Why I’m a Conservative

The biggest reason I’m a conservative is because I like to use my own my mind. I refuse to be boxed in a mode of thinking that dictates what I’m supposed to be prior to my birth.

I saw this on the "Last Tradition" blog and does a pretty good job of summing up my feelings exactly, but not all.  Let me add:

I was taught since childhood to stand on my own two feet, that nothing in life is free except that which you work for.  Everything given has strings attached.  It gives me a solid feeling inside when I look around and know that I earned everything I have...no silver spoon here.

I am responsible for my actions and take full credit for that which I have done.  I pay attention to the law and have the upmost respect for those that wear the uniforms that keep us safe, I wore one of them for over 21 years and now wear another; I continue to serve.

I am grateful for my health, my family, and the blessings that have been bestowed on me by my Creator and through my hard work.  

Quarantine is when you restrict movement of sick people. 

Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people.

I HAD MY FIRST REPLY!!!!!!

Thank you AFSarge!  You are the first person to ever reply to a posting on this sorry excuse for a blog!!!

Gotta relay a funny story, coffee related of course, about an incident on board the USS Juneau (LPD 10) in 2003.  I was serving as the Combat Cargo Officer at the time aboard that mighty vessel. 

A little background:  when anyone embarks aboard a Navy ship, there is a "tax" that must be paid.  This "tax" is paid for in bodies.  You cannot load a ship with over 600 Marines without having to bump up the numbers of personnel taking care of little things, like laundry, chow, a guard force etc.

So, there were three mess areas aboard the Juneau, the Wardroom (officer dining), the Chiefs Mess (E-7 and above) and the mess decks (E-6 and below).  Each has requirements for bodies to assist in the duties.

So a young LCpl (E-3) Marine, we will call him Smuckitelli, was assigned to the Chiefs Mess as an attendant.  His duties included serving chow, and cleaning up.  On board the Juneau we had a crusty, and I do mean crusty, old Master Chief (E-9) that had been in the Navy since Jesus Christ himself was striking to be a Bosuns Mate.  Master Chief Crusty had a coffee cup.  This coffee cup had been given to him by a Master Chief back when he had been promoted to Petty Officer 3rd Class (E-4).  And, from the looks of it, that coffee cup had never seen a wash rag in all those 27 years of ownership.  It had so much tar built up on the inside, I would swear that it held about a thimble full of coffee. 

One day, when Smuckitelli had finished all the required cleaning, he saw said coffee cup sitting in the cup holder and decided that it needed to be cleaned and scrapped clean.  And he did.  Apparently, from what I am told, he worked on that cup for over an hour getting it sparkly pearly clean white. 

Lunch rolls around and Master Chief Crusty comes into the mess and immediately heads to the coffee cup rack to fetch his cup.  As an officer I was not allowed in the Chiefs Mess but the Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) that worked for me was in there when the incident took place.   Master Chief took his coffee cup out of the rack and just stared at it for about 30 seconds.  The roar that came from him was likend to that of a Valkyrie swinging into full battle mode.  He screamed at the top of his lungs "WHO THE FUCK TOUCHED MY COFFEE CUP?"  All the mess men behind the counter stood there and looked at Smuckitelli.   

Had it not been for the extremely quick actions of my Gunnery Sergeant and a few of the other Chiefs, Smuckitelli would be swimming with the fishes to this day.  They restrained Master Chief Crusty and hustled Smuckitelli out of the Chiefs Mess and hid him for the rest of the deployment, up in the Wardroom.

This is an edit...along the lines of delete everything I wrote and start again.  Things have been building up in me over this whole Wuhan, Chinese, Corona Virus thing (pick your description) and the Federal Governments response to it.  

I do not want to be a blogger that talks about such things.  Too many out there already.

I will stick to what I know....coffee.  Where would we be if it had not been for those herdsmen that saw their goats eating those beans, taking them to the local Bishop to see what the Church thought, the Priests throwing the beans into a fire, being overcome by the roasted smell of the beans and brewing up that first delicious brew?

My world would not be the same.  Of course if none of that ever happened, how would I know I was missing it?  I would know...because somewhere deep, there would be a hole that would not be filled.  

