tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81135973839618619522024-02-20T03:53:40.337-09:00A Good Idea at the TimeEvery once in a while I have a thought. Being a rare and noteworthy occurrence, I tend to write them down.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-20517929121205500312014-11-13T05:46:00.001-09:002014-11-13T05:46:53.704-09:00Free At Last, Free At Last! Thank God Almighty, I'm Free At Last!<br />
Today's my ETS date, the official end of my term of service, and I admit... I am bitter. Angry, even. In fact, I'm downright pissed off.<br />
<br />
It's like a movie or book ruined by a shitty ending. The first half, my time in the artillery, I'll treasure for the rest of my life. It wasn't all good times, and a lot of it sucked hard, but... it was worth it. We did good, things I'm still proud of having been a part of. There are people whose lives are better for what we did, and I'm a better man for having been a part of that.<br />
Too bad I've been watching it all unravel over the last couple of years.<br />
<br />
The second half, my years in that goddamned military intelligence company as a UAS operator, I'll regret for the rest of my life. I made some good friends there, but it was a waste. Thanks to that company, my career is over and I'll never fly UAVs again. The only part I do not regret is having done what's right - even if it did cost me my career.<br />
The watershed moment for that one was coming back after having spent a month filling an E-7 slot (and doing it better than the E-7's, being as I was significantly more proficient with the UAS than they were) and being counseled by the recently promoted E-7 sex offender that I was ineligible for promotion thanks to the results of a psych evaluation. Never mind that I had debunked the evaluation and gotten a second opinion which explicated that the first was full of shit, never mind that the psych eval contradicted the rest of my psychological history and was internally inconsistent, I was *clearly* unfit for service.<br />
And so I was (and am), but not for the reasons A-Co 1 BSTB claimed. In just a few short years, the military had changed. Some - not all, but some - of the difference can be explained on the cultural differences between the artillery and the MI. On-High claimed it was a return to the 'higher' pre-war standards, blind to the contradiction inherent in such an idiotic supposition that there could be a higher military standard than being fit for service in a wartime... and that standard could involve only the most superficial and banal traditions, the only purpose for which seems to be innovative inertia and intellectual laziness. So yes, I was unfit for service because I am a man of honor, someone whose moral integrity remains unimpeachable, and someone who recognizes that loyalty and duty are not things to be casually tossed aside.<br />
<br />
But most of all, America, I'll hold a grudge against you. You miserable bastards, who elected Obama and that pack of Democrats for the purely selfish reason of wanting 'free' healthcare and with the promise of getting back at those evil rich people who've somehow made your lives so miserable (never mind your having made incredibly stupid decisions, it's all someone else's fault). You sorry sons of bitches who elected the Great Peacemaker, and in so doing pissed away everything I worked for my adult life, pissed away the sacrifices of thousands of servicemen, pissed away thousands of Iraqi lives just so you could feel better about yourself and have the temporary illusion of peace and the even more ephemeral illusion of security. You worthless wastes of oxygen who haven't the faintest notion of honor, loyalty, or duty who thought only about what you could steal through taxation, whose only impetus to vote was a childish need to have the government provide for you.<br />
<br />
Well, what do you have to show for it? What did you win by ending the war? What did you gain by the Affordable Care Act? Is your life better for trying to wrap yourself in the comforting protection of the government. How has your life been improved by one of the most scandal-ridden, opaque, diplomatically inept, economically incompetent, arrogantly condescending and wasteful administrations in American history?<br />
<br />
'Cause I can tell you what we've lost.<br />
Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-18429322060423676552014-06-16T09:28:00.000-08:002014-06-16T09:28:09.569-08:00Heartbreak in Iraq<br />
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Seventeen hundred Iraqi troops died yesterday in an attempt to defend their country from the militants ours and their civilian governments assured us all were no longer a problem. The heart-wrenching story of a nation falling, of this generation's South Viet Nam (a prophecy, it seemed, the American civilians were determined to fulfill - congratulations, you win, good job)... is being largely ignored.</div>
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<br />Fuck your celebrities and athletes. Fuck Game of Thrones. Fuck Starbucks. Fuck all this other shit that Americans *clearly* think is more important. Fuck civilians. The only thing that disgusts me more is the realization that in another decade you spineless, limp-wristed assholes will be chomping at the bit to go fuck up another country, throw away thousands of your own defenders, throw away billions of dollars, and then cut and run before the job's done.</div>
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<br />But hey, at least the wars are over and we got free health care, right?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I might be a little angry about this.</div>
Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-67031225723824454472014-03-08T04:57:00.000-09:002014-03-08T04:57:26.647-09:00That's it, I'm Not Breeding. Ever.An eighteen-year-old New Jersey girl is trying to sue her parents for tuition after she moved out. Not just for tuition to continue her 3.5 GPA at a private school (that's it? 3.5? I beat that and I skipped most of my Junior year), but also to support her financially while she attends the college of her choice.<br />
Even the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/living/nj-teen-sues-parents-for-college-education/">Commie News Network</a> has a field day with this... relatively speaking. The only therapy the parents need is someone explaining to them that being a "liberal, liberal parent" (quote from the father, find the source yourself) isn't exactly a good thing.<br />
<br />
Holy heavenly monkey-fuck, how do you go that wrong in raising a child?<br />
<br />
If I have to explain to you what's wrong with her lawsuit, we're going to be here all day. Instead, let's focus on how truly and deeply the parents have failed. Let's compare her and her upbringing to me and mine, because I feel like pointing out how awesome I am compared to this miserable waste of carbon whose greatest contribution to society is and shall ever remain the mockery we make of her.<br />
<br />
The first time I was kicked out of my father's house, I was twelve years old (give or take; it was the end of fourth grade). Vague allegations of abuse like this girl's making? Nope - I can rattle off a list of abusive things my step-mother did. Damn shame I never mentioned it at school when I was getting into fights, suspended, and eventually expelled. Actual events, though by this point I don't remember the dates - nor do I care to. That's a lot more than this girl's got, apparently. I moved in with my mother in Bowling Green, OH, and my father pulled me back after she moved to Chicago. The second time I moved out, it was all on me and it was my decision. I was fifteen-sixteenish (look, eight years is a long time if you've been in the Army for seven of them and if I was good at math I'd never have re-upped), and wanted to move out because my father was remarrying and I saw a lot of similarities between that woman and my first stepmother. I didn't wait to give her the benefit of the doubt, which it turns out I should have 'cause my mother was a verbally and emotionally abusive alcoholic. The fallout from that is still playing out; our relationship hasn't quite recovered from it. That lasted about a year and a half before I moved back in with my father and new stepmother. <i>That</i> lasted about a year and a half (until I was nineteen) before it became apparent to all involved that I really should get out on my own.<br />
<br />
Compared to my backstory, this girl - cheerleader, honors student, attends private schools, has lived in a liberal household where her parents tried to be her friends - has been living a goddamned fairytale dream life. It's time for her to wake up.<br />
<br />
While I was living with my father and stepmother, especially after I turned eighteen, there was a contract of sorts - much like, I imagine, these parents provided for their precious little snowflake crotch-fruit daughter. I was expected to (shock! horror!) do the chores in exchange for room and board. Not a bad deal, really; I was pretty much just a live-in housekeeper with no pay but all the amenities you could ask for. Hell, they even helped me with college tuition in exchange for my labor - which I suppose balances out when you compare my story with this girl's, because I never got to attend a fancy private school.<br />
... Well, except for the one I got kicked out of in the first grade. It was a Catholic school, and the nuns thought I was the Anti-Christ.<br />
I got kicked out of a lot of schools growing up.<br />
<br />
It never once occurred to me, despite my upbringing being a whole lot less privileged and pleasant than this girl's, to sue my parents. The fact that this case made it as far as it has (the judge didn't throw <i>all</i> of it out, more's the pity) is a disgrace not only for her and her parents, but the New Jersey legal system. Here's the fun thing about being an adult, kids: You are independent. Your parents owe you <i>nothing</i>. They brought you into this world and spent a hell of a lot of money raising you. They don't owe you a goddamn dime after you turn eighteen and become a legal adult. The fact that these parents failed to instill this value in their daughter, the fact that they were incapable of drilling through her mildly-intelligent brain the nature of 'independence' and 'adulthood' disgusts me.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-25808246756570414532014-03-06T20:25:00.001-09:002014-03-06T20:25:28.477-09:00The Dream of America<br />
