My two cents on the book “No Easy Day”

First, you cannot compare it to Wikileaks, that was done by a disgruntled asshat who grabbed as much secret stuff he could and sent gave it to someone to share with the world which probably caused a lot of people to die and he somehow expected not to get into trouble.  If anything, that guy deserves the Darwin Award just for being a dumbass, he purposely wanted to do as much damage as he could.

No Easy Day on the other hand is a story that I bet a fair percentage of the population dreamed about for the last 11 years.  The boogieman was finally caught, I rejoined the military to see this guy taken out and I, for one wouldn’t mind hearing the story.  This is the tallest of tall tales, what we have spent trillions of dollars to accomplish and as me being Joe Public, would like to hear about the end result, unedited and uncut.  Hopefully the truth as told by a highly motivated decorated warrior. 

Some secrets are too big to keep and I’m glad this one is getting aired to the world and I’m looking forward to drinking a cold beer while reading about it.  I’m just wondering about who got the reward and if someone did, did we set him up nice.  That story and Roswell, then I’ll be a happy camper.

My two cents on the discharge of Sgt Stein

Here's how it goes, every time an enlisted man takes the oath of enlistment, part of it says, "and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me". It's pretty black and white, something that goes before everything else you do in the military, before they shave you bald and everything else is built around it. If you don't like it, get out after your enlistment is up or get kicked out.  The only way you can change oath is to pass a law to change that which you can not do while serving.  Being the center of a political movement while serving on active duty is just foolish, no matter which side of the political divide you are on and this gentleman had been warned multiple times.  We are all just gears in a machine who can be replaced and the slightest change in the wind and that's how the system was designed.

Being in the military, we have the illusion of freedom of speech and there men in hats who troll the nets looking for people who work for the government who step beyond outside the bounds of that invisible fence, probably the same people who track terrorists, cyber criminals, haters and that lot, nice people you get grouped with.  Stein crossed the that line, probably didn't think much about it at the time but it's the line drawn at the core of our oath of the military of a country that elects a civilian leader to call the shots instead of a military government.  Most of the people who complain his discharge over this issue are people who haven't served or military people who have only taken that oath once, for the people who have taken it more then a few times and can still hear it ring in their heads, we look at it a bit differently.

Good luck with your life Sgt Stein, I appreciate you standing by you guns and I'm sorry I didn't pull you aside and tell you, "dude, if you post that, the brass is going to hammer you".  Which I have been known to do to my blogger buddies when I see someone stepping over that line.  But I can't follow everything that goes on with the military in cyber space, I do have a life.

For Hire

World renowned blogger, medic, photographer & mechanic. If this sounds like something you need to record your next trip into the badlands after the zombie apocalypse, trip or wedding. I’m your guy, can do photos, video, fix anything, machine, body or spirit and write about it, also a fair shot and a decent cook. Flexible is my middle name, will work for money, geek gear, food, beer or gas, in that order.

Bravery from the Home Front: Top 50 Blogs for Army Wives (or Spouses)

Doc in the Box was just listed as Number 27 on the list of helpful blogs for military wives or spouses, some good info here.

Key West

I’m out in Key West for a couple of weeks of training, well my unit is training and I’m providing whatever medical coverage they need and perhaps fishing when I get a chance. This is my first time to the Keys and on first impression, it reminds me of Guam, white buildings, palm trees everywhere and the humidly. Medically, so far, all I’ve had to take care of are sunburns and some other minor ailments. It feels like I’ve fallen into some strange time warp were everyone is running around in flip flops and get off at 3. Not us but the rest of the island.

Downtown is sort of a cleaner mini Bourbon St, except there are a lot more string bikini’s and bikers both on bikes and motorcycles. Key West might be the best designed bicycle city I’ve ever been in, just about every rode has a bike path besides it, often abnormally huge bike paths so people can ride side by side. Sitting down on the side of Duval St. It was strange seeing mini parades of bikes with people in costume riding by playing music. Some odd ducks out here not that I mind, there are days when I’m sort of one. Everyone seemed laid back, it must be the heat telling the lizard part of the brain that it was alright to hang out and chill on that rock over there. Like Bourbon St, there were come clear lines where the gay and straight bars are, not that the customers were paying attention to such lines. Overall, I give this place top notches for places to people watch.

The military bases are scattered to the winds, one base is the airfield, another has the clinic, one the exchange and another, the billeting office, I couldn’t imagine trying to be stationed here without a car. Our unit has duty vans that run on a loose schedule with phone numbers posted of the drivers but it’s still not that easy getting around.

Much of my off work time has been taken up with fishing, something that I don’t get to do much in Lemoore since I spend much of my weekends hanging out with the wife and she’s definitely not the hunter/gather type. While she likes exploring, she likes to leave the wildlife where they’re supposed to be, in the wild. Myself, I grew up poor and my mom took us fishing every weekend and if I would have thought about it, would have realized that fishing was another source of food for the family. I just enjoyed doing it. Send me to a place with water and lots of fish, I’ll find a way to put a pole in the water.

Last weekend, I got myself and some of my fellow sailors on a liberty program. The military partially sponsors single sailors and geographical bachelors E-6 to go out have fun, for a nominal fee, if you meet those criteria, you can get out on a trip. I saw on a calendar that there was a deep sea fishing trip going out last weekend for 20 bucks, I passed the word, gathered the names, money and arranged transportation and off we went. At the end of the day, I was worn out. Good times.

After eating fish at least once a day for the past week and a half, I would have never thought it possible but I might be reaching the limit of how much fish I can handle. In closing, I’m looking forward to seeing my wife’s florescent locks and breathing dry air, I’m looking forward to showing this off to my wife someday soon.

8 Years

I’ve written about this before and don’t think I can improve on what I wrote here and here, the details were fresher on my mind. 8 years later and 9/11 was one of those events in my life that totally shaped how my entire future would turn out. Two buildings tumbling down in a city 3000 miles awake shook everything, the repercussions rang the world like a bell and I think that ringing will echo for a long long time. In a sense, my life split in two that day. There was the person I was before which included my early Naval Service then getting out and going to school and taking up work as a mechanic, I was carefree and living for the moment. Then 9/11 where the shock of the events pushed me outside of my life and I looked down at doing and knew, it wasn’t where I was supposed to be at. The next day, I signed back up with the Navy and a couple weeks later, I was back in, minus a rank.

Two years and five months later, I was making my first trip into Iraq and eventually I would spend over 2 years of my life in that desert. This dry and inhospitable place soon became my home away from home, humans can get used to anything. In many ways, in my journeys into the war zone, I was lucky. No one I cared about died nor was I hurt but I could see the toil that repeated trips was were having. To me, to my fellow military members, war changes you and the person who went in isn’t the same person who comes out the other side.

It’s strange to say but for the troops on the ground, this might be the safest war ever conducted. We had the best gear protective gear ever issued to a military force, yes there are deaths but compare the numbers to any other war or any major battle and it’s a drop in the bucket. We were surviving, running through 120 degree heat carrying around 80 pounds of battle gear and more often than not, making it home whole. In body at least. ORM, Operational Risk Management was the key phrase, we get more safety briefs then most people in the civilian world could imagine and as boring as they are, they seem to be working.

So many changes have happened since I came back in, medically, we’re now tracking all of our immunizations online, our notes are now written on a networked system. There are still bugs being worked out but I wonder what the result will be in 10 years? Military medicine in the 90’s was basically unchanging and now, the changes are so fluid and fast moving that if you turn your back, you won't recognise what's waiting for you at your desk.

This month, I’m re-enlisting for probably the last time, I’m 4 and a half years out from my 20 and I’m going to have to figure out what I want to do when I grow up. Hopefully it involves hanging out with the wife and dog alot. I’m proud to have taken part in these great events, when I’m talking to my grand kids, I can say, "I was there", and if they are so inclined, they can come back here and catch a snapshot of what I went though. They’ll see the gaps and wonder, what happened there and I’ll still have a few tales left to tell.

29 Palms

I’m off in another land, another desert but this time with less internet access. I have a Sprint wireless card and Sprint seems to be the only carrier that works out here at Camp Wilson (a camp located in the middle of 29 Palms) even so, the service is really spotty. A common sight to see out here are small clumps of people that at first glance look to be smoking but when get closer and see that they’re all talking on cell phones and waving them in the air to try twisting that last little electron out of the ether. These little gatherings are hotspots that Sprint receives service even so, still not strong enough service for my broadband card. Hopefully I’ll be able to drive over to the main side of the base and log on and post this.

