Maudlin Thoughts

As my time here draws ever shorter I have been reflecting on what an absolutely outstanding group of troops I have. They are the best that I have ever served with. I probably think this about every team I am privileged to lead/work with; but I think this one is the best. I have spent the better part of six months, working, eating, playing, laughing, farting (yes, farting. My Bride will be pleased to know that I have met my flatulent match. I have an Army Staff Sergeant whom has actually compelled me to yield the room. That speaks volumes 'cause I've got game. I plan to put him in for the Joint Bad Air Medal for meritorious flatulence) and even crying with them. They are like family, they are family. The really sad part of it is that in a couple weeks they will have a new boss and I will have a new team (Well, actually it will be my old team from my parent duty station, but they will be like new since I have been gone these six months) and my troops here will quickly fade from my memory. It is extremely unlikely that our paths will cross again since we are all from varied services and specialties. Like old photos, stored in a trunk, locked away in the attic of my mind they will always remain with me though they are "forgotten". In a few weeks, months, years I will have to think very hard to recall them and that is sad. However, on the flip side of that, experience has shown me that if by some random fate we meet again I will remember them like yesterday. That seems to be the nature of friendships.......No friendship is not the right word, it lacks the proper nuances.....Kinships formed in the service. Strong bonds of loyalty and affection....Kinship.... Form very quickly and are just as quickly suppressed, they are not broken, never broken, they can only be destroyed by a breach of the faith. They are merely lost in the attic of the mind. I think that is a form of subconcious armor against the deep sense of hurt (maybe guilt?) that comes when we have to leave our troops and move on to the next challenge and next best group of people that we have ever served with.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

This Has Gotta Be A Bad April Fools Joke

What the flock it this CRAP! Word Court! Who da heck do these jackasses think they are. My God the absolute audacity of it. The real question is how the government is going handle this, that is where the pudding meets the asphalt! I sure hope to high heaven they tell those bastards to take a flying f*ck at a rolling donut!

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

Just Another Day At The Beach

I haven't posted much in the last couple of days, well actually I have posted I just haven't published any of them. They mostly centered around my EXTREME agitation with Uncle Sugar's Navy and the detailing process concerning my next assigned duty station. Suffice it to say it ain't pretty. You should never drive drunk, grocery shop hungry, or publish angry, so I didn't. Now that I have had a couple of days to compress my rage, and hurt regarding Navy's betray......I mean "careful but regretfully negative" consideration of my concerns, into a compressed "harmless" little rage ball suppressed deep down inside my emotional nether regions, never to be seen or heard from again (until that one special day when I snap like a dry twig........Just kidding....Maybe) I can now move on.

I took advantage of our MWR program today. The flyer said "MWR BOAT TRIP, enjoy snorkeling or scuba diving in the Gulf of Tadjura! Swim with the Whale Sharks" Ordinarily I avoid anything to do with the water. I hate boats, I hate swimming, I hate being on or in the water (attitude brought to you courtesy of the U.S. Navy and a three week water survival course), but my buddies wanted to go. I figured I could hang out on deck, take a nice nap, or read a book while my buddies got "lickered up" and frolic in the water. Unfortunately, I guess the flyer was mis-printed because we didn't get an MWR BOAT TRIP, we got an MWR BUS TRIP. To be fair, it was a bus trip to a boat, but; the boat didn't go anywhere 'cause in this third world African paradise nothing can exit the harbor unless they have written permission from the Minister of Maritime Affairs, the Minister of Defense or the President of the Republic. No shit!.....Talk about micro-management. Our intrepid charter boat crew failed to get permission in advance so this morning they discovered that both ministers and the president are out of the country. Therefore we didn't do anything but ride a bus to a boat, sit for a couple of hours on the boat waiting for or bus to come back. I guess my mission was accomplished, I did take a nap. Personally, I don't really believe that failure to get written permission was what canceled our trip. It probably was because the charter crew couldn't come up with a large enough kick-back payment. Oh Well, it did take my mind off that festering little suppressed rage ball of mine that I am soooo over now.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD