Author: Guardian 6

Guardian 6 is at the ready: 1st General Order "I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved." 2nd General Order "I will obey my special orders and perform all of my duties in a military manner." 3rd General Order "I will report violations of my special orders, emergencies, and anything not covered in my instructions, to the commander of the relief."

The Foxhole

By Silent Warrior 6

As they came of age between 1940 and 1943, the five Smith brothers left their town in Indiana for places that most had never heard of. They volunteered to jump out of planes, crouch in machine gun nests and ride in plywood gliders. They survived diphtheria and gunshot wounds, burrowing into the earth or under trucks at night so they could sleep through the shelling. Their family had nothing but hope and prayers to bring them home. And one by one, the five Smith brothers, dozens of war decorations among them, came home – exhausted but whole. All five brothers lived long into retirement and all but one is living today today. A 4th brother, Kenneth “Kenny” Ray Smith, died on 1 April 2016 in Washington, Indiana at the age of 92.

Kenny’s story is unique. With the advent of World War II, he volunteered to serve the Army and our Nation. He was a 75mm Howitzer Sergeant assigned to the 681st Glider Field Artillery Battalion and attached to 82nd Airborne Division. He fought and survived behind the front lines in Sicily, Normandy and Holland. He served also in North Africa, Italy, France, Bulgaria and Germany. He earned six European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medals with six bronze stars and one bronze arrowhead. After returning home from the war he married and raised four sons in Southern Indiana.

Kenny fought at Normandy, one of the bloodiest battles of the 20th century. Just before D-Day, he sent a telegram to his mom, saying, “Mother, pray for us boys, we need God now.” Later, Kenny described his task on D-Day as a “suicide mission”. Remarkably, Kenny’s plywood-and-canvas glider (AKA flying coffin) landed “successfully” by crashing into a tree, ripping through the branches as the nose hit the dirt. Unconscious for the next several hours and separated from his crew, Kenny linked up positively with his team later the next day.

Surviving six campaigns in WWII and earning a bronze arrowhead for a combat glider landing requires trust in God and discipline. I visited with Kenny last summer and asked him simply, “how did you survive?” Without hesitation, the old Soldier responded, “I always dug a foxhole.” Standing tall at 6 feet, 8 inches – digging a foxhole to standard was not a quick easy task for Kenny. He jokingly added, “one or two Soldiers always ended up in my foxhole with me because they lacked the discipline to dig their own day after day in combat”. Kenny’s “foxhole” message is both simple and genius. “Always improve your foxhole” is one of the first orders I received as an Infantry enlisted Soldier in training. It was my honor to share Kenny’s message with the Soldiers assigned to my Battalion a few weeks ago, his message was received well by the entire formation. The key task assigned to the Nation’s current generation of Soldiers is simple —– improve your foxhole and deliver RESULTS that benefit the Nation, our Army’s Mission, our Soldiers and their Families.

 

 

 

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Bartolo!!!

It is high, it is far, it is outta here! HR # 1 for Bart after 20+ years in MLB!!!

From NY Post

SAN DIEGO — Leave it to the fan who caught the Bartolo Colon home-run ball to put it all in perspective.

“Bartolo is a true athlete,” Jimmy Zurn, 35, told The Post on Saturday night at Petco Park during the Mets’ 6-3 win over the Padres. “Anyone who can crush a plate of nachos and crush a baseball like that has to be an athlete.”

Zurn knows athletes. He is the baseball coach at La Mirada High School in Southern California, and best of all for Colon and the Mets, he is a Mets fan.

When a trade was offered for the baseball, he told officials: “The only thing I want is for the Mets to win a world championship. Win the World Series and I will be happy.’’

Zurn happily gave the ball to those officials, who sent it to the Mets’ clubhouse and Colon as the game was going on — but not before Zurn got some terrific cell phone shots, including his 5-year-old son, Ryan, with the ball.

In that picture, you can see the love of the game.

Jimmy and his wife, Sarah, are heading to the Subway Series later this season, so you know the Mets will work out some kind of deal, a package is on the way. Zurn is a David Wright fan, and after the game, the family met the Mets, including Wright.

The Amazing Bartolo Colon brings out the best in baseball fans, doesn’t he?

At 42, he is a cult hero.

It’s only fitting Colon’s second-inning blast over the fence in the left-field corner landed in the seat of a Mets fan who was at the game with his wife and their sons, Ryan and Ben, 3.

“My parents are from Buffalo,” Zurn said, explaining how he became a Mets fan.

Colon’s shot off a 1-1 fastball from James Shields was a two-run blast and put the Mets ahead 4-0.

Noted Wright: “You never know what you are going to see at a game … tonight we saw it.”

Said Jacob deGrom of the home run: “It was the greatest thing I ever saw.”

I have been lucky enough to be in the ballpark for the Kirk Gibson home run, the Joe Carter home run — two World Series classics — the Aaron Boone home run against the Red Sox and now the Colon home run.

They all were amazing. This was the most surprising.