One thing about the Marines that doesn’t change much is Camp Wilson. It’s like going back to the 50’s, living in can shaped structures (quonset huts), cots, multiple sleeping bags in the winter and a sheet in the summer. Nights are cold and his place has never seen climate control, just layer on more clothes at night and take them off in the day. It’s difficult to dress to cover all of the bases because the wide temperature fluctuations.

Changes? The exchange is a little bit bigger and has the largest selection of beef jerky I have ever seen, in all seriousness, I think beef jerky takes up a 5th of the store. And someone thought it would be funny to have an ice cream truck drive by with music playing, I'll post pictures later. The only improvements on being here instead of Iraq is that you can drink a beer at the warriors club and in general the people out the front gate don't want to shoot you. Sleeping conditions are generally a little bit better forward, they're trying to keep us happy out there, 29 Palms was built to get us ready for whatever they could throw at us. Some things never change.

At least I’ll be home by Christmas hanging out with the lovely bride and son, for now, I’ll just try keeping my guys healthy and concentrate on making it home safely.

Road tripping San Jose and some thoughts about Veteran’s Day

I’ll be out of town hanging out with the bride this weekend but I wanted to put a post up with a few thoughts on Veteran’s Day before I left.

I served all throughout the 90’s without really thinking about what it means to be a veteran. It was peace time and being in the military was just another job with a lot of travel perks and interesting people to meet. The only weapons I saw were at the range and could identify countries by the names and flavors of the bars outside of the front gate.

We’ve been at war for 5 years and I can honestly say, I haven’t visited a single bar out side of any gate. Being a veteran during a peace time is a different experience then during war. Now, there is always someone out there who is more then willing to punch your card and people look at you differently. You can see the thought cross their eyes, “what kind of action did he see?” You tell someone that you’ve been to so and so warzone an X amount of times and get the evitable “I’m sorry”.

Don’t be sorry because there is nothing to be sorry for, as a member of an all volunteer force. It was a conscious choice on our part to sign up during a war. There is not a single person that enlisted that doesn’t know what they were getting into, in the early part of the war, that wasn’t always true but all of those enlistments have since expired. War isn’t for everyone nor should it be, in this transparent world, much of the mystery of being at war is gone. Log on to your favorite Milblog, check out some military videos on YouTube, watch the History Channel, CNN or Fox and you can get snapshots of just about every aspect of what we do. It’s not easy nor is it the fun vacation club that I remember from the 90’s.

So every Vet you shake the hand of this weekend who is currently in the military, don’t say “I’m sorry” say “thank you” for the conscious choice we made of knowing exactly what we're getting into and still be willing and able to make that sacrifice.

2008 Navy Ball

I had a date last Friday with my wife to celebrate the Navy's 223rd Birthday up at the Camp Pendleton SNCO Club. I had some mixed feelings about holding the Ball at a base club but it ended up being a great show with good food and affordable drinks. Good job guys! The only think that was missing was being able to party till you stumbled back to your room. No loss for me, I’m not the party animal that I used to be. Here are a few pictures taken that night.

Vegas isn't a place to send bloggers

because we write about everything.
The USO Girls tell a good tale but they left a few parts out. Lt Nixon was as cool in person as he was onlin, Blackfive threw a bash and here's his words, next time, I'll bring my blackhawk bag. Not only did he hook us up with an open bar at the Penthouse Club but he also talked his way into staying at the penthouse at the Mirage, thanks Penthouse Magizine for the support. The rest of us wished we were as cool they were, no wonder they are blogging Rock Stars. There were some things that shouldn't have seen the light of day, CJ also blogged about the closing ceremony where there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Marcus live blogged throughout the day. Concrete Bob was a new face but not a new name for me. Hooah Wife was great to hang with and she blogs about the people on the floor of Blogworld and here's her take on our Milblog Geeks Bash. LTG William Caldwell addressed Military Bloggers, video here. Terri does an excellent wrap up and thanks the Penthouse Club for letting us invade. AWTM's brother is a luddite and thought the free thumbdrive we got from Penthouse was something else, heh heh. Go check her out, she did a great job covering the entire show and I agree, having a blogging conference in a place with 5 plugs isn't going to work that well. Wendy say's I'm the best "EVAH!" and SK says I'm her hero, these two are some of the nicest sweetest girls I know (hah!), you ladies had a wild time and she writes about me patching her up. San Diego Union Tribune even did a story about how a husband can be replace but not a child. I met Bouhamner early and these are all of his posts on the conference. Toby Nunn was driving down The Road to Hell and did some Recapping and talks about eating lunch with the Army PR guys. CJ tells of Friday night and says he can't wait to show my interview and he has lots of pictures, CJ is really a good man, he's put up a donation fund for my buddy Bane who's family might be in some dire needs for money from medical bills from his passing. Holly from Soldiers Angels was there and Matt Bernard from the VA has a great breakdown post up. Froggy hasn't said anything but he was in the shadows. Who could miss Chuck and Carren of TC Override? FbL does a couple posts and is Homefront 6 getting into the blackmailing racket? She might have the best coverage out there, hah, I finally figured out how to use tags:) Ack, I'll need to continue this tomorrow after I've found some food.

