Rapparee Inn

2006-04-10T19:41:00.000+02:00

It's been awhile since I posted. I don't really have the energy or creativity to put thoughts into words these days. I writing in an effort to reply to Kyle's reply on my most recent statement. I agree with you one hundred percent on the fact that their are heinous things that go on all over the world and that democracy isn't built in a day. Though I don't believe that freedom is earned by a third party. That is something I see everyday here in Iraq and I'm sure it's the same way in Afghanistan. The people continue to work against the American occupation. If not through actual insurgent activity, then it's through their silence. The people in this part of the world are completely aware of what goes on in their neighborhoods and towns. They do know who the ones are who are causing the problems and the destablizing their country. What is the reason for their silence? Fear? So what. Any soldier who set on that border in 2003 had an under current of fear running throughout his body. Any soldier who gets into a humvee or goes out on a foot patrol has fear. It's natural. For whatever reason the soldiers continue to do their jobs eventhough the fear is there. Some might say "well this is what you signed up for." I call bullshit on these people. I did not sign up to defend other countries or to take part in "nation building." I signed up to defend my homeland, not someone elses.

There was a time when I would have been more supportive of intervention in a country who was commiting basic human rights violations. After spending time talking to the Iraqi people who work here on post and having interrogated many the last time I was here, I have lost heart. Why? Because these people do not want to bleed for their freedom. They are to afraid to step up to the ones who would hold them down.

The Afghan situation is a perfect example of why I feel this way. It may have even enforced the feeling in my heart even more. The man on trial, the last I heard, has taken refuge in Italy. His very life is in danger because of his choice in religion. The saddest thing is that from what I've read in the papers is that the government won't even have to execute him. Most of the people seem to feel so strongly about what he has done, I'm sure a religious zealot will most likely gun him down in the street.

Well, I'm off to do whatever it is I do for whatever cause. It seems this "war" means alot of things to alot of people. To me it means one thing. I am away from my family for a cause I do not believe in.

2006-03-23T02:49:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone! I know it's been awhile since I wrote anything. I've been trying to keep my mouth shut. However, there comes a time when you just can't sit there and be quiet any longer. Today I read on Think Progress that there is a man in Afghanistan, named Abdul Rahman, who could be put to death because he has converted to Christianity.

Bush during a speech in Wheeling, WV was questioned about Abdul Rahman's case. I found the story on Reuters. I've searched for a video of the speech but I have yet to find one. Here are the quotes.

Bush said in Wheeling, West Virginia: "It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another."

And

"We have got influence in Afghanistan and we are going to use it to remind them that there are universal values," he said.

See, my problem with these statements is they are non-commital. Last time I checked we still have troops in Afghanistan. They, whether they like it or not, are under our control. As long as American men and women are still dying in that country, it is in a state of war. This of course is my opinion. Where is the "War President" now? I can't believe that our men and women died so that we could set up a government just as bad as the previous.

I will say this much the Afghan Economy Minister, Mohammad Amin Farhang, has got some pretty big balls. In response to German threats to withdrawl troops if this man is punished for converting Farhang says, ""We don't interfere in Germany's internal affairs or in running court cases." He also says that the German threat to remove troops amounts to blackmail. Blackmail? No buddy. How is it blackmail? Do any troops from the UN have to be in Afghanistan? Did I miss something that Afghanistan did for the world? Nope, I didn't. See the government of Afghanistan still fears the old regime as well as the warlords, but hey they got little to fear from one guy converting to Christianity. So I say we throw these fuckers to wolves! Let the old crew chew them up and spit them out. Of course our great leader wouldn't want to see his "experiment" with nation building (which he promised not to do) fail.

This is the world we have created.

2006-02-20T05:42:00.000+01:00

I haven't written much lately, and I just wanted to apologize. I haven't felt to creative as of late, and that includes writing.

This morning I read an interesting article on "The News Blog" about how the Army has made to Basic Combat Training Program easier. What is happening to the world? Read it for yourself and weep.

