About Face

Pray for Norway

2011-07-22T22:44:00.002-05:00

May God have mercy on the people of Norway.

I Guess He Had Permission

2011-07-21T22:05:00.002-05:00

NBC has made final role call.

Back From the Dead to Dance on his Grave

2011-05-01T22:04:00.005-05:00

I just heard the greatest news I could expect to hear with the current POTUS.

OBL has assumed room temperature.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-killed/story?id=13505703

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576297941397558496.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-is-dead-u-s-official-says/

http://news.google.com/news/more?q=osama+bin+laden&hl=en&prmd=ivnsub&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dijBbD9vqxRLPxMpqXPPoQlMhzfoM&ei=RyG-TZ3IDqL50gH97KnEBQ&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQqgIwAA

I gotta hand it to the current administration, they have completed something that G.W. left hanging, but not in the same way as Saddam...lols

I am going to beat Glenn Reynolds to the punch....

The Republicans told me that if I voted for them the government would chase Bin Laden to hell or Pakistan to get him... and they were right!

I have been feeling better, for all three people out there that care. But until tonight, I haven't quite felt 100%. Now I can say that this little gem really put me over the top.

So, THANK YOU, United States Air Force or United States SPECOPS Command. You have made this Bureaucrat's decade.

-and hey, what a way to start the new decade.

---Update, +5 min.

10:35: POTUS is speaking....

10:37: he is speaking from a teleprompter; he just flubbed a word. -1 it's not more because it is what we expect.

10:38: POTUS is taking full credit for the kill (away from Bush that is) -4, it's what we expect, but its still a dick-head move. I mean, it's his job to hunt down that demon.

10:39: POTUS personally authorized the mission. That is a +5 to his Presidency

10:42: POTUS thanked the trigger pullers after he made sure everyone knows he told them to do it. -5, because having been the blood, sweat, and tears I know that DC is far removed from the pointy end of the spear.

10:44: POTUS said under God. I will give another +1 for that.

Total: -4... that's not bad for a short Presidential speech...but this should have been a simple:

we kick ass and take names.

don't fuck with the USA

way to go team.

Good night America.

Not a free campaign ad. But hey, thats just my opinion.

--Update 2.

They said if I voted for a Republican we would be executing non-US citizens with out a trial, in foreign countries... and they were right!

-Sorry Prof. Reynolds, I did it again.

Spinal Headache

2011-04-10T12:47:00.003-05:00

Look it up.

They suck...

I wish I were dead...

Well 24 hours ago I did.

Now go away, I am busy waiting to die or feel better.

Modern Hippy

2011-04-04T20:56:00.005-05:00

HH-6 and I were discussing over the past week about how much the world has changed.

Take for instance the latest war... er... military action. Finally, wars for oil are now in style. I guess that means that W. was a trend setter, which you know is cool.

Of course large cars are going out of style... because POTUS said so, so that pretty much proves that .

HH-6 balked at the idea that we can now call ourselves hippies, but then we began to bat the idea back and forth and we came up with the following list as evidence

We believe the words "I'm from the government and I'm here to help," are cause for alarm
We share a goal of one day being able to grow, grind, and bake into bread our own wheat at home.
We think that living a sustainable life involves our community working together, not the government telling us what to do
We named one of our children after a flower
We are leaning towards homeschooling our children
We believe in making things from scratch at home that most people buy at the store
We believe that material possessions will not bring you happiness

However, as far as I can tell that's where the similarities end.
I began to realize that although we may have a few ideas in common with the liberal oxygen thief's that emerged in the 60's, our view of the world around us is radically different.

Conservatives; not to be confused with Republicans, think that are world is what we make of it.
Not, that our world is what we make others do for us.

and I think that this post is too long already to expand past that.

It is Truly Historic Times We Live In

2011-03-17T23:18:00.007-05:00

For years the democrats have been playing up the divide between two camps in the republican party; the "mainstream" camp that supports Bush, Next, Huckabee, and the other mainstream candidates and the Palin camp and her fringe mama-grizzly's. But now we see very public cracks in the edifice of
the democrat party!

I am putting my money on the "Clinton" (which is the people that support the Clinton's) camp pushing a candidate against the "hopey-changey" Obama campaign. It will be interesting to see the Clinton's hang the first (and only hopefully) term of POTUS around his neck, denying him the ability to use platitudes and slogans to campaign. He can say he supports liberty around the world and the Clinton's will point to Libya and say "don't think so." He can try to say that he is a person of the people and we will all be able to point to the TEA party, polls, and the state of
the world to refute his statements of love and adoration.

It is one thing for a tin-pot dictator to make such claims while standing simultaneously on the throats of the press and the lively hood population. The mainstream media can see the writing on the wall. The Obama ship is sinking, the Kennedy sedan has sunk, the unions are headed over the waterfall in a barrel made of ridiculous contracts, Soros is being exposed as the brigand he is, and the only liberal vessel that even looks sea worthy is the Clintons.

The next 6 months will determine the face of the Democrat party for the 2012 campaign.

Updated: Training log Week 1

2011-03-15T22:02:00.007-05:00

So, I started my training this past Sunday:

Sunday; walked 1 mile in 19min 50sec

Monday; walked 1 mile in 16min 21sec

Tuesday; walked 1 mile in 18min 36sec

Update: Wednesday; walked 1 mile in 14min 10sec, Like I said this is boring and tedious, but it is helping me be accountable.

Not bad for a guy with 60lbs too much and having knee surgery next month.

Although having Chuck Norris' second cousin threatening that he will "hold me down and tattoo "Blue Falcon" backwards across my forehead so every time I look in the mirror I will remember my shame" that is if I don't start working out.

I am in Shape and Improving it daily.

2011-03-13T23:42:00.003-05:00

It just so happens that that shape is round.

A friend of mine recently went through a bout with cancer. Less than a year ago he found out he had cancer, went through the most awful tortu...err treatment known to man (suffice it to say that his new nickname is NBC) and won.

Or maybe I should say that he kicked that cancer’s ass so bad his doctor's wanted to extract his essence and feed it to other cancer patients, preliminary analysis show him as a second cousin to Chuck Norris!

Before the big C NBC would run marathons backwards while dressed in drag (poorly...I knew it was him all along) just to piss off the other competitors.

Just kidding, he didn't run them backwards.

NBC he is a prime example of why the USMC has yet to be bested in open combat. Even a grunt like me is capable of learning to recognize the subtle differences between squids and Leather Necks.

So now NBC has taken it upon himself to help an overweight broke-dick train up and tackle one of the greatest examples of why soldiers shouldn’t be left with spare time on their hands.

Ladies and gentleman I present to you Tough Mudder!

The proceeds go to a great cause and any reason to get out of the city and learn to love dirt again sounds like a vacation to me.

I will keep you all... okay, no one reads this blog.

I will use the blog to keep my own training log.

Even a Army puke knows the meaning of Seper Fi.

The Government as a Business

2011-03-12T23:10:00.008-06:00

Keeping with the theme of my earlier post I discussed how the government could and in my opinion should be viewed as a business.

So, I figured that in a series of posts I could expand on that idea and discuss the merits of the current budget fight.

First, I admit, that the government is not a traditional business, it doesn't sell goods or services to customers for revenue. However as you will see you is a business none the less.

For ease, I will use GE as a standard corporate type business for comparison.

In this first post, I will use some common business terms to define the government and illustrate how it is and is not like a business.

So, here we go.

Shareholder: In a traditional business the term shareholder specifically identifies an entity that owns stock, however with the US government the Constitution gave each American citizen one share of stock. Those people who were born here didn't have to buy it, it was already paid for.

With GE stock is openly traded on the NYSE.

Common between the two is the ability to vote on leaderships and important issues.

Differences include how easily ownership is transferred.

Stakeholder: When looking at our government, it's difficult to define who the stakeholders are. Many people disagree about how much impact the USA has on the world abroad, but I think we can leave it at potentially every man, woman, and child in the world. Of course, that is not a big help in the discussion of politics and budgets, so for each topic a set of stakeholders should be defined.

Stakeholder is a term that can be applied equally to business and governments, so the same process described above should be applied to GE as well.

Product: Here is where is starts to get tough. with GE you can pick up a catalog and see exactly what products GE offers. With the government many products are intangible and hard to measure. A couple of examples include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, one key difference between business' and the government is the motivation for creating these products.

