Several mornings a week about three to ten guys meet for breakfast at various places, usually in Marin County, California. Most are vets. We have some amazing conversations for old guys: we have enormous experience. Our senior guy is 80 and our youngest, 44. We are WW ll and Vietnam. We talk about politics, women--no subject is off-limits. My wife calls them my "girlfriends." After our talks, I usually summarize our thoughts on the blog.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Shoot and Ask Questions Later
Saturday, September 17, 2016
DIVORCE THE F..Ker
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
EXPLAINING HILLARY
It would have been better to have merely used simple words, i.e., some of Trump's supporters are toxic, David Duke of the Klu Klux Klan, for instance.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
THE DEPLORABLES
To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables, Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
9-11
Watching the three memorials recently, I thought: "With these memorials, what really are we really doing?" First of all, I think we are trying to add meaning to a senseless act that through no fault of their own, these brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers--relatives of all sorts, ended up as part of this tragic story. None ever dreamed that this is the way their lives would end. Keeping their memories alive is our task. The job of every American.
Friday, September 09, 2016
MY LAST WORD ON TRUMP
I I am truly shocked at the educated people I know, some long time friends, that are planning to vote for Trump. Others in protest say they aren't voting at all. Great, to one I said consider that a vote for Trump. Its so blatant to me he is so full of himself and his arrogant tone, only bashing, and never saying anything to hint that he understands how our Federal Govt works.
A friend here said his tactic is to use gutter language, sounding brash, and engaging language around a 3rd grade level which most of the lower socio economic people can grab onto, anti everything.
I wish I weren't so concerned but I really am because again its so obvious he is a rich aristocrat type bully, plain and simple. Last night's military forum was a joke. Trump continued to reflect on Obama and Clinton, never giving concrete evidence what his powers as commander and chief can directly do. And then, pointing out General Flynn in the audience, I knew him at Ft Carson, and, from his breast coat pocket takes out a list which he says are the names of 85 Generals and Admirals supporting him; who are they? Nursing home residents suffering from brain altering conditions.?
I so wish you and I could talk about this shit. You are about the only one with real world war experience not afraid to speak his mind and talk about this shit with me. I am so disgusted with a couple of friends like, childhood friends in Fla, another from here that's moved to Fla and now Dave, I can't bring myself to even want to write them or call and listen to the recording of I DONT TRUST CLINTON line started by the liar speeches from Trump. Yes, at times I feel overwhelmed by all of this. Exaggerating? I don't think so. Has even begun to affect my sleep. Great!
I try and stay busy focusing on things I need to do or even go to plays and movies, but find in an empty space of time, my mind drifts back to this shit. Hate it!
Well, got to stop before I end up writing a novel. Just keep writing me and texting, reinforcing there's at least someone I know with their head NOT up their ass.
LC, also known as "Wonder Woman"
COL, USA, Ret
COLONEL, Take a deep breath
I have read three books that without a doubt have told me who the supporters are, at least those who got him to this place. "White Trash, Hillbilly Elegy," and my favorite which is seven years old, out before Trump, "Deer Hunting With Jesus."
What I am going to do is tell some friends, "let's suspend conversation till after the election." They are willing to accept a liar, a fraud, someone who won't even release his tax returns, insulted every ethnic group around, knows nothing about running the country and is an egomaniac. This is kind of my statement to them and then done with it.
To be honest, I don't know why we get so into presidential politics. Any of us who "think," have to know that all this BS that Trump claims he would dcouldn't anyway. I don't particularly like Hillary and think she and Bill have had their chance and there are ethical challenges but as I am sure I have said before, there is no doubt she can run the country. She's competent and has had the experience. I admire her; for one of several reasons, the Repubs have been after her constantly--she has survived and essentially given them the "finger." The Clintons are where they are and I am amazed.
Frankly I don't know how to deal with or treat my friends who support Trump. I love them all but am hard pressed to know how to stomach such an unthinkable possibility that Trump could be president. F..k. I am personally ashamed that a MFer like this imposter would even be a major candidate for President.
Thursday, September 08, 2016
Truth Is Definitely Stranger Than Fiction
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Deer Hunting With Jesus
Deer Hunting With Jesus
One of the few books I've read on "class" in America. If we want some changes (which the author says we don't) keeping abreast of the reality of class is paramount. We don't attack the issue because we don't see it. This book is a "shout out" about "class." If we are not careful, we become part of the problem.The military is a good example of what the book is trying to get at, at least I think so. We do in fact have a "de facto" draft: they are the children of the working poor who have run out of options. For these youngsters who get in the military and excel, inconceivable possibilities happen that they never would have known are reachable.
