Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in spc_dobbs' LiveJournal:

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Monday, August 30th, 2010
5:58 pm	OMG I hate how people are so obsessed with an idea that Obama wasn't born in the USA. If I were paranoid, I wouldn't accept a news article that was printed half a century ago showing Obama's name in the newspaper and i wouldn't accept a birth certificate. If I were that paranoid, I'd be afraid to go outside! And now what? We have people fearing these "terror babies". I'm sorry... but really? We already have our own homegrown terrorists. I'm pretty sure there are pissed off people in all countries of the world that are pissed off at their governments. So now there are political officials that want to change the law so that if you are born here you aren't automatically a citizen. You could say that the problem is automatic citizenship in itself. Just because you are born into a family who happen to be American makes you American? Shouldn't there be some sort of educational requirement so that if you are a citizen you at least know the history of our political system, the birth of our nation, all the good and bad things this nation has done and THEN decide? But if one rejects US citizenship, then what? You get outcast to some island somewhere? BAhhhh Lame! I'm just tired of it all... mainly the religion part. Where can I go to find others like myself and not be bothered too much by others? That's kinda how America first started right? (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
12:26 am	tea party... pfft. I just read a news article from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2011635002_danny18.html So from that site: "The tea partyers aren't crazy. Maybe they're just living in an alternate universe. I went to one of those tea-party tax protests last week and found it didn't fit the crudest media stereotypes. They were friendly, not a bunch of whack jobs in training for the militia, as they are sometimes portrayed. The ones I met didn't even seem all that angry. But: I do wonder if the tea partyers and I live on the same planet. For instance, several speakers inspired the crowd with stories about how the most courageous and noble people left are the capitalists. Because they bravely walk the road of struggle against a powerful, socialistic bureaucracy. And I'm thinking — didn't the capitalists just nearly destroy capitalism? Only to be saved by the socialists? Didn't all that happen just a year and a half ago? Then there's the matter of taxes. "Born Free, Taxed to Death," read one tea-party sign. "Tax Slaves Unite," said another. "Welcome to France," read a third. That was a strong theme — the way our Marxist government incessantly gropes in our pockets for more of our hard-earned money. A cry went up: "Taxes Suck!" Yes they do. But here's something else about taxes, at least the federal kind. Did you know that total federal tax receipts, as a percentage of the size of the economy (gross domestic product), are now the lowest in 60 years? advertising You have to travel back to 1950 for a time when the feds sucked so little of the economy up in taxes. We now pay only 6.4 percent of GDP in individual income taxes, more than a third lower than 10 years ago. Corporate income taxes are the lowest since 1936. (To see this data, go to the U.S. Government Printing Office Web site of historic budget tables, www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy11/hist.html, and click on Table 2.3.) These factoids won me no love at the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) rally. But they're true. Multiple rounds of tax-cutting since 2000, spanning both Republican and Democratic presidents, have been so thorough that half of Americans now pay no individual income taxes. Hurray! We're not France after all. We're Monaco! OK, not exactly. Last year 14.8 percent of the U.S. economy went to all federal taxes (which includes Social Security and Medicare taxes). That's hardly nothing, but it's a lot less than a decade ago. So what, exactly, are these protesters protesting? Bryan Suits, a talk-radio host on conservative AM station 570 KVI, is, he says, "one of the angry taxpayers." He spoke at last week's rally. I told him I don't follow the tea-party logic, so he agreed to be a guide. It's the spending, stupid, he said. Suits, to his credit, acknowledged taxes have gotten lower. What rankles him is the way the money is used. The bailouts. The huge stimulus package. The new entitlement program created by the health-care bill. "If I paid only one dollar in federal taxes, I'd still be outraged by the AIG bailout or the GM takeover," he said. It's also the reckless and unsustainable deficits. All right, now we're getting somewhere. I'm with Suits on that last part about the deficits, so much so I could just about sign up for the tea party. Or I could if the tea party were serious. The trouble is, they don't have much appetite for cutting Medicare, Social Security or military spending. They want even lower taxes. Put these views together and the math says the budget can't balance. Even if you eliminate 100 percent of everything else. So what they fall back on are old gimmicks, such as a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. The tea party's focus on deficits is right on. But it needs to get real. It needs a Ross Perot-like figure to spell out an honest plan — one that's probably going to have both tax increases and spending cuts (as Bill Clinton pushed through). Also, drop the red-scare rhetoric. And run as fast as you can from bumper-sticker simpletons like Sarah Palin. Otherwise, this tea party's stuck in Wonderland." --- Wow. Taxes haven't been this low since how long ago? They are upset over the way money is managed... ok nothing new there. Ugh, it just sounds so ridiculous. (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
