Military Relations (Part II)

I understand that Iraq, while dangerous, was not nearly as perilous as facing the German army and air force in WWII. Foster’s descriptive details of the battlefield and combat were very interesting to me. The enemy we face in Iraq is not nearly so organized, no where near the sheer numbers or support such as the Germans of WWII. What the soldiers faced back then on a daily basis was just unbelievable.

I was impressed by Foster’s ability to remember the names of people he knew from some 60 years ago. I don’t remember the mess sergeant’s name from just 10 years ago in Nebraska City. These days our food is prepared by civilian contractors, where as in WWII they had to survive often on “K” and “C” rations, neither of which sound all that great by comparison. We have MREs, Meals Ready To Eat, but we rarely ever eat them, because our chow halls have pretty good food. In WWII they were not afforded such luxuries, instead eating whatever rations they had, supplemented at times by “local cuisine.”

In December of 1944, the Seventh Army was heavily involved in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the most historic and important battles of WWII. Now, it gets incredibly hot here in Iraq, exceeding 130 degrees at times. But I would take the blistering heat any day over the bitter chill endured by the troops during the 1944 winter in Europe. January 1944 turned out to be perhaps the most important and difficult month for Foster’s battalion, as the artillery batteries fired more than 27,000 rounds of ammunition that month alone. The units were constantly repositioning to meet any enemy threat the Germans could muster.

Here in Iraq, we continue to modify our operating procedures to try and maintain better relations with the Iraqi people. We do not consider the typical Iraqi citizen to be our enemy, therefore we try to avoid warning shots, maintain a less aggressive show of force, and drive along with traffic rather than forcing them to the side of the road when we drive by. It’s important to maintain security, but to also put forth a friendly posture, because most of the insurgent activity is not done by Iraqi citizens, but by foreign fighters trying to destabilize the Iraqi government.

These foreign insurgents are killing innocent Iraqis as well as American soldiers, therefore by working with the Iraqi people, we can develop a trusting relationship in order to squash the insurgency. We have yet to suffer any injuries or deaths from combat. While our training, tactics and NCO leadership is a huge part of that, we’ve also been very lucky. We hope this continues. Few units if any were so lucky during WWII. This is what happens with “force on force” combat, something we don’t see in Iraq.

We wear our individual ballistic armor and other protective gear whenever we are out on the road, and during high threat times “inside the wire” on post, but we don’t face bullets wizzing over our heads on continual basis. Hearing that, along with artillery landing nearby, and enemy planes flying overhead, I don’t know if a soldier in WWII would ever get fully used to that. Then came the enemy jet, the ME 262, the first jet fighter plane. This must have been amazing to the allied troops in Europe, having never seen anything like it before. I wonder how Foster and the other men reacted upon first seeing them, it must have been awe inspiring, even as deadly as they were.

On Easter Sunday, 2006, I was barely able to walk, the effects of having run a marathon the day before. On Easter Sunday 1944, Foster’s unit was crossing the Rhine River in Germany. At this point, the allied forces were pushing the Germans back faster than ever. Enemy prisoners of war were adding up, and they continued to advance into Germany, stopping periodically whenever encountering resistance, to do fire missions.

06 April 1944: One battery supporting the 19th Armored Infantry helped liberate a POW camp, many of the prisoners having escaped earlier came out of the woods, crying as the allied troops rescued them. I cannot imagine what that would be like, such a wash of emotion it must have been to liberate your fellow troops, even if they were soldiers you had never met before.

05 May 1944: Victory Europe!!! How incredible this must have been, after years of fighting, not knowing how it might end, things looking bleak at times, advancing on the enemy deep in Europe, and suddenly, it’s all over with. From his recollections, it sounds as if Foster got to see quite a bit of Germany following VE day. He got a good look at the German ME 262 fighter jet and had the same conclusion I did about the plane, that it would have been more effective earlier in the war when they would have been able to build more of them and keep them up with parts and supplies.

Foster noted the incredible damage in Munich, Germany, with entire city blocks laid out completely in rubble. Some 50,000 people were killed during air raids in the city. This illustrates the major difference in the weapons when compared to the weapons we have now. I have toured many of the concrete bunkers here in Tallil, built by Saddam Hussein during the Iran/Iraq war of the 1980’s. In several of the bunkers, you could find rooms in the basement that had rebar and huge piles of cement as though they had just fallen away from the ceiling for no reason.

I asked one of the Iraqi contractors about this, an English educated engineer who actually helped with the design and construction of many of the bunkers back then. He laughed when I questioned the quality of the construction of the bunkers. He pointed out that it was the United State Air Force’s precision bombing that gave the bunkers an outward appearance of being unscathed, yet decimated specific areas inside the bunkers. This was during the first gulf war, and it’s an amazing testament to how advance our weapons systems are nowadays. There would have been no way to get this kind of precision during WWII without collateral damage and civilian deaths. But now, you can take out a building next door to a library or church without worrying about destroying them. You can never completely eliminate civilian casualties during war, but it’s important to do what you can to reduce that number.

From what he wrote, Foster and his unit did see a lot of Germany. It’s interesting how he took notice of the many historical areas, where Hitler was nearly killed, where the Nazi party was started, among the more interesting sites. Here in Iraq I have seen a multitude of historically significant places. I remember walking on the Temple of Ur, thinking to myself that I was standing on a building more than 5000 years old, the most significant building of it’s time and the largest in the world by far in it’s time. The house of Abraham is another one, it was incredible to be walking around on the same floor stones as a man so synonymous with the histories of every monotheistic religion on the planet. I was utterly in awe. There were also many of Saddam’s palaces, most of those are now being used to quarter high ranking officers of the United States military (yah, imagine THAT!)

In July of 1945, Foster’s unit began the long journey back home, heading first by train from Germany back to France to Camp Lucky Strike, a dusty collection of tents near Le Havre. He wrote about all of the towns he saw along the way, and also of the massive railroad gun, which I saw pictures of in those Time Life WWII books. Undeveloped film was not allowed to be taken back to the USA, so Foster spent several late nights developing his film into photographs by hand in a tray.

It’s interesting that now during this digital age, everyone seems to have a camera that can transmit images simply by connecting it to a computer. This also contributes to some major problems, as seen by the images of the Abu Graihb prison and other photos of behavior that should not have been going on. In the days of WWII, photography wasn’t nearly so easy to do, which may have been a good thing, considering. I would like to see Foster’s photo collection, perhaps the next time belly and I are in Wisconsin. I believe it would be very interesting.

On July 25, 1945, Foster left France for the United States on luxury liner that had been refitted as a troop carrier. He arrived in New York on August 2, and was promptly given 30 days leave. He boarded a train for Wisconsin and was given orders to report to Camp Cooke, California, at the end of his leave. There preparations were being made for a landing in Japan in the Pacific, where the war still raged on.

Of course, because of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that never happened. On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered, and WWII was finally over. Foster still boarded a train for Camp Cooke, and over the next six months got into a stateside Army routine. He was able to visit a lot of different places on the west coast on his weekends off, and on February 6, 1946, he was honorably discharged from service in the United States Army.

We likely have about 4 months left here in Iraq, and when we get back stateside, we’ll have about a week to 10 days of demobilization. This will consist of accountability of equipment, security classes, sensitivity training, counseling, and awards ceremonies. While I will not have 6 months of active duty to do upon arriving back in the states, I’ll have about 3 years left to reach 20 years of service, at which point I may retire if I choose to do so. Of course belly will have 2 years left in the Marine Corps at that time, so we’ll just have to see where things take us.

I have the utmost respect for the service members who fought in World War II. I have a hard time comparing what I am doing now to what those brave men did some 60 years ago. At present, there is little hope for unorganized radicals to defeat our military thru the use of sporadic cowardly bombings. But during WWII, there were times when it really appeared Germany and Japan might win the war, and even as isolated geographically as the United States was, the strike at Pearl Harbor was a wake up call, that we as a nation could not sit idly by and isolate ourselves from the problems of the world. We were a part of that world. What are we when good men do nothing in the face of tyranny?

The history of World War II, what led up to it, the actual battles, the aftermath, should all be a mandatory class for all American high school students. I fear that many do not understand the incredible sacrifices made by our armed forces during WWII, how those sacrifices protected the very freedoms we enjoy today. The media no longer promotes heros, instead focusing on vilifying the military with every chance they get. Although good stories outnumber the bad in Iraq 1000 to 1, all you hear on the news is about the negative situations that happen on a rare basis.

By studying WWII, our youth will not only get a better understanding of the war and our world in general, but also it will help us to keep from repeating history, by recognizing the need for a strong military to preserve our very way of life.

I’m incredibly proud of my wife’s grandfather, he is a hero, as were all the soldiers, airmen, marines, and seamen during WWII, and all other armed conflicts our country has endured. They certainly should always be remembered as such.

Military Relations

This will be a two part post, due to it's length. Also, I am using only the first name of my wife's grandfather.

Studying World War II has been a hobby of mine that started in junior high when I read the Time Life WWII series of books. My wife’s grandfather wrote a detailed account of his time in the United States Army during WWII. I enjoyed reading his narrative, and found many similarities to my own service, as I’ve been in the Nebraska Army National Guard since 1990.

In 1943, my wife’s grandfather Foster arrived by train at Ft. Benning, GA, to begin 12 weeks of basic training at the Infantry School. As amazing as this sounds, my basic training and Infantry School at Ft. Benning more than 45 years later also lasted 12 weeks. Foster was assigned to an area at Ft. Benning called “Harmony Church”, living in a one story wooden structure. When I attended basic training, we were taught about the historic importance of Harmony Church, and we actually used a number of the old wooden barracks there for our first aid, map reading, and other classes.