Every time someone says "I'm not interested in politics", "I don't waste my time voting", or something else to that effect, I am reminded of the Iraqi elections. Displeased that they were losing the absolute power they had enjoyed under Saddam (and I'm simplifying, of course; this is a blog, not a dissertation), the Sunnis boycotted the elections - only to discover that doing so effectively silenced what voice they might have had in their own government.<br />
<br />
If you claim to be disinterested in politics and are proud to be unaware of what goes on in the government, you are an irresponsible wastrel upon whose shoulders rest the burden of guilt just as surely as on those who commit those crimes against the Constitutional ideals. You are what has empowered these corrupt politicians. You are what has permitted them to remain in power. You are their accomplice, their willing cohort, their meek servitor.<br />
<br />
You are the problem.<br />
<br />
America was not founded to be a nation of uneducated serfs who vote by blind allegiance. The idea - the dream of America works <i>only</i> if the voters are educated, intelligent, and above all critical of their elected officials. The Republic is the most precarious of governments because it requires not that the bureaucrats be diligent nor that the rulers be wise, but that the people - the common folk on the street - be both diligent and wise, for they are their own rulers and the bureaucrats work (much as they may wish to deny it) for them. The responsibility for the regulation and maintenance of the government lies on the collective shoulders of the common man. This is not a novel concept, nor is it a particularly difficult one. Ben Franklin remarked on the precariousness of the Republic and responsibility that lay on the individual citizen very nearly as soon as the Constitution was drawn up with his answer of "A Republic, if you can keep it." This was understood on Day One.<br />
<br />
Why have you forgotten? Is the eternal vigilance demanded of free men too hard? Are the obstacles too great to overcome? Are the difficulties in setting right what has gone wrong insurmountable? Is there a price too great for the dream of America - for the land of opportunity, for that nation dedicated to the principles that all are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?<br />
Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-23644437130034108892014-02-24T08:15:00.002-09:002014-02-24T08:15:38.273-09:00Getting OutFirst and foremost, I am not getting out because the deployment and operations tempo was too much. I'm not getting out because I couldn't stand going to foreign countries with absolutely miserable weather and even more miserable people. I'm not getting out because the pay's too low or because the sergeants were mean to me or any of that pissy shit. I joined because I was a believer, and I'm leaving because I am not. Not anymore.<br />
<br />
I'm getting out because I've realized something. Something important, something crucial, a fundamental flaw in what I was trying to do. I joined the Army to serve my country and defend liberty, but the only means the military force can serve that end is through coercive force (whether it be violence or merely the threat) - and it can only do so in the final extremity. The military cannot protect freedom, it can only - through coercion - create an environment wherein free men might institute a government that safeguards and fosters their natural rights. That oft-repeated and cherished myth that the military fights for your freedom is... just that. It's a myth. It's fallacious. The military can no more create freedom than can that thug on the corner with the pistol (commonly referred to as a 'police officer'). The threat of force does not and cannot <i>make</i> someone free. The only thing we can do is intimidate and kill those who threaten freedoms. Unfortunately, while we pursue those who threaten American liberty with all the eager grace of a hippopotamus, Americans have been steadily losing the struggle for liberty on the home front.<br />
<br />
I'm getting out because of Americans. I'm getting out because they are unworthy. I'm getting out because America would rather be coddled, taken care of, looked after, and feel safe than live in the dangerous, risky, real world. I'm getting out of the Army because Americans no longer want to be free men, because the most fervent desire, the secret hope of the majority of this country is that they no longer need suffer the burdens of freedom. I understand - I really do. I understand their cowardice, their complacence, their short-sighted, narrow-minded, desperate and burning need to feel <i>safe</i> in this scary, scary world.<br />
<br />
I do, after all, recall being a small child.<br />
<br />
I am no longer a child. Neither is anyone in this country with the right to the vote, at least not physically or legally. However, I am neither the parent nor legal guardian of the American people. I will not accept the responsibility of their protection whilst also being beholden to their insane whims. I will not fight for them, will not put my life on the line for their liberties while they vote again and again to put into power those whose sole objective is the subversion of the Constitution, which James Madison wrote to <i>limit</i> the powers of the government, and in so voting they subvert my every endeavor. I will not fight for a country which has betrayed me time and again, and betrayed everything which I have fought for time and again.<br />
<br />
I will not.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-20410697237693279502014-02-19T14:30:00.001-09:002014-04-25T16:39:00.548-08:00At Least it's a Post!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">So I saw something that gave me an idea, and I concocted the following recipe:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">2 lb. of stewing beef (y'know, the stuff that's chopped up)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">4-5 slices of bacon (fried and chopped to pieces)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 diced onion</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 bottle of Blue Moon</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">4 cups of water</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">5 cubes of beef bouillon</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/4 cup of flour</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 can of diced tomato</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 teaspoon of brown sugar (to neutralize the acid of the tomato)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 teaspoon of salt</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 tablespoon of garlic powder</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Brown the meat in oil and butter with the salt and one of the spoons of garlic powder. If you have the bacon fat, it'll substitute nicely for the oil and/or butter. Once the meat's done, throw everything in a pot together and simmer for about two, two and a half hours to reduce the fluid to being about the thickness of gravy and the meat to being tender. Serve atop egg noodles. It'll provide about four-five bowls.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Yeah, I know. Not the sort of rant you expect on this blog, but I have an apartment with a stove and have taken to experimenting in the kitchen.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">There's been some new things in my life, too. I'm dating a wonderful girl, have moved out of the barracks, and am in the process of leaving the military. I'm sure I'll go into the leaving-the-military later in another post - and trust me, it's a good-sized rant - but for now, just an awesome stew recipe.</span>Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-92161529824642954712013-10-12T06:54:00.000-08:002013-10-12T06:54:43.854-08:00Martial Law and Dumbass DemocratsSo, I saw an article which had a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lY23MIsxwsc">video clip</a> wherein Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas, of "Is the Mars rover near where the astronauts planted the flag?" fame, and proof that they breed 'em extra-stupid in Texas) calls for martial law to end this present governmental shutdown.<br />
<br />
Okay.<br />
<br />
For a one, the <i>previous</i> governmental shutdown threatened by the Democrats in 2011? Well, I'm sure that's plenty fine for them to do it. Apparently, though, if the Republicans do it then it's the end of the world and a massive crisis of unparalleled proportions.<br />
<br />
Do you, out of curiosity, know why the government's been shut down? I'm sure you've seen the version that the left is quite eager to push on the American people through our unbiased and completely, totally honest mainstream media. The version wherein the Republican party has filibustered the government into shutting down rather than pass a bill funding the Affordable Care Act (which used to be known as Obamacare until the media realized pretty much everyone hated it)? Alright. That version's <i>partially</i> true. You see, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill containing language that defunds and delays the ACA for another year <i>and</i> removes exemptions from Congresscritters. This budget bill is thoroughly unpalatable to Harry Reid and his Democrats, who apparently don't think they should attempt to follow the will of the people or have the same laws as apply to us peasants apply to them. The Democrat-controlled Senate and the White House squashed that bill, and then were amazed when the Republicans filibustered the bill that funded Obamacare (and the rest of the government). John Boehner and the Republicans have introduced a series of bills which essentially funded the government in piecemeal. The Democrats rejected these out of hand, because apparently nothing is better than something.<br />
<br />
This includes funding the national park system. The Democrats - for the first time in American history - have shut down every national park in our country, including businesses and private property on them. I say "Democrats" because Obama is a Democrat - and it ain't the left you hear griping about this tyrannical pettiness. Much has been made of this, and I'm sure I could make a blog post in and of itself over the whole thing. I'll spare you that this time.<br />
<br />
