American beauty Redacted

It is official my cognitive psychology professor need an assistant, yesterday while taking a quiz many of us noticed many of the questions were not even covered in the first few chapters of the text nor by the lecture notes. It turns out that she had grabbed the wrong quiz from her office. She also developed her own format for essays in her class, as if APA style isn’t good enough. Well no matter tonight is abnormal psychology and we are viewing a film “American beauty” and after we get to write a about the abnormal behavior as portrayed by the actors.
I have seen this movie before and it re enforces my belief that many marines are latent homosexuals. Referring to that we all project the image we wish to be viewed as by the rest of society. So those that strut around and shout “look at me a big tough marine” and quite possibly have not confronted the feminine aspects of their personality shall all ways be less that whole.

Huricane Katrina a year later

One year hurricane Katrina came ashore and devastated the gulf coast region. I thought I take a moment to scribble a few of my thoughts regarding a Blogger who just doesn’t get it. We have sparred over many an occasion mainly over my assertion that society did indeed break down in the aftermath of the hurricane. The following post is not mine but come from gales in his name she is one of these neo Christians that just make my skin crawl. Her comments are regarding former residents of New Orleans that were evacuated after hurricane Katrina. I respect gale for her opinions but at the same time she demonstrates a lack of understanding towards a people that have lost not just their jobs and their homes, but these people lost something else that the good church people tend to overlook. What they lost is the one thing that most of us take for granted our day to day lives. In the time it took the state and federal governments to actually respond the citizens that became evacuees had lost everything that was familiar. She titled her post “do we all come from the same place” I found her lack of knowledge to be troubling for a woman who plans to pursue a career in social services and even more so she is a former resident of the big easy. Much of the conversations I have had with her revolve around her using labels to describe the hurricane survivors, such as those people, the refugees this is not how a logical person thinks of a victim of disaster. At a much deeper level she projects the image of a caring person when in fact the reason for her disdain is that she recognizes things in the evacuees at Gruber that she finds distasteful in herself. But what do I know I am just a grunt who had to help these so called refuges. It would be nice if people would stop kicking their fellow man when he (or she) is down but I have some to expect that type of behavior from the residents of Tulsa Oklahoma “gods’ country” as the Tulsans refer to it.

Sep 24 2005, 08:18 PM

I spent some time at Camp Gruber today with the last of the Katrina refugees that are still there. I was working in the clerical section, answering the phones, running messages to the people. They fed us breakfast and lunch and we ate the same food the people staying had. The food was not bad. The people that were there for the most part were the ones that were expecting the government to hand them their living. One lady came into the building I was in and asked about the red cross putting them in a hotel. The red cross gave $360 per person to each family there. The woman was told that she would have to pay for her hotel with her own money and she started going off about how she was educated and went to one of the best colleges in New Orleans, and that no one told her that she would have to use that money for that. She went off on the fact that the red cross should pay for her hotel and that she should not have to use that money they give her for that. It was explained over and over and over again that the money was for her to use as she felt she needed to use it. She insisted that no one ever told them how to use that money and she did not feel that she should have to pay for her own hotel. The churches that are picking up the people and taking them to their community find that the people trash out the vans and buses that are used to bring them to their new homes. The churches are getting tired of it. The people just throw paper, cups, cans and bottles all over the grounds and the army is just not used to that.

Taking the heat round

Looks like our frat boy commander in chief is at it again, when he isn’t to bust groping heads of state his next favorite activity is sticking it to the Combat soldier. Oh combat the one thing he didn’t do when he was in the guard. It seems that the white house plans to drastically cut funding for treatment of war-related brain injuries and research on war-related brain injuries. These are the kind of traumatic brain injuries one might get while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. These injuries can be sustained by the following IEDS, gunshot wounds, eating army rations. For a nation at war with the boggy man it makes no sense to cut funding to the before mentioned research’ if anything slash funding to all these contractors that are getting wealthy at the expense of a few thousand dead G.I’s

The lost boys

I want to touch on a subject that remains untouched by the mainstream media. This of course is missing children more specifically the lost children of New Orleans; let’s narrow it down even more. These children I am referring to were the ones that were in foster care who with their foster parents were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Many of the hundreds of children that wee wards of the state have vanished with their foster parents. Child protective services all over can only scratch their heads and wonder where did these people go to. Have any Ideas Let Thomas know what you think.