We would road march to Harmony Church from Ft. Benning’s current Infantry School, located at Sand Hill. It was a 6 mile “hump” to Harmony Church, and I remember the same poison oak, snakes, black widow spiders, and other aspects of Ft. Benning that Foster wrote about. I took belly to Ft. Benning in April 2005 following her graduation from Marine boot camp at Parris Island, to see where both her grandfather and I had gone to basic training. We were told that the majority of Harmony Church has been torn down, but some buildings were saved for historical purposes. Sadly, the entire area was blocked off, we couldn’t even go up the road to see it.

Foster’s discussions of drill and ceremonies, or as he called them, “close order drills”, learning to use your rifle, M-1 for him, M-16 in my case, hand grenade throwing, digging fox holes, bayonet training, gas mask training, and road marches, all brought back memories of my time at basic training. Foster’s “hikes” were 25 miles, where our longest was just over 15 miles. His completion of basics was the mock combat training “in the swamps of Georgia”.

This is exactly how we finished our training, we called it a Field Training Exercise, where we put all of our training together in a combat environment. Upon reading his account of basic training, it was amazing to me how the basics of infantry instruction have remained the same, even as the tools and weapons have been updated, over a period of so many years.

After completing basic training, Foster was assigned to the 499th Armored Field Artillery Battalion at Ft. Campbell, Tennessee. Foster’s description of a field artillery unit was really interesting, because I knew so little of the “King of Battle”. Artillery is commonly referred to as the King of Battle, where as the infantry is known as the Queen of Battle. This is not a derogatory comment, the references to royalty are made of respect, about how both the infantry and artillery work together to rule the battlefield. I became part of A. Co., 2nd/134th INF (MECH) Battalion, 35th Infantry Division.

When Foster was in the United States Army, WWII was raging, and after a summer of physical conditioning and training exercises at Ft. Campbell, they prepared for the overseas movement. Each soldier had their wool olive drab uniforms, steel helmet, blanket roll, “musette bag”, mess kit, canteen, gun mask, carbine (rifle) and duffle bag. All personal possessions had to be sent home. At this time, October of 1944, Foster was promoted to the rank of PFC, Private First Class.

A war was also eminent when I finished basic training in August of 1990. Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait and the United States had massed troops as part of a coalition in Saudi Arabia, to move against Saddam and force him out of Kuwait. I would have been unable to go, at age 17 I had another year of high school to complete, plus the first Gulf War was over so quickly that very few Army National Guard units ever got involved.

3 months after turning 19 years of age, I attended the Platoon Leadership Development Course, required to attain the rank of SGT E-5. I'm the youngest person to ever attend PLCD in the state of Nebraska. I spent my first five years in Nebraska City, earning the rank of sergeant. In the fall of 1995, the Nebraska City 2nd/134th Inf. (MECH) cased its colors and ceased to be an infantry unit, and was reconsolidated as a cavalry company. I was transferred to Wayne, NE, where I became part of the 1st/134th Inf. (MECH), 35th ID. This worked out better for me as I was attending college there at Wayne State College.

In May of 2000, I gained the rank of E-6, Staff Sergeant. 2 years later, our unit switched from 11B infantry to 88M medium transportation, and once again I was part of an infantry unit casing it’s colors and shutting down. We became the 189th Transportation Company, a combination of both the Wayne and Norfolk units, formerly troop A and B respectively, of the 1st/134th. Many of us were unhappy about this, but Nebraska closed the books on all of their combat units, instead switching to combat support units such as transportation, NBC (chemical company), military police, and water purification.

Being there were no other infantry units to transfer to in the state of Nebraska, I stayed in Wayne for the changeover to transportation, and learned another MOS (job title). The casing of the colors on the last of the 134th Infantry Battalion was hard on a lot of the soldiers and veterans who had served in the battalion over the years. The Nebraska units who made up the 134th have a long and rich history, starting in the 1800’s with the Mexican American war, and ending up as one of the most highly decorated infantry battalions during WWII, spearheading many of the attacks in eastern and northern France, including St. Lo during the push into Germany.

Switching to a medium transportation unit seemed like a real step down from the prestigious “blue cord”, but it wasn’t long and we got the call to be activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The call for activation came in the spring of 2005.

For belly and I this was a difficult time. She was still at Parris Island when I received the notification by phone of my unit’s impending move to active duty status. Her training was not yet completed when in August of 2005 I traveled with the rest of the 189th to Ft. Riley, Kansas, to begin mobilization training. We geared up and trained up, spending most of our 2 ½ months of training focused on convoy specifics, truck maneuvering, and basic tasks from the soldiers common tasks manual. These included rifle marksmanship, first aid, map reading, and also using the newest military electronic equipment, from global positioning systems to encrypted radio sets.

We received so much gear at Ft. Riley. The basic load that Foster received some 60 years before in 1944 seems so much simpler, easier. Each soldier of the 189th ended up with 3 duffel bags, a ruck sack, a small foot locker, and a large foot locker for all the gear we were given. Then we were allowed a regular carry on bag and a small laptop bag to actually carry onto the airplane that would transport us to the middle east. Most of our gear was sent over a month ahead of time in storage containers via a ship, where we would link up with it later on.

On October 29, 2005, we boarded a plane in Kansas and headed off towards the middle east. After stops in both New York and Germany, we touched down in Kuwait, some 22 hours of flight time later. We received the latest training and intelligence during a 10 day period at Camp Buering, Kuwait. Following this training, we boarded C130 airplanes and headed north, into Iraq. Our final destination: Tallil, Iraq, also known as Ali Air Base.

Foster’s trip overseas began on October 12, 1944, aboard a troop ship, in a convoy of 35 ships headed out across the Atlantic. His unit had guard duty on deck, which was fortunate, it gave them a chance for fresh air, considering how packed in the men were below deck. Bunks were stacked 9 high and 4 deep. There was cold salt water for showers and shaving. They were not told where they were going.

On the 28th of October, their convoy reached Marseilles, France, their point of entry into the European theater. The port showed evidence of the ravages of war. Even as the men disembarked from their ships, they walked on gangways built over sunken ships in the harbor to reach the dock, all uphill. The first night it rained, and it was a cold wet night for all. Foster learned to drink coffee black, and certainly welcomed it the following morning. They staged for 20 days to receive equipment and prep for the move north, where they were to join the Seventh Army in battle.

Upon the 189th’s arrival in Tallil, Iraq, we took over for a unit out of California and immediately set to work getting our “inherited” equipment up to our standards, which, sorry to say, were a LOT higher than that of the previous owners of the equipment. The staff sergeants in our unit were all tasked out with the job title of convoy commanders, each responsible for learning how to command a convoy traveling thru Iraq. We learned to integrate the gun trucks for protection with the M915 A4 tractor trailers for transporting cargo. I was made NCO in charge of a 15 man detail from our unit, tasked to work with the local Iraqi contractors on post, escorting them to job sites, ensuring they stayed where they needed to be, and providing them with security as we escorted them.

20th November, 1944: Foster also had a change in assignment, to the Reconnaissance Section as an instrument operator. They traveled by train into northern France. The weather in Europe is comparable to the Midwest in the United States, so it was quite cold. The land would vary, from low hills, to heavy wooded areas, to swamp lands. Finally they linked up with the Seventh Army on the fight thru the Vosges Mountains. Although the Germans were retreating, it was still some very tough fighting.

While our platoon did escort duty in Iraq for the first 2 months, the rest of the 189th was getting on the road, running convoys all over Iraq. A good number of our soldiers were tasked over to maintenance to get our equipment road worthy, and as more and more of our trucks and trailers got repaired, we were able to provide more convoy support for our combat support group, the 485th CSB out of Germany, a regular army battalion in charge of our unit.

The 189th convoys transported water, mail, MREs, retrograde, new parts and equipment, everything the forward operating bases needed to operate successfully. We loaded it all up and took it wherever it needed to go in Iraq. We’d also go on runs down to Kuwait to pick up supplies and equipment as needed. In January, one of our convoys went to Arifjan, Kuwait, to pick up around 12 older model M915 A1 semi tractors. We backed our tractor trailers in, got the old semi tractors loaded up, then lined up and were ready to roll out in under 45 minutes.

The regular army and civilian representatives on hand couldn’t believe it, stating that they’d never seen a regular army unit work so quickly with such cohesion, and certainly never a reserve component unit. This is normal for us though, we tend to exceed expectations all the time here.

ARGGGGGG NEBRASKA WTF????

Imagine how wonderful I felt to open Yahoo sports and find this gem:

San Francisco eliminates national No. 6 seed Nebraska from NCAA tourney

BLAH! Worst finish in a long time. Nebraska (42-17) went into the regional matchup, AT HOME mind you, as the top seed in their regional, and goes 0-2, losing to a couple of half assed baseball teams that they should have clobbered. I really don't understand this team, before the season people didn't figure they'd be all that great, that 'next year' would be the year they make a run.

Almost immediately they were proving people wrong, blazing thru the season winning 18 of 19 games in April, then inexplicably losing 11 or 17 in May, but finishing off strong with a 2nd place finish in the Big 12 Tournament.

Oh well, there's always next year. I'm starting to sound like the Ancient Ghost of Nebraska Football Past (1980's) or something. BLAAAAAAAAH!!!

Current Lyrical Rambings

Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat, and brand-new pair of shoes;
You know I think it's time to give this game a ride.
Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all - a moment in the sun;
(pop) It's gone and you can tell that one goodbye!