Debrief on the Milblog Conference

If there was an overall theme at the conference, it was that we do make a difference. When I looked around the room, I could see how much we had all grown over the last 4 years. It’s strange to think I’ve done the blogging thing longer then a regular enlistment. In that room, I could count off the people who have been involved in feature documentaries, appearances on radio and TV, here alone, we have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars towards causes like Valour-IT (voice activated laptops for troops) and Soldiers Angels. At the same time, we’re not the fresh face, CNN, FOX and the Washington Post weren’t out in the lobby waiting to interview us like last year. But there were representatives from the Pentagon and Navy and Army PAO’s who thought what we had to say was important and this time, they seemed as well versed as us about blogging. New media is taking a larger slice of the information pie every year and milbloggers offer a viewpoint that neither regular media nor the official channels can match.

LTG Caldwell was invited to give the opening speech and here it the video.

I was awarded the Navy Milbloggie for the second year in a row and believe me, I’m far from a rock star, stick a mic in front of me and my brain goes blank, seriously, I'm a total dork. I didn’t start writing to become famous; I just wanted to tell a story. I was about to go to war and having a blog would keep people from forgetting me if I didn't make it back. When I started, it was only for a few friends, I couldn’t have cared less at the time whether or not anyone read what I wrote but over the years, this little project has taken a life of its own and I have met life long friends. It was nice to know there were people out there who cared and to be voted the top Navy blogger (twice), it’s humbling because I know there are many writers who are worlds better than me, two top my list Lt Nixon Rants and Lex come to mind. I hate to admit it, I probably won because I've became a household name, in these circles people say Sean and silently add from Doc in the Box. My win probably had more to do with name recognition, networking and everyone and their dog knowing me then the quality of my written word (maybe a little bit to do with me being super friendly too). Thanks for the votes guys! I owe you and your dog a beer.

The rest of the winners are below

U.S. Military Parent Some Soldier's Mom Carla lives in my home town and she's shown me worlds of support, thanks

U.S. Military Supporter Chromed Curses LL is one of favorite blog people

U.S. Air Force OPFOR I don't actually hang out with these guys but they have a large readership.

U.S. Army Toby Nunn's Briefing Room Was a cool cat at the pre-conference party, there's pictures someplace out there, there are so many good Army Milblogs, it's hard to make a choice.

U.S. Navy Doc in the Box Of course me

U.S. Marine Corps One Marine's View it was a toss up between him and Taco Bell, both are great bloggers

U.S. Military Veteran Blackfive - The Paratrooper of Love What can I say about Matt, Jimbo, Laughing Wolf and Mr. Wolf that hasn't been said? They're rock stars of the blogging world and I'm proud to have them as friends plus, they know how to throw a mean party.

U.S. Military Spouse ArmyWifeToddlerMom She's going to have to change her blog name pretty soon, her kids are almost in school. R is a social butterfly like me, everyone knows and loves her.

Milblogging: The New Cadre of War Reporters

I’m watching Greyhawk, JP, Toby Nunn, Bouhammer and Christian from Military.com who embedded they’re getting the nitty gritty of what it’s like to blog from the ground and what they went through.

It doesn't stay in Vegas

Panel #1 Are Milblogs Still Relevant?

With Ward Carroll of Military.com, Phil Carter of Intel Dump and Obama for America, Matt Burden of Blackfive, Greyhawk of The Mudville Gazette and CJ Grisham of Soldier’s Perspective. They talked about the future of Milblogging where Milblogging has changed since 2003 and the invasion of Iraq. These guys are mostly the big names in the milblogging community, Matt is a “Rockstar” and has a bazillion readers, Greyhawk was responsible for bringing most of us together, CJ is the strong voice from the Active Duty milblogging side.

