Have a safe Memorial Day, everyone.
Thank you to the service members, and their families, for everything that you've done, and are doing, on our behalf. This year, like last year, my family and I putting pork on our beans, and we're grateful for the freedom to do that kind of thing.
Would anybody care to tell me why our media is not widely, rabidly reporting the fact that Military Police were sent into Samson, Alabama following a civilian's murder spree?
You see, good citizens, the military cannot legally do this sort of thing. Oh, no. They cannot just waltz into a community and do their thing, because that violates federal law.
Even so, the personnel were there, and now people are wondering why.
Why isn't this all over the news? Shouldn't this be the lead story? Shouldn't every major newspaper and TV-news program in the nation cover this? You would think that, because the mainstream media is so awesome at tearing into our military, they'd be all over this. But...they aren't.
Weird.
So...this event is covered in a very-limited fashion, even though it's definitely newsworthy. Fortunately, we don't have to rely on the MSM to give us information. We have Teh Intarwebz, dangit!
(And, to be clear: I love our military. Don't even think that I'm blaming the personnel who were on the ground in Alabama for this. I just despise the thought of the military being used in a manner that violates our current laws, that's all.)
I really think that the military could benefit from retraining wounded troops to do other jobs within their branches. In a few cases, the military is doing just that. A recent NRA magazine had a small story about an Army soldier who is an Active Duty member of their marksmanship team. He has a prosthetic leg, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting a rifle to good use in competition and practice.
This is encouraging, because the young man wanted to stay in the Army – and is able to do so. He’s still serving our country, and his story is attracting peoples’ attention. This could be good for recruiting, and it’s definitely boosting morale among troops and civilians.
But more troops need the option of doing a job that they can still perform. You do not have to have both legs to work on the administrative side of the military, or train the troops. A person with a prosthetic arm can still do fantastic things in military classrooms, after all. You don’t have to have all your limbs, or a strong back, to teach people how to do a job that you can’t physically do anymore. Even if you’re in a wheelchair, you can teach others how to stay alive and do the job.
Our military needs brawn, yes. Muscles, and physical abilities, are vital. But there are plenty of necessary jobs that injured people can perform. By giving them the option to remain Active Duty, they can continue to serve our county, earn benefits and a paycheck, and take pride in what they’re doing. By showing them that they’re still valuable even though they are no longer physically capable of doing their old jobs, the military would be sending an excellent message to all who serve.
A bunch of poo flingers in Dallas recently assembled downtown to protest Israel's response to repeated rocket attacks and other terrorist acts coming from Gaza.
Let's see. After reading the article, I'm still firmly convinced that anybody who protests in favor of a group of urine-swilling killers who broke a peace treaty in order to continue lunging at their sworn enemy needs to go to Gaza and make a stand there. Then, when one of Israel's bombs eradicates the moron in question, the world will be a slightly-better place.
P.S. Comparing Israel's military response to the Holocaust? Dirty pool, savages. Dirty pool. Well, I guess I can't expect anything more from a group of stinking, filthy animals who make my dog's habit of snacking from the litter box seem sophisticated, now can I?
Yahoo! News tells me that Israeli's launched a large-scale (for them, anyway) retaliation against Hamas. Israel's countering the rocket attacks that have been coming out of Gaza: a section of land that Israel unwisely gave to the terrorists a few years ago in the hope that this would appease the scumbags. More recently, Hamas started yet another round of bullshit in defiance of a peace treaty that both sides had agreed to uphold. They started this crap, and now they're whining because they got their asses kicked. Apparently, it was okay for them to spend weeks launching rockets into Israel, but it's not okay for Israel to a) warn them to stop, then b) take action.
Israel's been warning them for days that this was coming. Any of the boo-hooing over dead civilians is crap, because they knew that Israel was coming. The civilians had a few DAYS to get out of the way, but chose to ignore the warnings. They were sending their children off to school, as if this were just an ordinary day. If they're that stupid, then they deserve what they get. If Israel announced that they were sending somebody to kick ass in MY neighborhood because terrorists were using this area to launch an offensive against them...I'd grab my stuff and leave immediately.
I know that many Muslims do not believe the "let's go murder all unbelievers!" garbage that the Islamofascists embrace. I know that a good number of Islamic leaders do not teach that crap. But those who do teach this, and those who perpetuate the terrorism, believe with all their rotten hearts that they're heading to eternal rewards for murdering as many unbelievers as possible. They believe that 72 virgins await them in their heaven. They believe that their god will reward them, for eternity, for killing men, women, and children.
