Monday's Missives

An interesting little irony- the car that was jacked by the Boston bomber had a COEXIST bumper sticker on it. That almost seems too rich to be genuine but I guess the image is unaltered.

• "That doesn't look like like anywhere I was in Iraq- you? No, there wasn't trash everywhere, there wasn't bullet holes in everything, there wasn't piles of rubble and the people weren't dirty, glue sniffing beggars." Conversation between an ex girlfriend who had been downrange and myself while watching the great 1924 silent movie The Baghdad Thief.
• There was a guy I went to church with way back in the day that when you went into someones house and they had some great bookcases, an awesome mantle or built in entertainment center that were obviously custom made you'd automatically ask,  Did Don build this?
• He was the classic case of someone not knowing what he meant to the people in his life. He killed himself by taking a handful of pills. Really, it was a great loss for the world, but I'm sure he had no idea.
• Man, it's hot.
• Roofers at nearby apartments work from 7 in the morning and are rolling up hoses and cords after dark. I draw up inside just glancing up at them. I know they get paid reasonably well- or none of them would come back after the first day, regardless- it isn't enough.
• Cold Case, 48 Hours and Tru TVs World's Dumbest- television shows I could watch in an alternating loop 24 hours a day.
• I just watched videos this morning (05042013) filmed with hi def cameras aboard Syrian tanks engaged in urban combat. The first thing that jumped out at me was the apparent competence of the crews- they alternated their sectors of fire, did not panic under fire, maintained their spacing where they should and tightened it up when the terrain and situation dictated. Another thought that crossed my mind was the scale and ferocity of the fighting- there were literally miles it appeared of rubbleized buildings and at times the tanks were under fire from every direction at once. In some videos the Syrian forces get dinged hard by armchair generals in the comments section for not having infantry support. Uh, might want to back that tank up: They were I interpreted actually running a sophisticated screen operation with  infantry moving lateral to the tanks. If I'm correct it is a pretty brilliant idea if risky-ish. Doing this would allow the grunts to engage insurgents moving toward the tanks and engage those running away from them. Also assuming good comms the tanks could move to support the grunts if they get bogged down and call for support. Also, some of the engagements show the armor moving way too fast for infantry to keep up. Providing the planning was sound and objective(s) clear, the infantry could become a liability in an operation with that kind of tempo.

Just A Tuesday

• I know I've played this song eleventy billion times, but man- it's greatness, is great. Chevelle Send The Pain Below. They're one of the only real rock bands in the world.
• I watched the U2 performance where the blind guy came up out of the audience and played guitar on All I Want Is You. There must have been something in the air when it played- sniff sniff. 
• I'd put a link up to the song, but U2 is too terrible for that.
• One morning we were to do a raid a village and jack some bad guys out of their homes who were recent parolees from Abu Graib. We intended to use a gate we'd used a hundred times before at all hours of the night and this one time it was locked. I wanted to shoot the lock off, but one of the Marines with us had bolt cutters- drats. I mean really, I had literally wanted to do that all my life. When I just knew I was going to finally get to do it, it was hard to keep from wetting my pants. It made me want to pee.
• My daughter is nine and can sing like an angel and make up songs like you would not believe.
• It's rained at most of the funerals I've been to in my life. One time I just knew it wasn't going to until a freak cloud stalled over us and it poured for a few minutes then stopped and the sun just beat down on us. I looked around at the miserable mourners- long divorced people holding each other sobbing, one woman, she was just not that emotional of a girl- ever, falling to the ground, her body convulsing in tears, an ex wife of the decedent fainting in her seat and the 2 toughest guys I know bawling their eyes out.
• I would just as soon never go back to that tiny Texas cemetery.
  

  

  That weird looking old Toyota in much better focus.

  
  
  
  
  

  

  The Sharkarosa tram was purpose built to look like an old steam engine. Here is the fake coal.

  
  

  

  Hey buddy, my eyes are up here.

  
  

  

  Pekin duck getting picked on by about a 100 coots and various other type of ducks.

  
  
  
  
  

  

  See no evil. Hear no evil.

