I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas

Wow! Merry Christmas everyone. It started raining sometime last night just after midnight and now it is 5 pm and still raining like a champ. There are puddles everywhere and we are finding out that our so called waterproofed tent is not water proof. We spent a long time over the summer trying to figure out a way from water coming in on the floor of the tent and it works for its purpose. What we didn't expect was water seeping in through the wood. Since our wood floor goes outside, it soaks up the water and creates a damp floor because the wood is wet.

It has been a nice holiday though and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of my kids opening their presents.

Questions from the troops

Rumsfeld visited Mosul today and I'm sure there are people out there that will say that troops were forced to keep their questions positive after the question that came from Kuwait. Well my opinion is that it is the difference between troops that are in Iraq and really knows what it is like and troops in Kuwait who only know what it is like through the media.

One of my favorite questions was "why doesn't the media do more reports are the humanitarian and reconstruction efforts that take place everyday?" That is what I would like to see since I know about many of them personally but have never seen anything about it on the public news channels. I have come to think it is reverse propaganda, which is really sad that a lot of people don't realize the obvious agenda of the media.

Imagine if it were breaking news when ever an American citizen died in a car crash caused by DUI and a huge emphasis was placed on how tragic it was and how each family was effected. The effect would be a public outcry to crack down on drinking and driving. That is what we have about the situation in Iraq. You focus on every death in an intimate way.

My point is not that soldiers shouldn't be honored for their sacrifice, I think it is great the amount of support soldiers receive from Americans. My point is that the true veterans of this war understand the real threat and see the purpose of their sacrifice first hand and would really like to share that with the world; but the press just won't let them. Off my soapbox :)

I have a true love for the Iraqi people and pray that we can accomplish our mission of bringing freedom and a better life to these people.

Little Taste of Hawaii

I received a package today from my Uncle in Hawaii. It contained 3 cans of macadamia nuts covered in garlic and onion. Oh were they good and fattening. I don't really think I have eaten them before, at least not whole and not without a cookie involved. I definately have a lot of holiday snacks to eat, I wish I could share them with my wife though.

Christmas in Iraq

Each day is getting closer and closer to Christmas and it hasn't been to bad. It has been relatively quiet in our area and we just had a cold snap. It gets down to 30 during the night and around 50 during the day. I have received lots of Christmas cards from friends and family and several boxes with holiday goodies and ornaments. Unfortunately I can't display them all because I don't have the room. I have a living and work area that I share with another person that is only 16 ft by 16 ft. We have done a great job setting it up though so it is really comfortable, but it makes you stir crazy after being here a year.

I put up some lighted garland on the front of my tent sent by my parents and we have a little tree to hang the homemade ornaments that I received. It all helps it make it feel a lot more like Christmas which is a pleasure. The greatest Christmas present is just knowing that our replacements will be here soon and we will get to go home.

Family Home Evening - FHEnight.com

Well I finally did it. I have been working more an more on HTML and webpages that I bought a domain and started a website. For the most part it is LDS focused and designed to share family home evening lessons between my extended family, but there are also ideas for family activities and traditions. It's small now but I will do my best to add at least one lesson each month.

As for me, I'm still in Iraq and still healthy and safe. It got a little crazy while we were conducting operations in Falluja, but it has really quieted down since that stopped and has been peaceful in comparison. I still have a couple of months left and am hoping that there will be no extensions involved.

I'm going to try to express this thought as unoffending as I can. I haven't talked about religious topics a lot in the past but I have been thinking a lot about something today and want to express it with my other thoughts.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (known by many as mormons or LDS) I find it strange sometimes how people react once they know you are a "mormon" and you are talking about religious topics. Their first reaction is "Oh man....he's going to try to convert me now" and while it is true that I would love to share the gospel with anyone who will listen, I respect everyone's right to worship as they wish. That's one of the things that makes America so great.

Well if I can get beyond that first reaction with someone and continue a religious discussion about anything, they are usually so sure that we don't believe in the same things, when most of the time we do. What has really surprised me over the last few years is peoples astonishment at the fact that I and many other millions of members believe that we have a prophet here on this earth today and that Christ's church has been restored on this earth just as is prophesied in the bible.

I guess the reason why it surprises me so much is that when I am talking to anyone who truly believes in Christ and the bible, then they also believe and understand that prophets have been on the earth since the creation and through all time until after Christ's life and all the apostles had all died. In my mind it is hard to imagine that there would be no need for prophets anymore since they were part of so much of our history.

A lot of people are so afraid of being "converted" as if it was a disease and was contagious that they refuse to even have an open mind to find the truth themselves and find it outrageous that I could believe in something like that. What I see is just history repeating itself again and again. There are many scritural accounts of people refusing to believe in prophets when they are still alive, but after they are long gone, people find it much easier to believe in them because their prophecies have become truths.

