Free At Last, Free At Last! Thank God Almighty, I'm Free At Last!

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.

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.
Too bad I've been watching it all unravel over the last couple of years.

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.
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.
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.

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.

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?

'Cause I can tell you what we've lost.

Heartbreak in Iraq

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.

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.

But hey, at least the wars are over and we got free health care, right?

I might be a little angry about this.

That'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.
Even the Commie News Network 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.

Holy heavenly monkey-fuck, how do you go that wrong in raising a child?

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.

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. That 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.

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.

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.
... 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.
I got kicked out of a lot of schools growing up.

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 all 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 nothing. 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.

The Dream of America

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.

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.

You are the problem.

America was not founded to be a nation of uneducated serfs who vote by blind allegiance. The idea - the dream of America works only 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.

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?

Getting Out

First 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.

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 make 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.

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 safe in this scary, scary world.

I do, after all, recall being a small child.

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 limit 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.

I will not.

At Least it's a Post!

So I saw something that gave me an idea, and I concocted the following recipe:

2 lb. of stewing beef (y'know, the stuff that's chopped up)
4-5 slices of bacon (fried and chopped to pieces)1 diced onion
1 bottle of Blue Moon
4 cups of water
5 cubes of beef bouillon
1/4 cup of flour
1 can of diced tomato
1 teaspoon of brown sugar (to neutralize the acid of the tomato)
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of garlic powder

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.

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.

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.

Martial Law and Dumbass Democrats

So, I saw an article which had a video clip 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.

Okay.

For a one, the previous 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.

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 partially true. You see, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill containing language that defunds and delays the ACA for another year and 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.

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.

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.
So is the Second Amendment. That hasn't even slowed them down.

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 our parks, our resources, our rights.

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 everything - especially health-care.

Call for martial law. I'm sure it will end very well for you.