2006-02-09T12:37:00.000+01:00

Today on "Bring it On" I came across a link to a very interesting article. The article from Military.com, titled "Unemployment Rate Rises", states that the unemployment rate for soldiers between the ages of 20 - 24 coming out of the service is at 15%. The national average is approximately five percent. The article attributes the high unemployment rate partially to the fact that "most service members seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are in the early stages of their military careers and possess limited transferable job skills or very little civilian work experience."

The article also states that veterans Affairs has just recently started a program called "Fulfilling the Commitment -- Coming Home to Work." I went to their website to get more info on the program, but unsuprisingly I couldn't find anything on it outside of their initial announcement that it had been formed. Perhaps someone with more time than me can find info on this program and send me more intel on it.

That said lets get to the bitching! That's right, I'm upset by the fact that veterans returning from the all holy War on Terror are in a pinch when it comes to finding a job. We truly live in strange times. We live in an era where everyone supports the troops no matter their stand on the war. I personally think it makes a really nice slogan that people can throw around which requires no action of themselves outside of a yellow ribbon attached to their car antenna. Yet, when it comes to helping these noble soldiers out what happens to the support??? Wait perhaps it is because they are no longer soldiers, they no longer receive the support. That seems to be the present way of things. Now I can here the conservatives and liberals alike already bashing me. The republicans are going to say that it's up to the individual to get a job, that the VA already offers plenty to the returning veteran. The liberals are going to stand up and start screaming that the conservatives control everything in DC so it is their fault that nothing is being done.

Well enough is enough already! It's time to stand up and do something on your own. My first question to why these veterans aren't finding jobs is what are they doing to find them? What kind of job skills do they have? Without knowing the individual it's hard to make a statement in favor or against. The second question is why aren't these businesses they are applying to not hiring them? Whatever happened to patriotism? Is it wrong to give a veteran a chance just because you want to be a good patriot? Or is the yellow ribbon and a strong supporting view of the war enough? See, overall I see America as weak when it comes to truly supporting something. We want to seem like good loyal people, but what it comes down to is money and chances. Why let patriotism blind you and hire that disabled veteran in a wheel chair when you can hire a perfectly healthy freshly graduated college student who chose himself over the greater good?

I wonder what really goes through the minds of the masses. That is directed world wide. I truly feel that the world is being ran by the chase for more money. It is a sad time we live in. I can only hope that I can find myself a community after I leave the Army that looks after and cares for one another. I had the semblance of that before I joined the Army, hopefully I will find it again.

2006-01-30T09:07:00.000+01:00

"Army forces 50,000 soldiers into extended duty"

That is the title of an article by Will Dunham in Rueters press. Since I am a stop-lossed soldier anything dealing with the subject is of special interest to me. Let me start off by first saying that the number 50,000 is extremely misleading to the layman who tends to skim the headlines and not actually read the article. If you journy into the meat and potatoes of the article you discover that approximately 50,000 troops have been stopped from leaving the service since the policies creation in 1992. However the article does say approximately 12,500 soldiers are currently being held under this policy.

I'd love to see a more indepth study done on the affects of the stop-loss policy on the Army as a whole. Most of the people I know who have been stopped from leaving have grown extremely discontent and their morale is at an all time low. This angst spreads throughout the unit and is felt by troops who are new to the Army. I know many people who are basing their reasons for not re-enlisting off the views of the discontented. In the end the stop-loss policy is hurting the Army and the call of defense more than it's helping. Perhaps if the Army asked the people destined to ETS before or during a deployment to voluntarily extend their stay in exchange for some kind of incentive (extra money? bonuses? college? Use your imagination) then many people would choose to continue their service. These people would not be the sullen malcontented people many of the stop-lossed soldiers are. Let's face the facts, no one likes to forced to do something against their will. Now in the Army you are ordered to do numerous things everyday. When you join the military you except this, but the one thing you don't expect is to have the Army violate your contract and tell you that you will not leave the service. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar.