  
  

  

  For days I would feel something sticking the bottom of my foot causing me take my  boot off, insole out and socks off trying to find the sticker I was sure was inside my boot.

  
  
  
  
  

  

  This card was found on the sidewalk near my office.

Just A Tuesday

Well, there is hope. The class of 2013 can spell.

I loves this view at Holland Lake and must take in visually at least 5 times a month and have probably photographed it 50 times.

It is hard to look hard with a day glow orange bolt block in place but here I give it my best. The next time you see Isabella she will be wearing a laser and cornea scorching flashlight combo.

Soil and water conservation pro tip: Don't allow any woody plant to root near erosion control structures. They will damage the structure (here Gabion basket) and actually promote erosion by providing a channel for water to flow down into the soil.

• A local physician has been trying to get on the floor the panties of a hot married acquaintance who is friends with my friend-girl. He recently brought jewelry back from a trip to Asia and offered her some. She took a few pieces and gave them to her friends. Friend-girl took one and deciding it wasn't her asked if I knew anybody who might want it. Knowing my flashy Latina nursing buddy would dig it I took it to work and gave it to her.
• That was a local tangled web of deceit that became a convoluted international supply chain.
• Unless there is  a spoon already available requiring the barest effort, I never stir my coffee if I add creamer and sugar. I just dump them in the coffee and swish them around a bit.
• Probably odd: I don't have to have cream and sugar nor do I have to have my coffee black- I switch up from day to day. I'm not sure I have ever seen anybody else do that.
• A recent headline was, "Drones are coming but our laws aren't ready." Thanks Sherlock. Somebody should have had at least an outline ready for that scenario the minute they saw them being used in our recent wars. If America is complacent on this issue those things will be mailing us speeding tickets, breaking cities budgets, colliding with piloted aircraft, scanning homes for excess energy loss and mailing out bills, further eroding privacy...
• It isn't a conspiracy theory- any technology that can be abused will.
• Argo is on the counter to be watched.
• I have heard and tend to believe The Hobbit is terrible
• Chinua Achebe died this week. I first read Things Fall Apart after it being loaned to me by a Nigerian Ibu friend. It was his boyhood copy and his introduction to literature. It was yellowed, brittle and taped up and held a million different foreign smells. When we talked about our dreams he would say, I will continue to study for the MCAT and God willing and I become as smart as my good friend Kevin I will be a physician- and you my friend? 
• He is a local emergency department physician and I'm still looking for that roadside rattlesnake ranch and bigfoot research center to buy.
• Gravity Kills- Guilty

Some Brave Soldier Alone Against The Enemy And A Desert Wilderness

Click to enlargenate

Monday's Missives

• When my baby son saw some of the skin peeling from my sunburn on my leg last summer and pulled it off it sounded like packing tape being stripped back. Then he tried to shake it off as it stuck to his finger. The big kids said," Ewwww, dad- that's gross!"



• A girl wrote on here and said she saw my,"Ta-Tas."



• I can honestly- say no one has ever said that about me before.



• Made me laugh- so funny.



• Lot of miles from that miserable episode of my life.



• I've mentioned this before but, the above pic made me think of an odd, random thing I heard from two different friends in two different states that still trips me out when it crosses my mind- they each thought I'd marry a dancer (not the pole type). Still can't wait to see what goes through my mind when I meet someone and they say,"Oh, I'm a ballerina..."



• A flashback: when I came home for leave from Iraq I brought everything back with me they wouldn't let me mail and I wouldn't need for the rest of the tour to save me from carrying back so much at the end of the tour and I also intended to leave a bunch at home for the return to Iraq from leave. As many of my plans go, this one went awry with the realization a whole bunch of children's clothes were going to Goodwill and there were a whole bunch of poor kids near my base without decent clothing. Needless to say I humped more stuff back to Iraq than I brought over. Way more. When I handed the clothes out two things really stick in my memory still- one was when I pulled out a pair of girls patent leather dress shoes still stuck together by the little stretch cord and two girls ripping them apart and staring at their reflections in the shoe they each had walking away ignoring my efforts to get them together to one child- they would fit. And another- I didn't see any of the other clothes for months until we patrolled that area in about 50 degree temperature when I saw a 2-3 year old boy wearing a pair of my daughters flowery embroidered jeans that were high watered on him and nothing else.