The government provides some products due to laws (such as social security), political preference (such as bridges to nowhere), and by necessity (we'll call it fertilizer).

GE creates widgets of all shapes, sizes, and purposes to sell them for more than they cost to make; i.e. a profit motive..

Next we will discuss revenue and how each entity can move costs.

The issue of moving costs is essential to understanding how each entity works.

2011-03-08T21:38:00.004-06:00

I have been reading the headlines and listening to the news tonight and noticed two important headlines:

First from Sky News,

Libya Tanks Move In To Crush Rebel Stronghold

Second from NewsDay.com

Obama and his team mull responses on Libya

This should work out great for POTUS, the corpse's of the rebels in Lybia will be eaten by wild dogs before the Obama team determine which course of action is the least, but can still be ~~touted as an impressive response~~ defended or forgotten by the media.

Sorta brings to mind how we had to wait and wait and wait on his decision on the Afghanistan plan

Well he also has the fall back of blaming Bush

Work Work Work

2011-03-05T22:56:00.007-06:00

Today was a long day at work. I got a lot done, but didn't have much to show for it. I spent a bunch of time chasing rabbits down rabbit holes and ghost into alley ways. But, thats how you learn. Now I wont make as many mistakes and I will be more efficient. I am just glad that we don't have Drill Instructors for Supervisors.

I will always remember what one of the drills said to us.

He said, "I am not yelling at you Private," he said "I am merely correcting you loud enough for the rest of the platoon to learn as well"

Yeah, after you have been in the Army and been exposed to that kind of verbal, physical, and mental abuse an office job seems a little to easy.

Of course we could Terry Tate to come visit, that would get things moving.

Why I support the Westboro Baptist Retards

2011-03-03T21:15:00.004-06:00

Yesterday the SCOTUS reaffirmed the fact that we still live in one of the free-est countries in the world.

The court stood up for one of the most vile, inflammatory, and malicious groups in the country... well at least their right to make asses of themselves in public.

I am glad to see that the court upheld everyones right to dissent, even if it does give the phelp's clan another chance to be on the national stage. Hopefully, this new development will motivate work to isolate and relegate this cult to the waste bin of history.

So, how can we do this?

First, support the Patriot Guard Riders.

This group was formed in part to form a barrier between the families of heroes and protectors that cannot hide there animosity for the American spirit.

Second, don't pay attention to them, after all bad publicity is good publicity, just ask Charlie Sheen.

Third, if you can't ignore them, fight them. Not physically, that's is what they want. But, you can take a tip from the good people of Charleston, W. Va.

Just don't feed the animals.

Continuing Resolutions and the Government Workforce

2011-02-28T21:20:00.006-06:00

a first-person View

Believe if or not this blog has not been abandoned... permanently.

As I noted before I am a federal employee and I am facing the prospect of a furlough. Two things:
1. Nothing I do will change anything, so I might as well not let it get to me.
2. As a taxpayer I would prefer that congress gets a full year budget passed (with those spending cuts) instead of the continuing resolution.

I don't see why it is so outrageous that the government, like any other business, can shut down.
Maybe the problem is that most people do not view the government as a business, well it is.
It has revenue and expenses. It creates products and has customers. Shoot, it even has stock holders, bond holders, creditors, and employees.

The risk of going to work for any business that is failing is that you could be out of a job.

Not only that, what in the budget is so sacred that it can’t handle downsizing? I think DoD comes closest to that.

In the end, I would rather lose pay than continue to sink further into debt.

Give Me Liberty or Give Me a Ride In That Super Sweet Blue Jumbo Jet

2010-03-18T07:46:00.005-05:00

Everything that needs to be said has already been said.
The only thing to do now is to pick which side of the line you are on.

Mr. Linnane, Always worth reading.

"Unfortunately, I don’t expect Washington to reverse course and address the real problem. It is much easier for Congress to blame the health insurance industry for the rising cost of healthcare than to look in the mirror and see who is really raising the cost of healthcare in America."-Operator Dan from This Aint Hell, But you can see it from here. Also alwats worth reading.

So, you get the point.

