I wonder if the Roman Legionnaires of old had the same thoughts during the first stirrings of the chain of events that brought down the Roman Empire…

I read, from a variety of sources, about the chipping away of the foundational ideals upon which this country was built.

Political debate, a hallmark of our domestic system, has degraded into shouting matches brimming with potential violence.

The Rule of Law bends to the demands of a group of people who see said Law as an inconvenience, and are supported by people elected to their positions and charged with the defense of their constituents.

We see organizations “playing the system” within the loopholes of the law, and they are given a pass.

The icons of Americana, the very symbols of our Nation, are being suppressed because of the threat of some backlash from ignorant opponents.

Stereotypes are set in stone, regardless of fact.  The hard decisions are not being made, and another generation steps forward with a false sense of entitlement.

The fight for the almighty dollar has swept away the concept of self-imposed financial and social responsibility.

We’re losing ourselves, and there seems to be only a handful of people interested in stopping the slide into the abyss.

I have a sinking feeling that we are going to see things come to a head, and it isn’t going to be pretty.

Things are picking up, however, in a good way…

Let me bring you up to speed:

As of last month, I qualified for the VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation program – I finally decided what I wanted to be when I grew up: A High School English teacher.  I’m a full-time student at Spokane Falls Community College, pursuing an AA in English.  I’ll continue on at Eastern University for the teaching credentials, and then on to filling young minds with the wonders of the English Language.  Currently, I taking Introduction to Psychology (those people are crazy!), Geography (Where and Why), and Figure Drawing 101 (two hours drawing picture of beautiful women au natural – turns out I’m a pretty good artist!)  And it’s going well!

I am currently under the instruction of Pipe Major William Clark.  After a series of stops and starts, I am finally on my way towards learning the bagpipes in earnest , and the learning process proceeds swimmingly!

Having acquired the 1941 Ford GTB (“Burma Jeep”), I now have two “technicals” – as John would say, the M-37 destined for the frame-up restoration, and the Ford which is far enough gone that modifying it a bit won’t break my heart.  We’ve got a pretty old VFW post, and some of those guys have definitely earned the right to ride in a parade instead of marching, and so I’ll be knocking together some sort of back deck for the Burma Jeep to facilitate this (and who can’t use a 1 1/2 ton utility truck for when the weather goes sideways?

I seem to have gotten “furry” as of late!  My hairstyle is still within Marine Corps regulations – circa 1775, that is.  Most folks who know me remember me when I was in the Guard, sporting a “high/reg” cut.  Well, that ain’t the case how, what with the beard and long hair.  I decided that it was time to explore other options,  stop thinking like a soldier all the time (the whole “If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail” argument.)  So I’m furry, but woe betide anyone who thinks I’m in some sort of rebellion mode “against the man” or some such nonsense.  I am proud of my service, proud of my accomplishments, proud of my comrades, proud of my Country, and there still lurks in my soul the crusty old Sergeant of infantry.  The Fur that I see every morning simply reminds me that I don’t have to think like a soldier all of the time, and I have given myself leave to consider other lines of thought of a less martial nature.

So, that’s the haps.  Have a great day!

Addendum:  Here are the vehicles:

Apparently lying is protected under the First Amendment…

Now, I’m not always the most truthful fellow in the pool. And anytime any of us old warhorses start off a sea story with “Now this happened to me when I was on liberty in Thailand…” folks should start putting one hand on their wallet, and the other on their family jewels, because there’s a whopper inbound… But these are sea stories, anecdotes, tall tales that carry no claim of truthfulness, legal counsel, or historical accuracy…

… But when a fellow lies about having received a decoration, especially a decoration that sways public sentiments to the point where the public is at risk of being made the victim of fraud, on top of the damage done in the public eye towards legitimate holders of the decoration, well, is THAT covered by the law?

I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that this country’s laws are starting to do a better job protecting criminals than they do protecting the interests of those who won through personal valor, effort, and/or initiative a decoration while serving the Nation.

I’m just sayin’…

SGT B and Phoenix...

Know Ye, Oh Best Beloved, that SGT B and Phoenix, being of sound mind and spirit, were married in the eyes of God by a Pastor of the United Methodist Church at 2:00 PM, June 6, in the year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten.

The population of the Firebase now stands at 11:

SGT B

Phoenix

Kat (Reservist)

Bear

The Engineer

Sir Artiste

and then the Life Sparks:

Ice (K9)

Spike (Feline)

Jojo (Feline)

Tristan (Feline)

Sandy (Feline)

and assorted fish and One Red-kneed Tarantula (under a suspended death sentence as long as it stays where it belongs…)

In other news:

The Firebase has a new addition in the motor pool:

A 194? Ford GTB 1 1/2 ton truck, otherwise known as a “Burma Jeep”.  Doesn’t look like much right now, but she’s actually in pretty good shape:  All the important parts are there, and the engine isn’t locked up.