Dirt Dart

The name dirt dart is a tow gunner’s reference to a missile that doesn’t hit its intended target but strikes the ground near the target, this can happen to several factors including gunner tracking error, the optical cable breaks or the soldiers prerogative to miss. That must confuse many people why would a soldier miss the chance to take out a tank? Well the answer is simple when a tow hits its target and the thing functions as it was designed to it just doesn’t blow up it melts the steel on the tank anyone unfortunate to be on that doomed vehicle is burned alive. Nice thought isn’t it, the framers of constitution made sure that punishment was not to be cruel and unusual I think that an anti tank rocket violates that one don’t you? One could argue that the rules towards citizens do not apply in modern warfare. I would disagree with that point while the cruel and unusual is referring to punishment after all our response to being attacked is a form of retribution or punishment to the offenders. Another thing you might want to ponder is that our soldiers are psychologically conditioned to respond without a second thought. But do we de program our fighting men the answer is no. You might want to chew on that awhile before sending America’s sons and daughters to pay the butchers bill.

Tube Worms

Here is some basic information about the light infantry mortar. Please note that this information can be found on the net from a variety of sources so to the best of my knowledge this is not a violation of Operational security. The M224 60mm LWCMS is ideally suited to support airborne, air assault, mountain, ranger, Special Operations Forces and light infantry units. The M224 can be drop fired (conventional mode) or trigger fired (conventional or hand-held mode). A lightweight auxiliary base plate is used when firing the mortar in the hand-held mode. The M224 60mm Lightweight Mortar is a smooth bore, muzzle loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon. The cannon assembly is composed of the barrel, combination base cap, and firing mechanism. The mount consists of a bipod and a base plate which is provided with screw type elevating and traversing mechanisms to elevate/traverse the mortar. The M64 sight unit is attached to the bipod mount via a standard dovetail. An additional short range sight is attached to the base of the cannon tube for firing the mortar on the move and during assaults. It has a spring-type shock absorber to absorb the shock of recoil in firing. The M224 replaced the older (WWII era) M2 and M19, 60mm Mortars. These weapons only possessed 2,200 yards of effective range. The M224 was designed to fire all types of the older ammunition, but its primary rounds are of the newer, longer-range type. Mortars can provide a heavy volume of responsive, accurate fire with a variety of ammunition. They are ideal for attacking close in targets, targets on reverse slopes, and those targets in areas difficult to reach with low angle fire. Mortars are particularly effective in providing white phosphorous and illumination support. Mortars are transported by vehicle, helicopters, or by man pack. Mortars can be man packed in terrain where vehicular support is restricted. However, in a fast moving operation, the mobility of mortars, coupled with their limited range capability, may be a restricting factor. Mortars also have the capability to be fired from a light armored vehicle Mortar fires can be massed on a target by the organic unit. However, massing of mortar fires outside the zone of action of the organic unit is difficult due to the limited range of the mortar. Responsiveness is an inherent characteristic of mortars. The high angle trajectory and long time of flight causes the mortar to be vulnerable to enemy counter fire. Active and passive measures are used to increase survivability. Because ammunition for mortars may have to be man packed, the sustainment of mortars may be difficult. So mortars should be employed as an immediately available source of fire support for the infantry commander. Other indirect fire weapons are used when they can achieve the desired results. The 60 mm mortar section employs three mortars. When the mortar section is in General Support [GS], it supports all rifle platoons as directed by the company commander. By keeping the section in GS the company commander retains flexibility, ease of coordination of fires, and the ability to mass fires. Direct tactical control of the section remains with the weapons platoon commander. Fires are controlled from the company command post when observation of the entire company zone of action is possible from that position. If not, the mortar section leader mans an observation post to control the fires. GS is the preferred method of employment. The mortar section may be employed in Direct Support [DS] of a specific unit of the company; e.g., a rifle platoon. The section leader establishes direct liaison with the supported rifle platoon commander and conducts fire missions as requested by him. The weapons platoon commander is responsible for the control of the section’s actions to include positioning and displacement. The mortar section, or an element thereof, may be attached to a rifle platoon. Attachment is justified when the mortar section cannot give adequate support to a rifle platoon by operating in GS or DS. Situations for attachment arise when a rifle platoon is: Operating as the advance party in an approach march; operating as a patrol whose route takes it out of mortar range; or conducting a withdrawal or is situated in a platoon strong point. When a mortar squad is attached to a rifle platoon, the rifle platoon commander assumes the tactical command, supply, and administrative functions normally exercised by the weapons platoon commander. Attachment is the least desirable method of employment. The employment of separate mortar squads attached to individual platoons lessens the destructive power achieved by consolidating the section. Attachment also increases the problems associated with ammunition distribution and re supply and a mortar without ammo is nothing more than an awkward club, as well as fire control.

The M224 Mortar System consists of the following major components:

M225 Cannon Assembly (14.4 lbs)
M170 Bipod Assembly (15.2 lbs)
M7 Baseplate (14.4 lbs)
M8 Auxiliary Baseplate (3.6 lbs)

Presidental Criticism

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919

Aug Drill

My unit had drill this weekend at the Camp Gruber training site near brags Oklahoma, the festivities for the weekend consisted of common task training and weapons qualification with the 9mm pistol and the M 249 squad automatic weapon. I dropped the saw gunner off and moved one of the other platoons to the blue devil recreation area so they could conduct their CTT training; then I had to go back out to the pistol range and qualify. It would be great if the First Sergeant would forget that I have a license to drive a bus after all being a combat bus driver isnt exactly what I had in mind when I came back into the guard. As far as shooting I actually did okay and managed to score expert. Later that day I went to check on the Saw gunner and they had just gotten up to the firing line and weren’t finished for hours after it was all said and done only 3 people out of 20 were able to qualify, the heat and a lack of an adjustment tool were the primary factor involved in this. The range officer wanted them to keep trying until they had all got passing scores Top showed up and put a stop to the insanity… thank god for a first sergeant who actually cares for his soldiers.

August Drill

Once again let the merriment that is drill begin, we are going to camp Gruber for a weekend of weapons training sun and lots of sweaty misery. Now if these fucks could mange to pay me on time.

Afganistan

The web presence for Afghanistan claims to be the friendliest place
On the planet. I often wonder who actually writes this stuff. I am going to tell you about one of my NCOs Sgt.French and his dealings with what we infantrymen call Pouges. Pouge is a slang term used for a person who is not an infantryman person other than grunt. One of the tools used by soldiers in the camp is a powerful camera mounted on a large pole; this piece of equipment can view areas out side the camp for great distances it can also be used to look inside the compound. The Troops often Refer to this as the fuck Joe cam, instead of using this device to find hajj when he is up to mischief. Some of pouge officers would use it to spy on troops and report if they are doing anything they aren’t' supposed to be doing. One day Sgt. French was running the cam and was asked by an officer why he was looking outside of the compound, to this the Sergeant replies the enemy is on the other side of the wire sir. This illustrates a disturbing trend, officers that are more worried about troops with their hands in their pockets or not in uniform than finding the guerillas that are spreading violence across Afghanistan.

Retroactive war crime protection proposed

Retroactive war crime protection proposed by the current president When are Americans regardless of which side of the political spectrum they fall on going to stand up and say WTF? I serve this nation in the armed forces and although I am just a lowly grunt and the Geneva Convention is not some vague document that isn’t clear enough to me. Since our nation signed it generations of soldiers sailors and marines have been trained understand what the provisions mean. This latest move by GW is nothing more than an attempt to shield himself and others like him from being prosecuted for war crimes. We have a difficult job to do at the bequest of the civilians who count on us to protect them from the boogie man of the moment. War fighting is a serious business. We're not a social club or a fraternal organization and we don't pretend to be. As soldiers, our message to our foes has always been essentially the same. "We own this side of the street! Threaten my country or our allies and we will come over to your side of the street, burn your hut down, and whisper in your ear "can you hear me now? And then secure your heartbeat. We do this for you; this is what the American people expect us to do. Just don’t waste our time with trivial who is wrong or who is right we; after all are not politicians but merely puppets dancing to the pull of a string.

