At the Palace

yup, you read the title right, I have re-enlisted for three more years. In two years I hope to retire and so here I am at the BIG palace on base and our company commander is swearing me in. Actually, I took the oath of enlistment last week, but we "reenacted" it. My buddy Zeb was also re-enlisting for six more years and we did his ceremony at the palace. Then we took the grand tour. That is him and me in the top photo after the ceremony and standing in front of this huge chandelier. It was a nice time looking at how the "rich and famous" of the former regime lived. Must be nice to waste the entire resources of your country on yourself and fellow rogues. (sarcasm thick here).

2206

2206. That is the number of military deaths, not 2000 as widely reported on television. Let's really set the record straight. Going off the top of my head approximately 3,000 deaths on 9/11/01 + 2206 = 52206 military and civilian deaths (U.S.) since that horrible day.
I have no critcism of those wishing to honor America's war dead, but when they use the names as a political showcase because they do not like the current president, then I think they are very wrong and disrespectful.
First, they have demeaned the deaths of those serving in Afghanistan.
Then they demeaned those who died on 9/11.
Second, but using the boys and girls that paid the price for their country they have degraded their deaths by using them as pawns.
Third they have hurt their families.
My point is this, if we are going to "honor the fallen" as MSNBC did, then where are all the other names in this war on terror?
We really are fighting for our country over here. We are not fighting for oil (oh! I hate that expression!), neoconservatives or whatever. We are trying to keep a hatefilled, intolerant, bunch of hoodlums from getting their way.
As I often say to people I talk to, if these guys were in the U.S. they would be in jail a long time ago.
We cannot appease the terrorists. They murder children for what?
The Iraqis went to the polls and voted by the droves. They murder men and woman for what? The Iraqis return and start over. They really have lost the war here, but they keep on---it is all they know-murder.
So the next time you hear the "honor the fallen" think about what the fallen have done. They have allowed you to be free.

1985-2005

It was a routine day, waiting to go on duty, just passing time when the announcement came-no phones, no internet-and then the thought-oh no, what happened?
What happened was this, we lost a soldier. As we went on duty, we moved as automations, in shock, hoping that the information was just "rumor mill" and that it wasn't true.
It was.
Jeremy Hodge, all of 20 years of age, died as a result of enemy action this past week. A young man full of hopes and dreams, Jeremy had enlisted with his best buddy, the one who played baseball with him in high school, had enrolled in college and had planned to be a NASCAR driver.
We had our memorial service the other night for Jeremy and it was a good one and, I hope, the last one we have.
My condolances go out to his family and friends. God bless.

SOME DAYS ARE HARDER THAN OTHERS

Not all was fun in the sun during my stay at home during EML. My daughter came home from college to visit me and we enjoyed our visit together except for that one day. The photos above show her and her companion, constant buddy for half her life, Cocoa. Cocoa was a stray that some friends found on their door step one day 11 years ago. Since they didn't want to keep a dog and my daughter was desperately looking for one, a match was made. This little girl trained this dog, won second place twice with her at the county fair in her 4-H club, took her with us on vacations, and just about anywhere she could. If she couldn't take her with her, then Cocoa would lie on her pillow waiting her return. I often thought the dog went into depression when she wasn't around.
But now the day had come and Cocoa is in pain, very sick, can hardly move and can hardly be picked up without cries of anguish. We settle in the vet's office and wait for the vet to appear with the hypos and silently wail.
I never thought it would be so hard to lose a dog, but it was harder to watch my little girl (yes I know she is 19 and in college, but she is still my little girl) cry over her little friend.
So some days are harder than others.

BACK TO WORK

Well, EML is over, and also the long plane ride and I am back to work. One thing I have discovered upon returning is that it is considerably cooler here now! Back home people said, "but it is a dry heat over there!" and I just replied, yea, like your oven on broil. But now, they are absolutely correct! After the very humid Ohio days I just experienced, it is much dryer here, and it has cooled down. Now the days high are about the highs of a hot Ohio summer afternoon. Bearable and certainly not like before I left.
One thing I noticed while home, is the amount of people who don't know what is going on over here. They would ask me questions as if I was a subject matter expert. I just know what I read. My job doesn't give me a "bird's eye view" of the situation, just a small picture and very small at that.
I find it kinda odd that friends back home are not knowledgeable of the Iraq situation. Could it be they rely too much on, as we bloggers like to say, the MSM? Too many shallow headline announcements by CNN, ABC and the like?
Or are they being mis-informed and are aware of it and just don't know where to find the information?
As Powerlineblog.com and other bloggers have pointed out, if the MSM can't get Hurrican Katrina reporting right, which is in their own backyard, then how can they get reporting from Iraq correct?
I urge my readers to investigate the world wide web (which is what www stands for) and read. There are many good reporters embedded with the troops overhere who report just what they see and find out. The honesty of their reports may be hard to take, but you will be informed. Also many soldiers write from here. There are many informed citizens writting about the war here from back home, both for and against and many write with good reasons, not just hacked up slogans.
Turn off the t.v. and turn on the web and read. It is a little slower but you might find out some interesting things.