Oh, and it was FREE…

I had the pleasure of attending the 2010 MilBlog Conference in Washington D.C.!

Personally, the journey to and from the Conference was flawless and uneventful, and when I arrived in D.C., I was looking forward to the pre and post festivities as well as the event itself…

There are plenty of folks who have posted comprehensive summaries of the events, so I’m not even going to try (and ride their coat tails as far as kudos to all who pitched in to make it a great event!  Y’all rock!!!), but I am going to express a few thoughts:

I need to learn to twitter…  I’m sick and tired of not knowing where the after parties are…  ‘Nuff said…

I had a great time getting a chance to talk to the very same folks whose words have made me laugh, strengthened my resolve, and, most of all, forced me to expand my mind.  Rarely have I disagreed with any of them, but if I do, I know that, so long as I forward a reasonably thought out opinion, it will enjoy a cordial and genuine response.

Oh, and I need to learn how to spell Blackhawk Grayhawk Greyhawk…  And Mrs. G. is petite…  Kinda like dynamite…

Uncle Jimbo needs to get over his fear of public speaking and stop being a wall flower…

I don’t ever want to get Chuck angry at me…

The Golden Knights (U.S. Army Parachute Team) has a blog, and they were there.  I’m not sure whether a cost-benefit analysis would support them being there in their primary role as a parachute demonstration team, but I was glad to see them exploring the possibilities of using social media to advance their message as ambassadors of the U.S. Army.  Unfortunately,  the only thing I could have said to them face to face was “Dude, what you guys do is totally cool!”, and look like some blithering idiot, so I sat back and drooled from afar, because, you know, they are cool!  (And they left behind some really neat stuff!)

And then I was able to meet Major Norman Hatch, who shot combat footage of the Marines landing at Tarawa.  To Marines, he is a living legend, and meeting him, and having lunch with him was an honor of the highest degree!  He spins a good sea story as well!

And then there was Gina Elise…  What a sweetheart!  Got legs all the way up to her shoulders, and a heart of pure spun gold to boot!

Saving Able performed Friday night, and I wish I had brought my harps…  Next year: The Pipes!

If I were to try to list all of the bloggers I met and interacted with, I know I would forget somebody, but I see each and every one of you in my mind’s eye, and I enjoyed every conversation in which I participated, and I value the fact that some of you “heavy hitters” even remembered who I was!  It boosted my motivation to get my head and tail wired together and step up my own blogging.  Of course, being out in the middle of nowhere, it might look something like this:

12APR2010:  Watched the wheat in the fields growing…  Cleaned my rifle…

13APR2010:  Wheat is still growing…  Cleaned my rifle again…

14APR2010:  Still growing…  Rifle’s pretty clean…

15APR2010:  Wheat…  Growing…  Ran out of Hoppes No. 9…

16APR2010:  Growing wheat doesn’t make for good news…  Took a break from rifle cleaning and switched to the shotgun…

Anyhow, had a wonderful and enlightening time, and I’m looking forward to next year!

I offer this break from entropy, and celebrate the life-sparks that enrich my life…

First there is Spike (Interior Vector Control Tech 1st Class) who is voted most likely to speak in the manner of Sean Connery…  Yes, he’s THAT cool.

And then comes Jojo (Interior Vector Control Tech 2nd Class), who is beautiful, and he knows it!

And, in order of age, here’s my buddy Ice, who is as wonderfully capricious as any Princess ought to be, and proves that the word “dog” encompasses a concept of unconditional love that words will never fully define…

Have a wonderful day, and remember those who go to Piddler’s Green, but take comfort in those who remain at our side.

Now listen up, people.  We need a break from entropy.  So keep ‘em safe and healthy, eh?

Aye aye, sir.

To a lesser extent, but by no means less compelling, The Tuskeegee Airmen and Windtalkers provided a glimpse of the valor of individual units at war, showcasing the courage and contributions to victory of Americans who, despite the prejudices of the time, did their jobs, and did them very well.  In the parlance found at the end of just about every award given in the United States Armed Forces, they “brought great credit upon themselves, their unit, and their respective Services”.  In short, they gave all of us something to be proud of, irrespective of race, creed, or color, but as Americans.  IN this, these heretofore untold stories brought us together against the outrage of racial prejudice, and in admiration of technical and tactical skill, of which these individuals earned every right to be proud of their accomplishments.