Meet jamie the pet hero

Many former pets mainly dogs that were left behind when there owners fled New Orleans had to adapt to the sudden disappearance of their care givers. Fido has no food so what does he do he re learns to hunt and scavenge. This was one our biggest concerns, being bitten by a dog who has been chewing on deceased residents of the big easy. Our R.O.E rules of engagement were simple if a canine charges toward you put it down as quickly as possible but ensuring that no civilians are injured, cant go shooting our own countrymen now can we. The first few weeks we encountered dozens of such animals that were incredibly aggressive. After the infamous 6th ward dog slaughter we were instructed to carry riot batons to strike the dogs with. Most of us thought this was stupid; as the army and the guard especially is image conscious. What grunt wants to be seen on CNN or some other News program clubbing a canine to death? Not I said the little camouflage hen. I will say that the fine folks with PETA made a huge impact by dropping and tearing open bags of pet found for mans best friend. We also encountered Jamie she took in and feed an enormous amount of cats. She also introduced us to Cajun cuisine, but no matter hard you try jambalaya cannot be made kosher. What’s a Jew to do? Violate the heck out of kashrus law that’s what.

Good Christian girl

The package contained a letter that read Dear soldier; I had received many of these during a long deployment. A bulk of these care packages from American citizens ended up in the hands of troops with the highest moral, while the grunts sleeping in an armored vehicle got relatively few. Usually they contain stuff that will survive the trip across the great pond such as baby wipes, foot powder, snacks, pens papers, mouthwash, and from time to time photos of girls wishing to express their level of patriotism by varying degrees of nakedness. These women or girls seem to be caught up in the flurry of patriotic emotions that always follow the army at the start of a campaign. I would much rather see these people taking some initiative where it counts at the polls and stop mixing religion and politics. This may sound odd coming from a person who has given a good portion of his adult life to the service of a nation but any real soldier does not revel in armed conflict, not all of us desire anything more than to shed blood in the name of the American people. True we were attacked on 9/11 but Saddam had nothing to do with that the world is a far more dangerous place as a result of our incursion into Iraq. Anyhow many of these photos came with letters talking about devotion to duty and then merging into a lecture about a love for Jesus. When ever I am introduced to women who is as touted as a good Christian girl my mind drifts back to many of photos I received from just such a person and somewhere in the back of my mind a little voice is whispering “Good Christian girl… yes very good indeed”

A Broch Tsu Dayn Lebn

It is my personal opinion that many people profited from the disaster that befell the city of New Orleans last year. To those people who profited from the suffering of many you are scum and I am sure your mothers would be proud. Also the politicians and wannabes that use the before mentioned suffering to further your own selfish goals same goes to you. Curses going out to Jesse Jackson whom I Recently saw on some news program bemoaning the plight of Hurricane Katrina survivors. When my National Guard Unit was called up and sent to the big easy I don’t recall him making any stops or photo Ops to check to see if the people needed any help. Neither he nor any of the so called African American leaders who belittle the response of the US Government to aid those in need of the disaster. The Feds are only to step in once the state calls for aid (aren’t states rights a bitch) Then there were those charlatans and scoundrels that profited from the suffering of others. It is my sincere hope that you discover what misery truly means. A Broch Tsu Dayn Lebn there one Yiddish curse from me to you. Where was Jesse proud to be black Jackson and his righteous indignation when the police of Gretna refused to let evacuees cross the bridge to walk to the naval air station to be evacuated? I am thinking scared white people cowering in fear; a curse on them as well. The mayor of Gretna would later claim there were no busses waiting for the people but that was an outright lie. My unit stood bye waiting to process the evacuees. Later as we moved into the city to restore order the only crooks we found were wearing badges many of them from out of state. Our sudden appearance in the garden district caused many a lawman a brief moment of terror. We Infantrymen tend to be stealthy when we need to be. Our very presence calmed a disturbed area, many of the people that were out and about looking for either loot or trouble faded into the background and once again became law abiding citizens funny what a bunch of Oklahomans armed to the teeth can accomplish. Again Jesse was strangely absent from all of the patrols as my company walked through the flooded section of N.O. could it have been the lack of cameras that kept the hope of black Americans away. Not that the voice of black equality would not have much to gain by hanging around a bunch of white soldiers from Oklahoma. But then again not all of us are white; we are white black yellow brown and red; what good is an Infantry company from Indian Territory without at least an Indian, oh and toss in a Jew to balance out the ethnic potluck. To bad Jesse check my sound bite Jackson was AWOL he might have learned a thing or two about selfless devotion to this Nation. But maybe he can help mayor Nagin build his chocolate New Orleans; that is of course if they can figure out what to do with all the illegal aliens that flooded (no pun intended) into the city to rebuild the big sleazy and taking jobs away from deserving African Americans.

We let the dogs out

Many of the Katrina evacuees had pets and many of those pets had to be left behind when their owners left their homes. We found one of these stay behind pets in a rather nice home in the garden district of New Orleans, for whatever reason the owners decided to lock this small dog in the bathroom with dog food and a small bowl of water. When my team encountered fido he was sleeping in the crap filled bathroom we thought that this was unfair to the animal so we let him roam around the house, before we left we made sure he had lots of food and water, I would only hazard a guess at what the home owners found once they returned, I just hope the little fellow didn't do to much damage to their expensive furniture.

Got Gas???

Looks like the price of fuel has risen again this on the heels of exxon listing a 36 percent increase in profits. Looks like war is good for someone after all. Just not the average american.

EUROPA

http://www.break.com/top_rated/patiencechild.html

This is either staged or could be my ex wifes brother, if ever a child needed anti- psychotic medication it was her brother. This little angel is screeching in German, although I enjoyed the time I lived in EUROPA (for the most part). I did grown tired of being spit on by excited Germans, Or being kissed by my drunken neighbors. Ah the life of the ex-pat, My fondest memory of Germany is standing around in my dirty Latz hosen waiting for the missus to get done at work and having American tourists thinking that I am a native and they want to know if I speak English and if possible I tell them where their hotel is. Usually I would give them directions but sometimes just stare at them with a blank expression on my face. There was this one time after I told an American couple where to go the woman asked where I had learned to speak such good English, I could only reply with "compulsory training in Army" with my thick Californian/German accent.

Our Rights

Have we as a society gone insane? Is it possible that we are as dumb as a box of rocks? A good portion of my life was lived under the specter of nuclear annihilation by the Soviets at any moment. Did this nation lose our 1st and 4th ammendment rights then? Hell no! Now less than two dozen whack job fundamentalists crash some planes and suddenly we have to cower in fear and Give up your civil rights? Are you all on drugs or just plain stupid?

Desert Arachnophobia

Picture is a semi recent photo of the infamous camel spider and this tale relates a soldiers experience with the dreaded bug.
This is one of the most horrifying creatures I've ever seen. Like from a bad monster movie, a camel spider came creeping out of the darkness. One of the guys who first noticed it let out a yell like we were under attack. Though not as big as the ones in the "famous Iraq" picture, this thing was huge It just sat there at the edge of the light cast by the light set, and I swear it was sizing us up. None of us had ever seen, or heard of a camel spider, so we did what came natural, we threw rocks at it. This definitely did not have the expected or desired result. Instead of running off, it was clearly agitated by the rocks impacting nearby. The closest guy was at least 15 feet away, but this mutant seemed to be searching for the source of the rocks, rotating left and right, scanning its horizon, seeking a target.When a rock finally found its mark and beaned it in the head (head, or whatever), this thing freaked out and blasted off towards the nearest guy at an unbelievable speed. At this point all bravado was lost, and the command post across the desert must have thought a group of Girl Scouts were being attacked as everyone ran in different directions screaming hysterically knocking over cots, tent poles, etc. The monster attacked the guy it was after (long since forgot his name, but not his face that night) by somehow attaching itself to his leg. A bloodcurdling scream pierced the night air “AAAAAAAAAHHH GETITOFFMEEE!!!!!!” In the mayhem and thrashing about, the spider hit the dirt, only to get up and regroup. Another guy ran over and ambushed it, and stomped it into the ground. There was a second of relief until he picked up his foot. The spider had sank into the soft sand relatively unharmed, and emerged from its grave exceptionally pissed and went after its new enemy number one. After some more chaos, screaming, and foot stomping (sort of a crazy-looking frenzied line dance) this armor-plated arachnid finally succumbed to the US issued desert boots. Not to sound too gruesome, but any avid monster movie watcher knows never to leave the dead monster intact, because it will come back to life and get you, so using an e-tool (folding shovel) the spider was chopped up and its parts spread out into the desert where hopefully they wouldn’t find each other and regenerate.

This is getting old

This is my 4th Blog and god willing the powers that be will not take notice in the event I am deployed and insist that I shut it down or face the wrath of the uniform code of militray justice. This is just some of the silly legal stuff required by my current chain of command. This website is not owned operated by the department of defense united states Army National Guard the NSA or even the men in black. The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone you may reprint copy any material found on this web log provided you give something that remotely resembles a link back to my Blog. With that said have a nice day.