Food for Thought

I found this on one of the blogs I regularly visit, SGT Hook. (He's a Hooker, too. That means he already has a leg up in my book.) Just take a few minutes to read and think about this.


Your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze and sleep for another 10 minutes.

He stays up for days on end.
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You take a warm shower to help you wake up.

He goes days or weeks without running water.
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You complain of a “headache”, and call in sick.

He gets shot at, as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.
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You put on your anti-war/don’t support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends.

He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.
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You make sure your cell phone is in your pocket.

He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dogtags.
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You talk trash on your “buddies” that aren’t with you.

He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.
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You don’t feel like helping out your dad today, so you don’t.

He does what he is told.
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You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls.

He walks the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.
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You complain about how hot it is.

He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.
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You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong.

He does not get to eat today.
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Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes.

He wears the same things for months, but makes sure his weapons are clean.
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You go to the mall and get your hair redone.

He doesn’t have time to brush his teeth today.
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You are angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.

He is told he will be held an extra 2 months. He does as he is told.
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You call your girlfriend and set a date for that night.

He waits for the mail to see if there is a letter from home.
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You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do every day.

He holds his letter close and smells his love’s perfume.
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You ditch class to go to a movie.

He goes where he is told.
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You roll your eyes as a baby cries.

He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they’ll ever meet.
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You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.

He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own government and remembers why he is fighting.
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You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of the men like him.

He hears the gunfire and bombs.
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You see only what the media wants you to see.

He sees the bodies lying around him.
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You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don’t.

He does what he is told.
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You stay at home and watch tv.

He takes whatever time he is given to call and write home, sleep, and eat.
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You crawl into your bed, with down pillows, and try to get comfortable.

He crawls under a tank for shade and a 5 minute nap, only to be awakened by gunfire.
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You sit there and judge him, saying the world is a worse place because of men like him.

If only there were more men like him
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May God bless those in harm's way, and protect them, so they may see those they love again.


I'll see ya'll later.

Update

  Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with this thing lately, but I’ve just been having a few shitty days.  Anyway, I think that I’ll live.  As a matter of fact, I know I will.  Ok, now where did I leave off?  Oh yeah, last Thursday.

   Friday was the first of my bad days and I was at work pretty late and ended up not going out.  Which, with the way I felt, was a good thing.  You see I really wanted to get into a fight, and I really didn’t care who it would have been with.  And I mean I REALLY wanted to fight.  So, I called Biz to let him know I wasn’t in the mood to go out, and it turned out that all he wanted to do was sleep anyway.  

   Saturday I had to go check on some equipment over on another post (That’s a base or you non-Army types.) in the morning and do a little bit of work that afternoon.  I saw J on my way back through the gate here and she asked me if I was going out to help her celebrate her birthday.  At the time I told her no because I didn’t really feel like it.  But the real reason was I still wanted to get into a fight.  I get to work and take care of what I needed to and head back to the room.  Once there, I got on the laptop (Its still working.) and have a few Mekong and Dr. Peppers.  Well, a “few” turned into half a bottle of Mekong, and I really didn’t want to fight anymore.  I just wanted to go out and blow off some steam.  Snuff, J’s fiancée, had a surprise party for her in the barracks and there was more to drink there.  (Vodka and Malibu Jello shots, JD, beer and more Mekong.)  There was about 18 people there split about evenly between Army and Air Force.  (J is USAF)

   Anyway, we have cake, drinks and Happy Birthdays and around 9, or 9:30, we head for the Crew.  On the way there I remembered I was supposed to call Biz and let him know so he could meet us there.  We get there and more drinking ensues.  Oh, also there is a new AF girl (Henceforth, AFG) that came out with us.  She’d only been here three days, at the time and had never had Soju.  So, of course, we just had to make sure she had her first Soju experience.  (Besides, she couldn’t have been with a better bunch of guys for that to happen.  We wouldn’t have let anything bad to her, other than the Soju of course.)  She liked it, and just kept drinking Grape Soju all night.

   Me and Biz jumped into the weekly tourney because they needed a few more teams and didn’t get past the first round.  And that was only because a simple mistake.  Both of us were having a good game too.  We controlled the table up until the eight ball shot, got a bad angle and sent it into the wrong pocket.  Oh well, it wasn’t like we entered wanting to win, just to fill a slot.