• Still makes me want to cry.



• I almost stayed home a few extra days for leave and even told people that was my intention. I mean really what were they going to do? Send me to a war? Prison? Stamp my meal card, No Dessert (my favorite response).



• In the end I wanted to get back to (and for) my soldiers so bad I would have left days early to return if the opportunity presented.


• You may have read about the soldiers and contractors being electrocuted by KBR electrical work in Iraq- I knew one of them.

Wednesday's Digressions

• "Alright guys. If we get hit, we're falling back to this building. I said pointing. We'll take that upper floor, call for the trucks and wait. No matter what- stay - together - and shoot - back! You got me?"
• I almost hate that I'll never get to say cool things like that again.
• Well, I still do but, the people in the grocery store sure do look at me funny.
• Seriously- I'll never, ever forget the look on a couple of their faces.
• They loved me.
• Man oh man- in that second I got it.
• Prediction: Chevrolet will make a sportier, high performance version of the Volt electric car.
• And call it the Jolt.
• You read it here first.
• My children have the game machine that you can wave a remote around and it acts like a bat, gun, club or racket etc.
• They will go days and sometimes weeks without touching it at all.
• Wouldn't it be something if our collection of knowledge, experience, skills and contribution to the arts and fellow man were what defined us- I mean each of us in our own ways but, the accumulation of junk was just well- junk and money was used to feed ourselves and others while really accomplishing things?



• If you are a male whose been through a divorce in America- specifically Texas I hear and see a lot (yes, surprised me too- for some reason) and has owned a home that burned to the ground you think about things like the above.



• Empathy, sympathy and perspective can be expensive.
• In more ways than one.

Mondays Missives

my cubicle in the Al Anbar office. Click to enlarge

• My house sets only about 12 miles from the weather station for my area so reports are generally dead on- as in when the weather says a cold front will move through at around noon- you could set your watch by that.








• I've scared a couple of people with stories of the horrors I was associated with in Iraq and this is part of the reason some of my closest friends haven't heard the worst.








• We called being there being Downrange.








• I don't understand how an author/historian could ever attempt to alter history to bend to their views. For instance, just this morning on the histroy channel site there was a sentence that read to the effect regarding the Battle Of The Bulge: "Nazi atrocities abounded during this period including the murder of 72 American prisoners of war at Malmedy." I don't know where to start with this statement but, the Malmedy Massacre as it has become known as far as I know is now regarded by every historian on both sides as a horrible, unfortuante event that started with the shooting of a few escaping prisoners which devolved into a mass escape attempt by the Americans who believed they were being executed without cause. The shooting of an escaping POW was both legal and engaged in by all parties 100% of the time. Early in the war though the Germans were known for their magnanimity in dealing with
  American casualties and prisoners which surprised and often had a deep impact on US GIs because of the German reputation for fierceness in battle. The German forces would often be the first to broker battlefield deals to allow casualty collection and body removal- even when they had the upper hand. Medics would report their surprise they could move through a hail of fire as if they were invisible- they were simply not being targeted by the German soldiers. One incident which did work toward changing the way Germans acted on the battlefield though was the murder of two German medics who had commandeered an American jeep and were rushing a wounded German and American soldier back to their field hospital. The American soldiers shot both of the medics and dumped the wounded German in a ditch to die. The term "Nazi soldiers" is also perjorative and a bit misleading- it was a political party that until late in the war most soldiers were prohibited from belonging.





• Contiue to be curious about the controversy surrounding President Obamas color. He is half white and was not exactly raised in the ghetto.





• I think it would be easy to perceive that he will be able to do nothing right because so much is expected of him and he has so many problems to deal with but, I think the truth will be unless he really steps on something he will be viewed as if he could do no wrong.





• When I first got out on my own I think it was generally accepted it was cheaper to eat well and healthy than not- I believe the opposite is true today.