The seeds of discontent have been sown. How long till the fruit on the vine is ripe? How long till the nations forces are only a bare visage of what they once were? What happens then? Mandatory service? Oh how the nation; liberals, conservatives, do-nothings, and I don't cares; will scream with anger at the wrongs commited against them. I, safe in my having served my time, will sit back and laugh at them all. Our country is full of people who love to voice their opinion, but when it's time to step up and actually do something to push their agenda they back down into there corner with a hundred excuses as to why they don't have the time to stand up for their views and wait for someone else to do it for them.

(the last part is a generalization, I shouldn't have to say that but people seem to be uber-sensitive these days. I know plenty of conservative, liberal and independant people who go the extra mile and stand up for their views everyday. I do honestly believe that the majority of Americans are nothing but a bunch of blowhards.)

2006-01-27T07:35:00.000+01:00

It's been awhile since I last posted here, sorry about that. I've just returned form R&R. I am happy to say that my beautiful baby boy is happy and healthy. I can't explain how it felt to hold this child in my arms. Now for those of you who don't know me well, I've never been one for kids, but there was something about him that just pulled me into it. Perhaps it's the knowledge that this is my son. I enjoyed everything about him, from watching him sleep to changing his dirty diapers. It's a wonderful feeling fatherhood, I would only think one feeling surpasses it and that would be motherhood.

Well, the time at home was good and well spent doing nothing but spending time with my wife and son. The torturous pain and the agonizing guilt I feel for leaving them is unexplainable. The moment I held my son in my arms I knew that I could never spend another moment away from him and his mother, but I haven't a choice in the matter. So I left them.

I left them behind for what? A war I don't believe in. A job I despise in a country I find repulsive. Pretty strong words, but all of them true. I'm so tired and exhausted by the military and it's bullshit. It's no wonder that recruiters are being found to have shady practices because if they were honest no one in their right mind would enlist. I don't know how anyone in the military who has a family can stay in. Who can spend a year from their family and then look at them and say, "Well, I'm back for two years maybe less." How can someone risk their lives for a cause that the very people in this country are not willing to die for. All I can think about is my wife and child. All I can think about is that I've done my time, that I've served my country, let someone else do it now, but who? When the call to arms go out no one comes running. It's only after the blood is flowing that the warcryers appear looking for more fools to go bleed. They are called chicken hawks, the people who support a conflict that they aren't willing to sacrifice for. I think a better term would be buzzards. I remember being young and watching buzzards fly in circles high above a dead animal carcass. The buzzard is a carrion bird, they live off of what others kill.

2006-01-04T05:41:00.000+01:00

Today I want to take this time to discuss an incident that has occurred involving my good friend "Danger." Our command, by regulation, required all of us who are writing a blog to turn in the address to our commander, at which point he would then send it to the proper people within the Brigade who had a "need to know." All of us have turned in our blogs to the command as required (as far as I see it, Big Brother was already watching). It is my opinion that the command felt there were more blogs out there than what were turned into him. So, this guy sends out the spreadsheet with our blogs on it to the entire battalion. Obviously, we felt that this was a horrible lapse in judgement on his part. These were personal blogs that we had given out to our family and friends, if someone discovers it on their own great, but we didn't want them put out to 100+ people. So Danger finds a picture of the Commander and throws it up on his blog with a little piece basically saying (I'm paraphrasing) "Thank you sir for giving this out to everyone in the battalion. This was meant to be for my family and friends only." So the commander sends him a scathing letter accusing him of attempting to slander him on the net. Sir, let me address you directly and say "You need to learn what slander is."

First and foremost slander is a verbal defemation of character. The term you are looking for is libel. Libel is the defemation of character in writing. Second off in order it to be defematory the statement in question has to be untrue. Now I'm not completely positive, but in most cases of libel or slander all the defendant has to do is prove that the statement was true in order to be innocent of the charge. Danger did not accuse you of anything untrue. He stated the fact that you did send the email to everyone on your mailing list, that this email did contain all the blogs that had been turned into you up to that point. He did not try to "slander" you as you have accused him, nor did he in my opinion even remotely attack your character. He basically said that what you did was wrong and that he was pissed off (understandably, we all were and are.)