   Everyone is out in front of the bar dancing and having a good time.  Everything is going great.  And then it comes time to head home before curfew.  Normally, I just ignore curfew, but last week still had me a little nervous, and I was tired.  I told Biz “Later.”  (He didn’t even remember.)  And the whole group of us left.  We needed two taxis to get back.  (Some decided to stay.)  And its me Diddy and AFG in one.  This poor girl was tanked.  She just kept saying “I love Soju.  I love Soju.”  Over and over.  At the time I was feeling sorry for her in the morning.  But she said she was fine.  

  That was pretty much the weekend.  Monday through today has been busy.  Just a whole lot of hassles at work.  And it’ll probably be this way until I leave.  (Small note here, never piss off your Commander or First Sergeant.  Less than 3 months left and they can all piss off..)  But today, was fairly decent.  Went to the pool to do some training this morning.  Didn’t have too many people and the class was over quick.  And the day turned out beautiful.  Nice and warm.  I hope we have finally started seeing some spring weather.  But, as always when I do pool training, I am tired and ready to go to bed.  Hopefully I get a chance to write a little tomorrow, but you never know.

   I’ll see ya’ll later.

Weather, or not?

   The weather today has been really screwy.  This morning it was almost warm and had just started sprinkling.  By the time I was done with PT, it was raining.  Then, on the way to work, some snow was mixed in with the rain and the temperature had dropped.  An hour later, the temp dropped more, and the snow was really coming down.  (At least it was coming down as far as a California boy was concerned.)  Then, during lunch, it stopped snowing, but it still wasn’t much warmer.  If I was back in CA, I would say that this was earthquake weather.  (Yeah, I know that the weather really doesn’t have anything to do with earthquakes.)  And Korea isn’t known for having them like CA, or Japan, but they do happen here once in a while.  There was one the last time I was here.  It was just a baby though, around a 2.5, barely enough to be felt, or heard.  But you should have seen the way the Koreans panicked, it was kind of humorous.  They were either running looking for somewhere to hide, or looked completely dumbfounded.  Meanwhile, I got a big smile on my face because I had just been reminded of home.  It was even better because it wasn’t expected.  Who says that earthquakes don’t bring anything good?  

   Earlier this week the Mid-west was hit hard by tornadoes.  If I remember correctly, it was around a hundred of them, or so.  If I’m given a choice between an earthquake, and a tornado, I would have to take the earthquake.  Why?  Its simple.  A tornado could destroy your house, and everything in it, while not so much as removing a shingle from your neighbor’s place.  (There was one report, from the recent tornadoes, that I remember showing just this thing.)  An earthquake, on the other hand, will take everyone’s stuff down.  Yeah, I’m selfish.  And misery loves company too.  

   It seems that this past year has been the year of the natural disaster.  First, we had a terrible hurricane season.  It had so many named storms that they ran out of names!  Not only that, a fair number of the ones that became hurricanes, got to the strongest two classes.  It wasn’t only a bad year in the Atlantic, but the Pacific had its fair share of Typhoons.  Some were too big to fly around.  Now that’s saying something!

   Then, we have the fires in the Southwest.  The land there has been so dry lately that burn bans have gone into effect for entire states.  These fires have been burning since early January, I think.  There are just too many of them to be handled.  And the firefighters, along with military members, are getting burned out (No pun intended.) from the constant battle.  What’s going to happen when these people run out of steam, and the main part of fire season gets here during the summer?

   I said that the fires mentioned above were because of a lack of rain in the Southwest.  Well, where has all of that rain gone?  That answer brings us to the next location, California.  This has been the second wettest year in California history.  And all of that water has caused flooding and landslides on a scale that CA is not used to.  The land just doesn’t have the capability to hold that much water in so short a time.  And the storm drainage system wasn’t designed to handle the volume either.  Combine those two with the fact that the last two years had been record fire years, and I’m surprised that we haven’t heard CA asking for federal assistance the way New Orleans did.  Oh wait, we are able to handle things ourselves, so never mind.

