Unfortunate?

It’s days like today that I start feeling sorry for myself and hopelessly useless. Vain I know, but they’re my feelings and I’ll feel them however I choose. I spent twenty years of my life doing senseless bullshit in the Army and never once did I have the opportunity (misfortune?) to serve in combat. That’s what it was for the most part, just bullshit. Policing up cigarette butts at Fort Bliss, countless map overlays at Irwin, the times I spent several days with no heat on mountaintops in Korea or Colorado, and the list goes on and on… I even wasted away three and a half years on recruiting duty where I only helped two people join the Army that actually mattered: one a dropout living on the street and the other a prior-serviceman. Yes, I am a pretty sad specimen of a “veteran.”

This is where it gets really sappy. I know or have known good friends, some even family members that have been to every conflict, police action, or war in the last fifty years. Hell, the last 100 years! Why didn’t I get the chance to do what I was trained, prepared, and willing to do? I don’t long for their glory, but just wish I had done my part to protect our freedoms. It’s just pathetic, twenty years wasted.

Then I realize why I’m here…

My duty is to tell their story. My Dad, who served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and was on three different ships because two of them sank in battle. The loss of life he witnessed is beyond the normal person’s capacity and it haunted him until his dying day. SFC Jared C. Monti, not because he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, but because he was the most selfless and loyal person anyone could have ever known. The prior-serviceman, that graced the pages of People magazine after he saved lives clearing trenches in Desert Storm, or the dropout that went to Ranger school and on to making a difference in everything he did. The story of John Reardon who saw many battlefronts, yet fell to stress at his desk after a morning run while trying to teach others how to be a soldier.

I have endless tales yet to tell of the gallant men I have personally known. It is my only hope that I may influence even one soul to act, to become a resemblance of, or to honor those that have given up so much for their freedoms. My self-pity while wretched, is what drives me now to tell you of the many stories of our benefactors, our saviors of liberty, and the heroes that have come before us. Visit with me and let me acquaint you with their tales.

The Scary Part

In a different time, a different world really, I found myself looking out upon North Korea from the closest point somewhat safe for an American. Guard Post Ouellette sits precariously on a hill near the demarcation line separating North Korea from the south, and the rest of the world. Being a Forward Observer assigned to an Infantry Battalion on rotation to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), I would come to understand fully the duties implied by that title in my relatively short stint on that hill. It’s entirely possible that I could write an entire book about that time, and I may do just that some day. As for now and in the interest of brevity, please allow me to provide just one “observation” that seems relevant today.

The guard tower on Ouellette was given the most sophisticated surveillance equipment available in 1984, obsolete by today’s standards, but sufficient enough to provide a clear view of North Korean soldiers manning guard posts at several locations, some not much further than 100 yards away. Each day, buses were driven to an area widened in the road and workers were offloaded to work in the rice paddies, perform minor construction work, and to fill up the otherwise empty “propaganda village” located on the North’s side of the DMZ. Each day while it was still light, the workers would all gather again and be bussed off to what I imagined for a time was their happy homes and families. They all seemed to be normal, content, and even jovial in spirit as they gathered. There was just something amiss about all these North Korean citizens however.

We can all be naïve at times and being just a small town kid still green to political dealings; it took me a few days to figure out exactly what was going on. No one explained it to me so I just had to see it with my own eyes. They were happy and content. That was their job…their duty. The citizenry of North Korea get no closer to the outside world than they do right there on the DMZ. Whatever they know of the world is what their government has told them. If Pyongyang tells its people that the United States is the reason that they are hungry then it is what they believe. If they are told to wage a war then they will fight with all their abilities, for that is what they believe is right and just.

Back on Guard Post Ouellette and back to observing the North Korean soldiers manning their posts. Vigilantly I watched them…I, and the sniper Scout that was assigned along with me. We watched them each day as the workers came and went, but they were not watching us. Their eyes were trained upon their own people like guards of a prison watching over the inmates. That’s the scary part.