Centerfield - John Fogerty

Excitement Delivered Monthy

When I was young, probably around 10 years old or so, I can remember reading Popular Mechanics and Popular Science at the local public library, and how enjoyable that was. Mind you this was in like 1984 or so, in a time long before the internet and in a period when cable television was not yet taking off, and certainly not available for our family being way out in the country (to this day there is still no cable or satellite television at my family’s house where I grew up).

I think sometime around the end of the 7th grade, beginning of the 8th grade, I sent in a subscription card to Popular Mechanics and started receiving their publication once a month. I loved it. I can remember how excited I was to get a new magazine each month and spend hours reading it from cover to cover, and then some. It was an amazing, innocent time in my life. Too early yet to be interested in girls, too naïve to realize the impracticality of pursuing many of the amazing gadgets I read about within those pages.

I held that subscription all thru high school, and once I headed off to college I let it go. In college I became much more interested in sports than I ever had been in high school, from watching ESPN, on cable television of course, and I ordered Sports Illustrated and Time magazine to keep up with current events in both the news and sporting arenas.

After getting out of college I ordered a few more magazines, I gave up on Time and instead got U.S. News & World Report because it was, and to this day is, in my opinion, the most reliable and unbiased source for accurate news reporting. Time isn’t real bad but they have a liberal slant, where as Newsweek is pure liberal garbage and propaganda and has no value whatsoever in the field of credible journalism.

I remember getting Car & Driver for a few years, an amazing magazine dedicated to promoting the newest vehicles available to the public. I can also remember my frustration with them about their continual fascination with European cars (I have never liked BMW’s and Mercedes cars, too much money, too little distinction, all YUPPIE). I ordered the inaugural subscription to ESPN the Magazine, and although I enjoyed it somewhat, it just wasn’t as good as Sports Illustrated, I’m not even sure ESPN still does a magazine? I’m guessing they still do.

Currently, I have no subscriptions save for the Maxim subscription belly has for me, which goes to my parents house, because I never got the address forwarded. I sort of feel bad for my father, he reads it and tells me “You know that is terrible how the girls dress and some of what they say in there” but he is also quick to point out “Some of that stuff is really really funny.” My mother, as is true to her nature, throws them away as quickly as she finds them, sometimes right out of the mailbox, because she tends to be hypocritical, and while allowing if not reading Cosmo and other women’s trash, she fails to see that Maxim is merely the exact same thing, only for men.

In this age of internet information, I guess that’s why I likely let my subscriptions to the magazines I loved run out. I spend a lot of time getting whatever info I need online now, and therefore do not see the reason to pay for something I’m not likely to read. But as I sit here in Iraq reading issue after issue of Hemming’s Muscle Machines (a magazine dedicated to muscle cars of my father’s era, which someone thankfully sent us about 30 copies from 2004 till now), I remember a time where a young boy sat in his room reading about the new space shuttle, 6000 people on an aircraft carrier, and the brand new 1987 Corvette (not sure about that year midas, just guessing haha). Wow, those were the days.

Current Lyrical Ramblings

You know the tunnel of love, well it ain't my style.
So I'm gonna take on the ferris wheel.
Way up in the sky, with the stars in her eyes,
I'm gonna tell her just how I feel.

County Fair – Chris Ledoux

Oh YAH!! I figured I could use it for farm work, but now I know for SURE!!!!

Alleged Cattle Thief Tries to Squeeze Seven Animals Into Back Seat, Trunk of Dodge Neon

05-31-2006 7:54 PM

OGDENSBURG, N.Y. -- A man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stealing seven calves from a Canton farmer, sheriff's deputies said.

Victor R. Gardner, 22, is accused of squeezing seven of the young cattle into the back seat and trunk of a 2000 Dodge Neon. He is charged with third-degree burglary and third-degree grand larceny.

Gardner had the help of an accomplice when he allegedly drove the calves to a barn in DeKalb, St. Lawrence County Sheriff's deputies said.

Two of the calves were sold, the rest are missing and presumed dead.

Gardner, who has a history of burglaries, is being held in St. Lawrence County jail without bail.

MOO! X 7 :)


Current Lyrical Ramblings

Two faced! I feel you crawling under my skin.
Sickened by your face.
By the way, to think that your so fucking kind?
You ain't!

Greed - Godsmack

And They Said Iraq Was Hot... PFFFFFT!!!

Soooooo, I had decided earlier today that I was going to go running, and I did get 4 hours of sleep, a relative miracle while working nights. So I headed out about 1800 (6 p.m. for you civilian yahoos) and well, my thermometer said 140 degrees. Now this is between the trailers mind you, and it's usually at LEAST 5 degrees hotter there than out say running on the black asphalt roads :)

So I headed out to do a 3 mile run. I get about a mile and a quarter in and I realize I MAY have underestimated just how hot it was. That and the giant panda I saw dancing in the middle of the road led me to stop and walk during my run at certain points. That panda was fast too, holy shit, I couldn't catch it. So, I finally finished up and headed back into my room, air conditioned, thank God.

I will likely reevaluate my idea of running late in the afternoon and attempt to do it at night or something, during my night shift. There is a problem though, panda's are f'ing SCARY at night!! :(

Current Lyrical Ramblings

Again, no lyrics:

Allegro Attaca - Beethoven

DAMN, and I was going to try this!!!

Here are some things you should not do.

Never ever stick your willy on a frozen pole.
Never drink poprocks and lye, it just isnt cool.
Never stick your finger in a blender.
Never stick your dick in a blender.
Never put your cat in the microwave.
Never put your friend in the microwave.
Never use a fudgesickle during foreplay.
Never snort white powder from unknown envelopes.
Never use a slinky as a contreceptive.
Never use a glove as a reusable condom good for 5 uses.
Never shoot a load in your friend's sock.
Never put your friends cat in the oven.
Never use a spork for a home abortion.
Never use a foon for a home abortion.

spam found this on the internet after I mentioned the slinky bit. Well that just SUCKS!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

NONE, no words in this:

18-1 in E Flat Major 'Grande Valse Brillante' - Chopin

Kid Being Noisy During Whore Island On Fox? SEDATE HIM!!!

I have to wonder sometimes just what society is coming to when such a high percentage of children are labeled as ADD and ADHD and then put on drugs and/or into counseling. I myself was labeled hyperactive, which I thought was bad at the time, but there is no doubt in my mind that some dipshit in a suit with a psychology degree would have diagnosed me ADD and had me popping Ritalin like candy. What is it with psychiatrists and psychologists that they have a need to label as many people as they can with emotional and mental disorders? As though that question even needs to be asked, it’s all about money and name recognition, if you would believe the conspiracy theorists.

While I have no doubt there is a measure of truth to that theory, I believe that in the long run it boils down to lazy behavior. If children came with an instruction manual from God, it would say they are energetic, have a short attention span, are loud and boisterous, and require continual supervision until a specific age. Parents no longer feel it should be their responsibility to take care of their children. “Oh, my kid doesn’t sit down and watch tv, he runs around and acts silly all the time, doctor, we need help.” Why not tell the fucking truth? “Doctor, I’m a lazy piece of shit parent, my kid is normal but I want to drug him up so that I don’t have to take care of him or supervise him so he learns good behaviors, we need help.” That’s the story here, it’s not about kids with problems, it’s about PARENTS with problems.

The whole idea of using drugs to sedate children is disgusting, because when you do that, you develop a need in children for chemically related outside sources of help to cope with the world. What does this say? It should be obvious, if it’s okay for a child to be taking drugs at age 4 and up, when they reach the teenage years they believe it is totally acceptable to go on their own and start in with alcohol, cigarettes, weed, or worse. Anyone who doesn’t believe that using Ritalin and other drugs of that type act as a gateway to elicit drug use later on is an ignorant fool.

It would be wonderful if parents, teachers, administrators, and doctors of all types would quit trying to label all children as abnormal because they don’t meet over restrictive guidelines, guidelines imposed by a society that seems to try to weed out creativity and differences in children that make them unique and wonderful.

Current Lyrical Ramblings

In your house I long to be
Room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone I'll wait for you there

Like A Stone - Audioslave

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

Transition is a difficult thing sometimes and this is no exception. I traveled back to the United States on about a 24 hour plane ride, then stayed for 2 weeks, then back over to Iraq after another 24 hour plane ride. I am back running the night operations crew out at our unit's operations center. My body seems to be punishing me now because I cannot get any substantial amount of sleep to speak of. Yesterday was the best I did, with about 6 hours perhaps? Today I'm working on 3 hours of sleep. I really don't think it has anything to do with working at night either, it just seems like I can't seem to get into any rhythm. But that's what happened when we arrived here the first time so I expect things to get back to normal.

I have yet to play a new game that belly bought me. The Godfather for Playstation II, some of the other guys here say they have heard it's a kick ass game, so I'll have to take my playstation out to the ops center some night to play it. I drew a couple more mazes out there in the last couple of days. Needless to say, at 0300 in the morning it can be very quiet and also boring as hell. It's hard to stay awake out there too. Oh well, I have 5 hours yet till I have to be out there tonite, I may try and get a couple more hours of sleep before I go.

Running has really sucked lately, I never thought it would get to this point. I'm tempted to start running sets, quarter and half miles, but I think it's my chest that is making it hard on me, it's like I can't get my breath, and it hurts to try to breath deeply. I need to figure out what this is, an infection or virus or whatever I've had for 2 and a half years, but there are no specialists here in Iraq and as most people know, I dropped probably 10,000 dollars on civilian doctors and didn't find out shit. Seems it's worse when I'm tired, stressed, or sick, in fact, worst of all when I'm sick, even a light cold now just seems like death. My chest burns like hot lava when I get a cold. I will see a specialist when I'm back home, I have 90 days following deployment to take care of medical issues.