   Well, I certainly hope that this next 365 will be better weather wise.  We’ll know starting in June with hurricane season.

    I’ll see ya’ll later.

Bad Phelps! No cookie for you.

The “Rev.” Phelps and his cult have finally been run off from one their military funeral protests. Thanks to the efforts of The Patriot Guard Riders. It seems that this past Saturday, 11 MAR 06, that Phelps was planning to picket the funeral of Army SGT Gordon F. Misner II, in Colorado Springs, CO. Well, I guess he was feeling pretty good about things, ‘cause he brought with 18 of his friends to taunt the grieving family. The family was never subjected to hearing, or even seeing, these (Sorry, but I can’t think of a better word to describe them.) assholes. The PGR organized 300 people, most proudly displaying the Stars and Stripes, to shield the family. Upon seeing that he was so obviously not welcome, Phelps asked the local Police for an escort out of town. (First smart thing I’ve heard of him doing.) The locals were more than willing to help him get back across the El Paso County line. (Most likely to insure that they were really going to leave.) (I picked this story, and picture, up from The Officer’s Club milblog site.)



Also, as the PGR are a completely volunteer group, they could use any help that you may be able to provide to them, even if its only some of your time. At least take a look at their site, read a little about what they do and I bet you’ll leave at least a word of encouragement, or thanks.

Things are going to get just a bit busy for me for a little while. Actually, they’ll probably be busy until I leave for the States in 3 months. (Can’t believe that I’m 75% done with this tour.) So, needless to say, postings might get a little less frequent. But I will still try to post at least once a week, if only to give a brief update.

Well, that’s about all for today. There just isn’t all that much going on right now.

I’ll see ya’ll later.

What a weekend!

What a weekend. This weekend was a lot of fun, at least for me, it was. Friday was a fairly heavy workload for us here. We usually don’t get that much “business” in a single day. But, me and Biz were able to get all of it done in time for me to get out of here early. (Normal time for him.) And we headed over to the PX, me, just to see what was there. Biz went because, well, I really don’t know why he went, maybe he was bored. Anyway, after that we stopped by BK to get a little bit of food and then headed home to get ready for that night. I got to his house at about 7:30 PM and NB showed up around a half hour later. They drank a little and we watched a DVD. It was one that Biz picked up for NB, John Cena of the WWE. OMG, it really sucked. Of course, I can’t stand wrestling to begin with, and this thing just made my opinion of it even worse. It did have a few funny parts to it, but those, in my opinion, are the only thing that kept me from going up to the roof and jumping off. Not to mention the way that NB was reacting to it, that was pretty entertaining in and of itself.

We headed out to the Crew at about 10:00 and showed our faces there about 20 minutes later. The place was practically dead. There were maybe 12 people, a very light crowd for that time on a Friday night. We get our drinks and make the rounds with the people there we do know. After a little while, more people started showing up. (To be honest, Friday night is kind of a blur. But no matter what Biz says, he didn’t get a pic of me dancing. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen. It was an imposter, I tell you!) Biz played a couple of games of pool; I think I was his partner, not too sure. The girl I talked to last week, showed up with one of the Air Force contractors, her friend from last week, and a Korean NCO. We talked a little bit, but that was about it. She sure looked bored over there though. Too bad for her. Anyway, Snuff was back and decided that everyone needed a shot of Tequila. (The wife of a friend of mine, a Thai, said that she needed two.) Biz refused to have one. Turned out to be a good thing. I felt it when it started to kick in. Somewhere after this Biz and NB left for the Bubble and then came back about an hour later. Not much happened while they were gone, and shortly after they got back, Biz took her to a cab. A little later we went to this one bar, I think it was called Julliard’s. (Not too sure.) The place was boring. So we had a drink, Biz got some JD banner thingy, and we left.