While surfing some of the military blogs out there, I discovered a site called beerforsoldiers.com and although I don't drink alcohol or provide a way for others to drink, I found it just as frustrating as many drinkers when I found that the military made the soldiers shut down the site.

The site asked for donations so these soldiers could have some drinks while they were on R&R and to fund a large party when the unit returned from Iraq. They said they received about 200-300 a month for their cause. The whole reason it was shut down was because someone of higher rank in the military didn't like the site and the message it sent about soldiers so they got lawyers involved and quickly brought up the fact that the military is not allowed to solicit anything from the public and said the site had to shut down.

The reason this frustrates me so much is that I feel the military is very hypocritical at times. For example, the Iraqi people are very good at downloading and making copies of DVDs and movies and making illegal copies. From what I understand, in an Iraqi market, a DVD which sometimes contains two movies on it only costs $1 and a lot of the time it looks just like the original and is a perfect copy.

Although it is illegal I don't think there are any copyright laws in Iraq so there isn't anything that can be done about Iraqi open markets, but many of the US bases in Iraq have markets on base where Iraqis come in and sell their products. Many bases allow these DVDs to be sold and since they are for Americans, they usually go for $5 a DVD since we will pay much more and usually not haggle for prices.

On top of that, during redeployment customs briefings soldiers are told that they are only allowed a certain amount of copies of each title to take home with them (sometimes I hear 1, sometimes I hear 3). That means you can have as many illegal movies as you want as long as you don't have multiple copies of each title. Now keep in mind, these are illegal copies and even having one is technically wrong.

My point obviously is that in a round about way, the US military is saying pirate movies are ok by allowing the sale of the movies on the bases and allowing soldiers to take them back into the US when they go home. There is a very similar situation over in Korea because of lack of copyright laws, but I can't speak from experience.

Usually what it comes down to is what offends the senior military commander in the area and I guess beerforsoldiers.com is wrong in someone's eyes, but illegal copies of movies is not.

By the way, I have not purchased any of these movies.

Is this really fair?

Now I don't like spam any better than any other person in the world, but it doesn't harm me in any way either. I can't believe this guy received 9 years in prison for sending out spam. 9 years! Now that is more than most rapists get. Did this guy really do something worse than rape? I'd personally rather see rapists and other criminals do longer and harder time, but when the court system get so backwards that we punish trivial crimes worse than violent crimes, something is really wrong.

Another good example is Martha Stuart. She got sentenced with a fine and her time in prison, yet one of the people that helped in the process to leak the information to Martha only got a fine. Now who really should have known better? If you had a lot of money invested in coca cola and your broker called you and said "coca cola is going belly up tomorrow, you should probably sell" what are you going to do? And if you did sell, did you do something worse than the person who's job it is to do investing and should definitely know better and was the one who seeked and offered the information in the first place?

I wish we could get our punishment system balanced out and additionally stop stupid lawsuits that reward people for their obvious ignorance. (i.e. The burglar suing the homeowner because they got hurt in their house while burglarizing it)

I guess this is just my rant for the day. The lesson is "Don't Spam! It's a serious crime."

Yea!

I'm sure I'm one of many bloggers who is cheering that this election is over and there is now a clear winner, President Bush! I woke up this morning and turned on the news and they were just beginning the argument about OHIO and I was pretty confident at that time that the President would win, but I was ready to see what would happen throughout the day since no winner was declared. I was also so glad that he won the popular vote too so that people who don't understand the purpose of the electoral process couldn't complain. I'm now very interested to see what will happen over the next year with many issues.

I Can't Wait For Tomorrow!!!

I am so excited to get this election over. It will be interesting to see what scandals come out in the news about the voting process. I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion on it for a while no matter who wins. I have watched this video several times making fun of the Florida voting scandals and it makes me laugh every time even though I am for Bush. If you want to watch it, right mouse click on the link and choose "save target as". I'm not saying it is ok, but there has been a lot of focus on voting fraud this year and the concerns of electronic voting machines and even if it happens this year, I'm sure it is happening no more than it has in past years. Who ever does lose this election, I sure hope they are humble about it.

Cool

It is so nice that it is not hot over here any more. The weather over here quickly went from hot clear days to warm hazy days. There is always lots of dust and smoke in the air now, but I haven't seen rain for months. I know it rained while I was gone, but it hasn't since I have been back. I am anxiously waiting the end of the election so that I can see something new on the news. I realize that the final results will probably be all the news talks about for at least two weeks after the fact, but I can dream. Unfortunately I don't have a lot to talk about right now.

Yes, I'm Back...

...if you couldn't tell already from my last post. I'm finally starting to over come jet lag and get my head somewhat back in the game.

I had a great time back home with my family. We went to a waterslide park and did a lot of Geocaching. (Here was one of my favorite hunts.) We had birthday parties, lots of eating out, and lots of wrestling, singing, reading, and playing with my children. All together to time went by entirely too fast, but I am trying to focus on making my remaining time over here fly by even faster.

