Vox Veterana

In Response to Brain Mclaren

TF Boggs — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:49:36

Author and Emergent Church pastor Brian Mclaren has been playing the part of useful idiot (‘idiot’ in the sense of ignorant or unlearned, not in the sense of mental defect) perfectly for the ever so gifted “Carrot on the end of a Stick” Palestinian propaganda machine. On his recent “pilgrimage” to Israel/West Bank Mclaren blogged about his experiences on his website www.brianmclaren.net. Throughout his many posts Mclaren decries the occupation of Palestine by Israel. Gone from those same posts are any credible facts about said “occupation” or why exactly Israel has had to build “segregation walls” as he calls them along the West Bank. Perhaps Mclaren doesn’t know much about the situation and therefore makes his statements out of ignorance, however, as he says speaking about himself:

“I’ve been an avid reader on the subject for quite a while, but being here now, I see how many of my most basic assumptions were skewed from a lifetime of half-truths, unfair and imbalanced news, well-planned propaganda, and misinformation.”

Perhaps what he says is true, and based upon some recommended readings on his website i.e. Jimmy Carter, Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborne, Walter Brueggeman, I would say that he would have been reading many “half-truths, unfair and imbalanced news, well-planned propaganda, and misinformation.” Since the authors mentioned above all have faulty fact faculties it is no wonder Mclaren chooses not to discuss facts. Facts are just those annoying little things that get in the way when someone is trying to make a point that they are just so sure of being right they don’t want to bother themselves with anything as bothersome as facts. Would have Mclaren actually used facts to support his position on the situation in Israel I would have some definite points on which to argue against him.

In one of his posts Mclaren mentions Shane Claiborne, a fellow emergent church Christian and bigger useful idiot, who made a name for himself in part by being a tool for Saddam Hussein. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003 he traveled to Baghdad to lend his support to Saddam (in my book that was, and remains, a crime punishable by jail time but who am I to split legal hairs). He also views the United States as a reincarnated Roman Empire enemy of God type country. Not sure if that tells you much about what type of company Mclaren keeps but if you are anything like me you might be trying to grasp how any self proclaimed “Christian” could side with a genocidal, rapist, evil tyrant like Saddam Hussein.

In the future should Mclaren decide to make his case against Israel with facts I implore him to do so in the public eye so his beliefs can be dissected and inspected for truth. Why if he so chose he could do so on his blog and I would respond in kind on mine, or perhaps on his blog so all could see and judge between the two. Perhaps, and this is a legitimate point of contention, I am a nobody and he wouldn’t feel the need to respond to me. In that case I would be happy to enlist any number of qualified friends of mine, whether American of Israeli, to respond to him.

Meanwhile some questions for Mclaren to consider:

-If the Palestinian people are the peace loving people that you describe what would a Palestinian controlled Israel look like?

-Why are you silent about Palestinian terrorism against innocent Israeli civilians?

-If the barriers between the West Bank and Israel were simply taken down would all bombings of Israeli citizens stop, or would the bombings and shellings that necessitated them in the first place continue?

-Can you substantiate the claims you make about Israeli torture of innocent Palestinians?

-If Palestinians were absorbed into Israeli society would they coexist peacefully as they have proven not to be able to (see Jerusalem) or would they make good on their promise in the Hamas Charter that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

-Would the peace that resulted be appealing to you if it included the demeaning of women as is routine with Arabic culture in the Middle East?

-What do you have to say about the Palestinians training their children to hate Israelis and to honor suicide bombers?

-Is their Biblical precedent for the current “peaceful” means by which Palestinians are struggling for their independence such as random mortar attacks, rocket attacks, and suicide bomber attacks on innocent civilians within Israel?

Those questions are just for starters. Any chance you will want to respond Brian?

You Ain`t In If You Askin`

TF Boggs — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:19:58

There are people and then there are people who ask dumb questions. Of course there are people who ask dumb questions and there are just plain dumb people. Which of course leads me to my third point that there are lots more just plain dumb people who also happen to ask very dumb questions than just plain dumb people.

One of these aforementioned people who asked me a dumb question was Jamie McDougall a promoter for a book by Cilla McCain. Here’s Jamie in his/her own words:

“My name is Jamie McDougall, and I work with Dorothy Thompson at Pump up Your Book Promotion. We represent authors who would like to get the word out about their book online. I am representing Cilla McCain, an author touring in March with her true crime book Murder In Baker Company: How Four American Soldiers Killed One of Their Own .”

Fair enough Jamie, what do you want from me?

“I think your blog site would be an excellent ‘stop’ for Cilla McCain and am wondering if you would be interested in hosting her in March (weekdays only). Hosting her would consist of putting up a guest post written by Cilla, putting up an interview of Cilla, putting up a spotlight of Cilla’s book (book cover, synopsis, excerpt, link to her website), reviewing Cilla’s book, or a multi-day stop consisting of a combination of these things.”

This paragraph raises a few questions in my mind of which first and foremost is “How much am I getting paid for this Jamie?” The second question that arises is a bit more complicated. Before I get ahead of myself let’s look at the synopsis of Cilla’s book that Jamie included in the email.

“ Murder in Baker Company begins as a journey to uncover the truth about what happened to Army Specialist Richard Davis. By using court transcripts, personal interviews, and police records, Cilla McCain unfolds the events of the case and soon reveals a disturbing, eye-opening look into today’s military that goes beyond the Davis case and that affects all troops and their families. Soldiers are handed antipsychotic drugs and sent into battle. Treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder is stigmatized. Gang members carry their affiliation from the streets to the barracks. And many of our soldiers are forced to face down two separate enemies, one in the same uniform they wear. By the end of the book the reader will learn the devastating truth about the injustice and disrespect our military families are forced to endure when their soldier dies a non-combat death.”