We go back to the Crew, and Jay wants to go to the Bubble. I think, “Ok, sure.” When we get there, I notice that me and Biz are the only non-Koreans in the place. Which is cool, I hate being around GIs anyway. I get my preferred drink, a screwdriver, and look around to see what’s going on. Jay decides that I need another shot of Tequila and gets me one. Tell, you what, I can handle one shot in a night, (Tequila DOES NOT like me.) but, two is really pushing it. So I down the shot, hey, I can’t be rude can I? And I start to feel it disagreeing with me. And I just stand there for a little bit munching on some popcorn. If it hadn’t of been for the popcorn, I would have wasted quite a bit of alcohol, and that would have been a sad state of affairs. After my stomach decided it liked where it was at and no longer wanted to go someplace else, Jay drug me out to the dance floor. And contrary to what you may have heard, I was not dancing. What I was doing could not be called dancing anywhere in the world. Luckily I saw Biz, and more importantly, saw his camera, with enough time to not embarrass myself on the net. And it comes time to leave, neither me or Biz are really feeling it. And where do we go? You guessed it, back to the Crew. But, they were getting ready to close, so we called it a night and went home.

The next night I head over to Biz’s place. When I get there and hit the bell is when he wakes up. That boy can sleep. We BSed for a few and I head downtown. I get to our regular spot and again, there weren’t that many people. (Kind of makes you wonder what else was going on.) At least there weren’t until later. There was a group of older people there that I recognized from when I was playing in the tourney last week. (Yep, from the night I wanted to fight.) And they invite me over and wanted to know my name so they could stop calling me White Boy. (The nickname from last week that got under my skin. Don’t know why, because it is true.) Well, we hit it off pretty good. We’re having a good time talking and listening to their song list. (A bunch of ‘60s and early ‘70s rock. Which I also enjoy listening to.) And this fairly (Well, not fairly exactly, he’s huge.) heavyset guy double clicks and erases the whole list. Oh, well, at least he could have picked better music to play. (Can’t stand rap or R&B.) So I wait for him to leave and go put on a bunch of the music we were listening to before back on. About 20 songs worth. After I sit back down and we are waiting for my list to come up, this same guy goes back over to pick songs. I watch him start to put music in the play list ahead of mine so I go up to him and tell him that that is rude. After all, other people, like me, would like to hear the music we put up too. He apologized and said that he wouldn’t alter the order. The guys I was talking to like the list enough that they decided to give me another nickname, Music Man. (Sorry, but I think that one is a little embarrassing.) And after the play list was over, the big guy came over and complemented me for it. Not too bad considering the type of music he was selecting.

A little later, more people started showing up, including some of the GIs I work with for the pool tourney. (I forget who won. I wasn’t too interested since I wasn’t in it.) Everyone there is having a pretty good time and it’s a really relaxed night. It gets time for the GIs to start heading home if they don’t want to bust curfew, so they start heading out. Of course I stay, because some of my other friends started showing up. (The teachers that normally hang out there don’t like being around GIs so they wait till its time for them to leave before coming.) One of my friends, a Canadian kid (From here on out he shall be known as Kid. And so it shall be done.) has been having girl trouble. Not that he can’t get one, just that he doesn’t want the one he does have. He hooked up with her right after his last one left to go back to…uh… back to wherever she was from. And he didn’t want to break up with her for another three weeks because she works with him. Made no sense to me. And meanwhile, there was a girl there (A very good looking girl, too.) that wanted to hook up with him. Anyway, we talk and, I think, get it settled that he’s going to punch off the current one today. (Hope he really does. You’ll see why.) The girl at the bar takes him to the downstairs area and they talk for about an hour. Kid comes back up and we start talking again. It gets to around 3:30 AM and me, Kid and another girl are now all talking about his predicament. I’m sitting where I can see the top of the stairs coming into the bar. And in come some MPs! (Let me tell you, they are almost never out this late, and rarely come into Mama’s bar. And when they do, Mama knows and tells all of the GIs so we can leave.) Luckily, I didn’t panic, but I did lose my buzz, real fast. Kid starts talking about how I’m military, and I tell him not to mention that right now. And I bring up the conversation back to where we were before the MPs showed up. They walk over to the bar, and then, RIGHT BEHIND ME towards the pool table. And meanwhile, I can feel my heart POUNDING in my chest, but outside, I’m perfectly calm. Just like I didn’t care they were there, like I belonged there. They watch the pool game going on for a few minutes. (I know cause I was watching them in the mirrors.) Look around, and then head out the way they came. I got really nervous when they started heading back until they passed me again. Then they went down the stairs, not to return. I let out a big sigh of relief and laid my head down on the table to let my pulse slow down. Then I turned around to Mama and asked if she knew that they were coming. She sees me, and you should have seen the look on her face. She was completely surprised. She didn’t even know I was still there! But, she hadn’t known they were coming.

Anyway, after becoming completely sober in about two seconds, I didn’t want to drink anymore, but I still had an hour and a half to kill. So, me and Kid talked a little bit more and decide its time to leave. He left a few before I did and I caught him in the street. We start heading out towards the cabs. And the girl he wants came out with a friend of hers and calls him. So we stop and wait for them. These two must really have wanted to talk to him, because they left their jackets inside. So, Kid, wanting to get in good with this girl, gives her his jacket. And then he says its not all that cold out. (Damn Canadians and their twisted sense of comfortable temperatures. LOL) The other girl, I think she’s Mexican, she’s at least a Californian like me, says something about the cold. Great. So I say “That makes me feel like a dick.” And I give her my jacket. OMG, its freezing! She puts her arm around me so I can sort of share the jacket with her. Meanwhile, Kid and his future girl a whispering in each other’s ear. The girl I’m sharing my jacket with says, “I don’t know you but…” And starts kissing me on the neck. (One of the bad places to do that.) I try to move away, and she moves with me. So I tell her, “We do know each other.” Thinking that she would stop, but no. She says “In that case..” And gets a little more forceful. (I know that this sounds like it could be a pretty good thing, but let me explain a little more. She’s a heavyset girl. Not real fat, but overweight. And if I hadn’t have sobered up, I probably would have done something that I might have regretted later. Yes, I said might, you never do know. Anyway, I’ll shut up now before Biz lays into me about this. Even though he will anyway.) I’m trying to get Kid’s attention so that I can get this girl off of me, but he’s not having any of that. After all, he has what he wants right there. And still, this girl won’t let me go, I was starting to get annoyed when Kid takes back his jacket and says goodbye. (Oh thank God!) I get my jacket back, and we resume heading for the cabs. I get the first one I see, wish him luck, and head home.

Sunday was just a normal day. All I did was some laundry and play on my laptop. (Yep, its still working. *Fingers crossed*) And this morning it was freezing. 23 degrees, can you believe that? Last week, we didn’t get below 40 until Friday. And my Platoon Sergeant wants us to go out and do a 4 mile run. The boy is missing a few sandwiches, if you know what I mean. And then, he gets a little upset because we really weren’t motivated. Gee, I wonder why! But, it was interesting trying to cool down and warm up at the same time. And that’s about all I have for now.

I’ll see ya’ll later.

The weekend's near

   Sorry, but I just didn’t really have the time to write anything yesterday.  Almost didn’t have the time, or really feel like it, today.  But, after reading Biz’s stuff, I felt that I should make a few comments.

   Swim training was fun today.  Plus it got me away from doing the regular PT workout with the boss.  (Always a bonus.)  We only had 6 guys this morning, 3 of which were from a different unit that me and Biz help out for gear and inspections.  The only bad part, for Biz that is, is he didn’t get to be mean to anyone.  Its just something that he looks forward to in the pool.  (Sick puppy, I know.)  Anyway, we were getting ready to test our last group of swimmers, before they took their rides, and I was just swimming around waiting for all of them to get ready.  I’m just under the surface when I feel an arm come around me from behind.  Great, I know what’s coming next. Biz. Is towing my saying, “If you struggle.” over and over.  He’s trying to get me to struggle against him so that he can show these guys what will happen if they struggle.  I know this, and don’t want any part; he can stay under much longer than I can.  So, I just keep shaking my head every time he says this.  Well, he decides he’s going to take me to the bottom anyway.  Great!  At least he didn’t keep me down there till I passed out.  I don’t enjoy that part too much.  But, other than that, the morning went fairly well.