7:40 pm	Move to Indonesia A while back my old neighbor (jewish-iranian), had me work on his car for him. Shobi (soon to be wife) was there at the shop with me and was talking to Abe (the neighbor). As I put the final touches on his car I heard Shobi start yelling. Abe kept telling her that she should stay in America and was stupid for wanting to go back to Indonesia. He feels that this is the best place in the world to live and that you should make as much money as you can. Is that right? I recently talked to my old soccer coach Eb. Shobi told him what she does and what she plans on doing (teaching biology to students at the University of Indonesia). He said that it's great she wants to move back and give back to her country. So many people come to the USA and don't go back to their country of origin after completing their schooling. This is an adventure! A great one, I could argue and say that moving to Indonesia would be stupid... but you know what? Indonesia is not that bad. It's incredibly different but the people are nice. There's not two, three, four... political parties... there's well... i dunno, maybe 20. And it's not like the green party or whatever since people actually do hold seats. But anyways, Abe seems rather xenophobic. His daughter moved to Europe for a while and he was pissed off about it. She got married over there and he didn't attend the wedding since he was pissed off so much. She now lives somewhere in the east coast of the states. His house hasn't changed at all over the years other than his front yard. From grass to rocks... It doesn't matter though, he can do what he wants to do. He used to always tell me "You have it made!", but no more. I guess since I'll be moving to Indonesia, I won't have it made. There may be something thats underlying it all. Remember how I said he's Jewish-Iranian? Iran basically has a hatred/resentment towards jews... Indonesia is an Islamic state. So I don't think he cares much for Muslims. Eb, my soccer coach... wow... he was excited about it and even said he'd help me build my house out there! Haha, I bet he was just saying that and wasn't really offering. We'll see what happens in time. But what else? I'm moving for a couple reasons. #1 being I want Shobi's future as a teacher in Indonesia to happen. I want to do what I can to support her in what she wants to do. #2, it's something new and different and will grow on me. It's one hell of a way to learn a new language. Oh, and houses are quite cheap to buy/build out there. I feel like here in the US the only way for me to buy a house is by getting into a huge ammount of debt that i'd have paid off when it comes time to retire. I don't want that! Guess I better win the lotter if I were to do that.... haha Ah well, time to do some homework for school... good times! (Comment on this)
7:24 pm	just needed to type... I guess it first started with the tea baggers... but I suppose nobody told them at first that tea bagging was when a man places his scrotum (balls) on another persons face. Usually it's done when a person is sleeping for obvious reasons... So the tea baggers turned into the "tea party". They are against government spending and increased taxes. They consist mainly of republicans... so in reference to the "Boston Tea Party", these tea party people feel like they have no say in the government due to the majority being Democrats. The republicans seem to be polarized against the majority of what the majority of what democrats vote on. What's this mean? Nonsense. Part of me says that the Republicans are doing what they are doing so that our president won't be productive thus come next election they'll argue that he's been a failure. It's hard to be bipartisan when there is always polarization. The US Government is the largest employer in the US. If our government decides to spend less, then they'd cut back on jobs. So then you'd have people unemployed receiving money for doing nothing... that's practical. Our government has never been very efficient on how it spends money. There is a theory that in times of economic prosperity, taxes should increase and during a downturn, taxes should decrease. Government spending should increase during the down times as well. Just imagine it, when people are getting laid off, the government creates jobs by starting projects. But that's how it should be. Conservatives want less government, Liberals generally want more government. More government gives the impression that there will be less freedoms and less means more freedom. Why don't we just fire the government and go corporate? Nah. We elect people to office, they represent us (or mainly just those who voted for them). There's so many disagreements between the two... but I think there's a common goal or at least should be. Prosperity for all. Unfortunately capitalism doesn't work that way. Some view socialism as a bad thing and communism as something terrible. Capitalism could be that something terrible and communism could be that something great. It's just a matter of how you view things. It would be nice if we all could ease our way through life and not have to worry about things so much... but it's not that way for most of us. I think my usual way of going about things is to try my best and not let anything bother me too much. Of course over time things do get to me but shortly thereafter I go back to not being too bothered. (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
2:32 pm	Party of No I understand the arguments for this health care bill... but the argument is as such that the republicans (Party of No) say the bill is flawed and they want to start over. Are there any bills out there that have no flaws? What about Social Security? I mean, it's a great thing to have and it is my belief that it should never be privatized. It should also never be used as a piggy bank as well! But anyways, it's a bad thing if not everyone has health care coverage since some people out there might not be able to afford it and thus turns into an expense to the medical industry as well as our government. I'm just stupid and like many people out there... I'm a very frugal guy at times, my work does not provide health insurance and since I'm not married... I don't get medical benefits from my fiance. I can afford getting a health insurance plan, but yet I don't. I'm risking all the money in my piggy bank if i succumb to any illness or injury. There's a few things that happen when a person does not pay their medical bills, but I'm not too familiar with what happens. What I do know is that I pay money into medicare every paycheck and won't ever see that money unless I reach a certain age or become disabled. Oh well, there just needs to be a system out there that makes it so everyone like myself is covered. If everyone was covered, I'm sure premiums would go down.... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 9th, 2009
