Month: December 2013
pretending you’re not it…
I’m almost speechless at the thought of this week. I’m glad it’s almost over. Undoubtedly
, next week will just have new problems. My semester is over. It’s bittersweet. School is all I have here. I could have signed up for the winter session, but I figured I would regret not taking a break. Zach made it to where he was going. We get to talk almost every day, over the phone. The conversations are short. There is no wifi or video chatting, but there is a USO computer that takes so long to load he can’t really check his email. But it’s okay. It will be okay. Because it has to be.
This week the House of Representatives decided cutting pensions of veterans was a good idea. I made the mistake of reading the comments, and it was shocking to see how many people dislike the military and even blame them for some of our financial problems. I think people have a difficult time differentiating between the people at the top and the people at the bottom. It seems like most people have the impression that the lower level people are just sucking the country dry of everything we have. But what people fail to realize is that defense spending is so much bigger than bullets and navy seals. The Military Industrial Complex is so much bigger than the 4 branches of the military. Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly agree that defense spending is wrought with waste and abuse, but it comes from the top and not the bottom. And it’s the bottom that is first to be punished for it.
Perhaps we should have made sure to follow the Powell Doctrine from the beginning.
Richard Slotkin on Guns and Violence
keep your head up…
come around…
here and there…
Week 1
Tennessee and Afghanistan
It’s Giving Tuesday. I am giving to Wreaths Across America and Fisher House in memory and honor of some wonderful men.
It is time for the Department of Veterans Affairs to start answering questions and change the way they are doing things.
Today, I’m sending all the good thoughts I can muster to Merrill Newman and his family. Hoping for his safe return, soon.