Panel #2 Milblogging as a Community

A look a how the Milblogging Community was built. A panel discussing focusing on mostly military support people and how they tie in with the Milblog community. Panelist include Melinda of SpouseBUZZ, Beth of Soldiers’ Angels, Mrs. Greyhawk of The Mudville Gazette and Milblogs, Karen of Parents Zone and Sarah of SpouseBUZZ.

Blogworld Morning Post

After a wild party at The Penthouse Club’s VIP room last night, it was an amazing time. Open bar at one of the best clubs in the city, how can you beat that? Thanks for the support Penthouse!

This morning wasn’t as fun, we all came in stumbling in this morning to the Milblogging track at the Blogworld and New Media Expo, well many of us did, I only had 3 drinks last night because I knew I wouldn’t have wanted to get out of bed. Any minute now we’re going to be getting this kicked off. Poor poor JP, I’m sure he’s not feeling good and he’s the first act. So far it sounds good, he’s giving a speech from Lt. General Caldwell on new media and blogging.

I also have to give and acceptance speech tonight, I received a surprising email earlier this week saying that I had won the Milbloggie for best Navy blog... Again. Eek, more soon and maybe pictures too.

What goes on in Vegas gets blogged about

Thursday started out with a phone call from Sherri asking for a ride from the airport, her roommate LL had missed her flight and she was homeless and needed a hero come and pick her up. I rolled out of bed and grabbed a quick shower. She and I spent the rest of the day meeting people, moving them back and forth the by the store to buy a fridge full of recreational drinks.

LL finally landed and we all met up at their suite and I ran home to take a powernap and change my threads. That night we went out with the Blackfive crew, B5, Laughing Wolf, Mr Wolf, Jimbo and Gregg (Zonker). Here’s a few pictures. AG and SM, check.

I'm off to go pick up the lovely bride, see ya in a few.

BlogWorld & New Media Expo and the 2008 Milblog Conference

Myself and several thousand regular Bloggers and Milbloggers will be will be trekking across a vast desert (without people shooting at us) by plane, train and automobile till we arrive at a small southwestern town called Las Vegas this weekend for the BlogWorld Expo. Yes, it’s that time of year again for the 3rd annual Milblog Conference (small joke, the last one was May 07)where we have fellowship in person instead of across a cybernetic divide and people get to find out how much cooler we are behind a keyboard. Sponsors of the Milblog Conference include Military OneSource, Military.com and of course our trusty USAA. This year I am thankfully not on a panel (fear of public speaking) and can take part just enjoying the show and hopefully live blogging it (yay, Wireless internet!) Friday night I’ll be attending a pre-conference bash with my wife hosted by my buddies over at Blackfive at the world famous Penthouse Lounge. Here is a list of the schedule and hopefully see some of you there (you can also follow me live on Twitter.)

Panel topics/times are below:
Date: September 20th, 2008
Location: Blog World Expo, Las Vegas
Agenda:

10:30a – 11:00a: Opening Remarks and Presentation of 2007 Milbloggie Awards

11:00a – 12:00p: Are MilBlogs Still Relevant? In the wake of a successful military surge in Iraq, waning media attention and an election year, are MilBlogs as relevant to the national conversation on war as they once were?

12:00p – 12:15p: Break

12:15p – 1:15p: MilBlogging as a Community. A fascinating look at how the milblogging community was built, what it’s achieved and how deep and wide its reach has become. We’ll explore how milblogging gives a voice to supporters, parents and spouses of service members, and how that voice is effectively used to support an entire military community.

1:15p – 2:45p: Lunch Break

2:45 – 3:45p: DoD Live Bloggers Roundtable: We will be joined by Pete Geren, Secretary of the Army, and General George Casey, Chief of Staff of the Army, for a special edition of the weekly DoD Live Bloggers Roundtable. Secretary Geren and General Casey will take audience questions re operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other topics.

3:45 – 5:00p: Free Time (Sit in on other panels or stroll the vendor floor).

5:00 – 6:00p: The New Cadre of War Reporters. Reporting from the Green Zone is not an option for this gritty band of milbloggers. Today’s technology enables milbloggers and embedded reporters to report directly from the battlefield. We’ll talk with some of these milbloggers about their experiences in the combat zone.