Let's see, other than that, I'm next in line in Nebraska to get an E-7 Sergeant First Class slot. Let's hope one comes up, I think it would be wonderful to get my E-7 rank while over here, the only problem I can foresee is trying to find a decent slot in California to take when I move out there.

Well, time to take a nap. Dreams about belly coming up :) IF I can get to sleep that is!!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

Now your pictures that you left behind
Are just memories of a different life
Some that made us laugh, some that made us cry
One that made you have to say goodbye

Always - Bon Jovi

Two Weeks Too Fast Gone

Once again, I sit on a transatlantic flight, headed for the sandy box that has been my home for the last 6 months or so, cramped in with my elbow cocked forward so as to be able to type on my computer. It’s about 2200 Pacific time, and although I didn’t complete get over my previous jet lag, here I go again, certainly to completely goof up my internal clock once again.

What a vacation! I’m guessing I gained about 10 lbs, but it was worth it, it just means I’ll have to really work my ass off (literally) with running and pushups and situps galore oh my!! I must have eaten steak like 8 times haha, and it was totally worth it. We spent 4 days in Las Vegas, at Sam’s Town. I have to really give a thank you out to belly’s parents because without their help the rooms would have likely been at least twice what we paid, which wasn’t much at all.

We went to see the Amazing Jonathan, who bills himself as a magician but in my opinion he is more of a crude comedian who uses a few little tricks but hardly any magic to get his show going. It wasn’t too bad, but I think maybe we should have chosen the Blue Man Group, even though the price was rather high to go to that particular show. We also checked out a really kick ass car display, got really trashed drinking these two tall margarita/daiquiri drinks (half a yard they call them), although I think I got the worse end of that one by finishing belly’s drink off for her.

We saw the Star Trek Experience, because, for those of you who do not know this already (and you must live under a rock if you do not know it) belly and I are big time nerdy trekkies. Of course I damn near got motion sickness, due to my complete inability to handle enclosed rides, or any rides that shake you laterally for that matter. We did a LOT of walking around, and a little bit of shopping, along with about 4 h ours or so of gambling. All in all it was pretty fun.

On the way back we stopped at Calico Ghost Town, which was really neat. It’s sort of amazing how they took a deserted old mining community and rebuilt it, but you can see they don’t make near the money they need to keep type place up the way they should. I suppose that’s because they have kept the place intact, without adding gaudy shows and modern roller coaster or action rides, and that’s a hard thing to maintain when people are always looking for thrill and adventure and they find ‘merely’ history here. I say that not about myself, I really enjoyed the town, it was quite entertaining.

I bought some new clothes, 3 new pair of jeans, 1 pair of khaki carpenter pants, a pair of leather sketcher shoes that look almost like old fashioned football shoes. I also bought a new pair of running shoes. SURPRISE! I went away from Nike for only the second time ever. I bought a pair of New Balance. I’m interested to see how well they work for me. They are supposed to be quite a bit better for pure running, longer distances, like I’d like to do, slower pace for longer distances, as I’m getting a little older now heh.

Let’s see, we dropped off the truck to get it fixed, drove a Chrysler 300 around for a few days, then picked up a Chevy Cobalt (what a cheap pile of crap) for my wife for the last few days they are fixing the truck (they extended the amount of time it will take). We saw a few movies. The Davinci Code, interesting, worth seeing in the theater, but not likely worth the hype. I’m sure all the fundamentalist Christians will be screaming about it and out to get people’s scalps, despite the fact that the author of the book admits it’s based on fiction.

We are almost halfway through our flight. So far, two movies have been played, we made sure to suggest action movies, if any. The first was a sports drama called Glory Road about the first all black basketball NCAA team to win a national title. It was pretty good. The second one was King Kong, a remake of the classic. It was quite long and drawn out and it really lost a lot of it’s charms with the overwhelming amount of unrealistic computer generated action scenes (although, of course, there is no 10 ton ape in reality anyway, so how real can I expect it to be?). How can one ape fight off 6 T-rex dinosaurs? Well, thru a lot of crazy computer imagery, that’s how. I didn’t really care too much for it, although they did capture the humanity of the ape fairly well.

Oh, and of course I purchased something else, but I’m not going to tell you all what that was, you’ll have to find out at a later date, but I’m excited about it. My big thanks go out to midas for that one, he’s been very helpful, even in the face of some real ignorance from those we were working with, bah!!

I hope belly isn’t perplexed by how things went at time, I had a lot of trouble sleeping and I was grouchy quite a bit, but our situation is so different from what a lot of people go thru, even other military, considering that I was staying in a place I had never been, trying to dig thru boxes to find stuff that was repacked and unsure of what was where, not ever finding some things, finding other stuff seemingly out of wack, and doing a TON of laundry (wow storage units stink up the clothing). Things will be different when I come home for good. The only problem is that belly may end up getting deployed, but if that happens, so be it, we’ll deal with it, just like we always do, it’s what we signed up for, our obligation to our country : ) I LOVE YOU BABY!!!

Well, landing in Ireland now, might see if we can get ourselves some internet access there and post this shizzlenits!!!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

As you search the embers
Think what you've had, remember
Hang on, don't you let go now
You know, with every heartbeat, we love.

Ask The Lonely – Journey

I Miss You

Already... as I walked down the plane boardie thing in San Diego I felt it already. Bah.

Current Lyrical Ramblings

You always reached out to me and
helped me believe
All those memories we share
I will cherish every one of them

Stand Here With Me - Creed

ANOTHER OLD POST, this time from October of 2005 : ) Just doing some cleanup, this one may have been posted already but I can't find it in my archives (and I'm not looking that hard for it either)

More Hollywood Rubbish

This time disguised as a news article. I was catching up a little bit on the news and came across a movie project that Hollywood has decided to work on. It’s going to star Kirsten Dunst, as an American Citizen who went to work in Iraq to get aid to war victims. Now, let’s look beyond the obvious disturbing ignorance in making a film about a war that is STILL GOING ON, with our military members STILL FIGHTING, and visit some of the more idiotic parts of this editorial so thinly disguised as an article.

“The movie, to be made for Paramount Pictures, will tell the remarkable story of Ruzicka, 28, who ran a non-governmental organisation that lobbied for financial compensation for civilian casualties of war, Daily Variety said.”

Ohhh, ‘remarkable story’ now, is that how we describe non biased news these days, with adjectives implying good or bad? Interesting, now let us look at some other parts of this ‘article’ that are misinforming.

“Ruzicka, through her organisation Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, worked extensively in Iraq and in Afghanistan to document the exact number of civilians killed or injured by US forces.” UH, WRONG!!! Way to doctor the facts. This campaign was not aimed at those ‘killed by US forces’ it was aimed to help ANY civilians harmed during this war, by either side. Why do you think she was targeted and killed by a suicide bomber? Well, there are those that believe her investigative work was working against the insurgents by putting exact numbers killed by both sides up from an impartial source. So certainly if it were just ‘civilians killed or injured by US forces’ , that would work FOR their cause. Way to get the facts WRONG. And way to misspell organization in your ‘article’ too, great editing.

But hey, it’s being produced by MTV films, which should really say a lot. MTV can’t even put music on a stationed named after music, how can you expect them to put up factual information in a serious movie? This is typical of the media, who trumps up larger than life estimates of those who have died in Iraq anyway, and attribute all deaths in Iraq to American forces, taking no time to break down the numbers in terms of who killed who, such as when suicide bombers kill a hundred civilians, that’s attributed to the US Military. They also lump insurgents who are killed in with innocents to inflate the totals. Gotta love the bullshit.

The article goes on to talk about how the Hollywood is lining up films about the ‘three year old conflict in Iraq’, listing several titles, and stupidly includes "Jarhead," starring Jamie Foxx and Jake Gyllenhaal, which is set to open on November 11. Wow, way to do your research, considering Jarhead is about the FIRST Iraqi conflict, Desert Storm, more than 15 years ago.

Interestingly enough, the article is not attributed to any author, instead listed simply as LOS ANGELES (AFP). I wouldn’t want to put my name on this garbage either, considering the inconsistencies and one sided viewpoints that are inferred within. Just another attempt by the half witted non educated Hollywood types to try and sway political opinion concerning topics they know nothing about.
Current Lyrical Ramblings

Bend and shape me, I love the way you are
Slow and sweetly, Like never before
Calm and sleeping, We won't stir up the past
So discretely, We won't look back

Doesn’t Remind Me – Audioslave

The Home I Have Yet To See

As many people who read this know, belly was still doing her military occupational specialty training when I was activated in August of last year. Everything we owned went into storage and I headed to beautiful Ft. Riley, Kansas, for a couple of months of training in preparation for my time in the Sand Box.

Even as I was deployed to where I am now, I had no idea where we were going to live. We figured Yuma, Arizona, given belly’s high test scores and class ranking, and because not many people would actually pick Yuma given the climate and that Yuma isn’t exactly party central, so to speak.

Of course, as seems to be the military’s way of doing things, they went another direction than where we intended, and sent belly to San Diego to Camp Pendleton. Then we battled with the Marines over her basic allowance for housing, that all married people are SUPPOSED to get, but of course they wanted to keep her from getting it and call our marriage one of ‘convenience’ (aka FRAUD MARRIAGE FOR MONEY).

So we finally got that sorted out, and now we have, as I have been told, a quaint little apartment in a suburb of San Diego on the northern side of Pendleton, a place that I have not yet seen save for pictures. California… as most of you know I despise pretty much everything the so called “Sunshine State” stands for, smug self serving liberals with that pseudo intellectual superiority, with their smothering red tape liberal legislation and expensive reform programs and moronic political viewpoints, but belly says the weather is nice. I’ll just have to avoid getting my srt4 pulled over if I get some modifications in Nebraska, cuz they certainly won’t be legal in California.

