects of the New Orgasm Implant:
1. Dramatic increase in the number of women seen hanging out at Radio Shack.
2. Cosmopolitan magazine folds due to a drastic shortage of cover story headlines.
3. Dad: now surfs with two remotes Mom: never complains.
4. She never wants to cuddle anymore -- it's click, click, click, and she's out the door.
5. The Baptists hurriedly draft an extra Commandment.
6. Thanks to a malfunctioning garage door opener, you're looking at $600 bucks to fix the hole your wife kicked in the dashboard of your SUV.
7. The Energizer Bunny keeps coming and coming...
8. "Not tonight, Honey. I have a thumbache."
9. Finally, size really *doesn't* matter.
10. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I wasn't paying attention... I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I wasn't paying attention... I'm sorry..."
11. Every time your cell phone rings, you feel the uncontrollable urge to shout your surgeon's name.
12. Side effects? Who cares about... oh... *oh*... OH, GOD! YESSSSSS!!!!
13. In addition to "Mute" and "Favorite," the wildly popular Radio Shack Ultimate Universal Remote now has a new button: "Big O."
14. Men no longer feel any responsibility toward satisfying their partner... errr, never mind...

"THE FOUR GHOSTS OF THE WHITE HOUSE" One night, George W. Bush is tossing restlessly in his White House bed.? He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Bush asks him, George, what's the best thing I can do to help the country?" "Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, and then fades away. The next night, Bush is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through the darkened bedroom. Bush calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I can do to help the country?" "Respect the Constitution, as I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight. The third night sleep is still not in the cards for Bush. He awakens to see the ghost of FDR hovering over his bed. Bush whispers, "Franklin, What is the best thing I can do to help the country?" "Help the less fortunate, just as I did," FDR replies and fades into the mist. Bush isn't sleeping well the fourth night when he sees another figure moving in the shadows. It is the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. Bush pleads, "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now to help the country?" Lincoln replies, "Go see a play."

A powerful politician dies after a prolonged illness. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St.? Peter at the entrance."Welcome to Heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.""No problem, just let me in," says the guy."Well, I'd like to but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in Hell and one in Heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.""Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in Heaven," says the politician."I'm sorry but we have our rules."And with that, St.? Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to Hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a club and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him, everyone is very happy and in evening attire. They run to greet him, hug him, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster and caviar. Also present is the Devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that, before he realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a big hug and waves while the elevator rises. The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on Heaven where St.Peter is waiting for him."Now it's time to visit Heaven."So 24 hours pass with the head of state joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns."Well then, you've spent a day in Hell and another in Heaven. Now choose your eternity."He reflects for a minute, then the politician answers, "Well, I would never have said it, I mean Heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in Hell."So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to Hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he is in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags. The Devil comes over to him and lays his arm on his neck."I don't understand," stammers the politician. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and club and we ate lobster and caviar and danced and had a great time. Now all there is, is a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.The Devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning...Today you voted for us!"

Dear Abby,
I am a crack dealer in Goldsboro, NC, who has recently been diagnosed as a carrier of HIV virus. My parents live in Raleigh and one of my sisters,who lives in Cary, is married to a transvestite. My father and mother have recently been arrested for growing and selling marijuana. They are financially dependent on my other two sisters, who are prostitutes in Charlotte. I have two brothers; one is currently serving a non-parole life sentence at Central Prison for the murder of a teenage boy in 1994. My other brotheris currently in jail awaiting charges of sexual misconduct with his three children. I have recently become engaged to marry a former prostitute who lives in Winston. She is a part-time "working girl". All things considered, my problem is this: I love my fiance and look forward to bringing her into the family. I certainly want to be totally open and honest with her. Should I tell her about my cousin who supports John Kerry for President?
Signed, Red
Worried About My Reputation

A man enters a bar and orders a drink. The bar has a robot bartender. The robot serves him a perfectly prepared cocktail, and then asks him, "What's your IQ?"The man replies "150" and the robot proceeds to make conversation about global warming factors, quantum physics and spirituality, biomimicry, environmental interconnectedness, string theory, nano-technology, and sexual proclivities.The customer is very impressed and thinks, "This is really cool." He decides to test the robot. He walks out of the bar, turns around, and comes back in for another drink. Again, the robot serves him the perfectly prepared drink and asks him, "What's your IQ?"The man responds, "about a 100." Immediately the robot starts talking, but this time, about football, NASCAR, baseball, supermodels, favorite fast foods, guns, and women's breasts.Really impressed, the man leaves the bar and decides to give the robot one more test. He heads out and returns, the robot serves him and asks, "What's your IQ?"The man replies, "Er, 50, I think."And the robot says... real slowly,"So...ya gonna vote for Bush again?"

Merry Christmas. Happy Hannukah. Happy Kwanza. Happy Eid.

I really like the sound of her voice...

2005-12-16T21:44:00.000-05:00

My wife was doing some surfing the other day and ran across this. It is a really cool song, and Sally Mudd does a very good job at singing it. I really like her voice. Kind of a Melissa Etheridge/Janis Joplin sound with a little country twang. Here's the deal. For every $6 donation she receives, she will send one 'Thank you' card/cd to a serviceman or woman. She will enclose a note FROM YOU if you'd like to leave a special message. If you prefer, she can send the card to you, so that you can send it to your special soldier. If you've done any mailing, you know that with the $6 she's not making very much money. Go check out the site and listen to the song. Don't just play it, LISTEN to it.
Then go check out Honor The Fallen where she provided the song for the video free of charge. I really like the black tee shirts(hint hint). This new song "Honor the Fallen" is dedicated to the memory of Kris Stonesifer. Send the link to Honor The Fallen to your left wing friends. Maybe they'll believe it really is a 'real war.'

A few things...

2005-12-08T20:02:00.000-05:00

Katie sent us several new photos of Queen Eleanor. Plus, joan and Katie took Eleanor and had some Christmas photos taken when we were in Texas in November. The pics of Travis and Eleanor on the computer and playing video games are cool. Nothing like a daddy and his little girl. Or a daddy and his little girls...

Someone sent me this link. It's pretty cool. Take the time to read the words.

5 Things nobody knows about me.
This has been making the rounds. I'm not going to tag anybody with it, since most of the people I know have already been tagged. But, if you read this, and you haven't been tagged already, consider yourself tagged...

1. The first girl I ever kissed was Cindy King.

2. I was bitten by a black widow spider at Magregor Range in Ft. Bliss, Texas in 1989.

3. The first time I ever saw snow was in AIT at Ft. Sill, OK., the day before Thanksgiving, 1975.

4. My first college degree, I was studying to be a Game Warden.

5. I stood on a mountainside and watched the sun setting into the mountains surrounding St. Tropez, France, with the lights twinking in the village and the lights of the boats twinkling in the harbour. And I didn't have a camera with me....

How smart are you...?

2005-12-04T14:03:00.000-05:00

This is a quiz for people who know everything! I found out in a hurry that I didn't. I got only 4 right. I figured I'd get most right. damn...
These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight answers.

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. Name the only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team on defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball?

5. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

6. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

7. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters "dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.

8. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

9. Where are the lakes that are referred to in the Los Angeles Lakers?

10. There are 7 ways a baseball player can legally reach first base without getting a hit. Taking a base on balls (a walk) is one way. Name the other 6.

11. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

12. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "s."

Answers to Quiz:

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends....boxing
2. North American landmark constantly moving backward....Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)
3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons...asparagus and rhubarb.
4. The only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team on defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball...baseball.
5. The fruit with its seeds on the outside....strawberry.
6. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for theentire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)
7. Three English words beginning with dw.....dwarf,dwell,and dwindle.
8. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar....period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.
9. The original lakes referred to in Lakers.... in Minnesota. (The team was originally known as the Minneapolis Lakers, and kept the name when they moved west.)
10. Seven ways a baseball player can legally reach first base withoutgetting a hit....taking a base on balls (a walk)....batter hit by apitch, passed ball, catcher interference, catcher drops third strike, fielder's choice, and being designated as a pinch-runner.
11. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed,cooked, or in any other form but fresh....lettuce.
12. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with
"s"...shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes,
stockings, stilts.

The passing of an artist...

2005-11-30T21:07:00.000-05:00

I received an email today with some bad news. Maybe some of you have seen it, maybe not. But before that, a little background.
In 2003, I was deployed to Bosnia with the 343rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment as part of SFOR-13. There were seven of us, as well as three officers from the 35th Infantry Division, and three Bosnian media specialists/interpretors that made up the Public Affairs Office. We had a pretty good group. I posted about one of the Bosnians in an earlier post.
While I was there, I read an article in Stars and Stripes about a program aboard some Navy ships that allowed deployed sailors and marines to videotape themselves reading books to send back to their families. I thought, "I'd love to get that started here in Bosnia for our troops." So 'Read To Your Kids' was born.
My kids grew up being read to everyday, sometimes several times a day. Some of their favorite books were The Berenstain Bear series. They became a regular family treat for us. We would read the new ones as a family, even when both daughters were in high school. So I sent an email to Stan and Jan Berenstain, explaining our program, and asking for a donation of books to get it started. Time went by and I figured that I'd have to find books somewhere else.
Then, one day I got an email from Stan and Jan saying that they would love to participate, and donated 50 books. Stan had served in the Army during WWII, and Jan had 'worked in the defense industry.' Once the books arrived, the 35th provided the video tapes, and Sgt. First Class Brian Stribling, one of my broadcast journalists, volunteered to spend every Saturday doing the taping.
Here's the article we did for our weekly magazine, the Talon, and here's the Stars and Stripes article they did on my program. Those of you who are familiar with my 'Read to Your Kids' program in Afghanistan, now know where it started. I know they had requested not to be named, but I had to pay tribute.
Back to today's email.
Stan Berenstain, co-creator of The Berenstain Bears, husband, father, grandfather, died at the age of 82 from complications of cancer. The literary world has lost a giant. My kids have always enjoyed The Berenstain Bears, and probably always will. I plan on reading more than one to my granddaughter Eleanor, and any other grand kids I end up with. Thank you, Mr. Berenstain.

Christmas Lights...

2005-11-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

I finally got my outside Christmas lights up. I don't think my homeowners association will be happy with me...
You'll need sound. It's not the same without it...

The evolution of Conservatives and Liberals...

2005-11-25T20:41:00.000-05:00

History began some 12,000 years ago.(Actually, it was 40,000 years ago.) Humans existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunter/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in winter.
The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundations of modern civilization and,together, were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.
Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can was invented yet, so while our early human ancestors were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to barbeque at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as "the Conservative movement."
Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the Conservatives by showing up for the nightly barbeques and doing the sewing, fetching and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlymen.
Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that Conservatives provided.
Over the years, Conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.
Modern Liberals like imported beer (with lime added)(& foo foo coffee), but most prefer white wine or imported, bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard Liberal fare.
Another interesting evolutionary side note: Most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are Liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't "fair" to make the pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, fighter pilots, athletes and generally anyone who works productively outside government. Conservatives who own companies hire other Conservatives who want to work for a living.
Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to "govern" the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the Liberals remained in Europe when Conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tame and created a business of trying to get MORE for nothing.
Here ends today's lesson in world history. It should be noted that a Liberal will have an uncontrollable urge to respond to the above instead of simply laughing and deleting or forwarding it.

But then anyone can respond..even liberals...

Support the Troops...

2005-11-23T19:50:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of discussion about so-called 'Americans' who push the "don't support the war but support the troops" and "Bring our troops home NOW" line of crap. The fine folks over at Ala's (I would say mighty fine, but I don't want Ala's hubby pissed at me...) have a post about the subject. So does Barb, and I'm sure a lot of others I haven't gotten around to. But THIS is how you support troops. You want to support the troops? Put your money where your mouth is like Charlie Daniels is doing. No money? Try volunteering to mow the yard for some mom who's husband is deployed. Or offer to babysit while she goes grocery shopping. Or offer to clean her house for her. You want to support the troops? Go to AnySoldier.com and send care packages to the troops. THAT'S how you support them. Not by standing on some street corner with a sign. It's no wonder Vietnam turned out like it did with these idiots, or idiots like them, at home.

Real Heroes

2005-11-15T17:33:00.000-05:00

I got this in my email today. As soon as I read it, I wanted to do a post about it. Mainly, because this NCO is what is the epitome of what an NCO is. Taking Care of His Soldiers. Giving his life for his Soldiers. He didn't have to go back in and get his people out. I've been burned, not as bad as him, but enough to know the excrutiating pain he was going through. These are the heroes. Guys willing to sacrifice to save their fellow Soldiers. Without thinking. Heroes aren't some sports guy making mutimillions each season, using the gifts God gave him, or her. Heroes aren't singers making millions, or business tycoons, or some asswipe actor rowing around New Orleans in a row boat. Heroes are Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn "Al" Cashe, or U.S. Navy Seaman Nathaniel Leoncio, or Army Specialist Darren Howe, or Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, or countless others fighting in this war. The other reason I wanted to do this post was to show my sister-in-law, and other clueless left wingers, that this is indeed a 'real war'. You may not believe in the reason why we are there. That's your perogative. That's your opinion. Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one, some stink worse than others. But trying telling Al Cashe's family, or Paul Smith's family, or Darren Howe's family that this isn't a real war.

H/T to John over at The Castle.

Ramblings of an incoherent kind...

2005-11-08T21:49:00.000-05:00

A few things...

I'm in San Antonio helping my boss at the U.S. Joint Forces Miltary Skills Training Center finish out the year by wrapping up some loose ends. More on that in a later post, depending on the outcome of a briefing on 21 November...

