Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life

Happy Veterans Day

Great.  Thanks for saying "thank you". 

For all of your thanks my knees still hurt, so does my shoulder and my back.  So do the injuries of countless other veterans.

You're welcome to for my pain.  Really.

While you pat yourself on the back today, feeling good about yourselves for thanking the veterans that you see during the day, remember this:  Thousands of veterans are homeless.  Thousands of veterans need medical care for injuries or wounds that they sustained while serving, and won't get it from Uncle Sam. 

On this day, you might want to remember that hundreds of thousands of our veterans were used in atomic experiments.   You might also remember that hundreds of thousands of veterans were exposed to chemicals like Agent Orange and other defoliants.  You might also remember that hundreds of thousands of veterans were given unproven "anti nerve-gas" drugs while serving in combat zones... or have been exposed to depleted uranium, or have been exposed to nerve agents.

You might want to remember those things... and after you say "Happy Veterans Day" to the veterans that you know... call your Congressional Representatives, and tell them that they MUST do a better job.

Does it sound like I am bitter?   Perhaps.  Sorry if that harshes your mellow.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

On November 10th, 1775, the Continental Congress of the fledgling nation that would become the United States, authorized two battalions of Marines to serve our fleet during the American Revolution.  We Marines consider this date the "birthday" of our Corps.

Beginning with a recruitment drive at Tun Tavern, in Philadelphia, Captain Samuel Nicholas, our first commandant began filling our ranks with most dedicated men (and later, women) this country has produced, from his time to ours.

Today is a day that Marines old and new, young and old, greet each other with handshakes and a hearty "Happy Birthday, Marine!"... it is a day where we tell old stories from places that we served, and people that we served with.  It is a day of joy, as much as it is a day of sadness.

Whenever Marines get together and tell their stories, we remember our whole history and our record of combat service to our nation, from Providence, The Bahamas to Chapultepec castle; from Tripoli to Haiti; From  Iwo Jima to Khe Sahn; and from Grenada to Fallujah.  In our stories we remember our heroes... famous men like John Basilone, Chesty Puller, Dan Daly, and Smedley Butler, as well as men most of you have never heard of, like Nicholas Manoukian, who is pictured here, and remembered here.  Those fallen Marines are our brothers, every bit as much as all Marines are brothers (and sisters).

So, today, while I go about my business, and greet the many old Marines that I work with, and those I meet in the course of the day, I will remember our history, take pride in our accomplishments and dedication to service... and I will remember, solemnly, the sacrifices made by so many that have gone before.

Semper Fidelis

Gunfighter (USMC 1981-1989)

Guest Blogger: MaryMac

The world of blogging is fairly small, despite the millions of people who send their thoughts, feelings, recipes, and tirades out in to cyberspace on a daily basis.  Blogging has allowed me, from the comfort of our home office (and my workplace, but don't tell anyone) to reach and connect with people all over the world. 

The blogosphere is all about connections, so it won't surprise any of you that read this that my guest today is a blogger who lives about a 90 minute drive from me, whose blog I found via the comment section of another blogger who lives in the Canadian prarie province of Alberta.

Please say hello Mary... and when you are done reading her post, go visit her blog.  If she doesn't make you laugh, go see a doctor and get a new funny bone.

All yours, Mary!

 

 

Clark Kent Rocks, but I'd Rather Have a Clark Bar

Ok, so this is the first time I have been asked to do a Guest Blog Post. I'm honored, because when I see other blogs having guest blog posts, I'm like 'oooohh, coolll' and now here I am (sniff).

Gunfighter was kind enough to invite me here to his rockin' blog. I asked him what I should write about, and he said something about including sex, drugs, booze and rock and roll, and that if I mentioned I am a liberal left-wing Democrat, that would be ok too. So there ya have it. (legalize Marijuana, Obama!!)

By way of further introduction, I'm @marymac (twitter me!) of Pajamas and Coffee. I'm a fat frumpy recovering Catholic housewife with four kids (doesn't that sound SEXY?!) who's more than a little bit of a bitch. I freaking LOVE Halloween. Therefore, I am now going to write about my favorite Halloween candies.

When you're a kid, and someone goes the extra mile on Halloween and gives you a full size candy bar? Your year has been made. You casually eat the MINI SNACK/lameass size candy bars from the rest of your trick or treat bucket, and you wait for it, wait for it, savor that full size candy bar like it's the confectionary Holy Grail. I remember the Lady With the Full Size Candy Bars and have reached my ambition as That Lady today. This picture is my house, which my husband calls my 'biggest Halloween decoration.' I let the 300 trick or treaters I get select from an assortment of Hershey's full size bars. The most popular? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, by far.

Know what annoys me? Schools and communities that DISS Halloween by not allowing it to be celebrated. Whoever started the "Halloween is the holiday of the devil" thing first of all OBVIOUSLY never got a full size candy bar and secondly needs to be egged and TP'd. Everyone knows we witches enjoy our devil worship EVERY day of the year, not just on Halloween! HA!

Halloween is all about the spirit of community, people getting out, WALKING, meeting neighbors, and having fun being a little scared. Ok, it's all about the Clark bars. Whatever happened to the Clark Bar? It was my FAVE! There's one store near me where they still (thank God) have them and I am sooooo lucky! Other favey flaves? Whatchamacallit bar, 100 Grand, and Chuckles. Remember Chuckles? There's like 5 jelly candies in the pack, covered in a delicious sugar coating (red, yellow, green, orange, and the one I save for last, BLACK LICORICE yumm!) I pretend to 'inspect' my kids' Halloween buckets when they come back from trick or treating, but I am really just looking for Clark Bars or 100 Grand. I call it the 'candy tax.' Fork it over, kids! Their Whoppers aren't safe, either.

Well, I guess I'd better run. I write my blog Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so I need to go think of something to say over there. I hope you will stop by- that is, if you aren't offended by the word 'asshat' and don't mind dodging a few 'f' bombs.

Thanks Gunfighter! xoxo

marymac
http://www.pajamasandcoffee.com/

Thanks MaryMac!  I have to tell you that not only do I love Clark Bars, but I also love/loved Chuckles! (man, does that one take me back!).  So glad you could come over and play today....

Now, the rest of you, off you go... go clickety-click and go to Mary's blog.

TV Review: Hell's Kitchen

While I still haven't written about my vacation (and I suppose I had better get on that right away, or I will find myself anticipating my next getaway by the time I'm ready), I would like to tell you a little bit about an important aspect of our family vacations:  Television.

By the time we go on our annual summer vacation, we have endured a long year of waking up at 4 A.M., commuting, school, chorus, band, soccer, Girls Scouts, soccer, church activities, soccer, community service, and freakin' soccer!   We are busy.  We have lots going on.  This doesn't mean that we don't have family time, it just means that family time is structured in the time that we have for it.  All of this leads to being totally ready when it is time to get a little rest together.

When we go to Orlando we do the (Disney/Sea World) theme park thing, but that isn't all we do.  A big part of our together time is spent watching television in the evening.  After a day at SeaWorld or what have you, some time in the swimming pool, and a nice dinner (prepared by Chef Gunfighter) we settle in for wine and TV.

This year, like every year, we watch Nancy Graceand some f0od-related show or another, and this year, it was Hell's Kitchen.  Now, I have never been a devotee of Gordon Ramsay, but Mrs Gunfighter got me hooked, and I have been watching it diligently since August.  The show had it's season finale a few weeks ago , and I loved it... what a wild ride!

If you have already seen the show, you already know what I am talking about, if you haven't you really need to give this a try.  Chef Gordon Ramsay is a loud-mouthed Chef who has created something of a food empire.  On Ramsay's show (I think he has two or three different shows now, doesn't he?), he has two teams of chefs competing against each other, usually for a prize like a job at one of Ramsay's restaraunts... in this case the Araxi restaurant, in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

During the competition, the teams engage in cooking challenges and contests to earn certain perks or advantages over the other team, and then they participate in a competitive dinner service which is, considering that this is "reality" TV, fraught with drama, treachery, and a whole bleeping lot of swearing by passionate (and really angry) Ramsay.  It is angry Ramsay which keeps bringing me back to the show.

Look, it isn't high brow, and it isn't for the easily offended, as the contestants aren't exactly the kind of people that I would want for friends, but the show is good fun, and never fails to make me laugh.

Laughter is good.

Laughter and well-presented food are even better.

If you like either of those two things, I would recommend that you give Hell's Kitchen a go when it returns next year.

Book Review: Pursuit of Honor

I recently finished reading Vince Flynn's latest novel, Pursuit of Honor, and I would like to tell you a little bit about it. 

Flynn's main character, Mitchell Rapp, is a CIA counter-terrorist operative who spends his time covertly doing violent and bloody things that most people can't imagine themselves doing.  What I mean by that is the Rapp finds out where terrorists are and he kills them.  Sometimes he kills them after using "enhanced techniques" to interrogate them... which is to say he sometimes tortures them.  If you are waiting for me to get weepy about that, keep waiting. 

