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.