If you are here you probably know me personally (blogging fail), and know what blogs I frequent, but if you randomly got here the above links will get you to where I go.

One day I will have links, oh yes, mark my words.

Deeds Not Words.

Of Mice and Men

2010-03-15T08:10:00.012-05:00

Or, why I stopped listening to Hollywood.

I have been reading a lot of blogs covering the The Pacific, specifically the comments be Tom Hanks.

I served in GTMO and Iraq. I do not hate anyone based on race or religion and I never committed war crimes. I am wholly proud of how I carried Old Glory while liberating oppressed people.

I think that when civilians read a GI notes and journals they do not understand the situation in which those thoughts and emotions are coming from, so when they see negative comments about someone’s heritage they do not understand that those opinions are focused on individuals or a small group of people.

Now, let me be clear. I hated the enemy. I wanted to not only kill them, but to destroy them in such a way that their buddy would not want to fight anymore.
But, who were the enemy?

The enemy was most often a faceless specter, whom I could not come into contact with, because he is a coward, (guerilla warfare is a tactic, blowing up people indiscriminately to incite terror is not).

When I could make contact with the enemy he was a person that was a threat to my buddies, the people of Iraq, or me. Our ROE (rules of engagement) did not make all people with a gun an enemy combatant.

There’s that title: enemy combatant, which means that even when I have met the enemy and defeated him, he is no longer the enemy as a combatant.

As an American soldier I had the duty to preserve life. Yes, that includes taking lives at times, but with extreme discretion. (hint: that is why we regret accidents that occur on the battlefield.)

It is hard to take a life, it is a conscious decision, even in combat.

Especially when you are raised in a culture that celebrates it.

This is why throughout modern history the US GI has had so little respect for his enemy. Most often the US has been called to protect those that are helpless. It is illustrated across Europe, Africa, Asia, and other smaller regions.

I am sorry that actors are not capable of looking at people as individuals and are forced to make generalizations, but the American soldier has always had to look at individuals and assess them as friendly or hostile.

I have met people who would like nothing more than to cut off my head, but I have also had tea with families trapped in a warzone.

If I learned two things in the military it is these:

People are the same wherever you go.
Always conduct yourself with Honor and Integrity, because at the end of the day you gotta be right with the person in the mirror…

And you cannot lie to yourself.

Regulars by God,

Deeds Not Words.

Welcome to About Face.

2010-03-05T11:24:00.000-06:00

This is my first blog so please stick with me and offer constructive criticism: I already know how bad I fail.

A Little About Me.

I joined the Army pre- 9-11 as an Infantryman and got Fort Hood put in my contract, which ensured that I would be heavy Infantry; either mechanized (11M) or mortars (11C). I got lucky and became a Mike. I am a Mike, not a Bravo, regardless of what the Army says.
I have been to GTMO (02) and Iraq (03-04) as a member of C co 1/22 Inf. 1st BDE, 4th ID.
I did just over 4 years and then got out. I went to school and graduated with honors and a BA in Accounting.
I now work for a large and largely unknown DoD agency, which I will likely not blog about; because I like getting paychecks. Outside of speaking directly of my work I will blog about anything.
I welcome constructive criticism (see above), and generally any help I can get.

A Blog is The Press.

I believe in the Constitution. I believe that the Constitution was put in place to contain the federal government. Don't get me wrong, the federal government is not evil, but I have a right to say what I don't like about it.
I believe that the first amendment gives you the right to speak, but does not require an intelligence test. Nor does it protect you from being hurt, hearing and seeing things you don't want to, or being disagreed with.
I believe that you can argue with someone’s ideas and statements without it being personal.
I believe that questioning someone’s faith, regardless of what kind of faith, is a good thing. If I cannot logically support my position, yet have faith anyways (read: religion, science, politics), the least I can do is admit that I am being illogical; very different from un-reasonable, and that the opposition has a point.
I believe in poking holes in people arguments, especially when they utilize fallacy in conversation and argument.
Oh, yeah, I believe Wikipedia is a perfectly fine source to start research and understanding, but not necessarily the final word.

Okay, that's enough rambling. I hope that my readers will get to know me and the other contributors as we go along.

Next Post: why you should read this blog!