Queen Eleanor graced us with her presence this past weekend. I'll have a few photos to post in a couple days.

This article in the Washington Post says that, contrary to popular belief, the low income families are NOT providing of the new military recruits since 9/11. Wow...imagine that...

This story ran in the Fort Sam Houston News Leader. Tell me that isn't determination and dedication. No excuses for those of us who need to lose a few pounds. Where's Oprah for this guy's story...?

I've been wanting to post about a conversation at my in-laws house a couple weeks ago, but haven't been able to do. It's been eating at me about what I said, and what I should have said. My SIL was telling us about her and her two kids eating at Olive Garden. Her oldest kept looking at another table. When she looked over, it was an elder gentlemen waving to both her sons, 10 and 7. When he got up he put on a WWII Veteran cap. He said to her, "These boys need to be in the military when they grow up." Her response, "You fought in a real war. This isn't a real war." After telling us this, she looks at me and says, "No offense." I was so pissed. The only thing I could think of to say was, "Tell that to the guys over there." I wanted to say, I should have said, "Hell yes that was an offense! You're saying that what I do isn't real. You're saying that what I am sworn to do, isn't real. You're saying that what Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen are dieing for isn't real. Fuck yes, that's an offense!" But I didn't. I was so pissed, I didn't think of those things until after I left. Left wing idiots are starting to bother me......

WiLLLMMAAAAA..!!

2005-10-26T21:06:00.000-04:00

It was a dark and stormy night......

Unless you live in a hole, everyone should be aware of Hurricane Wilma's path through South Florida. The National Hurricane Center was pretty accurate on the projected path. They were predicting landing near Naples crossing the state and coming out around West Palm Beach last week. It actually landed a little south of Naples and Ft. Lauderdale took the brunt of the storm. We live in Ft. Pierce, about an hour north of West Palm Beach.
I prepared the normal way: we bought several cases of bottled water; filled the freezer with the water bottles a few days in advance; turned down the freezer/fridge settings to get everything really cold; filled three of the bathtubs with water for flushing the toilets if we lost water; bought food; the wife cooked a couple meatloafs, some potato salad and some baked beans. She also made me a carrot cake for my birthday. Oh yeah, the hurricane came here on 24 Oct, my 49th birthday. Probably once in a lifetime that I would spend my birthday, in late October, sitting here watching a major hurricane blow through.
We were prepared. Which is one of my pet peeves. There was at least 5 or 6 days notice of Wilma's arrival. Yet, the day after the storm, there were idiots out driving around looking for ice, food and gas so they could keep driving, looking for more food and ice. I can see maybe after several days. But the day after? There were several people who decided to stay in their TRAVEL TRAILERS during the hurricane. "Well, we won't stay in it again," said one gene pool reject. No shit, moron. There were reports that one guy was trying to put up hurricane shutters during the storm. Probably decided that putting up shutters during the storm was better than listening to his wife nag that he didn't put them up. I really don't understand the thinking of some of these people. Maybe they were left wing Democrats expecting the government to come to their rescue. Either that or complete stupidity. You figure out which...

(the first two links are short videos. They may take a minute to load. I took the photos from either my front porch or from the kitchen window.)

The weather started getting windy and wet late Sunday. I slept on the couch, and awoke around 0630. It was blowing pretty good. We had electricity until around 1030, so we were following the storm as it came ashore and crossed the state. It was traveling pretty fast. Actual hurricane force winds only lasted a couple hours. The weather guys on TV kept saying the back half of the storm would be calmer. WRONG. The wind had started coming out of the southeast and as Wilma approached the east coast, it moved around to the northeast, then north, then northwest. Coming out of the north and northwest, we had 85 to 90 MPH sustained winds with 100mph gusts. And a lot of rain. A LOT. More than expected this far north. Ft. Lauderdale and lower Palm Beach County had 125 mph winds. Delray Beach got wasted. Check out our local paper's website; the Palm Beach Post; The Miami Herald. The photo galleries are cool.
As I said before, we lost power around 1030 Monday. The phone went out sometime Monday afternoon. We never lost water. Everything was back up by 2100 Tuesday. At least for us. Down south, it will be a while before they get power. I'm really starting to not like Florida. Wonder how far I have to go to get away from hurricanes... .

Fun in the Sun...

2005-10-19T20:11:00.000-04:00

Another one of my Afghan stories that didn't make it onto The Castle. Maybe the Armorer was jealous....
Back in Jan, while in Afghanistan, I had a chance to go to the Pol-E-Charkhi range outside of Kabul to cover the firing of some donated Romanian military equipment. Since the Romanians used to be part of the Warsaw pact, all of their stuff is Soviet, just like the Afghan stuff. The cool weapon there was the SPG-9, a 73mm recoilless rifle. It kicked up a lot of dust ..a LOT. We were firing at old Soviet tanks and APCs. One of the guys there with me was a colonel who was one of my BattleField 1942 playing partners on the US Kabul Compound. We had the computer game on the LAN and would play after duty hours as a way of passing the time. The Morale Suppression Team (IM) came along and deleted everything since it was 'against the rules.' But that's for another post some other time. Back to the SPG-9s. They were a blast to shoot. The concussion was like getting punched in the chest. Any day you get to shoot cool weapons and blow shit up is a good day....

A few more chuckles

2005-10-19T20:10:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while, I get some pretty funny stuff in my email. Some I read and delete, some I chuckle at, then delete. And some I have to share. They've been going around the 'net for awhile, but they are still funny...very funny...

a few chuckles...

2005-10-10T21:21:00.000-04:00

Every now and again we need to laugh at ourselves and at life. Here are a few items to give you a chuckle. And this one is for the kittens from The Castle and at Blonde Sagacity . Enjoy.

Queen Eleanor visits Florida

2005-10-02T21:11:00.000-04:00

My granddaughter, Eleanor, graced us with her presence for the last two weeks. She and her caretaker/mommy flew into Orlando as well as her Aunt Aimee. We drove up and picked them up, then took her on the visiting tour. Family from the East coast and the West coast of Florida converged to meet the new Queen for the first time. Granny and Uncle Raymond (my mom and brother), Grandma and Grandpa (MIL & FIL), Aunt Louise (SIL), and cousins John and Evan. Since none of them will be here for Thanksgiving, we decided to have an early T-day dinner. Aimee went home after a week, and Katie and Eleanor stayed for another week. So there's photos of me rocking the Queen, and her first visit to the tattoo parlor. We also sat and watched a couple football games. Katie is a Steelers fan and Travis, father of the Queen, is a Dolphins fan. Eleanor is two months old now and she definitely has a personality of her own. She smiles a lot, and is learning how to laugh. They went home friday. Back to Oklahoma. I won't get to see them again until probably January when they come down for the Queen's baptism. I miss the little munchin.

Afghanistan Video

2005-09-30T22:19:00.000-04:00

For those that know me, either family, friends, or new buds from the Castle Argghhh and Blonde Sagacity, you know I did a tour in Afghanistan from Sep 04 to May 05. I worked for the Office of Military Cooperation - Afghanistan, or OMC-A. It's now called the Office of Security Cooperation - Afghanistan, OSC-A, since they now have both the military and police mission in the 'Stan. It's better than what they were going to call it, Combined Assistance Command - Afghanistan... Anyway. Their mission is mentoring and training the Afghan Military sector, from the Minister of Defense all the way down to basic training. My job there was with the Public Affairs Office, covering events involving the Afghan military and/or OMC-A. That included Kandak graduations (basic training), Command and General Staff College graduations, the opening of the National Military Academy - Afghanistan (their version of West Point), recruiter training, grand opening ceremonies of National Army Volunteer Centers around Afghanistan with the RAT Team (Recruiting Assistance Teams), Officer and NCO training, donations by other countries, and any other special events. Because of my job, I got to travel around Afghanistan a lot. I arrived two days before the Afghan Presidential Election. I got to drive around Kabul taking pictures and taking in the activities. From there, my travels took me to Bamiyan, Gardez, Paktia, Herat, Mazzar-E-Shariff, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Khowst, and the beautiful, awesome Panjshir Valley. And probably a few places i'm forgetting. I took probably close to 8000 photos. Most were throwaways, some good ones, and a few REALLY good. An Air Force officer showed me a program that's part of Windows XP, called Windows Movie Maker. I was able to take about 85 or so photos, and a song, and make a video.

So that's what this post is really all about: The Video. It's about OMC-A, the mission, the people, and the children. Most of the photos were taken by me except for 4 or 5 that I used because they fit the words of the song better than mine did. The song is 'Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits. The long version. It's 7 minutes long and is 55 MB. Right click on the link, then click on 'Save target as..' to download, then play it. DSL takes about 3 minutes to download, cable modem about a minute or so, dialup about two hours. Turn the music up loud, or use headphones. Enjoy. Share with whoever you'd like. Send it to Michael Moore. Just give me credit for it if you use it anywhere.

All the news that's fit to print..and some that ain't...

2005-09-22T00:06:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess I should watch the news more often. Several things have happened over the last few days, and if it weren't for my regular visits to The Castle, Ala's and a few others, I'd be totally news-clueless. A few comments on current events...

Over at The Castle: U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honore' gets straight to the point. The video is hilarious. A lot of other people have written about it already, so I won't...

The Army Times recently ran an editorial expressing the stand that the head of FEMA should be a military guy. I agree. The first one should be Honore'. Since I couldn't link it, here it is...:

Make FEMA job military

There is plenty of blame to go around for the disaster in New Orleans.
The biggest failure, however, was in leadership. And for that, the nation can plainly point to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was simply unable to respond to the challenge.
FEMA exists for disasters that overwhelm local and state governments. But FEMA itself has only some of the assets needed to quell such a disaster, whether caused by natural phenomena — a hurricane or earthquake — or unnatural, such as a terrorist attack.
The fact is, the government institution best equipped to respond in these cases is the military. Only it has the people, equipment, organization, discipline, communication and logistical support to take charge of work on this scale.
That is not to say that the Defense Department should be charged with this responsibility. The military must play a central role in emergency response, but not the only role.
In reorganizing FEMA, Congress should de-politicize the agency. Leave it in the Homeland Security Department, but put at its head a four-star military officer with a six-year term of office. This post would be the officer’s last, but he would retain his uniform and his rank.
Few individuals other than senior military officers have experience managing operations of the scale and scope necessary in emergency response. Few understand so well the essential elements — speed, flexibility, decisiveness, coordination and logistics — necessary for success, both on the battlefield and in the wake of disaster.
As soon as the president declares a federal disaster, FEMA’s chief would become the equivalent of a combatant commander, able to enlist forces, equipment and capabilities from the service chiefs.
Using experienced officers in this way would preserve and employ a national asset — military know-how, experience, and expertise — that otherwise would retire and go to the private sector.
Harnessing that experience would serve our nation well.

Over at Kat's place: Simon Wiesenthal died. If you're older than 18, and you have to ask who he is, you need to go back to history class and confess to your history teacher that you're an idiot. It's still hard to comprehend that there are ignorant people out there who refuse to believe that The Holocaust actually happened...

Afghanistan is one more step towards being a new country. They had their elections on 18 Sep. And guess what? The Taliban and Al Qaeda didn't prevent it from happening. Guess you left wing jerks who were predicting it were just wrong..imagine that. I was in Afghanistan for the Presidential election in October 2004, and it was awesome to be there and witness history being made. The first election in their 5,000 year history. The Afghans were willing to die to vote. Stranded poll workers refused to abandon their assigned ballot boxes. Yeah, there were a few blips, but we've been doing it for 230 years or so and we still don't have it right. And there weren't any hanging chads...
From the latest U.S. Army Stand-to...

The New Afghanistan: Progress and Accomplishments

Sunday, September 18, 2005, was the historic day of the first free legislative elections in more than a quarter of a century in Afghanistan.
Afghans vote in landmark poll - CNN.com

Timeline:
* An estimated 8.4 million Afghans turned out to cast ballots in Afghanistan's historic presidential election October 9, 2004. Eighteen candidates, including one female candidate, ran in the election. According to the United Nations, more than 10 million Afghans registered to vote, 41 percent of whom were women. The United States provided $78 million - 40 percent - of the $198 million needed to prepare for and carry out the election.

* On December 7, 2004, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan's first democratically elected head of state.

* On March 3, 2005, three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan appointed its first ever-female provincial governor. Habiba Sarobi, who previously served as Minister for Women's Affairs, will head the government of Bamiyan province.

* On September 18, 2005, the Afghan people returned to the polls to elect representatives to the Lower House of the National Assembly and members of Provincial Councils. Once the National Assembly has been seated, the transitional process by which the Afghan people have emerged from years of civil war, political violence and misrule to achieve sovereignty and freedom under democratic rule will conclude.

Source: U.S. Department of State

Six Degrees of Separation...

2005-09-18T00:41:00.000-04:00

John over at The Castle posted a commentary on 16 Sep, National POW/MIA Day. The commentary talks about Sgt. Maupin who was captured in Iraq last year, and is still MIA. It was written by one U.S. Army Reserve Col. Randy Pullen. At the end of the post, John says he was a lieutenant with Col. Pullen way back when. Col. Pullen was my boss when I was in Afghanistan. He was the one that got me the gig there. I was requested to send stuff to John back in March, and just found out yesterday, that he knew Col. Pullen.

In Bosnia in 2003, I was interviewing Col. Calvin Johnson, the SFOR 13 deputy commander, for a profile article for the Talon magazine (page 7). He said he had been an artillery officer in Turkey as a young officer. That triggered a memory and I asked if he knew an artillery officer named John Churchill. He said he had known John quite well and they had worked together. John and I went to high school together. He and my wife were good friends in high school and have kept in touch over the years. It's also a good possibility that John from The Castle knew both of them.