Thankful

I am sure that I have exceeded my allotted number of complaints for this year, so here is my opposing take on things.

I am thankful for my wife,

That I am living this life,

And for my trusty Swiss Army knife.

I am grateful for my kids,

How they have turned out, and their kids,

But not everyone else's kids (let’s not get carried away here).

I am happy that America is where I live,

That I am healthy enough to remain active,

And that I am sometimes able to give.

I am able to laugh a lot at the madness,

Can occasionally provide a little gladness,

And perhaps lift someone from their sadness.

I appreciate the occasional steak (rib-eyes usually),

The coffee cakes my wife can bake,

And the junk-food I frequently intake.

I have some very dear friends,

Sometimes we talk only now and then,

But they always have my back, and I theirs ‘til the end,

I am also grateful for my family,

Even the cousins I don’t know familiarly,

When they show up I welcome them willingly.

While the world goes crazy around us, there are still things to be thankful for,

Like a our big screen TV’s, hi-tech gadgets, cars, gear, tools, and more,

All the stuff we didn’t have when we were poor.

Yes, actually I am a happy person. Happy to be able to communicate,

To put my (sometimes ill-advised) thoughts into words and articulate,

That the world has gone mad, but it is still something I appreciate.

The Stump Speech You Will Never Hear

I don’t have all the answers. Sometimes, I feel like I don’t have any of them. However, I am willing to be educated on the facts and able to make sound decisions based upon them. I know that, in order to produce decisions based on facts, I must listen to both sides of the issues at hand. A liberal approach is not always the best solution, and neither is a conservative one. My upbringing, beliefs, and values have not, in every instance produced correct choices, both personally and professionally, and I recognize that. I am willing to admit it when I have a point of view not in the best interest of those I represent. Yet, there is no imaginable way for my conscience to allow me to attempt anything other than what is right, just, and true for those who depend upon me.

I did inhale. I have cheated, stolen, and lied. Those days are past me now, and I am a better man today, having atoned for my faults. I believe in God. I also believe you have the right not to believe in God. My God may differ from yours, and that’s alright too. I will not force my religion upon you nor will I allow others to force any religion upon someone else. Saying prayers does not constitute forcing one’s beliefs upon others. No power can prevent one from communicating to their God through prayer and therefore, no restriction on prayer has any amount of relevancy. Christianity is not the only practiced religion, and neither is any other one specific religion protected under our Constitution.

Abortion is not synonymous with birth control. The 2^nd Amendment does not state that you may own enough weapons to arm an Infantry Battalion. Freedom of speech actually does protect your right to run into a crowded theater yelling fire and causing a panic. (Even Chief Justice Holmes admitted his error on that last one in his later writings and rulings.) The world today is much different from the one that existed when our Constitution was written. If we interpreted its contents literally, many of our rights enjoyed today would be stripped away. Many rights would also be revoked if left up to the people to decide on popular vote. It is therefore essential for our freedoms to persevere, that we maintain the system of government that has held us together for all these years. It is not a perfect system, but it is the best one we know. There will always be a constant battle between the branches, but the equilibrium must never be compromised by those of any one political affiliation or division of government. That balance will always be in the forefront of my thoughts when making decisions affecting rights and liberties.

Have I pissed you off yet? Then vote for the other guy and hope you get the person he has characterized himself to be. I won’t stand here and promise you that I will fix all that is wrong when I know that will not be true.

I am liberal on some issues. I feel you should be allowed to marry the person that you love, even when that person is of the same gender. I think that the Government should care for the needy. I am conservative also. More bureaucracy and more spending do not provide answers; solutions provide answers. National defense is and always will be the primary responsibility for those in our Nation’s Capital. The free market economy should police itself of corruption. In reality, the free market economy does not do that very well in many instances. Some regulation is necessary while over-regulating can be detrimental for the common good; there is a place in between we must strive for.