You may have read that and found it quite intriguing. Maybe you want to check into the book further. I, however, want to punch glass when I read crap like this.

Do I know anything about Cilla McCain? No. Do I know anything about Spc. Richard Davis or the events in Cilla’s book? No. What I do know, without knowing anything about her book, is that it is more likely than not garbage. Yep garbage. Kindling for my backyard fire pit would be a better description.

I criticize her book for the same reason I criticize ignorant Americans in general. Both times I returned home from my deployments I was asked the same slew of questions by inquisitive, concerned, and informed people: “Did you kill anybody?” “Did anyone near you get hurt?” “What is the worst thing you saw?” “Come clean, I know you wasted some people.” WTF am I supposed to say in response to these people and WTF are they really after? Do they want to see me break down and cry retelling stories of bloody friends or mutilated children after a bombing so they can console me? Do they have some type of disgusting ‘need’ to hear the worst of the worst? Did I even see anything bad? Are they going to be disappointed when I tell them that I didn’t kill anyone or that I never saw anyone hurt? Or are they going to be disgusted when I tell them that I killed 18 people if pregnant women count as two and not one, if not than I only killed 14 people? Who knows? Perhaps no matter what my response is they are going to respond in disbelief thinking that I must be lying. It’s a no-win situation for me or any other veteran who faces these dumb ass questions.

In such a vein lies Cilla McCain’s book. Where are the mainstream books celebrating soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan? Where are the Saturday morning cartoons honoring today’s soldiers as heroes to a younger generation? Where is the ‘common’ soldier profiled for doing common things? Where are the movies about Iraq and Afghanistan vets devoid of outlandish, preposterous, PTSD infested bullshit? You won’t find any of these things because ‘common’ isn’t cool in these 21st century ‘enlightened’ times. The only way to make money (and that’s what its really all about isn’t it Jamie?) is to talk about the worst of the worst no matter whether or not its representative or the vast majority of soldiers or not (see Abu Gharib).

People need to wake up and check themselves to see what is wrong with them before they ask the ‘pressing’ questions to soldiers in which others must certainly have to die for a ‘satisfactory’ answer to be given.

A book like Cilla McCain’s only hurts the national and international view of the American military. The American military is by far and away one of the most humane militaries ever to grace planet Earth. The American military is comprised of millions of self-sacrificing, hard working, patriotic, and honorable men and women. To draw attention to a small band of bad apples like all news outlets do is a disgrace to the 99.9% of those in the military who tow the line. Before you read McCain’s book understand what you are getting yourself into. Without the majority of those in the military doing what is right day in and day out, a book like hers wouldn’t seem so outlandish. But then again if you are like most of the people who ask me dumb questions her book is right up your alley. Read it and get your fix for all the blood, PTSD, drugs, gang affiliation stories you can handle.

Hope that helps Jamie.

By the way I’m hereby announcing that my forthcoming book based upon my wholly ‘common’ experiences is in the works. I’ll be sure to use harsh language throughout so at least most Americans can feel a little uneasy no matter what I’m talking about. Jamie, you wanna pump that up when I’m finished?

Shurat HaDin

TF Boggs — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:33:50

In lieu of a more complete post to come soon check out Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center. In my opinion they are doing as much as anyone to fight the funding of terrorism. We all know that without money terrorism ceases to exist on the scale that we have seen over the last 30 or so years. Well “we” meaning everyone except the New York Times.

Israel Alone

TF Boggs — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:16:30

Imagine for a moment that the United States has been under rocket attack from Mexico for several years. The border states-California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas- have been hit with over 8000 rockets that have not only claimed innocent lives, but also terrorized families trying to go about normal life. When alarms go off warning of incoming rockets kids playing outside at school have to run for cover, the elderly scramble for safe rooms, and work stops while people pray for their safety.

Not satisfied with simply killing innocent civilians Mexican terrorists started kidnapping helpless people living near the border. Those kidnapped do not enjoy the privileges we afford to our prisoners but instead are kept isolated, far away from international aid groups and the public eye. No matter how we capitulated in favor of the terrorists the only thing we got in return were caskets full of the bodies of those previously kidnapped.

When our politicians finally decided to take action they were condemned by the international media before our military had even crossed the border. Demonstrations were held across the globe. Our own college campuses condemned the very thought of taking action. So caving to pressure we let the rocket attacks continue. More civilians were killed and more infrastructure was damaged. Attempted kidnappings continued all the while we gave the terrorists monetary support under the guise that it was going to help the Mexicans who needed it the most. The money instead funded ever-increasing terrorism and allowed the terrorist group that controlled the flow of money to buy public support. In order to curry international favor we continued to provide money despite knowing these facts.

Only when public outcry within the states became louder than the international condemnation did we invade the border towns in Mexico to put an end to the terror attacks. In doing so we conducted the most humane operation in history. As we went street to street looking for the terrorists, who were both fighting and hiding out in hospitals, homes, and schools, we called each house or place of business before we entered in order to warn the potential innocent residents that they had thirty minutes to leave in order to minimize civilian casualties.

By the end of the campaign we occupied some of the territory that had previously been used as staging grounds for terrorism. We did this in an effort to be able to police the areas so that we could ensure no rockets would be fired from there again. We did not tear down existing buildings, or move in a large number of Americans in order slowly take over the areas through increased demographics, but rather, helped build up the infrastructure in order to get the towns back on their feet.

After all this we began to build a wall along the border between the USA and Mexico in order to ensure the safety of our own people, not just to keep out what were perceived to be unwanted Mexicans. For all of our actions we became the black sheep of the United Nations. Speeches were given at the UN by foreign ambassadors decrying the state of affairs between the United States and Mexico. Foreign universities and religious organizations called for divestment from all American intellectuals and businesses in order to show their solidarity with the plight of the Mexicans. News organizations carried stories to the masses about the plight of the Mexicans faced with the evil Americans who oppressed them at every turn. No mention of the rocket attacks or kidnappings were offered up in the articles that called for our immediate withdraw from ‘occupied’ Mexican territories that we lawfully held as a result of military action.

All the while our problems with Mexico continued we faced an ever-present threat from Canada, who, on several occasions, had previously attempted invasions and constantly made promises to their citizens that they would one day reclaim the ‘occupied’ territory that we lawfully took from them after they preempted an attack on us.

Most Americans would be outraged by the Mexican terrorist attacks and would call for a unilateral military solution to the problem. The fact that we conducted military action as humanely as possible would actually irritate a lot of people who would have preferred swift and decisive bombing to targeted killings several years after the attacks started.

Of course we all know that the series of events described above never happened to the USA but they did happen, and continue to do so, to Israel. Substitute Palestinians for Mexicans, and Syrians for Canadians. Now why when we see the issue so clearly when it pertains to the USA do we become muddled in moral equivocation when it comes to Israel and the problems it has with all of its neighbors? Is it because we erroneously believe what the mainstream media tells us when it comes to the legitimacy of the state of Israel? If we have fallen into the trap of believing the likes of Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, or Jimmy Carter we have been mislead. Not one of them can truthfully answer to the facts on the ground and are left making moral platitudes that only pertain in their own make believe world.

To deny Israel the right to self-defense is to deny their claim to legitimate statehood, which the UN approved in 1948. Of course this is just what Israel’s critics want to do. Due to reasons beyond any sane person’s comprehension Israel’s critics continue to spew hatred aimed at the Jewish nation solely because of their own racist hatred and jealousy. When firmly held opinions contradict fact the only answers can either be immense ignorance or racist ideology.

The reason why freedom loving people of the USA should care about Israel is twofold: first because freedom is under attack in Israel, and second because we cannot sit around watching as the Jewish people are again discriminated against. Jews in Europe are once more under attack and are retreating to Israel for some sense of a normal life. If they cannot find peace and safety in their own country they will not find it anywhere. With the destruction of Israel and the desire to see the “Mediterranean Sea turn red with the blood of the Jews”, Israel’s enemies will not be satisfied with anything less than the complete destruction of not only Israel, but all the Jews that inhabit it. What we do as Israel’s number one ally in the next few years will be critical for Israel’s existence. However, due to the massive ignorance of the current administration concerning Israel, and the Middle East as a whole, there doesn’t seem to be much reason for hope. Israel seems poised once again to be alone in the midst of enemies on all sides.

Israel: The First Post

TF Boggs — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:21:02

I recently went on my first trip to Israel and have (drum roll...) strong opinions about what is going on there. However, in this the first post, I want to introduce what I did on the trip so everyone can understand where I`m coming from in the next few posts.

First off I traveled to Israel courtesy of a generous benefactor (my grandma) late last October and stayed for two weeks. The first few days I stayed on Kibbutz Nahal Oz with some friends. Nahal Oz is right along the Gaza Strip and was probably only a half a mile away from downtown Gaza City. Unfortunately no rockets were fired when I was there as I haven`t been under fire for some time now. However, I`m guessing the Israelis didn`t mind a bit of a reprieve. I hung out with my friends in Sderot, Ashquelon, and Be`er-Sheva. (This would be where I insert the comment that Israel contains the most ridiculously high ratio of beautiful women in the world, but since I`m keeping it strictly serious I`m gonna leave that part out.)

I left Nahal Oz on a bus for Jerusalem where I stayed about a half mile away from the Old City for 10 days. There I joined a tour group that was traveling as a part of a Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center Ultimate Mission. Shurat HaDin is a law center in Israel that fights terrorism through civil lawsuits and other legal actions. Check out there website for all the pertinent information but suffice it to say that they are doing real good, not only for Israel but also for America. While you are there be sure to donate to the cause.

As a part of the 20 or so person group I traveled all around the country and got to visit many important military and political sites. Our group spoke with some top politicians i.e. Yoram Ettinger, Moshe Ya`alon, and military heroes i.e. Yair Nafshi, Avigdor Kahalani just to name a few. We also visited several current military sites along the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Lebanese and Syrian borders.

The trip focused on the current security situation for Israel so we were shutteled to as many pertinent places as could be fit into a week. During that time I befriended people in my group from all over the world and managed to stare at/sit across from an Israeli girl that looked like Alicia Keyes` twin sister (by the way if you are reading this security girl from the West Bank, you know who you are, go ahead and email me).

Overall the trip was a great time and it didn`t hurt that it was perfect weather the whole time I was there. I`m looking forward to going back as soon as I can. Now that I`ve had the experience and spoken with people who are intimately involved in the security arena in Israel I want to share my thoughts from the trip. I have several posts planned and would love to hear what people think. What is going on in Israel is closely linked to what we are dealing with so I think it is upmost importance to have an accurate grasp of what exactly is going on there. Israel has faced our common enemy far more than we have and throughout has managed to fight as humanely as possible, those who say they haven`t just don`t understand what has and is going on there. I invite anyone who thinks they have facts other than mine to wage in on the conversation.

Dire Prediction

TF Boggs — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:26:40

I`m not usually in the business of predicting future events but do have a history of doing so correctly (at times of course) i.e. as a freshman in high school predicting that newly elected POTUS Bill Clinton would be impeached, and predicting that selling gold and investing as much money as I could in the stock market when it was at its lowest point this year was a good idea. Of course I`m sure I have probably made more incorrect predictions than correct ones but who`s counting?

I am about to make a prediction now that will come true in the next five years (I say five even though my gut tells me two. I want to give myself some wiggle room though). Sometime in the next five years, at a major airport in the United States, a terrorist will be dropped off at the passenger drop off and will then walk in the airport. He will walk right past check-in to the security check. At the security check (if he can wait that long unlike most terrorists who get so excited to blow themselves up they do it prematurely) he will detonate himself and kill all the TSA workers and probably a couple hundred civilians. The blast will destroy all the security equipment and seriously damage the structure of that wing of the airport putting a complete halt to all air traffic at the airport for at least a week. If it is LAX, La Guardia, Dulles, O`Hare or one of the many other major airports all air traffic will be delayed stranding thousands of travelers. Billions of dollars will again be lost due to severely restricted air travel and crazy new security checks once air travel resumes. Thousands of new security personnel will have to be hired, new body scan equipment will be purchased, and the time needed to arrive at the airport in order to make it through security in time to reach your gate will increase by at least one hour.

In fact if terrorists really wanted to halt America and shake the world they would conduct a multi-Airport attack like the one I describe above. The fact that this hasn`t happened already is solely by the grace of God.

There are several solutions to preventing this kind of attack though, none of which are particularly PC but if you would rather live and offend someone’s sensibilities than die I suggest you at least consider what I have to say. First we could profile passengers. The majority of terrorist acts are perpetrated by 18-40 year old Muslim men of all races but for the most part if you see one you know one. In the case that you aren`t sure by looks alone but the person has a typically Muslim sounding name like Muhammed Ali, then they are just going to have to wait a bit longer during their more thorough security check. Michael Chertoff, former head of Homeland Security, in an interview today said that profiling doesn’t work because terrorists don’t always look traditionally like we think they should i.e. Osama Bin Laden. In addition he said that terrorists know we are on the lookout for what we think they should look like so they will purposely try to fit in with everyone else. Perhaps both of those ideas are true, however, as a first step we need to start profiling now as simply one way of deterring terrorism.

Secondly we could invest in more bomb sniffing dogs, bodyscan x-ray machines, and better security equipment in general. The rub in this part of the solution is that it costs a lot and still allows would-be terrorists to get close to other people. However, if we could employ these measures much like the Israelis do at the Erez crossing, the only crossing where Palestinians cross from Gaza into Israel, we would be much safer. The way the Israelis conduct the Erez crossing is above and behind protective glass etc. and communicate with the Palestinians as they go through the human free security checks solely by a PA system. This eliminates the possibility of mass casualties at any particular checkpoint. The Palestinians and the liberal elitists complain that it is inhumane but that is of minor importance when you are still alive and are saving the lives of other innocent human beings who simply want to fly to back home for the holidays.

In the end there is no full-proof way to prevent terrorism at our airports other than going to kill terrorists where they come from. Purposely targeting their ringleaders as we are currently doing in Iraq and Afghanistan is also a great way to hamper their abilities since they aren’t into the whole dying and going to paradise thing like they advocate to their followers. Showing them we mean business and that we won’t let politically correct bull crap get in the way will also prove to them that we are finally taking terrorism seriously. Until then it is apparent we only view terrorism as a minor annoyance.

Whoa there Partner!

TF Boggs — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:42:34

Obama Could Lock In Decision On Afghanistan on Monday

Whoa there partner, don`t go deciding anything in a rash manner! Perhaps first you would want to commission your top general to do a study and report to you his findings and suggestions first. Once you have that it`ll be really easy to make up your mind. Also don`t rule out more important matters that need deciding as well. For example think some more about future Olympics and campaign for them to come to the States. Plus I`m sure you could surprise your wife with a visit a few more times before you rush into this decision. Also you could do a couple more photo ops with you playing bball with your staffers after an important meeting. Just think- if you keep delaying your decision the situation in Afghanistan will continue to worsen while you sit on your hands. Troops will continue to put their lives on the line for a war that you don`t support and are actively trying to lose for political reasons. If you wait long enough "America" will lose any resolve it has left and then you can pull out of Afghanistan and enjoy being the POTUS during a mass homecoming by our troops. Your popularity ratings will soar for at least a week until people focus once again on your health care debacle. Change we can believe in! This Obama guy has got it going on! Change for sure.

Nidal Hassan`s Stress

TF Boggs — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:11:52

In light of Nidal Hassan’s murder spree at Ft. Hood some pundits have taken to explaining his actions as a result of pre-traumatic stress. Pre-traumatic stress for those of you who have never heard of it, and why would you have, is stress related to future events that you anticipate will not only happen but also be traumatic.

One can only imagine the stress Hassan must have gone through. Considering his impending deployment I’m surprised Hassan was even able to sleep a wink. He was a Major in the U.S. Army and worked as a psychiatrist. He knows he would have never left his office on his well-guarded base so he must have been thinking about the traumatic things that could have happened on the flight over seas.

For starters the airline could have run out of peanuts on the plane, and then he could have gotten stuck with a window seat, where, due to his bladder problems, he would have had to make they guy sitting in the aisle seat get up over and over again. But since Hassan was prone to pre-traumatic stress the guy in the aisle seat most likely would have been an overweight narcoleptic whom Hassan could neither wake up nor get around when he had to go to the bathroom.

When the plane landed Hassan most likely would have imagined that his carry-on luggage stowed in the overhead bin would have shifted. That would have thrown his whole deployment into a tailspin. From that moment on Hassan’s imagination would take over to include such things as coldish food in the chow hall, warmer weather than he was accustomed to, and an absence of strip clubs where he wouldn’t have been able to spend his usual 5-6 hours a day in.

