Health Insurance

I'm dreading the moment that I get out of the military simply because then I will have to depend on the VA and a private insurer for my health care. Stories like this one give me the willies about what is going to happen.

Training our Past and Future enemies.

Read an article about a proposal to allow Libyans to get military training in the US. While I get that the idea is to bring our past and future enemies Stateside so they can be immersed in our culture and grow to like, love and appreciate the US and therefore stop being supporters of terrorism and Anti-American feelings, I have to wonder if the geniuses in charge have ever lived outside of the US. I mean really, get out of your comfort bubble and see the world for what it is.

Music for the range.

I quit shooting 1911s because of a carpal tunnel problem. Shooting over 100 rounds of .45 ACP resulted in pain over a couple of days. So...I sold all my 1911s since I don't own guns I don't shoot and concentrated on Glocks.

All was well and good until I went shooting with a friend and shot his Springfield. I'd forgotten just how much fun and how easy it was to make good hits with a properly set up 1911.

So, in honor of that classic fighting pistol I give you Allen Damron's "The Gringo Pistolero" This isn't Allen's version (which can't be beat and is well worthwhile buying) but nonetheless gives you an idea.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Re-reading Rudyard Kipling again. I got hooked on Kipling when I was about thirteen years old. My family was...poor shall we say and we didn't have a lot of money, so my mom would go and hit garage sales on the weekends and would take me with her. I'd always loved reading and one Saturday when we were out seeing what she could find, she bought me a six book set of Kipling's collected works that dated back to 1906 or so. What initally caught my attention was the svastika on the first page. That symbol taught me to do research.

But, back to Kipling. The man could write about the human condition. Today, I can empathize with his character as if they were my contemporaries. People really haven't changed in over a century.  As a Soldier, I could always empathize with his Soldiers Three. After all, I saw them every day.

If your exposure to KIpling consists of "The Jungle Book", then you owe it to yourself to expand your horizons. I'd start off with "If-" and for those of you who were impressed with the work that SF does training foreign militaries or partisans then I would refer you to "Pharaoh and the Sergeant". Last but not least, "Tommy" remains a favorite.

So fire up Google and spend a few minutes reading. You can thank me later.

The joys of staff

Being a staff weenie can be painful, fun and frustrating depending on what is going on at any one time. It's a fairly thankless task at times, especially since everyone wants to over react to perceived emergencies.

Why grumpy NCO, what is an emergency you ask? Well, it's going to a meeting at G3 when your boss, who conveniently took leave forgot to tell you about it, or shepherding a detail made up of a bunch of Soldiers from all your BNs who, surprise are not all at their appointed place of duty at the specified time because your "supervisor" (I just love that term when we're talking Army speak, it's just so very military isn't it?) decided that your subordinate BNs could get their SMs to where they needed them to be without any supervision. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that attendance will be reported to the division CSM? No problem, minor bump in the yellow brick road to staff happiness.

But really, when I'm pulling three different databases, two calendars, a tasking, and a partridge in a pear tree, don't tell me that my desk is messy when I'm keeping you from being chewed out by higher.

Changes of Command

Lets talk about the time honored tradition of Change of Command. Great time honored tradition right? Until it gets completely buggered up. Dear God, I get that we've been at war for a couple of years, and let's face it, I hate D and C, but really, when did we start finger drilling rehearsals. How hard is it to practice a couple of right  and left turns so you don't look like an idiot. Hey First Sergeant, quit letting the Company Commander show his ass.

Greetings

I'm fed up.  Twenty years in the Army and I've kept my mouth shut. Enough is enough. This will be where I vent.