George and Rummy - Stubborn SOBs

You know I was a little worried that when I got down to Texas I would have a hard time finding like-minding soldiers who felt the same way that I did about the current state of our Republic. I thought all I'd keep hearing is "Don't Mess with Texas." But I guess even down south, George and his incompetent clan have lost their shine. My suite mates and one of my co-workers and I have had these conversations before and we all seem to agree that we are doing the right thing by being here, but that the whole Iraqi situation is totally f......ked. Right now, morale is seriously down in the military and not just from the lower ranks. Officers all the way up the chain are miffed as to why Rumsfeld is still in office. Recently, we have seen retired general after retired general come forward to ask for his resignation. He does not seem to hear. He does not seem to care. I just don't understand why this guy won't leave. Does he have no pride? Is so self-absorbed that he can't hear what the whole country is asking for him to do? Tell me Mr. Secretary.....where are the weapons you promised you'd find over there? Why until just recently did you make soldiers buy their own body armor? How could you send Reserves and National Guard Units to war without giving us the tools we need to fight? When you came into office in 2001, you promised to "transform the military". Well your transformation has hurt the military and its going to take years to overcome what you have done to us. Please sir...do the right thing and get lost. And take your stubborn neo-con friends with you. (uhhh...this means you Mr. President)...Dont mess with Texas...my ass.

Some Day its Like Pulling Teeth

Well actually, somedays (like today) it is like pulling teeth. I went to the dentist for the first time since 1985. And I had some filling put in and a tooth pulled. Next week, I will be back to finish. Going in I was a little scared. I have often felt that way about dentists. But they did give me some nifty drugs to help me cope. At the moment I am doing ok. Things are going well at work. I am doing well and enjoying the whole experience of opening a JAG office and planning for our deployment. Today we got good news that we will be getting 3 more computers (one just for me!) from First Army. Damn those First Army people are cool. I have been busy meeting with my staff. I have 3 other enlisted soldiers working for me and a few more down in the Battalions. I am responsible for supervison and training of these people. We have some training scheduled for this week and for next week. I was hoping to go the the Gas Chamber this week, but I have a profile now that says I cant do anything to physical for a week. Next week I will be busy with our Paralegal training and with us doing some "green" training next week...thats military training. I did found out where I will be going. But I won't tell you on here...only in person. haha....We don't want the "enemy" to be there waiting for us when we get there. I thought that I had posted on Saturday but it was not there....but anyway, I will try to post every other day if I can. For now I am tired and need to get to sleep. Another big day tommorow. I am including some pics with this post so people can see I am a real soldier now...Haha.

Missing My Best Friend

When I agreed to volunteer for this deployment I knew it would be difficult to leave my friends for over a year. But somehow I knew that that would be easier then leaving behind my dog Elvis. There is something about the relationship between people and their dogs that is unexplainable to people who have never owned one. Back in 2002, my dog Honey, who was 13, had to be put down because she broke her hip and the doctor said she would not have survived surgery. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. After I buried Honey, I felt a deep depression for several days. On my birthday, I was feeling really bad and I called my buddy Jason to see if he would go to the Guilderland Shelter with me to see about adopting another dog. I told Jason that he had to be the voice of reason....and not to let me adopt 3 dogs. So he agreed to go and we got to the shelter and went in. There were only of few dogs there...one of them was this big goofy yellow lab with an enormous head. He was barking and carrying on, so I just passed him by and saw this small female dog that I asked to see. Well myself and Jason and this dog went out to walk...but after a few minutes I realized that there was no love connection there. So one of the volunteers asked me if I wanted to walk the lab. I said hell no. "That dog is crazy and goofy and too big for me to take." She then said to me that I should just walk him because he needed a walk and there was noone else to do it. So I did. Well needless to say, I was suckered and I ended up leaving that shelter with a big goofy dog with an enormous head. Our first stop was at the Petco on the way home where I paid about $100 dollars for this state of the art doggie bed. So we got home and we played a little and I felt happy that I had a dog again even if he was a little goofy. Well that night we went to the bedroom and I laid out the doggie bed and then looked up and noticed that he was laying in my bed! Well I rationalized that I would let him sleep there that night because it was our first night and he was a little nervous and needed to be near me. He will sleep in his own bed the next night. YEAH. RIGHT. For almost 4 years that dog slept next to me every night. He never slept in that doggie bed. Not even once. We bonded from the very beginning. And it was so hard to say good bye when I dropped him off 2 weeks ago. Tonight the Tarantelli's (his adoptive family) sent me some pictures of him. I saw the pics and remembered how much I love him. How much I miss him. What hurts so much, is the feeling I have when I think about what is going through his mind. Does he think I abandoned him? That this guy he has lived with for almost four years just disappeared? I know it sounds stupid but I really feel sad about this right now. I wish he understood what I was doing and where I was. And that I would be back. But dogs...who knows what they know or understand. I just know that my best friend hasn't slept with me these past 2 weeks, hasn't been there when I wake up, and hasn't layed on my chest and fallen sleep like he use to. I love you buddy. I'll be back.

What My Day Was Like

Today started around 5:30am. I got up and got into PT gear and went to the PT formation. It was the first time I did anything really physical in a week. We did a few stretches and exercises and then a quick 2 mile run. I did well....out ran all the youngster in the section. After PT, I showered and went to the mess hall to pick up some breakfast and reported to the office at about 7:15. I began planning my day which included several meetings, and some work we needed to do on some soldiers who had screwed up. When my staff arrived, we went to work on some of the Article 15s (these are sort of pleas that a commander can offer to a soldier instead of a court martial). That took us to about 11:00am when I had to go to a company meeting where we were briefed on a bunch of stuff. At 12:00 I met two of my soldiers who went to chow with me and we had an informal meeting about what I expected from them and brainstormed about ways to improve the JAG Office. The three of us then headed over to III Corp (the Fort Hood Headquarters) where we met with a Legal NCO who was on active duty and who had tons of experience. He agreed to help us get organized and we all agreed that was going to be very helpful to us. At around 1500 hours we headed back to the Office where I began finishing up with two Article 15 packets that were to be hand delivered to a Company Commander at 1600 hours (4pm) At 1630, I had to go to a company training meeting where we learned about some of the training we would be taking in the next month or so....some of that include training on various weapons and responding to IED attacks. Back to the office at 17:00 and worked on a briefing the LTC would be given later that night. On Sunday the LTC and I worked together on a script (mini-skit) that we would perform later on monday night. Felt like old times. Ha Ha. Back to chow around 17:45. At around 18:00 we went to the building where we were presenting the briefing and set everything up. At about 1830 the LTC and Captain came in and we did a dry run of the briefing. The briefing began at about 1900. It went well and the LTC like our skit alot. The briefing ended about 2100 hours and we packed and went back to the office and dropped off supplies, ect. We shut the office down and then headed back to the billets. The work day ended for me at 2115. Now I am going to bed. Hope your day was shorter then mine, but I am turning in now cause I got pt tommorow at 0600. :-)

Busy Busy Busy

Well my first week in Texas has been a pretty full one. Its seems like longer, but its just been one week. I have been so busy its hard to keep up with everything. As the NCOIC of the Legal Section I am basically responsible for all the enlisted ranks as well as managing the office for the JAG and Deputy JAG. In addition to my work in the office I will be busy taking the various combat courses and other training necessary to be green lighted to go to Iraq. I need to qualify with my weapon, learn anti-terrorist tactics and how to deal with IED's and alot of other stuff. I am interested in all this stuff. I am tired, but I feel real good about this move so far. Other then the fact that my pay is screwed up, I think things are going very well. As it looks right now, I believe that I will be in Texas throughout the summer. Damn its hot here already. If we leave in August, I cant even imagine what its going to be like then. The good news is that it looks like we will be able to take a two-week leave before we go. That will be around my birthday in August. So I dont know for sure, but it looks like I will get to see all my family and my buds one more time before I go play in the worlds biggest sandbox. I miss Elvis and all my buds alot. But I will be seeing you soon. Until then...keep checking back here to find out what I am up to.

Death by Power Point

Its about 10:30 pm (22:30 military time) at the moment I am writing this post. I am tired but its been a good day and a good week so far. Tuesday we experienced a variety of mandatory briefings for soldiers being deployed. For the better part of 6 hours we sat staring at video tapes of various briefings that the Army thinks is so important for us to learn be for we go to Iraq. They call this day "DEATH BY POWER POINT" because we have heard this all before and its still boring. Topics included riveting topics like how to avoid getting killed or a sexually transmitted disease. At one point I looked around the room and noticed that not one person was paying attention to the video that was showing. This was a horrible day because it was so hot in the room and the subject was so boring. Yesterday we did what was call a SRP. This stands for Soldier Readiness Processing. This is where they looked at our finances, our personnel recores, dental and health records, ect. I went to a dentist for the first time in years. I will need some dental work done prior to our deployment. Later that day I got 5 shots...jesus my arms are still hurting. Today we had to pee in a cup and then we were sent to the unit I will be a part of. I met my boss (she is from Vermont) and she told me that I would be the NCOIC (NCO in charge) of the Jag section. She also said that we are and will continue to be very busy. She has put me to work already. At any rate, its good to be with my new unit. Tommorow I will be helping the Captain prepare a briefing for the Colonel as well as doing some training. I am looking forward to Sunday when the day off. Till then..later.

Your Money at Work

Last night after writing my latest post I went down to the barracks where I was staying and met some other guys and gals who are being assigned to a my unit with me. We bonded very quickly. So we all got drunk on beer and cheap vodka and told dirty jokes. There are guys from Texas, one from Maryland, one from California, one from Kansas and one from Ohio. The all seem real nice and we had fun. I went to bed around 2:00 and had to get up at 6:30. Inprocessing continued. I had to sign up for SGLI (life insurance) as well as set up my Emergency Data form which lists the people they call if I die or get taken prisoner. My sister is named as the person that will get my money when I die. I also had to list the person who will get my remains if I die. I wrote in ERIC SCHEILCHER for that. I told Eric that he can do whatever he wants with my body. Haha. I think he thinks he is getting the short end of the stick on this one. I mean really folks, which would you want? My money or my body? Today was not too difficult. We were done by 9:00am. We have been relaxing since then. Long day ahead tommorow. Lots and lots of briefings. It looks like I will be in Texas through the summer. The real training will start next week. I am looking forward to that. Maybe I can blow some shit up. Haha.

Fort Hood

I am writing this from the library on post of Fort Hood Texas. It has been a long day and I am tired but I have finally made it! Tommorow my official inprocessing and orientation will begin and training begins next week. Yesterday was a whirlwind day filled with many different emotions. The hardest moment was dropping Elvis off to the family he will be staying with until I come back. That dog means so much to me its hard to imagine that he won't be waking up next to me every day like he has done for the last 4 years. He is truly my best friend. I miss him already. After that I had dinner with my man G, my girl C, and my other man C. Later my other buds dropped by...Jason and his girl, Ravi, Erchan and Katie and a few others. I love them all and it was nice to see them once more before I left. Well the dinner went late and I got about an hour of sleep. But the flights went well with the exception of the fact that my luggage is missing. So tommorow, if they dont come, I will be showing up in civvies again. Ah well. I am going to bed early tonight. I have to report at 0745 in the morning. Well anyway, its nice here in Texas. Sunny and about 75. Eat you heart out Albany....LOL.

I work for George Now - Ft Hood Here I come

Well at long last (well not that long I guess) I have officially been activated and mobilized. I am a Title 10 Soldier (which means I fall under the authority of the President of the United States.) You see in the NY National Guard, my Commander in Chief is the Governor George Pataki. But the President has the authority to "Federalize" National Guard troops which place them under the authority of the Federal Army and the President. Now my case is not that unusual, lots of Guard Units have been activitated in support of OIF. However it is interesting to note that in the past, National Guard Units have been involuntarily "federalized" without the consent of the individual units or the support of the Governor. One famous case involved the decision of President Kennedy to federalize the Alabama Army National Guard to enforce a court ruling to desegregate the University of Alabama. At one point, the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, stood in the entrance of the University and refused to move until the commander of the National Guard told him that he no longer took his orders from Wallace, but from President Kennedy. He did eventually step aside. So now, I take my orders from the other George. The one in Washington. And I have been told to get my ass down to Texas. So off I go. It seems like along time since I have been waiting, but now the time is here. I am ready.