When you're dealing with a group of nutjobs who are not afraid of death - who, in fact, welcome death because they're convinced that eternal rewards await them for yanking the rip cord on the bomb vest - you can't negotiate or reason. You take a few cents' worth of ammo and send them to meet God. That's all you can do in the face of such murderous insanity. This is how you preserve innocent life: by taking out those who would destroy it.
And yes. I am a big, fat warmonger. I am 100 percent in favor of killing terrorists. Personally, I wish that they'd all go to one area and shove out all the civilians who disagree with them. Then somebody could drop a nuke on that region and be done with the problem. Unfortunately, anti-terrorist measures aren't that simple. Too bad, really, because nuking them all in one spot would be simple...and oh, so cool.
Tweaker's post about pet peeves got me thinking about one that really drives me nuts.
Mindless rumor spreading drives me insane. Yes, I do know that we all sometimes get our facts wrong. That's part of being imperfect human beings. In fact: I'm probably going to get something wrong in this blog post, despite my careful research. Hey, I'll accept the consequences, because it's my own fault if it does happen.
However, I get frothy around the mouth and take up the challenge of verbally tearing apart somebody's crappy argument when I hear him/her spreading crap without even pausing to consider that it could just be yet another rumor. Oh, boy, do I ever love ripping the myths to shreds with a curious look and a, "Where'd you find that information?" Hee. People can't openly admit that they heard it from some guy or gal they know, so they say nothing. Unless sputtering counts. Hee. Man, I love that dazed look they get when I call shenanigans on their "facts."
Many of us have some sort of access to the Internet, which contains the sum of all human knowledge if you know how to type a few key words. But people can't even visit Snopes.com to confirm that the crap they're spreading is true, can they? Nope!
One example that's been bugging me lately: the myth that actors and actresses must wear incorrect uniforms, or intentionally foul up other aspects of their work, when representing the U.S. military. They, according to the myth, must do a few things wrong because, if they don't, they're guilty of impersonating military personnel. This, people say, is why you see so many movies and TV shows with actors and actresses wearing the wrong service's awards...or sporting incorrect rank insignia...or saluting the wrong way.
Nope! The law states no such thing. In fact: actors and actresses are specifically mentioned in the law - as people who are allowed to portray military personnel without accusations of impersonation. Don't believe me? Check this out.
Specifically, scroll down and hit this section, which addresses exemptions like this:
(f) While portraying a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or
Marine Corps, an actor in a theatrical or motion-picture production
may wear the uniform of that armed force if the portrayal does not
tend to discredit that armed force.
Most of you can see the Marine Graduation Foundation graphic on the right-hand side of your screens without my help, but I want to explain why I've added that to the blog. I am not a Marine. Never even considered becoming one. I was Army, so why in the world would I have a Marine-related thing going on here?
---
In 2001, I graduated from Army Basic at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. After more than nine weeks of being away from my parents and siblings - connected only by regular letters back and forth and the extremely-rare, short telephone call - I wanted to actually see, and touch, the people I care about the most.
There was not, however, any way that this would happen. The trip from Texas to South Carolina was too expensive. There were six people to move around, which was a bit beyond the family's budget even when I happily offered to add some of my own Army pay to the funds.
Even though my family and I have always worked together to make important things happen, our teamwork wasn't enough. We all wanted to be together on Family Day, then Graduation Day, at Ft. Jackson. I needed them to be there, really, because I was not the same person they'd hugged good-bye back in February. I was larger and stronger. I could hit a target that was 300 meters away and looked as wide as a matchstick through my sights. I walked with a purpose, for the first time in my nineteen years on this planet.
I needed my family to see the differences, and let me know, in their own collective way, that they approved.
But I wasn't going to get that, even though we all tried our best to make it work out. So I resigned myself to the fact that I would stand alone on Graduation Day. I would not be the first military recruit to face this, and I certainly would not be the last. Even so, it hurt - a lot.
A woman who worked with my Mom found out that Mom had not requested time off from the job. Irene Jackson, like most of the other people at that job, had heard all about my time in the Army. Mom would tell the interested coworkers what I had written in my letters home. She would sometimes show them the postcards I mailed to the family, with images of things that I had recently done. (Rappelling from Victory Tower, which is ninety feet high, for example. And coming out of the CS gas chamber with my mask in one hand and a fountain of snot gushing from my nose.)
Ms. Jackson knew that I was going to graduate soon, but found it very odd that my Mom was not going to make the trip to South Carolina. She insisted on knowing the reason for this. Mom told her that we couldn't afford the trip.
Well...Ms. Jackson did not like this idea at all. She pooh-poohed the very thought of not being with one's own daughter on Graduation Day. Deeming this "not right," to say the least, Ms. Jackson brought a wad of cash to work a few days later and handed it to Mom.