Oh, and the Democrats have been claiming that the ACA is the law of the land and that we shouldn't try to change that.<br />
So is the Second Amendment. That hasn't even slowed them down.<br />
<br />
Just remember that, though, next time the elections come up. The Republicans shut down the government to spare you massive increases in your cost of living, and then tried to offer compromises to bring back up the more popular programs of the government. The Democrats, in tyranny unprecedented, refused the compromises and demanded that it be all or nothing while doing everything in their power to deprive the American people of <i>our</i> parks, <i>our</i> resources, <i>our</i> rights.<br />
<br />
Rep. Lee, I don't think you understand what martial law entails. The American military is sworn to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Unlike you, we take that oath very, very seriously. The American military is overwhelmingly conservative and libertarian, viciously protective of American rights and intimately familiar with just how terribly the American government mismanages practically <i>everything</i> - especially health-care.<br />
<br />
Call for martial law. I'm sure it will end very well for you.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-18289898486965387052013-09-07T07:25:00.001-08:002013-09-07T07:25:47.567-08:00Holy Smokes!I admit, I pretty much completely forgot this blog existed. But, when you rediscover your own blog by clicking on a link in someone else's...<br />
In case you're curious, I found it on <a href="http://gottagetdrunkfirst.blogspot.com/">gottagetdrunkfirst</a>. Good read, they don't do political correctness over there.<br />
<br />
Well, my time as the crusty old sergeant of the UAS platoon is almost up. I've all but been handed my papers, and I honestly can't say that I much mind. The military is being thoroughly neutered into this toothless, pansy-assed organization that confuses itself for anything but what it is. That, of course, is the military defenders of American freedom. We kill people and break things for freedom. I think it might depress you to realize how few troops realize that, and how many actively argue against that statement. I know it's got me scratching my head. You see, my commander-in-chief is looking at engaging us in yet another war - despite cutting troop strength and funding and basically rooting out and hunting down combat troops to give us the boot.<br />
<br />
Now, don't get me wrong. Chemical weapons are a bad thing. There's just too many questions around this for me to agree with the deployment of US troops and materiel against ol' Assad. For starters, there's some noise that the nerve gas might have actually come from the <i>rebels themselves</i>. One of their own mis-handling the gas. As Leonidas of Fighting in the Shade goes into in greater depth and detail than I care to on <a href="http://fightingintheshade.blogspot.com/2013/09/warfare-through-false-flag-frameup.html">his blog</a>, it simply does not make sense for Assad to be gassing his enemies when he's already winning the war. If, however, you take the approach that the US government's desire is to support the Al Qaeda-backed Muslim Brotherhood, then suddenly it makes perfect sense to manufacture a reason for us to attack the Syrian regime in support of the rebels.<br />
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After all, the Syrian rebellion <i>is</i> the Muslim Brotherhood... much like in Egypt. This Arab Spring thing isn't turning out so hot, is it? We've got our enemies killing our enemies in Syria, and the only thing we can think to do is to start bombing everyone? As if that will somehow <i>not</i> make them both realize that they hate us more than they hate each other?<br />
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Like I said. Too many questions, and unlike with Iraq and Afghanistan there's neither a clear-cut goal of liberation nor a defined enemy with a present and plausible threat to America, her citizens, and her allies. I simply don't trust the Administration that gave us Fast and Furious, Benghazi, Obamacare, the IRS targeting conservatives, and so many other scandals and bald-faced lies. If lawfully ordered, I will go... but personally, this whole deal stinks worse than the porta-johns after a week in the Iraqi heat.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-73223058100979069322012-08-17T12:36:00.000-08:002012-08-17T12:36:27.939-08:00UpdatesTurns out it's been a minute since I posted last. Some highlights:<br />
Ft Hood is a nightmare. The front gate should have "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." It's the place careers go to die.<br />
Deployed again. That was about six months of reindeer games.<br />
Got promoted to sergeant in September after months of my battalion and company doing everything in their power to prevent it - including inventing new requirements. They did that several times, actually. Branch finally came down and told them that yes, I was getting promoted on account of there was no legitimate reason not to.<br />
The president said we'd be home by Christmas. Our commander posted it on Facebook, to which the Kuwaitis said "No the hell you ain't!" Six months in Kuwait later...<br />
I got recommended for anger management because some soldiers in my platoon and an E-5 decided to concoct a story about me. The end result is that I have a bar on re-enlistments and the E-5 is now going to get my slot for the IO/SO schoolhouse. I don't particularly care about the bar, being that this battalion has thoroughly convinced me that I have no place in the new Army (I have this honor and integrity problem - I have them, you see, and that's not authorized), but getting that school slot stolen seriously chaps my ass. It's the difference between getting paid $60,000 a year and getting paid $250,000 a year. I wouldn't mind if he outperformed me, but all he did was spin lies after I blew him out of the water on the qualifications test. That whole debacle was... Well, I have nothing good to say about any of the involved.<br />
Ironically, you see people driving worse than they claimed I did every day on Ft Hood. Go figure.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-82735811736174873532011-01-28T10:10:00.002-09:002011-01-28T10:14:03.379-09:00MovingI'll be en route to Ft Hood pretty shortly. Apparently, my company thinks it's right for me to move out of my barracks room before I clear post... while still expecting me to show up to work. See, shit like this is why I'm so happy to be getting out of this unit/post. I mean, it's not like I don't pay my BAH for this barracks room or anything.<br />Oh, wait.<br /><br />SSG Lee: "What's wrong with Texans, Schnepp?"<br />Me: "Texans, Sergeant."<br />Bwahahaha. Good thing I don't leave post much. I hear they do lynch mobs.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-59576035552819619532011-01-23T08:11:00.002-09:002011-01-23T08:30:38.175-09:00Godwin's LawI ran across a right proper douchecanoe in the Youtube comments. I introduced it to certain facts, the way reality works. It said I *must* be an enlisted man, because no officer could be so stupid - in between spouting off such venom that I'm pretty sure it woulda ended in a fistfight if we were within arm's reach. Don'tcha just love the GIFT (that's Great Internet Fuckwad Theory for you non-nerds)? It means we get these keyboard commandos who dehumanize their opposition to a frightening extreme. Some of these Western leftists are worse in their venom than the jihadists.<br /><br />Here's my take on it: "Oh, look, Nazi Germany 2.0." No shit really. Violent thugs who unthinkingly follow the commands of a collectivist leader, run in a cult of personality, demonizing all opposition, that's how Hitler got to power. Thankfully, we don't have any politicians who are as bad as Hitler... yet. If we did, though, you're kidding yourself if you don't think it could happen here. It won't be the political right, either. They value the individual too much, they usually have absolute morals, and they think of the Constitution as a fundamentally sound document that doesn't need rewritten. No, it will be the leftists, the collectivists (again), who've spent so much time and energy demonizing and dehumanizing their <i>political</i> opposition that an American-style Kristalnacht is just a good speech away. They do not believe in absolute right and wrong - they think that right and wrong are points of view, dependent on the situation. They do not value the individual, whatever they may claim, and instead view people only as demographics. They do not believe in the founding principles of the Constitution, those being the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, believing instead in the right to do what they please, so long as it <i>offends</i> none, the right to healthcare, the right to be taken care of, the right to surrender themselves and their protection to the State! Everything I see them doing is moving towards the end of destroying traditional American culture and creating a collectivist utopia in its stead. A nightmarish utopia, where minorities reign above the white males for crimes committed before my birth, where the citizen does not have the right to his own property, much less the right to defend himself, where the group matters more than the individuals, where the mob tears apart those who dissent in a vicious frenzy of political correctness.<br /><br />If you find yourself getting violently pissed off about politics, either start taking some happy pills or suck-start a firearm. I mean that. We're all better off without you. You're a chock-block. You're an impediment to progress.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-6019664168575798052011-01-12T11:53:00.002-09:002011-01-12T11:55:44.387-09:00I really hate scrubbing toiletsEspecially when someone in this barracks seems incapable of making it into the bowl, and I ain't just talking about #1. Naturally, yours truly is about the only person who can take time out of his busy, busy day to scrub the shit, urine, and other bodily substances out of the toilets and the water-free urinals. Never mind that we have weekly inspections, the dozens of soldiers in these barracks know someone else will clean up their messes.<br /><br />Just something to remember when the retention NCO walks by.