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.

Generation Me

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/fashion/17BFF.html

I found that link on Dennis Prager's site, and made the mistake of following it. What the holy heavenly fuck, are these people that demented? Best friends are unhealthy?
Reminds me of how my father used to say that they were child psychologists only because they were too honest to be pet therapists. Looks like a few more parents need to clue in to the con-job. Dennis Prager's got some good ideas in his head, if ya ask me.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/11/i-don-t.html

This girl gets the facts, and then draws the entirely *wrong* conclusion from them. No small surprise considering it comes from Newsweek.

I see these two things being related. Kids these days don't seem to value anything other than their own damn selves.

"Yes! This is my generation! We are self-entitled! All of us think we were truly destined to be great! And our moms and dads definitely help us out financially more than either child or parent would like. But we are also headstrong. We dream big. We don't give up. We embrace new technology. We hope. We don't say "no." We're EXCITED to live. We want to travel the world, see new cultures, break down barriers and change this world. And maybe it's just me being a product of this generation, but I know we will. So to answer the question: we're both hardy with just a hint of delusion (which trust me, comes in handy in this day in age).

-adrienne"

Some random post on a comment thread that I thought illustrated the situation quite nicely.

I call bullshit. There's a whole lot of quit in kids these days. A whole hell of a lot. I work with some of the finest men this generation has had to offer, and I remain unimpressed. Someone tried arguing that this equipped kids for the world they're inheriting. I instead say that if the world we inherit remains, that if civilization survives, it will *not* be because of the majority of this generation. Spoiled, self-entitled, headstrong, and delusional punks do not have it in them to weather the islamofacist, econazi, collectivist storm that's intensifying as we speak. Hardy my left nut. We're the generation that passes up work and lives off of our parents rent-free. We're the generation trained by our parents. We're the generation that, if things continue unchecked, will see the end of American-brand capitalism and the end of the Republic as we knew it. Any questions?