I sent in my absentee ballot yesterday and was glad to get that over with, now I just can't wait to see the end of this election. As I have said before, the only channels I get on my TV are AFN news and AFN sports. Since I don't like sports, I really only watch the news and all they talk about is the election 24hrs a day. I know who I want to win.

Who Thinks the Electoral System is Unfair?

Lately the news has been reporting again on peoples' cries to change the electoral system. Some say that it should be done only by the popular vote. Some complain that candidates are only focusing on key states. Before I go on, look at this graph. It shows the results from the 2000 election by county! Before I saw this graph, I used to think as I looked at the predictions of the 2004 elections that there was a whole lot of red on the map and not a lot of blue so why is it so close? Well this graph just amazes me even more.

To the people who complain about candidates focusing only on key states, you can quickly see that if you change the system, candidates would then only focus on key cities!!!People are right, Gore won the popular vote, but Bush destroyed Gore when it came to winning counties, square milage, and population of counties.

The electoral voting system prevents any one group(urban or rural)/city/state from having to much say in the presidential election. It allows a reflection of the entire United States. You can look at this graph and identify almost every major city that is related with the blue areas. You can easily see that if we went with the popular vote of the 2000 election it reflects only that the urban population was voting for Gore. It's obvious to see that the vast majority of ALL American regions voted for Bush.

On Vacation

After today I won't be around a computer very much for a few weeks so I won't be blogging much if at all. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. All I want to do is sleep the days and time away until I get back home, but I am way to excited. I am looking forward to not having mortar or rocket attacks and not listening to f-16s with afterburners applied, flying right over my tent. I'm am looking forward to homecooked food and little children to play with. Get me out of here! :)

Excitement

I just found out that I get to go on leave in a couple of days and I am obviously extremely excited. I have a lot of plans for what I want to do with my family over the next two weeks, but most of all I am just excited to see them. I have been away from home for the last 8 months, the longest stretch I have spent yet. I have a wife and three young children who will tackle me as soon as they see me and it can't be soon enough. I really don't know how I am going to get back on the plane when the time is over.

An update on the mouse: he is still here somewhere. He is still licking the traps clean. I don't know how we could easily catch the other 3 and not this one. I'm definitely going to have to try a different technique. Fortunately in a couple of days it won't be my problem.

There's a Mouse in the House

...Actually its a tent, but I can't catch this guy. We have had three other mice that were really easy to catch, but this one has licked the traps clean 5 times now and is still alive. A couple of nights ago I heard him run past my head (on the outside of my mosquito net) and it really creeped me out. It was right after I had layed down to go to sleep. He hasn't gotten in to much of my food, but I guess that makes sense because we are keeping him well fed on peanut butter. I just finished doing a nice thorough cleaning in here too. The first day I saw him, he was on a shelf of mine and I started moving stuff around. Well I scared him good and he scared me back as he became a projectile that launched off my shelf and fell to the floor. I really don't know how they are getting in because we really sealed this tent good to keep any water out. Time to refill the feeder....I mean trap.

The War

Most of the time when people discuss the war in Iraq they state the reasons for going to war were the weapons of mass destruction...yada yada yada. What you don't hear very often is that leading up to those specific reasons was one really big reason, September 11th, 2001. The United States was attacked and Americans finally felt threatened. I say finally because September 11th wasn't the first act of terrorism that targeted Americans, it was just the last straw of many attacks. Through President Bush's actions, the United States made a public statement to the world that we would no longer live in fear and that we would not ask for permission to protect ourselves.

So even though Iraq may not have had obvious direct ties to September 11, there was credible evidence that Iraq was a threat to the world and the United States. There are no news reports of the Military finding any WMD in Iraq, but that doesn't mean they aren't/weren't there. My opinion is that WMD has been found, but not publicized. Regardless, we went to war because we were protecting ourselves from future attacks. Saying the war was wrong is saying that we were wrong to act on credible intelligence with the intent of protecting our nation.

Now many people will cite how the intelligence was false, well to that I say that we fully believed it at the time. How quickly we forget how not acting on intelligence can result in disaster (September 11).

People are forgetting Sept 11 though and want our nation to go back to the way it was before the Tragedy. They complain about the "Terror Alerts" and how they are tired of being "scared" by the Bush administration. Those same people confuse the false sense of security provided by their ignorance before September 11 with safety. "Ignorance is bliss" right?

We need to follow through with our efforts in Iraq and stand behind our right as a nation to defend itself from terrorism. I also believe that we should support other nations in their efforts to fight terrorism in their own nations.

Focus on the Family

I just finished reviewing both Mr. Kerry's and President Bush's official election websites. I found their issues on work vs. family very interesting.