It comes down to the 'Six Degrees of Separation' thing. Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than six intermediaries. I'm beginning to believe it.

In 1994, my wife and I built our own house in Fort Pierce, Florida. We both grew up in Miami and had moved up here in 1985. We were at the appliance store buying all of the appliances for the new kitchen. All GE stuff. The GE rep was in the store when we were there. It turned out that he was the father of a girl I had worked with at Sears in the late 80's. Not a real biggie, but then I found out that he had also moved here from Miami. His wife had worked as a telephone operator for Southern Bell (now Bellsouth) in Miami. On the midnight shift. At the 92nd Ave Southern Bell office. With my mother-in-law. I have a few more examples, but you get the point.

So, what's your 'Six Degrees of Separation' story? Who have you run into that turned out to know someone else from your past?

Awesome photos of Nawlins...

2005-09-09T22:58:00.000-04:00

You gotta check out this slide show. A photographer living in New Orleans took these. Very cool photos. And on Day 2, National Guard troops in the city. Imagine that...

Now and Then...

2005-09-08T21:48:00.000-04:00

UPDATED 9 SEP. See the link below for a Defend America link to the Mobility Project article.

This blog started as a 'Now and Then' place for me to write about things in my military life. But, as you can see, it's taken on a new life. So, here's something 'Now and Then' as promised. The Now post is about Post Office rededication I covered last week. The Then post is something I did in Afghanistan last fall. One of my correspondences that never made it on The Castle...
Oh. The Army Information Systems Command-Pentagon is checking my site everyday to check to make sure I'm not violating OPSEC. I don't think I am, but if you see something, let me know so I can fix it before they do. Thanks.

Now
This is the story I wrote about the post office dedication on 26 August, 2005. You probably won't see this in the MSM.

Post Office renamed in memory of Army Reserve MP

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Memories of fallen Soldiers have always lingered for their loved ones. Some are remembered by friends and by those that have been touched by what the Soldier has done for them. And some will be remembered forever.
Family members, friends, coworkers and military companions of U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Arthur Stacey Mastrapa gathered recently for the renaming ceremony of the post office here into the Arthur Stacey Mastrapa Post Office Building. Mastrapa was killed in Balad, Iraq in June 2004, the day before he was scheduled to return home from his deployment with his unit, the U.S. Army Reserve's 351st Military Police Company. The 351st is based in Ocala, Fla.
"We're here today to honor a man who was a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a soldier, a U.S. Postal worker, a colleague, a buddy," said Janice Walters, Postmaster for the Altamonte Springs post office.
Walters said that the idea of renaming the post office came from the workers at the post office, an effort also noted by Jennifer Mastrapa, Staff Sgt. Mastrapa's widow. She thanked the employees of the post office for their dedication to renaming the post office after her late husband.
"If it wasn't for their enthusiasm and strong support, this would not have been possible today," said Mrs. Mastrapa.
Changing the name of a federal building, literally, takes an act of Congress. U.S. Representative Tom Feeney introduced legislation in January in the House of Representatives to change the name of the post office to the Arthur Stacey Mastrapa Post Office Building in remembrance of the reservist. All 25 Florida Representatives signed on as co-sponsors and the bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 420 to 0. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson from Florida introduced companion legislation in the Senate and on July 12, President George W. Bush signed the measure and it became public law. Feeney presented Jennifer Mastrapa with the pen the President used to sign the bill, as well as a bronze copy of the law as published in the Federal Register.
Nelson talked to the audience gathered for the ceremony about Staff Sgt. MastrapaÂs work ethic and his zeal for helping people. He also talked about his discussions with Jennifer Mastrapa.
"She expressed to me pride in the way the sergeant lead his life and distinguished himself in his work in this post office and in the military," said Nelson. "She wanted this memorial to ensure that her children would have a constant reminder of what their father stood for and they could remember that as they grew from children into adulthood."
Jennifer Mastrapa was also presented a plaque from Orange County Commissioner Bill Coleman and Col. Earl Denton representing Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty recognizing Staff Sgt. Mastrapa as the Orange County Distinguished Citizen of the Year for 2003-2004.
She addressed the crowd, emphasizing that her late husband's memory continue.
"It is my aspiration that his life will not be forgotten, that the value of life is so precious," she said. "I hope that not only his life is remembered, but also the many soldiers that died before him, and those that died after him. I am thankful that we are able to stand and gather here today with no fear of retribution. With the soldiers fighting for us, we have the pleasure to enjoy our freedoms, and other liberties, because of the sacrifices they have volunteered to make."
According to U.S. Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Steven Smith, the deputy commander of the 81st Regional Readiness Command, eight soldiers from the 81st RRC have made that ultimate sacrifice.
"We've lost eight soldiers from the 81st in the Global War On Terrorism," he said, adding "We come here today to honor the fallen soldier and the family."
Col. David Clarkson, commander of the 641st Area Support Group in St. Petersburg, Fla., was impressed with the turnout to the dedication ceremony.
"It's an honor to be here to see the representation both civilian and military communities honoring a fallen soldier," said Clarkson. "It was a community event. We had the postal service, the military, and volunteers from the community at large."
Sgt. Benjamin Adams served with Mastrapa in Iraq. He addressed the audience, talking about Mastrapa's belief in what he was doing.
"I know that Arthur would have rather have returned home to his family, and I know that his family wants nothing more than for him to be home. But, I also know, that he was proud to serve for what he believed to be a worthy cause."
Adams closed his address with a prayer that he now says every day. "May the sun always shine on our faces, the wind to always be at our back, and may Arthur Stacey Mastrapa live in our hearts forever."
Jennifer Mastrapa expressed her desire for the audience to remember her husband. "I wish we can all carry a piece of Stacey's memory with us, and find comfort in the knowledge thshouldn'till not be forgotten."
That shouldn't be a problem, Jennifer. Every time someone enters the post office at 321 Montgomery Road in Altamonte Springs, Florida, they will see his name. They will see what he stood for. And he will not be forgotten.

Then Oct 22, 2004
Today I went with The Mobility Project (TMP) from Seattle. They travel around the world providing wheelchairs , walkers, and PETs (personal energy transportation). They have been coming to Afghanistan since 1999, twice per year. They also had a guy with them named 'Dutch' that until he introduced himself, I thought he was one of the afghans. He's from Louisiana. He's an artist working on a photo portfolio. anyway. Today we put together wheelchairs and then fitted them to people as they came in. The first guy was about 15 and his dad carried him in on his back.Our guys were talking to him as some others were putting together a wheelchair. He was more interested in looking at the wheelchair than talking. Once they got him in the wheelchair and adjusted to fit him he started crying. Then once he wheeled himself around the area a couple times he left with a big smile on his face. Next came in a brother and sister that were seriously injured about 10 years ago when a bomb fell through their roof during the Russian occupation. They looked in their 20's. One of the ladies from TMP got out her fingernail polish and painted the sister's fingernails for her. Next was an 11-year old girl who had prosthetic legs from the hips down. She was born without legs. She was fitted with a wheelchair and when they asked if she wanted to try a walker, her eyes lit up and she said yes. She walked around on her own for a couple minutes. The first time she had ever been able to do that. One of the girls from tinterpreterp talked to her through an interpretor and told her that just because she's in a wheelchair doesn't mean she can't do anything. The TMP girl looked to be in her mid 20's and told the afghan girl that she can play sports, go to college, what ever she wanted. Then two little kids came in, the girl was 5 but I'm not sure how old the boy was. I think they were cousins. The moms lookpneumoniay alike. The little girl had pnuemonia, but both had birth defects that were causing their leg muscles to atrophy. We fitted them in wheelchairs and they both left happy. The little girl wasn't happy at first but then was better, except when her mom was pushing the wheelchair because the little girl couldn't see her. Today was an awesome but sad day. We helped a small group of kids that lives will be greatly benefitted by getting the wheelchairs. But it's only a small drop in the bucket. If anyone is looking for a worthy cause, check out The Mobility Project. They do great things.

Defend America article

Hurricane Devastation..

2005-09-03T18:46:00.000-04:00

The storm came ashore on Monday, blowing a lot worse than expected. After the storm passed, survivors came out to assess the damage, glad to be alive. Most were surprised at the extent of the damage. Houses gone, roofs gone, businesses gone, military bases gone, jobs gone. But they waited for help to arrive. Help that didn't get there the first day. "There's a lot of trees and lines down. Help will be here soon." The first day passes and looters, the scum of the earth, take advantage of damaged businesses, and damaged houses. The finger pointing starts. "Why isn't help here yet?" Day four arrives. Still no help to speak of. The National Guard has arrived but can't help much. "Where the hell is the cavalry?" the local emergency management director asks on national TV. Finally, on Friday the US Army arrives and the rescue and cleanup starts. Hurricane Katrina 2005 and the Gulf Coast? Not quite. Try August 1992 when Hurricane Andrew blasted South Florida.

Hurricane Andrew hit the Florida coast at Homestead at approximately 0430. The Turkey Point Power Plant was the bullseye. Two fossil plants and two nuclear plants. The nukes were shut down and had few problems. The fossil side wasn't so lucky. The wind was blowing so hard it was driving rain through cracks in the concrete into the control room. The wind cracked one of the smokestacks, causing a 6-inch gap in the chimney. It was demolished a few weeks after the storm and replaced.

One of the weather bouys out in the Atlantic measured 169 mph winds before it disappeared. This was the last image before the radar on top of the National Hurricane Center blew away. The wind meter in Perrine recorded 177 mph gusts before it blew away. Tamiami Airport's wind meter was pegged at 127 mph for a while then it blew away, along with most of the airport. Homestead Air Force Base, abandoned for the most part as aircraft, crews and families were evacuated, basically ceased to exist. Ninety-seven percent of Homestead AFB's facilities were rendered inoperable by the force of Hurricane Andrew .

The first week after the storm was one of the worst in my life. I was born and raised in Miami, but never considered it my hometown because of the changes in the city. I left Miami in 1985. But what I saw, and what was happening, or rather NOT happening, tore at me. Political squabbles between a Democratic Governor and a Republican administration caused delays and finger pointing. The state said no help was offered, the feds said none was requested. And people suffered. The American Red Cross turned away a physician's group from North Carolina because they didn't have Red Cross training. And people suffered. The 82nd Airborne was staged at Ft. Bragg Monday afternoon by a commander who could see the writing on the wall. But the squabbling continued for days and they stood down. And people suffered. The National Guard arrived on Monday, but they didn't have food or water to give out, and the commanders didn't use their forces appropriately. They sent units who did not know the Homestead area, but there where no street signs left so they had no idea where they were. And people suffered. It got so bad, the Florida City Police went up on the turnpike, and stopped a truck going from Florida Power & Light's St. Lucie Nuclear Plant to the Turkey Point Plant with donated food and water for the plant employees. They gave the driver two choices: deliver the goods to Florida City or get out and walk. I still had family and friends in South Florida and was frustrated to no end that not enough was being done. My church, First United Methodist of Ft. Pierce took an 8-truck convoy of food and water to the Homestead Methodist Church on Tuesday afternoon, while government and relief agencies sat on their hands.

I was activated with the Florida National Guard Sunday night. I was told to bring enough clothes to last a few days. I was there six weeks. Since I grew up in Miami, and learned how to drive in Miami, I knew the streets there like the back of my hand. One of our lieutenants was looking at a Miami street map. I offered my knowledge of the area. His response, "I lived in Miami for about 6 months, three or four years ago. I think I can find my way around." Yeah..right. We left early and arrived in Miami Monday morning as the hurricane left south Florida. I rode with our battery commander, Capt. Sammie Thomas, a hell of a good officer. I believe he is now the commander of the 2nd Battalion/ 265th Air Defense Artillery. He knew I was from Miami and wanted me in his vehicle. We met up with other units and followed them to Miami. It was still raining and the wind was blowing about 45 mph when we got off the turnpike... at the wrong exit for where we needed to go. So we snaked around downed wires and street lights until they finally figured out how to get to Tamiami Park, which would be our home for the next six weeks.

Our unit was divided in half, working 12-hours days and nights. By the time we got unloaded and cots setup for sleeping, it was 1700. The night shift guys, who had been up since 0400, drew weapons, and ammo, and prepared for their first night. The 2nd Lt. in charge of the night shift held a briefing to let his guys know what was going on. I tried to explain how the street system worked there since they were only allowing residents back in the area. The LT cut me off, saying, "I'll cover that in the brief." Which he didn't. Afterwards, the sergeants, most who knew I was from Miami, came to me for explanations. They left, and I went to sleep.

We were the North Task Force, covering from 88th Street south to approximately 200th Street. 88th Street was basically the dividing line for the damage. North of 88th had some trees down or some roof shingles gone, but basically not a lot of damage. South of 88th was serious damage. Entire roofs gone, walls caved in, concrete power line poles snapped like twigs. We started calling 88th Street the '88th parallel'.