7:28 am	Iran... Fall of 2008 I took an environmental science class at the community college here in Napa. Someone said my name as I walked in. It was Nate Martin, a guy whom I had played soccer with years ago. He had been in the Marines for I believe 3-4 years... We talked about things... and one thing he said was that he'd re-enlist if we went to war against Iran. I find it very difficult to not be skeptical of any wars our government enters now. It might be easier for me to go to war under a Democratic administration since Bush failed with Iraq. Afghanistan is justifiable, Iraq was not since facts were actually fiction and we killed lots of people over there simply because we did not have our facts strait. But anyways, what I was getting at was that Iran has its own issues. Especially now since there's a bit of civil unrest over there due to their recent elections and their supreme leader being a dictator. The will of the people living in a country is something that is VERY powerful, and if the few people in power of that country go against that will, they are simply going to have a huge civil unrest situation. War is not fun. Some might say it is, but that's terrible! We have a military to combat what? Other countries!?! To help subdue huge riots, to help out in national disasters? We fear things so we keep a finger on the trigger and have of course our military with "the best weapons of the world" or what have you. The world is not a perfect place, but we can help make it progress into a more perfect world. (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 8th, 2009
12:34 am	So today...errr... since it's past midnight i suppose yesterday is more correct... but anyways... I had a pretty good productive day at work. After the work day was over I ended up working on my corolla I drove back to Napa from Oklahoma when i exited the Army. I'm selling the thing next month to the guy whom I purchased it from initially. The stupid car... ugh... I've had to spend money on the car to get it to pass smog... i thought I lost the oklahoma title... but i found it and finally got the car totally registered in california and now I have a california title for it just so the guy who is buying my car can drive it back to Kansas legally. So anyways... back to what I was getting at... the belt had split and so I was replacing it when I noticed a coolant leak. Oh boy... coolant leak after 5:30pm means that there's no parts available for me since the places that deliver parts are closed and well... if i were to leave, it would have been in a customers car and all the cars would have to have been brought in... oh, and there were 7 cars to bring in... so... yeah, I decided to make my own gasket. It worked, but I'm afraid that there's a leak somewhere in the system somewhere.... but my test drive concluded that there's no leak... at least not one that i can see... Part of the reason why i'm working on it now is that I plan on racing it today (saturday) in an autocross event. 5 friends said they would go, i even asked a few weeks ahead of time. All of them bailed except for one, he's also my co-worker. He's very dependable!!! It just bugs me that everyone else said they'd go but ended up bailing on the day before the event. At least it's not the day of the event... haha that'd be a bitch! Ah, so today I started getting really irritated and pissed off. I was waiting all day for a phone call from kaiser so I could get a vaccine shot for Typhoid fever and maybe dengue fever. They did call, but it just so happened that at the same time they were calling my phone was receiving a text message... their call was sent strait to my voicemail... this was 4:30pm, the time that their travel nurse closes office. That's wonderful!!! great... and the text message wasnt even worth getting, it was stupid... ugh, so this had me irritated. After I finnished up with my corolla i had to move in those 7 vehicles. It is annoying since it usually involves finding the keys and making sure everything fits in just right since space is VERY tight at the moment. Now, normally this wouldnt bother me too much, but yesterday (thursday) I moved in all the vehicles... my co-worker was washing his car and my boss was talking to the tool guy.... i moved em all in and then left.... it took me way too long to bring them in... maybe because i was irritated or because i had to find some keys... blehhhhhhh but... I made it home eventually and got to talk to my gf on the phone. She's in the hospital with malaria and typhoid fever. my flight for indonesia leaves next saturday at something like 1:30am.... i hope she gets better between now and then, regardless i'm going out there anyways. I started feeling loads better when talking to Shobi. Later i ended up taking the corolla for a test drive to really make sure it was good to go... and....yep! its all sealed up and ready to rock! When I was cranky, I knew why I was... but wasn't sure why I couldn't shake it off. I hardly ever get cranky... it's been a long time since i was last, so maybe it was just a matter of time. Oh well... In the end, life is good :-) I can't wait to see my gf again!! It's been nearly 3 months now... she just had to go catch those lizards along with malaria and typhoid fever haha oh well! Shoot, last time it was chicken pox!!! And not the kind where it just makes those weird scabs, it gave her blisters all over! Ah well, 7 more days... (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
11:05 pm	pfft, thanks guys... It would be nice to have my government extend it's arms and help me out of something stupid I did. This is in reference to the recently returned journalists who were caught crossing the North Korean border. So they got caught doing something illegal and were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. I'll be honest, I sure as hell wouldn't want that! My problem is when people knowingly do wrong in other countries and have to rely on their home country to set them free. Ah well, there's nothing i can do about it except hope that the good ole USA will bail me out if I do something stupid. I am a VFW after all... gotta give special treatments to vets!!! :-D (Comment on this)
Monday, July 27th, 2009
11:52 pm	Health Care?!? I have no medical insurance... is it by choice??? That depends. I can borderline afford it. I'm sure i could manage if i had to pay a premium of $70 a month. The problem with it though is what happens when I do get sick or have to go in to get checked out. Each visit requires a fee and well... it just gets expensive! My work provides no medical insurance other than workers comp and well, shoot if i get hurt on the job my work is paying for it. If i get hurt outside of work... i'm basically screwed. I'd end up losing my job due to non-performance!!! That would be followed by a downward spiral and thankfully I've got a loving family that would take care of me in the end, but I don't want that to happen!!! There's this idea that businesses should provide heath coverage for all employees. That's a HUGE expense!! In a way it's actually more like socialism, just involving the government of the company rather than that of the government of the country. Companies should not be soley responsible for providing health coverage. People suck at wanting to pay for benefits, but I'd like to be fixed up if I become broken, and of course please don't break my bank! It's not bad for there to be an extra tax of money that goes for providing health care to every citizen of the United States. In the past two years now, I probably would have gone in just once... but since I have no coverage I did not... I'm fine... it was most likely a sinus infection, but hey... it went away! PHEW!!! Lucky me!!! So yes, we should become more like Canada in that way, you get hurt, you get fixed. You have weird stuff growing on you, you get it looked at, you get it cut off/an ointment or whatever the hell. If you're living a good life then you're not worried about health care. If you're lacking the money, you're worried about health care. If you're doing good, you're wondering why people dont have health coverage... well damnit! I wish I did, but that doesn't help. I'm not living off my parents anymore and I have NO coverage for anything except my cars since that's required by law. GIVE ME A BREAK! bahhhh Maybe i should gamble my dollar bills with the lottery or something. I'm just irritated with how things are... but at least I'm healthy... for not at least :-/ (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, May 8th, 2009
7:57 am	Abstinence I just read a news article about Bristol Palin promoting abstinence. Maybe it's because she now has a child with no husband. So anyways... Sure, abstinence is the cheapest and the best way to avoid pregnancy. The problem with abstinence is that it requires lots of self control for some people. Those who lack the self control will find themselves no longer caring about abstinence. It's like the D.A.R.E. program (drug abuse resistance education), they tell you what drugs out there you shouldn't be doing and a little about how gangs are bad. I was taught in school that abstinence was the best way to stay disease free and of course kid free. Abstinence should be promoted, but things like condoms should be promoted and the use of birth control. Everybody loves having their cake and eating it, so that's why abstinence fails most of the time. Anything can be promoted, but as much as we all are like lemmings a times... we don't all gravitate towards the same way (religion for example). If something can be done wrong or differently, it will be done that way. Free will is what we have, free will is what we use. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 24th, 2009
8:21 pm	Plethora of Junk Okay this will be a little philosophical... We all condemn ourselves with the materials we own. The things that we feel make our lives easier end up adding stress. We are at war in Afghanistan and Iraq... why? Because it's easy to travel across to the other side of the world. It's easy to attack a nation on the other side of the world while sitting on your couch watching TV or playing video games. When I was at war in Iraq (even as a lowly mechanic), there was much time spent playing video games after dinner time. We throw so much in the garbage it's hard to imagine what it would look like if you simply took all the garbage in a large state like California, and put it all in the same location. It's almost as absurd as how much gasoline burns off every day. We have limited resources on Earth and here we are... taking away from mother nature and putting back in toxic rubbish that's not good for anything. One day we'll all have to start digging in these trash piles for resources. It's tough. We are born in this day and age so it's not like we can turn back time. We know what can be done, but we're stuck living these lifestyles. I'm most likely not going to change because I'm stuck! I enjoy cars, computers, and video games... I'll try my best to limit what gets thrown in the garbage and recycle as much as I can, but even still I'm helping out the coal industry by my electrical usage. Maybe someday, everything will have to be recycled and will be recycled... what what bugs me is you can view countries that aren't as technologically advanced as us but are seemingly happier. I'm not saying that I'm sad about life... I am totally enjoying it all! I'm very grateful that my parents got it on and had me. I try to look at the brighter side of things and keep my cool over everything. It works. I don't want to be a sad, unhappy, or depressed person... so I'm not! oh well... maybe i'll write more on here as more free time comes about.... so... adieu! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