Well, for further information I would point you to wikipedia's entry on the terms slander and libel.

Oh, and on a different note, congradulations to me on the birth of my new baby boy. I would say thank you sir for saying congratz and good tidings, but you haven't.

2006-01-01T08:35:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year everyone! This is the second time I've had the oppurtunity to celebrate the coming of the New Year in Iraq. It was just like the first one, uneventful. My collegues will have to forgive me if I don't share in their festivities. This includes the "stocking party" held on the 24th that I was forced to attend, eventhough I am not a Christian. For me the holidays are about family. My family is in Virginia and Germany. This extended Army family is a poor replacement. That said, I have made some excellent friends over the years I've spent with the Army unfortunately most of their schedualing is prohibitive to "hanging out."

Well, today I read in the Washington Post that George W. Bush has spent 365 days in the past five years at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Well I've spent approximately 455 days in the past 3 and a half years here in Iraq. The actual title is "Down on the Ranch, President Wages War on the Underbrush." Well, I would just like to say "Thank You Sir!" for doing your part. HOOAH!

2005-12-29T09:10:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the time it has taken me to write something here, but in all honesty I have been feeling quite uninspired and depressed. Life here is quite tedious and monotnous. I need something to alieve the boredom, to destroy the mundanity of this life. Anyways.

Today at the Democratic Underground I came across an article in the Guardian Unlimited. http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1674184,00.html An excellent article on the neocon's and their plan of American hegemony. In the article the author ties the policies in with Hobbes' "Leviathan." I wonder if anyone in the administration has actually read this book. I have my doubts, they aren't known for their love of literature. I personally feel the best comparison is with "The Kingdom of Darkness" mentioned in "Leviathan." In this the people in power, put simply, rule by shadowing the truth and keeping the people ignorant and in the darkness. Hobbes states it more in a religious vein, but I feel it is suited for normal government comparison as well.

Back to the grind ladies and gentlemen. I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays and I wish you all a Happy New Year.

2005-12-21T09:18:00.000+01:00

The Winter Solstice, scientificly speaking is when one hemisphere is farthest from the sun during the Earth's orbit around the sun. It is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The 21st or 22nd of December are the traditional dates that many winter solstice celebrations fall under. (An interesting thing I just discovered is that the 20th is "Life Day" a celebration on the Wookiee calender...those crazy Star Wars guys.)

At the risk of being redundant I'm going to ask you guys to take a moment and remember that there is more than just the Christmas Holiday in the works this time of year. Many different groups celebrated this time, so many groups it is near impossible to cover them in the limited time I have here on this blog. To the Korochun this day was very similar to Halloween and was a day when the Black God and other evil spirits were most powerful. Ancient Romans had the Sol Invictus during this time period. Yalda is the Persian celebration of the birth of the Sun God, Mithra and of course the Celts celebrated this day as well observing the holiness of the shortest day and the longest night. This was a time period of celebration for many different people throughout the globe. Many of these celebrations last throughout December and into January. Let us stop for a moment and consider those people who still believe in these ancient traditions and remember that many of these holidays predate the coming of Christ by centuries.

Happy Solstice from the desert!

2005-12-21T09:03:00.000+01:00

Well, for starters let me apologize for not posting recently. I've been just to damn worn out. Today at www.democraticunderground.com they have an awesome post to excerpts from the Clinton impeachment debate. It's really great to look back upon it, here's the link http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/debatetext121998.htm.

My thoughts of the day? Blah! I have no thoughts. I feel like an automaton as of late. I'm simply going through the motions of living, if one can call this living. I'm rereading "Junky" by William S. Burroughs. If you haven't read it, I would suggest it. "Junky" is a real an unadulterated look into the mind and life of an addict.