I was given 6 or 7 soldiers for my squad. We were at first patrolling a shopping center at 88th Street and 137th Ave. I remember seeing a Dunkin' Donut shop that had a letter missing from the sign. It said "Dun in Donuts". It didn't have a roof anymore. After a couple hours, our higher ups decided we needed to do traffic control, checking driver's licenses to only let residents in. We were wearing full 'battle-rattle', everything but flak vests. Anyone who's ever been to Miami in August knows about the 95 degree-95% humidity weather. We set up a staggered system, checking 3 or 4 cars at a time. I rotated my guys into the shade as often as I could. People would drive by and give us bottled water. A Red Cross guy came by and gave me a cooler full of water and ice. He said he'd be back to get the cooler, but never did. I remember one guy pulled up in a tan pick-up. He said he was looking for his brother because he hadn't heard from him. After a heated debate, he said, "You'll have to shoot me, I'm looking for my brother" and drove off. A little while later a Metro-Dade police sgt came by and said to start letting people through because we were causing a traffic jam. I felt bad for giving the guy in the truck grief when all he wanted to do was find his brother, and now we were letting everyone by. An hour later, another Metro-Dade police sgt came by and bitched at us for not stopping traffic. Such is life. One guy came out of the area, and stopped and asked if we had any water. All we had was the cooler and I offered him a drink. He declined, saying he would feel guilty because his wife and two kids were at home and they wouldn't have any. So he turned around and headed back home. Still thirsty. That night, the night shift guys arrived to relieve us. As they were getting out of the truck, two kids came running out of a Blockbuster with a couple videos. Some of my guys gave chase. One of the night shift guys, a young PFC, pulled out his magazine of ammo and loaded his M16. His squad sgt yanked the weapon out of his hands and took the magazine. We called him 'locked-and-loaded' for the rest of the time there.

After a couple days there we moved further south on 137th Ave, to alleviate some of the backup onto 88th Street. We were in front of a shopping center, working directly with Metro-dade cops. The Pizza Hut there brought out about 10 pizzas at lunch time for all of us. A beauty salon gave all my guys free haircuts for anyone that needed it. A Pepsi guy came buy and dropped off a BIG cooler full of cold drinks. That night when we left the cops took the extras to their police sub-station. We were there two days then moved to a shopping center a little further south.

On Friday we were at the shopping center. An L-shaped building, it had a drug store at one end and a Publix grocery store in the middle. And a Haitian restaurant. We did walking patrols around to make sure no one looted anything. Publix stores all had generators with enough fuel for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the freezers and coolers quit working. Publix employees had been emptying the stuff from the freezers into dumpsters behind the store. After a few days of sitting in the summer Miami sun, things were pretty ripe. A full dumpster of rotting meat, frozen foods, cheeses, produce. It was nasty. That night, as we were leaving, we had a nasty 'toad-strangler' afternoon thunderstorm. There was more rain fall in two hours than it did during the entire hurricane. The water standing in the parking lot came up to the top of the tires on the pickup we were driving. And people's houses were still open and uncovered since the blue tarps from FEMA didn't start arriving until a few days later. I'm willing to bet there was more water damage from that storm than from the hurricane.

The next day we went to a food distribution area at a Jewish Center just south of 88th street and provided crowd control for the people giving out food. We were there about a week. One of the things I will always remember, is that on Sep 7, my daughter Aimee turned 14, and she wanted to help distribute food. My wife had come down to see her parents living in one of the less affected areas. So Aimee spent her 14th birthday giving out food. The experience had such an impact on her that she spent the rest of the school year teaching girl scout troops about hurricane preparedness. For that, she earned the Girl Scout Silver Award, the second highest award a Girl Scout can earn. One of the days we were there, an elderly lady came out of one of the apartment buildings in tears. She didn't speak English. We finally found someone who could speak Polish. She had been in the ghettos of Warsaw during WWII. She had a number tattooed on her arm from the concentration camp. Seeing armed soldiers in uniforms herding people into lines brought back some very bad memories for her. We reassured her the best we could. Somehow, I don't think we were too successful...

We went back to the shopping center and stayed there for a while. We had duty at a food-stamp office for a few days. I met a Florida Dept of Law Enforcement agent who described riding out the storm in Country Walk, one of the most heavily damaged areas. He and his wife were waiting downstairs when they heard a noise upstairs. He went up and opened a bedroom door. He could see the neighbors house next door. The bedroom wall and roof were gone. He and his wife went into the garage, got into their car, and wedged softball bats against the roof of the car in case the house fell in on them. That's how they rode out the rest of the storm.

We were staying in the Dade County Fair buildings at Tamiami Park. Each night we'd get relieved at 7pm, drive back to Tamiami, turn in weapons and eat chow, then head to bed. The first fews nights we had 2500 Guardsmen in the buildings, and 5 showers. I walked in to take a shower and there's 25 naked guys standing in line, waiting their turn. Not my idea of fun. The next day, they set up a shower tent, but it was about 1/2 mile away. By the time I got back to my cot, I was sweating as much as I was before the shower. The building we were in has a large fountain surrounded by waist high flower boxes. I found a sprinkler line someone had rigged up to be a shower. It was cold, but close to the building. I'd wait until about 10pm then head for the fountain. I'd make sure no one was around, strip down, take a quick shower, then get dressed and head for bed. The first few nights, I'd wear my underwear under the shower. But after a few nights, I said "WTF?" and just stripped down.

One of the most frustrating things about being there, was that Tamiami Park was where a lot of donations where staged. Food, clothing, bottled water, etc. It would come in on trucks, be unloaded then stacked on pallets. Then an afternoon thunderstorm would roll up and soak everything and ruin it. We helped unload a truck one night, and I complained to the first sgt that it shouldn't be unloaded there. It needed to go to Homestead where the people needed it. His response, "Shut up and unload the truck." The next day, a rainstorm again ruined most of it. One night a tractor-trailer arrived with bottled water. I told one of the officers it needed to go to Homestead where it was needed. He said we don't know where to take it. I said I know where. Give me a HUMVEE and I'll take a load there tonight. His response, "Sorry. I can't do that." On and on...

This is already too long of a post but I have a couple more things and I'll be done. Since most of the street lights were out, traveling in traffic was harrowing at the least and dangerous. Several people were killed by drivers not stopping in intersections where the lights were out. We were coming back from the shopping center one night, headed back to Tamiami. Jerry was driving, the LT was in the passenger side and I was in the back. The normal route was to drive 117th Avenue from 88th street all the way back to 24th street where Tamiami was. I leaned forward and told the LT to take the expressway. He was looking at his map. "I don't see that on this map." Trust me, sir. Just get on the expressway. He just sat there, looking at his map. The driver turned to me and said, "Where do you want me to go?" I pointed and he went. The LT was still looking at his map when we got on the expressway. We were there in 10 minutes instead of the usual 30 or 40. Later, we were patrolling the Richmond Heights area. We had a convoy of 4 or 5 HUMVEEs. I tried to get the LT (a different one this time...) to take the expressway. We were now at 184th Street. He said he was going 117th Avenue. The other HUMVEEs pulled out. I was the last one. I looked at the convoy, looked at the expressway, turned to the other sergeant riding with me and said, "F**K 117th. I'm taking the expressway." We got on and headed north. We had arrived back at Tamiami, turned in our vehicle, turned in out weapons, and were standing in line to get chow when the others walked in. The LT just walked on by and never said a word. Damn officers....

After the first week, relief started arriving. FEMA, state and federal agencies, the 82nd Airborne all showed up. The Red Cross did a kick ass job after getting the bugs worked out. They had a lot of very dedicated workers putting in long hours. AFSis was one of them. The Florida Natioanl Guard learned and learned well. During the terrible 2004 season, Florida had 4 major hurricanes hit the state. The National Guard had it's system in place. Louisiana and the rest of the southeast states could learn a lot from Brig. Gen. Mike Fleming, the Task Force commander for hurricanes. You should have asked him BEFORE last week. I know what the people of the Gulf Coast are going through. I wish I could have been there to help. To ride in a boat and help someone. It's a great feeling. But instead, I will be making a donation the the Red Cross. Sorry this is so long. Some times, you just gotta write...

Music from the past...

2005-08-31T17:09:00.000-04:00

Something fun to do.

1) Go to musicoutfitters.com and, in the search box provided, enter the year you graduated high school.
2) From the search results, click the link for the top 100 songs of that year.
3) With the resulting list: a) bold the songs you like, b) strike through the ones you hate c) underline your favorite d) and ignore the ones you don't remember or don't care about.

1. The Way We Were, Barbra Streisand
~~2. Seasons In The Sun, Terry Jacks~~
3. Love's Theme, Love Unlimited Orchestra
4. Come And Get Your Love, Redbone
5. Dancing Machine, Jackson 5
6. The Loco-Motion, Grand Funk Railroad
7. TSOP, MFSB
8. The Streak, Ray Stevens
9. Bennie And The Jets, Elton John
10. One Hell Of A Woman, Mac Davis
11. Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do), Aretha Franklin
12. Jungle Boogie, Kool and The Gang
13. Midnight At The Oasis, Maria Muldaur
14. You Make Me Feel Brand New, Stylistics
15. Show And Tell, Al Wilson
16. Spiders And Snakes, Jim Stafford
17. Rock On, David Essex
18. Sunshine On My Shoulder, John Denver
19. Sideshow, Blue Magic
20. Hooked On A Feeling, Blue Swede
21. Billy Don't Be A Hero, Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods
22. Band On The Run, Paul McCartney and Wings
23. The Most Beautiful Girl, Charlie Rich
24. Time In A Bottle, Jim Croce
25. Annie's Song, John Denver
~~26. Let Me Be There, Olivia Newton-John~~
27. Sundown, Gordon Lightfoot
~~28. (You're) Having My Baby, Paul Anka~~ (hated this one with a passion..)
29. Rock Me Gently, Andy Kim
30. Boogie Down, Eddie Kendricks
31. You're Sixteen, Ringo Starr
32. If You Love Me (Let Me Know), Olivia Newton-John
33. Dark Lady, Cher
34. Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me, Gladys Knight and The Pips
35. Feel Like Makin' Love, Roberta Flack
36. Just Dont Want To Be Lonely, Main Ingredient
37. Nothing From Nothing, Billy Preston
38. Rock Your Baby, George McCrae
39. Top Of The World, Carpenters
40. The Joker, Steve Miller Band
41. I've Got To Use My Imagination, Gladys Knight and The Pips
42. The Show Must Go On, Three Dog Night
~~43. Rock The Boat, Hues Corporation~~
44. Smokin' In The Boys Room, Brownsville Station
45. Living For The City, Stevie Wonder
46. The Night Chicago Died, Paper Lace
47. Then Came You, Dionne Warwick and The Spinners
48. The Entertainer, Marvin Hamlisch
49. Waterloo, Abba
50. The Air That I Breathe, Hollies
~~51. Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Steely Dan~~
52. Mockingbird, Carly Simon
53. Help Me, Joni Mitchell
54. You Won't See Me, Anne Murray
55. Never, Never Gonna Give You Up, Barry White
56. Tell Me Something Good, Rufus
57. You And Me Against The World, Helen Reddy
~~58. Rock And Roll Heaven, Righteous Brothers~~
59. Hollywood Swinging, Kool and The Gang
60. Be Thankful For What You Got, William Devaughn
61. Hang On In There Baby, Johnny Bristol
62. Eres Tu (Touch The Wind), Mocedades
63. Taking Care Of Business, Bachman-Turner Overdrive
64. Radar Love, Golden Earring
65. Please Come To Boston, Dave Loggins
66. Keep On Smilin', Wet Willie
67. Lookin' For Love, Bobby Womack
68. Put Your Hands Together, O'Jays
69. On And On, Gladys Knight and The Pips
70. Oh Very Young, Cat Stevens
71. Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress), Helen Reddy
72. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
73. I've Been Searchin' So Long, Chicago
74. Oh My My, Ringo Starr
75. For The Love Of Money, O'Jays
76. I Shot The Sherrif, Eric Clapton
77. Jet, Paul McCartney and Wings
78. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Elton John
79. Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield
80. Love Song, Anne Murray
81. I'm Leaving It All Up To You, Donny and Marie Osmond
82. Hello, It's Me, Todd Rundgren
83. I Love, Tom T. Hall
84. Clap For The Wolfman, The Guess Who
85. I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song, Jim Croce
85. The Lord's Prayer, Sister Janet Mead
87. Trying To Hold On To My Woman, Lamont Dozier
88. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing, Stevie Wonder
89. A Very Special Love Song, Charlie Rich
90. My Girl Bill, Jim Stafford
91. My Mistake Was To Love You, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye
91. Helen Wheels, Paul McCartney and Wings
93. Wildwood Weed, Jim Stafford
94. Beach Baby, First Class
95. Me And Baby Brother, War
96. Rockin' Roll Baby, Stylistics
~~97. I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John~~
98. Call On Me, Chicago
99. Wild Thing, Fancy
100. Mighty Love, Pt. 1, Spinners

Thanks to John, Barb, and Punctilious for the musical diversion...

Jimmy Stewart...I like that...

2005-08-30T23:22:00.000-04:00

Jimmy Stewart
You scored 23% Tough, 4% Roguish, 66% Friendly, and 9% Charming! You are the fun and friendly boy next door, the classic nice guy who still manages to get the girl most of the time. You're every nice girl's dreamboat, open and kind, nutty and charming, even a little mischievous at times, but always a real stand up guy. You're dependable and forthright, and women are drawn to your reliability, even as they're dazzled by your sense of adventure and fun. You try to be tough when you need to be, and will gladly stand up for any damsel in distress, but you'd rather catch a girl with a little bit of flair. Your leading ladies include Jean Arthur and Donna Reed, those sweet girl-next-door types.

Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the Classic Dames Test.

courtesy of Barb

I am a Samurai...