Liberals and Conservatives

The problem with America today is that there are too many Liberals. And there are too many Conservatives. I don't mean to say there are too many individual liberals and conservatives. I mean there are too many different kinds of Liberals and Conservatives. Consider the following labels:

The Liberals:

American liberalism
Classical liberalism
Economic liberalism
Neoliberalism
Ordoliberalism
Paleoliberalism
Social liberalism

The Conservatives:

American conservatism
Christian Democracy
Liberal conservatism
National conservatism
Neoconservatism
Paleoconservatism

Now each of these labels represent a certain type or model of either liberalism or conservatism. If I described a position for you, that position could be held by one or more of these different types of political movements. Let's take abortion for an example. Now it is often said that liberals support abortion and conservatives oppose it. But if you look past these broad labels (what popular culture describes as conservative and liberal) you will find liberal and conservative arguments in favor and in opposition to abortion. Not all liberals favor abortion on demand and not all conservatives oppose it. Some liberals may look at the question of when life begins (lots of different views here) and decide that it begins at conception. If you, as a liberal, adopt this view, then you would be more likely to oppose abortion because you would view this as the of taking of an innocent life. You would favor government intervention to prevent this from happening (just as you would support child labor laws or child abuse prevention regulations). Conservatives face this same problem. If you are a conservative (say like Barry Goldwater, the father of modern American conservatism) you would argue that abortion and control of the individual's own body should not be a matter of government regulation. Goldwater believed in less government regulation in the private lives of individuals. Right now in this country we expect our liberals to be pro-choice and our conservatives to be pro-life. If I as a liberal, said I was opposed to abortion, I would be villified. If I as a conservative, said I supported a woman's right to choose (or say gay rights...) I would be viewed in the same negative light.

I consider myself liberal. Often I have found myself to be intellectually lazy when it came to understanding the conservative viewpoint. It was easier for me to just to say that they were ignorant rednecks and discount their views altogether. That was a big mistake. But I am not alone. Many of my liberal friends have done the same thing. We have stopped growing. We have become elitist. We have lost touch with the roots of liberalism. We don't have the "common touch" anymore. Worst of all, we are so caught up in our own little world, we no longer even care what others think because we assume we are right and have all the right answers. The same, by the way, can be said of the conservative movement in this country which has gone out of its way to use the "liberal" label in the same way as they might describe "child molesters." Look, the bottom line is, we all need to get inside each others heads. Liberals and Conservatives are much more diverse and complicated then what is being presented. My goal is to read as much non-political theory about conservatism and liberalism as I can. I am turning off the Michael Moores and the Anne Coulters of the word (who are not intellectually curious but baised toward their own partisan political views) and doing my own research. I encourage you all to do the same. Eric gave me this assignment to tell you what the differences between Liberals and Conservatives are. Well, Eric, I have thought about this long and hard and at the moment I can't find consensus on what even a liberal or conservative is. So I will keep working on this.

Yoo Hoo..Uncle...Tell me again how much you need me?

Well if you all are getting tired of this same "I don't have my orders" song, you would not be alone. This round I actually managed to get get a plane reservation to Fort Hood. Bright and early tommorow morning was the plan. But you guessed it...no orders yet. Several people have told me its a "systemic problem"...lots of guys going through the same frustration I am going through. So its Saturday and I am just relaxing, drinking some coffee and watching the military channel...hahaha. So all these people are working on getting me these orders. I even got help from a LT COL who works with First Army. She is real nice and I heard her call me a "kid" to the folks at First Army. Damn I felt good about that. Well Elvis is hanging in there. No clue that I will be leaving (I think...maybe he knows something I dont). Well Eric gave me an assignment. He wants me to write about the differences between liberals and conservatives. So my next entry will be about that. Cause I am sure you all (and me) are getting tired talking about when I am leaving and all that crap. So I will be putting my political hat on.