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-12797203139514114922011-01-07T16:28:00.003-09:002011-01-07T16:36:00.492-09:00Me, Shitbag?It's funny how one incident can give a commander a completely wrong picture about someone. I was kinda-sorta-but-not-really related to the incident, but TRADOC being TRADOC I got dragged along for the ride. It basically meant that me - a specialist, an E-4, a junior enlisted soldier - had to sit there and try not to pay too much attention to the captain chewing out the sergeant. The captain thought it proper that the sergeant have a battle-buddy, and I don't outrank the captain.<br />But I thought it was pretty darn disrespectful to the sergeant, so I apologized to him for that as soon as we were clear.<br />Details aren't terribly important, it was one of those "What were you thinking?" type things. Because it wasn't me being the dimwit and instead someone I respect the hell out of, I won't relate 'em. The captain came away from this little meeting thinking of this sergeant as a lying self-centered bastard. That's the opposite of true. SGT Suhr's one of those sergeants who looks after his joes and tells us the God's honest truth. If he told me the sun was set to rise at 2359 tonight, I'd know it was 'cause he was damn sure the sun was set to rise at 2359 tonight. Apparently I'm disloyal, too, 'cause I didn't immediately leap to be present for my superior's dressing-down. Like I said, it's funny wrong an impression of someone you can get if you only know them from one interaction.<br /><br />Also, you ever notice how you think of all the right things to say immediately after the door's closed, precisely the moment they stop being useful things to think of?Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-53875797287203890312010-12-09T23:21:00.004-09:002010-12-10T00:07:53.741-09:00Shitbag PrivatesHoly smokes, what is it about new privates that just makes my blood boil? The little bastards are rude, disrespectful, and cocky. Some of them are salvagable, but it seems that most of A-Co's initial entry... I hesitate to call them 'soldiers'... types are better off being thrown back into the civilian population. At least then they won't put me or my buddies in danger. Back in C-Btry, we looked at the arrival of new soldiers with a mix of glee and dread. Glee, because we'd get to pull all the old shenanigans on a new troop. Dread, because odds were he'd be a shitbag who'd wind up causing everyone in the battery a lot of headaches before he got caught with a DUI, popped hot on a piss test, or molested an underage girl (the only three offenses I've seen people get kicked out of the Army for). Just about every new soldier was an eighteen-to-twenty-year-old private who thought he was all that and a bag of chips because he graduated basic training. While some of that I can blame on their age, a lot of it simply goes back to TRADOC. They don't get taught that, while their dumb little buddies in IET land were just as low on the totem pole as they are, the soldiers in their unit ain't.<br /><br />Take for example one of the little shits in my class. He's an E-2 barely out of BCT and not quite through IET. I'm an E-4 who's been some places and done some things. He acts as though following my directions were entirely at his option, and I have no recourse beyond going and grabbing an NCO! And because this is TRADOC, all the NCO can do is put him at parade rest and chew him out. He can't smoke him, can't write up paperwork on him. I've told him that I hope he winds up in the same unit as me. I fully intend to either break him as his drill sergeants should have done or make sure that when he screws up, the command does not look kindly upon him. I've had enough with shitstain privates. I don't mind the ones who're just dumb, but have a good attitude. I don't mind the ones who're cocky, but squared-away enough to back it up (that much). But when I'm chewing a private's ass because he decided that he would disregard my directions to continue working with the rest of the class rather than skip out to 'take out the trash' for twenty minutes, and he blatantly disrespects me? I tell him to go to parade rest and wipe that smirk off his face and he shoves his hands in his pockets? Fuck no. If the class leader (a SGT) hadn't intervened... heh, I probably woulda wound up losing my clearance and getting kicked out of the school. He thinks he's hot shit 'cause he can do 200 push-ups. Swell. That's completely unimpressive to anyone who's done PT with SSG Cobb (I bet everyone in old C-Btry remembers those "DIAMONDS!"). Doubly when you consider this private has lousy form and has to take breaks during this. Playing by the same rules, I can do over 500. You'll never hear me claiming that, though, 'cause I can really only do 50-60 a rep. Hell, you'll never hear me claiming that because I'm not some douchebag private who mistakes PT for soldiering. He asks "Why?" questions of an NCO. Anyone who's been in longer than three weeks understands that you do not do that. Period. Private does not ask "Why?", Private executes. If he's lucky, he'll figure out the "Why?" while he's doing it. The class leader had to tell him several times to get to parade rest. Not "At ease", not smirking, at parade-fucking-rest. What will his platoon sergeant do? Not a damn thing.<br /><br />Before you think I was the one who started this, I wasn't. Except, perhaps, by being too soft and too nice to these kids. Believe me, I know how to be an asshole. I learned from the best. I chose not to, as it's not my job here. But when I start having to deal with a little bastard who disrespects everyone who doesn't have stripes on their chest... Well, I'm fully capable of putting away the Nice Guy hat and busting out with the Bastard McAssream hat. <br /><br />This private is not the exception. He is the norm. This is why I have no intention of staying in the Army. TRADOC completely fails to instill any degree of respect into the new soldiers, and more and more the high command prevents units from correcting this oversight. They teach these kids that there's no such thing as rank inside the GCS. Bullshit there ain't. You can't pull rank to settle a disagreement over safety-of-flight issues, but there damn sure better be rank all the rest of the time. Privates need to follow the orders and directions of their superiors because... well, hell, they're the juniors for a reason. They don't know anything. If a private won't follow directions during a simple clean-up task, how can I expect him to follow directions during a firefight? How can I expect him to follow directions during a long, difficult mission? I can't. We are an Army at war. Even the noncombatant types like UAS operators need to understand that. I have a buddy who repairs optics. It's a job that sounds as poggie as... hell, the Navy these days. He's been in more firefights than he can count. What happens if I wind up in a knock-down drag-out firefight, and I have to rely on some shitbag private like the one described above? I'm trained and proficient in warfare. It comes naturally to me. I'll probably get killed trying to keep that jackass from getting himself killed, all because he won't listen to me when I'm trying to train him up... because he thinks that just because I'm not a sergeant, he doesn't have to listen to anything I say. Ignore the fact that I've spent more time in Iraq than he has in the Army. Ignore the fact that I've spent more time wearing a vest than he has wearing ACUs. Ignore that, he's an eighteen-year-old private and he knows everything.<br />Way to go, TRADOC. Glad some officer got that bullet on his OER. How many soldiers get killed because you won't let Drill Sergeant do his job the right way? How many shitbags have you released to the Army who we had to devote excessive time and energy into straightening out? How the hell do you think this is the right way to go?Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-61388065797704757582010-12-06T23:38:00.001-09:002010-12-06T23:39:33.840-09:00Assange, Manning, and why some secrets need to be keptI saw the quoted text in the comments on another blog. My response ran long, so I'm posting it here.<br /><br />"BTW, I wonder how many patriots who are currently clamoring for Wikileak's demise, would act if their actions hurt a traditional US enemy?"<br /><br />To be blunt? If Assange had taken action against the MME, the North Koreans, the Iranians, the Russians, pretty much anyone we really don't get along with and will probably find ourselves in conflict against? I'd think he was a sleezeball, but at least he's our sleezeball. I find the 'crusading for truth' journalists obnoxious at best. Some things simply are best kept quiet until they can do little harm. Some things need to be out in the open. Characters like Assange rarely know the difference. <br />You can't draw a moral equivalency between our enemies and us (certain presidential administrations and... hell, pretty much everything in DC notwithstanding). <br /><br />But then, I'm an active duty soldier. Journalists are pretty much my natural enemy, even moreso than the ones who shoot at me.<br /><br />Assange, I don't harbor so much ill will against. Charge him with espionage and put him in prison. Let him write a book, make a ton of money off of it. If we can prove someone's been killed because of what he did, then by all means get him with manslaughter or second-degree murder. I don't expect him to be able to see the consequences of his actions, being that he's not military. I hold him in contempt, as he's a trussed-up little puke who thinks he's something special. I do *not* want him assassinated. We are *not* a nation of vigilantes, we are a nation of laws. He should face trial for his actions, not be declared a terrorist and gunned down. If we do that, we prove him right.<br /><br />So yes, I disagree with those internet commandos lusting for Assange's blood. We were once a principled nation. Doing the right thing, the just thing, with this person will be a sign that there's something of that left.