Mr. Kerry's site pointed out that with the majority of families with both parents working, parents spend on average 12 hours less than they use to with their children 20 years ago. Setting my opinions aside until later, Mr. Kerry's plan proposes a higher tax credit for child care and extending children's' afterschool programs until 6pm. These afterschool programs will address important issues like teen pregnancy and not using drugs. From these ideas, I get the impression Mr. Kerry is ok with parents spending less time with their children.

President Bush's site pointed out that 68% of mothers who have children under the age of 6 work full time. Also about 68% of all married families with children have both spouses working. President Bush's current and future plans include a proposal for allowing Comp time for overtime, meaning if someone has to work overtime, instead of getting paid more, they earn that time back to be used as more time off later. He also promoted abstinence-only education for use in schools. From these and other ideas, I get the impression President Bush feels families are important and that our current family lifestyle is not headed in the right direction.

Now for my opinion. This is not meant to be critical to single parents or married parents down on their luck economically, but our children need to be raised by their parents. I don't think it is ok to have children and expect day care centers and the school system to raise them for you. Under Mr. Kerry's suggested plan, it would be even easier to spend less time with your children.

I do think that one parent, Mother or Father, needs to be a homemaker or work part time at the most. Our children need our attention. They are our responsibility. We need to spend a lot of time with them. It isn't just quality, but quantity.

After reading about this issue and many others on their websites, I still think I am going to vote for President Bush, but I will always try to keep an open mind.

Who said anything about a Draft

Why is John Kerry talking about the draft? I haven't heard anyone from the Bush administration mention anything about the draft. In fact if you ask anyone in military recruiting you will find that the military is exceeding its current recruitment goals. People are still volunteering to serve their country.

My opinion is the military "is" over tasked right now, but a draft would not help this since there is not a shortage in recruits. If any discussion is required on the issue of the military being stretched to thin, it should be about the amount of personnel the military is allotted by budget. Only by increasing those numbers or decreasing the amount of positions that require unaccompanied tours could we effect the status of the military. Introducing the draft would do absolutely nothing.

Obviously just another case of a presidential candidate playing on emotions and fears of voters instead of trying to earn a vote by explaining their stance on the issues (Yes President Bush does it too). Mr. Kerry, if you can't come up with some real substance, you aren't going to earn my vote.

News: The Real Reality TV?

I was watching Larry King on the news tonight and he had several reporters as guests, including Diane Sawyer. During a small discussion on "reality TV" Ms Sawyer made a comment that "eventually reality TV will run its course and people will realize that news is the real reality TV". I had to chuckle. I think everyone knows that most news channels, shows, papers, etc. have a skewed vision of a reality just like any of the forms of entertainment reality TV.

Just like Survivor is subject to editing and re-shooting ceremonial scenes, the news is subject to opinions of reporters and others involved in producing news media. Both have the ultimate goal of reaching a target audience. If the producers of Survivor want you to think that the most popular cast away might get voted off, they will cut the footage to give you that impression. The news does the same thing.

I was also watching Hardball today and Chris Matthews was constantly focusing his questions and conversation to his belief or agenda to make the statement that this whole election is about the war in Iraq. "If you are for it, vote for Bush, if you are against it, vote for Kerry." According to him it should be just that simple. Well unfortunately it is not simple. Of course there is a lot more to this election than the war in Iraq and people need to discuss all the issues.

Another good example is John Stossels "Give Me a Break!" pieces. Sometimes I am very interested in what he has to say, but most of the time I just want to scream at the screen for Mr. Stossel to give "me" a break. I remember one of his reports around the millennium was about the census and how it was "too long!". Personally, I don't know what they do with the census data, but his report was encouraging people to not fill out the report. A report we only have to fill out once every ten years. Are Americans really that lazy? "John, Give me a break!"

No, most news is no more reality TV than Survivor and Big Brother. I sure wish I had more stations to watch than the AFN News channel. Survivor and Big Brother would be a nice change. News should be news, not entertainment or tools for political platforms.

HTML Crazy

I haven't blogged much the last few days because I have been constantly working with HTML and webpage design. I put together a page I like, but I haven't justified the monthly bill that would go with publishing it yet :) I'm sure I will find something eventually, but right now it is just taking up more of my time and I'm the only one who can see my new site.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio

My dad sent me this information in an email and even though many might have heard about this guy because he has been around for a while, I wanted to share. I'm glad to know there are still people out there that feel this way about crime and wish others would follow the example. For more information on the Sheriff, visit http://www.mcso.org/

• He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.
  
• He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails.
  
• He took away their weights.
  
• He cut off all but "G" movies.
  
• He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.
  
• Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.
  
• He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again but only let in the Disney channel and the weather channel. When asked why the weather channel he replied, so they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs.
  
• He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value. When the inmates complained, he told them.....this is a good one......"This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."
  
• He bought Newt Gingrich' lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails. When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.

With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees just set a new record), the Associated Press reports:
About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts. On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees inside the week before. Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as sweat collected on their chests and dripped down to their pink socks.

