Final preparations

Nothing much to talk about today, just have been making final preparations for departure for Africa. I had to go out into town to get the devices sewn on my final two DCU blouses and rank on my field jacket. Cost twenty eight bones to get that done. Also went by the local travel store and bought a the appropriate transformer and power adapters for that part of the world. No one has said anything about needing them but better safe than sorry. Unless we have established our own power grid of some kind then we will be using indigenous current, best to be prepared. Have been spending too much money on final stuff such as a second bag. We are entitled to 4 bags of military gear, 2 personal bags, 1 carry on and 1 personal item such as a computer bag etc. I came down here with just one big suitcase weighing 80lbs. I now have 3 full sea bags full of military gear and I bought a large kit bag to divide about half of my 80lb suitcase into. I have also bought a carry-on bag so I can carry a change of underwear, socks and a complete uniform with me. When I packed up all my personal gear today my original suitcase is nowhere near as full and heave as it was. I think the kit bag is unnecessary. I am conflicted on the carry-on because it was 50 bones. I hate spending the money; however, I think after I get home my Bride can find use for it for carrying parenting supplies. It is a medium size military backpack style which equates to a very very large book bag style pack.

On a lighter note, the Endview Plantation Ghost Walk will probably be kicking off this weekend. Capt Tim, Sgt Jack, Sgt Rick, Cpl Bob, Cpl Mike, and all my pards and messmates. I figure y'all are scary enough without using the make up. Have fun, be scary, wish I was with you. Scare'em to Hell Texas!

Starting to get nervous about going. Well, not going just about wanting to get the show on the road. It sucks sitting around here with nothing to do. Oh well, it does give me time to work on leaning my fife. I have been working at that darn thing on and off (mostly off) for years and I still can't play anything resembling music on it. I has too many moving parts. Y'all take care. Probably wont be able to post for a while, at least until I get in country and find out what kind of access is available to me. Talk with you soon



TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

I Do Have Something to Pontificate About

Years ago in an old M*A*S*H rerun, Hawkeye said to another character something to the effect of "Next time we throw a war what will happen if nobody shows up". For some reason I have been thinking about that question, it has been rattling around in my brain all day (My Bride would tell me "yeah, and your head sounds like a can of spray paint being shaken") and here is what I have to say about that:

That question has been answered, though I don't think anyone has really been paying attention. In 1985 international terrorists threw a war just for us. They sent the invitation direct to the Beirut Marine Barracks. I know we received the invite to this war cause the RSVP was written in the blood of our Marines, yet the U.S. chose not to show up. The terrorist just went ahead and threw the ball anyway even if we would not attend the dance. They had been sending us invitations to their war for 16 years before we decided we might want to put in an appearance at the soiree. The invitations have come in the form of The Pan Am flight blown up over Scotland, the German Disco bombing, the Achille Lauro take over, the TWA hijacking, the first WTC bombing, the African Embassy bombings, the USS COLE, and finally the September 11th attacks. Up until the September 11, 2001 invitation we have politely and meekly sent a negative RSVP written in the blood of the victims back to the terrorist. In my humble opinion it was high time we accepted their bloody invitation. We should have been all over them like stink on shit after the Beirut bombing, if failing that then the USS COLE attack should have been the last straw! It is way past time to show the murdering son's of sows how to dance!

We as nation seem to learn nothing from our history. Look at Japanese actions leading up to our entry into the second world war. Japan wanted us and everyone else out of Asia. They needed China's resources, and in order to get them they needed America and the European powers out of the way. Well the war in Europe emasculated the European presence and that only left the U.S. to deal with. Slowly, they turned up the heat on us hoping we would withdraw into ourselves and ignore the Japanese brutality in china. Then sent us a loud and clear message with the sinking of the USS PANAY on the Yangtze river in 1937. We told them we understood their message by scaling back the Yangtze river patrol and not retaliating for their deliberate attach on a U.S. Navy vessel and the American owned vessels she was escorting. Armed with the confidence we provided with our disengagement they proceeded on with their agenda. When the U.S. was once again a threat to the Japanese interests in Asia, they felt it was time to send us another message. This message came in the form of two waves of aerial attack on our fleet base in pearl harbor and almost simultaneous attacks on our facilities in the Philippine archipelago. Japan had good reason to believe we would respond by disengaging and withdrawing just as we had with previous provocation. It wasn't the first time they killed American Sailors, Marines and Soldiers and sunk American ship's. Why would we do anything about it this time. We did not withdraw this time, we drew the terrible swift sword and threw away the scabbard!