Less than 2 weeks till my baby is due! I'm so excited. My only wish is that I make it home safely to spend the rest of my life by his side. (okay at least the next 18 years). Just the thought of becoming a father fills me with a certain energy. One I've never felt before in my life. It is a completely selfless feeling. I just can't contain myself.

Happy Holidays from Iraq.

2005-12-17T07:00:00.000+01:00

Spying on American citizens. I can't think of anything that threatens our liberties and freedoms more. The article posted by the New York Times ( http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/politics/15cnd-program.html ) tells the story about the surviellence of American citizen who have been monitored by the Federal Government eventhough they have never been charged with a crime. This goes against the basic principles of privacy. In all honesty I must ask the question: "Am I being scrutinized by the Federal Government?" My wife is from a muslim culture and is not an American citizen. Mind you my wife has never been a muslim, but because of her nationality her passport does say "muslim" on it. Now my emails are being monitored, my phone calls, perhaps my written correspondance with her?

Well, we can all be thankful about the fact that the senate seems to have slowed the passage of the Patriot Act extension. http://www.nbc6.net/news/5553503/detail.html. Hopefully they will defeat it all together.

I always felt that by giving up our personal freedoms and our privacy that we are allowing the terrorists to succeed. Are we so fearful of a future attack that we willing consent to this inspection of our daily lives? Does the government have a right to tell you how to worship and dress? What to read, who to talk to and what you can write? I know these things haven't happened. I know you are probably saying "Hey Abershawe, what's up with the 1984 conspiracy theories?" Well my friends, this is what I fear we have to look forward to if we continue to give the government more and more power. Is it really worth it? Is it making our lives safer? I personally don't think so. I think we are just as unsafe as we were in the year 2001. I think the world may even be less safe because of our actions.

Always question things. That is our job. We must always be vigilant. When it comes to the terrorist threat that we face as a nation and to what extent the government will go to, ask yourself why the Bin Ladins who were in our country when 9/11 occured were allowed to leave the country on private jets meanwhile every plane in America was grounded. Then ask yourself what ties the Bin Ladins have in our country and how high those ties go.

2005-12-12T07:32:00.000+01:00

I've been mulling over the apparent disapproval that our present administration has against the anti-torture bill, which is being proposed by one of their own party members. I've talked to many people about this, and I constantly get told the same thing, "...they do far worse to us..."

This bothers me on many different levels. First and foremost, it bothers me on a moral level. I have never borne witness to a case of torture or an unlawful order in my time in the military. However, if I was witness to or ordered to do something immoral or illegal I would bring it to the attention of the people in charge. I believe most of the people I work with would. Torture is immoral. It embodies everything that is unamerican.

Actually it makes me so upset I can't think straight. For some reason the religious right keeps popping into my mind. How can someone proclaim themselves as the moral majority and support such things as torture, war and the death penalty?

Well, this soldier is signing off to go back to performing his patriotic duty...

When will the rest of the nation step up to the plate and perform theirs?

2005-12-09T09:07:00.000+01:00

Well, happy belated birthday to me :) I have reached the ripe old age of 31 as of December 8, 2005. The second birthday I've celebrated in this god forsaken place. I don't really have a lot of feelings on this past year of my life. For the most part it was good. Quite a few exercises leading up to a deployment and the complete postponement of my future by the United States Army. Aside from that it was a good year.

Today in the news the main thing to stick out in my mind was Murtha's press conference. I must say the man is brilliant and paints the picture as it is in reality. Go check out the http://www.democraticunderground.com 's post about it and follow the links to the actual transcript. Take the time to read the whole thing because it really gives you insight into this man's extrordinary character and honesty. You may not agree with everything he says but in the political world we live in it is truely refreshing.

Speaking of refreshing also check out http://www.politicsofdissent.blogspot.com/. His post is awesome. I'm in complete agreement with the man. America has been sliding down the tube for years on the moral ground as well as intellectual.