   However, I’m really not used to pool training any more.  I am just beat.  Biz likes this stuff.  To him, being in the water is therapeutic.  Not to me.  Swimming is something you do for enjoyment, and I don’t enjoy it at all.  (Well, ok.  Maybe a little.)  Not that I’m a poor swimmer, I wouldn’t be a rescue swimmer if I was.  Its just that I don’t enjoy being in the water.  Now, get me to a beach and it’s a different story.  I’ll be in the water all day.  (Of course, I’ll end up looking very much like a cooked lobster.)  I love swimming in the ocean.  The best time I had swimming in the ocean was out in the Arabian Sea.  And I mean OUT in it.  It was great.  Got to dive off of an aircraft elevator.  Of course, after swimming for about 3 hours, climbing up a cargo net was no easy task.  Afterward, we all got to sit back and enjoy a BBQ and some live music.  All in all, it was a good day.

   I’m done for today and I don’t know if I’ll post tomorrow.  I’ll see ya’ll later.

There is hope.

I really don’t feel much like writing today. My laptop has pissed me off again. All I have to say about it right now is, “NEVER BUY HP!” Anyway, now that that’s off my chest, I guess I can write a little bit.

Ok about a week ago, 02 MAR 06, I wrote about a christian group that has been protesting at military funerals. Well, I found out some more info on this group. Its run by a, so called, Rev. Fred Phelps, and consists of his church members. The congregation of this “church” is made up almost entirely of his family members. (He has something like 11 kids, 36 grandkids and 2 great-grandkids, almost all members of his church.) Now, I may seem a little bit confused on this issue, but isn’t this the definition of a cult? This started with one couple and look how its spread within just the first 2 generations alone. Imagine if slime like this is allowed to continue. The worst part of it is that those very same people they are protesting have given their lives so that pieces of shit like this have the freedom to do this stuff.



But there is hope, there always is. Its in a group of people who, while all of them don’t agree with the war itself, they do show their support for those of us in the military. They are called The Patriot Guard Riders. As of right now, I don’t have all that much info on them, but I am reading what I can. And, so far, all of it has been positive. The group is non-violent, wanting only to shield these grieving families from the likes of Phelps with the sound of their bikes, so that the protests will not be heard.

They’ve even gotten the attention of the Army Times. This is hard for an outside group to do. (Outside the military.) They did a story about their appearance at Ft. Campbell back in February (Here’s a link to that story.) And this here is written by one of the Patriot Guard members. Its worth taking a few minutes to read. As a matter of fact, you don’t need to take my word for it.

Do a couple quick Google searches for Patriot Guard Riders and Fred Phelps. And after reading a few of the articles, or websites, tell me which one makes you feel better. I know which one it is for me.

I’m going to leave you with a pic that was taken during their Ft. Campbell appearance.




I’ll see ya’ll later.

Damn, its Monday.

Another weekend down, only about 12 more to go till I head home. This weekend went by way too fast. (Of course, don’t they all.) But, it was still a good time. Friday was great. It started with me getting off early so I could get my laptop. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite ready by the time the shop told me it would be and I had about an hour and a half to kill. So, me and Biz went to the PX and Commissary. (I really needed to go, hadn’t been grocery shopping since before my last “vacation.”) Anyway, while we were there, they shop called and said my comp was ready. Got done shopping and went to go get it. Wouldn’t you know it, the owner of the shop (and the only one that speaks English) wasn’t there when I got there. So after about 10 minutes of trying to grab my laptop (It was sitting right there.) and trying to give the guy there the agreed upon amount of money, I get him to call the owner to get everything sorted out. So, to make this a little bit shorter, I got my laptop back, finally.

And later that night we had our going away party for the Air Force (M) girl. We started by going to Outback, all 13 of us. They stuck us in this little corner table that barely had enough room for us all and separated us from most of the other people. This, as it turned out, may have been a good move on their part. We were a little loud and rowdy, after all, we’re Americans, and when we get in a group, that’s the way we tend to be. Dinner was pretty good, and a good time was had by all. After dinner, we went to The Crew. (Duh, big surprise there.)