Colon had gone 246 plate appearances in the majors without a home run. In his 226th career at-bat, he lined a fastball over the fence at Petco Park.

Colon gave up a three-run home run to Jon Jay, but no big deal, that only made his home run the game-winning shot. And so it goes.

Bart knows excitement. It took him 30.6 seconds to round the bases. When he got to the dugout, the Mets players were up the runway, so Colon arrived at a player-less dugout.

He went along with the joke, went to the far end of the dugout, and soon his teammates were jumping for joy. The old guy brings out the kid in everyone. He called the home run the “biggest moment of my career.”

As for getting the ball back, Colon said of the Zurn family, “It is a beautiful thing they did.”

Colon is a baseball gift. As he came off the field with two outs in the seventh, twice Colon paused and turned his head to look into that left-field corner.

Perhaps he wanted to get one more look at the spot where his home run landed, perhaps he was just checking the scoreboard, but the round mound of baseball was walking off with a lead after hitting a home run for the first time in his career.

Yoenis Cespedes, Colon, Wright and Michael Conforto also homered.

“Put them all in the same sentence,” Terry Collins joked of his home-run hitters.

It was quite the night for all Mets fans — one Colon and the Zurn family will never forget.

An Amazing BartBall night.

‘Nuf said … #40 goes deep!!!

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This Is On You!

by Echo Zulu 21

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class, Charles Keating, was recently Killed in Action in Northern Iraq. It’s on you, Commander in Chief. Our forces on the ground are under manned, under resourced and under appreciated by a White House staff of “leaders” who are incapable of making sound tactical and strategic decisions, because they are clouded by politics. An agenda that has failed miserably and puts politics before troop welfare. An agenda that dictated a timed and broadcasted troop withdrawal that created this current state of volatility and derailed a decade of progress within Iraq.

Our service members are deployed on a garbage advisory mission, that has them “advising” an incompetent and corrupt Iraqi Military. A mission that would have taken years to properly execute, but over inflated numbers on their operational effectiveness were reported by agenda driven White House “leaders” that use talking points as principles of war.

Charles Keating is on you, Commander In Chief. You tied the Pentagon’s hands limiting their military options and put US Forces in a situation that was destined for failure; your garbage policies are catastrophically useless to US Forces on the ground. We kicked the enemies  asses in 2007 – 2008 that stabilized the country paying the the price, only for Obama to give it all away in 2011 with his dereliction of duty withdrawing all US Forces. Now, it’s lost and those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice … they are on you Mr. Obama. Your failed leadership have endangered US Forces and the United States of America. God help us.

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Tough Mudder

 

The stage is almost set; this year’s Presidential election is going to be one Tough Mudder! Trump vs. the Clinton Machine. The political outsider vs. the ultimate insider. Ali vs. Frazier. This 50 state mud slinging obstacle course is going to drag discourse down to a new low. In 2012, Team Obama perfected the art of labeling and striking early slinging mud all over Romney that he could never get off. The label of rich, unsympathetic corporate executive that screwed the little guy and fired workers stuck. Team Romney really never knew how to respond, failed to rally his base of supporters and the candidate was not willing to throw mud back. In the end, Romney got “schlonged.”

Trump, the political neophyte, made mincemeat of 16 competitors in the Republican primary that consisted of Governors, Senators and other accomplished citizens and politicians. He did so with minimal advertising, street fighter talk to Americans that at times sounded like a barroom conversation and the ability to blow through political correctness telling others exactly how he felt. Clinton on the other hand, had a preordained weak field of four competitors who for the most part got the memo that this was a coronation for Hillary to the presidency. A few stooges were needed to make it look like a campaign. However, Bernie Sanders never got the memo and although the super delegates are all lined up for Hillary and were pre-staged, who knew the Democratic Socialist would give Hillary a deep fight into the spring garnishing bigger crowds, greater grassroots fundraising and winning states like Michigan, Indiana and Kansas along with another dozen plus or so (and Americans are voting for socialism – how far have we fallen?). Clinton is really feeling the Bern as Sanders has her burning through her campaign war chest of dollars and making the democratic elite nervous. It seems to this citizen, I’d be more worried about the pending indictment. Perhaps Sanders will be in place to pick up the pieces when Humpty Dumpty falls.

Word is Hillary is having the Clinton machine PMCS’d and undergoing final checks for the general election. Trump, on the other hand is unpredictable. He’ll bring an untraditional approach to this election. Unlike his peer group, he’ll meet his competition in the mud pit and thrive there. Trump likely does his best work in the mud pit. Strategically, Clinton is probably making a big mistake attacking Trump out of the gate and firing up the Clinton Machine. Trump will thrive when cornered like a wounded animal. While the Clinton Machine is digging up dirt and will work the robo calls and TV adds targeting Trump, unlike his peer group, Trump is not intimidated. As a matter of fact, he is likely looking forward to it. Trump will return fire in full measure with all phasers and photon torpedoes aimed at the Clinton death star.

Joe & Jane citizen, what should you do? It is time to secure a MOPP suit from your local military thrift store or online through your local Doomsday Preppers group. This campaign will absolutely lack class and dignity and more resemble the worst of politics. Get ready – Tough Mudder is coming your way!