My approach to governing: always attempt to do right. In order to do what is right, I would surround myself with those having a great capacity for common sense, not merely educated experts, but proficient people with a thorough thought process. My goal in seeking office is not for some lofty personal gain, to pursue great power over others, nor to reap material rewards. I wish simply to do good and for my Country to be great, as it has and shall always remain.

Not My Job

My mission here is not to sway anyone’s opinion or make people believe anything different from what they already believe. It is not my job to make you question what is true and what simply is not. Nor do I want the burden of responsibility that lies in forming the opinions of others. I like to point out small oddities that exist within our society merely to provide some amount of humor in this otherwise dull yet mad world of ours. In fact, it is irrelevant to me what you believe. I may think you’re stupid for believing it, but care, I do not. Okay, enough with the disclaimer.

Conspiracies, especially government ones, are always difficult for me to grasp as being real. I’m not naïve mind you; for I am fully aware of numerous lies that have been told by those we trust to always give us the truth. It is foolish to blindly accept everything the government tells us as fact. Having done so in the past is indeed the reason that such theories of conspiracy exist in the first place. However, some people (you may be one of them) believe nothing as truth unless it is supported by theorists’ opinions of what possibly, could, maybe, in certain circumstances, be likely.

Ben Franklin once said in Poor Richard’s Almanac that, “Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.” That aphorism actually pre-dates his publication by a couple of hundred years to Henry VIII, and probably before that. So, we have known for quite some time that a conspiracy cannot be kept secret; otherwise, it would be an act of an individual, in which case “conspiracy” is the incorrect term. Think of it this way: What person, or group of people, do you trust to keep a secret (even a small, insignificant one) until they die? Now add into account that the public believes something entirely contradictory to your secret. Oh, and plus these people that know the secret are not relatives or even lifelong friends.

There’s no clear place to begin the list of conspiracy theories that I do not believe, but let me just tackle one of the big ones. The John F. Kennedy assassination comes to mind. If, in fact, there were multiple shooters, there is no possible way for me to conceive that they kept silent, or those that silenced them kept silent, for more than forty years. If Jack Ruby was part of a cover-up, then others would also have been involved and would have told of the conspiracy by now. (See paragraph 3 above) If the Warren Commission hid any details of their findings then they would also have been revealed by now. (Again, paragraph 3) And finally, it is my belief that there are no two people alive, then or now, working in concert, with balls big enough to undertake such a clandestine act to be committed in broad daylight in front of so many people, with purposeful intent to remain undetected and unknown…forever.

As for September 11, 2001: 1. It was a terrorist attack. 2. Some people believe there was no plane that flew into the Pentagon. For that to be true, all of the eyewitnesses that saw the plane approaching, flying very low-altitude at a high rate of speed, would have to be part of the conspiracy. Really? (See paragraph 3) 3. There have been much analysis and varied theories in regards to the collapse of the buildings of the WTC. Experts in the field of structural engineering and the most respected architectural scientists are baffled by how the structures collapsed in the manner that they did. My novice opinion (which is merely common-sense), is that there is no possible way for anyone to recreate, even theoretically, the exact circumstances that existed within those structures and the effects that two jet liners crashing into them would have on the integrity of the construction and their material composition. Any event that creates a massive force such as tornadoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc; has phenomena occur that cannot be explained. Not only is it impossible to replicate that day to prove anyone’s theory, it is reprehensible and pathetic to drudge up conjectures and suppositions with no founding about that day’s events. Let us heal from that horrible day and move on…and never forget.

The technology and information that exists today for our immediate utilization  should prevent people from believing everything they see, hear, or read without first counterchecking the story with another source. Yet every day there’s another new theory going viral on the internet. Since it’s not my job to change your mind, that will continue and I’m just going to continue to think you’re a bit stupid for believing all of the senseless rubbish. However, that’s just a theory and may not necessarily be true.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle