A neighborly welcome home

Our neighborhood recently welcomed an Army Captain home from Iraq by placing flags, signs and other patriotic items on windows, doors and mailboxes. He's home, but only for two weeks.

He's an Army MP officer who is working to help train Iraqi police. Last month he was wounded during a mortar attack, and after recovery was sent home for two weeks leave. He's doing just fine, and I saw him yesterday morning out jogging. I'm sure both he and his family and close friends enjoyed their time together over the Thanksgiving Holiday period, but time goes way too fast under such circumstances, and now it's time for him to return to the combat zone.

His tour of duty over there is up next February, and if all goes well he'll be returning home maybe for good. He's been thinking about whether or not to stay in the Army, but has yet to make up his mind. I wish him well in that regard, but more importantly I'm looking forward to having another neighborhood welcome home celebration, which I'm sure can't come soon enough for him.

Cowboy Football

If you read one of my previous posts, you learned I am no big fan of the Dallas Cowboy football team. But, I have to admit, I am getting interested in what they are doing, and it's because of one person...their quarterback.

Tony Romo took over a few weeks back, and since then he's been spectacular. I like to see that sort of thing. Even T.O has mellowed a bit as a result and has (probably temporarily) stopped his self centered antics on and off the field.

Their game against the NY Giants next week ought to be a good one.

Thanksgiving in South Vietnam

First time was in 1965. Phan Rang. 62nd Engineer Battalion, constructing a 10,000 foot aluminum matting runway and parallel taxiway. I was in Delta Company, and the First Sergeant and I decided (with the permission of the Battalion Commander) to issue some free beer to the troops to have with their meager portion of turkey and associated delights. It went pretty well, except for a few who swapped their ration of beer for pieces of extra turkey from their buddies. Result...a few had too much to drink and had to suffer the wrath of the First Sergeant the next day, by going on latrine clean-out duty for a week.

Second time was in Can Tho in 1968. I was an advisor to the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam). My Navy Seabee buddy and I had turkey in the local MACV (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam) compound and that was pretty much it. Afterwards, we went back to the small building where our advisory team had it's headquarters, and shared a few beers with the Team Chief, while watching a movie issued by the Red Cross. The Army Engineer Lieutenant Colonel who was our team chief was a pretty resourceful guy. He told the Red Cross office in Saigon that our team had over one hundred men assigned; from the Army, Air Force and Navy. Actually, we had less than ten, and only one non-Army person...my Seabee buddy mentioned above. The result was that we got issued a new film projector and screen from the Red Cross, and received movies before most others in our region. I was the designated projector operator. We also were the only MACV separate advisory detachment in the region to receive a very large artificial Christmas tree with decorations from the Red Cross, a week or so after Thanksgiving. There is no way you could get away with this sort of stuff in today's military...unfortunately in my view.

Enough with things too serious

I decided to cease writing things in this blog that concern politics, Army policy, or anything too serious or mind boggling. Much of what I read in the news today is the latter, and it's starting to give me a "serious case of the ass" ... an Army term that was popular in my time in service. So, I'll stick to things more light hearted for awhile.

In that regard, I just turned 65. I remember having a party thrown for me by friends and family when I turned 40, and again at 50. Those were military times, and as such I did not feel that old, because I could "max" out the Army PT test, and run 4-5 miles daily.

When I hit the big "six-oh", my family had a party for me, but it was no big deal. By that time there was no way I could still max the PT test, and I had ceased running, substituting 2-3 mile brisk walks each morning with my dog Mystee (our wonderful female Alaskan Malamute).

Last week was number "six-five" for me, and my wife and I planned to spend the evening at a local Chinese restaurant with my oldest daughter and her three kids; one home on vacation from Virginia Tech, one a Sophomore in high school, and one in eighth grade. We drove to pick up my daughter and kids, and when we arrived I found the inside of the house festooned with black balloons, black paper ribbons, and other assorted things appropriate to the occasion. I was presented with a small cone-shaped hat to wear that said Happy 65th Birthday. The others wore Pirates of the Carribean hats, and we had party favors with the movie "Cars" theme...paper plates and napkins. And this was all before we were to go to dinner!

The Chinese dinner was great, and I was a amazed at how much Jennifer (VA Tech student) ate, in relation to what I was used to seeing in the past. I asked her if she got enough food at school, and she said "yes, but I ran low on money the last couple of days." Good thing she came home on break!

After we returned home, we ate my birthday Apple pie with ice cream, and they sang Happy-Happy, etc, while I blew out the candles. I had forgotten to make a wish, so my wife said the candles could be reused, since they still had a wish in them. I did not know that superstition existed.

So, all in all it was a great 65th birthday for me. My next birthday milestone I guess is 70. But my wife Barb turns 65 herself next May, so we have lots of time until then to plan something special for her too.

President in Vietnam

I saw this morning that some veterans of the Vietnam War have concerns about the President's visit there. I'm a Vietnam veteran, with two tours, and I think it's good that the United States is working to expand our relationship.

Vietnam is growing faster economically than most countries in the Far East, and with its part communist-part capitalist society, the country seems far better off that it ever has been. Yes, those in the north were our enemy and fought hard against us, but so were the Germans, Japanese, and Chinese at one time.

Where are all the flags?

It does not seem that long ago when just about everywhere we went, we saw U.S. flags big and small...on cars, on buildings, on suit lapels, in yards, on mailboxes and so forth. Seems as if there are far less flying today doesn't it...I wonder why that's so.