"It feels like we are in a furnace," said James Zanzot, an inmate who has lived in the tents for 1 1/2 years. "It's inhumane."

Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes. So shut your damned mouths."

Bush VS Kerry

I sure wish these two would start talking about their policies. All I ever hear or read are attacks against each other. If I heard nothing else, I would vote for Bush, because I haven't heard Kerry say anything that he has to offer except for not being Bush. That doesn't appeal to me. Just because he says that he will do things differently, doesn't mean he will do them any better. I like what George Bush stands for when it comes to an overall picture and besides preventing 9/11 all together, I don't think any president could do much better in forcing an economy to recover or other things that have gone on in the last 3 1/2 years. Again, they may have done things different, but that doesn't mean they would have been better. 9/11 was a terrible event and I don't think any one person can override the effect that event had on our lives. Enough of my ranting, I can't wait for the debates.

When hot is cold

It is finally starting to cool down a little over here and it feels great. The last few days the highs have only been just over 100 and the lows are in the mid to high 70s. I have actually had to walk around with a coat at night because it feels so chilly. You never think that 100 would feel good, but it always amazes me to be walking around and thinking "I'm so glad it is not to hot today" and then I walk by a thermometer and it says 102 in the shade. I'm sure we will have a few more hot spells, but the worst of summer is finally looking over.

Toy Bombers

http://toybomber.org

I was surprised when I found this site because it involves our unit. Something that started as simple as giving some Iraqi kids a soccerball has inspired a much larger movement of kindness. In fact just the other day I counted 18 large boxes of toys that arrived. As we go out on missions, we drop the boxes off in small communities where children are present. The guys who started it all were moved when they saw the result on the childrens' lives. Everyday the children could be seen out in the field kicking the soccerball around. When the soldiers shared the story with their families, the idea quickly spread. It's to bad there aren't more stories like this about Iraq on the news. The truth is there are stories like this happening all over Iraq and most Iraqis show friendship and happiness towards Americans. They are easy to find, the reporters just aren't looking for them.

If you want to pass on the story of the Toy Bombers, please do a post on your own blog with a link to their site so more people can know about stories like these.

Finally Flying

I recieved all the necessary parts and modifications for my radio controlled helicopter yesterday and have finally been able to accumulate quality flight time. I am working on hovering turns and landing on smaller and smaller targets. I tried forward flight a few times and that was followed by two major crashes from about 20 feet up so I am backing off of that skill for a while since I want to actually enjoy flying my helicopter again for a while. I am very surprised at how well the helicopter has handled the crashes though. I would think a nose dive into concrete would equal broken heli. My car has been getting neglected with all the flying though :)

Landing on the Freeway

I love my job.

I hate knowing people are hurt and/or dying, but one of the advantages of my mission is that I get to land a helicopter in some really interesting places and sometimes it is a challenge. Recently I had a mission where I was responding to an accident on a freeway overpass in Baghdad. It was the first time I ever landed on a bridge before and to make it more interesting I had one of those signs that hangs over the freeway telling you how far it is to the next exit right in front of me, a 15+ ft fence on one side of the bridge and 50 ft light poles running down the center. All in all it made it a really confined space. Even though it is really exciting to me, in the end it all comes down to hopefully getting to feel satified knowing I helped save someone's life.

Star Spangled Banner

I think most people learn in school that there are more verses to the Star Spangled Banner than just the first verse, but then forget later on in life. I believe there are actually four verses (Written by Francis Scott Key), but my hymn book only contains three and I just love the pictures each verse paints in my mind when I sing them.

Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Notice the first verse is actually a question that I roughly translate to mean "Is the flag still there?" and from a military stand point "Did we win the battle? Defend the fort? Stand our ground?" etc. It is somewhat disturbing to me to realize we usually only sing the first verse and it ends in such uncertainty. I can better relate to the feelings that inspired the first and second verses from my experiences last year. Here is the second verse.

On the shore, dimly seen thru the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The second verse answers the question in such a beautiful way. I remember the first days of OIF when we were constantly on the move and every time I woke up, I would wonder what had happened while I was sleeping. Of course it was always such a wonderful reassuring feeling to know that our defenses had held.

The third verse, which is the one missing from my hymn book, describes the enemies defeat.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The four verse is one of my favorites though.

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

This nation has truly been blessed by our Heavenly Father and I hope we as a nation never forget that. Every time I sing or hear this song, especially in its entirety, I am filled with the Spirit.

Woohoo!

We got some helicopter parts today and have been hovering around inside the tent. We are still waiting for the tail motor modification so that the motors will last a lot longer. We are flying with the training landing gear off to save weight and keep the motors cool, thus lasting longer. On another note, we had an air conditioner go out for the last couple of days, but I was surprised when someone showed up today to fix it and now we are cooling off again. The air conditioners definitely make the stay in the desert much easier than last year at the beginning of the war. That was completely miserable and there was no where to try to get comfortable during the day and the night wasn't much better. I can't relate to how people can live their lives in conditions like these without air conditioners.

What's in a name?

This blog is not meant to be negetive about the contents of the USA PATRIOT Act. I just couldn't believe when I heard on the news that the title actually stands for an acronym.

The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty
(Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism)

It just amazes me to think of the time and effort that went into coming up with that name. I wonder which came first, the name or the acronym. After a little research, I found that the "PATRIOT ACT" was a house bill introduced on October 2nd, 2001 and the "USA" act was a senate bill intoduced on October 5th, 2001. On October 25th the "USA PATRIOT ACT" was passed. It was a combination of the two original bills. I don't know if any Senators or Representatives were directly involved with coming up with the name, but I hope they were concentrating more on the meat than the title.

"Letters From War"

I really enjoy this video available for download from the Army Safety Center. I used it in one of my classes and I had to make myself watch it several times before I gave the class because everytime I watch it my eyes tear up. I can't wait to go home. That is definately what I think about when I watch this. I have so many memories that come to mind and I guess I normally try to block them out so that I can go on day after day without to much heartache. I will get to go on leave in about a month and spend a couple of weeks with my family and I am excited.

Car Maintenance

I did my first major maintenance on my car today. I had to overhaul the motor because it wasn't working for some reason. I am also having a problem with my steering arm catching on the frame of the car which is complicating steering sometimes. Once I finally got everything working properly I was jumping it over the top of one of the bunkers which worked really well. If I ever build a course it would be fun to incorporate the bunker jump into it all somehow.

Motor was a Bust

My helicopter parts came today and I got them all installed, but my tail motor burnt up already! I ordered the wrong ones (some smaller ones) and they just couldn't take the heat so I will have to order some more. Grrrrr. I raced my car around instead and was burning some rubber up in the hanger, but it just isn't the same as flying. I will probably order some more part tonight to fix up the helicopter. I hate waiting. I am an impulsive buyer so once I decide to buy something, I want it right then. I just hope when my parts do get here that they are a solution that works.

Eat My Dust

The RC truck showed up in the mail today and I had a couple of sessions tearing up the sand already. It is pretty fast....a lot faster than the Toys'r Us RC cars that you play with as a kid. I found a few hills to jump and it looks really cool flying through the air. I was also doing donuts in the sand and it would quickly kick up so much dust you couldn't see it anymore. It is surprisingly a lot more complex in construction than the helicopter and I can tell that when I have to do maintenance it will take a lot longer (lots more screws and pieces) Something else to keep me busy I guess.

Geocache

I went looking for 2 caches today and only found one. I had fun doing it, but I will have to get some more information on the one I didn't find. I plan on doing this activity with my family a lot when I get home, but I figured I would have to find and log my finds while in Iraq because most people don't get chances like that. The one I found led me to an old tail dragger. I'll have to go back and get some pictures.

Security

I've had this thought several times while walking around outside on quiet nights. I can't believe how safe I feel walking around my camp, by myself, at night, in the middle of Iraq. I can't say that nothing ever happens here, but when I think about how I would feel walking around at night, by myself, in just about anywhere in the States, it just amazes me. I think I am more afraid back home of someone mugging, murdering, harassing, etc me or my family members than having a mortar or rocket land next to me out here. I don't think about it much at home, I just stay away from situations that are hazardous, but now it is really sad that most people can't have that freedom of security anymore. It has nothing to do with terrorism, just our society. I definitely will continue to enjoy staring at the stars and walking on warm summer nights in the middle of Iraq.

Parts on the Way

I've been neglecting my blog because I haven't been able to fly. I should have new parts in 5 more days. I am concerned that I bought the wrong ones though and that it won't work for long. Bill ordered a bunch more last night because he burnt his motor up again too. I've been practicing a lot on the simulator and I will probably try forward flight when I get my parts. I am worried my crashes will only get bigger though. My car is probably about a week away too. I've been meaning to get out and explore some of the geocaches located in Iraq, but I've been putting it off.

Duratrax Evader ST

Well I got myself a RC car. This will give me something to do while I am charging batteries or waiting for parts on my helicopter. I don't know for sure the condition, but it was less than half the price for a new one with battery and charger, plus a new motor is only about 17 bucks. Should be enough to keep me entertained.

Grounded!

My tail motor seized up while flying today and now I am stuck waiting on parts plus I ordered a few upgrades that will either eliminate my need for the damper system I made out of paperclips or make it much better. I flew great last night and today. I am starting to work on 3D hovering (more difficult). Bill also helped me fix one of the broken tailrotor blades and it was working today before my motor seized. It's pretty stressful trying not to crash this thing and it can quickly grow into an expensive hobby. I found that it is common to burn up motors every so many flights and they aren't that expensive. You can spend a little more money and get better, more powerful motors. I might do that when I lose my main motor. I took my training gear off last night to and the helicopter looks so much smaller and I ended up trying to be a lot more careful so I put it back on for a little while longer.

Box Landings

Wow! Tonight was fun. I flew two batteries worth of flight and only landing a few times. I was hovering within a couple of feet of the intended point at head height. I even made some landings on top of boxes and tables. One box was only twice the length of the helicopter in size and had obstacles right in front of it so there was little room for error. It was a rush to be doing so well and I feel bad for Bill because I know he really wants to fly his but he is waiting on parts. I'm ready to set up simple skill challenges, but I have no one to challenge right now. I have heard at least one more person say they are going to buy one. It is going to be funny to see them popping up all around the camp.

What about the rest of Trumps money

I don't really know about bankrupcy but this article Trump casinos on the rocks raises a few questions for me. Trump claims that the casinos were only 2% of his net worth. That would mean that he should have enough to cover the expenses of the casinos. How can you say "I can't pay this debt" and wash your hands of the problem when you still have all this other money. I know if I had a debt on my credit card and I had the money, I would still be responsible for that debt. I wonder how many people are effected by this bankrupcy and just so Mr. Trump can doesn't have to settle the debt and stay rich. Like I said I don't understand the process.

Solution to the vibration problem

This site RC Groups Discussion showed me an idea that I was able to modify on my helicopter to make the vibration/wobble problem go away. Now I am hovering great and I can keep it in the air several minutes at a time and move the helicopter where I want it to go. I even landed to a specific point on top of a pile of wood. I broke my tail rotor now though and have to keep superglueing it back together until the repair parts get here. I used paperclips for my modification and they work great so far. I was getting so frustrated with the wobble so I am extremely glad I found a fix.

Peanut Butter

I can't get the vibrations to go away, but I am getting better at dampening them. I was hoveing well yesterday. I tried using peanut butter on the control links on the rotor head because I thought it was to loose and that is why it was vibrating, but it didn't seem to help that much. Bill's helicopter is not flying anymore until he gets some new parts, which are already in the mail. His tailrotor motor is completely broke (he got superglue on it). I'm thinking of buying a little RC car too. There is less that can go wrong so I think that would be fun.

Bad, Bad, Bad; Bad Vibrations

Bill got his helicopter in the mail today and we flew three separate times. He crashed his a lot and broke his tailrotor. He also got superglue all over his tailrotor motor and it is making it not work well so he ordered some replacement parts. Good thing is that it is still flyable. My helicopter has a strange vibration which I have almost no clue where it is coming from or what to do about it. I have something I will try tomorrow, but the few times I was able to take off without the vibrations effecting the copter, I was hovering great! I think if I could just get my vibration to go away, that I could hover for a whole battery charge (about 7 minutes). I can't wait for tomorrow to fly some more, I just hope my next idea for things to try to fix it will work.

Major Maintenance

The servo I was concerned about went haywire the other night and I had to do a complete overhaul on the servo. It appears to be working right now, but last nights flight was cut short too because my swashplate kept coming apart in flight and when that happened, the helicopter would lose all control. I ended up superglueing the swashplate together last night and now I am waiting for the wind to die down to see if I can have a successful flight finally. I have taken just about every piece of the helicopter apart now so I have a pretty good idea the way it works. I hope I can get a few problem free flights so I can get some good practice in.

Small Setback

I know I was planning to work on landing accuracy today, but I succumbed to peer pressure from Bill and changed the controls on my radio to make more sense so in reality I had to learn it all over again. I had my radio all torn apart and all the wires disconnected. I was kind of worried I wouldn't get it put back together right or break something. I picked up the new controls a lot quicker though and I was really rough on the copter. I'm still not as good as I was with the old controls, but I am close. A couple of more flights and I think I will be ready to start landing accuracy training again. I might be running into some problems with one of my servos though so I will have to keep my eye on that.

Bus ride and a hair cut

I got a haircut today and because of the bus ride, it took almost 4 hours to eat lunch and get my haircut. I flew my copter tonight even though the wind was a little on the strong side. I was hovering at head height and only crashed a couple of times (which I will blame on the wind). I found a board and tomorrow I will work on my accuracy by trying to land on it. After I get good at that, I will elevate the board to make things more interesting.

Best Flight Yet!

Today's flight was great. Last night I went out with a flashlight to find the piece I lost. It was a bearing the size of a pea and the whole area is scattered with rocks about the size of a pea. After saying a prayer and diligently looking I found it about 40 feet from the crash site. I went out with a full charge and hovered for over a minute at a time and didn't crash once. I was able to run out the whole battery without a significant negative event. Just as I was getting brave and was ready to hover a little higher, the battery power was getting low and I didn't have the power left to get any significant altitude. I'm able to keep it consistantly in a 10 ft square now and will start working on accurate landings soon.