On a silly note. Pirates are better than Ninja's!

2005-12-06T10:28:00.000+01:00

God I love my wife. Let me just start with my breakfast this morning. My wife sends me these huge packages filled with all types of German goodies. A few days ago I got one and inside I found these sealed plastic tubs with...*mouth waters*....feta cheese, olives, and peppers. I had those and a Butter-Mandel-Stollen. God it was so tasty. So anyways...

I'm taking a break from politics today. I'm kind of burned out on the news at the moment. When I was researching Christmas the other day, I became curious and went a head a researched Easter too. I was curious as to where the Easter Bunny came from. I'm not going to go into the roots of the egg laying bunny, I'll save that for Easter, but I did find one thing interesting...because of the plague of rabbits in Australia, the Aussies don't really care much for the little rodents. The Aussies want to bring in a new creature to lay the eggs...*drum roll*...The Bilby!

Honestly I hadn't a clue as to what a Bilby was. So I looked it up on wikipedia and google. The Bilby is a rodent and it is quite freaky looking. Here's a picture of one

Personally, I think it's a damn ugly replacement and I'm all for replacing it with my favorite Australian rodent...THE WOMBAT.

Isn't he cute! So from now on when you think cute little easter animals think Wombat! They are cute and cuddly, not to mention kind of ill tempered at times. Oh, and they are cool.

2005-12-05T07:18:00.000+01:00

On dear god! I just completed my mornings reading. I've read quite a bit about the "War on Christmas" which is a phrase I'm gonna steal from Bill O'Reily. The man is a class A moron. This morning's ramblings are going to be about that holiday and the many things that people seem to have a problem with.

So the all around war seems to be centered around the so called politically correct term of "Happy Holidays" and "Holiday Tree" instead of say Christmas. First off Christians need to remember where most of their Christmas Traditions and the holiday itself comes from....Pagan holidays and traditions. The history of the origin of the holiday are shaky at best. Most historians believe the holiday was created in the 4th Century as a Christmas substitute for the festivals of Saturn and winter solstice celebrations. Pope Gregory I actually approved the induction of innocuous pagan traditions into the Catholic faith, through this the Catholic church did not completely alienate it's pagan citizens and made them feel more welcome in the church.

Among the traditions carried over are the usage of Yule log, holly and misletoe, the Christmas Tree and Santa Claus. The Yule log, which takes it's name from the Germanic winter solstice festival. At this time the pagans would take a long and burn it over a period of days to represent the rebirth of the sun. Mistletoe and Holly also figured prominently in pagan religions that predate Christianity. The Christmas Tree is also in part from the pagan usage of a tree during the Yule celebration. The pagans would actually decorate the tree's by hanging sacrificed animals and slaves from the branches. There are some in Christianity who actually believe the usage of a Christmas tree to be against God's word and they use the Book of Jeremiah 10:1-5 to support their views.

Santa Claus deserves an entirely new paragraph. Santa is actually believed to be a combination of many things. One aspect of him is St. Nicholas of Myra. A bishop in what is now modern day Turkey (Hi fives to my beautiful Turkish wife!!). St. Nicholas was known for his extreme generosity to the poor, especially young girls so that they wouldn't have to turn to prostitution. The Germanic people, prior to Christianity, had a custom each year during the Yule celebration of placing a boot filled with straw, carrots or sugar by a chimney for Sleipner, the god Odin's flying horse. It should also be noted that Sleipner had 8 legs which corresponds with Santa's sleigh being drawn by eight reindeer. Odin would reward the children's kindness by replacing the food for Sleipner with gifts or candy. This tradition survived in the Netherlands and was brought to America by the Dutch in New Amsterdam. The practice of using a boot filled with something for the horse evolved into the hanging of a stocking.