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Make College Great Again

The Next Bubble …

College costs have become luxurious for the average American family. Something has to give. It is time to Make College Great Again by making it affordable. First, a few facts:

  • In the most recent survey of college pricing, the College Board reports that a “moderate” college budget for an in-state public college for the 2015–2016 academic year averaged $24,061. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $47,831.
  • The graduating student from the class of 2015 averaged a little more than $35,000 in debt from their four year college
  • You’ll need books and other course materials. The yearly books-and-supplies estimate for the average full-time undergraduate student at a four-year public college is about $1,200
  • Salaries for Professors — By rank, the average was $98,974 for professors, $69,911 for associate professors, $58,662 for assistant professors
  • The average public college president earned just over $428,000 in 2014, up 7% from a year earlier, according to an analysis of 238 chief executives at 220 public universities from the Chronicle of Higher Education. That’s 3.8 times more than what the average full-time professor makes.
  • After four years of college education, the average graduating student in 2015 that could find work, about 6 in 10 of them, had a starting salary of $45,478

The Bubble …

  • The U.S. Census Bureau reported in September 2014 that: U.S. real (inflation adjusted) median household income was $51,939 in 2013 versus $51,759 in 2012, statistically unchanged. In 2013, real median household income was 8.0 percent lower than in 2007, the year before the latest recession
  • Very hard for families to save for college with wages being what they are today. The loss of higher paying manufacturing jobs have dragged down wages along with bad trade deals and middle class jobs moving overseas
  • According to The College Board, the average 2014-2015-tuition increase was 7 percent at private colleges, and 2.9 percent at public universities. However, looking back at the last decade, the 10-year historical rate of increase is approximately 5 percent
  • The average annual wage increase for American workers last year was 2.1%, well below the rising costs of college
  • Perhaps the bubble is on a slow build up … Last October, just 65.9 percent of people who had graduated from high school the previous spring had enrolled in college, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said this week. That was down from 66.2 percent the previous year and was the lowest figure in a decade. The high point came in 2009, when 70.1 percent of new graduates had gone on to college

College, what is in a name?

            Apparently, quite a bit … colleges have successfully changed the terms of the deal teaching their student base it is OK to go into debt, cheer for their college sports teams and “don’t worry, be happy.” Colleges are in the business of the here and now and student debt is not their problem … it’s the students problem, and their parents problem that co-signed the loans. They won’t send us the student’s grades but they have no problem sending us the semester bills. They are adults and have a right to privacy except when it comes to paying their debt.

Where is this heading?

Well, Bernie Sanders would have American taxpayers paying for college making it free for all. Well, with the US already $18 Trillion in debt with Obama doubling the national debt in seven years time, we’ve already reached Margaret Thatcher’s famous quote, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Do the math. Average household income vs. annual cost of college is a train wreck already. College attendance has begun to drop. College today is for the top 65%ers and dropping. How low will it go? What school is going to drop the current price model and use market forces to reduce the cost of school? Some online schools have begun this effort but cost is still high. Competitive forces are needed along with families and students pushing back by walking away from routine college tuition and charges. Find alternative, innovative approaches. This is coming.

Scholarships are part of the equation but what is really needed is market forces to help reduce cost. When students stop applying in sizable numbers, rates will drop, universities will be forced to reduce costs. This bubble is coming … do the math! Make College Great Again!

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Baltic Blunder

By CDR (R) United States Navy

Russian SU-24 Fighters recently buzzed a U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer in Baltic Sea – coming within 30 feet of the Ship’s bridge with the wing on an attack profile – USN ship was 70 nautical miles from the nearest Russian Naval Base and made no attempt to respond in kind. We sent an intelligence collection plane where we were again humiliated when Russian fighters did barrel rolls around our brave men and women and we again had no response.

We will keep this article short and to the point. We should have immediately sent a Carrier Strike Group to the Baltic and launched 24/7 fighter sorties that flew continuously along Russia’s 12 Nautical Mile Territorial limit – and they should have been armed and ready to fight. Nobody wants war, but the key to keeping us safe is peace through strength and the will to fight when necessary. Our military gets it! Weakness invites war when we demonstrate a lack of will to stand up to the Law of the Sea. I am hopeful the upcoming election will give us the change to get our dignity back. Vote!

Clearly, the Rules of Engagement the US Navy is operating under these days has been neutered by a feckless Administration.

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T’was the Night Before Cleveland Brown’s Christmas

By PMWALT2

Thoughts on Being a Brown’s Fan during Draft Week

Being a Cleveland Brown’s fan at this time of year brings back memories to those snowy Cleveland Decembers in the late 1960s right before Christmas.

At the time, well before I entered my teenage years, there was something magical about those few weeks before Christmas. You’d make your list and you knew that Mom and Dad (or Santa) were busily scurrying about Halle’s, Woolworths or the local stores searching to find the gift which would make all of us happy early on Christmas morning.   There was the tremendous anticipation only a ten year old young child could experience at that time of the year.

Would Mom and Dad find the perfect model kit or G.I. Joe that I had in mind? Would they really go all out and get a nifty HO train set or Hot Wheels set which I could spend hours with my boyhood friends playing? Who knew, but the anticipation was tremendous. Leaving oh so subtle hints was an art and science – never perfected, but nonetheless practiced.

So what? What does this have to do with the Cleveland Browns?

Well this is draft week. As a Cleveland Brown’s fan, this is equivalent to the days leading up to Christmas as a ten year old. You’ve dropped the hints, you’ve let your feelings be known on various sports forums. All you have left right now is the anticipation of what awaits this Thursday night in Chicago – this Cleveland Brown’s fan version of Christmas.

The problem is the same, you have no idea what Santa (Mom and Dad) have in mind for you or what you might find under the Christmas tree.

Sweetening the pot, this year we’ve learned we’re not opening our Christmas presents early, but we’ll have to wait a bit longer. Not too bad, considering we get more presents this year than last.

So, what should a Cleveland Brown’s fan expect this Draft Christmas Season?

If I knew that, I’d be writing for ESPN.

For what it’s worth, sometimes, just like at Christmas, experiencing the anxious anticipation leading up to the big event – Christmas or the Draft – is equally joyous and wondrous — because in both circumstances we haven’t gotten the tremendous “Red Rider BB gun” nor have we received the sensible clothes. We Brown’s fans don’t know if there’s a quarterback, defense end, offensive tackle … never mind, our list is too long.

Regardless, Thursday night this Brown’s fan walks up to the Christmas tree to see what the “Money Ball” crew has placed under the tree. Hopefully, Brown’s fans will be happy. My guess is, we’ll be someplace between “huh?” and “wow” … just like it was on those cold Christmas morning’s in Cleveland opening up the presents. The good news (as a Cleveland fan), we’ll have more presents to open this year than we thought we would a week ago.

 

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Winterberry

Winterberry will always be home for my wife and her siblings. She was born into this home, raised in this home and learned to love and grow in this home. Winterberry is where she left each day to go to school; made lifelong friends; where she grabbed her bike and rode through the neighborhood; played sports in the court in front of her house; walked to the corner store to buy a hot pretzel; went to church from Winterberry each week. Most importantly, Winterberry is the home where she left and returned to her Mom and Dad after each day’s activity. Winterberry is home and although she has not lived in the Winterberry house for nearly 30 years, Winterberry will always be her childhood home where lifelong memories forever live on, in her heart and in her mind.

After over 51 years of being the home to the V&E family, Winterberry will become the home to a new family in the coming months. Winterberry has been well cared for by her owners. Like their children, my wife’s parents have loved their home creating a loving, positive environment to raise their family. From the outside, it is just another house. From the inside, there are countless stories and acts of love that developed and nurtured beautiful people that make up the fabric of our country, whom have gone on to establish their own families and the Dreams of Winterberry live on through them. The holidays — Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Halloween, even snow days, and the list goes on. Joy, happiness and love.

Joy, happiness and love does not happen without the Mom & Dad that created Winterberry. The house is a house, but the home V & E created, and the success of their children all being faithful servants of the Lord is their greatest achievement. They loved, they gave and they gave some more. Their time at Winterberry is coming to an end. Blessed with longevity in life, V&E are in a position to pass this beautiful home to the next family, memories and all. Truly, it is too bad the walls cannot talk. There are thousands of stories to tell, all good stories too. The walls are forever smiling.

There is sadness that comes with this move out of Winterberry. For Mom & Dad, I can only imagine. Much of their life long memories are here. One house, 51 years of living, celebrating, and working. The friendships and memories are too abundant to even begin to list, if one even knew them all. Preparing to move from their home must be sad, very sad but it falls into the category of the necessary, a price to pay for living a wonderfully long life. For my beautiful wife, five days of being back home at Winterberry helping them prepare for the next stage of life and leaving Winterberry behind brings this to the forefront. Hard for the children, hard for my wife, and doubly hard for Mom & Dad (although they won’t say so).

If a house has karma, this house is worth another $500K in value. The new owners will inherit a home with excellent karma. Perhaps the realtor should list great karma? Why not, some people are fearful of buying a haunted house, why not list outstanding karma as an attribute along with no ghosts? The walls will forever be smiling.

 

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War on Moms

by Echo Zulu 21 Household 6

One party supposedly wages a war on women over their reproductive rights (Republicans) and another party wages the real war on women over equal pay and choosing to be a stay at home Mom (Democrats). For example, women that work in the White House today make 23% less than their male counterparts in similar positions. Or women that work in the Clinton Foundation make 36% less then their male counterparts. But yet it is the evil Republicans waging a war against women, at least this is the Democratic narrative conveniently supported by the media.  A few days ago CNN was blasting it out – bad news for women concerning equal pay.  This past Thursday CNN reported that 14 April was  “Equal Pay Day for Women” and that women make 79 cents for every dollar a man does.

These kind of numbers and articles only hit the surface. Data shows that the pay gap increases dramatically when women hit age 35 and older. That begs the question – what typically happens at this time in a woman’s life? Underneath the complaint of unequal pay is a celebration of motherhood and all that comes with it as women put their families over their jobs. Motherhood includes the joys of:

Taxi Driver, Nurse, Counselor, Tutor, Coach, Cheerleader, Cook,
Sanitation Technician (diapers), Teacher, etc. just to name a few.

The list goes on and on. These responsibilities come with zero pay and often takes a woman’s focus away from her work as she puts the family first. Many proponents of equal pay are asking the wrong question about pay. Work and motherhood can be balanced but in many woman’s lives when they begin to clash, motherhood should win, and candidly, it is in the best interest of the child. We should celebrate women who prioritize motherhood and children over their careers. Women should not be persecuted or pressured by the feminist movement and the leftist extreme in putting their family first.

In the end it is all about work-life balance.  Women are making decisions every day to take on a career that supports work-life balance with hundreds of variables in play. While equal pay for the same job should be standard as it is in the military, we could focus on enabling women that want to work and flexibility for Moms that want more opportunity to slow down work. Why not focus on working with corporations on longer maternity leaves, part-time positions, and working from home? Complaining of unequal pay is one thing, but let’s celebrate the fact that money is not the only measure of success and no one knows that better than a woman who has chosen her family over her career and reaps the rewards of hugs, kisses and children being raised with the values she has helped instill in them.

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Transformation

Barack

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

Fundamental Transformation in Progress … 

Obamacare

Strike One: “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”

Strike two: Obamacare will save “the average family $2,500 a year on their premiums.”

Strike three: “Obamacare will add “not one dime” to the deficit.”

US Economy

Debt: On Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, the total debt of the federal government was $10,626,877,048,913.08. On Nov. 23, 2015, it was $18,722,746,583,118.03 Thus, so far in Obama’s presidency, the federal debt has increased $8,095,869,534,204.95. (Trillion)

GDP: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that 2015 U.S. real GDP (RGDP) growth was 2.38%. No matter what revisions are subsequently made, 2015 will have been the tenth year in a row that RGDP growth came in at under 3.0%. The longest previous such run in U.S. economic history was only four years, and the last time that this happened was during the Great Depression (1930 – 1933).

Americans Not In Work Force: A record 94,031,000 Americans were not in the American labor force last month (August 2015)– 261,000 more than July — and the labor force participation rate stayed stuck at 62.6 percent, a 38-year low.

Makers vs. Takers. In 2013, according to the Census Bureau, there were 105,862,000 full-time year-round workers in the United States — including 16,685,000 full-time government workers. These full-time workers were outnumbered by the 109,631,000 whom the Census Bureau says were getting benefits from means-tested federal programs — e.g. welfare — as of the fourth quarter of 2012.

Iraq

Strike One: “I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government,” said Biden. (2011)

Strike Two: President Barack Obama has described al Qaeda as having been “decimated,” “on the path to defeat” or some other variation at least 32 times since the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, according to White House transcripts.

Strike Three: ISIS establishes a Caliphate carved out of  Iraq and Syria.

ISIS

Strike One: “The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” Obama told Remnick. “I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.”

Strike Two: “I don’t think they’re gaining strength,” he said. “What is true is that from the start our goal has been first to contain, and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq and in Syria. They’ll come in, they’ll leave, but you don’t see this systematic march by ISIL across the terrain.” The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris, which killed 129 people on Friday night. Obama’s comments on the status of the battle against the Islamic State were made two days before on Thursday. (Nov 2015

Strike Three: In the interview, Wallace pointed to specific instances when the president was criticized for his reaction to terrorism. He recalled when Obama called the Paris attacks, which killed 131 people, a “setback” and said “we can’t lose sight that there has been progress being made” against ISIS. Wallace also played a clip of Obama focusing on gun control after the ISIS-inspired San Bernardino attack. Obama has come under intense scrutiny in recent months for what Democrats and Republicans call a weak and apathetic response to Islamic State (ISIS)-led terror attacks in Paris and Brussels. Obama attends a baseball game during his visit to Cuba last month immediately after the ISIS attack in Brussels, and for only dedicating 51 seconds of his prepared remarks during a speech earlier that day to the attack.

Syria

Deep but foul: “What kind of world will we live in if the United States of America sees a dictator brazenly violate international law with poison gas and we choose to look the other way?”

Strike two: “We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that’s a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons,” he said. “That would change my calculations significantly.”

Strike Three: After the Assad chemical attack against innocent civilians: “He was describing it as seeking strong political support for this decisive move. He had all the rhetoric of action,” David Ignatius of The Washington Post tells FRONTLINE. “But in truth, it was stepping back from the imminent attack that was ahead … it was all in motion, and at the last minute, the president blinked.”