<br /><br />Bradley Manning, on the other hand, is guilty of treason. The firing squad for that one. I fail to see how my coldblooded desire to see him executed for crimes not against the government, but against his fellow soldiers, separates me from 'true patriots'. The man decided that he would betray us after we entrusted him with access to a great many 'national secrets'. While they didn't show the "True face of the evil American Empire" like some have crowed (rather, they tend to affirm that we - the military, that is - are who we say we are), it's the principal of the thing. I, like Manning, am a young soldier in military intelligence with a Secret clearance. I'm a drone operator, and have seen things and will see things that the public need never know about. Like Manning, I disagree with a number of the government's policies and actions. I do not find myself overwhelmingly compelled to release a flood of classified Secret documents that do little to harm the Federal government and pose a potential risk to our allies both on the state and personal levels. Assange claims he is going through the documents to make sure that nobody's put at risk - I don't trust him, and with some of the docs I've seen rightfully so. He is not a friend of liberty, and he's no friend of justice. Neither of them. If I am able to refrain from producing such a flood of classified information, then so should Manning. <br /><br />The only thing Manning accomplished with this leak was giving the government an excuse to generate more layers of secrecy and to hide things more. The government cannot be trusted with the ability to hide its actions from the people even more. It's simply human nature to abuse such power. Sometimes the government does things that need to see the light of day. People like Assange and Manning need to exercise discretion, to release those things to the public without airing out all the sundry little details of day-to-day life in the diplomatic corps, or giving out sensitive information about our TTPs and interactions with the locals. If they don't... well, the results speak for themselves, don't they?Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-60379378800963725002010-12-06T20:26:00.004-09:002010-12-06T23:23:13.558-09:00Pearl HarborIt happened a few hours from now just sixty-nine years ago. The Japs attacked the US, killed 'bout 2400 and wounded another 1200 military, with just about a hundred civilian casualties. An unapologetic USA proceeded to open up an unprecedented can of whup-ass on Japan and everyone who didn't back away from them fast enough. "Awakened the sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve," the Jap admiral said. The attack led to us entering WWII, and I don't think there's anyone familiar with history who says that we didn't bring the war to an end a whole lot sooner. We managed to stop the Japs before they got all the Chinese, we stopped the Germans before they got all the Jews, and we followed it up by doing something no other power (to my knowledge) has done after they've effectively conquered half the world: We gave it back. We rebuilt as much as we could, and we returned the government to the governed rather than making Europe part of the United States. Arguably, we could have profited more from retaining colonies... but that would have been a violation of our ethics. It would have been against our principles as a Republic of, by, and for the people. To my mind, it strikes me that our principles are the only thing we Americans have to unite us. There's no idea of common blood, of much common history in this country. Instead, it's an idea that binds Americans together. It's the idea of personal responsibility, the idea that you are the one who decides your fate, that set America apart from her contemporaries. It's why we didn't want an empire, and why we still don't.<br />They're called the Greatest Generation for a reason. They protected and preserved the idea when it came closest to disappearing in a wave of fascism and communism. I'm tempted to draw parallels between Pearl Harbor and 9/11, but it seems a mite disrespectful. Allow me to sum up: We fall short. We ain't worthy heirs.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-48416286006523556702010-11-13T19:31:00.002-09:002010-11-14T13:28:23.873-09:00Holger Awakens: Why I quit...<a href="http://holgerawakens.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-i-quit.html#links">Holger Awakens: Why I quit...</a><br /><br /><blockquote>I never expected to write this letter, but my Mom e-mailed me to get information about my career for a writeup on Veterans Day, and as this is the first such holiday in 22 years when I will not be on active duty, I felt compelled to let you know why I decided to quit.<br /><br />Quit is a strong word, I know. Everyone I’ve talked to has repeated that I’ve had a marvelous career and that I’ve retired with honor. Maybe that’s true on paper; I guess that it’s reflected by the record. But that’s not how I feel. I feel like I’ve quit. And because I’m not a quitter, I feel I have to explain why — not that anyone is asking, but because perhaps they don’t know to ask.<br /><br />Briefly, my career had been a representation of the promise of this country. Starting out on the lowest rung of the rank ladder as an F-4G Wild Weasel crew chief, continuing on F-16s and the F-117A Stealth fighter in Desert Storm, then a small part of Desert Fox as a nuclear Maintenance Officer and finally a pilot that took part in numerous deployments in Southern Watch, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. I finished up an awesome year on the ground in Iraq, and was selected to receive a coveted “Definitely Promote,” assuring me of promotion to lieutenant colonel. They don’t pass out many of those. My dreams were right in front of me. All I had to do was grab them. And then I retired. Why?<br /><br />Atlas Shrugged.<br /><br />I had chosen, freely, to place my life between those that would do harm to the U.S. and those whom I would protect: her citizens. I had always believed in the best of America and the people of her lands; that despite occasional missteps there was a general “rightness” to our way. I lived that belief for 22 years, leading and following warriors into combat. I’m certainly no war hero; my brothers in arms have seen far more combat, more intense and personal than I. But I have become acquainted with death in a way that I hope you never do. My last tour, on the ground in Iraq was where my heart started to be hardened towards you, the electorate, and culminated in this letter, written two days before our elections. And here’s why.<br /><br />You’ve elected officials who, for partisan points, spoke openly that the “…war is lost.” I happened to be in a dining facility in Baghdad that day, filled with the (mostly) young faces of (mostly) Army men and women. CNN was on the TVs, and things got very quiet when this elected official continued on, railing that the mission that some of these very people were here to do, had “…failed.” Yet, they would be donning their body armor, strapping on med kits and weapons, mounting HMMVs or MRAPs and heading outside the wire, ensuring that the newborn democracy in Iraq, purchased with so many lives, would be safe another night. The newly re-invigorated insurgents would be waiting, teeth bared back in a hateful smile, gripping the IED detonator, the RPG launcher, or the AK-47s to ply their trade with new energy, because the Senate Majority Leader had said they were winning.<br /><br />You elected officials who continually defame and berate military members, whether it is the observation that if you’re not too bright, you’ll get “…stuck in Iraq” (this from a guy who has two Purple Hearts for self-inflicted wounds, and known for throwing someone else’s medals away in protest), or the calling of combat Marines cold-blooded killers (in a war; before trial). You’ve elected officials in the role of commander-in-chief who “loathe” the military, while using ROTC deferments and special treatment to avoid military service that the less “connected” take as a responsibility. On the basis of “change,” you elected someone who had close, ongoing associations with people who were part of an organization that tried to kill us [U.S. military] on our own soil.<br /><br />You elected officials that promised to take property from some Americans, and give it to you, merely because they had more than you did. Those Americans that these officials have labeled as the “rich” are your neighbors, who provide jobs and pay far more in taxes than you ever will. That means they are already subsidizing your lifestyle choices; you just want more of their property without the responsibility of risking your wealth and labor to get it. You would rather hire someone to take it from them. And you have.<br /><br />Yet these same officials from this same party are the wealthiest group of people in both the House and Senate. They have offshore accounts, forbid unions in their businesses and use every tax loophole they can find with their armies of accountants. But you keep sending them back to those jobs, because they promise to steal from some Americans and give to you.<br /><br />You elect officials who openly embrace illegal activity; but they don’t have to live with the consequences. Other Americans pay the price. You support “sanctuary cities” and open defiance of federal law, including supporting administrations who sue our sister states as they desperately try to control a crime epidemic by supporting federal law. You support an administration that leads a party that gives a standing ovation to the leader of a country that exploits our kindness and actively encourages law-breaking in our country while insulting our fellow citizens who dare to try to enforce the law. Check out your elected officials; did they stand and applaud the racist diatribe of the president of Mexico? Did they join the attorney general and the head of Homeland Security in applauding this gaping hole in (homeland) security and law? Do you have locks on your doors? Why?<br /><br />You elect officials who are openly racist, decrying that “White folks’ greed drives a world in need…” and that their own grandmother was a “…typical white person.” Someone who sits in admiration as their pastor (small p; no capital letters for racists), in a church he attended for 20 years, slanders the United States as the “…U.S. of KKK America” and delights that the 9/11 “…chickens have come home to roost.” Someone who refused to denounce a paramilitary, racist organization that placed its members in front of polling places armed with billy clubs, and yelling racist, threatening epithets. On video. And the Attorney General did nothing.