Thank you for that hot (even cold) brew I have come to depend on more than ever every day.  Especially now a days!!

A Record

Well, for me to be posting another blog post within a week of the last....the world must be coming to an end, lambs and lions are lying together, hell is a few degrees colder....you get the drift!

 So...I was looking at time and thought about a timeline of sorts:

56 years ago....Born
39 years ago...Graduated High School
30 years ago...Joined the Marine Corps
29 years ago...Graduated Amphibious Reconnaissance Course, assigned 1st Force Recon Company
23 years ago...Married the love of my life
22 years ago...My son is born
20 years ago...Selected as a Warrant Officer, 0430 Embarkation Officer
19 years ago...My daughter is born
13 years ago...Earned Associates Degree in General Studies
9 years ago.....Retired From US Marine Corps as Chief Warrant Officer 4
5 years ago.....Earned Bachelors Degree in Business/Project Management
4 years ago.....My son joins the US Army
6 months ago...Signed up to become a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician
2 months ago...Passed National Registry Test to become licensed EMT

I am sure there are some other dates that are important, but these dates make me the person I am today. 

Life continues

Well, if you read this blog (and no one does) you will notice I suck at blogging. I think about adding things all the time but never get myself to actually do it. Then it all builds up and I finally decide I need to do something. It is not like it is hard to get to the sight of my blog, hell, I have a shortcut on my bookmarks bar. Just, heck, chalk it up to laziness. So, I got my NREMT and I graduated from the EMT course and have begun my time as an Intern. I will tell you there is differences on how we learn in the class and how we do on the street. Basics are there but the protocols dictate your actions. Yeah, we said you will do it this way in class but here in the "real world" we do it this way. That is a whole different level of learning and one I am currently working on. On a side not...I will tell you that driving an ambulance with lights and sirens blazing is pretty friggin cool!!!! On a reality note, people who call EMS for help are not calling on their best day. Many times they are damned scared and just want you to tell them it will be alright, and sometime, most times, you cannot do that. But the relief they feel when they see you walk in the door is noticeable. To those of you who know me (and judging from the readership of this blog that is no one) you will know that I would do anything for my family. I was away a lot during my time in the Corps and I suppose you could call it trying to make up for lost time. My children are better than I deserve after the hell I put my own parents through. I can thank my wife for that. She has been the bedrock of this family since I was lucky enough to marry her. That saying, all things are not peaches and roses between me and her. She does harbor serious resentment issues stemming from my time in the Corps when she feels she was shunted aside...and she was. The Corps does not give town damns that you are married and have kids, when they say go....you go. I thought she understood that but apparently she had issues with it so they are manifesting themselves now. I will also tell you that I may not be the easiest person in the world to live with. Truth be told...all I really want out of life is a cabin in the woods, about 5-10 miles from a small town, facing south. A running stream would be nice to do a little fishing, some chickens for eggs, a garden to tend, and a chair on the porch to sit with morning coffee or an evening scotch/bourbon. Is that too much to ask?

Well, I did it! I passed the dreaded National Registry for Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) test! I am a fully certified EMT now! The test was no joke. There were things on that test that i had no idea about. The best I could do was to read the question....read it again....and again....read the answers...read the question and the answers....sit back and breathe deep and make the most educated guess that I possibly could. I called my brother, he teaches the Paramedic course in my hometown back in Kansas and is an RN to boot, and he told me "Welcome to being an EMT, where educated guesses are a way of life." I took longer on each question on this test than I have on any other test I thnk I have ever taken. Seriously, I must have spent a solid minute or two on each one! the test scares you also....it just cuts off when it feels you have answered enough to prove your knowledge. No notice, just cuts off. The worse part is you have no idea if you passed or not. You leave the testing site filled with impending doom that you have completely rocked the test. Usually, if you take the test during the work week you find out within a couple of hours. Me? Oh no! I took it on a Saturday so I could stress out about it all weekend until I finally found out yesterday (Monday) at about 0930. Talk about a HUGE weight off...that was it. So, be careful out there in Virginia Beach....I may be coming to scoop up what is left after one of those "Hey...Watch this shit" moments!!!