With that said, I have obviously not seen my apartment, save for a few photos that my baby has sent me. I am excited about finally being able to see our apartment and checking out some of the sites around San Diego, and maybe a little bit of time doing a couple of adventures, but I hope belly realizes that I’m doing a lot of adventure right now and for me, living a normal life during my break is what I’m most looking forward to.

I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have belly in my life. This deployment would be a lot more miserable, that is for sure. I know I can have a truly crappy day and all I have to do is hear her voice or get an email from her and the stress just melts away.

***OLD JOURNAL ENTRY, for some reason it was never posted? Oh well, and if it has been posted I never found it, so who cares right?

Book Review: The Broker by John Grisham

This book begins during the waning hours of the presidency, as an ousted president makes several very controversial pardons, one being Joel Backman, a major power broker who was sent to prison after pleading guilty to theft of military secrets. Turns out that the CIA pressured the president into making the pardon, then quickly secreted him out of the country to Italy, where they would release his whereabouts to several other countries, who are very intent upon killing him.

The book started off rather well, but upon Backman’s arrival in Italy, things slowed down too much to really keep a person occupied with the novel. The main problem was the daily Italian life that Backman was leading was drawn out much too far and became relatively boring. Certainly Bologna, Italy is likely a wonderful city, but it seemed like Backman went to every café and little restaurant in the city, and Grisham had to write in detail about every one of them, and also about every single day’s Italian language lessons that Backman was taking. It was all a little too boring for my tastes, and you ended up wanting to skip ahead to find out just what was going to happen.

In the end, Backman has a moral dilemma, does he sell the technology that he has or does he do the moral thing and give it up to his own government, despite the fact that part of his own government wanted to see him killed. I was disappointed with the ending because there were many ways that Backman could have made a great variety of people pay for their greed and treachery, yet Grisham sort of ended the book without any of that being done, there are far too many loose ends in my opinion to really slam the book shut and think to yourself “what a great ending”. It was a little change in pace from Grisham’s usual works, and an interesting yarn, but had too much filler in the middle and too little substance in the end.

Rating: ***

The Not So Joyful Traveling Extravaganza

I’m sitting at 34,500 feet at this point, row 14, seat G, traveling somewhere over the northern Atlantic on a North American Airlines Boeing 767 with around 300 other servicemen and women. I don’t know that I have ever even heard of an airline called North American until I stood on the tarmac staring at this plane, but even so it was wonderful to see a piece of high tech machinery that wasn’t military in nature, for the first time in more than six months.

The last couple of days seem almost to have been drawn out into weeks. I was in Kuwait with 3 other members of our unit and we fully expected that we would be in Kuwait just a couple of hours and then head to the airport and be immediately on our way home. Well, how sadly mistaken we were. The entire process is a TOTAL clusterfuck. We arrived in Kuwait at about 1700 on the 2nd of May, and we find out that our flight doesn’t even leave until 2300 THE NEXT DAY, so we were stuck spending 30 hours on this itty bitty “Purgatory” between Iraq and the United States.

This didn’t have to be so bad, had it not been for the completely asinine and incompetent way the personnel stationed at the installation ran the place. Lazy, ignorant, non caring morons is about the best way to describe them. We turned in our IBA vests and Kevlar helmets upon arriving, and got ourselves rooms at billeting (tents) to stay overnight in. Then for some reason, rather than do the 2 week rest and relaxation briefing right there, they made us wait till 2130, despite the fact that many of us were very tired (a good portion of the soldiers were under the impression we would be on a flight right away so we had been practicing sleep deprevation so we could sleep on the plane).

Upon arriving back in the reception area at 2130, we discover that we are in there with about 100 more soldiers who had just arrived who were given the SAME BRIEFING that we received (orientation, turning in your equipment, getting billeting) some 5 hours before, so we were stuck waiting nearly an hour and a half for the newly arriving soldiers to get that taken care of. Then finally at some time after 2300 we got started and were able to turn in our request for final destination packets, and then we were told that we had to come back at 0500 to pick up our itineraries that would tell us what flights we were on.

Okay, so 4 hours of sleep and then back for ANOTHER meeting, no big deal, it’s important to get the itinerary, right? Oh, but wait, it gets better, “Be back here at 0730 to find out if there are any changes to your flight times for Atlanta or Dallas” (everyone flies to those two ‘gateway’ airports before taking a final flight to their home airport). I went up front and asked the PFC “Why are you having everyone get up at 0500 to get their itineraries when you are having another meeting at 0730 anyway, why not just give the itineraries out at the 0730 meeting???” to which I was told “I’m sorry sergeant that’s not how we do it.” Okay… “Well, what is the reasoning behind having two meetings 2 hours apart that could just as easily be combined into one meeting at the later time” to which she looked at me stupidly and said “We don’t make the rules that’s just how it’s done.”

“Oh, okay, so basic ignorance, is that it?” and I walked away. At that point I was pretty pissed off, as were a lot of other soldiers, because nothing was making much sense at all. Adding to the confusion was the apparent complete lack of NCO’s on the post doing any leadership at all, everyone running the briefings, handling the situations, etc, were SPC’s at best and many times PV2’s and PFC’s, completely and utterly nonsensical, any questions you had for them in terms of better ways of doing things were always met with the same response: “We don’t make the rules that how our leadership wants it done”. WELL FUCK, then get your leadership down here so we can discuss a better way of doing things!!!

May 3: We had an NCO pick up everyone’s itineraries for our group, which was very nice of him, a red haired SGT out of the 82nd Airborne who didn’t mind getting up early and grabbing about 150 schedules for us all, which we didn’t give much of a shit if that went over well for the people running the place or not. After all, if your freaking leadership skips out all the time and leaves the shop run by idiot subordinates who don’t outrank you, they can’t do shit about it when you do things the way you want to do them, in a way THAT MAKES SENSE.

I don’t think they were too happy about it, but fuck ‘em, they had done an admirable job of ruining our last 24 hours already. Oh, but it got better. Lockdown for our flight was at 1400, nearly TEN HOURS before we were even scheduled to board. Why? Ohhh, we get back into the reception area, and guess what? “Okay, those of you that just arrived, line up single file to turn in your IBA and Kevlar…” hey hey hey, they did it again, hooray for ineptitude, three cheers for bungling stupidity, they had EVERYONE arrive early to enjoy another hour and a half or equipment turn in by yet ANOTHER group. By this time there were many of us who were ready to choke the shit out of the military staff running this shit hole.

So, then everyone from Dallas stands in a big formation outside for about an hour before we are sent off in a giant single file line into the customs area, where our bags are ex rayed and gone thru. Then after that, we sat in another tent for 3 hours or so waiting, for what you might ask? WELL, you’d never guess it, we waited for 3 hours so we could board a bus and ride for an hour and a half then wait for an hour on a cramped bus with seats spaced out for toddlers or midgets, so we could finally board the plane.

You would never think you could actually get onto a plane and silently scream with delight about the leg room in coach, but you do when every bus in theater (Iraq/Kuwait) has legroom for little people, and you are 6 foot tall. About a half hour later and we were airborne, and I was streeeeeeetching out and loving it, MP3 player out and plugged in, sleeping, then reading a book, then sleeping, then eating one of the meals they serve every 3 hours (I am eating one, skipping one, as we go, don’t want to eat a lot before I get home, I’m sure my baby has big food plans haha).

Seven hours later we landed at Shannon International Airport in the Green Emerald Isles. I did a little shopping at the duty free shop, got some chocolates for belly, and stayed away from everything else because it was rather pricey. Ireland is every bit as pretty and green as you can imagine, and for all of us sitting on the plane as we took off a couple of hours later, after a long time staring at very little green and mostly sand for months, it was a welcome sight.

So now here I am, roughly 4 and a half hours into a 9 hour flight to Dallas, still marveling at human scientific achievement, the ability to create a machine that flies you some 5 miles in the air, whisking you around the world in such a short amount of time.

Did I say a short amount of time? Because actually, it does seem like an awfully long time. But at least the seats are comfortable, at least we have movies to watch, and food to eat (although the food has been pretty bad haha). Halfway to Dallas… then another 6 hour wait for my next flight to San Diego. Hey, look on the bright side, at least I don’t have the farking idiots from Kuwait having briefings and meetings every two hours in Dallas. I can call my wife, then find an internet café and enjoy myself.

It’s good to be coming back to the USA, even if it is to somewhere I’ve never been, and only for a couple of weeks : )

Book Review: Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy

Published 2003 Finished Reading: 30Apr06

Tom Clancy’s newest book has moved ahead some into the future, as Jack Ryan Jr., the son of the principle character of most of Clancy’s books, is looking to get a job following college, settling in on an ultra secret ‘black ops’ organization that works outside of the scope of the CIA and FBI while using the information they get to go after terrorists who are outside of the scope of they typical laws that govern crime.

An attack on American soil leads Jack Jr. into the deep elements of the spy game much quicker than anticipated, as this new unknown intelligence agency strikes back at the heart of the terrorist organization who dared spill the blood of innocent civilians right here, at home.

There are other characters in the book that tie in with previous characters from other books also. The book is a little slow to take off and never quite catches up. Clancy is right at home with the battlefield, where divisions of men line up and the technological descriptions and the ballet of warcraft, and although this isn’t a bad book by any means, it doesn’t quite live up to the expectations you are used to from reading his previous works. The real peculiar part of the book is the ending, where it seems almost as though it’s a To Be Continued… sort of thing, I can’t tell if the book is really supposed to be over or if Clancy is leading into his next literary work, or if it is just a bad ending.