10:46 pm	Middle East I type too much... I should be folding my clothes or something more constructive but yet here I am. The world has issues... It's nice walking down the street taking in the different smells of grassy fields or small forest areas. Head on down to the refinery in Hercules, you'll find a horrible smell awaits you anywhere. Usually things like airports or industrial zones are away from residential zones... all too often do residential zones infringe on the nearby airport or industrial complex with complaints of loud noise and pollution. We spread, thats life. Happy people make the world an enjoyable place. All of our problems were gone if everyone was happy. We get sad, depressed, cause pain and suffering onto others, we kick our own asses! Earth is a small place, each person wants a feeling of security but security costs freedom. Want fewer gun crimes? Increasing punishment doesn't always work. Banning guns would create a black market which could cause an increase of crimes due to smuggling. But anyways, i'm getting off topic here. What do all the "Miss America" contestants say they want? World Peace... ::Applause:: Congrats! You've found two words that have great meaning. The world is filled with many countries and all of which attack each other in many ways. China attacks America with cheap crap that we buy every day. Do you think we export as much as we import from China? HAH! We'd have more jobs here in America if it weren't for China or other smaller countries that are cheap by our standards. North Korea has attacked us with fear of nuclear weapons. They made them, now we talk to them, give them money and food. Congrats! North Korea you've found an achellies heel right there! We will give you things just so you wont have nuclear power. If I were to build a plant in my backyard, would I be able to make an awesome deal with the American government? I think not! The Middle East has mixed opinions of America for various reasons. Israel by far has to be the largest concern. There was a war in which Israel was attacked by its neighbors due to how Israel was formed... I should look up the story again, but it's not right. I wish I could say "Hey guys, just relax out there! Understand that others do not share the same belief as you and let them follow their own paths so long as it does not affect those who are not on this same religious path. People fall into their own patterns with ideas and religion, but all too often does it spread to those who do not believe the same thing. Set this aside, move on. I wish the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq would stop. It'd be nice to have peace out there for once. Those who live there have seen far too many hard years. War has happened in the past and is currently present. It's understood that the United States should not have the presence there that it currently does, however we walked through that door and closed it behind us, we need to find another way out, not through that same door we entered in... maybe another door, one where we can accomplish great and wonderful things, not a window we jump out of, falling and hurting ourselves. Nuclear weapons. They are highly destructive and it's unfortunate that having a nuclear power plant = having nuclear weapons. It's unfortunate that they even get created! Great job nuclear powers! Having these weapons only instills fear of everyone. If we have them, we are a target of other nukes. If we don't have them we are at the mercy of nukes. We don't make sense. We all have our little circle of friends, the world has its NATO or European Union... but come on! We are in the United Nations and are given powerful veto votes and of course use them whenever something bad comes up against us. Great! That's all we need... if the world says we are doing fucked up shit, we most certainly are! UGH Oh well, this doesn't matter. Like I said, i type too much... i could have had all of my clothes folded by now and maybe be lying in bed, drifting off to sleep. Now i'm all worked up... maybe folding my clothes now will help. Goodnight1 (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
9:38 am	Writer's Block: Church & State Should church and state always be separate? Why or why not? What should the nature of their relationship be? View 500 Answers There is a huge problem with the inclusion of church with state. Each church has different beliefs on how society should be run. I am an atheist. Churches aren't exactly bad by nature, however if they impose their beliefs upon me, there is a huge issue. A quick example would be my experience with the military. Every Friday at the end of the work day, the whole battalion would form up and the chaplain would come out and say a prayer for us all. It seemed to always be a Christian prayer! What about those who believe in the Greek gods? What about Hindu? While the chaplain said the prayer, I'd keep my head up and look around. Nearly everyone had their heads bowed down with the exception of the few. I had even seed a few atheists with their heads bowed, later they said they just felt obligated to do so. It's my opinion that people should be allowed to make their own decisions. Something like abortion is very controversial, but one should be given the decision, not have a church dictate how they should live. If church became more involved with the government, they should pay taxes. Unfortunately for churches, not everyone has the same religion. Due to this, there's no possible way you can run a government with a huge variety of religions and not be unbiased. (Comment on this)