2005-08-28T18:53:00.000-04:00

You are a Samurai.
You are full of honour and value respect. You
are not really the stereotypical hero, but you
do fight for good. Just in your own way. For
you, it is most certainly okay to kill an evil
person, if it is for justice and peace. You
also don't belive in mourning all the time and
think that once you've hit a bad stage in life
you just have to get up again. It's pointless
to concentrate on emotional pain and better to
just get on with everything. You also are a
down to earth type of person and think before
you act. Impulsive people may annoy you
somewhat.

Main weapon: Sword
Quote: "Always do the right thing.
This will gratify some people and astonish the
rest" -Mark Twain
Facial expression: Small smile

What Type of Killer Are You? [cool pictures]
brought to you by Quizilla

I took this little quiz, thanks to Blonde Sagacity. I like being a Samurai....

Random thoughts....

2005-08-28T13:04:00.000-04:00

I stayed home from church today to write an article about a post office dedication I covered on Friday (more on that later) but surfed the 'net instead. It's a lazy Sunday, and I'm trying to get back into the civilian mode. It's not easy. I figured out last week ( or was it a couple weeks ago..?) that from Jan '03 to Aug '05, 32 months, I have been deployed or on some type of active duty away from home for 21 of them. And it's not over. I've been offered another 180-day tour, this time in Tampa, Florida, working in the public affairs office of the new Army Reserve Medical Command, or ARMEDCOM. Which isn't too bad since it's only about 3 and a half hours from home. I haven't decided yes or no yet on that one, but it does seem interesting. I'll keep you posted.

Back to the post office dedication. Staff Sgt. Arthur Stacey Mastrapa was killed in Iraq in June 2004. Two days before he was scheduled to come home. His unit's return was broken up into two return flights, and Mastrapa volunteered to stay back for the second flight, something a good NCO should do, taking care of his troops by letting them leave first. He did get to come home, but not the way he had planned. He had kept his return home a secret to surprise his dad for Father's Day. As it turned out, I'm sure it was a Father's Day Mr. Mastrapa will never forget. Staff Sgt. Mastrapa was a letter carrier for the US Postal Service in Altamonte Springs, Florida, a suburb of Orlando. Very popular with the folks on his route, and his fellow postal workers, a movement was started to remember him. Changing the name of a federal building requires congressional approval. The Representative for the district and one of the Senators from Florida submitted bills to change the name. Both were passed unanimously, and signed by President Bush in June of 2005. There were a LOT of people there. Postal workers, members of the US Army reserve, and civilians from Mastrapa's route. It was a very cool ceremony. The politician's didn't thump their own chests, and Mastrapa's wife had some neat things to say. Her biggest wish was that her husband not be forgotten. It's doubtful he will be. Not for a very long time. Guess I need to write that article....

Lady Eleanor's site. My daughter Katie has posted some pics to a site about Eleanor. Check it out...

Dilbert, courtesy of politics of a patriot...

Army Girl has an interesting post about maturity, about the realization of what life is all about, about what's important in life. I had a pretty long comment that I wrote, commenting on the realization that there is more to life than money, and about how being happy with yourself and who you are is vastly more important than the price of your car or your house, or your income. I told her the journey is more important than getting from point A to Point B. I compared taking a trip from Florida to California by driving and stopping along the way to see things..the USS Alabama docked in Mobile Bay, seeing Bourbon Street in New Orleans and collecting a few beads, walking through the Alamo, feeling the exhilaration of the Grand Canyon, then trying to explain that trip to someone who made the same trip by air. I told her about this movie I saw a long time ago. I was making good money, but didn't have that satisfied feeling. The only scene I remember from the movie was this old professor giving this young newlywed wife a lesson about life. He had her close one eye, and hold a dollar bill against the open eye. "What do you see?" he asked. "The dollar of course." Then he had her open both eyes and hold the dollar at arms length. "Now what do you see?" "The dollar, and the room and the people in it." The moral... "Don't hold money so close that you can't see anything else." All of that and more was in the comment I left for Army Girl, but when I hit publish, it all went away. Poof. So, hopefully, she'll see this and know it was meant for her...and anyone else who has THAT nagging feeling....

Alix is back...

For those interested in helping a good cause and haven't heard about it, the "Valour-IT: Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops" program is off and running. FBL, Kat, The Castle, Barb, and countless others are raising money. So far, 10 laptops have been purchased for injured troops, and they are working on more. Donate if you can, say an extra prayer if you can't...

Looks like I'm moving up the ecosystem scale. I'm a "flappy bird". Cool....

OK. That's enough for one day. There are a few other posts out there I'd like to tell you about, but I would be here for a while, and might get in trouble. Have chores to do. Have a lot of chores to do. I go back to work tomorrow. Fun and games...

What I did for summer vacation...

2005-08-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

If you've been following my activities, you know I have been involved with this program for about three years. As much as I loved being in Afghanistan, extending there would have meant not being able to provide coverage here. This is a great program, ran by great officers and NCOs. Below are some of my products from this summer. Seems I can't generate any interest in the program to outside news outlets. Good news doesn't sell, especially when it comes to the military. Guess if the US team had beat up some of the other NATO countries, it would have made the news. If anyone out there wants more info about the Center, or high res photos, drop me an email.

U.S. Joint Military Skills Training Center produces winning results

By U.S. Army Reserve Master Sgt. D. Keith Johnson
PAO, US Joint Forces Military Skills Training Center

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – The 2005 U.S. Joint Forces Leader Development and Advanced Military Skills Training course came to a close recently where the top performers were rewarded with selection to the U.S. Joint Forces Military Competitions Team. The U.S. Team proceeded to the NATO Military Skills Competition where they shined in every category.
The course was given at the U.S. Joint Forces Military Training Center here. Participants were trained at highly advanced levels in Map Reading and Land Navigation; Rifle and Pistol Marksmanship; and Land and Water Confidence Courses to return to their units as resident expert instructors. Participants also receive training in leadership development, the Law of War, Combat First Aid, including CPR certification, survival swimming and selected fitness and nutrition topics developed by the Army Physical Fitness School.
“Our purpose here is to assemble a world-class staff to provide advanced level training in critical warrior skills over a three-week period,” said U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Robert Thompson. “ The course is demanding with the ultimate objective of unit readiness. Our students take what they’ve learned here back to their units.” Thompson, from New Smyrna Beach, Fla., is the training officer for the Center.
By the end of the course, expert instructors assembled from all Services, both Active and Reserve, devoted more than 40 hours to Land Navigation, and over 20 hours each on Riflerifle and pistol marksmanship.
Cadet Christopher Thornton, from Texas A&M’s Army ROTC program, was very impressed with the marksmanship instruction.
“It’s been great,” said Thornton, from Conroe, Texas. “Four hours of marksmanship every day with one on one coaching, and they know exactly what I’m doing wrong, and how to help it.”
“The training is great,” said Cadet Brandon Harrington, a rising sophomore at the Virginia Military Institute. “They say they want to be a world-class training center, well they already have the best instructors.”
This year’s training course had five female officers in attendance. First time participant U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Christina Luis had high regards for the training. “I had no idea what to expect. It’s been great,” she said. “I’ve learned more in this training than I have in all my Air Force training.” Luis is an Air Force aviator from Sudbury, Mass.
Officers, cadets, and one midshipman spent three weeks going through some of the most physically and mentally demanding training most have seen, or will see, throughout their military careers. In addition, drill sergeants from the 344th Military Intelligence battalion, Navy SEALs from SOCCENT, marksmanship instructors from the Small Arms Readiness Group, and members of the 108th Training Division (Institutional Training) attended portions of the marksmanship and land navigation training.
Harrington thought he was ready. “I expected a challenge both physically and mentally. I thought I was well prepared to do it,” said Harrington, from Alexandria, Va. “ But, especially when hitting the Land Obstacle course, you find out you aren’t as good as you think you are, and getting your butt kicked by these officers that are 10,15, 20 years older than you is a humbling experience.” He added, “You learn a lot about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses.”
Cadet Alexander Gray, also from VMI, had similar opinions on the veteran participants.
“It blows my mind that the older officers smoked me out here. It also shows that I can be in incredible shape 20 years from now,” said Gray, from Richmond, Va.
Although it was a physical challenge for the first time attendees, they also had high regards for the training they received.
U.S. Army Reserve Col. Jeffrey Stuart, a Special Forces officer for 23 years, from Ogden, Utah, said, “This is the best training I’ve ever received in my career.” A sentiment shared by many of the participants.
“You leave here every day having accomplished something,” said Gray.

Participating in the obstacle course was more than just a physical learning process. VMI has a Marine Corps obstacle course and Harrington is scheduled to be the course instructor for the freshmen class. “After learning the importance here at Fort Sam Houston of proper technique and fitness when running the NATO 500-meter obstacle course, which was the most challenging event for me here, I know this will make me a better instructor at VMI for the freshman cadets coming in this fall,” said Harrington.

Awards were given out during the end of class dinner for the top performers. For 2005, the Air Force took top honors as U.S. Air Force Capt. Cilla Peterek, from Austin, Texas, was awarded the trophy for Women’s Champion, and U.S. Air Force Reserve Maj. Joel Winton took the spot as top Men’s Champion. U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Clai Gardner, from San Antonio, Texas, took all three top shooter awards for pistol, rifle and combined.
Winton also served as the logistics and operations officer for the course, as well as a Land and Water Obstacle course instructor.
“As a competitor, this program pushes you to new personal limits both physically and mentally,” said Winton, from Cincinnati, Ohio. “As a cadre member, it is extremely rewarding to see all the training come together in the form of highly skilled and competent military officers.”
Cadet Thornton summed up the training he received during the course.
“I’ve been learning all kinds of stuff,” said Thornton. “Every day there’s something else to improve on. It’s a great program. I don’t think you can really understand how good it is until you go through it.”

Fifteen of the participants were chosen to represent the U. S. on the Military Competitions Team at the NATO Military Skills Competition in Belgium in August.

Everything is coming up Silver
Three weeks later, which included a week of training at the German Infantry School in Hammelburg, Germany, U.S. teams earned the Silver Medal in three categories including, Women’s Team, Novice Team and Overall at the NATO Military Skills Competition held in Belgium. Also, one of the Men’s Team took the Gold Medal for the Combined Shooting event
The NATO Military Skills Competition is an annual contest for reserve officers, cadets and midshipmen, consisting of 200-meter rifle marksmanship, 25-meter pistol marksmanship, 500-meter land obstacle course, 50-meter water obstacle course and a 10 to 15-kilometer orienteering course involving advanced land navigation skills. Also included in the competition is combat first aid and Laws of Armed Conflict.
The competition falls under the auspices of the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers, formed in 1947 as part of NATO’s efforts to further common goals among the NATO allies. A different NATO country hosts the event every year.
This year’s competition in east Belgium consisted of 53 three-person teams totaling 159 competitors from 17 countries. Each country can send up to six men’s teams and two women’s teams, and up to four alternates. The alternates are placed on international teams to compete in that category. The U.S. had one novice team, two veteran teams and one female team this year, plus, three alternates who competed on international teams.
Since October 2004, the Center has trained over 600 active and reserve Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines in advanced marksmanship and land navigation skills. To become members of the U.S. Military Skills Team, candidates must complete the rigorous three-week course offered during the summer. The top students from that course go on to compete in the NATO competition.
This year’s U.S. Women’s Team consisted of Air Force Capt. Cilla Peterek, Air Force 2nd Lt. Christina Luis, and Georgia Army National Guard Chief Warrant Officer 3 Joanna Williamson, from Marietta, Ga..
This was Peterek’s second medal in as many years. Last year, Peterek’s team won the Gold Medal, but she wasn’t disappointed winning the Silver. “We did our best, and that’s all that matters.”

Naval Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Grant Staats, Air Force Reserve Maj. Joel Winton and Army Reserve Maj. Larry Gnewuch took the Silver Medal for Overall out of the 53 teams. Staats, a Naval Reserve SEAL who serves as the land navigation OIC at the USJFMSTC, had high praises for his teammates, both of which were competing for the second time.
“The two teammates I had with me this year, I could not have asked for a better performance out of them,” said Staats, from Rensselaer, N.Y. “The performance they put into it, and the outcome and results of what they put into it, totally determines how well I perform. The team did well because of what they put into it.”
“The positive reinforcement, the dedication to peak performance in every event was outstanding,” said Winton. “They have been two of the best teammates I’ve ever had. It’s was a privilege to not only compete, but to serve with them both.”
Marine Corps Reserve Maj. Daryl Remick, Army Reserve Maj. Mike Zinno and Army Reserve Lt. Col. Clai Gardner took the Gold Medal for team marksmanship in combined shooting.
“My personal goal, because I knew we could do it, was to win the marksmanship. I knew we had the ability, and we did it,” said Remick, from Forsythe, Ga..
The Novice Team this year consisted of a naval midshipman and two Army ROTC cadets. Navy ROTC Midshipman Jake Rankinen from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cadet Alexander Gray from the Virginia Military Institute, and Cadet Christopher Thornton from the Texas A&M ROTC program were surprised by the results.
“When we got over here, we weren’t looking for medals,” said Thornton. “We were looking to shoot good, to have a good run on the obstacle courses and stay on the map on the orienteering.”
In addition to being on the Novice Silver Medal team, Gray was the number two rifle shooter out of the 159 competitors who participated in this year’s competition.
Harrington, also a first year rookie, was on one of the international teams with German and Belgian competitors. “It was a challenging experience, a worthwhile relationship that pulled out nicely in the end,” said Harrington. Harrington’s international team ended up in a close second place.
Air Force Reserve 1st Lt. Brian Gornick, who plays professional hockey as his civilian profession, and Naval Reserve Capt. Shelly Pennington also represented the U.S. on international teams.