Once there, the drinking really started. The whole goal was to get M three sheets to the wind. And everything was going well, according to that plan. When we got there Biz was already feeling pretty good himself, having been there a while already. But, I digress. M doesn’t have a very high tolerance for alcohol, so it didn’t take much. She was doing fine until I got her a shot of tequila. (She wanted a “real” drink.) About 5 minutes after that, I saw her running for the bathroom, poor girl. (Ha ha.) And she was done for the night. But the most interesting thing happened. Almost everyone in the group was dancing and having a good time. And then I saw this:





I couldn’t believe it. Here was Biz dancing. And wouldn’t you know it, I had decided to bring my camera that night. He didn’t know that I took the picture above. But, a little bit later, he’s dancing with J and he sees me take out the camera. Now I’m expecting him to stop, or at least tell me to put it away. But I get surprised, he tells me to take a picture! (But he doesn’t remember. Ah, the power of alcohol.) And it was perfect timing too, cause J looked at the camera just as it went off. Here are the results of that one:



As you can see, me and Biz both suffer from the same disease, the dreaded Lackorythemidis. But not to fear, the more you drink the better you get. Or is it, the less you care? I guess it doesn’t really matter. Irregardless, it was a fun night. At least it was until some of the guys from work showed up. Now, don’t get me wrong, I get along with everyone I work with, its just that there are some that are real dicks when they get drunk. And those are the ones that showed up. This event ruined the good time I was having, and I decided to go home, before curfew even. And guess what, so did every GI there too. And the party continued once we got back to the barracks. It did so without me though.

The next night I went over to Biz’s to wait for NB and Kiwi II. Well, NB showed up, but Kiwi II decided to break her promise to go out with us this Saturday, after saying she would last week. I hate it when people say they’ll do something, and then won’t do it. Not can’t, I understand that, but won’t. Enough about that one for now. NB shows up and we head downtown. We get to the bar, and of course Mama has to give everyone a hug and kiss. (I don’t know if its just me, but I think that Mama likes to linger on me a little long when she does this.) I order my first drink, and before I get it, NB is saying that she’s going to go home because she’s tired. We hadn’t even been there 10 minutes yet. But, at least she tried.

I convince Biz to team up with me for the weekly pool tourney. We won the first game. It was against a guy that Biz usually partners with, and his girlfriend. We won that game, but it wasn’t with any skill that we had that night. It was because of the girlfriend’s lack of skill. But, a win is a win, right? The second game, we lost. But we didn’t lose to bad.

Oh, also I actually got to talk to a friend of Biz’s the other day, online, of course. A. Darling seems to be an alright girl, except that she’s one of Biz’s friends. (LOL. I guess I should take that one back, considering.) If you’re reading this AD, take care.

That’s about it for today. I’ll see ya’ll later.

Friday, friday, FRIDAY!!!!

IT’S FRIDAY! Finally, I thought that this week would never end. This morning I got to do some pool training. This was kind of fun, and a good change of pace from regular PT. I had to let Biz down yesterday when I told him that he couldn’t help. With his ribs still healing I didn’t want to take the chance of him getting reinjured. After all, I only keep him around for the heavy lifting.

Next week one of our friends is leaving. She’s going back to the States for her next duty station. I think that I’ll miss her; she’s pretty fun to be around. Anyway, this weekend she’s going to party with us Army guys. She doesn’t like to hang around any of the Air Force people she works with, with the exception of one. And it’s kind of funny to, the Air Force guys she works with always give her a hard time about hanging out with us. I guess they’re just jealous. No, I don’t guess, I know.

I finally get my laptop back today. It had better stay fixed this time or this repairman is going to see one pissed off GI. (4 new motherboards in 10 months does not make Hooker a happy boy.) The bad news is that it’s been in the shop for a month. (They had to order the motherboard from the States.) The good news is it’ll only cost $490, which isn’t too bad. I was ready (and expecting) it to cost much more. But Koreans don’t charge for labor like they do in the States, which is where a lot of the cost goes. I can’t wait. It’s hard to believe how much we’ve come to rely on computers and the internet until you can’t use them for a while. Now I’ll be able to see my kids when I talk to them. And that is a big improvement.

Biz is looking forward to tonight. He says that he has a good feeling about it. We’ll just have to see. I know what he’s talking about. Or at least, what he thinks he’s talking about. I hope that I end up having a good feeling from tonight. You never can tell though. (Does it seem like I’m just really rambling, more than usual, that is?)