The Classics

Strike One: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” — Barack Obama, October 30, 2008

“We are going to have to change our conversation; we’re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we’re going to have to move into a different place as a nation.” — Michelle Obama, May 14, 2008

Strike Two: “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

Strike 3: Obama refers to Republicans as enemies, Speaker of House response: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a president in the White House who referred to Americans who disagree with him as ‘our enemies.’ Think about that. He actually used that word. When Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush used the word ‘enemy,’ they reserved it for global terrorists and foreign dictators — enemies of the United States. Enemies of freedom. Enemies of our country. Today, sadly, we have president who uses the word ‘enemy’ for fellow Americans — fellow citizens. He uses it for people who disagree with his agenda of bigger government — people speaking out for a smaller, more accountable government that respects freedom and allows small businesses to create jobs. Mr. President, there’s a word for people who have the audacity to speak up in defense of freedom, the Constitution, and the values of limited government that made our country great. We don’t call them ‘enemies.’ We call them ‘patriots.'”

“Yes, We Can”

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Lawn Mowing

Lawn mowing by Sherwood Lawnmower 

When we were kids, everyone cut their own grass, at least those fortunate to live in a house with a yard. Learning how to cut the grass was a right of passage in most families. Some families had push manual two wheel mowers for small yards, others had the traditional four wheel gas push mower and the real avant-garde had visions of the future and they were breaking out electric mowers in the early 1970’s with their fancy extension cords dragged behind the mower pusher. Truth be told, those electric mowers sucked for the poor sap stuck dragging an extension cord throughout their yard dodging trees and bushes hoping the damn cord didn’t pop out of the socket as you stretched the cord to get to that last corner. There was some real navigation art to using these first generation electric mowers.

lawnmower2

To bag the grass or not to bag the grass, that is the question. Let me tell you something, if you are pushing an electric lawnmower, there is no way in hell you are going to want to bag the grass. Its bad enough you’re strapped with an extension cord to your ass, and now you have to bag the grass too? Not happening Jerry …

In many communities, lawn mowing is becoming a lost art. The right of passage and cutting the grass assignment to kids has been replaced by video games or little George can’t be tasked with getting his hands dirty. In the greater Washington DC Beltway Bubble our lawmakers, lobbyists and lawyers don’t do yard work, except in very few cases. The few that do are laughed at, mocked or talked about, and they are conservative. You see, here in the land where you spend other people’s money and ring up debt like air breathing, lawn mowing is for the lower class or illegal immigrants, not for the privileged class. Bush trimming, edging or raking leaves are tasks for others, not for lawmakers and elite takers. These complimentary tasks to lawn mowing are concepts to the Beltway high-end crowd but there are some reports that a few lawmakers, lobbyists and lawyers are taking grass cutting classes learning how to put gas in mowers, how to walk in a straight line in the their yard and even helping them trim a bush. One lawmaker I know has started a Saturday grass-cutting club where fellow hobbyists come over to his house and take turns cutting the front yard, while others watch in the shade drinking glasses of white or red wine to better understand the concept. They share war stories about how hard it was cutting grass when they were kids and how blessed they feel to spare their kids from this indignity. It’s a different day in America, isn’t it?

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Back-in-Iraq (Shush …)

“No boots on the ground,” President Obama

Between August 2013 and July 2015, President Obama publicly pledged “no boots on the ground” in Iraq at least 16 times. What is being under reported by the American media today is that there are over four thousand American troops back in Iraq after the Obama withdrawal, to enable the Iraqi Army and fight ISIS. Inevitably, the “train, advise, assist” label that President Obama has stated will morph into direct action and support roles as the Iraqi Army meets difficulty and falters. Furthermore, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) General Dunford, recently commented that there are fewer than five thousand troops in Iraq, as troops and units rotate in and out. So it is very merky just how many troops we currently have in Iraq, what their exact roles are and what the mission is. There are no daily press conferences covering this deployment, just small stories occasionally being reported, mostly online, due to congressional inquiry. The Commander-in-Chief has not explained the mission in an address to the nation. Five thousand troops is no small number either; last we heard there was going to be “no boots on the ground.” President Obama has ordered the equivalent of a US Army Brigade’s worth of troops and Special Forces back into Iraq? “Shush …”

With great fanfare the president withdrew troops from Iraq by the end of the calendar year 2011. After failing to secure a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the fledgling government of Iraq due to his opposition of the war and it being low on his priority list, he met his real goal of complete withdrawal. The CJCS recommended a residual US force presence of ten thousand troops as a stabilizing influence, which would have served as a deterrent to terrorist elements and created a stabilizing influence between Shia and Sunni sects as well having Americans around. But the President is a “date certain” leader and chose a date on the wall for political purposes to withdraw US forces. The president wasn’t about to let facts or mission stabilizing criteria get in the way of his predetermined decision to get out . It was about a date. It has always been about a date with this president whether it is Iraq, Afghanistan or Obamacare. It had to be done by December 31st, 2011 so he could take credit for “success” as he ramped up his re-election campaign.