9:25 am	I'm once again taking English 120 at the community college. My last teacher did not teach. I suppose I could have asked more questions... the class started with about 30 students, 4 people stayed till the end (not me!) So in this new class, the teacher had us all write an essay on a life experience. Of course the greatest experience I've had was my time in the Army. By "greatest" i mean the one thing that's affected my life in a BIG way. Parts of me are thankful I joined, i still slack off from time to time with chores, however I no longer slack off in school. So here Is my essay, my teacher wanted me to share it so I figured I could just toss it on the net... some people on craigslist replied to it... typical response was "thanks" or "its not often we get good things to read here" and one lady asked me to shoot off an e-mail to her brother who was thinking about joining the service. One person said I was full of crap... i sent them the pictures of the truck in the story and a link the body armor vests... Before you start reading... I went over this story once and made a few changes. It's still not perfect but something tells me I wouldn't know what perfect was if it slapped me in the face. Okay so let the reading begin!!!! Frustration Ah yes, the Army. Remember when their motto was, “Be all that you can be”? The ads always showed teamwork and happy soldiers. Eventually I found myself thinking about the service, trying to find my future. “An Army of One” was the motto when they spun me around and buzzed off my hair. September 11th, 2001 had passed by nearly two and a half years. Working at Orchard Supply hardware was rather boring; motivation toward school was lacking. If school isn’t working out, I had better think of something to do to get me out of this slump. The army offered me a job as a mechanic for 3 years. The war in Afghanistan and Iraq had been going for a brief while, but it only took us a day to defeat Iraq the first time, right? War, was not going to be what I saw... of course I lied to myself. How else could one deal with the idea of being in a true gunfight? Fort Sill, Oklahoma… oh how I hate thee. Someone must have seen my name and thought it would be a funny joke to place me there. I was stuck there, along with a few other soldiers I had gone through basic training with. At least there would be someone who’d feel the pain with me. Napa is so incredibly different from Fort Sill, but most of all, my lifelong friends were not there, nor were my family. The weather was either too hot or too cold, the leadership said they cared for us; I always feared their wrath if I made a mistake. My only escape from this place would lead me to Iraq. When the orders came, I was thrilled! Surely I would not miss the two Super Wal-Marts off post, the cars that blow smelly smoke out their tailpipes. My family and friends were already backing in Napa, how could I miss them more? Besides, my pay would almost double out there, not to mention the lack of frills to purchase. The flight to Kuwait was long; the hour flight from Kuwait to Iraq was bumpy. Upon landing, things smelt different. It was dusty; a burnt plastic smell always lingered in the air. How will the next twelve months be? Ad Diwaniyah/Camp Echo turned out to be where I’d find myself at. It was a rather small base run by the Polish. Being there meant freedom from my leadership who I had feared for nearly a year at Fort Sill. Usually we would receive incoming mortar rounds once a week of a few rounds. They seemingly always landed off base. Us soldiers would joke about how horrible an aim the insurgents had. There was a point in the time when we received an incoming mortar round, but nobody in my squad got out of their rooms and into the bunkers. We felt complacent, feeling that their accuracy was simply so bad that they would never hit us. I will never forget the sound of an incoming mortar; the drill sergeants in basic training knew exactly how to whistle the sound perfectly. It went from a high pitch whistle to a low pitch one, and of course don’t forget the “BOOM!!!” Every once in a while I had to convoy back to the main base, about five hours away. It’s scary to see women dressed in all black, and all you can see of them is their eyes and feet. Part of me felt like they were hiding a weapon underneath, fortunately enough for all of the convoys I had traveled with, had no hostile incidents, minus one time I had to wait for a roadside bomb to be pacified. My squad was in charge of a fleet of Humvees and other US military trucks that were leant to the coalition forces along with some of the other US Army trucks on base. We would see our Humvees painted with flags of Poland, Ukraine, Mongolia, El Salvador, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Latvia, Slovakia and Bulgaria. These trucks always had some sort of issues; the ones I thought were cool were the battle damaged ones. They lost their cool when a squad member had to go on a wrecking mission to recover a heavily damaged truck. In the chaos of being outside of the wire (outside of camp), my squad member had quickly hooked up the damaged truck to his wrecker. He did his job, he safely made it back to base, dragging this truck for nearly two miles. When the damaged truck arrived at the shop, we were shocked. This was the first encounter we had with a vehicle where someone had died in it. The roadside bomb penetrated through the driver side door and shot a projectile through the driver’s stomach which also hit the passenger. Both died, the gunner made it through, lucky him, only his lower half was in the truck. The truck told its story by the damage it had, not to mention the bloody mess inside. On the floor was an armor plate that went to a vest, it was covered in blood. The only reason why they are removed is if the person is in critical condition and need to take their armor off. The cab had a death stench to it; try not to let the sight of dried blood all over inside the cab bother you. My stomach felt sick for the first time out there. Why? Why are we here? Why did I “volunteer” for this? Soldiers from all over the camp started to look at the truck, we covered it in respect for those who lost their life in the incident along with the one injured. Summer out there was miserable with temperatures