One aspect of this year’s land navigation competition was the consensus that it was a lot more physical than expected. Parts of the 11.5-kilometer course, for example, went through the internal workings of a dam, and then included climbing back up the spillway, then up a hill, then climbing a 100-foot tower for a ‘slide for life’ to the bottom.
“This was one of the most physically demanding competitions I’ve ever been a part of,” said Gnewuch, a U.S. Military Academy graduate and former team captain of the West Point basketball team.
“There were a lot of miles between points,” said Zinno, from Pensacola, Fla.. “Very tough.” Zinno tried out for the team after spending a year deployed to Iraq.
In terms of winning, Thompson, the USJFMSTC OIC and the team captain of the competition team, sums up this year’s performance.
“This year’s team members trained exceptionally long and hard, on their own time, for several months to achieve these high marks,” he said. “They are competing at a level that requires 18 to 20 hours per week of intensive physical training for a minimum of nine months. But, the real win begins after the competition is over when these officers return to their units to serve as resident expert instructors to increase the readiness of their units.”
Bringing NATO countries together in competition is one of the goals of the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers, something that is not lost on members of the U.S. teams.
“It’s been an amazing competition,” said Harrington. “I’ve learned a lot about NATO, and myself.”

“You come in here thinking it’s going to be all competitive, and it is competitive,” said Williamson, “but everyone is out there cheering for you.”
More information is available at the USJFMSTC web site, http://www.uscior.army.mil/.

early morning laugh...

2005-08-21T09:20:00.000-04:00

Now THAT'S funny...

Gotta love the sense of humor of those Army guys....

2005-08-19T17:31:00.000-04:00

It's hard to stay non-political these days when you have people like her running around. But this is funny...

Afghanistan Helicopter Crash Info

2005-08-18T12:28:00.000-04:00

I got this email today. It was forwarded, a couple times it looks like. I am assuming it is authentic until someone proves me wrong. Something you probably won't see in the MSM. Very interesting. If the person involved wants me to pull this, I'll be glad to. Helluva job, troops.

Hello everyone, this is my final update. Let me start by telling you that I am in excellent health and in good spirits. I apologize for not keeping you informed these last few months but our operational tempo was too high and our operational security did not allow me to share with you what missions we were conducting. When I return home I hope to sit down and write about our spring offensive here.

However I will share with you that my team in Farah captured Mullah Sultan who was a mid level Taliban leader ! and a ta rget that we had been searching for several months. He is still being interrogated in Afghanistan but should be making the long journey to GITMO (providing it is still open) very soon. I will be home in a couple of weeks and plan to have a party around Labor Day weekend so please mark you calendars because I would love to see you there.

This update will be extremely short but I do want to close it by telling you some insight about the SEAL Team and Night Stalker tragedy that occurred a few weeks ago. By now you have heard a lot about what happen but I really want share how significant that event was to the soldiers on the ground here and to explain in my opinion why I feel it is important that all Americans continue the fight for freedom.

Before I explain what happen to the SEALs, I want to thank you all for your prayers, emails, care packages, yard work and all the things that you did for me in my family while I have been deployed. The support from my friends and neighbors has been incredible and humbling. Your support has helped me to endure this incredibly long year and to concentrate on what I was doing here with minimum worrying about "P" and "A". Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

The Naval Special Forces (NAVSOF) team that was involved in the operation in Kunar Province had been traveling throughout Afghanistan conducting apprehend or kill missions against Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives. They had worked with us for two weeks, three weeks before the events on June 28. While working with our teams, they attempted to take out a high value Taliban target and missed him by hours. This operation was conducted in the Zerico Valley which ha! s been o ne of our hot spots. We provided the outer ring security for the SEALs with Afghan National Army soldiers and ETTs while the SEALs conducted the compound assault. We missed the big target but did get some mid level guys so the mission was not a total bust.

The NAVSOF guys are the best of the best, not cocky simply professionals in every way, we call them operators. On June 28 a four man SEAL reconnaissance team was trying to locate Taliban in the dense mountainous and forested area of the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. They were trying to identify routes that the bad guys use to enter from Pakistan. The targeting information would be used to direct U.S. and Afghan forces who would interdict and destr! oy those enemy forces. The SEALs were spotted and engaged by a large force of Taliban some where between 25-50 insurgents. The Taliban who are still alive and fighting in Afghanistan are very good combatants. Unlike Iraq Arabs, they are not suicidal and they use good small unit tactics. The bad guys used Rocket Propel Grenades (RPGs), mortars and small arms to attack the SEALs. The team set up a 360 degree defense and called in Hornet Nest (troops in contact) back to their operational base.

The command and control headquarters for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan moved a Predator unmanned drone over the battle location. The SEALs were located by the predator by their locator beacon and the inferred camera system of the drone. The headquarters could see that the TEAM was encircled by bad guys and that the enemy was too close to the SEALs to use Air force close air support. A weather front was rapidly coming into the area and the SEAL Commander a Lieutenant Commander ask permission to launch his quick reaction force to go ! rescue h is men.

The commander of TF 160th (the Night Stalkers) agreed to fly the mission. The Night Stalkers are the Army's Special Operations air wing. They specialize in high risk insertion and extraction at night. It was not night fall yet and the command hesitated because sending the special operation birds into the area in the light was very risky. The Generals look at the screen that was giving a live feed of the fire fight, they saw that the SEALs were surrounded, they did not see a way for them to escape, a weather front was coming, it was dusk but not dark yet and time for the trapped men was running out.

Leadership requires having the guts to make a decision, based on analysis and forethought. You must totally recognize the risk and be ready to accept the results. The general in charge made the right call, he had to try to rescue the operators, we as American soldiers can not leave our people on the battlefield, every Airman, Marine, Sailor, Coast Guardsmen and Soldier has to know that when you go down range and things go wrong keep fighting and help will come.

The decision was made, two CH 47 Pave Hawk helicopters headed toward the SEALs. The CH 47 i! s a larg e aircraft but it is fast for a helicopter, able to fly at 170 knots. The aircraft entered the mountains flying at 50 feet above the ground with 16 men aboard. All four SEALs were still alive and fighting an unbelievable battle. As the lead bird approached the landing zone they started to slow down and the air speed dropped under 100 Knots, another group of Taliban, not engaged in the initial firefight but in the area saw the aircraft and open fire with small arms and RPG's. The lead aircraft was hit by a RPG but the aviator kept the bird in the air. They were in the mountains; therefore there was no clear place to land. He flew for about a mile and saw a ledge that he could try to put the bird down on. The CH 47 landed on the ledge hard, they almost made it. The hard landing and the palpitations of the rotors were too much for the small landing zone and weak ground. It was their time, the aircraft rolled off of the ledge on to its side and down the mountain into the valley below.

8 SEALs and 8 aviators from TF 160th were gone. The other aircraft could not land in the hot landing zone and were called back. There was not enough time to try to secure the area because the weather front moved in and night fall fell. The SEALs kept fighting and used the cover of darkness to crawl out of the initial enemy lines. The SEALs were engaged again and had a running gun ! battle f or over two hours. The SEAL that survived was knocked unconscious by a mortar round and found that he was alone when he woke up. Two of his team members were dead close by, and the last team member was missing. They had dropped all none essential gear during their escape therefore all contact with them was lost.

Eventually the surviving SEAL ran into a villager who took him to his house. That shepherd, at great risk to himself, protected the SEAL until he could be moved six hours away to the nearest U.S. forces that the villager was aware of.

The loss of the operators really broke the hearts of all us deployed down range. Losing men of that quality and dedication is bad enough one at a time, but to lose so many, so fast was hard to comprehend. But after the shock had worn off and we got the true story of what happened we took solace.

You see every one did what they were supposed to on that day - the SEAL recon team kept fighting, the SEAL commander went to get his shipmates, the Night Stalkers volunteered to fly in to harm's way to rescue their brothers in arms and the generals had the guts to make the right decision. That is all you can ask for out here, it is what it is and everything else is God's will.

I have had the pleasure of serving with some unbelievable men and women in the last year. Folks from 18 to 59 (yes 59). It has been an honor. I really appreciated America before I came to Afghanistan but this experience has truly opened my eyes to how blessed my life has been. Folks I know this is a cliché, but freedom is not free. Embrace it, respect it and don't ever stop fighting for it. These people over here are far from free, but we have given them a taste of it. We need to ensure that we don't give up the fight because to do so would be to dishonor all the men and women who have died to ensure we remain free. Freedom is contagious - with it, out goes tyranny. The evil people that attacked America on September 11th were not free because if they were, they would not have cared what another person's beliefs are, they would simply accept them for what they are and move on. Please continue to pray for all the soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, don't stop praying for me beca! use I am still here, and your prayers have been working so keep it up, I don't want to mess up a good thing. I will be home soon, God bless you all, God bless America and thanks again, goodbye

Finally, I get to meet Eleanor...

2005-08-16T00:12:00.000-04:00

Eleanor Louise gordon was born in Oklahoma City on 27 July 2005. I was in Virginia covering the National Scout Jamboree and couldn't go see her. I then went to Belgium to cover the US Joint Forces Military Skills Competition team at the NATO competition. Finally, on 12 Aug, I got to fly to OKC to meet the little munchkin.

Her Mommy (Katie) and Grammy (joan) were already there. She was two weeks and two days old when we met. She's already holding her head up on her own, and is strong. She's very expressive. She has the darkest blue eyes, almost an indigo blue color. On Sunday morning I got to hold her as she woke up. She has this wake-up routine that takes about 10 or 15 minutes. She starts moving her arms and legs and rolling her shoulders. You can see her eyes moving under her eyelids, but they haven't opened yet. When she finally wakes up, then it's crying time because she's hungry. Which at that point I had to give her up to mommy. After she ate, then I sat her on my stomach and talked to her as she just sat there looking at me, probably wondering, "who the heck is this guy??" I haven't held a baby since Katie was little (yes, that's me with the dark Elvis sideburns). I have a feeling there'll be a lot more chances in the future. Katie and Eleanor are supposed to come to Florida in September for a visit so all of the Florida family can see them. Looks like I may be in Egypt and will miss them. I hope not.

Project Valour IT needs YOU!

2005-08-15T23:04:00.000-04:00

MSG Keith is still doing his refresher training on diapers and learning pinky yoga. He should be back to blogging soon, and he has promised to bring baby pictures with him!

Only his travels and limited access to blogging have prevented him from joining the Fusileers previously. So I offered to help out for a good cause.

Project Valour IT is going to provide voice-controlled software with laptops to help our wounded military to gain back more independence and reconnect with their loved ones, despite their injuries.

The folks who have been over in Iraq and Afghanistan, taking care of us, need a little something in return. If you can give a little, even just a few bucks, click on the picture to add your donation to the cause.

For more information on the project and the inspiration, check out the Project Valour IT history page and the Valour IT blog. If you have a blog, help to spread the word - by adding links to the site and blog. Together we can do great things!

What's an American?

2005-08-12T11:30:00.000-04:00

I got this from a friend the other day. I wanted to post it right away but have been too busy. I like the sentiment...

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in anewspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, anyAmerican.

So an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is ... so they would know when they found one. (Good onya, mate!!!!)

An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek.

An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.

In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

Americans welcome the best of everything -- the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.

These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September11, 2001 earning a better life for their families.

It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must.

Hitler did.

So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and otherblood-thirsty tyrants in the world.

But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

Wish I could have been that poetic to write this. We have our faults. A lot of them. But we still have it better than anywhere else in the world. To the left wingers, and the right wingers for that matter, you are only able to complain and voice your opinion because you are American. Plain and simple fact. If you don't like what's here, move. We won't miss you. But I have a feeling you'll be missing US real soon......

Covering the National Scout Jamboree

2005-08-05T17:10:00.000-04:00

It’s been a while since I posted anything, so I figured I better before people start thinking I skipped town. Well, actually, I did. I went to the National Scout Jamboree on 21 July. My unit decided that I was needed there instead of covering the USJFMTC. I arrived at the Richmond Airport, and from the start, things were a CF. There was no transportation arranged to get us from the airport to Ft. A.P. Hill. I snagged a sergeant there to pick up someone else and he had some empty seats on the bus. It was a nice hour and a half drive thru the Virginia countryside to the base.

We all checked in and I met one of the other guys from my unit that I’ve never met. It seems that our unit was volunteered to provide coverage for the NSJ. Even though the unit was deployed to Iraq all of last year, and I was in Afghanistan. They got back in March, I got back in May. But since they were short of people, some that were mobilized had to pull a second duty.

The public affairs operations were run by the First Army PAO. There were several U.S. Army Reserve public affairs units assigned for the NSJ. One unit from New York City, ours from Orlando, one from Utah, and one from California. There was a unit from Texas there running the radio station, and they left after a few days for Iraq, and the California group took over the radio station. We also credentialed media everyday, and published an eight-page newspaper every other day.

I’m sure you’ve read about some of the good things that happened there. There were approximately 43,000 scouts and scout leaders in attendance, plus day visitors that came in. There were approximately 1500 active, reserve and guard personnel from all of the services. There was an Army Adventure Area with static displays of Blackhawk and Apache helicopters, M1A2 Abrams tank, Bradley Fighting Vehicle, Stryker Fighting Vehicle, Paladin artillery piece, and other assorted stuff for the kids to play on. The Navy had pools set up and was teaching scuba lessons. The Coast Guard, Marines, and Air Force had stuff too, but I didn’t get over to theirs. And there were performing units from ALL the services.