I think that I’ll leave ya’ll with a couple of pics to make you wonder this week. Here they are:




I’ll see ya’ll later.

Piss me off, You fuckin jerk

As you know, I really haven’t had too much to write about the past few days. Maybe it was a writer’s block, (Yeah, like I’m really a writer.) or just a slump in things that interested me. I don’t know. Anyway, I was reading through a couple of other blogs, newspapers and a few other things, (It’s become part of my daily ritual.) and I noticed a few things.

The first one is about this Kansas based religious group that is going around the country protesting at military funerals. (I know that they have been doing this for some time, I have just chosen, previously, not to comment on it.) They claim that the casualties we are receiving in Afghanistan and Iraq are God’s punishment because of the USA allowing gays (Or to be politically correct, homosexuals. Nah, screw being PC, I’ll let the original stand.) in the military. They say that they have the right to protest how, and where, they want. Which is true. But what happened to respecting these people, these families, that have suffered the tragic loss of a loved one? That, I believe, is above and beyond whatever other excuse these so called christians (Yes, it’s a little ‘c’ for a reason.) could ever offer. To date, they have been lucky that someone at the funeral hasn’t taken out their grief on them for this disrespect. Or maybe, they are either too bereaved to do anything. Or would rather honor their loved one’s sacrifice by not falling to the same level. This last is what I prefer to believe. However; sooner, or later, there will be a confrontation. And I fear that when that happens, those who have already lost something that can never be replaced, will end up going to jail. And all because the Police are powerless, by our own laws, to do anything about the protesting. I know that there is legislation in the works to protect the solemnity of, not only military funerals, but all funerals, from this kind of disrespect. And I urge you to let your governmental representatives know how you feel about this situation.

The next one that got my attention today is the vandalizing of a dead soldier’s home. This soldier, from the 101st, was killed in action last week in Iraq, and his funeral is to be next week. (Also, the group above is planning to be there. Fucking vultures.) His house had eggs thrown at it and flags placed in his memory, have been stolen. The family has also gotten phone calls from people saying “I’m glad your son is dead.” All of this is happening in America’s heartland, Kokomo, Indiana. To my eyes, these people are worse than the group above. They are pure cowards, plain and simple. They hide behind the phone and sneak around at night vandalizing property. At least the protesters above are man enough (I know, but I couldn’t think of a better phrase.) to be out in the open, and even appear on TV to openly state their opinion. But, there is some good news to this as well. The local community has rallied around this family. Though this family lost someone, and have been on the receiving end of these cowardly acts, they will, with the help of their neighbors, come out the other side of their grief. Please, give them a small prayer, and if you’re not the praying type, wish them well.

And, last, but certainly not least, the mayor of Chocolate City himself, Ray Nagin. I have ignored the antics of this man ever since it became obvious that Katrina unbalanced him. As you know by now, New Orleans had Mardi Gras this week. This is great news. It means that, though there’s still a long way to go, recovery is on its way. The people there also needed a chance to unwind and let a little of the stress that has built up over the past six months to bleed off. Anyway, I’m going a little off topic there. Mayor Nagin’s latest “stunt” has just gotten completely under my skin. Take a look at this:


WHAT IN THE HELL WAS HE THINKING? I mean look at this picture. This man has never served a day in his life in any uniform. (Except maybe at McDonadld's) What he did during a Mari Gras parade is inexcusable. Granted, he did not break the law forbidding civilians to wear military uniforms. (Yes, there is one.) And, technically, it isn’t a uniform. (It doesn’t have a service branch name over the left pocket.) But what is he trying to show here? Is he trying to give the military some sort of complement here? But, for someone in his position to appear like this, is disrespectful. If he was my mayor, I would be ashamed of him. I’m sorry, but this has gotten me so frustrated, I really don’t know what to say. Mostly its because of the medals he has on. If you’re going to do it, do it right. Some of those, most of them actually, are earned only in a time of war. He even has the POW ribbon on there. What, does he think that Katrina qualified him for it?

I’ll see ya’ll later.

Just bored

http://www.kontrabandcontent.co.uk/1/graphics/pics/BigRedButton.swf

Go ahead, I dare you.