Monday, August 29, 2016
We Will Never Get Over It
THANKS
Sunday, August 28, 2016
BEN HUR
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Disheartening politics
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Sharon
I had been at the battalion a couple of weeks and really didn't know what I was suppose to be doing. One day, I am standing around and some soldier walks up and says, "Sir, Captain Kerr wants to speak to you and he hands me what I guess was the hand set for the radio (PRC25). I say, "this is the Chaplain." Captain Kerr says, "Chaplain, where the fuck are you. My soldiers need to see you. You are not doing shit back at the rear. I will expect to see you before close of business today." Thus began this terrific relationship with the Company B Commander. He commanded respect and absolutely was leadership personified. He said to me one day, "Chaplain you don't know anything about what it means to be in combat but I am going to teach you." So, for the next couple of months I was his shadow. It was unbelievable. We would be in firefights, calling in artillery. Things that you did in Vietnam. We talked. He was like a master tactician, my mentor: "if this happens, we do this." It was a great continual "classroom in combat." One day he tells me, "you need to start carrying a weapon." Why? "Well, my soldiers will try to protect you and they need to be taking of themselves. If you have a weapon, my bet is they won't worry about you."
Captain Kerr ran a tight ship. He seemed to be on top of everything. I got to know the other commanders and troops but nobody like John. He was always after me to come to his Company. I had to tell him a couple of times, there are other companies. It was like he didn't hear me. "Where are you? When are you coming out?" I loved the guy. A typical example of how he was is that he despised the S3, Operations guy. He calls him up and says something like, "since you never leave your bunker, I want you to give the Chaplain that little Car15 you have." An argument ensued. I really don't know what happened but the next thing I know, the S3 finds me and hands over the weapon. In those days there were at best a few of these--they were a little cut down version of an M16. I loved that weapon and only fired it at the range in the "rear" a few times. But, John was right, it seemed that the attitude of soldiers changed when they didn't feel they had to protect me. I had my own weapon.
I was going on Rand R, meeting my wife in Hawaii. John came to the FSB to see me off. He said, "Chaplain, your mission is to bring me a fifth of "Chives Regal." (SCOTCH) You bring me one back or I am going to kick your ass." He laughed big. It was the last time I would see John. He got killed in a kind of freaky way. The headquarters element was walking through a ville when a VC popped up out of a spider hole and killed John and three others. I was devastated. I was so angry at God, the war. My grief overwhelmed me. It was like I had lost a part of myself. I sat in my tent literally for two days. Finally somehow I moved on but think of my good buddy John, often. I am always sad when I do. I kept the bottle of "Chives" for a long time.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY
National Airborne Day should be celebrating its "founder." General William C. Lee was in his last military assignment and wanted nothing more than to return to his tobacco farm when he was plucked out of obscurity by American military leaders to develop a paratroop unit that could parachute behind enrmy lines. In somewhat of either a myth or fact, President FDR saw Germans training in airborne operations. He asked his military liaison about any such unit in the American forces. The only person who knew anything about airborne was a Lieutenant Colonel Lee. The rest is history as Lee led the airborne from nothing into fhe very formidable forces of WW||. Lee became the first commander of the Screaming Eagles, the 101st Airborne Division.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
PROJECTION
PHARISEE
Friday, August 12, 2016
BENEFITTING FROM A TOUR IN THE MARINES
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Evangelicals
TRUMP DECLARED THE MESSIAH BY EVANGELICALS
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Pluralism
Saturday, August 06, 2016
MILITARY WAR STORIES or The Taxpayer Finally Gets Something Useful For His Money
Wednesday, August 03, 2016
Trump IS A DRAFT DODGER
Tuesday, August 02, 2016
ANYBODY BUT TRUMP
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Welfare Cheats Are Ruining Us.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
STAND UP GUYS
Al Pachino
The movie, "Stand Up Guys."
SHAMEFUL
NPR (National Public Radio). One of the stories is about a group of black female musicians on a bus, in the fifties, traveling South on 95, trying to find places to play their music. They stop in Dunn, North Carolina, my home town, to eat. They could find no place that would serve them. They finally located a grocery store who sold them food to fix on the bus. This is the 50s and I am in High School. I am instantly ashamed. GdA
Friday, July 22, 2016
SITREP
Monday, July 18, 2016
The wheels have come off.
THINKERS AND NON-THINKERS
Saturday, July 16, 2016
DEFENDING THE "F" WORD
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
A person's perception is his/her reality
The President said many things that were memorable. One was that America is not as divided as we think and especially as some try to tell us. He professed a love of country which was very moving to me. He used a concept that is important. Perception. A person's perception is his reality. What he belies to be true is true to him. The facts may be something else entirely.
Monday, July 11, 2016
BLACK LIVES MATTER
Sunday, July 10, 2016
GEORGE.