The time period that Christmas falls in is a time for celebration for many faiths, not just Christianity. It has many names and many forms. None of these holidays have anything to do with merchandising and advertising, so there should be no insult in having someone at a counter in Walmart wish you "Happy Holidays" instead of saying "Merry Christmas." As far as the conflict over Christmas Holidays in schools go ask yourself if you are ok with your children celebrating a holiday outside of your religion. Then think about those children in school who aren't Christian. We are a nation of many faiths and it is high time we respect those faiths outside the mainstream.

2005-12-03T15:00:00.000+01:00

The past few days have been pretty uneventful. I had the pleasure of watching a group of Iraqi men spend most of yesterday arguing. My job? Make sure they don't wander of and attempt to perform an insurgent act against our post. I watched this for a bit before I turned to another gentleman I was watching. I asked him what they were arguing over, he said, "It is business. They argue like that all the time. They are crazy." So that was my day. *Sighs* Stop-lossed to do such menial tasks.

Let us move on to the news of the day. I haven't had an awful lot of time today or yesterday to peruse the numerous blogs and news pages that I frequent, but I've looked at a few. Seems Chaney is continuing to show us his "good" side. Really if this is that man's idea of damage control, I really don't want to see his "evil" side. One interesting thing that may be a touchy subject with many of you who read this is the fact that South Africa has ruled the constitutional ban on same-sex marriages illegal. They join the list of only four other countries that allow such unions: Belgium, Canada, Netherlands and Spain. Massachusetts, USA is the only State in the US that allows it, though it is highly debated in the states of California, Oregon and New York. I really think it's time we put away our self-rightous feelings about marriage being a "sacred" union for heterosexuals only. The sacred part is added by whatever diety you are married by, my wife and I have a justice of the peace wedding. She was raised with more of a muslim background and I was raised as a Methodist. She is not a muslim and I am not a methodist, so the only "sacred" part in our marriage is our love for one another, any couple can have that no matter the gender.

Let us see what Wikipedia says:

"Marriage is a relationship between individuals which has formed the foundation of the family for most societies. Marriage can include legal, social, and religious elements. In western societies, marriage has traditionally been understood as social contract between a man (husband) and a woman (wife)."

If we notice marriage "can" include legal, social and religious elements. My wife and I were married by a justice of the peace. This person has nothing to do with religion. My feeling on the subject of same-sex marriage is let them do it. I'm tired of hearing the "moral right" tell people how to live their respective lives, and I'm tired of hearing how marriage is a "sacred" union between two people of the opposite sex, as if the Christian religion has a monopoly on it. Let gay people marry and enjoy the same benefits the rest of us married folk do.

I must come to a close for now. I hope everyone is doing well out there in the rest of the world.

2005-12-01T15:13:00.000+01:00

Well, things are still the same here in Baghdad, Iraq. Day after day I sit here wondering why my country feels a need to have me...ah...hmm...sit here. Seriously, the job I am performing this go around, here in Iraq, is quite possibly the biggest waste of my time and the tax-payers money that I've ever seen.

After perusing numerous blogs and news sights, it would seem that the Judith Miller apology is the big news of the day. This woman, as well as many other journalists like her, lost credibility with me long before all of the proverbial "shit" hit the fan. She and all the rest of the chickenhawks in society are to be held accountable for the erroneous intelligence and the saber rattling that led us to war. I'm just waiting for the people responsible to grow a spine and admit they are to blame. Once this occurs they need to start sitting things right.

With all that has occurred over the past year I still keep asking myself the same question, "Where is the uproar?" Where are the masses of American's upset that they have been lied to? Where are the American's who are angry at the needless loss of lives? Why aren't people screaming for "impeachment?" I keep on thinking back to Bill Clinton and the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal. Mind you I've spent the majority of my time since 9/11 overseas, so I could have missed the uproar, but I remember the American people who were aghast at what Bill had done in the Oval Office. "It has stained the office of the President of the United States, and ruined our reputation," said one individual I spoke to. (to this day I don't think he understood the humor I find in that statement) I heard people saying that he should be impeached for such a disgraceful act. Fellatio in the White House! Don't even get me started on the White Water investigations.