Maybe it's because many Americans today have a low level of patience and commitment. Maybe it's because it's no longer "the thing to do".

On and near military bases in the United States today, flags continue to fly, and other indicators of troop support are seen everywhere. One would think with so many troops deployed overseas, there would be the same level of visible support, displayed in cities and towns that we saw immediately after September 11th, 2001 and during the first year of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Apparently, what it's going to take to convince many Americans that they need to bring out their flags again, is for another terrorist attack to take place on U.S. soil. As insensitive as that statement may read, I have a low level of confidence that it's anything else, given what I read in the news media, and see first hand as I travel about.

Veterans Day – Remember the Significance

World War I officially ended on June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The actual fighting between the Allies and Germany, however, had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.

Armistice Day, as November 11 became known, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday 12 years later. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans.

In 1968, new legislation changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

(Source: Infoplease)

How easy can it get…to vote that is

I voted today using one of the new electronic touch-screen machines. Piece of cake. In and out in less than five minutes, and there was a steady stream of voters present.

The volunteer workers helping with registration and machine operation here in southwest Virginia were courteous and knowledgeable. In short, they were well prepared, and from what I observed were doing a great job.

I'm talking about back street America stuff here…there are less than 50,000 people in the entire county where we live, including the City of Martinsville. If people here can figure out how to make the new voting machines work, than anybody ought to be able to.

After I got home, I heard a news report about voting problems people are having with the new electronic machines in some really BIG cities. People voting must be dumber than a sack of sticks if those reports are true.

Leaves and football

Not much in common with the words in the title, except for the fact football comes in the fall when leaves change color, drop slowly to the ground, and litter our yards. If you have a big yard as I do, leaves become an obstacle to the execution of more leisurely activities.

I could have spent yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) raking leaves, but I decided to defer that chore to another day. I decided to work to finalize the next issue of Army Engineer magazine (Nov-Dec) and to give me something to listen to in the background today while I sat at my Apple computer, I tuned in to the NFL TV games being broadcast.

While I still have an interest overall in the outcome of the weekly NFL games, I've lost, over the past few years, the same level of enthusiasm I once had with the NFL. I used to be a fanatic Washington Redskins fan, but after the team was sold a few years back to a money grubbing, egotistical individual (he who shall not be named), I decided to mostly root for other teams. But not today.

One thing has remained constant for me over the years. I absolutely love to see the Dallas Cowboys lose a game, especially a close game. And they did not disappoint me today. Redskins 22, Dallas 19. My most enjoyable moment was watching Terrell Owens drop a sure touchdown pass for Dallas that might have sealed the game for them. Hot dog got too confident.

Our local high school football team won, as did Virginia Tech. So, with the Cowboys going down, it's been a wonderful weekend for me. Unfortunately, many more leaves also fell yesterday and today, and I am very near the line of departure for Operation Rake.

Army Times Editorial

Based on a report today in the national media, military oriented newspaper publications such as Army, Navy and Air Force Times have written an editorial to run in the November 6th edition, that is very critical of the way things are going in Iraq. Here's an excerpt from the editorial:

"…despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition. For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves."

In the past, Army Times has not always been supportive of actions within the service, and it appears as if we are now seeing another example of that trend. One thing is for sure, there will be people from both sides of the issue who will have strong opinions.

From where I sit, it's hard to take a position either way, because I'm not a personal part of the action on the ground. Still, I suspect there is probably at least some aspect of truth to the main conclusions in the Army Times editorial. You have to have your head tucked totally in the sand to not understand the challenges in Iraq we now face are much different from what most thought they would be when we began the operation in 2003. It's not that the troops on the ground haven't done a superb job…they most certainly have, and will continue to do so. The main issue as I see it rests with the Iraqi people themselves.

Theory of 1000 Marbles

I was sent the following story by a person I’ve been working with as a result of being the Editor of Army Engineer magazine. Our Army Engineer “family” is quite large, and when you are involved as I am in reporting on many of the stories originating therein, I’m often the recipient (via email) of some nicely written original materials, many of which I often like to share with others. I’ve taken the main point of an original article sent to me and condensed it into a more concise presentation. It involves a theory of “a thousand marbles” and may help you keep things in proper perspective, the older you get.

First, assume that most of us really enjoy Saturday mornings, perhaps because of the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise in the family, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a typical Saturday morning are usually enjoyable for most of us.

Now, consider the following. Wikipedia (online encyclopedia) lists our average lifespan today as 80. Take that number and multiply it by 52 (the number of Saturday mornings in an average lifetime) and you arrive at a figure of 4160. Take your current age (say it’s 50) and multiply that number also by 52. You get 2600. Subtract that number from 4160 and you arrive at the future number of Saturday mornings you have left to enjoy, assuming all goes according to averages.

Next step is to go and buy an amount of marbles equal to the number of future Saturday mornings you have left to enjoy, and place them in a container that you keep readily available, say a glass container. Each Saturday morning, remove one marble and throw it away. Then, over time, as you watch the number of marbles decline, you will probably focus more on the truly important priorities in your life. As the original author said so well, “There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out, to help get your priorities straight." He added at the end of his story, "Now let me tell you one last thing. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday, then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

Thanks to Marion Chard for passing the original story to me, and thanks to the author for writing such appropriate words of advice.