<br /><br />Oh, wait. The Justice Department is now apparently, under sworn testimony, the Department of Racial Payback. And you continue to support the party that supports this blatantly racist behavior because they say that they will stick it to “the man” on your behalf. A Nation of Cowards? I don’t think so; the courage of this breathtaking racism is without equal in modern times. One would think that you would use your votes to eradicate these racist policies from the U.S. But that assumes eradicating racism is your aim. It’s not, or you would be as incensed at this blatant racism as you would if sheet-covered whites were there. But longtime Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd’s old gang has been rightfully disgraced and shamed into a virtual non-existence. Thank goodness that 52 percent of you discourage that kind of behavior.<br /><br />But you don’t. You support the tactic of using the epithet of “racist” as the cudgel of choice for racists who don’t like policies that conservatives advocate. Don’t like illegal activity? Racist. Your party insists that to provide a photo ID — proving you are who you say you are — is not only too much of a burden to ask a voter to bear, but it’s racist as well. This not only terribly insulting to all races, but when the burden of proof to rent the DVD “Second Hand Lions” (amazing movie!) is higher than that required to vote for someone who has control of nuclear weapons or deploying men and women into harm’s way, there is something wrong.<br /><br />It doesn’t end there. Don’t like a particular female’s policies? Sexist. Yet, you support politicians who prey on 20-year old interns, seduce underage male interns, and, as a double bonus, support a person for the Supreme Court who says she is “wiser” than white people because of her race and sex. And any opponent of hers must be sexist and racist. Yet the prevailing double standard makes “bitch” an acceptable term for a conservative grandmother with the temerity to want to stop illegal activity. And “whore” is acceptable terminology for any conservative woman.<br /><br />Sarah Palin seems to be a nice person, the kind you would love to have as a neighbor, regardless of her policies; but you insist that she is stupid and vile. She is ignorant and inexperienced, clearly not ready for anything, as holding a variety of elected and appointed positions culminating in the governorship of Alaska clearly doesn’t hold up against… an organizer of race-based communities. Sexist, if a conservative said those words about a liberal, but because she is not pro-killing-little-kids, 52 percent of you decided she was worth vicious ad hominem attacks that continue to this day. Not just saying that you disagree, but saying she is evil. You support it all. All because the folks that practice this abhorrent behavior promise to give you free health care stolen from other Americans who haven’t paid their ill-defined “fair share.”<br /><br />My oath was this: “I, Mike, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”<br /><br />I took that oath seriously. But you have responsibilities, too. You should take them seriously.</blockquote><br /><br />I think the Major speaks his piece far more eloquently than my usual bloody screaming profanity.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-24631053319588203632010-11-13T17:53:00.005-09:002010-11-13T19:15:30.094-09:00It's nice to see some people have caught onToo bad they're approximately ten years late.<br />http://www.optoutday.com/<br /><br />Let me put it this way. I'll often fly in uniform, like when I went on leave from Iraq, NTC, JRTC, pretty miserable places. If not, I'll probably have my ACU-pattern assault pack or at the very least I'll have purchased my tickets with a military discount. Roughly every third flight TSA selects me for 'additional searching'. Sometimes they'll pull me out of line to get on the plane after I've already been searched and my bags inspected just to search me and my bag again. My SOP when they do this is to refuse to be taken into a back room, instead letting them violate the person and privacy of someone who's obviously a veteran, and if it's been a shitty day (read: I just fucking came back from Iraq or they searched me already and I hadn't broken quarantine) I'll make snide remarks about the usefulness of their job. <br /><br />Don't worry, I'm smart enough to not point out "Gee, all I'd need to do to make all this security completely pointless would be to set up a mortar tube two hundred meters thataway... or drive a VBIED up to baggage claim when a flight lets out..." or any of a hundred-and-one tactics our enemies actually have used. But hey, they're not worried about that. They're worried about whether or not that eighty-year-old lady with the walker is secretly a jihadi. They're deeply concerned that a vet might be carrying a bomb on his person, 'cause, y'know, we're the ones who carry out suicide attacks. For me, the line they shouldn't have crossed wasn't when they started using imagers to look at people's nekkid heineys, the line was when they gave me additional searching twice on a three-flight trip from Sarasota to Detroit and one of the searchers said to me "I wish I had a pack like this when I was in the service" while he was going through my assault pack. I could justify it with the reasoning that they were just looking for any rounds/UXO in my pack that I might've accidentally left - it's happened to other guys before, it'll happen again - were it not for the fact that the government I answer to has put out a memo stating returning veterans are a potential threat.<br /><blockquote>Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists. DHS/I&A is concerned that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities.<br /> - <a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf">DHS</a></blockquote><br />When I first read that memo shortly after being extra-searched so damn many times, I found within myself whole new depths of outrage and anger wholly outclassing any I'd developed during my deployment to Iraq. I began to become genuinely pissed off at the American people. Not the "I'mma gonna go get me a high-powered rifle and hide out in a clocktower" kind of pissed off, the kind of irritation you get when you see people doing something incredibly stupid when they should know better and squandering something that better men than they have given all they had to win. It's been getting to the point that I've pretty much given up hope that this Republic has any hope of improving, of becoming the world leader in science, industry, and liberty. This thing with the TSA, it's just one drop in the damn bucket. Everywhere I look, I see signs that our Constitutionally-mandated rights either have been or are being eroded away. They limit what we can say and where we can say it, they limit what weapons we're allowed to have, they invade our privacy for shits and giggles, 'due process' is a joke that the gov't ignores and the criminals abuse, if a right wasn't enumerated in the Constitution it might as well not exist, and God knows the Civil War just about gave the guillotine to the rights of the States and the people. <br /><br />The only reason they can continue to violate us like this is because they have a monopoly on travel by air. This Christmas may well be the last time I fly by airline on my own dime - after that, Uncle Sam's either paying for it or I'm taking the damn bus. The American people can continue to tolerate it or not. I doubt taking an extra day or two on a trip is worth it to them, and for that they have my contempt.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-92042583657277358482010-11-06T20:31:00.003-08:002010-11-06T20:34:28.555-08:00Pun Time!What do an impotent Japanese man and the Democratic party have in common? Electile disfunction.<br /><br />This horrible joke brought to you by the historic sweep. Don't worry, though, I'm sure the new boss is pretty much the same as the old boss. Optimism and I are not well acquainted.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-11133636057226390162010-10-31T20:02:00.002-08:002010-10-31T20:05:39.860-08:00Schneppy's ListI found this thing a few days ago. I made it while I was in Iraq.<br /><br /><blockquote>This is a compilation of the standing orders I've been given during my deployment with C-Btry 2-8 FA. They're all things I've done, things I've plotted to do (but was forbidden from doing before I could carry it out), and things I've seen other people do (but they forbade me from doing it anyhow!).<br /><br />1. Not allowed to play mind-games with the LT.<br /><br />2. Not even for science.<br /><br />3. Not allowed to drive an armored vehicle halfway across Iraq without a driver's license, civilian or otherwise.<br /><br />4. The squirrel does not go to guard mount.<br /><br />5. It does not "Help to give the voices a face."<br /><br />6. The squirrel does not countermand any orders from the Sergeant of the Guard.<br /><br />7. When the SoG calls for the hourly radio check, the proper response is "Tower Two, lima charlie," not "Tower Two, just as loud and clear as it was twenty minutes ago." Even if the last one was only twenty minutes ago.<br /><br />8. I shouldn't complain about that pesky SoG keeping me awake all the time.<br /><br />9. That goes double if the First Sergeant is within earshot.<br /><br />10. If I find a camel spider in my tower, I should kill it dead.<br /><br />11. I shouldn't call my battle buddy over to rescue me from the Spanglish-spouting drunken camel spider that has me trapped by hanging out near the ladder.<br /><br />12. If a buddy does the above to me, I'm not supposed to sit there and laugh before telling the arachnid where the buddy's bunk is.<br /><br />13. Using my weapon to kill a camel spider is not a good idea. It'll probably die, but the chain of command gets cranky.<br /><br />14. Using my weapon and not killing the camel spider is a worse idea. Now I have both the chain of command and a camel spider cranky at me.<br /><br />15. If at any time I show up for mission with tinfoil in my ACH, I stay home today.<br /><br />16. When the Brigade psychiatrist stops by, I'm to give Chief all my tinfoil.<br /><br />17. Not allowed to lie to the Brigade psychiatrist to pretend to be 'five different flavors of crazy'.<br /><br />18. Not allowed to lie to the Brigade psychiatrist to pretend to be sane. Even Automatic Six knows I'm not.<br /><br />19. Each of my personalities does not get an interview with the Brigade psychiatrist. We have to share the one I get.<br /><br />20. Even if she's the only female I've seen in two months.<br /><br />21. Getting "Steel on Steel" with the RQ-11B Raven on the instructor's vehicle is a bad thing. That means I should stop bragging about it.