“And under the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011,” said Obama. “We will complete this transition to Iraqi responsibility, and we will bring our troops home with the honor that they have earned.” Obama

The buzz words in theater during this time was “Responsible Drawdown.” Everything was masked in these words. Political speech for we are leaving regardless of the situation. The plan was to design a plan without criteria for withdrawal but checkpoints on force levels in Iraq, returning US facilities to the Government of Iraq (GoI) and releasing all detainees back to the GoI or local Imams whom “promised” to safeguard them from returning to terrorism. It was a race to get out regardless of circumstances on the ground. No exit criteria just a date certain to be out of Iraq.

So here we are, four years since the Obama withdrawal from Iraq and we have five thousand troops back in Iraq due to his failure to personally negotiate with the GoI for a SOFA and residual US Forces to help stabilize and secure the gains of war; his failure to take counsel from his CJCS and Secretary Defense Gates; and his self-serving goal of meeting a campaign promise to help his presidential re-election campaign.

Where are we today?

  • The Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS) was born of Obama’s withdrawal, hence the president’s reluctance to brief the American public on a new force commitment to Iraq
  • Iraq is a divided country with parts controlled by ISIS, parts controlled by Iran and parts under served by a government not equipped or resourced to provide basic services to the population
  • Syria is enduring a civil war with parts controlled by ISIS and the Russians now actively fighting to prop up the brutal Assad regime along with Iran.
  • Iran sponsoring terrorism targeting Israel, Lebanon and Jordan
  • Lybia destabilized with parts controlled by ISIS after the Clinton-Obama war to remove Gadhafi. This set the stage for Benghazi and the loss of the a US Ambassador and American lives in Lybia
  • Christians being persecuted throughout the Middle East for their faith and a modern day genocide taking place where the US government has failed to act, intervene and safeguard lives during Obama’s presidency
  • Massive refugee populations fleeing Iraq and Syria imbedded with ISIS terrorists fleeing to Europe, Jordan and eventually the US. Major terrorist attacks taking place throughout Europe

The Obama Administration has demonstrated complete foreign policy failure throughout the Middle East where our enemies do not fear us and our Allies do not trust us. President Obama has fundamentally transformed the Middle East into a continent of chaos through his arrogance of power, lack of leadership and lack of experience in appreciating and understanding history. The gains made in Iraq through blood and treasure have been pissed away by a US president that failed to appreciate the importance of America leading in this troubled world through a clear understanding of US strategic interests and responsibilities versus a self-serving prism of righting American wrongs throughout the world.

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Pimple

By Sherwood

Some have compared this presidential election cycle to a rash of pimples. An ugly display of candidate acne, that simply will not go away and seems to be unaffected by high doses of medicine.

Bernie Sanders has been clogging Hillary Clinton’s pores for months now. Hillary expected to be coroneted by this point with a well-orchestrated uncompetitive field put together by the Democratic National Committee and Mrs. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. Who knew that the Democratic Party would love a socialist over the Clinton machine let alone Hillary? Bernie is one blackhead that won’t go away. Hillary has a big Bernie Blackhead on her left cheek that she feels every time she sits down and listens to him rail against her Wall Street ties and fossil fuel industry backers. As for Bernie, Clinton is like a big whitehead on the tip of his nose. He knows it is there, he feels it but because his eyesight is so bad he doesn’t see it until a Clinton aide says “hey Bernie, where did you get the big zit?” It’s all fun and games until Bernie responds with, “I got it in Harlem looking at the Clinton Foundation books. Yeah, when I saw that less than 10% of money raised went to charities and Haiti only got a Honda generator for the Presidential Palace, I realized Al Sharpton ran a legitimate charity too.”

On the republican side, John Kasich inherited his Dad’s bad acne from carrying a mailbag. John’s acne is mostly centered on the right shoulder, neck and face. Clearasil helped in the early years but the scars remain. Ted’s acne started in 5th grade. It began to develop as a reaction to worrying so much about getting pelted repeatedly in Dodge ball during gym classes. By the time he was in 7th grade, we had a five alarm fire in regards to acne nodules on his chest, back and face. Ted’s parents bought the best medicines available in Canada but nothing seemed to work. Ted finally out grew the acne when high school started and gym class became an elective and Ted chose non-athletic classes like Calculus and Constitutional Law  as his electives. Donald was fortunate in that he had only minor bouts with acne and in his case; his acne was always hidden behind his clothing. You see, Rubio had inside information about Donald and apparently, “he has a problem down there.” Acne where you least want it, least can afford to have it as a vibrant young man and if it word ever got out, lots of jokes, many, many, many jokes. Fortunately for Donald, money and age helped him grow out it and as he has publicly stated recently, “trust me, there is no problem down there.”

Well, we have about seven more months of pimple politics. We’ll see a lot more zits in the coming months. Have your Clearasil, Nitrogena and cleansing soap at the ready. Lots of whiteheads and blackheads to come your way, stay tuned and enjoy!