New and Used

by Jonathan Vance

When I peeled away the plastic,
The cover was smooth and clean.
The pages were crisp, like an apple,
And the gilded edges gleamed.
The binding crackled as
I opened the pages;
The first breath of a babe,
Waking up from the ages.
The magnificent tome was unblemished.
And wouldn’t be useful till tarnished.
Years later,
The cover was battered,
And within it,
The pages were tattered.
Any one leaf
Would meet your gaze
With a flood of colors
Like the map to a maze.
Each little nugget
I’d found in my quest,
Had been marked and noted,
Then put to the test.
This book had a price, years ago.
Its value now? You cannot know.


A. Jonathan Vance, “New and Used,” New Era, Aug. 1996, 24

BOOM!

The helicopter is still in one piece but it went out of control today. I was doing great and all of a sudden the little guy went down hard. The tail rotor came flying off and I lost a little bearing that is required to stabilize the shaft that the tailrotor spins on. I couldn't find it anywhere, but I will look again tomorrow and then will try to fabricate something if I can't find it. I will probably order some spares. Hopefully I'll get it flying again soon.

Kerry's 1st Purple Heart

I found this article and entire site pretty interesting. I'm not really for or against the guy at this point. I am trying to keep an open mind and wait to see the debates before I make any final decision. The site has to do with the Officer's that served with him in Vietnam and for the most part, they just don't like him because of the things he said about the war and the activities of the unit (which they claim are not true and the picture here shows attitudes contrary to the pictures Kerry described.) and they also claim that he didn't follow orders very well. I am trying not to fault the guy for leaving Vietnam the way he did because if I had a chance to come home to my family (especially a chance given because I was wounded 3 times already) I would probably take it, but I am not planning on getting into politics either. I don't know that I would want a Commander in Chief that gets out when the going gets tough and not see a job through.

Wind is the Enemy

Flight five didn't go well. I learned another lesson today.

The helicopter is very sensitive to wind

I was doing great for about 3 minutes and had the helicopter up to 10 feet on accident. Then I had a big crash, caused by the wind, and the tailrotor came flying off and I had to find several very small pieces. I was able to find them all with Bill's help and fixed it on the spot. I actually tried once more before finally deciding it was to windy and would have to wait on account of weather.

Near Disaster

Flight number three almost ended in disaster. Halfway through the battery life, one of the major input control pieces came loose which caused the helicopter to do its own thing. I didn't realize it happened though and I kept trying anyways. Finally after several rough landings I looked a little closer and noticed the loose piece. After a repair involving a small ziptie and having to adjust control rods to level out the rotor head, the problem was solved and flight four started. Flight four went great, but was ended early because of lack of light. I was hovering for over 30 seconds at a time and had the helicopter as high as my head a few times. I am somewhat concerned that the piece that came loose today was slightly damaged or at least made weak. I hope I can keep it flying quite a bit longer before needing major repairs.

Logging Time

Well flight two went much better than flight one. I actually kept a controlled hover for about 10 seconds a few times. I reached an altitude of about 4 feet and didn't turn it over one time....almost lost it a few times, but no crash. If I can keep that up it should last for a while without repair parts. I'll have to get some pictures of it airborne tomorrow. I have a long way to go but I definately see the potential. I hope in the future to do sling loads and landing to small points and even dust landings. When Bill's copter arrives, then things will get real interesting with competitions and other ideas.

Mini Helicopter

I recieved my RC Helicopter today and it isn't broken yet. It is pretty durable though. The controls are not set up the way I would like them and I might change them in the future but I don't want to mess with it just yet. I will give this setup a try. I learned one hard lesson though so far

Turn off the radio controller before picking up the helicopter. OUCH!

I accidently bumped the controls with the copter in my hand and it started up. I will fly once more tonight and hopefully I can make it through another battery charge without breaking it. I am definately getting braver which is more dangerous. There are several looky lous that show up....probably hoping I will crash.

Road Trip Stop

This site
Rogue River Mail Boat Trips
Looks like a great place to stop. We will have to go there someday, but unfortunately our trip will be taking place around March and it won't be open for business.

Humbling criticism

Because of my job position I have to correct people everyday and because of it, they like to find reasons to correct me.  Most of the time people get very defensive when you point out what they are doing wrong and what they need to do to fix it.  I try to control my defensiveness now because of one of my favorite scriptures.  "And ye have murmured because he hath been plain unto you.  Ye say that he hath used sharpness; ye say that he hath been angry with you; but behold, his sharpness was the sharpness of the power of the word of God, which was in him; and that which ye call anger was the truth, according to that which is in God, which he could not restrain, manifesting boldly concerning your iniquities." (2 Nephi 1:26)  I try to think about this scripture anytime I receive criticism, constructive or not.

Bored out of my mind

Mini Dragonfly Electric Powered RC Helicopter.

Sitting around bored out of my mind, Bill, my tentmate, states "Lets get remote control helicopters!" So now one is on the way and should be here within the week. I expect it will be broken in less than five minutes and repair parts will be on order.