And then there was the dearth of “wannabes”, which came in the form of Pearl Harbor, and The Thin Red Line, the first providing a spectacular (if inaccurate) portrayal of the attack on Pearl Harbor (a vexing pet peeve of those of us whose families were directly impacted by that attack – my Grandfather watched as his ship, the Oklahoma, capsized in front of him) as an expensive backdrop to the romance of two Army Aviators and an Army Nurse, and the second a “cerebral” contemplation of the horrors of war (which left me thanking Providence that the characters were not being portrayed as Marines.)

Now, HBO embarks on a production that will, I hope, meet or exceed the standards it reached with Band Of Brothers, and this time, tell the story of The Old Breed, the 1st Marine Division, and the ferocious combat found during the island hopping campaign of the Pacific Theater.  Hopefully this production will enlighten the modern generation about the many battles whose names have all but been forgotten: Guadalcanal, the Solomons, Tarawa, Pelileau, Okinawa, and other actions that should be as close in the Nation’s memory as D-Day, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge.

Having had the privilege of serving in the 1st Marine Division, I hope that this production will faithfully tell the story of the men in whose shadow I served, and in whose memory I did the very best I could to uphold the standards that they forged.

The 1st Marine Division, “The Old Breed”

All the best for 2010 to you, and I’ll expect you here for the AAR in December!

Your humble scribe at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, January 2009...

Your humble scribe at Firebase Rockford, United States of America, January 2010...

Despite the “PG” rating, I think that it contains combat scenes and language that might not be appropriate for the younger set.

Technically, the CGI was incredible, and the depiction of the planet “Pandora” is a visual tour d’ force; an amazing collection of bio-luminescence and jaw-dropping effects.  Were it real, this would be a wondrous place to explore, and hostile atmosphere notwithstanding, I could build me a nice little retirement home there…  The visuals of the indigenous population were handled with the tact of National Geographic, and well represented.

Without giving away the plot, it is a story of profit-driven humans trying to drive the indigenous population off of their sacred grounds to allow for the mining of a highly valuable mineral, using the military assets (specifically the Marines) to provide the heavy-handed eviction notice.  Bottom line, screwing the locals to make a buck…

And therein lies the message…

Those of us who adhere to a mono-theistic deity that is human-centric, and those of us who follow the martial vocation might be prompted to dismiss this as “another tree-hugging piece of work from Hollywood”.

And it would be wrong, in my view…

As far as I am concerned, relations between the Judeo-Christian God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are, first and foremost, a one-on-one relationship.  The whole idea behind Christ’s teachings is that we should lead by example, not force others to believe as we do.  Let our deeds do the convincing, in other words:  If we encounter another populace whose lifestyle is based on a different faith methodology, I believe that we should live and let live, unless that population is overly hostile with no discernible reason.  We should not fall into the trap of believing that our way (not HIS Way, OUR Way) is any more “righteous” that anyone else’s, and we should not be so arrogant as to think that we know all of God’s plans; He may have not granted us the Need To Know about His plans for our neighbors, in light of the fact that we are still trying to get our own house squared away.

So (after the appropriate suspension of disbelief), there is a population of ten foot tall blue folks who are so in tune with their natural surrounding that they have created a simplistic society that ties them to the land.  Sounds like a few cultures that once enjoyed an unfettered existence in our own backyard, doesn’t it?

Continuing the aforementioned suspension of disbelief, the reason for Humans even being on that planet was primarily wrong.  The presence of researchers attempting to learn about a totally different bio-system, culture, etc., might be justified, but to destroy a whole different culture for profit is plain wrong.

Which brings us to the Marines:  Had any of those Marines remembered the oath that they can be presumed to have taken upon their enlistment, the one that affirms that they will “Support and defend the Constitution of the United States…” not a man Jack among them would have fired a single shot.  Where was the threat?  From a population that didn’t even have the ability to escape their own atmosphere on a world that took six years to travel to from Earth?  I don’t think so.

Unfortunately, we have seen this scenario played out in our own reality.  Not in Iraq, or even Afghanistan, where there is, indeed, a threat to the United States from a hostile adversary that refuses to negotiate in good faith, and has proved their intentions through acts of violence upon our own soil.

So, taking all of this in, I think that there are two messages, both of which apply to my own life:

1)  If you’re going to pull the trigger, make sure that you’re pulling it for the right reason.

2)  Sometimes it isn’t doing what you are ordered to do…  It’s a question of doing what is right.

I approve of the movie’s message, and I hope that it makes people think.

Personally, I’m thinking that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to be tall, blue, and wearing a loincloth.