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Ramblings (March 2016)

Spitball. Does Chris Matthews even have an audience? How can Trump be so stupid to be set up by Matthews baiting questions on abortions? The bully got bullied by a media bully. Matthews, aka, Spewing Spitball, verbally bullied Trump into getting the set up answer he sought, that woman who have abortions should be punished, criminally. Spewing Spitball kept asking baiting questions at a rapid clip and Trump surprisingly tolerated it without pushing back, slowing him down or telling him in vintage Trump, “excuse me, excuse me.” Now Spewing Spitball can hit the wine circuit tonight and be celebrated as the Left’s darling as he helped produce one of Hillary’s campaign ads attacking Republicans and Trump over criminalizing abortion. Spewing Spitball wins the day.

War on Woman. Here it comes. Abortion hasn’t even been a topic of any significant discussion let alone a matter discussed during debates but Matthews, I mean Spewing Spitball, has set it up for the Clinton campaign and Hillary to run with in the general election attacking Republicans and Trump. It’s all predictable for the Dems and their media accomplices to bait, set-up and enable the attacks. Yup all women are going to be sent to dark allies now for their abortions and birth control because republicans are going to take them all away, along with their reproductive rights. There will be no reproductive rights for women once the republicans are elected. Here comes the tired, ruthless democratic campaign that is dragged out every few years. Clinton and Sanders need their limitless abortions right up until the birth of a baby. Yup, nothing outrageous there. Just have those reproductive rights available to terminate another baby right up until the moment of birth.

Guantanamo Bay (GTMO). Home of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, where we continue to hold some of the most hardened terrorists this planet has ever known at so called “Camp Justice.” [ Where is the Justice?] However, as Obama races to release and empty out all the terrorists from this camp before he leaves office, is justice being served? Hell no! He’s got this all back-ass-wards! The world is on fire from terrorism, four more Americans killed in Brussels two weeks ago (along with 50 other innocents in Europe), while Christians are being persecuted and killed throughout the Middle East, Iran, and Pakistan by ISIS, Al Qaeda and other Islamic Radicals. Meanwhile, Obama remains divorced from reality emptying GTMO while terrorism rages. The western world is at war against Radical Islam and while our enemies continue to plot and plunder the civil society, the west is unfocused, unserious and with Obama as the free world’s leader, America and the west remains aimless, detached and fails to name Islamic extremism as the enemy. If you can’t name your enemy, you can’t fight your enemy let alone destroy your enemy.

GTMO is causing terror according to BO who has demonstrated his complete misunderstanding of our enemy. He is coordinating release after release of major terrorists that will regroup, reorganize, re-arm and kill innocents and Americans again. Recidivism does not concern BO. He’ll never fight in a foreign land; he’ll have life-time secret service protection; and he knows better than all of us. When GTMO is no more, all terrorism will cease and the Jihadi ’s will become peaceful according to our president. BO knows better than us. He lost Iraq; he lost Syria; he lost Libya; he lost parts of Ukraine; and he created ISIS. Obama’s foreign policy of destruction is on the march at a record clip. Hell has been unleashed on America by our President and one begins to wonder if this is by design? The 53rd Regiment is bewildered at this level of incompetence and it is only natural to be left with this question — is the Obama Administration this inept or is something more sinister at work here?

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Hoople

By Sherwood

Every family enjoys some unique traditions or words that characterize life experiences along the journey of life. This 53rd Regiment member’s life experiences were no different. In my family’s case, Dad had lots of stories, lots of different unique words to describe “happenings” and lots of colloquialisms to define family events or circumstances along the way.

One of these unique words was “Hoople.” What is a Hoople?

To my surprise, in the Urban Dictionary (UD), there is a definition — comes from the book, Mott The Hoople in which the character is lazy, preferring to work as little as possible … furthermore, the UD goes on to define hoople as a member of the ignorant masses, an uneducated commoner; an idiot. After this research, now the use of this term makes sense to me after 30 or 40 years. A couple little stories to explain:

  • Dad would be bringing Mom to the grocery store and get cut off in the parking lot. While applying the brakes everyone in the car would hear, “what a hoople.”
  • Some schlock would hold up traffic in the parking lot by waiting for a spot, as Grandma would slowly move toward her car. Everyone was locked in his or her position five or six cars deep. No movement left or right. Had to wait. While jumping on the horn, the kids in the backseat would hear, “what a hoople” along with a few other choice words.
  • Going through a drive thru to order a fish sandwich was a big mistake. That fish sandwich had to be plain, nothing on it or there would be hell to pay. Things were guaranteed to go wrong. Undoubtedly, hooples worked in there. Sure enough, a half mile down the road, those same kids in the backseat would hear, “dammit, what a hoople!” … and the car would turn around to remedy the situation with the hoople that screwed up the order to begin with.

Here is another surprise. There is a town in South Dakota, you guessed it, Hoople, population 300, established in 1876. And another surprise from an HBO series I never watched, they used the term Hopple-head to describe a buffoon or hobo.

Bernie 2016. Hoople. Now that makes sense. Vermont must have large concentrations of Hooples.

So there you have it, the complete history and proper usage of the term “hoople” should you choose to use it in your vocabulary? One must admit, its not a bad cuss word in front of the kids and its a fairly clean way to describe the Bernie Sanders campaign.

 

 

 

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