This loan was enough to get everybody in my family - all six of them - to Ft. Jackson to see me graduate. Of all the kick-ass, awesome, selfless, wonderful things people willingly do for each other, that's one of the best as far as I'm concerned. Had this woman not stepped up when she was moved to help, my family and I would not have been together those two days.
And believe me: seeing my nutty family made a huge difference. I grinned for the first time in several days when I finally spotted my Mom and Dad walking up to my company area. We went off-post on Family Day, found a quiet city park, and devoured fried chicken while we all tried to talk over each other at once (just like we'd always done).
On Graduation Day, when my platoon marched past the bleachers for pass and review, I spotted my parents and sibs in the crowd. My oldest brother was standing, taking pictures. My Dad was smiling, which he didn't do very often in those days. (Or now, for that matter.) And my Mom? Well...she was grinning, and I'm pretty sure that she was leaking around the eyes a little too.
I don't have the pictures that my brother took of us all, but I don't need them. Because we were all there, and that's what mattered the most to me.
---
So, when I learned about the Marine Graduation Foundation, I checked them out. They don't want any new Marine to stand alone on Graduation Day. Neither do the people who help their cause. They take donations to do whatever they can to transport the families to the Marine bases for those incredibly-special times in the new Marines' lives.
I added the graphic, with the link to their site, because every new military graduate needs, and deserves, support from loved ones. And sometimes, to make that happen, you need an Irene Jackson.
I have no problem with somebody's decision to not enlist in the U.S. military. There is nothing wrong with saying, "You know...that doesn't sound like something I want to do with my life. I think I'll pass." As far as I'm concerned, that's your right as a U.S. citizen, and I'm not going to blame you or disrespect you for going to college or working instead.
However, I have a huge problem with those who never served, but fabricate military lives and histories for themselves. These people are barely human in my estimation. Rather, they're knuckle-dragging, scum-sucking thieves, stealing glory and respect that they could have earned if they had joined the military.
Many of these thieves are eligible for military service. They could get into one branch or another, serve our country, and come home as real heroes. Instead, they choose to pose as people who merit respect - because they're too cowardly to go earn that for themselves.
Every so often, I read of yet another case of stolen valor. Some waste digs up a service uniform and haphazardly covers it with symbols of duty and courage. Then the oxygen thief runs around, telling crazy stories about where he's been and what he's done. In reality, he's never been in the military, much less earned any of the hardware he's thrown together to back up his lies.
Posers walk around with Ranger tabs or scrolls, claiming that they're part of the 75th. Claiming that they were in some randomly-selected, tiny nation a few months or years ago, doing super-secret work that nobody knows anything about. But when a real Ranger coins these thieves, they run away - because they are not, and never were, Rangers, and they realize that they've been caught.
Fakers pin all sorts of medals to their little uniforms and claim that they were wounded in Vietnam or Korea, Afghanistan or Iraq. They've never so much as spoken with any recruiters, but they were there, man.
The sad part is that they can't even figure out how to properly display their falsely-acquired hardware. They want the glory and respect, but they can't be bothered to spend even five minutes looking up the proper arrangement for the impressive medals and ribbons they randomly toss onto their shirts and hats.
No wonder these pukes aren't in the military. They're too lazy to steal properly. They certainly couldn't handle five minutes of initial-entry training. Three push-ups and they'd be crying.
When they're outed, they suddenly turn into apologetic, knee-knocking children, weeping and confessing to their lies. Suddenly, they're sorry for stealing valor that belongs to the people who really did sign up, and really did serve.
But until or unless they're caught, they show no remorse. If they were sorry, they would not be posing as heroes. They're sorry for being outed, not for what they did.
If they want to have stories to tell...if they want the ability to impress people...then they can enlist. They can either sign up and do the duty that they volunteer to do or stay at home and shut their mouths. Either one is fine by me. Like I already said, I have no problem with people who don't enlist for whatever reason. The stinking heaps of dung who steal the respect, on the other hand, deserve every legal punishment they can receive.
Have a safe Memorial Day if you possibly can. While my family and I cooked out today, we remembered why we have the freedom to put bacon strips on our baked beans.
That is all.
Dear Priscilla Ceballos:
You, my fellow Texan, are not what I would call a model parent. If we Texans, or Americans, are ever allowed to vote on a Parenting License, I will have no choice but to vote for that restriction just to prevent evil, soulless creatures such as yourself from reproducing.
First of all: you live in Texas. We have an unspoken understanding around here: don't act like Yankees or Kalifornia liberals. You, Priscilla, have violated that agreement by acting the fool on behalf of your spoiled daughter.
Spoiling your offspring is not, in itself, a bad thing. Children should be treasured and loved. They like toys and special experiences. They deserve to be treated well because, well, they're human beings.