Either way, without an ending, the book is just sort of bland at the end, without the usual definitive slam dunk that I’ve been used to when reading Clancy novels. I was a little disappointed overall with the book.

Rating: **1/2

Current Lyrical Ramblings

Love is in the water
Love is in the air
Show me where to go
Tell me will love be there

Shine – Collective Soul

Giddy Anticipation

4 DAYS! That’s right ladies and gentlegerms, 4 days till I get begin my journey back to the most Unitedest of States, and I’m excited!! We had our chaplain’s briefing, in which we were told not to treat this as though we were right back home again, not to try and take over everything for our spouses, and not to get the idea that we are not going back. Something tells me I won’t have that problem, considering this is going to be more like a vacation for me than for most people.

I’m going to a place I have never been, to live in a home I have never lived in, my home, with my wife, with whom I have been fortunate enough to have in my life, she, the cats, and my stuff are the only familiarity I will likely have. So in essence, this will be like taking a 2 week vacation to San Diego, so I won’t really get the idea of ‘home’ other than a reference of things to come. We will probably go to Las Vegas for a weekend, and the last weekend I am there, there is likely to be some big blow out beach party with a bunch of the Marines, hence I have to look good *pumps iron* I don’t want to be that ‘scrawny Army guy’ in the presence of those burly Marines. Like I care, they are a bunch of pansies mwahahahah!!

So anyways, I’m trying to get all my stuff ready, I have a list of things written down, working hard to have everything perfect for my trip home long before I ever head for the terminal, because I HATE always doing shit at the last minute, it seems like a curse on me or something to never be up to date and ready to go for something, I always have to CRAM just like I always did at college for tests hehe. I have my mp3 player loaded up with music for another 24 hour flight. The odd thing about this particular flight is that I’m probably actually going to gain nearly a full day as I head west towards CONUS, so that’s going to be interesting haha, nothing like a one day encore of Groundhog’s Day, this time Bill Murray is flying from Europe to the US of A!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

If I close my eyes
And make a wish
When they open will you be
right here with me

Where Are You Now? – Janet Jackson

Book Review: Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz

Published: 2004 Finished Reading: 30Jan2006

I purchased this book back in October of 2005 while visiting belly at Cherry Point. I read it in January and am now getting to doing a review of the book. This was really a delightful tale. I have always enjoyed Koontz’s books, and this was no exception. I can remember the first book of his that I read nearly 15 years ago, and how incredibly frightening that one was, to the point that I was reading it at night alone in my house while at college one summer and I had to stop reading it because it was freaking me out.

Koontz’s books aren’t always frightening, yet even in the tales where the outcome is determined by scientific, human means, he still seems to weave the supernatural into the threads of the story. “Life Expectancy” focuses on the birth and life of one Jimmy Tock, who’s grandfather by some unfortunate circumstances dies on the very night that Jimmy is born. As his grandfather lays dying, he predicts five terrible dates in Jimmy’s life.

The challenges that Jimmy faces turn to rewards, in the most twisted sense imaginable, and in the usual Koontz way, the surprise twists are fairly chilling, although in this book they are for the most part more delightful and humorous than in many of his other tales. Of all the books I have read thus far, I would say that belly would probably like this one the best. There are still some elements that are rather unimaginable in the sense of how warped they really are. “Prepare to be Enchanted”

Rating: ****

Book Review: State of Fear by Michael Crichton

There are times when a book can be a complete revelation in terms of how it rocks your belief’s structure, in how you view a significant part of your world. This book will do that to just about any environmentalist who even has half a brain. For me it was more of a reinforcement of my own beliefs than a revelation, however. I have long been skeptical of environmentalist groups and the policies they employ, lawyers who are hell bent on ‘saving the world from humans’ regardless of the conflicting facts from the data that their own scientists’ studies are showing them.

Crichton is a master of preparation and research when it comes to writing. The book itself is fiction, but the facts presented within are formulated from actual data and studies that are done in real life, so in some ways it has a very non fiction feel to it. There are literally dozens of sources listed in his bibliography, some of which I have checked out myself by searching the internet for them, and they are true. These aren’t conspiracy theory web sites either, these are university professors, doctors of geology, meteorology, actual environmentalist scientists, and many other well educated members of the scientific community who in many cases went into these studies looking to prove the existence of global warming only to find out that the facts presented themselves in such a way as to deny that the phenomenon even exists.

That’s only part of the theory the book presents, there are so many amazing surprises within the book, from debunking the cancer from power lines myth, to showing how Yellowstone National Park was nearly destroyed due to environmental policies that were enacted to ‘save the park’, to how so much data exists that demonstrates the very idea of ‘global warming’ may be one of the greatest farces ever entertained by the scientific community.

This is one of the more important books I have read in my life, in terms of opening up people’s eyes and making them really see the facts for what they are. If more environmentally minded people read this book, it would really rock their world and change their viewpoint about a lot of things. As Crichton is quick to point out, he is not anti environmentalist, except in the fact that most environmental groups are more interested in maintaining an elitist status quo than in actually doing anything about the environment, hence having far too many lawyers on their payrolls and far too few scientists.

I cannot begin to describe the amount of work the author put into this book. As I was reading it, I suddenly put two and two together and realized he was the same author who wrote “Rising Sun”, a book about the Japanese culture and how it interacts economically with the culture in the United States, again, an amazing book with a ton of research supporting Crichton’s viewpoints.

The basic viewpoint in “State of Fear” is that we have created a society that needs to continually develop grand new scary theories of doom, the idea of a ‘state of fear’ that we live in, in which the media screams about the danger and scientists back up the doom with all this suspect evidence. This is true from the Salem witch trials all the way to the current day Global Warming theories. As Crichton explains, if anyone is really interested in an open and frank discussion of the facts about global warming, they will find that the majority of data involved in the studies on global climates do not support the theory of global warming at all, and that those who are trying to further promote the theory thru strong editorial positions in scientific magazines, have no business doing so do to a big time conflict of interest, in that there is a name to be made by attaching one’s self to the new ‘state of fear’, regardless of whether or not there is any truth to the theory.

As far as the plot of the book and the storyline, there are times where Crichton gets a little lost in the details of the characters, likely because of the complexity and brilliance in the presentation of the scientific details backing the conclusions within the storyline itself. For instance, one character is trying to decide between two women he likes and you never do get any idea as the book comes to a close whether he ever makes a choice or not. This happens throughout the book, and is the only real reason I didn’t give it a full 5 out of 5 stars. 4 and a half stars is a stretch in terms of the fictional quality of the book, but the staggering amount of scientific influence on the story pushes the rating up, in my mind.

Crichton’s own views at the end of the book are very insightful, and it’s best to close with one: "We haven’t the foggiest notion how to preserve what we term “wilderness,” and we had better study it in the field and learn how to do so. I see no evidence that we are conducting such research in a humble, rational, and systematic way. I therefore hold little hope for wilderness management in the twenty-first century. I blame environmental organizations every bit as much as developers and strip miners. There is no difference in outcomes between greed and incompetence.”

Rating: ****1/2

Book Review: Pacific Vortex by Clive Cussler

This book is part of a series of books, starring main character Dirk Pitt. It is the second book of the series that I have read (I can’t remember the name of the first one), and there has been a movie made of one of the books in the series, that being the movie ‘Sahara’. This is actually the first book of the series. There is a brand new state of the art US nuclear submarine, and it goes missing in a mysterious part of the Pacific Ocean known as the “Pacific Vortex”, where more than 30 ships have disappeared in the last 40 years.

It’s a decent tale, but I believe that Cussler wants to infuse himself into the tale, I get this feeling that he models Pitt off of a younger version of himself, with Pitt of course being much more daring, charming, the ultimate man’s man, that no woman can resist, who does nothing wrong. Within the perfection lies the flaw of the book and series in general. Human nature is to err and due to Pitt’s constant triumphs over unbelievable odds, and his conquests of every single woman who comes along (to the point that James Bond is a mere hobo it seems), without so much as a mistake, you begin to find yourself almost bored with his exploits. Sure, there is the ‘how is he going to get out of this one?’ type of thing going on, but for the most part, you say to yourself “oh geesh, WHATEVER!!”

Still though, it’s a decent read if you can see past that fault, and I’m sure I’ll likely read others in the series if I come upon them.

Rating: ***

Book Review: Ice Run by Steve Hamilton

Oddly enough I just picked this book up in the MWR building one night when we first got to Iraq, before we had internet set up in our hooches, and I got into it while reading it for about a half hour waiting to use a computer, sitting in the makeshift library they have here at Tallil.

The main character of the book is an ‘on again off again’ detective, Alex McKnight, who runs a snowmobile/camping cabin resort type of place, like a hideaway, way up north along the border with Canada in Paradise, Michigan. There is a river that basically makes up the border line.

McKnight is the main character in a series of books from this author. McKnight gets drawn into suspenseful mysteries more by sheer dumb luck than any determination to actually do detective work. As the story goes along, he falls in love, gets his ass beat a number of times, and of course by the end of the book he solves the puzzle. Hamilton’s description of the cold winter scenery is excellent, you can almost feel the chill in the air from the blustery Michigan wind as you read the book.

Even in the cold eerie dark setting, you want to be there, going to the old hotel, riding in the small plane to the old mysterious island in the center of some lake, I guess that’s part of the intrigue of mysteries such as this, and the suspense that goes with them.

Rating: ***

Book Review: Phoenix Sub Zero by Michael Dimercurio

As this story begins, the Europeans and Americans find themselves in a war against the Arabic nations of the middle east, who have united in an alliance to defeat the ‘infidel west’. In terms of the overall technical descriptions of the submarines and naval warfare in the story, such as the lives of the sailors on the subs, and the intricate workings of the subs from engineering to the conn, Dimercurio has done an excellent job.