 

Anyway, in this novel, which picks up immediately after the end of the last, is about finding the terrorists that got away in the last book, so that Rapp can do what he normally does, but there is a fly in the ointment (isn't there always?).

 

In this story, Rapp's fellow operative, Mike Nash, is starting to burn out, and his family life is suffering along with him as he wrestles, morally, with the things that his job requires him to do, and living the secret life that he does.  These feelings are not only affecting NAsh's marriage, but also his ability to think clearly in the field.

 

I won't give any spoilers as to how Rapp and Nash go about dealing with the terrorists who are still at large America, other than to say that you'll like that part of the story if suspense, action, skulduggery, and cloak & dagger adventure are your thing.  Nor will I give anything away as to how Rapp is able to help Mike NAsh find a solution to his personal woes, but he does both with great effect.

 

Vince Flynn writes a good story most of the time, and he has done a fair job here, but as a reader, I would warn him that he should probably leave off with his political tirades masked as soliloquies by Mitch Rapp.  Truthfully, Mr Flynn, it gets tiresome... so give it a rest, because you are beginning to sound like something of a crackpot. 

The Va. Governor's Race: I Knew We Would Lose.

Much is being said in the press over the clean sweep made by GOP candidates for Virginia's top three elective offices.  Talking heads from many sides of the political spectrum are making noises about the portentous nature of this election, as if it were some weather gague for the 2010 mid-term congressional election.

I have to say that although I was unsurprised about the outcome of the races in Virginia, I don't think that the GOP sweep here means as much to the Democratic Party on a national basis as much is it should spell disaster for the party here in the Commonwealth.  Sure, Bob McDonnell is something of a tool, but compared to a dope like Creigh Deeds, he seems downright rational and acceptable.  Never mind McDonnell's theories on working women... Creigh Deeds lost the election.  He lost it fair and square.  He lost it because the Democratic Party in Virginia can't see past the end of it's nose.

Creigh Deeds shouldn't have been our nominee.  No way.  No how.  He was the wrong man for the job.  Worse yet, he tried to win without convincing the folks in Prince William, Arlington, Fairfax, & Loudon counties, and the Cities of Fairfax, and Alexandria that we should have voted for him.

It's bad enough that Deeds was the nominee, its worse that Brian Moran the man who SHOULD have been our nominee was neutralized by Terry McAuliffe, the Clintonite carpetbagger, who thought that he could waltz in and win because Virginia had gone "blue" in the last Presidential race.  This is the same Terry McAuliffe who, with Clinton complicity, torpedoed the Presidential campaign of Howard Dean, who SHOULD have been the Democratic nominee for President in 2004... leaving us with that sad sack, John Kerry.

Despite all of this, I still wanted Deeds to win, and I voted for the entire Democratic ticket... which did have one bright spot on it, Luke Torian, who is the pastor of a local Baptist church, won the 52nd District seat in the Virginia house of Delegates. 

Deeds could have won if he had run a better campaign here in northern Virginia.  Deeds could have one if he had stuck to at least one theme.  Deeds could have one if he could present one simple idea of what he wanted to do.  Deeds could have won if any of his positions were more coherent.

Deeds was unprepared, and was totally fighting out of his weight.

Damn.

NOTE TO THE VIRGINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY:  Pull your heads out of your asses and do better next time.

The New York Yankees - World Champions

I don't suppose there is anything else to say.

Well, I could say:  "Welcome back to Yankee nation!", but that might seem like gloating.

I suppose I could also say, with all respects to "The Scooter":  Holy Cow! 

What would really be rude would be if I said "suckit" Sox fans!   So I won't, but I'd like to! 

Congratulations, Yankees!  You have made this boy from northern New Jersey who grew up on Yankee baseball, very happy.

Inspiration from Facebook

A friend of mine who is also a fellow parishioner at our church, posted something on Facebook today that was so fitting and so right, I decided that I wanted to post it myself.  I won't credit her by name, because I am not sure she would appreciate it.  Anyway, this lady said that she...

"thinks that people that throw cigarette butts out the window are tools.  That's right.  Tools."

Man, talk about brevity!  Talk about getting right to the heart of the matter!  She hit the ball completely out of the park with this short statement.  I am in complete agreement with her, of course... people who throw cigarette butts out of their car windows are some of the biggest polluters around.