at 135 or above degrees Fahrenheit. Drinking water was always available, shower water was not. All of the drinking water was bottled and had a small taste of chlorine to it; drink mixes were the cure. Life was slow for me out there; I was not fighting to stay alive, just fixing trucks and heading to the bunker each time we were attacked. Those bunkers are hot and uncomfortable; maybe the insurgents know this so that’s why they always increased their attacks during the summer. At 4:50pm in August of 2006, I was putting my shoes on and getting ready for dinner. The dining facility opens at 5 o’clock sharp; the mixing of weather and work made me incredibly hungry. One shoe was on, my hand reached for the other and, “BOOM!” My whole room shook, rocks were tossed on the roof, oh God how I wished I hadn’t have joined. There in that hot bunker I lay, ready for more incoming. Another hit on post, they hit the dining facility. If they had only waited another five minutes. They would have gotten me. How can that not be scary? Knowing that death or great injury was either twenty yards or 5 minutes away. I hated this place; this little sanctuary away from Fort Sill was not worth my life being taken away. Eventually we did make it home a few months after the near death experience. I was glad to take in that flora smell and eat at Taco Bell once again. As happy as I was to be back in the United States, the anger in me towards the government grew. Going in to this conflict seemed noble enough and fairly safe for my position as a mechanic. After reading about all the lies we have all been fed, we all know we are there for the wrong reason! Late March of 2007 was a big relief for me. If my contract had ended a few weeks later, you would have found me being an incredibly disgruntled soldier. Stop loss orders were coming out mid April, but since I had my orders to exit late March, that’s what I did. There was some indigestion; upon exiting I was reminded of this military service obligation that all soldiers are required to have. It simply requires all new personnel to be attached to the service for a total of eight years; three down, five to go. The Army has until 2011 to call me back, I pray it never happens. If it did, there’s no telling what I’d end up doing. The Fourth of July is supposed to be a time where everyone celebrates our independence from the British. Families gather to watch fireworks, sometimes you can even hear the “Star Spangled Banner” playing in the distance. Hearing the fireworks explode upset me. Any sort of explosion noise reminded me of being mortared out in Iraq. Here everyone is celebrating our great country; here I am, tears in my eyes and the fear of death rattle my soul. As time passes by, my past military experience haunts me less and less. No longer do I pity myself, feel Napa is boring, or complain. I found my misery in the Army, at war in Iraq. Complaining about work conditions, the pay, or the lack thereof is not something that concerns me anymore. I enjoy being a mechanic; I thank the Army for this skill, but no more shall they enjoy my presence in ranks as I have lost all faith in our government. (Comment on this)
9:18 am	McCain v. Obama debate I managed to watch a bit of the debate... saw something I knew everyone watching would notice... McCain would look at either his podium or the crowd while Obama was answering questions. While McCain would answer questions, Obama would look directly at him. If you were to set your bias aside, the more professional candidate would not be McCain. You can talk about experience all you want, both senators have unique differences... but all I can say is that I agree more with one than the other. I don't like the antics i see, don't care for the attack ads (since they tend to be false or slanted), if McCain takes the ticket... i hope states either gain more rights or he doesn't screw with peoples liberties. Lately I've heard about people losing jobs... I am glad to say that my future where I am looks strong. There is no lack of work. It's pretty secure... so no problems for me. Regardless of financial times, people need their cars! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
11:27 pm	McCain So we all know how McCain accused Obama of being a celebrity... Go watch the movie "Wedding Crashers", you'll see McCain in that movie. I'm not sure how many people out there realize this but... during the republican primaries, the candidates often referred to Ronald Regan, "We Need a Ronald Regan". So... we need an actor? Well HOT DOG! We have a McCain! (Comment on this)
Monday, September 15th, 2008
10:53 pm	Defeat? These elections are hysterical. Fox News says McCain is winning and CNN says Obama is winning. Do I care? Oh please oh please, I hope people aren't dumb enough to vote for McCain. With all the information that’s out there, why would you? Don't be close minded, don't shun out the other side just yet, listen to them! It's easy to pick at Palin, she's... "Out there". It really bothers me when others impose their own beliefs on others. It could range from religion to sexual preference to conservation efforts to birth control. Please, don't tell me about your god, don't push your crazy beliefs on me. I won't harass you so long as you let me be. I'm not crazy, you can have all the crazy ideas you want so long as they don't interfere with me. Sexual preference, I don't care what you do so long as it doesn't involve me. Conservation is a wonderful thing, we should embrace the idea and put forth major efforts into changing our lifestyles. Our footprints are getting a bit too deep. Abortion, a human’s life begins when? It's should not be used as birth control, it should be pregnant woman’s choice on if they want this early form of life removed or not. Parasite to some, unwanted to others, and yet a miracle too many. Life is nice, but too much life turns from abundant to many dying and starving people. Greater of evils? Often this is the choice we have in elections. We messed up in Iraq, how do we fix this? You can come up with any platform you want, but