The story itself is fairly decent, and eerie considering it was written in 1994, well before most of the terrorist attacks of the 1990’s (USS Cole, embassy bombings) and certainly before 9/11. Dimercurio writes the book much in the same style that Tom Clancy uses to spin his tales, but doesn’t quite hit that same mark. You can get a pretty good picture of what will happen well before the end of the story arrives. Still though, it’s an excellent warfare adventure book, and worth the time to read.

Rating: ***

50 Things From Home I Miss While In Iraq

1) weekends off
2) movies in a real movie theater with the real theater experience
3) visiting with mark about sports and life
4) visiting with andy about sports and life and all sorts of other crazy shit
5) Todd
6) Tyler
7) Memow
8) Tharsis Gate on high speed internet
9) high speed internet of any kind
10) sitting by the tub on the bathroom floor while my baby takes a bath
11) driving a civilian vehicle
12) riding my bicycle
13) the Offutt rec center
14) fresh bread
15) my cd collection
16) date night
17) taking a bath
18) Subway sandwiches that actually taste like Subway sandwiches
19) Pepsi that actually tastes like Pepsi and not coke
20) Husker football
21) Husker baseball
22) anything Husker in general
23) Old Chicago nachos
24) working on cars with my dad
25) the smell of fresh raked hay on a dewy summer morning
26) a delicious fire grilled steak with all the trimmings
27) Aqua Teen Hunger Force
28) Sealab 2021
29) Valentino’s Buffet
30) Walmart! (yes, Walmart, the ability to get whatever you need is underrated)
31) running around Wehrspan Lake
32) NFL Football on Sundays
33) good donuts
34) waking up at night and putting my arms around my baby
35) being able to actually comb my hair haha
36) American Steak Buffet
37) our quad cab Dodge Ram pickup truck
38) mac n cheese with beets mmmmm
39) a regular job
40) my own home cooked spaghetti
41) playing PS2 with Andy for 9 hours straight
42) Papa John’s pizza
43) hanging out with Alfonzo with nothing going on, just having fun
44) cheap Taco Bell at 1 in the morning
45) fireworks
46) silly family get togethers
47) McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder w/ cheese, large fries, large Dr. Pepper
48) drinking beer
49) drinking alcohol in general
50) quality time with the most amazing woman in the entire world!!!

50 Things From Home I Do NOT Miss!!!

1) fart muffler Hondas and other foreign junkers
2) blaring rap music
3) American Idol
4) Survivor Island
5) reality shows in general
6) traffic jams
7) my old job
8) the apartment complex staff
9) rude waitresses
10) snow
11) cold weather in general
12) my crazy religious aunt
13) the nightly news
14) crappy drivers
15) Katie Couric
16) the “Only Classic Rock, Never Anything New Station” Z-92 of Omaha
17) almost all new music
18) guard drill weekends haha
19) telemarketers
20) cell phone
21) phones in general
22) $3 a gallon for gas
23) smog
24) Old Navy commercials
25) Gap commercials
26) traffic lights
27) politics
28) religious zealots
29) soap operas
30) screaming children
31) Sunday Morning television
32) liberal idiots
33) waiting in line to buy groceries
34) paying taxes
35) handicapped parking
36) fat girls in slutty clothing (“muffin tops” do these girls think they are hot???)
37) Al Franken
38) Panera Bread
39) Nebraska roads
40) Nebraska road construction
41) windshields
42) deer in the road
43) Lifetime Network on cable tv
44) teen drivers
45) cops, state patrol, deputy sheriffs
46) slow drivers (although we have them here too dammit)
47) Britney Spears
48) Whose Line Is It Anyway (I’ve never cared for this show)
49) credit card offers in the mail
50) BILLS BILLS BILLS

Current Lyrical Ramblings

It's Time after time after time I've tried to fight it.
But your love is strong it keeps on holding on.
Resistance is down when you're around, starts fading.
In my condition I don't want to be alone.

Weak – SWV

So Close To All My World Needs

Two weeks left. Just 14 days. There isn’t much I really require in this world, all 5’5” and 115 lbs of her is about it. Sure, food, drink, sustenance, but everything I know, everything I have become accustomed to in my life, there is nothing that compares to her. If I finished this deployment and had to give up everything, all my worldly belongings, my bank account emptied, with nothing left, I know I could make it, as long as I don’t lose her.

I haven’t been perfect, I took her for granted for a long time and I wasn’t fair in any way to her, but thankfully she saw thru that and recognized that I was worth waiting for, that there was something inside of me that had value, and meaning, even at times when I didn’t see it myself. We had some tough times but we always came thru stronger on the other side, we weathered the storm and our relationship grew for it, we became closer, our bond stronger, best friends forever.

If I were to try and come up with one word to describe her, and just how amazing she is, it would be impossible. She is witty, beautiful, strong, unfathomable, profound, deeply spiritual in her own way, and despite the silly little things her body has done, she is quite unbreakable, her spirit will never fail, her love will never diminish. We have come so far, we have built a unique and singular bond of trust thru everything that has happened.

For six months now we have been apart, yet knowing what lies ahead tempers whatever time we have spent so far away from one another. I get to finally spend some real time with the most incredible woman in the universe, for the first time in more than 16 months. I cannot wait, I only hope that she feels just the same way as I do!!!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

An Angel Falls
The Unfeeling Kiss
Spreading Wings
City of Angels

Instrumentals (tracks 11-15), City Of Angels Soundtrack

The “How To Do A Marathon With Very Little Training” Episode

The Boston Marathon in Tallil, Iraq. I figure I’ll give you an account of what it was like to actually run one. Got up early, probably about 4:30 am, couldn’t sleep, I was nervous and excited, so I got everything ready earlier than I figured I would have. I tried to stay away from drinking too much water, I didn’t want to overdo it. I put bandaids over my nipples then covered those up with duct tape, to keep from chafing. I wore my regular army PT shorts, no undies, and a plain white tshirt with the sleeves ripped off.

I tried one of the Power Gel packs before I left, it was lemony and not really too bad. A little baby powder in the shorts, and some sun tan lotion all over and I was pretty much ready to go. I didn’t really see the point in stretching, considering the length of time I was going to be running and that I wouldn’t be running all that hard.

I got over to the starting line at about 0530, a half hour before the race started. I was just inclined to get it started right there, as waiting was just more nervousness. They had a bunch of useless banter, where officers get to use the limelight to spout off about crap that no one cares about save for themselves. At the start there were a couple of humvees set to take the race leaders around. The other guy in my unit, Bob, and I started out at a good pace, running each mile in just over 8 minutes.

The first 7 miles took us out by the Ziggurat of Ur and back thru the arches of the base. Then we ran up thru the middle of base and back down onto the back road on post, where the bulk (18 miles) of the race would be run. Mile marker 8 we were going strong, still pushing an 8 minute pace. Every two miles or so they had a water point/aid station, with water, Gatorade, orange slices, and Power Bar Power Gel packets. We tried to make good use of them, as we went by each one, grabbing a glass of water or Gatorade and a Power Gel packet and sucking it down.

After mile 8 the miles just started rolling by. I didn’t really even notice much till we reached about mile 15, I started to feel a little tired but not too bad. At roughly mile 16 was the turnaround point, it was about 200 meters from our living quarters, and Rob Nel had a sign out supporting everyone and a bunch of other guys were out there, they were pretty rowdy but I was first starting to feel it just a bit. We turned around and headed back along the back road in the opposite direction. At this point Bob fell back a ways from me as I kept moving along at the same pace. We had already talked about this, that it was going to happen at some point, but that we weren’t going to wait for the other, it’s a very individualistic event you know?

Still the next three miles I held my pace, feeling decent. I was still hitting up the water points for Gatorade and Power Gel packets, and smiling and waving at the people from our unit who had made the effort to get out on the back side of post to cheer everyone on. I was even ahead of a couple of our 4 person relay teams where each member ran a little over 6 miles. All of that was about to change.

At mile marker 19 it was like a ton of bricks fell right on my head and I finally had to stop for the first time. I had made it to the water point, so I drank some water and Gatorade and stretched as best I could, I was really hurting, but I didn’t think it would be too bad, I started out jogging a little slower as I headed out towards the next mile marker. I would run about 3 minutes, walk for a couple minutes, repeat it over and over. At this point the miles no longer were just rolling along, they were coming hard and heavy. I was praying to God with every mile just to help me make it. I really felt pretty good from the waist up, but my legs were really heavy. I kept plodding along.

As I came to mile marker 22, I figured I would run the last 200 meters or so into the water point there. But as I lifted up my leg to take off running it locked up so hard that I literally fell over backwards. Now to me this was really funny and I started laughing, but to the people at the water point, this was a freaking ‘MEDICAL EMERGENCY’ and I heard someone yell “GET MEDIVAC (medical evacuation) OUT HERE!! WE HAVE A HEAT CAT!! (heat casualty)” and one of the brand new Dodge Durangos they drive around came flying down the road screeching to a stop right next to me and they jumped out.

I was waving them off and trying to let them know it was only a cramp, I was like “hello, I’m still coherent, I just have a cramp is all! I can see all my fingers and I know where I’m at and what time it is!!” They got out and worked on my leg, the young guy grabbed my leg and lifted it up and pushed my toes back towards me trying to get the cramp to let go. “This is maybe the worst cramp I’ve seen out here today” he said, and it was pretty freakish, I had a ridge going up the middle of the calf and it was tighter than if I were to flex it as hard as I could on any normal day. “We are going to get one of the Italian ambulances over here to give you a ride back in” they told me, referring to the Italian soldiers who were out helping with the race. I was like “NO way guys, I’m going to finish this” as they helped me up.