Go ahead, fill your lungs with that crap... I'm not going to lecture you about it.  Go on, knock yourself out, but do you have to pollute the streets while you are polluting your lungs?

What a bunch of tools.

 

Thanks, M!

Camouflage Barbie

It is hard toimpossible to live where I live and not see and extraordinary number of military personnel.  Living in such close proximity to the Pentagon, Marine Corps Base Quantico, and Fort Belvoir (among many others), you can't help but see folks of all of the armed forces, all of the time.

Seeing as many military people as I do, and being a veteran myself,  it is easy to spot the differences in military dress uniforms or service uniforms at a glance.  The military branches being so different one from the other, you didn't have to think twice about the guy in the white uniform,... he was clearly in the Navy.  The woman in blue was either Air Force or Coast Guard (and you only needed an extra half-second to figure out which it was).  The Marines and the army, despite the fact that they both wear green, are as different as night and day (the army uses a different shade of green than The Corps), the army wearing light green shirts, The Corps' shirts being khaki.  Simple, right?  Well, maybe not so much.

In the early 1980's, most of our armed forces began to adopt camouflage uniforms for use in the field, or in combat.  The army started the ball rolling, with the Marine Corps right alongside... then followed the Navy, and God help us, the Air Force.

In an effort to keep costs down, the services were all using the same "woodland" pattern material... indeed, all of the services we wearing the same camouflage  uniform, the only distinction being the insignia.  Well, times have changed a bit.

In the early part of the Iraq war (I refuse to call it Operation Iraqi Freedom, because Iraq isn't free, it just has new masters), the Marine Corps adopted a new camouflage pattern.  It is a sort of digital print that is very similar to the then-new Canadian armed forces pattern (called Cadpat), the Marine Corps, not to be outdone, calls their pattern (Marpat).  The United States Army, trying to keep up with the Marine Corps, got rid of the old woodland pattern, and the "chocolate chip" pattern desert uniform, as well as the more recent desert pattern, and came up with their own pattern called "ACU" (Army combat uniform).

OK, you know something?  I get the whole "let's have a uniform distinctive to our own service" thing.  I do.  Having different uniforms certainly goes a long way to establishing military identity... being a veteran with the best looking uniforms AND best combat record has taught me that, but I digress.

Where was I?

Oh, right.  Distinctive uniforms.  Anyway, the US Air Force, not wanting to be left behind(not a reference to that Tim LaHaye crap), decided the it, too, needed a distinctive camouflage pattern. So, what they did was....  What?  What did you say?  Did you say "Why in the world does that Air Force need a camouflage uniform?"  Is that what you said?  Well, fair enough... you know that I like to answer questions when my readers have them.  I'll take a whack at it, ok?

Some (albeit very few) members of the Air Force have very good reasons to wear camouflage.  For instance, Combat Air Control teams, and Tactical Air Controllers have every reason in the world to wear such uniforms, as they usually operate with army units and spend their time directing forward air strikes and managing air traffic around the battlefield.  These men operate wherever the fighting is.  They need whatever protection camouflage can provide.  Make sense?, good, here are two more great examples:  Air Force Para-rescue operators (also known as PJ's):  These men are combat rescue operators.  They are inserted by helicopter, sometimes by parachute, often in enemy territory to recuse downed aircrew.  it is a hard but honorable job.  Camouflage is also needed by Air Force Security Forces:  These men and women protect air bases.  Most importantly, they protect forward-deployed airbases that are still subject to ground attack, they too need the extra protection (not as much, maybe, but there you are).

OK, so the Air Force has some reasons that some of it's personnel should wear camouflage, but this is where it gets sticky and brings me to the point of this post:  Most people in the Air Force have no bloody reason to wear camouflage uniforms.  I mean, really, I have a neighbor, a lovely young woman, who is a budget analyst for the air national guard, and every time I see her in her freshly starched camouflage uniform (with desert-tan boots) I want to scream.  Not that she isn't impeccably turned out (she is), but this is a person who, through her whole career hasn't held a gun, much less gone anywhere near anyone who has fired a shot in anger.

I'm not writing this to rag on my neighbor, but do you have any idea how much it costs you and me to pay for this knee-jerk reaction to what appears to be a shift in military fashion?

There are even MATERNITY camouflage uniforms for the army and air force.  Now, I ask you:  What kind of sense does that make?, because try as I might, I can't come up with a good answer.

Suburban Haiku

Parents shout "Great try!"

Refs make many crappy calls

I'm a soccer dad