Defiantone.com

If I had kept track of all of my military travel and could count it for frequent flyer miles I would have more than enough to take a trip to the other side of the planet. In a few months it appears that I will make yet another trip while collecting no miles. Its bound to be a hot and dusty place and I don’t know the location or date nor can I tell you. Odds are that it will be somewhere in ISRAFGHYIANONANAQ. (thank you daily show) I’ll do as I did before and keep on posting what I can. This trip should allow me to pay off another large chunk of credit debt and it allows me to get out of my tiny apartment. These are good things.

Unfortunately, I’m leaving behind a girl that I’m crazy about - I will miss her.

More information as it comes - as long as I can pass it on.

My dad has cancer and is going through chemo and radiation treatments. When I first found out I took it extremely hard. How in the world could such a great guy with the worlds toughest immune system actually get sick? Well, I don’t know how it happened but it did. He has got a bunch of people out there that are doing everything they can to support him and make sure that he gets to his treatments. I know that everything is going to come out well in the end but its going to be a tough road to travel. I’ll be heading back to Iowa near the end of the month to visit. He’ll be worn down at that point but I know that he’ll make a quick recovery.

Nutsack, err Vilsack has announced that he will no longer vie for the Presidency as he doesn’t have enough money to win. For once, I’m actually glad that winning the Presidency is all about the Benjamins. In a perfect society, it wouldn’t cost the voters or the candidates a dime to run for office. Each person would be allowed free travel on all forms of public transport, free advertising on television and radio, and free web server space. In essence, if they wanted to hand things out to other people, pay for their staff, or eat they would have to figure it out on their own. But, if they wanted to talk to the people about their campaign they would be given the same opportunity as everyone else. In today’s age printed media is on the outs and digital media is where it’s at. I’m sure that we could convince the RNC, DNC, and an independent organization to host their web servers. Yes, I don’t have all of the details necessary to make it all work but it’s a start.

So, in summary

Nutsack done = good
High campaign costs = bad
Socioeconomic disparity between poor candidates and rich candidates = bad

Every day I ride an elevator and depending on my luck I get inside the smaller, cleaner elevator, or the larger, dirtier elevator. Both are unique in their own rights. Both elevators are slightly lethargic; they’ll take you to the floor of your choice but they open doors slower than an 80 year old with arthritis. The smaller elevator can carry fewer over sized items but it has a much nicer appearance. It comes with its own special smell on every ride. Today I sampled bleach, clean laundry, dirty laundry, tobacco, stale beer, Chinese food, and pizza. Once in a while I encounter another person that wants a ride from one floor to the next. More often than not, they aren’t traveling one floor, they are traveling from top to bottom (or vice versa). The larger elevator has the same footprint but has an unfinished ceiling giving it a maximum height of about 9 feet. The paint is fading and chipped in many places from the large articles that have been crammed in it at one time or another. Each elevator is unique. Each elevator takes me to where I need to go.

Is this post a metaphor relating to something else?

No, I just wanted to write about elevators

As I am sure you are all well aware, The Baker Commission finally released its report on the state of Iraq and potential strategies for resolving the conflict we find ourselves embroiled in. Two of the main ideas from the plan include using diplomacy to request help from Iran and Syria and to start pulling our troops out within the next fifteen months.

The president, who is only one man, decided to ignore what a panel of highly educated individuals had to say. I watched part of the CSPAN news feed and he said (roughly quoted) “These are some very good ideas”. He might as well have reached down beneath his chair and grabbed some feces to throw at those who came up with the recommendations. His sarcasm was all too apparent throughout the press conference. It seems to me that when GW hears something that he wishes not to, he ignores it outright.

I’m relatively uneducated in foreign affairs and all of the ins and outs with some of the nations that we refuse to deal with. What if we reversed direction and began to deal with these nations. How quickly would that begin to improve the international opinion of our country if we conceded to being stalwarts against them and tried to unify our efforts with theirs. Lets face it, everybody wants something different but I think that we all want peace so we can stop the bloodshed. If we came out and said lets stop the fighting and I will except your organization we might come out of this fine in the end. If we continue to be defiant to the wishes of the community in the mid-east and the international community as a whole we are bound to further isolate ourselves as a nation and as a people.

Yesterday it was released that America is now one of the more undesirable places to visit because of our tough visa and travel restrictions. We should be doing all that we can to streamline the process to let people visit our great nation. We should be doing everything we can to ensure that we have a positive image in the international community.

Before you think that I’m a bleeding heart liberal that thinks that everything can be resolved by giving each other hugs you would be incorrect. This situation requires a lot of caution, analysis, and forethought before we do anything. We must do something and it must be a change from the current course to effect any positive outcome.

Read more on the situation at the NY Times

I often visit damninteresting.com when I’m bored to read some bizarre and interesting articles on things that are well… interesting. Imagine a one hour discovery channel show compressed into a 2 page document. To get you started, if you are as bored as I am(or have been) check out an article on how holes through the planet could be used for travel to almost any location in as little as 42 minutes? Curious? read more here.

Today I had the opportunity to travel to wilmington and go visit places many people take for granted. I got to go to the mall and best buy. Its amazing how convenient it is to go to two places and take care of all of your consumer based needs. I was able to get things at a great price because I didn’t have to worry about shipping or a crummy exchange rate. America rules!