God only knows how Hassan didn’t snap earlier. I suppose we should be thankful he only killed 13 people. I would say if I had to undergo that kind of stress I’d kill at least 30 kindergartners, and that just for starters.

Let’s just hope and pray that someone is consoling Hassan right now because I don’t even want to think about the pre-traumatic stress he is going through right now with an impending court date. Could we just pardon him now and send him to a flowery, cushiony, baby blue colored safe place? In fact I’ll volunteer to baby-sit him.

Dean Barnett

TF Boggs — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:48:01

Dean Barnett, a great man and personal friend, passed away today after a lifelong battle with Cystic Fibrosis. I am deeply saddened to hear about his death and will be praying for his family.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Dean last year at the Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas. I remember sitting at lunch with him one day making fun of Markos from Daily Kos who was sitting right next to us. You couldn`t mistake Dean`s Boston accent for anyone else`s and he didn`t have the ability to lower his voice enough for Markos not to hear us.

I had plans to play golf with Dean next month and am pained to think that we won`t be able to go through with them. The world is worse off without Dean, he will be sorely missed.

Where I`ve Been

TF Boggs — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:51:31

So I see that the last time I wrote I was all in a tizzy about my second Vets For Freedom trip to meet with our politicians in D.C. Well that was some time ago and I haven`t made an appearance on my own blog since then. The only questions then remains: Where the heck have I been?

Well despite dealing with the real world i.e. work, bills, relationships etc. I became an extreme cynic during that trip to D.C. I have never put much stock in the world, or its inhabitants, but that trip put me over the edge. As we did in the past we spent our day speaking with our state`s representatives about our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and why we think we should press forward until we have achieved victory on both fronts. Of course some politicians are more receptive to our message than others but they are all usually cordial to us.

What I found out that day still depresses me today. *First a note-please allow me this gross stereotype and don`t think that I really mean it across the board.* All of our politicians are self-centered publicity hounds who would rather have a good sound bite than a history of doing the right thing outside of the public eye. If you have a half an hour meeting with them they will tell jokes for five minutes, talk about themselves for fifteen, ask if you want coffee for five, and then leave you with one of their staffers for the remaining time in order to "hear" your gripes. I couldn`t go to D.C. today and point out a politician that I would feel comfortable calling a real man or woman. They would rather bore you with the details about how great they are instead of listening to the soldiers who fight for them day in and day out.

What makes it all worse is the day we spoke to our senators and congressmen General Petraeus was delivering his quarterly report, a few hundred yards from where we were, about the state of affairs in Iraq. His message was for the most part positive. He talked about the success of the surge along with many other victories we were finally seeing after several years of getting things wrong. His message, along with ours, was ignored by a large part of the senators and congressmen that heard us that day. All for purely political reasons because they couldn`t argue with the facts on the ground as we presented them.

Enough of the complaining. I came back to tell you where I`ve been. So instead of telling you myself I`ll let G.K. Chesterton do it for me.

From Orthodoxy-Chapter 4

"When the business man rebukes the idealism of his office-boy, it is commonly in some such speech as this: `Ah, yes, when one is young, one has these ideals in the abstract and these castles in the air; but in middle age they all break up like clouds, and one comes down to a belief in practical politics, to using the machinery one has and getting on with the world as it is.` Thus, at least, venerable and philanthropic old men now in their honoured graves used to talk to me when I was a boy. But since then I have grown up and have discovered that these philanthropic old men were telling lies. What has really happened is exactly the opposite of what they said would happen. They said that I should lose my ideals and begin to believe in the methods of practical politicians. Now, I have not lost my ideals in the least; my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my old child-like faith in practical politics. I am still as much concerned as ever about the Battle of Armageddon; but I am not so much concerned about the General Election. As a babe I leapt up on my mother`s knee at the mere mention of it. No; the vision is always solid and reliable. The vision is always a fact. It is the reality that is often a fraud. As much as I ever did, more than I ever did, I believe in Liberalism. But there was a rosy time of innocence when I believed in Liberals."

Chesterton speaks for me here. I still care about politics insofar as they relate to the betterment of life for Americans and the world in general, but I no longer have the stomach to follow politics as it is practiced today. Obama or McCain-who cares? The world is still going to turn and I am going to have to do what I can to survive. What remains for me is to live a life that is pleasing to God. That is all. I struggle to write about anything to do with politics as I cannot stomach for one minute to listen to what a politician has to say. With that being the case I am finding it hard to keep up with my blog. If for some reason I feel the need to write again I will but until then thank you for visiting my site. Sig-thank you for contributing and for being a good American, I hope we can stay in touch.

Radio check, over.

SigSpace — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:34:26

I`m not sure what Tim is up to, but I have a six-month-old. That`s my excuse, and I`m sticking with it. Also, I`ve been TDY four times in that six months, with another in a few weeks. And we moved. Life has been hectic.

But good. Really good. I`m very blessed to be living in this nation, and able to serve her full time--no pesky civilian career to get in the way any longer. I`ve been a "part time" soldier (on temporary full time status) for longer than I was ever a "full time" computer nerd, so I guess my career transformation is complete.

I`ll try to muster up some enthusiasm and ire to write something clever here, but for now I will direct you to my most recent missive of any substance, Staff Sergeant Sig. Contrary to expectations, it`s not all self-congratulatory nonsense.

To bribe you, there are also cute pictures of my son over there.

Sig

Hard To Ignore

TF Boggs — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:47:31

Vets For Freedom is back in D.C. again with 400 soldiers and marines and I am here to partake in the fun. We`ll see if we can`t bring a modicum of truth to our elected representatives about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If history is any guage I think we`ll have a bit of infulence as an organization with 22,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets is hard to ignore.

My (cough) Generation

TF Boggs — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:36:51

The other day I found a box of mine that contained some souvenirs from my first deployment to Iraq. Among them was a canvas painting of Saddam that I took from the Abu Ghraib prison during the summer of 2003 (pre-prisoner “abuse” for those of you paying attention.) I showed a few friends of mine and told them I planned on having it framed. Then I told them where I got it expecting some sort of reaction i.e. gasp, laughing, or maybe disbelief. What I got in return instead was blank stares.

I thought that maybe they were just figuring out how they were going to respond, that maybe they weren’t sure if I was being serious or not. What I found out was something entirely different. It wasn’t that they didn’t know how to respond-they didn’t know that a response would have even been warranted in that situation.

(What follows is the nuts and bolts of the conversation we had after I mentioned Abu Gharib.)

Me: I got the painting at Abu Gharib.

Them: Ok, cool.

Me: Have you heard of Abu Gharib before?

Them: Nope. What is that?

Me: You know, like Abu Gharib prison…the one where the “abuse” happened.

Them: I’m not exactly following.

Me: Come on, you know. Like naked Iraqi pyramids and the like.

Them: I’m not exactly following.

Me: You mean to tell me you’ve never heard of Abu Gharib?

Them: Yep. Never heard of it. Why?

Me: Uhhh…nevermind.

Remember that dry erase board in some Marine barracks in Iraq a while back? The one that said “America isn’t at war the Marines are. America is at the mall.” Well it is true. While some of us spent years overseas fighting in a war many of our peers were listening to podcasts of “The Real World MTV.” The level of complete ignorance about the reasons for fighting and remaining in Iraq is astounding. Maybe I shouldn’t be astounded but for some reason I am. Iraq was such a big part of my life that I think people should at least know why we went there in the first place. I don’t expect complete knowledge of the situation as it is I just want there to be some type of intent on their part to be apprised of the basic info coming out of the war zones.

Perhaps I am asking too much, but I just think back to WWII when the whole country was intimately involved in the war effort. No one in the forties would have looked at another person with a blank expression on their face when asked whether or not they had ever heard of Normandy or Guadalcanal. What is going through these kid’s minds when their country is at war but all they can do is think about what color top will best bring out their fake tan they have been working on to impress the opposite sex?

Been A Few Days

TF Boggs — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:50:53

Other than a few bombings here and there Iraq hasn’t been in the media’s spotlight lately. History tells me this is a good thing for several reasons. The first is that no news tends to be good news. I tried to tell my parents that all the time during my deployments, albeit with varying degrees of success. The second reason is that due to past personal experience concerning news out of Iraq I know that it is usually blown out of proportion, if not way.

I was trying to explain to my roommate the other night how he could figure out which media outlets to trust. One way that is easier said than done is to grasp an understanding of the subjects outside of what the media tells you. If listening to stories about the economy it helps to have a basic understanding of how the economy works so you can tell whether or not the journalist has their facts right. When listening to stories about Iraq the same reasoning applies. The only thing different is that it is hard for the average person to know what life in Iraq is actually like.

Once you have a grasp on the topic at hand you have the ability to discern the truthful content of not only what was said or written but also what wasn’t said. For example I was listening to a story on the news the other day about the “Palestinian conflict”. The reporter talked about the Palestinians this, the Palestinians that, the Palestinitans this that and the other, but never was there mention of the Israeli side of the coin. Most journalists seem to side with the Palestinians thus espousing their bad attitude towards Israel to all of their listeners. In turn their listeners, who may not know the history of the “conflict”, or anyone who actually lives in the area, form biased opinions based solely on what was said on air. However, (and I do have a point in all of this) what isn’t said is the real story i.e. Kassam rockets continually being fired upon Israeli civilians.

What isn’t said in the news coverage of Iraq is the real story. The days that go by without any mention of bombs killing soldiers or civilians is a much bigger story than the bombs themselves. The days that go by with no mention of prison abuse is a much bigger story than some tired old rehashing of Abu Gharib. The kids the live daily life in Iraq with no extracurricular terrorist activities is a better story than some 14-year-old kids who took up training to die via being brain washed into blowing themselves up for their god.

Of course Iraq is always one suicide bomb away from being what the media would deem a complete failure. Knowing this is great news for the terrorists but bad for those of us in the U.S. who realize that the difference between victory and failure is more than just poorly made bombs placed in strategic locations (like on the stomach of a woman or on the lap of a handicapped person).

Lets do some John Lennon imagining for a minute and imagine what Iraq would look like with an informed media reporting daily to the world. A lot different isn’t it. So let’s all do ourselves a favor and remember the next time it is a few days between suicide bomb stories out of Iraq that the real story is the unreported calm. To do so is to reaffirm that the world isn’t really going to hell in a hand basket (or burka-clad faux woman-bomb). Now all we have to do is watch out for that damnable global warmings I’ve heard so much about on NPR.

You should be reading this guy.

SigSpace — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:57:30

You wouldn`t know it from the news lately, but apparently there`s some troops over in Iraq doing something or another. Despite his handicap (LT bar), this guy has some great stuff to say, and does it beautifully and eloquently. If you want to know what it`s like to wander through the valley of the shadow of death, I can`t recommend LT G highly enough.

I`d post links to my favorites, but I`ve shared a lot of them via my Reader and I`m holding a baby in one hand, so this is already a sisyphean task.

Check him out--he writes gud.

Sig

Taking credit for someone else`s work

SigSpace — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:39:47

If you can`t brag on your buddy`s site, where can you brag?

Ian Anthony joined our family around noon on the 28th. Picture is here, and an overly long and not too disgusting account of the birth is here.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled milbitching.

Sig

Afghanistan, NATO, and Bill Arkin

SigSpace — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:05:38

People who have perused my site--or talked to me for more than 3 minutes--know that I can occasionally be a little bitter about the whole state of "the other war." I didn`t go to Iraq--I went to Afghanistan. When I was preparing to go back in late 2005, a lot of people were astounded to learn that we were still there. Wasn`t that a done deal?

In a way, I`m somewhat gratified to see that it`s making a comeback in the public consciousness, though I really wish it were for a different reason.

This morning my Google News page was infested by a piece by Bill Arkin. Where have I heard that name? Oh yes. That`s the asshat that prattled on about our obscene amenities last year. Today, he`s prattling on about Afghanistan. I`ll say this for Bill: he makes his opinion clearly and unambiguously.

Afghanistan: America Wrong, Europe Right

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is again beating up on Europeans for not doing more in Afghanistan, a now familiar theme in his blame-anybody-but-us strategy.

It goes on to talk about the recurring theme in Afghanistan--a lot of troops not doing a hell of a lot of actual fighting--and then lambasts SecDef Gates for seemingly trying to apply the Iraq methodology to Afghanistan when in fact these are completely different, and what Afghanistan needs is more non-kinetic ops.

I`m reposting my reply here because I have no confidence that it will still be there later:

I spent some time with a small American detachment working on a Canadian-run FOB near Kandahar in late 2006. Under their NATO commander, the Canadians could not engage in any "offensive" operations, meaning that they sat on the FOB and watched insurgents move and transport equipment through their area.

The Americans, under a US Army captain, would do "recon by fire"--that is, finding the bad guys by driving around until we were attacked--at which time we could call for a quick reaction force. This was the only time the Canadians could do anything other than purely defensive measures. I don`t know what the commanders thought, but the joes loved us for it. They could see what was happening right in front of them.

Non-kinetic operations cannot take place in the absence of security. Security requires boots and the ground and active engagement of the Taliban remnants. You won`t build any nations in a place where people are beheaded for selling Americans cigarettes, and letters are spread promising death to entire families should anyone accept humanitarian aid.

We saw what happened early last year when NATO decided not to hold the previously-secured Musa Qah`leh. A "gentleman`s agreement" with the local Talibs resulted in the town becoming a major Taliban stronghold--from the same district center that we had occupied (and fortified) weeks earlier. Taking it back required a price paid in blood.

If Secretary Gates were advocating some other strategy, no doubt you would be castigating him for not heeding the lessons learned at such cost in Iraq.

I`ve bitched about NATO in Afghanistan before. Here, I talk about Musa Qah`leh, which had to be retaken after it was essentially given back to the Talibs. Comments posted later at Blackfive about the Dutch approach resulted in this exchange.

I am a lowly E-5. Far be it from me to advise SecDef Gates on what he should push NATO to do. But it doesn`t take a rocket scientist to see that a lot of countries are not interested in shouldering a fair share of the dirty work--not even a model rocket scientist.

Sig

Vets On The Hill

TF Boggs — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:17:41

It is once again time for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to converge upon Washington D.C. with Vets For Freedom this upcoming April. You may remember my posts from the first trip to D.C. late last year, if not you can find them here. I had a great time and found the (free) trip to be a great learning experience. Besides getting to have breakfast at the White House I was able to visit with both senators from my state and several representatives as well. Members of VFF from the other 50 states did so as well. If we can keep the numbers up this year, and share the same positive message we did last time, I am sure we will once again influence members of congress.

I don`t pretend to believe that we will sway many votes but I know that politicians enjoy having their constituents visit them in a professional manner like we at VFF do, unlike others from such groups as Code Pink. If we can at least show them that veterans are a good group of people and care deeply about what they do it will only help us in the future.

So any rate visit the VFF site even if you aren`t a vet and support the cause.

Outta the Archives

TF Boggs — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:03:45

I was doing some aimless searching on the web and remembered that I wrote a few stories for Michael Yon`s website Frontline Forum a couple years back. I found the website and read the articles over again and took a stroll down memory lane. You can find the articles here.

What struck me about the articles was not what I wrote but what the many people who left comments said. They were very supportive and were eager to hear more stories like the ones I shared. Several of them wondered where stories like the ones I had written were to be found in the MSM.

It seems like nowadays Iraq and Afghanistan are old news. I am not complaining because I get caught up feeling the same way too. We all just wish it would be over already, and as a result tend to ignore things other than the daily body count and what politician said what about Iraq. It is nice sometimes to go back and read about the sentiments we had only just a short while ago.

One day we will be out of Iraq and Afghanistan and my hope will then be that we care more about what our soldiers did while they were there, rather than solely about how many of them never came home. I am glad we have the web to maintain the writing of so many soldiers for the next generation so that they may understand just how we felt about what we did.

Impose Sharia Already

TF Boggs — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:44:36

Considering what is going on in Berkeley, CA right now with the crazies trying to run off the Marine recruiters I have a fresh idea as to how to get the situation under control.

Impose Sharia.

Let`s get together and bring a bunch of militant Islamists to Cali and let them rule Berkeley from now on. They could make all the women wear Burkas while shutting down the practice of free speech and religion. Perhaps they could set guidelines for an appropriate diet, or maybe even proper entertainment. Of course music would be regulated as well as what kids can study in school. Hell, everything that makes life what it is in Berkeley would change.

I imagine then the crazies on the city council and those that support them like the Code Pink commies would be crying out for help from the very people that they are trying to run out of town.

What blows my mind about the whole situation is that it could even happen in the first place. Every one of the city council members should face punishment, and the former Army Captain turned mayor of Berkeley, Tom Bates, should be made to allow every Marine recruiter to kick him squarely in the nuts, or rather, what is left of his manhood.

Just when you think things have started to normalize just a bit Berkeley goes an rears its ugly head.

IRR Here I Come

TF Boggs — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:00:15

Next month I will attend my final Reserve drill weekend and I am having mixed emotions about it. On the one hand I am excited about ending the military chapter in my life and moving on to full time civilian life. I am ready to see what life is like free of restraints and commitments that will land me in jail if I don’t fulfill them.

On the other hand I am somewhat sad about finishing up with what has been the best period of my life. I have been thinking lately what my life would be like right now if I had never joined the military. Frankly it scares me to think that way. I am not sure how I would have turned out if I hadn’t had the experiences I did up until this point.

I also don’t want to think about having to watch the world change with me on the sidelines. I feel like as long as I am still in the military I am giving myself the option to hop into the arena of world events should I get the feeling to, or rather, more appropriately considering my history, should Uncle Sam get the feeling for me. Finishing up my commitment to the military doesn’t mean just freedom, it means consigning myself to making a difference in this world in some other fashion.

I have several ideas about what my future might be like, but what I have realized lately is that they are all shaped in one way or another on who I have become as a result of my military service. Now that I am relegating that service to my past in what way can I have an immediate impact for good in this world? I know some people will say things like being a teacher has a great impact upon the future leaders of our country, or that I should try mentoring others or something equally as passé but I already understand that and am choosing to aim higher.

My saving grace in all of this is the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR). When soldiers sign up for service most contracts contain two years in the IRR after their initial enlistment time is up (for me that initial time was six years). In the IRR I am still on the books for the military but I have no real responsibilities besides having to make myself available should world war three happen (or world war five if you are a fan of Podhoretz). However, in the IRR I allow myself the choice of continued training and the possibility of more deployments should I choose to volunteer. Some soldiers even make a career out of the IRR which for me is a tempting thought.

As long as I am in the IRR I feel like I have the potential to affect change in this world. Whether I actually do is up to me. Maybe this is just my way of clinging to something that I am just not ready to let go of yet. Maybe its just a way that I continue to fool myself that I am something more than just a pawn in this world. Who knows? But what I do know is that I have two more years in the IRR in order to figure things out before I have to make my final decision.

I voted in the primary.

SigSpace — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:19:54

...via absentee ballot, about 30 seconds before my wife informed me that my candidate had dropped out that day.

So now I`m supporting Great Cthulhu for 2008. I`m tired of settling for the lesser evil. Ph`nglui mglw`nafh Cthulhu R`lyeh wgah`nagl fhtagn!

I could possibly be talked into voting for Romney or Giuliani, however.

Sig

My Endorsement

TF Boggs — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:22:55

Brace yourselves folks cause I am about to endorse the future-winning candidate for president. Now I know milbloggers usually don’t give their endorsement for their future Commander in Chief, and when they do it really doesn’t matter that much, but I am here to tell you that my endorsement pretty much guarantees that the specific candidate will win.

What does a T.F. Boggs endorsement mean for a presidential candidate? For starters it means that my legions of readers will vote the same way I will garnering the specific candidate at least 25 new votes. And at the very least it provides that candidate with all the motivation they could possibly need to offer me a spot in their cabinet come January 2009.

Seriously though I thought I might explain who I think I’ll be voting for at this juncture of the race and why. So who am I voting for, or rather, who do I hope I can vote for?

Rudy Giuliani.

Why I would like to vote for him will take a little longer.

In light of current events that I find important i.e. war on Islamofascism, leaks at every level of government, appointing new Supreme Court judges etc., I base my decision on Giuliani because I think he will be best able to handle those problems. Also unlike Bush I think he will be able to fend off the naysayers and haters at the same time- a la MSM stiffs and democratic congressmen.

Giuliani has the managerial experience needed to be president and also has the proven track record of cleaning up New York. I believe he could do with the CIA and State Department as he did with New York. To think that someone like Obama could be our next president scares the business out of me. Why people think that someone with no experience running a company, or even a state for that matter, could possibly be the biggest CEO of the greatest nation on the earth is beyond me. Rudy has proven that he can handle stress, catastrophe, the Mob, and millions of people under his care.

I am also completely unexcited about any other candidate save Romney who I would have to warm up to a bit more. Considering what I find important these days I don’t think any other candidate would handle them to my liking besides Rudy. Huckabee is a fraud, McCain isn’t a republican, Ron Paul is insane, and I don’t think Fred Thompson has a chance. As for the democrat candidates could someone please (seriously) explain to me what is different about them and any European socialist?

Of course I could go on about why I want to vote for Rudy but that would probably get boring. Also my vote is completely contingent upon his getting the nomination but I think he will eventually. Sure there are things I don’t like about Rudy i.e. his stance on abortion and gun control but I think he will do the best job of the available candidates in all the other areas I deem important.

And for those who say they could never vote for a pro-choice candidate I only have to say that if you don’t you are voting for the other guy any way so you might as well take the lesser of two evils. After all God is a forgiving God isn’t he?

The Day Has Come

TF Boggs — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:24:17

Ohio State- 24 LSU- 17

****UPDATE**** I now commence eating my words. Congrats LSU, enjoy it while you have it cause we`re coming back next year.

That`s What I`ve Been Saying

TF Boggs — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 18:46:58

Thanks goes to my father for pointing out this article on the American Thinker that echoes what I wrote the other day, and have been writing for some time now, about the MSM. If you want to know why I don`t believe half of what the media says read the article and you will.

The MSM should be ashamed at their biased coverage of the Iraq war. Imagine what our country would think if the real picture of Iraq was making the headlines. If the masses knew what soldiers on the ground now then this war would have the support of the nation. From me to you believe that.