please!!! Please oh please, do not take me back. I do not want to get recalled and head back to that miserable place. It was a mistake the first time, a few good things have happened due to being in, however a few things haunt me from time to time. Memories of fear linger when I recollect my memories. I don't want to die, my chances might be slim for dying out there but I see it as a risk unworthy of my life. Let me be. If you want to fight this war, go fight it. Please, don't take me along this time. My parents would take me to church every Sunday until they either gave up or admitted I had a choice in the matter. I don't want to go, I don't believe in this war. This war has proven to have its many faults, please don't include me. Elections... Obama wants out, Obama has better plans for our country in my opinion... it's obvious who I am voting for. McCain is a vet and a former POW, that's great! Vietnam was unpopular, just like Iraq. People are more passionate about Iraq, however it’s still a place we should not be. Bush doctrine? Thanks government... thanks a lot! Increase our military strength and what happens? The world might react the same, in fear of us just popping in and over throwing their government. Protect our borders, respect other countries but keep ALL dialogs open. We cannot afford to not listen. Unfortunately I make little difference. The high and mighty Iraq veteran, sure... I just fixed trucks at a FOB which saw little action. It was enough for me. But here I am, I can see clearly now. I love my country but c'mon guys! Come up with a real solution to our problems at home. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 5th, 2008
9:55 pm	It's very upsetting... I've gone between trying to rationalize being out in Iraq and realizing that we just simply do not belong there. Servicemen are doing what they are told to do by our country... OUR country. An American cannot simply say "Those aren't my soldiers!" They are!!! We messed up... I'm not even sure why we went out there... all i remember is Colon Powell saying that they had weapons of mass destuction and knew where they were at. They were never there... and if they were, never found. Why on gods green earth would we even care about Iraq? Afraid of terrorists? We want peace but fear terror. Fair enough, but to create peace we must create terror for others? Terror + Terror = Peace? Something is flawed. The sad thing is, we can't just go back, rewind time and not get involved with Iraq. We are in the now, we must deal with what our idiotic government has done. We can point fingers at politicians, but that never really does any good, at least that's what it seems. I can blame Bush all I want and it won't help. I'd like our troops to come home, but i don't want Iraq to be left in shambles. I think the issue with Iraq is the lack of communication between the people of Iraq with the people of Iraq, the people outside of Iraq with the people of Iraq, and of course the U.S.A. and Iraq. We need to educate ourselves, we need to understand eachother, we need to promote peace and lay the weapons down. Sadly, there will always be agressors and the need for a defence which leads to more weapons. I'm glad to be alive, i'm glad I didn't experiance what it was like to be shot at with rifle rounds. Crazily enough, I am glad I was shot at with mortars and RPGs... they missed, but rocked my world. I don't have many friends that can say they've been shot at with mortars, fewer that can say they've been shot at... someone saw them and tried shooting them. The most upsetting of all is, what I write is a waste of time. It might ease my mind a little bit, but this goes nowhere. If the world read this, many would dismiss it, many wouldn't care, some might agree, some might disagree... Where's the love? (Comment on this)
Monday, August 20th, 2007
3:02 am	It's been a while since i've posted anything on here. Not too much has been going on, but i'd just like to write about a few things here... hopefully i'll be quick about it so i can go to sleep, i have to get up in almost 5 hours from now. Okay, so... Iraq. Failure? It's not a success. For it to be a success, what needs to be done? It'd take more american lives for us to reach some sort of "mission accomplished" status. It's a failure. Waste of time, waste of lives. Of course nobody want's to look at it, as the whole conflict will truly be seen as perhaps what it was from the beginning, meaningless. We went there in fear, found nothing, took out Saddam, and... well, you hear about how Iraq is every day in the news. What pisses me off are all the lies that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and even good ole Colin Powell have told us, the American people. The fear was weapons of mass destruction, the evidence was not there but they had said it was. Colin Powell was in this video where he talked about some structure in Iraq that was built to hide their weapons. The crazy part was, there were people in the structure and they knew what was under it. I wish i could find the video I saw... oh... found something... check this out. if it doesn't work, go to this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tQeBNjjFbQ I just feel that it's all been FUBAR'd (F'd up beyond all repair). I feel sorry for the Iraqi people, I feel sorry for our troops that are out there in Iraq, the whole situation is shitty and we need to get out of there. and once again if that doesn't work, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj_-VvSr94g It all just bothers me, its part of the reason why i got out of the Army, the other part would be... it sucked. GO TEAM! 'All i can do is throw my hands in the air and do nothing. I'm going back to school and am going to succeed this time around. (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 8th, 2007
12:41 am	Wow, global warming... those ice caps sure are melting, look at how much of the beaches are under water!!! oh wait, they havent changed. we get record highs and we get record lows... i question whats going on here... (5 Comments |Comment on this)