<br /><br />22. Even if it was my first time flying that $40,000 lawn dart and the look on his face was really funny.<br /><br />23. Don't refer to the row of parked personal vehicles as a "Landing strip."<br /><br />24. I'm to hand the controls over to my Mission Operator when it comes landing time. It's just better that way.<br /><br />25. I need to eventually run out of new and interesting mistakes to make. The creativity and energy I put into them has much more constructive outlets that I should look into.<br /><br />26. When anyone above the rank of O-7 visits the COP, I'm to go out by Tower Four and do my ninja impression until he leaves.<br /><br />27. During an air-assault mission, not allowed to threaten to "Spew my guts all over this bird and everyone in it - even the pilot!" when the ride gets a little choppy.<br /><br />28. Don't carry out the above threat again.<br /><br />29. Think about it for thirty seconds, then say it.<br /><br />30. "Thingie" is not a technical term.<br /><br />31. Don't paint sillhouettes of animals I've run over on the door of my truck (Simpson, not me - they don't let me drive).<br /><br />32. If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 10 seconds, I am to assume that I'm not allowed to do it. (Apparently, the LT's read Skippy's List).<br /><br />33. During a room inspection, I really shouldn't have porn playing on my computer with the sound turned up.<br /><br />34. My collection of miniatures does not need to be on display for a room inspection.<br /><br />35. Especially not in formations.<br /><br />36. I am the "Designated Alibi." That means I should stay out of trouble at least more often than the other savages.<br /><br />37. Sunlight does not burn my skin like acid.<br /><br />38. I shouldn't write "All work and no play make Schnepp a dull boy" all over my walls again just because it's the fourth month of night and I'm starting to get cabin fever.<br /><br />39. When they put out the call for a new name for C-Battery, don't volunteer things like "Cannibals," "Criminals," "Cavemen," or "Convicts" no matter how accurate a descriptor it is.<br /><br />40. Don't ask about that "Cannibals" thing. What happens in the field, stays in the field.<br /><br />41. I shouldn't threaten people with "You're on the List now".<br /><br />42. By now, they're all on it at least twice.<br /><br />43. Circled and underlined for McWilliams. <br /><br />44. When another soldier asks if he's on the List, I shouldn't reply with, "Are you in the phone book?"<br /><br />45. Not supposed to announce who's made the "Top Five" on the List. That's the kind of thing people are happier not knowing.<br /><br />46. I shouldn't complain about having never been "killed" during wargames.<br /><br />47. When someone says that C-Btry's the best, not supposed to laugh out loud. It's actually true. *Sighs*<br /><br />48. Think about it for a minute, then say it.<br /><br />49. When I capture a radio off of OPFOR, don't call up "I'm in ur base, killin ur manz!" over it. That's just in bad taste.<br /><br />50. Don't yell "Blood for the Blood God!" during a firefight.<br /><br />51. Don't get kicked off the range and subsequently banned from coming near the Signal Company just because "The bullet missed, so I sent a few of his buddies to investigate."<br /><br />52. Don't call them pansies just because they get scared of someone shooting an M16A2 at its cyclic rate of fire at a target at point-blank range.<br /><br />53. Not allowed to make the new privates sleep outside, just because "I don't like that little shit." It's freezing cold and he's soft and weak.<br /><br />54. The fact that I can sleep out there with no trouble at all has nothing to do with this. They're soft and weak, remember?<br /><br />55. I shouldn't refer to Basic Training as Daycare. I'm New Army, it's kinda like making fun of myself.<br /><br />56. When Alaska Governor and then-Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin says "Hooyah!" (as opposed to "HUA") during our deployment ceremony, do a better job of stifling the giggles.<br /><br />57. During our mandatory Suicide Prevention classes, I'm not allowed to utter the words "Natural Selection."<br /><br />58. During our mandatory Equal Opportunity classes, we really shouldn't spend a half-hour swapping politically incorrect jokes.<br /><br />59. I am not allowed to sing "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall" to completion over the radio during a 36-hour overwatch.<br />Again.<br /><br />60. Talking priveledges are revoked.<br /><br />61. When the LT asks follow-up questions to the briefing to make sure we know what we're doing, respond with anything other than "I don't know."<br /><br />62. When we train with paintball rounds, don't aim for the head.<br /><br />63. I *know* it doesn't have as much body armor, that's why I'm not allowed to aim for it.<br /><br />64. When we train with paintball rounds, don't aim for the cojones, either.<br /><br />65. When we train with paintball rounds and find out that FDC's guys playing OPFOR aren't going down until they run out of ammo, aim for the cojones.<br /><br />66. Don't "Put two in a dead guy, just to make sure" when it's paintballs. At point-blank, those things really hurt... the cojones.<br /><br />67. Try not to antagonize FDC anymore. They have a purpose in life other than "Cheap slave labor," and a bruised testicle really isn't all that funny.<br /><br />68. Take less than four hours to zero my weapon. If I can hit a running target in the nuts from across the room, I can hit a stationary sillhouette 300 meters away with at least five out of thirty shots.<br /><br />69. Being the best with a bayonet doesn't make up for being the second-worst shot in the battery.<br /><br />70. When everyone else has daggers and hatchets as their backup melee weapon, I shouldn't take a hammer just because "I can tenderize them more" with it.<br /><br />71. Don't use the hammer on OPFOR.<br /><br />72. When we're playing OPFOR, don't capture any of the following and turn them on the other battery: A gun truck, their FDC, the chow hall, a platoon sergeant, a crew-served weapon, or a howitzer.<br />Again.<br /><br />73. We don't take prisoners, so don't shoot them in a less-than-lethal area and then beat them with the hammer.<br /><br />74. If we do, it's not for tonight's chow (see #40), even if they are really tender and juicy now.<br /><br />75. Don't speculate about how he'd taste roasted over a heating stove in front of the captured OPFOR. I have a reputation, he'll believe it. This is somehow a bad thing.<br /><br />76. Hazing is illegal in today's Army. That means we should at least wait for the new guys to screw up before giving them "blanket parties."<br /><br />77. Don't force my superiors to check the limits of their sanity more than once a week.<br /><br />78. It is not the "Moustache of Power."<br /><br />79. When I figure out that the Iraqi Army guys who operate in our AO know about it, it is not the "Internationally-Renowned Moustache of Power."<br /><br />80. The Moustache is not the source of my Samson-like strength.<br /><br />81. When reporting, it's "Specialist Schnepp, reporting as ordered," not "Schnepp and the 'Stache, reporting as ordered!"<br /><br />82. When I say something rude, insubordinate, or inappropriate, not allowed to blame it on the Moustache.<br /><br />83. There are limits to the amount of bloodlust I'm allowed to show.<br /><br />84. My mix of naivete, rage, and bloodlust is not endearing. It's frightening to the other soldiers. This means I shouldn't ask "Can I shoot it?" so much.<br /><br />85. If a SERE graduate won't eat it, that's a sign I probably shouldn't.<br /><br />86. The mess tent is not the "Tomb of Horrors." Don't volunteer a battle-buddy to take point when going into it.<br />We'll all die anyways.<br /><br />87. My alter ego is not masked superhero "Moustache Man." I do not have theme music. Take that cape off.<br /><br />88. Don't ask the Captain if he's gotten into Smoke's 'stash'. That's just a good mood. They happen in sane people every once in a while.<br /><br />89. Never tell an IA "Mako coswa." He speaks Arabc, he knows what it means.<br /><br />90. Try not to start, join, or finish a firefight with allied ISF. LT doesn't like paperwork.<br /><br />91. The 10-second rule of food doesn't apply in Iraq.<br /><br />92. When taking a psych-eval, don't say "It's not like I can get any crazier since getting to Iraq." Again, paperwork.<br /><br />93. Never tell my NCO that "Fiki-fiki?" means "How are you?" He's dumb enough to say it to ISF, they speak Arabic, they know what it really means. This gets awkward fast.<br /><br />94. Don't replace my nametape with "US Terp" just to mess with the new soldiers.<br /><br />95. The fat kid who paints his toenails doesn't need a sports bra. He's inactive enough that a regular one will do just fine.<br /><br />96. Accusing fellow soldiers of witchcraft stops being funny about the time I start seriously talking about "Cleansing with fire."<br /><br />97. When asked to demonstrate "Escalation of Force Procedure" to the new guys, don't just raise my rifle and set it to burst. There are steps to be taken before that; take them. "Escalation of Force" is not "Raise my rifle to give that guy his Darwin Award."<br /><br />98. "Rules of Engagement" for C-Btry is not "Whatever we can get away with."<br /><br />99. Detainees are not "Ablative Meat-Shields," nor are they "Polish Mine Detectors." We have to pretend to follow the Geneva Conventions around here.<br /><br />100. Don't get air with the 5-ton truck. Don't yell "YEE-HAW!" Don't pause in mid-jump to do a commentary on the situation.<br /><br />101. Must file all requests to communicate with voices outside my head in paperwork to my first-line supervisor twenty-four hours in advance.</blockquote>Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-75145639748925753392010-10-30T15:02:00.003-08:002010-10-30T15:24:08.111-08:00SST: Morgan's MavericksI picked up one of my orders from eBay, hand-delivered 'cause the seller and I live in the same general area. They were already basecoated a desert brown with a brick red/forest green/black tigerstripe camouflage pattern on one of them.<br /><br /><a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://img258.imageshack.us/i/20101030155701.jpg/'><img src='http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3191/20101030155701.jpg' border='0'/></a> <img src="http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/194/20101030155434.