Tuesday, July 05, 2016
BILL AND JANE
Our very last July 4th was memorable. I was still in the Army. We made our way to Crissy Field on the San Francisco Bay. It was still daylight. The Army Band from 6th Army played. They were great. Fireworks to follow. The Army was proud of how the military celebrated the 4th of July and had invited all of the City.
A wonderful night in the making. Suddenly, the fog rolled in so thick that you absolutely could not see your hand in front of your face. The band played, they did the "fireworks." You could hear them but couldn't see a thing. It never let up. We left when we thought it was over. It was not at all foggy anywhere else.
Bill jokingly always said it was my fault. "Afterall," he said, "You are suppose to have a direct line in such matters."
Thursday, June 30, 2016
TRANSGENDER
Monday, June 27, 2016
BASEBALL IS AMERICA'S GAME
Sunday, June 26, 2016
America of the 50s is gone.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
WARRIORS BITE THE DUST
The Warriors had a great run. Let's look at it like this. Cleveland, the town, needed a win; haven't had a Champion in 52 years. I don't like LeBron (nothing personal) but he is probably the best basketball player on the planet. He's a bully. Just so happens he is on the basketball court, not the school playground. Let's give him his dues and Cleveland especially. I don't know who said it, think Tennessee Williams--pretty subtle but we get his meaning. "There are only three or four great cities in America: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and everything else is Cleveland. See what I mean, let them have their day. 🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀😀😀😀😀😀
Monday, June 20, 2016
HooAh
HooAhhhh was made famous by Al Pachino in the movie, "Scent of a Woman." Pachino is a blind, retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who has lost his way. His plan is to go to NY City, do the things he loves to do and then "do himself in." But, he needs help and enlists Charlie, a prep school scholarship student who has his own set of problems. Pachino is emotionally salvaged when he defends Charlie who is accused of lying. Pachino's speech is one of the classic movie ones ever. HooAhhhh is rendered by Pachino several times in the movie.
The Army's expression "hoo-ah" is a guttural response barked when troops voice approval. It may be derived from an old acronym, HUA, "Heard, Understood, and Acknowledged." A former commander always greeted you with, HooAhhhhhh!!!!!!! A GREAT SOLDIER
Thursday, June 16, 2016
The Verdict
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Who Needs an AR 15 Assault Rifle
Monday, June 13, 2016
ORLANDO
Sunday, June 12, 2016
KAY WALKINGSTICK
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Don't Confuse Me With Facts, I Have My Mind Made Up
Thursday, June 09, 2016
TALK ABOUT SCARY
Monday, June 06, 2016
Mohamed Ali
Thursday, June 02, 2016
HONORING GEORGE
Monday, May 30, 2016
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY
Saturday, May 28, 2016
BERNIE
Monday, May 23, 2016
THE PREZ GOES TO NAM
Friday, May 20, 2016
Morley Safer
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
BISHOP CURREY of the EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Sunday, May 15, 2016
IGNORE
Friday, May 13, 2016
ALWAYS SAY GOODBYE
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
The Hijab And The Citadel
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
PATIENTS RUNNING THE ASYLUM
Saturday, May 07, 2016
THE NAZIS
MOTHER'S DAY
Thursday, May 05, 2016
FLOSSIE LEWIS
Wednesday, May 04, 2016
Who Are These People
Tuesday, May 03, 2016
Vietnam Vets and Trump
Vietnam vets are not immune from being bigoted like the draft dodging Trump. But, we ought to be. Is it lack of hindsight? (I have to wonder what they have been smoking). From where I stand, Vietnam was a sorry war. Stopping communism was a ruse. (1) "Ho" was dedicated to uniting his country. He fought the French, and we stupidly replaced them. (2) We underestimated the tenacity of the Vietnamese to engage in guerrilla warfare in their own country. We did some stupid things in Vietnam but the smartest one was getting out, even if it took us ten years.
One vet in this article I read quoted Richard Nixon. This is laughable. Nixon ran and won by saying he will get us out of Nam. At the time of the election, we had about 6000 American soldiers who had lost their lives in Vietnam. By the time he left office, it was 58,000 plus. (This reminds me of Trump, like something he would say and do).
What is very discouraging to me is I honestly thought that Vietnam would have taught us a lesson. It didn't do a thing. We have been as stupid as ever with Afghanistan and Iraq--Involving ourselves in impossible situations and continuing to do it. (A soldier was just killed in Iraq. We are suppose to be out of there).
This is all perspective, of course. I will have to admit that I thought these old tired views of Nam were gone and here they showed up. LOL. Things like the "Domino theory." Why the f..k are we still talking about this discredited political bullshit. Damn crazy. Wè don't need to justify ourselves. It was a sorry ass war. We did our duty. Next case.