I was eating lunch the other day while wearing my uniform and somebody came up and thanked me for doing what I do. I guess I never really think about my job and what I could be asked to do at a moments notice. There are many other dangerous jobs out there where people die… those people don’t get much attention but when you spend your time trying to defend everyone else I guess you stand out of the crowd. I’m modest about the whole thing because I tend to think of it as a job, the rest just sits in the back of my mind and I don’t worry about it because I know that we are trying to do the right thing. Sometimes politicians and SECDEF make insane decisions on poor information that affect us all… I’m sure you know who I’m talking about.

Got drunk last night…. today has been painful. It was the first time that I’ve been out and got drunk in quite a while. Long islands are very painful…

College football is on but I’m in the wrong part of the country because they keep on showing games that I don’t give a crap about. The same holds true for the NFL. Iowa State won the other day and actually had an offense that could get the job done. In the past I would have never thought they could score if playing against four year olds…. sure, they were playing against a bobo team but at least they won. Ok… thats enough rambling from me.

I’ve talked about this ad nauseum with others… in fact I’ve talked about it to such a degree that nobody around me wants to hear it anymore. I think that we are perfectly safe (statistically) and that any security measures we have only present the illusion of security. Look at all of the things that we must go through in order to be safe at an airport.

They’ve got

1. Cameras
2. Baggage Scanners
3. Security Checkpoints
4. More security checkpoints
5. Passport control/immigration
6. Restrictions on the items allowed
7. Security people… with GUNS!

Thats only physical security, think about all of the background checks on all of the employees. The FAA is constantly making sure that the airlines are in compliance with all of the safety aspects of air travel (the board of directors ensures this too as nobody wants to fly on an airline that has a habit of landing prematurely).

The list and the measures used in an effort to keep us safe from disaster is huge and I could continue ad nauseum… dang, I seem to love using that term today.

The only thing that they are unable to keep us safe from is fear of disaster. This fear is perpetuated by the media, government, and security firms. They want us to be afraid so that we will willingly comply with any security measure that they might throw our way. They want us to submit to any and all security searches. They want to sell us newer, better smelling, nicer looking, more invasive, and costly security equipment. Recently, they banned all liquids on aircraft in the US and UK… the question some people (chemical engineers and anyone with a knowledge of chemicals) had to ask is why….

It turns out, in order to make the magical explosives that can be combined to bring down an aircraft is a difficult task… in fact, you would need to bring along a chemistry set… I have a feeling this WON’T make it through security. Read more over at the The Register (yes, its reputable)

Once a year results commanders and first sergeants travel around their squadrons to hand out new stripes to that years promotees. Last year, I was lucky enough to be one of those individuals. Some people aren’t lucky… or get into trouble, or… whatever else and they don’t get selected the first time… or second… or third… or…. Eventually, most of them get selected for promotion; those that don’t get selected become civilians in time. With additional rank comes instant additional responsibility… you now have new legal rights and you must accept it and you should do your job. You must stand up and do what thousands of others have done before you. More rank should mean more work, not less…

Some people use additional rank as an excuse to avoid work at all costs… those with higher rank should set the standard; they should never be the exception.

A few days ago the list came out. Two people in my office made rank and I knew about both before they knew anything. The commander will only notify you if you are there and if you aren’t, well, you’d better get in contact with him. So, because I knew, and I must set the example whether I want to or not, I didn’t say a word. He called me at home and gave me the “I thought we were friends” line. I can separate work from the rest of my life but some people can’t. So, he had to call our section chief… who told him nothing. He was forced to wait out an extra day because nobody would tell him what he wanted to know. Promotion day sucks when you’re waiting for good or bad news… if you really want to know, you should show up and not take leave. I guess it wasn’t all that important to him.

I don’t think he deserves it at all… He needs to do a 180 or he needs to loose it. We’re going to the same base and I’ll end up working with him again. In the past we’ve worked in the same office but his work (or lack thereof) hasn’t affected mine. Now, and possibly in the future, his laziness will only make it harder for me.

We’re taught that we should develop and help the individual out to the best of our ability. While doing this we should make sure that we keep the best interests of the military in the back of our minds… in other words, only keep the best and get rid of the rest. I can only assume that I’ve been doing well because I’ve never been told otherwise. People trust what I say because I never feed them crap. If its coming from me, its the real deal and I’ve done my homework already. I don’t like to have my time wasted or waste the time of others.

I’ve got more to write… but I don’t want to write now…

There are times in my life when the hate and anger get refined into a beam that can destroy nations. Today is one of those days.

First off, I’ve been working with a blues traveller song called run-around. I’ve spent most of the morning walking from office to office trying to find out how to get an updated form. After talking to 5 people at 5 seperate offices they finally told me what I wanted to know. I’m not sure if it was the run around but it could have been sheer incompetence. By the time I finally left to schedule an appointment so that I could get the form I was extremely annoyed…. and then it all got worse

I got back to the office after driving the piece of crap rental car only to get a call from the mechanic (my car overheated this weekend). He said that it was going to cost $1500 to fix it. Not ONLY did the water pump go out but so did the head gasket. I’m so fucking thrilled with the whole situation. I put my fist into a brick wall about 8 times and I can’t even tell that I did it. I threw my phone across the room when I was off it. If anyone really pisses me off today I’m going to loose it.

I fucking hate mondays!