But in the process of spoiling your pwecious baybee, you lifted your skirts and took a steaming dump all over my brothers and sisters.
I am a U.S. Army veteran, lady. Encouraging your six-year-old to make false claims about her father is just rotten. It's horrifyingly rotten, in fact. I am not sure if your offspring's father is in fact in the military. I actually don't even know if you could pick the father out of a lineup. But I do know, by your own televised confession, that the wee lass's father was not killed in Iraq while on duty. That is an outright lie. Your lie.
You encouraged your daughter to write this rubbish for...Hannah Montana concert tickets? Are you kidding me, lady? You really told your little girl to pretend that she's the daughter of a hero so that she can watch some makeup-caked actress play an annoying TV character? You're serious? Really?
That's just pathetic.
Your letter of "apology" is not impressive, either. You actually try to excuse yourself by reminding us of your pwecious baybee's dream to see Hannah Montana. Oh, right. It's all about your little girl. Let's not focus on the fact that you are a liar. Let's all cry for you because you were trying to do something good for your baybee (at other peoples' expense, of course - way to prey on America's emotions, liar).
No. Just...no.
Oh. And the local news is airing your taped interview even as I write this section. I just love the way that you palm off your horrifying behavior. You say that you did not realize the essay had to be true. You used the word "essay." Do you have even the slightest clue, lady? Of course not.
By definition, an essay must be basically true. You can embellish small details if you can't quite remember them. But you can't just make up some crazy story about a baby's daddy being killed in Iraq. There is no way in the world that you can possibly believe that "essay" and "fiction" are even remotely similar. You're just trying to excuse your utter lack of taste, not to mention your complete inability to actually parent the offspring you miraculously figured out how to conceive.
The narrator for your little whine-piece is being sympathetic to your side of the story. He mentioned that the contest's sponsor did not specifically state that essays have to be based on real events. Why would a sponsor have to define something that even a third-grader knows off the top of his head? Are you a third-grader? Did you make it past that grade? If so, then you knew better. You had to know better. You just didn't care. You were more interested in buying your pwecious baybee's love than in being a decent human being.
Oh. And you're on FOX News, lady. If it's possible for you to lose credibility, you just did by agreeing to an interview with this affiliate. This is the same FOX outlet that had the Rebecca Aguilar problem a few months ago. So you're only making things harder for yourself.
Sell your home, pack up all of your belongings and leave my state. You don't deserve to live here. Move to Kalifornia, where the liberals will gush blood for you and your poor little girl. Tell them all about how "sorry" you are for what you did. And while you're there, try not to run afoul of anybody who lost a beloved soldier, sailor, Marine, airman or Coastie anywhere in the world. Deceased veterans' family members tend to get pissed off, and a bit rowdy, when they find out that you tried to falsely join their ranks for concert tickets.
I was in the Army, briefly, in early 2001. I blew out my left knee on yet another run. My medical discharge came through in late August. Three weeks after I flew home to be with my family again, terrorists attacked us on our own soil.
Six years have passed since I came home. I'm a senior in college. I'm majoring in English. I knit while I watch satellite TV. And I'm also a freelance writer. When I'm not working or studying, I'm hanging out with my family or playing with the cats. Most days, I spend at least half an hour playing poker online. And I insist on eating takeout pizza at least once every other week.
I'm proud of what I did - or tried to do, at least - but the other warriors out there are far greater than I am, or was. The troops past and present have given up a heck of a lot more than I ever did.
I never strayed too far from Dr Pepper or McDonald's when I was in the Army. Save for the Field Training Exercise at the end of Basic, I never had to pick sand out of my butt crack. When I got bored, I visited the library, or watched TV, or called home.
I never had to take a dump in a port-a-potty in 130-plus-degree heat. I never had to eat MREs for more than four or five days straight. And I always got mail in a rapid fashion (rapid for the military, anyway).
The troops are volunteers, yes. Nobody forced any of our current military personnel to enlist. But that doesn't change the fact that these men and women give up years of their lives to protect you and me.
They do without the things that they're fighting for us to keep. If it weren't for our troops going to the Middle East and kicking the snot out of the terrorists - breaking up the cells, finding the leaders and kicking insurgent butt - then there would be more attacks on our soil. We wouldn't be able to watch our twenty zillion cable channels in peace because we'd be too busy worrying about the next bomb...the next airplane crash...the next biological attack.
If it weren't for our troops, more of us would be wounded or dead. The terrorists aren't going to stop just because we ask them not to keep killing innocent people. They're going to stop because the United States has sent our biggest, baddest boot to their turf to put up their collective butts.
Our troops deserve the very best that we can give them - because they're putting up with the very worst for us.