It cramped up a little but I was able to walk it off (thankfully) and I made it into the mile 22 aid station with a grimace on my face and sat on a box filled with bottled water and spent about 4 minutes drinking a lot of Gatorade and eating orange slices. I really don’t think they thought I would get up and keep going but I did just that, this time speed walking rather than trying to run. At this point Bob caught up with me, he was still able to run, I was really glad to see that. I hoped he hadn’t dropped out.

The next couple of miles were really hellish. What made it worse was that I was probably passed up by about 40 to 50 people : ( I am very competitive and I hated that, it was like my body had failed me in a lot of ways. But I still had one thing left to save myself, and that was to finish this son of a bitch!! I just kept thinking about my baby, about how belly had done 7 weeks of Marine boot camp on a broken hip, and that I wasn’t injured and I sure as hell needed to keep moving, if she could do what she did I could push my pathetic ass to the finish line!!!

Mile marker 25: stopped again, got myself more Gatorade (I know, surprise) and more orange slices, stretched a little, listened to people say “GOOD JOB WAY TO GO ALRIGHT” really loudly and sorry for feeling this way, but I wanted to punch them in the face, because maybe that helps some people along but they ought to try and be subtle supportive with a low key “you are doing great man, keep it up” instead of yelling it right in your face *L* Oh well they were trying to be supportive, and that’s a good thing.

Only about a mile and a half to go now, I turned the corner up the long one mile stretch along airport road and was speed walking with a couple of other guys. We were joking around as best we could, we walked by the firefighters out in front of the firestation beside the runway and joked around with them about turning the hoses on or getting us some real beer. A little bit later I reached down to scratch my leg and WHAM that same calf muscle locked up again. This time I was able to walk it off without falling over, the other two guys were like “do you need some help?” and I waved them off, they had their own troubles to get thru.

By this time I was about a half mile from the finish when along came Wadas from the other direction. I was like “what the hell are you doing out here, didn’t you fly out last night?” They were supposed to have been on a flight back home for their two weeks, her and a few other people from our unit but that flight got pushed back a night so they were able to stay and watch us. It was great that she came out and walked me back in, I was doing the best I could but my toes were starting to curl up and cramp on me now too.

I turned the last bend with about 200 meters to go and everyone started cheering, so I thought, hey what the hell I better finish this thing off with a little run, if you can call it that. I hobbled along to the finish as hard as I could muster, legs locking up but I didn’t care, I was so close to done. I crossed the Finish line in 4 hours and 32 minutes. I was not really disappointed, I had made it, that was all I was hoping for, and I had said before the race that if I made it to at least mile 18, then it was a success. Well, I actually RAN to mile 19, so I would say that I met my goal with flying colors and then some.

They wanted to lay me back on some table and I was like “Uh, I’m not dying or anything, just give me some freaking cold water and a damn chair!!” So they sat me down and one guy went to work on my leg, so in between “OUCH” and “OH GOD” as he squeezed that calf muscle, I was telling the other people from our unit what the run was like. Bob had finished about 15 minutes before I did, and as it turns out he got 30th place overall, not too bad considering neither of us had trained much at all for it. I am unsure of my overall placing, but I’d say it was probably 50th or so, considering the number of people that got around me. I’m guessing for awhile I was top 15, until mile 19 when I hit the wall.

We went inside of the MWR building and took some pictures with all 18 people from our unit who participated (16 in the relays, and me and Bob in the full marathon), I couldn’t believe how cold it was inside of that building, but I wasn’t exactly right about that. When I walked back outside, I realized it wasn’t cold in the building, it was actually 101 degrees outside, I had been running in such extreme heat but my body was so beaten up I hadn’t even noticed it until then.

So, I got this cool medal that says “BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION” and has a unicorn with “2006” in the middle and along the bottom it says “110th Boston Marathon”, on the back there is a crest with the same unicorn over the top of two crisscrossed flags under a “PATRIOT’S DAY” banner, along with “APRIL 17, 2006” and “ASHWORTH MADE IN USA SOLID FIND PEWTER” along the bottom in small lettering. It is hung by a yellow and blue strap, a very nice little piece, I have that along with the “2nd Annual Iraq Boston Marathon” brochure, I’m keeping both for my little awards collection I have back home of other accomplishments.

The walk back to my trailer sucked, it was about a quarter mile and I would have just as easily curled up on the rocks and went to sleep, I think. They were all saying at the end that most people can’t sleep right away after they finish, that they hydrate and eat a little but sore muscles keep them from getting sleep right away. Yah, not me, I got into my trailer, fell into bed, and slept for about an hour and a half. Now, I woke up about 5 times as I would move and my body would scream at me haha, but I did get a decent nap in.

I probably drank about 2 gallons of water/Gatorade/juice all that afternoon. We finally went to eat at about 1800 at the Italian eatery in the Air Force compound. I had a big plate of meaty spaghetti and an order of cheese bread. I stuffed myself silly. Then we headed back to our rooms and I went to bed about 2100 or so. Slept until 0300 or so, then woke up and couldn’t sleep any longer, I was too sore, so I sat in the computer chair and dicked around on the computer for about 3 hours then back to bed till 0900 or so.

Today I’m still really sore, but it was worth it. I was on Alamak and Electra asked me if I had a good time. THAT is an interesting question, because I would say that running a marathon, at least your first one, is a very rewarding experience but I wouldn’t exactly call it a ‘good time’ haha. For awhile out there I was thinking “OH MAN, I will NEVER EVER do one of these again” but to be honest I was thinking to myself about mistakes I had made and how I can fix them ‘next time’, which is crazy considering how incredibly sore I am.

So, in conclusion, don’t do what I did, as in, do not go and run a marathon without proper training, because it will kick your ass, or maybe even kill you. Am I saying I am better than you? No, that’s not it, but I also know that I am able to do what I would guess 99% of people aren’t able to do, and that’s to push my body beyond what I’m prepared using mind over matter so to speak. Just something I’ve always been able to do, I think long distance running teaches you to do that, and I’ve done long distance since junior high. Will I ever do another marathon? Heh heh, well, I have already thought about what I could fix ‘next time’ to actually RUN the whole thing without having to walk any. Who knows, there may be another one in my future. Just not for the next few months *OUCH*

Current Lyrical Ramblings

I'm on a ride and I want to get off
But they won't slow down the roundabout
I sold the renoir and the TV set
Don't want to be around when this gets out

The Reflex – Duran Duran

Well, today is the day. I'm nervous and excited, those seem to go hand in hand. I just tried a packet of that PowerBar Power Gel, it tasted like lemon meringue pie. Drinking water too, but not too much, going to worry about that once out on the course.

WISH ME LUCK!!! 26.2 miles won't be easy!!

More Training

I ran 3 miles tonite. Did a few sets of shoulder presses with my awesome weight set haha. Also two sets of 50 pushups each. I am excited and scared for this weekend at the same time. I hope I can sleep Friday night. Say a little prayer for me!!

I was walking out to the shower tonite, and I noticed the stars in the sky, and how beautiful it is over here. I don't get to see that a lot in Nebraska, living as close as I did to Omaha, it was definitely too bright. It's not all that DARK around post, but they do tone it down a LOT at night, not as dark as up north but we don't have this place too lit up.

I love the night, the stars in the sky, the peaceful calm, I can remember many times walking around when we were infantry, everyone asleep, except for me, just looking at the sky, enjoying the quiet calm and solitude. It's rarely as quiet here though, something is always going on.

I have a lot of wonderful memories that happened at night, I guess even a short walk like tonite gets me thinking about them.

Current Lyrical Ramblings

Baby tonight is your night
And I will do you right
Just make a wish on your night
Anything that you ask
I will give you the love of your life

I'll Make Love To You - Boyz II Men

Halfway Around The World, The Sport's Section Baseball Fan

It's that time of year again. Although the NBA season has not ended, sports this time of year are rather dismal. Sure you have golf, and the NBA Playoffs are coming up (NOTE TO NBA: 8 teams in the playoffs is PLENTY!!!), but beyond that, you have baseball, and yah, more golf. Along with a host of other meaningless sports that no one really cares about.

For me, I haven't every been too much into baseball. That being said though, I do follow the Oakland A's in term of the 'boxscore', as in, I am a statistics fan, I enjoy breaking down the stats from the games the next day more than I like actually watching the game itself. I do enjoy the game itself more than I did when I was younger, when I found baseball to be about as boring as watching grass grow.

The A's normally played late at night my time, being a couple of hours behind me, pacific time, and playing their games usually around 7 to 8 pm their time, I wouldn't get the scores till around midnight or so. Over here in Iraq however, it's really different, because of course I open up Yahoo sports around noon here and I'll find the game listed for today that is not yet being played, and so I click on "Yesterday" to get the score for a game that was just played in the last couple of hours my time.

Then I think "well, tonite's game" as though a game will be played in just a few hours, when in fact the next game isn't going to be over with for another 20 to 24 hours, depending on when I am looking at the LAST game's score. Oh man I get confused writing this myself.

About the A's, they are really doing well considering they lost two bonified all star pitchers in Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. But youngsters like Joe Blanton have stepped up big time, and Houston Street is a fabulous reliever. I haven't had much of a chance to really look into the added offense on the team, oh well.

I hope my guys by the bay do well, and that they do better than Shoe's guys by the OTHER side of the bay haha!!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

It’s true the way I feel
Was promised by your face
The sound of your voice
Painted on my memories
Even if you’re not with me

With You - Linkin Park