We have once again drawn the sword and I hope we have thrown away the scabbard. I am not sure. It seems as if our national will, our backbone has been eroding over the last several decades. Are we still a nation that can pay the price and meet the evil of terrorism with tenacity and aggression? We have suffered about 500 casualties total in the first two years of the Global War on Terrorism and many people already scream that the butcher's bill is to high. The price of victory in the second world war was 1,078,162 dead and wounded, in the first world war it was 320,710 dead or wounded, in the War of Northern Aggression 970,227 American were killed or wounded fighting for their beliefs. We have taken more casualties in the years we spent ignoring the terrorist than we have in the last two when we have been kicking their asses.

AMERICA, WHERE HAS YOUR SPINE GONE!!!! THROW AWAY THE SCABBARD AND LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR!!!.

The terrorist started this soiree, now it is time for to turn out the lights and close the ball.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

The Nature of Liberty Vs. Democracy

Democracy: Two hungry wolves and a lamb discussing what is for dinner.


Liberty: A dedicated and aggressive lamb ready and able to dispute the majority opinion by whatever means necessary.


TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

The State of Things

I feel like pontificating on current events today. Since I have not seen or heard any current events for a week I will have to be fairly general:

Things are really screwed up. Common sense has been thrown out the window. The people in charge have their heads up their butts, especially the liberal ones.

Take that and apply it to whatever is in the news today and I think it will sum it up nicely

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

This is Totally Whack!!!

Was reading the country guide book for the area of Africa I am going to. One variety of deadly Cobra is not enough for this place. They need THREE!!!! What is up with that. The book also reported that in addition to black scorpions, centipedes, and millipedes, their are also several varieties of "large, physically imposing tarantulas". People will know when I find a large, physically imposing spider because they will hear me screaming like a little sissy girl!!!!! Sometimes I think I would rather be out with my pards defending the sunny south from the yankee hordes. Oh well, I hope to be home for most of the 1864/2004 reenactment season.

Completed the CRC Course of Instruction

Now I am officially fit to deploy. We were allowed to sleep until just past O'dark thirty this morning and then it was off to the final briefings. Today's briefings were Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threat. I mentioned that after yesterday's threat briefings that I was officially threatened by everything and everybody. Well I was wrong. I have achieved a whole new level of paranoia. Were through the looking glass people. By the way just what are you up to???? Their is a whole lot of really nasty stuff floating around out in the world. Some of it is innocent at first glance but it you combine a teaspoon of harmless substance A with drop of Harmless substance now you have substance C which has the power to complete melt the nervous system of 100,000 people. It is scary that we have educated people in the world that just sit around think of ways to use chemistry, and biology to kill more people by the most gruesome method. You know that LSD is a chemical weapon. Yep it's true. Somebody stop the maddness.

Do you remember the old Driver's Ed films from high school. You know the ones: Blood on the Asphalt, Through the Windshield, etc. Well, we had a delightful film on Un-exploded ordnance like that. It was sobering; however, the bottom line is the obvious. Don't mess with UXO. If you find it call EOD. If you can't figure that out on your own then you deserve to blow your testicles off! Don't get me wrong, the brief was important and effective especially in showing you what a lot of the explosive death dealers look like.

Another Long but Humbling Day

I had a post written that I was fairly proud of but somehow it got lost in the trons when I tried to post it. Well, I shall try and recreate it.

It has been another very long day and I am so tired I hardly think straight. Today we got up extra extra early at Oh my gosh its dark thirty and started our threat briefings. What a rosy way to start the day. To sum it up, I pretty much feel threatened by everyone and everything.

After we had our naive sense of security shattered we were all transported out to the range to qualify with our weapons. I went into this evolution supremely confident. I fully expected to shoot a perfect course, after all I had just shot this course a week and half ago and I easily shot a perfect 300 out of 300. I felt like I couldn't miss (apparently, I can miss, I can miss a lot!). When my turn came I boldly stepped up to the firing line, executed the range commands and began the first table of fire, the ten round fam fire. No points are won or lost in this round, it is designed to let you feel out the range. Ten targets will pop up and you have ten round in which to knock them down. Well, my targets began to pop up and I began to shoot them. Something was wrong, these must have been magic targets because I was shooting them and they weren't falling down! After ten round I think maybe I knocked down two!?! I suspected that I have a problem. The first table of fire in the qualification round began and I started putting rounds down range. Those damn magic targets were still out there. I kept sending rounds down range but they just wouldn't fall down!!! At the end of the qualification course I HAD FAILED TO QUALIFY!!!! How could this happen to me. It was like suddenly discovering that you are impotent, worse yet, discovering that your crank had completely fallen off and was lying there helpless in the dirt. The horror, the horror. . . Thoughts were racing through my brain. What if my Bride found out. No self respecting women could possibly love a man who can't shoot! My poor children, they will have to wear bags over their heads for the shame of it all. "Hey, look at those kids, their daddy can't shoot" How could this happen to me!?! I am young, I am virile, what is wrong with me! Well, long story short, I fired another round and qualified with a 230 out of 300. Not nearly up to my standards but well above the minimum for qualification, just don't let them know back in Texas. At least my Bride won't have to throw herself off a cliff now.

The Passport Saga Goes On

Still ain't got it. No idea when I'm gonna get it. Running out of time

Busy Day

Long day today, Very tired. We went through the administrative processing today. You know the paper trail that proves you actually exist. In the service you can be stand right in from of someone sticking your spit soak finger in their ear but you still won't exist unless you have the paperwork to prove it.

Following the substantiation of my corporeal existence with ink on paper we got our gear issued to us today. Even got a pistol of my very own. Actually, when we returned to home plate and offloaded the gear truck I went back to my barracks to put my stuff away. Still had my hogleg strapped to my hip, so I locked it up and went to chow. After dinner I retrieved my weapon and walked back up to the headquarters building to find a weaponeer or an armorer. I was positive that they didn't want us to keep the weapons with our gear. Everywhere I have used a military weapon we have always kept them in an arms room, though they never mentioned anything about it. I was right, the armorer SGT was having kittens and they were scouring the camp for me. Guess they never bothered to check the chow hall. I walked into the office just as they were about to hit the panic button. Well, at least I got a good chuckle and a full belly.

End of Another Day

Thus ends another fine Navy day trading my time for the King's shilling.

Flu Shot

The only immunization I had to get was the one I hate the most. The Flu shot. It is the most effective vacine I have ever encountered. It never fails to give me the Flu

A Nation Divided

Recently the sense of a great divide within our nation appears to be getting more defined and wider. As a student of history I would compare this to the mid to late 1850s. I can even relate it to the 1770s. In the 18th century the chasm was carved out of the desire not to be ruled by a monarch thousands of miles away. American colonist believed they had the right and destiny to govern themselves. Well, the reasons were more economical than political. England demanded Taxes and Tariffs on American Trade, England maintained a significant trade imbalance with the colonies and England desired to limit the westward expansion of the colonies. England had valid reasons for excesses. First, the American colonist was the least taxed of all English citizens and second westward expansion required military protection and it was costly to maintain a standing army within the colonies. In order to achieve economic expansion the colonies required political independence. We are as much a nation founded on capitalism as Judea-Christian doctrine. Not every American was in favor of independence. We read much about the fight between colonial rebel and the English tyranny; however we seldom read of the American Colonist against American Colonist. This chasm can be generalize is saying that their is one group of Americans in favor of political and economic independence and another against it. The matter was settled by the treaty of Paris.