The only thing I can boil the lack of uproar from the American people down to is that it's just not interesting enough to catch their attention. I know, Bush has a 37% or so approval rating...I've read the polls too...but that's not the type of uproar I'm talking about. I honestly feel that my country only cares about simplistic entertainment, sex scandals and chasing the "almighty dollar." Sad times we live in.

One young woman I work with, she is 19, actually told me she doesn't vote because she hates politics. I found this just plain frightening. Here is a woman who has only recently gained the right to vote. She is enlisted in the United States Army which is at war, and she doesn't care about politics??? So, being the argumentative type, I asked her why. She replied, "It doesn't make a difference. Politicians are all alike." A little background on myself...I considered running for city council before I left to join the Army. I wanted to make a difference, and I felt that I could change things. I still feel that way. However, this 19 year old girl has it all figured out. She's never worked a real job before the Army, she never owned her own house or even rented an apartment, but she has the entire political system figured out. Well, I try to find out her knowledge base (I've known some brilliant people in my time and age doesn't figure into it). I asked her who ran in the three most prominent (she didn't know that there were more than three people that ran) parties. She couldn't tell me anyone but George W. Bush. I told her that she should really start trying to educate herself on things before she just wrote off the entire system. She blew me off. Life will continue.

Well, I got off on a tangent there. Eitherway, that is what I think the world is coming too. "If it isn't fun then to hell with it!" that's the new motto.

Back to the grind....

2005-11-30T09:41:00.000+01:00

One of the curses of being here (Iraq) for OIF1 was the lack of good literature. As a result, I had to rely on others to send me things to read. Even internet was hard to come by. Not anymore! This place has a fairly decent selection of magazines, though the ones I read seem to come in only upon rare occasions. I've always found the AFEES collection of titles a little bit short on intellectual value and fairly high on the low-brow side of things. I'll leave that little tid-bit of information for you to roll around in your skull. I still rely on my loving wife to send me magazines, as well as the rest of my family back in the States, but when I come across a magazine that interests me I can't help myself....I buy it.

This leads me to my purchasing of the magazine "Foreign Affairs." For those of you who haven't read this magazine, and have an interest in international politics, this is a wonderful magazine. This issue (November/December 2005) is choked full of articles on Iraq, an issue near and dear to my heart. It has an excellent essay written by Melvin Laird, the former Secretary of Defense under Nixon. I went into the article thinking he would be fairly conservative, but I was proven wrong. Though conservative, Laird displays an eye for sticking by his "guns" even if they run contrary to the conservative agenda. He explains his views as to what we have done wrong here in the gulf and what we can learn from what worked, and didn't work, in Vietnam.

Well, outside of the new magazine, not much of anything is going on here. Work, work and more work. It's all quite monotonous and I believe it's sucking the life right out of me. I'm trying to stay out of the negative on this though so I won't dwell on it. Let us just say, Stop-loss sucks!

2005-11-27T14:54:00.000+01:00

As the first post I suppose I should say a little bit about myself. I am a 30 year old American soldier currently stationed in Iraq. I am married to a wonderful woman and we are expecting our first child in January. This is my second tour to the sand box. I must be honest and say that I'm not happy to be back. I am one of the many soldiers in my unit who have been stop-lossed and at this point I want nothing more than to leave the years I spent in the Army behind me for good. I look forward to the day when I can sit in comfort and peace with my wife and son knowing that the United States Army can never touch my life again.
Well, more about me later...

Some may ask where the term "Rapparee" came from. For this I will quote my favorite website, wikipedia, which is a source of much of my online knowledge. Knowledge is hard to come by here in the desert...thank God for Amazon.com and my wife sending me many books and magazines.

"Rapparees were Irish guerrilla fighters who operated on the Jacobite side during the 1690s Williamite war in Ireland. Subsequently the name was also given to bandits and highwaymen in Ireland - many former guerrillas having turned to crime after the war was over."