6:00p: Closing Remarks

Two Weeks Back

It was around 8 Monday night when we got off the plane, I came back in a smaller group of 25 people who weren’t part of the greater bulk of Marines who filled the rest of the flight going back to the states so when we hit the ground, the rest of them were making a formation while we milled around for a second then broke for the crowd. My wife was standing out of the gaggle like a pink jewel and we flew into each other’s arms and I can honestly say, that was one of the happiest moments of my life because for a time I thought it would never reach that moment again. The past deeds had been washed away and all that remained from that forge of the fire was our love for each other.

We stated at the Old Town Inn for 89 dollars a night which was really a great deal considering Comic Con was about to go on. (Sorry to all of you romantics, this is also going to be a post about good deals in San Diego for the Military). No, we didn’t have tickets to the Con which I was mildly disappointed about but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be back in time, next year we’re going to dress the occasion.

Tuesday we went out apartment shopping, I had in mind this gettoish apartment complex close to base because the bride wasn’t going to be living down here because she’s going to grad school up north but managers never showed up which ended up being a blessing. We went from place to place no one had a place available till we got to the one I’m in now. I opened the door to the office and there was a big bookshelf filled with books and I know, this is it.

We sat down and talked to the manager and she just had an opening which she was saving for someone else but she broke her leg and the apartment was on the second floor. I took it, not only was it cheaper, larger and had a nice deck but was the only apartment complex in the area that let you have dogs (for when Gatsby visits). It also has some of the better tropical landscaping that I’ve seen in San Diego. Nothing could go wrong this week, I'm home.

After getting the apartment, we went to the local ITT office (Information, Tickets and Travel) and see what they had to offer, we picked up some first run movie tickets at 8.50 a pop, saving 2 dollars a ticket, Hornblower Cruise normally 25 dollars was another 8. One Zoo ticket for Heather 26.50 and I was in free with Military ID. That afternoon we went to see Hellboy II and the next morning was off to the zoo. We took the sky ride to rear of the park and zigzagged our way back towards the gate. Not a bad way to spend the day, let me tell you, it’s a lot of walking.

I went back to work on Friday to take care of some post deployment paperwork and get online to print a Heroes Salute pass. Military families can get one free family pass annually to SeaWorld with ID. Actually there are several places that are free from there, SeaWorld is just the closest for me, you’ll have to check the site.

Saturday we met up there with my other son Alec from Prescott (my hometown, Alec is not my real son but Collin and him do look remarkably alike and I claim him most of the time), his mom Lynnae (whom I’ve known most of my life) sister Karma and stepdad Alex . Good times, I’m glad Lynnae and the bride got to finally meet.

On Sunday we went on the 2 hour Hornblower cruise around the bay. Saw the seals over by Point Loma to the south side of 32nd Street, probably one of the best 8 bucks I ever spent, if you’re local, don’t miss it.

Stepping back into the LPO position Monday was a definite shift, I had done a switch-a-roo with the guy going out, new faces, new issues, new bosses, a lot to take in all at once. One issue at a time and don’t let any one thing take all of the focus. Lovely NMCI had messed up my computer access so I was a work computer for most of the week which gave me time to tackle the problems that needed face and foot time (normally the things I handle after the computer time) and it seemed to work. Took a lot of notes and got a pass down ready for the guy taking my place when I go on leave 9 days later.

Even though I got back in July, while we’re deployed forward we earn “combat leave”, we’re tax free when we’re out there and earning 2.5 days a leave a month and that leave you earn there is considered tax free. If you take it the same month you come back, it’s just a waste because you are tax free that month anyways.

Back to work, I think I got most of the fires put out and my replacement up to speed on everything that’s going on but in reality? He probably had a better handle on the issues then I did because he’s been here the entire year and I just fell off the turnip truck.

Now, I have came up for and going to be heading out to Arizona in the mornin to see the family, next week I should be a proud owner of a 2008 Ford Fusion and minus one or two of my other vehicles. I don’t try collecting cars, they just appear like magic. It’s late and I have to drive all day tomorrow and don’t look forward to paying for gas. Peace out till I get back to the internets.

P.S. We'll be hitting the Blog Expo in Las Vegas, have the room paid for and our seats reserved.

One of my Martial Arts Videos

Out of 20 or so videos that I strung together to make the entire video, it will give you a taste of what I put together. These guys were going though the Tan, Gray or Green belt course and it was no joke. Sgt Luna was our instructor and I've never seen his like, great job brother. Video and pictures taken with the Canon S3 I purchased at the beginning of the deployment.



PS. Hellboy II rocks!