In the 1850s the situation was slightly more complicated. Americans once again divided themselves into two distinct groups. Those that believed in a strong federal government that could dictate to the state governments and those that believed the states were sovereign and the federal government was only responsible for those powers specifically granted in the U.S. Constitution. This divide manifested itself around the institution of slavery which is unfortunate since slavery played a relatively small role in the actual divergence of beliefs. Slavery was a dying institution and was slowly being destroyed under its own weight. More importantly, it was becoming economically untenable. This chasm of beliefs eventually led to bloodshed and a large portion of our nation being crushed under a brutal and unjust occupation.

Today we find almost the same gulf. Our nation is dividing itself into two distinct camps. Those that believe the government should have access and control of all aspects of our lives to ensure we are properly taken care of and those that believe government it's own appointed limits should keep. Sound very similar to the previous chasms of belief. I also see a parallel to the 1850s controversy of how to hand slavery to the controversy today on how to deal with the immigration problem. Sometimes it frightens me.

Obviously I have too much time on my hands

Gonna Start Using Titles
Yep gonna start doing that.

I am a little P.O.'d about this mornings medical. I had all my screenings and immunizations prior to departure thinking it would speed me throught the process. For the most part it did; however, I was downed by dental. My panoramic x ray was a hair out of date. I had argued this point with the dental clinic back at home plate but they assured me it was within the required standards and I would not need a full Pano until next year. THEY WAS WRONG!! Now I have to get shipped out to the local dental clinic for an X ray tommorrow. Their goes my scheduled free time. Sorry Darling, I guess I won't be able to call home until tommorrow evening:( I did enjoy watching the civilian contractors in our class. Most of them were on their way to Iraq to make it a better place (In my opinion all Iraq needs is a few Taco Bells.). Well, to a man/woman they had to get the full battery of shots. They were jumping and squirming like slugs in a salt shaker.
On a brighter note, my roomie shipped out to Honduras this morning. I immediatly moved into his bunk. It was the bottom one. You should have seen me trying to get my 6 foot 3 inch 210lb bulk into the top bunk. I am lucky I wasnt crippled!

Sunday we had our first scheduled CRC events. At 1100 those of us here mustered up and waited to sign a piece of paper. The new comers got their linen and room assignments two. There was much discontent when they discovered what I had already dicovered saturday. Their is an apparent shortage of pilow cases! In fact, since these stained and ugly 40 grit have been disappearing at such a prolific rate their were no pillow cases to be had by our deployment class. The hardships we endur in the name of national defense. I suspect their is an alternate dimension where all the left socks are kept INSIDE OUR PILLOW CASES!!!!!! A more likely explanation is that the Bush administration is embezzling the CRC pillowcases to support international bribes to get foriegn funding for the reconstruction of Iraq. I think I heard Ted Kennedy say something about that. Maybe he will hold a hearing and I could testify about my caseless pillow.

I digressed again. Oh well it happens. The second muster was at 1345 where we waited until 1430 for the session to start. We sat their and filled out all kinds of forms until about 1700. Some of the paperwork required by the CRC caused a little bit of a stir. We have about 10 Navy folks in the class which is more than they usually see in a long time. The Navy maintain service record differently from the Army. In fact, we in the Navy can only access some of our service record electronically through the Bureau of Personnel. We no longer have paper records. This fact caused much contstirnation among the army staff because the simply were not able the wrap their minds around the concept that the Navy personnel could only give them screen prints of electronic forms and not actual paper forms. I will let you know what the resolution is.

The third and final muster of the day was held at 1800 sunday evening was much more involved. It involved the standard "welcome aboard" motivational pep talk by the senior staff. In this case the CRC battalion XO. He was followed by the Command Sergeant Major who extolled us to not litter and not live like pigs in his Stalag....I mean CRC. Busy day tommorrow, we get to go to medical at 0615...WHOOHOO!

To my Mess Mates and Pards in Company L (The Lone Star Rifles) 1st Texas Volunteer Infantry (The Ragged First) The Grand and Glorious Texas Brigade, I say GIVE EM HELL IN ARKANSAW-TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD. Whe you galvanize on Sunday and don the blue coats dont forget to be authentic and insult women, scare little children, and pillage private property. Captain Jeff, save me a spot at the camp fire and try to keep Sailor and Anthony out of trouble.