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/><br/>By <a target="_new" href="http://profile.imageshack.us/user/spschnepp2">spschnepp2</a> at 2010-10-30<br /><br />As you can tell, I haven't done a whole lot to 'em yet. I touched up the visors, making them a paler blue (I'll probably wind up redoing them in an attempt at doing that jewel painting technique I've never gotten down, and like as not I'll get some gloss varnish in there just to see how it works out) and drybrushed Bleached Bone over 'em. Painting the corporal's stripes on went surprisingly well, but the sergeant's stripes, not so much. I'm either going to do 'em up in the chocolate chip desert pattern or have 'em all be in the same camouflage as the sergeant, not sure which. They're also going to get some 'battle damage' painted on, mostly in the form of scratched paint (mithril silver for the shiny). I'll get around to writing up some fluff for their squad eventually.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-9848465202649268092010-10-29T10:31:00.005-08:002010-11-14T14:23:02.640-09:00"I hate this formation and everyone in it" or "Why Schnepp owes the retention NCO a swift kick in the balls"I've come to a conclusion. I hate the Army. I really, truly, deeply, <span style="font-style:italic;">hate</span> the Army.<br /><br />Here's why: <br />I just spent an hour and a half doing 'PRT'. I broke a sweat because it was really hot out. Half of the exercises involved holding my knees in a really painful position for two minutes a pop. The NCO leading PT thought this was good PT. Here's a hint, folks, it's not physical training without <span style="font-style:italic;">movement</span>. I specify knees because mine are fucked up courtesy three years running around with full battle-rattle on and playing artillertard in between being a discount infantryman. This is not a concern for fobbits, whose knees only hurt if they used 'em to get promotion points.<br /><br />I have to come into work several hours early to get a flu shot. I am twenty-two years old and healthy as a horse. Why the holy heavenly monkey-fuck am I getting a flu shot?<br /><br />I apparently need to file a pass to go to Tucson, Arizona. It's an hour's drive away. This is for 'accountability'. The command also likes to ignore the policy letter they put out stating that us prior service jackasses are to be treated as permanent party... and permanent party doesn't have to file a pass to go seventy fucking miles. But we do. Apparently, my class leader (an E-5) is not qualified to be able to track me down after I tell him, "Hey, Sergeant, I'mma gonna go to Tucson". No. I need to file paperwork one week in advance my request to go to Tucson.<br />But I don't need to do this for Tombstone.<br /><br />First Sergeant will state he looks out for all his soldiers, MOS-T and IET alike, then he'll only give IET kids the opportunity to go train up for the bigger UAS. His reason? The ERMP units already have NCOs. Because, y'know, apparently I've been promoted without anyone telling me. Finance does not approve of this as a reason to give me back-pay.<br /><br />If I get a private back-talking, I'm not allowed to snatch him up and give him what-for. I have to tell the platoon sergeant that the private was misbehaving. Yeah. That's effective at instilling discipline.<br />If a private back-talks to a sergeant who isn't cadre, the sergeant is not allowed to smoke the private. He has to tell the platoon sergeant that the private was misbehaving. Yeah, that's gonna teach these pukes respect for the rank.<br />This while the First Sergeant tells us that all the MOS-T soldiers are NCOs and supposed to lead the IET pukes. How? They're goddamn civilians in uniform, how the hell can you expect them to act like soldiers?<br /><br />Whatever happened to the Army I joined? Y'know, the one where they believed in the carrot and the stick, not just the carrot? Oh, right, we gotta be nice now. It's the kinder, gentler Army. Because that gets shit done.<br /><br />I have to stand in formation for an hour and a half listening to Top, the Captain, and a butter-bar who I've spent more time in Iraq than he has in the service (ROTC/West Point don't count, jackass) give me a safety briefing. Thank you very much, I did not know I was not supposed to drink and drive.<br /><br />I keep hearing about this spice shit. I wanna try some. I'm not kidding, every goddamn briefing involves spice someway, somehow.<br /><br />At one point in my career I had to carry around five pieces of headgear. Five. FIVE. I do not have five heads. Why the fuck do I need five pieces of headgear? Here's why: I had the balaclava for when it was below 20. I had the watch-cap for when it was between 20 and 32. I had the beret for when I was out of the motor pool and it was above 32. I had the patrol cap for when I was in the motor pool and it was above 32. I had the ACH for when I was driving a military vehicle, and yes I had to have it in reach at all times even though I didn't have a license. Yes, the temperature would range like that in a single day. No, it still didn't make sense to have that many goddamn hats. If it does make sense to you, suck-start your weapon.<br /><br />I am fully capable of driving a vehicle without a crash helmet. For that matter, I'm fully capable of climbing a vehicle without a crash helmet. Don't point out that helmets won't do shit for the neck. Or the hip. Or the ankle. Or the arm. The head's the only part you might hit when you fall off the truck, after all.<br /><br />I've never touched alcohol in my life, and now I wanna drink. If nothing else, taking scoops out of my brain might help these command decisions make sense.<br /><br />There are a great many sergeants for whom NCO stands for "No Chance Outside". I've only met a handful who were good at their jobs. The good ones don't re-up 'cause they can find a better job that has twice the pay with half the bullshit.<br /><br />I spend one month's worth of time out of any given year sitting in the CP standing by. This is not unusual, and in fact some guys spend even more time standing by. This is 'cause the higher-ups won't release us until they're done doing the work they've been putting off to the last minute, even though we were done right after lunch.<br /><br />There's the simple, easy way to do things that is immediately apparent to anyone with a brain in their skulls. That way is not the Army way. The Army way requires that you file at least three different documents at least a week in advance before, that you receive a three-hour safety brief, that you compile a composite risk management work packet, that you bring along five times as many people (in which case the shithead NCOIC will ensure everyone is working) or half as many people (in which case the shithead NCOIC will be nowhere to be found and half of those people won't be doing a damn thing) as are required for the task, and afterwards that you conduct an after-action review that takes - at the barest mininum - thirty minutes. Any attempts to deviate from this mandatory procedure will result in anything from a negative counseling to UCMJ.<br /><br />Last but not least: I had to listen to some fuckwit in a fancy suit talk about how we've lost the war just to score in an election, then I had to put on my battle-rattle, mount up in the MRAP, and go out on patrol.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-82880754598915093422010-10-24T22:40:00.003-08:002010-10-24T22:47:10.258-08:00And Now for Something Completely DifferentAs it turns out, I have interests beyond randomly spewing about the goings-on in the world. One of these interests includes science fiction, both producing and ingesting. I'm currently fiddling with some of the old Mongoose Publishing Starship Troopers minis. They're... really lackluster compared to GW's plastics, as a lot of the kits don't seem to fit together quite right. Once they're together, though, they're not too bad. I'd have liked to see a better grade of detail on 'em and more variation of pose, but it's not bad. I've only basecoated one PAMI as a test dummy, but I've assembled several more and an Ape Marauder. The Arachnids have about eight warriors put together and most of a tanker bug. The tanker bug will be a lot of work, as the default pose it's in is pretty dull.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-25542740487436651492010-10-19T09:03:00.004-08:002010-10-24T22:59:04.895-08:00Between Young Soldiers and OldI have a shibboleth I use to really tell people who've been in the Army for a very brief time from those who've been in long enough. It's a simple question: "If you were in a survival situation, life or death, would you eat a dead human?" Presumably, you didn't kill him for the sole purpose of eating him. There's lines, after all.<br />The young bucks almost always answer with a vehement "No!"<br />The old bastards almost always answer with a "Yeah, sure, why not?"<br />I don't think it's so much that the military encourages cannibalism as it is that us fellas who been in a minute have a better understanding of ourselves and have much fewer taboos. We have a better idea of what we will and won't do out of necessity, whereas civilians cling to certain illusions about what they won't do in order to survive.<br /><br />In other news, I'm having pork for dinner.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8113597383961861952.post-81015130988193585712010-09-30T04:24:00.003-08:002010-10-24T22:54:15.457-08:00The Ant and the Auto WorkerTurns out a bunch of people in Indianapolis, IN voted themselves out of a job recently. Yeah, good going UAW. This is why democracy sucks: People cannot be trusted once they figure out they can vote themselves a pay raise. In this case, they refused to take a 50% pay cut to keep their jobs (they were getting paid close to $30 an hour). Four hundred and fifty-six people said that they would much rather continue at their pay for the next year or so than take less pay and continue to have jobs for a lot longer, and keep a plant open that would continue to employ other people.<br />What the hell is wrong here? Who in their right mind would think "They wouldn't shut the plant down, they have to keep it open!" Oh, right, everyone who thought the bailout bill was a great idea. Too big to fail, right? I mean, it's not like we're in a recession or anything.Solarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941458483523156652noreply@blogger.com0