25 years ago, I was wrapping up my service in the U.S. Army, during an era that history records as "peacetime," save for a bloodless Cold War with the Soviets ( Read more... )

Thinking of something fun to post for today, 11-11-11 (which, as "63" is the last Binary Day of the century), and I remembered this and hunted it up on Youtube (there's no visuals, just listen). It reflected Army life more like I lived it, Germany during the Cold War. The main part of the song I could relate to was "I must have drunk 10 quarts of ( Read more... )

No one knows what exactly happened the night I lost my keys.

( Not even me )

Some say that when the end of the world comes, it will be with a shout, or a trumpet. In this room, it comes in a calm, measured monotone ( Read more... )

In light of the recently passed and signed law to end the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, I felt compelled to comment, being an Army veteran who has become closely involved with GLBT issues in recent years.

First I will note that with all the reports of how bad DADT has been, it seems forgotten that the rule originally came about to soften ( Read more... )

Apologies to mononwalker  for missing his birthday on the 4th. Hope it went well!

It's Pearl Harbor Day. If I weren't having to work all evening I'd probably be catching up on some DVR'ed Five-O (they show scenes of the Arizona Memorial, and McGarrett is the grandson of one lost at Pearl). My service doesn't come near the caliber of sacrifice of the WWII vets ( Read more... )

Though we really shouldn't be wasting bandwidth on the topic, I'll repost from my comment to veronica_rich  and her post in which she brought up the questions that ex-semi-governor Sarah Palin had in ripping the Obama administration for, in her opinion, letting the Wikileaks scandal happen.

SP's questions, and my responses, were:
Was diplomatic pressure brought ( Read more... )

Tomorrow is Veterans Day in the U.S., and our culture of "Support the Troops" has translated into all kinds of deals for military members and veterans. I'll be taking the day off tomorrow to take advantage of some of them.

Feel free to let others you know who qualify know about these. Check with your local location before ordering. Note that most ( Read more... )

Upon noticing that Wednesday was my Mom's birthday, I remembered the unusual way I spent it one year -- at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany (West Germany then). This weekend is when the big party wraps up.

And I thought I'd write down my reminisces of the three Oktoberfests I went to while serving with the Army and post them to my veterans' Yahoogroup ( Read more... )