The Post

Chris finally got his post for when he finishes AIT.

I can't say I'm overly excited about it right now. He's being stationed in Korea at Camp Humpherys Garrison. That's about 55 miles south of Seoul.

I knew the job was dangerous when he took it, but with North Korea's "Dear Leader" redux about at the end of his life...I'm a bit apprehensive about my boy being a trip wire for world politics and/or war.

On the other side, looking at the base he's going to, it looks like they have built this one up to be equal to...or outclass...Riefenstahl, Germany as the premier overseas station.

TOUR OF DUTY (Pt. 1) USAG-Humphreys - U.S. Army in Korea - Camp Humphreys - Newcomer Video

That's part 1 of 3 and they make it sound like he's going to Disneyland. The film was produced last year, so maybe most of what they want to do is actually being done and will be completed before the budget dries up.

He graduates AIT June 5th and doesn't have to report to the Hump until July 17th, so depending on how much vacation time he wants to use, he may be home for over a month. I'm hoping he stays until the last minute to report.

Just Shut Up!!!

Political discourse from the left today:



Picked this up from BlackisWhite's new digs. (Update your bookmarks)

Blog Burst

I watched the TEA parties and the coverage (or lack thereof) over the last few days and have almost been able to shake off the doldrums that have clouded my soul for the last couple of months.

I ran across this today and can say I'm starting to feel a stirring of political fervor again.

What say you?

I Said What?

I just got done saying politics gave me a headache and what do I get in my E-mail from George Mellinger (a false internet friend) but a reminder of why I get these headaches.

I remember when this agency was created and the "absolutely must do now" goals this GOVERNMENT entity was established to deal with.

Let's see how it turned out:

Absolutely the funniest "joke" ever......"ON US !!!"

* Let it sink in.
* Quietly we go like Sheep to slaughter.


Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ...... during the Carter Administration?

* Anybody?
* Anything?
* No?
* Didn't think so!


Bottom line . . we ' ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency ... the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember.

Ready???????
It was very simple
... and at the time everybody
thought it very appropriate...




The Department of Energy was instituted on 8-04-1977


TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.



Hey, pretty efficient, huh?????


AND NOW IT ' S 2009, 32 YEARS LATER ... AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS


NECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR


THEY HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES


AND LOOK AT THE JOB THEY HAVE DONE!

THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY ' WHAT WAS I THINKING? '


Ah yes, good ole bureaucracy.





And NOW we are going to turn the Banking System & the Auto Industry over to them?


God Help Us !!!

We have gone from importing 23% (a crisis in 1970) of oil to make up what we need to 62% in 2009.

We've been paying 116,000 people bloated government salaries to dig us another 39% into this hole.

Maybe this year they'll get it right.

This and That

Haven't been around here much lately. Work has been moderately busy. We finally have all the wells running that we can at this time, but the "automated" controls still aren't working, so it keeps you moving, monitoring tank levels and gas pressures.

Politics just give me a headache these days. I watch what's is happening and sense where it's going...and I don't like it!

I finally found the damn cable for the camera to download the pics I took when I went out to see Chris. Of course I found it after I went out and bought a new one. The old one was right in front of me ("If it was a snake....", Oh G-d, I'm channeling my mother!). I'm not much of one for taking pictures, but for posterity, here are the ones worth posting.

This is the barrack that Chris was in at Ft. Benning:



He only wore his Class A's on "Family Day" which was the first time I got to see him after 3 months and he had a few dozen things he wanted to do on his first day of freedom. I didn't think about a picture until it was time to take him back to base, so it was dark and rushed, but I did remember, because he wouldn't put them on again to get another pic.



The next are of his graduation at the National Infantry Museum which opens June 19th. His was the first class to hold the ceremony there...in the rain...and with two platoons graduating at the same time.

The museum from afar:



Closer:

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The "Follow Me" statue now located in the main entrance to the museum:



Chris is last one in the right column in this one. Notice that our rough and tough soldiers are standing under cover while the families are stuck out in the rain. I looked like a drowned rat when the ceremony was done...and those 25 minutes were the only time it rained all day.



That night, after signing a form promising not to damage gov't property and delivering it to a certain location by a certain time, they let me have my son for 24 hours. We spent the day in Columbus so Chris could spend more of that fat paycheck from Uncle Sam that he couldn't touch for 10 weeks. Stayed one more night in that wonderful city and I got a chance to see my kid once more as I remembered him:



Drove down to Ft. Rucker the next morning and I managed to deliver him undamaged and on time. This is the last time I saw him when I dropped him off at his Company HQ:

Proud Parent Of A Soldier!

He's now officially a soldier. I had to sign a form taking possession and responsibility for my own son in order to drive him to his next post. He's government property for the next 3 1/2 years.

He's just happy to be out of Basic and at a regular post. He got stuck in a platoon with a bunch of screw ups that rebelled at authority. They were all going onto tech fields (no infantry), so they were all bright and some thought they knew more than the Drill Sergeants. The DS's thought otherwise and Chris paid for it. Chris and I had talked quit a bit about mind games and how to get through them before he went in, so he knew to just do what your told, when your told and it'll end in a few weeks, but he couldn't control the other guys.

He's bigger now, his shoulders are huge and he stands up straight all the time. He's an inch taller than me and I found myself standing up straighter while I was around him.

The Army has some interesting rules now. He had to be able to do 30 push ups in like a minute and a half, but the DS can't make them do more than 20 at a time in a certain time period, so he couldn't be pushed to do them and he just barely passed that requirement the day before graduation.

I've talked to him everyday since he got to Rucker and he's a lot happier. He has to have some dental work done and that made him miss his first class, so he's on hold for a week before he starts AIT (Advanced Individual Training)...an added week before he gets leave to come home.

I have to include his favorite pic from his "yearbook" of him clearing a .50 cal.