There were a few not so good things happen too. The biggest was that four scout leaders were killed when their tent pole touched an electric wire. Two others were hurt. We had a press conference the next day and had approximately 67 outside media there. The Boy Scouts actually ran the press conference. We were just support for them at that point. The BSA spokesman did a really good job. He broke up a little at the beginning but held his own to finish, then fielded questions from the media. You know, ‘those’ kind of questions. “Can we talk to the boy scouts who witnessed it?” “How many boy scouts requested grief counseling?” “What was the mood like after the deaths?” Come on, give me a break. There was one photographer who wanted to take photos of the kids rather than the press conference. We obliged him, but insisted he stay in the tent being used for the press conference. The decision had been made earlier that after the press conference, all visitors would be escorted off base so that the boy scouts had one day without outside distractions. So when the press conference ended, the security guys dropped the flaps of the tent and told all the media to get back on the busses to be driven off base. The photographer jerk kept lifting the flaps to take pictures. Twice I dropped the flap back down in front of him. His response was that we never told him to stop taking pictures. After some exchanged words, I told him “the press conference is over, stop taking pictures and get on the bus.” He said, “I’m going,” while looking at my name tag. I noticed him looking then realized the straps for my Camelbak were hiding my nametag. So I pull it out of the way and said, “That’s Johnson. J-O-H-N-S-O-N.” Idiot….

The heat was unbelievable. It got over 100 degrees every day for the first week. The day of the first Arena show it was 104. The place was packed. President Bush was supposed to attend and speak but it was canceled because of the weather. Fire trucks were driving next to the arena spraying down the audience with water. We had over 300 heat casualties that afternoon, with more than 30 having to stay overnight at local hospitals. About two hours after it was canceled, a cool front came through and produced some nasty thunderstorms and lots of lightning. The temp stayed in the upper 80’s for the rest of the NSJ.

The closing ceremonies were a lot better. 75,000 people were in the arena for the ceremonies. Different military bands played for a little while. Then President Bush arrived and spoke. After he left there was a program by the BSA that lasted a while. I left and went back to the media credentialing trailer nearby. After a while, I watched the fireworks. They were awesome.

When my time was up, I left there and am now in Belgium, covering the US Joint Forces Military Competition team at the NATO Military Skills Competition. I'll post some photos from that when I get a chance. This is already too long. Hope you enjoyed it.

Papa Sarge

2005-07-28T20:14:00.000-04:00

Some time ago, two little bundles of joy came into my life. Aimee was born in Sep 1978, Katie in Nov 1980. It seems like yesterday. With Aimee, they made me sit in the waiting room...waiting...just waiting... I remember holding Aimee the first time, a couple hours after she was born. She grabbed my finger and tried to pull herself up. A midwife friend said it was just a reflexive response. But not to me it wasn't. For two years, she was the center of my world. Then my wife got pregnant again. Because my wife had a C-section the first time, the docs said she had no choice for the second. So we attended child birth classes so that I could be in the delivery room for the birth. At the time, only two hospitals in Florida would allow fathers in during C-sections. So we were in Miami at one of them. I got to sit at my wife's head and talk to her while they did the slice and dice. I remember them saying, "She has her eyes open." I stood up so I could see over the little curtain. There she was. All covered with goo, with the darkest eskimo hair. After they cut the cord, they brought her to me so I could hold her. She had her eyes closed, but whenever I shaded them from the light, she would open her eyes. Memories of my first meetings with my two daughters. Memories I will never forget....

Flash forward to July 27, 2005. At 332pm, central time, my daughter Katie gave birth to my first grandchild, Eleanor Louise Gordon, in Oklahoma City. Due to my current active duty situation, I wasn't able to be there for her birth. I won't get to see her until August 12 when I get back from Belgium. But I am sure that my memories of that first meeting will be ones that I carry for a long, long time, right up there with the other first time meetings. I won't get to be there every day for her like I did for Aimee and Katie since she will be in Oklahoma City, or Japan, or Germany or Alaska depending on where Travis will be stationed, and I'll be in Florida. So that will make every moment I do get to spend with her that much more special. Guess I'll have to start making 'Read to Your Kids' videos to send to her.
Welcome to the world, Eleanor Louise...

Papa Sarge

My current tour...

2005-07-17T16:27:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in an earlier post about me being at the US Joint Forces Military Training Center in San Antonio. In case someone isn’t familiar with the Center (I only found out about it by coming across it while surfing the internet a few years ago…), just figured I’d tell you a little about it. And if you’re an officer or cadet looking for some of THE best training you’ll ever receive in the military, you may want to pay particular attention. The Center has been in existence for some time. Originally, it was designed to prepare officers for trying out for a spot on the US Military Pentathlon Team to compete in the NATO Military Skills Competition held every year. In the late 90’s, the ‘vision’ was revised and the goal was for the Center to become a world class training center. They already had some of the top marksmanship and land navigation training available anywhere.

When the Sep 11 terrorist attacks occurred, one forward thinking officer, US Army Reserve Lt. Col. Bob Thompson, the training officer for the Center, decided that it needed to be more. Thompson recruited advanced marksmanship instructors that are the best ANYWHERE. Most of the marksmanship instructors, rifle and pistol, are members of either the US Army Reserve or Marine Corps Reserve shooting teams. Most wear the President’s One Hundred tab, awarded to the top 100 shooters out of the 1200-1400 who shoot at the National Matches in Camp Perry every year. When participants receive marksmanship training here, they receive individual insructors during the course of fire. Drill sergeants from the 344th Military Intelligence Battalion from Goodfellow AFB attended a four day training session recently. We received an email from one of the platoon leaders yesterday. His battalion commander wanted to know what the heck was going on in Company C. Seems that when these drill sergeants went back, they used these new skills to teach their soldiers. Company C had a 100% M16 qualification rate, with over 60% firing Sharpshooter and above. The only company in the battalion with 100% of their soldiers qualifying. We’ll probably see a lot more of their drill sergeants at the next available training session.

The leadership of a Navy SEAL detachment from SOCCENT at MacDill AFB was here last week getting some marksmanship training. One of the officers, who has been a Navy Special Warfare Operator for 11 years said he never has had training this good in his career. One of the younger officers improved his qualification score by 50% from the first session to the last session.

Attending the Leader Development and Advanced Military Skills Course that finished yesterday, was an Army Special Forces colonel who has been SF for 23 years. He said he has never had the level of quality training like he had here.

Yesterday also was the completion of a week on marksmanship training for another group of individuals. Instructors from the Small Arms Readiness Group, as well as instructors from the 108th Training Division, were here getting marksmanship instruction from our instructors. SARG will be teaching the Train the Trainer course for Designated Unit Marksmen. The SARG instructors came to OUR facility to learn how to be better instructors. The 108th is scheduled to deploy to Iraq next year to train the new Iraqi Army. They wanted instruction from OUR facility on how to best go about that.

I’ve harped on marksmanship a lot because of its importance. A Soldier who can’t hit what he or she is shooting at becomes a dead Soldier. Period. Oh. Just as a final note on the rifle training. Anybody can hit a target at 25 meters. These guys were shooting at targets at 200 meters.

The advanced land navigation training here also is top notch. Anybody who has been in the Army or Marine Corps has gone through land nav training. The basic, read the map, shoot an azimuth with the compass, and walk in that direction until you find it. The land nav training taught at the Center here teaches how to read the map AND the ground. They teach here how to navigate using terrain features, not just azimuth and direction.. I’m willing to bet members of the 507th Maint Company would have wished their officers had attended something like this…

The land nav instructor here is considered one of the best in the military. He participates in civilian orienteering meets and is ranked as one of the best orienteers in the country. Recently, the commander of SEAL Team 2 wanted to get back to the basics of land nav within his team. Apparently, too much reliance on GPS systems, and in his words, ‘a dead battery means a dead SEAL.’ It was mentioned that one of the reservists in the SEAL community also is the land nav instructor at the Center. So,OUR guy is now in charge of the program to reinstill land nav skills to Navy Seals.

There are also other aspects of the Center: nutrition taught by nutritionists from the staff at the medical school here at Fort Sam Houston; Laws of War taught by the JAG staff from Ft. Sam; fitness techniques taught by Master Fitness instructors from the US Physical Fitness School. Particpants train on the NATO Standard Land and Water Obstacle courses.

If this sounds like a plug for the Center, it is. But when you’re involved with one of the best programs in the military, it hard not to want to tell people all about it. Oh, and the attendees for the Leader Development and Advanced Military Skills Course get to try out for the US Military Pentathlon team at the end of the course. But, everyone who attends get to go home a more professional soldier.

Answer to the insurgents...

2005-07-13T19:29:00.000-04:00

I read this interesting article today. As far as the history behind it, supposedly, Gen. Blackjack Pershing was dealing with Islamic terrorists in the Philippines in the 1920's. He captured five and tied them up to be shot. He had a pig brought in and slaughtered. Then his men walked by and dipped their bullets in the pig's blood. They then shot the first four and let the fifth one go. They didn't have Islamic terrorist problem in the Philippines for decades after that.

Now, here's what I have been suggesting for a couple years now for Iraq. Issue each soldier and marine one bag of pork rinds. They fit into the cargo pocket of BDU's pretty good. When some r**head decides to blow himself up, or fire upon our guys and is killed, then one of our guys can take out his government issued bag of pork rinds, and crumble them over the remains of the r**head. And make sure that it is done with as much fanfare as possibly so all the other r**heads can see what happens. If they want to use their religion as a reason to attack us, we can use their religion against them. Works for me. Wonder how many would volunteer to be a suicide bomber if they thought they weren't going to be rewarded with heaven and all those virgins? Don't think the flavor really matters, although the hot ones may add a little kick. If someone wants to email me an address, I'll send the first case.

Take a ride...

2005-07-11T00:03:00.000-04:00

Below is an article written by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated. He details his experiences when given the opportunity to fly in a F-14 Tomcat. If you aren't laughing out loud by the time you get to "Milk Duds," your sense of humor is broken.

"Now this message is for America's most famous athletes:
Someday you may be invited to fly in the back-seat of one of your country's most powerful fighter jets. Many of you already have ... John Elway, John Stockton, Tiger Woods to name a few. If you get this opportunity, let me urge you, with the greatest sincerity...
Move to Guam.
Change your name.
Fake your own death!
Whatever you do ...
Do Not Go!!!
I know. The U.S. Navy invited me to try it. I was thrilled. I was pumped. I was toast! I should've known when they told me my pilot would be Chip (Biff) King of Fighter Squadron 213 at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.
Whatever you're thinking a Top Gun named Chip (Biff) King looks like, triple it. He's about six-foot, tan, ice-blue eyes, wavy surfer hair, finger-crippling handshake -- the kind of man who wrestles dyspeptic alligators in his leisure time. If you see this man, run the other way. Fast.
Biff King was born to fly. His father, Jack King, was for years the voice of NASA missions. ("T-minus 15 seconds and counting ..." Remember?) Chip would charge neighborhood kids a quarter each to hear his dad. Jack would wake up from naps surrounded by nine-year-olds waiting for him to say, "We have a liftoff."
Biff was to fly me in an F-14D Tomcat, a ridiculously powerful $60 million weapon with nearly as much thrust as weight, not unlike Colin Montgomerie. I was worried about getting airsick, so the night before the flight I asked Biff if there was something I should eat the next morning.
"Bananas," he said.
"For the potassium?" I asked.
"No," Biff said, "because they taste about the same coming up as they do going down."
The next morning, out on the tarmac, I had on my flight suit with my name sewn over the left breast. (No call sign -- like Crash or Sticky or Leadfoot ... but, still, very cool.) I carried my helmet in the crook of my arm, as Biff had instructed. If ever in my life I had a chance to nail Nicole Kidman, this was it.
A fighter pilot named Psycho gave me a safety briefing and then fastened me into my ejection seat, which, when employed, would "egress" me out of the plane at such a velocity that I would be immediately knocked unconscious.
Just as I was thinking about aborting the flight, the canopy closed over me, and Biff gave the ground crew a thumbs-up. In minutes we were firing nose up at 600 mph. We leveled out and then canopy-rolled over another F-14.
Those 20 minutes were the rush of my life. Unfortunately, the ride lasted 80. It was like being on the roller coaster at Six Flags Over Hell. Only without rails. We did barrel rolls, sap rolls, loops, yanks and banks. We dived, rose and dived again, sometimes with a vertical velocity of 10,000 feet per minute. We chased another F-14, and it chased us.
We broke the speed of sound. Sea was sky and sky was sea. Flying at 200 feet we did 90-degree turns at 550 mph, creating a G force of 6.5, which is to say I felt as if 6.5 times my body weight was smashing against me, thereby approximating life as Mrs. Colin Montgomerie.
And I egressed the bananas. I egressed the pizza from the night before.
And the lunch before that. I egressed a box of Milk Duds from the sixth grade. I made Linda Blair look polite. Because of the G's, I was egressing stuff that did not even want to be egressed. I went through not one airsick bag, but two.
Biff said I passed out. Twice. I was coated in sweat. At one point, as we were coming in upside down in a banked curve on a mock bombing target and the G's were flattening me like a tortilla and I was in and out of consciousness, I realized I was the first person in history to throw down.
I used to know cool. Cool was Elway throwing a touchdown pass, or Norman making a five-iron bite. But now I really know cool. Cool is guys like Biff, men with cast-iron stomachs and freon nerves. I wouldn't go up there again for Derek Jeter's black book, but I'm glad Biff does every day, and for less a year than a rookie reliever makes in a home stand.
A week later, when the spins finally stopped, Biff called. He said he and the fighters had the perfect call sign for me. Said he'd send it on a patch for my flight suit.
What is it? I asked.
"Two Bags."

