November 2004 Archives

This year I'm thankful for a lot of things. It's been an eventful and exciting year. At the top of the list, I am thankful that I had the opportunity to serve my country in an endeavour to free the Iraqi people from tyrannical dictator who was a threat to world peace. There have been many ramifications of my service in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Probably at the top of the list is a renewed appreciation for my wife and our children. I am thankful to be married now 16 years to my wife. As I tell her often, she's awesome. I am thankful to have the opportunity to be the father of two wonderful kids. I am a bit sad to realize that phase of my life will soon be nearing an end. I really enjoy being a father. My sadness is mitigated by my anticipation at being a grandfather. I'm looking forward to that though it is a ways off yet. Life, at least for me, is about family, friends and community.

I love the holiday season. I love listening to Bing Crosby singing all the Christmas songs I grew up listening to. I like watching White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. I love waxing nostalgic about the holidays of my youth and the tales my grandfather used to tell about Christmas and winter in Minnesota. I am sadden at what this society has turned the holiday season into. A barrage of advertising and marketing in which the spirit of the holidays has been removed and we are left with only the emotional shell. No one utters the holiday greeting of Merry Christmas anymore save the cashiers in stores who have been ordered to do so. Some of them are surprised when I answer back with sincerity in my voice. Nonetheless, I love the holiday season. I'm always glad to see it come and sorry to have it end. So let me be the first to say...

Melekalikimaka, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. If you know a family with a service member overseas this year, do something special for them.

aloha

This is an excellent article on military action in Fallujah. Tough reading if you really think about what it is saying. B Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines fought hard and did well. Dexter Filkins documents the experience of B company in a fair and unbaise manner.

In this Op-Ed piece, "Postcards from Iraq," Mr. Friedman shows incredible insight in describing the task that America has before her in Iraq. Indeed, we are not building a nation but rather creating one. President Bush was right. It is "hard work" what we are doing.

aloha

Do you wonder how it could be that a United States Marine would shoot and kill a wounded, unarmed man in a Mosque in Fallujah? Well, maybe this will help. The following is a quote from this article in the San Jose Mercury News. I strongly recommend that you read the article. Lance Corporal Ailes was one hell of a Marine. One of America's son that we should all be very proud of. His father tells some great stories about his son.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jeramy Ailes, 22, of Gilroy was killed Monday in Al-Fallujah by small arms fire.

``They had finished mopping up in Fallujah and they went back to double-check on some insurgents. From what we gathered, somebody playing possum jumped up and shot him,'' said his father, Joel Ailes, who learned of his death Monday evening. ``It's extremely hard.''

Rest in peace Lance Corporal Jeramy Ailes.
And may God grant your father peace.

aloha

I had a long email conversation with a gentleman from Des Moines, Iowa who is getting ready to go over to Kuwait. A reservist like me, he was looking for information about take he should take, what is useful, what is necessary, what is useless. As a result of that conversation I decided to create a new web site especially for those on their way over. Life In OIF will hopefully become a repository of useful information about how to prepare for life in the OIF operation area. Of course, it is dependent on each group that goes over to up date the information once they are there.

Spread the word, link to it, let those who are getting ready to go know that there is a place where they can get those hundreds of questions answered.

aloha

Tomorrow I go back to my civilian job in Silly Cone Valley. I wish I could say I was happy to be going back. I'm really feeling pretty depressed. I would really like to remain involved in the efforts in Iraq. As I have mentioned many times in this weblog, I believe in what we're doing in Iraq. I think a showdown with Saddam Hussein was inevitable and even right and justified though not necessarily as President Bush presented it.

I like the military life. I like the uniform, the discipline, even the pomp and circumstance that is often integral with military service. All things considered, military life � at least active duty military life � involves less of the bull**** that permeates corporate life. This is not to say there aren't idiots and jerks in the military. The military just provides better ways of coping with them. Moreover, no matter how bad any given situation might be, you will be leaving in 24 months or less due to the normal duty rotation.

I've had about six weeks to spend with my family. I spent a lot of time getting to know my wife again. I spent a lot of time getting reacquainted with my children. Learning about what happened and how they dealt with my being gone for so long. Now, as I face the necessity to return to a work a day world where the majority of my waking hours are spent in efforts to build the fortunes of a corporate entity that, in the end, cares only nominally about the employees, I find that this is not the way I want to spend my time. I am really no longer interested in spending 8, 10 or 12 hours away from my family in the name of earning a living. I think earning a living is getting in the way of my life.

None of this is a direct commentary on my current employer. My current employer has been outstanding in supporting me and my family while I was on active duty. My current employer is a leader in taking care of its employees. If I have to work in corporate America I want to work for my current employer. My issue is with corporate America, the whole thing.

I'll go back to work tomorrow. I'll leave my family and my community to participate in the increasing of my employers wealth. Me and the other employees there will excite ourselves with talk of how we're working on exciting things that are going to change the world. In fact, the little trinkets we work on will be known to less than one percent of the world's population. Meanwhile, the men and women serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom will continue to write history. Whatever the outcome of the United States involvement in Iraq, it will be in the history books across the world. The efforts of most of the corporations of Silly Cone Valley will for the most part be forgotten by everyone except those who dwell in Silly Cone Valley.

This geek is still looking for a way to climb back out of the looking glass.

Aloha

It was another very close election. This year it came down to Ohio. It appears that we the American public will be spared the drama of 2000. Mr. Kerry has conceded the election to President Bush. The GOP will likely control the White House, the Senate and the House.

If the last two presidential elections are any indication, America is split down the middle between Democrats and Republicans. One might assume that means America is equal parts liberal and conservative but I don't think that conclusion necessarily follows. As more and more Americans realise there is more to one's political position than can be expressed in simple right or left. More and more people are separating their fiscal position from their social position. Claiming to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal seems to be in vogue of late. The tricky bit there seems to me to be the execution of such a position.

aloha

I voted! Did you?

Aloha