Fridays Dispatch

google streetview blakeley georgia,"Hey, what is this here thangy?"

• Left my crazy person journal at a nursing home I was contracted to recently. It's still there and I'll pick it up tonight as I took the patient on again.
• What's a crazy person journal? It's my notebook I use for everything- to dos, patient reports to my relief, cases to bill, landscape designs, thoughts for this blog etc. Especially the thoughts for here look like well, a crazy homeless persons ranting journal that might be found in their grubby pocket when they freeze to death in a doorway some winter night in a big city. The jots in mine aren't meant for public consumption and are just a bunch of messy looking scratches to remind me what I'm thinking- specifically to not have to rewrite the whole thing a second time.
• Man, I'm going to hate facing people I know have seen my inner madness at work.
• Took care of a local man last night. Didn't know him and we could not have been more different people but, it always means a lot to care for someone local to me and I don't know why.
• Funny skeleton that came out from the oldest daughter: " I remember because Paw paw and Googie had a big fight that day." Family laughter all around then someone said,"I knew they never got along but, they had a fist fight?" "Not exactly." came the response and after a brief pause- "Googie came after Paw paw with a 2x4 and hit Paw paw in the head and Paw paw stabbed him a couple of times with his pocket knife. If Pauly wasn't there to break it up they would have killed each other." which was of course followed by family laughter all around again.
• Paw paw and Googie were the families grand father and step great grandfather respectively. One was 65 and the other 72 at the time.
• A kind of pretty CNA was flirting with me recently at a facility. She used her well practiced butt swing walk when she walked away from me, took her hair band out to toss around her really pretty long blond hair while she pretended to need to adjust the hair band, would laugh and touch my arm letting her fingers run down it as she pulled her hand back to herself- all the classics. I thought she was kind of holding her mouth funny and when I made her laugh out loud and smile big found out why. Every tooth in her head was black with rotted holes all the way through the front two uppers. It looked like she hadn't brushed them since she had them.
• Meth mouth.
• The Jon And Kate Plus 8 thing is getting a lot of attention. Supposedly, it's been discovered he cheated with another woman while she was on a book signing tour.
• Jon And Kate Plus 9
• Then, supposedly it's come out she'd been having sex with the bodyguard.
• Plus 10
• Then there might be another, another woman.
• I get lost when I run out of fingers.
• The odd thing? People who've watched the show would go on and on about their commitment, their love, their devotion etc. When I watched it I thought, Here's two people who if they had the energy to care would hate each others guts. And wondered if I really was watching the show I kept hearing about.
• I wore Spongebob Squarepants boxers to sleep in every night I was in Iraq.
• Never washed them.

In The News

"The Pentagon is reviewing 18 deaths in conjunction with a contractor's electrical work, including that of Staff Sgt. Christopher Everett, seen in the photograph next to his mother, Larraine McGee of Huntsville, Texas." ap article on msnbc

I served with SSG Everett in Iraq. He was very well liked and respected and as I recall, he died fairly late in the tour which always seems to make their loss more difficult to bear. The fact it was a non battle related, preventable incident doesn't help either I'm sure. Found the following profile after initial post.

Army Staff Sgt. Christopher L. Everett

"For Valentine's Day, Christopher L. Everett knew the little packages and e-mails he sent from Iraq to his fiancee wouldn't be enough. So he paid for her and a friend to get a massage.
"He really was amazing and did everything a husband or boyfriend should do," Kristy Wellborn said. "He would call me when he knew I was at work and leave me a message, telling me he was thinking about me."

Everett, 23, of Huntsville, Texas, was electrocuted Sept. 7 while working with a power washer in Taqaddum. He was assigned to Arlington.

He joined the National Guard while a senior in high school. He also was working for the Texas Department of Corrections at the time he was called to active duty.

Everett, who had been a Boy Scout and loved camping and the outdoors, loved to work with his hands and loved animals. He hoped to fly a Life Flight helicopter.

"I was always so proud of him, and I am proud of him beyond words that he would volunteer to risk his life when he didn't have to," said his mother, Larraine Everett.

He also is survived by his father, Patrick." from ajc.com/news