WWII Trivia and some Military Humor

2005-07-10T23:44:00.000-04:00

1. The first German serviceman killed in WW2 was killed by the
Japanese (China, 1937), the first American serviceman killed was
killed by the Russians (Finland 1940), the highest ranking American
killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair,
killed by the US Army Air Corps. .. . So much for allies and enemies.

2. The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He
was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his
age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).

3. At the time of Pearl Harbor the top US Navy command was Called
CINCUS (pronounced "sink us"), the shoulder patch of the US Army's
45th Infantry division was the Swastika, and Hitler's private train
was named "Amerika." All three were soon changed for PR purposes.

4. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps.
While completing the required 30 missions (in Europe the
original mission total was 25, later raised to 35) your chance of being
killed was
71%.

5. Generally speaking there was no such thing as an average fighter
pilot. You were either an ace or a target. For instance Japanese ace
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a
passenger on a cargo plane.

6. It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round
with a tracer round to aid in aiming. This was a mistake. Tracers had
different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting
the target 80% of your rounds were missing. Worse yet tracers
instantly told your enemy he was under
fire and from which direction. Worst of all was the practice of
loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that
you were out of ammo. This was definitely not something you wanted to
tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success
rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.

7. When allied armies reached the Rhine the first thing men did was
pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston
Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself
photographed
in the act).

8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it
wasn't worth the effort. (?)

9. German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

10. Among the first "Germans" captured at Normandy were several
Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they
were
captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until
they were
captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until
they were captured by the US Army.

11. Following a massive naval bombardment 35,000 US and Canadian
troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. 21 troops
were killed in the firefight. It would have been worse if there had been
any Japanese on
the island.

For the aviators.

"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ...I Shall Fear No Evil
...For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing. (sign over the entrance to the
SR-71
operating location Kadena, Japan).

You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3. (Paul
F.Crickmore - test pilot)

From an old carrier sailor - Blue water Navy truism; There are more
planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky.

If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a
helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.

Navy carrier pilots to Air Force pilots: Flaring is like squatting to pee.

When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have
enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.

Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another expensive flying club.

What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If
a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, the pilot dies.

Never trade luck for skill.

The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation
are: "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" and "Oh S#!+!"

Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.

Progress in airline flying; now a flight attendant can get a pilot
pregnant.

Airspeed, altitude, and brains. Two are always needed to successfully
complete the flight.

A smooth landing is mostly luck; two in a row is all luck; three in a
row is prevarication.

Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!

Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the
purpose of storing dead batteries.

Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a
person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.

When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was forgotten.

Just remember, if you crash because of weather, your funeral will be
held on a sunny day.

Advice given to RAF pilots during W. W. II. When a prang (crash)
seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest, cheapest object in
the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible.

The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely
kill you. (Attributed to Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot)

A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to
its maximum. (Jon McBride, astronaut)

If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the
crash as possible. (Bob Hoover - renowned aerobatic and test pilot)

If an airplane is still in one piece, don't cheat on it; ride the
bastard down. (Ernest K. Gann, author &aviator)

Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you.

There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime. (Sign
over squadron OPS desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970).

The three best things in life are a good landing, a good orgasm, and,
a good bowel movement. The night carrier landing is one of the few
opportunities in life where you get to experience all three at the
same time.. (Author unknown, but someone who's been there)

"Now I know what a dog feels like watching TV." (A DC-9 captain
trainee attempting to check out on the 'glass cockpit' of an A-320).

If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to.

Basic Flying Rules Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go
near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the
appearance
of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much
more difficult to fly there.

You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full
power to taxi to the terminal.

On some air bases the Air Force is on one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side of the field, with the Control tower in the middle. One day the tower received a call from an aircraft asking, "What time is it?" The tower responded, "Who is calling?" The aircraft replied, "What difference does it make?" The tower replied, "It makes a lot of difference........ If it is an American Airlines flight, it is 3 o'clock. If it is an Air Force Plane, it is 1500 hours. If it is a Navy aircraft, it is 6 bells. If it is a Marine Corps aircraft, it's Thursday afternoon and 120 minutes to "Happy Hour."

During training exercises, the lieutenant who was driving down a muddy back road encountered another jeep stuck in the mud with a red-faced colonel at the wheel. "Your jeep stuck, sir?" asked the lieutenant as he pulled alongside. "Nope," replied the colonel, coming over and handing him the keys, "yours is."

Having just moved into his new office, a pompous, new colonel was sitting at his desk when an airman knocked on the door. Conscious of his new position, the colonel quickly picked up the phone, told the airman to enter, then said into the phone, "Yes, General, I'll be seeing him this afternoon and I'll pass along your message. In the meantime, thank you for your good wishes, sir." Feeling as though he had sufficiently impressed the young enlisted man, he asked, "What do you want?" "Nothing important, sir," the airman replied, "I'm just here to hook up your telephone."

Officer: "Soldier, do you have change for a dollar?" Soldier: "Sure, buddy."

Officer: "That's no way to address an officer! Now let's try it again!" "Soldier,. do you have change for a dollar?" Soldier: "No, SIR!"

Q: How do you know if there is a fighter pilot at your party? A: He'll tell you.

Q: What's the difference between God and fighter pilots? A: God doesn't think he's a fighter pilot.

Q: What's the difference between a fighter pilot and a jet engine? A: A jet engine stops whining when the plane shuts down.

An Air Force Chief Master Sergeant and a General were sitting in the barbershop. They were both just getting finished with their shaves, when the barbers reached for some after-shave to slap on their faces. The General shouted, "Hey, don't put that stuff on me! My wife will think I've been in a whorehouse!" The Chief turned to his barber and said, "Go ahead and put it on. My wife doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like."

"Well," snarled the tough old Navy Chief to the bewildered Seaman, "I suppose after you get discharged from the Navy, you'll just be waiting for me to die so you can come and pee on my grave." "Not me, Chief!" the Seaman replied. "Once I get out of the Navy, I'm never going to stand in line again!"

The elderly American gentleman arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he fumbled for his passport. "You 'ave been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. The old gent admitted that he had been to France previously. "Zen, you should know enough to 'ave your passport ready for inspection" The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." "Impossible. You Americans alwayz 'ave to show your passports on arrival in France!" The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. "Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to."

This REALLY pi**es me off...

2005-07-09T20:27:00.000-04:00

Our friends at the ACLU have pulled off another one. In their attempts to protect us from ourselves, they've won another one for separation of church and state. They have succeeded in keeping the US government from supporting a vile, depraved religious organization. No sir, not one penny from the government. Says so in the Constitution. Separation of church and state. Can't be spending our tax dollars on religious groups like the frikking BOY SCOUTS! Seems that the ACLU has convinced some federal judge that since the Boy Scouts Oath includes an oath of duty to God and country:

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

then, the US government can't support the Boy Scout Jamboree with money. How the f**k do they figure this is a 'separation of church and state' issue?? We're not talking about the Catholic Church, the Baptists, the Mormons, the Lutherans or any other true religious group. An organization that doesn't teach to hate, that doesn't teach that others are inferior because of the color of their skin. Their organization has this on their website:

The Boy Scouts of America is the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training.

In the future Scouting will continue to:

Offer young people responsible fun and adventure;
Instill in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical character as expressed in the Scout Oath and Law;
Train young people in citizenship, service, and leadership;
Serve America's communities and families with its quality, values-based program.

Sounds like a religious group to me.
I'm glad one of the REMFs at the Pentagon had the balls to tell them to pound sand on this year's Jamboree.
Almost makes me want to turn in my ACLU membership card......

Now and Then July 6, 2005

2005-07-06T21:38:00.000-04:00

My first post... not really, but it is the first for the theme of this blog.

NOW..

I'd like to say thank you to my family, my friends at home, and all the friends I made while deployed to Afghanistan. The support I got from everyone was awesome. Also, thank you John for posting my stuff from Afghanistan. I am back in the states, but not quite home. I am providing public affairs support to the U.S. Joint Forces Military Skills Training Center in San Antonio until the middle of July, then I go to do the same thing at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia. Then in August, I head to Belgium to cover the US Joint Forces Military Pentathlon Team at the NATO Military Skills Competition. I was thinking about going to the Philippines for a 179-day tour, but my daughter suggested that volunteering to be gone for Christmas for two years in a row, and missing my first grandchild's first Christmas, would not be a good thing. Maybe right after Christmas so I can be home for her first birthday. I'll keep you posted. Anyway, here's a link to some of my products from the training center.

Of special note to those hockey fans out there, Brian Gornick, pro hockey player previously for the Cincinnati Ducks and now the Syracuse Crunch, is a captain in the Air Force Reserve and is attending a Leader Development and Advanced Military Skills Training course and will be trying out for a spot on the US Pentathlon Team.

THEN...

When the last of the Stabilization Forces (SFOR) left Bosnia and Herzegovina in November 2004, one of the media specialists that worked in the Task Force Eagle PAO office on Eagle Base wrote a 'goodbye letter'. The Castle Argghhh recently ran the letter from Aleksander Ilic of a reminder of why we were in the Balkans, and why it took so long to leave. I worked with Alek when I was there with SFOR 13 from March until September 2003. Alek was a very cool guy. He fought against the Serbs during the war. I have to apologize because I don't remember what his rank was, and if I did, I would hesitate to mention it in case some Serb asshole is reading this and wants to take revenge. Alek told us stories about some of the things the Serbs did. Like the story about the hotel overlooking the Sava river. The Serbs took over the hotel, and would go into the village and kidnap women and girls, bring them back to the hotel, rape them, kill them, and dump their bodies into the river. The only reason it stopped..THE ONLY REASON..was because the bodies were clogging up the dam downstream and one of the Serb villages was being inconvenienced. NOT because it was wrong...NOT because they were slaughtering women and girls, but because their electricity kept getting shut down because of the bodies. What dungheap of humanity did this scum crawl out of...?
Alek and I drove to Sarajevo, a little over two hours from Eagle Base, to drop off our commander who had to pull a couple weeks of PAO duty at the US HQ there. We drove by apartment buildings that were targeted by the Serb artillery in the hills overlooking the city. Most still had gaping holes, and bullet and RPG pockmarks. No military targets. Just apartment buildings in non-Serb neighborhoods. Alek took me to the Olympic Stadium. Standing at the top of the stadium, we could see for miles in all directions. He pointed out one of the big cemeteries. The white crosses spanned over hills and down into valleys. Alek said it was easy to tell which ones were from the war because they were white and the rest were dark. He also pointed out a smaller cemetery near the edge of the stadium. Before the war, it had been a practice soccer field. The cemeteries ran out of room so they filled the soccer field. Most of the funerals were held at night because the Serb scum snipers would shoot mourners. They shot anybody and everybody in non-Serb neighborhoods. Grandmothers, 5-year old kids..didn't matter. They were non-Serbs, so therefore targets of opportunity. At the stadium was also a building that had been used as a woman's hospital. There were several large holes from missile attacks. The reason..? They weren't Serbs. The stories go on.....

One last thing. In June 2003, we raided a hidden bunker. Inside were thousands of rounds of machine gun ammo, mortar rounds, RPGs, missiles. All new stuff. All in a bunker that had been checked cleared in Sep 2002. They were brought in and hidden, waiting for the day that NATO and US forces left so that the Serbs would already be armed when they started again. Because they knew the EU was taking over security in Bosnia. The same pu**ies who stood by and let it all happen the first time. But the patriots like Alek will fight again, and with a little help, maybe it won't be as bad as the first war. And when Alek calls, I may just have to take a little European vacation.....

Katie's wedding....

2005-07-03T22:46:00.000-04:00

Okay. I'm already starting off wrong. But I decided that when I have something new and exciting that happens, I will post it here. Even if it's not about My Army Life...
But, part of My Army Life IS my family. My wife, two daughters, and soon granddaughter, mean more to me than anyone else in the world. I would do whatever they needed done. They've grown up with me in the Guard and Reserve. They know I missed a lot of birthdays, holidays, baseball games, girl scout events, and other important events because I was at drill, at Annual training, or deployed. So they are a part of My Army Life. With that...
On Saturday night my youngest daughter, Katie, got married in Oklahoma City. She married Travis, an Air Force 'flyboy'. Pretty good kid actually. At least he's not a jarhead..... The wedding went on flawlessly, nobody fainted, nothing caught fire, nothing for 'America's Funniest Videos.' I got to wear my dress blues for the first time..(woo-hoo..). Our families from Florida and California were there for the ceremony so it was pretty cool.
My oldest daughter Aimee got married in July 2004 to a nice guy, Randy. They seem well suited for each other. Anyway, if your counting, you probably noticed that there were two weddings for the Johnson family in 12 months. Anyone who's paid for ONE wedding will know what that's like. Good thing I only had two daughters....... As soon as I get pics, I'll post them as an update.

Who I am and why this blog...

2005-07-02T12:50:00.000-04:00

2 July, 2005
Greetings everyone. Welcome to My Army Life. I recently hit 30 years of combined service in the military. 24 plus years in the Florida Army National Guard and almost six years in the Army Reserve. The mrs. has bugged me in the past about writing down my experiences so that one day my grandkids will know some of my stories. I've put that off, thinking that I'll get to it one of these days. Well, my first grandchild is due this month so 'one of these days' is here. My goal is to post as often as possible. I plan on two posts at a time: one current post describing what is currently going on in my military life; the other will be a reminiscence post about something that I remember from the past 30 years. It won't be necessarily in order, just what I think about that's happened in my past. Mostly fond memories, some not so fond, but all a part of me.