Veterans Day Memories

On this veterans day I wanted to share a story from 2006 when I had an encounter with one of my favorite authors. To set this up, you need to understand that I spent nearly the whole year in Iraq  and it became difficult to even enjoy the little things. In my career field I worked 7 days a week and 12 hours a day, some times we flew on missions and that broke up the monotony of doing the exact same thing every day. I believe that 2006 was the hardest year I have ever experienced as an adult, it wasn't a vacation it was hard work while being shot at or just dealing with the hostile environment. At some points co-workers did not make it any easier as well, but in fairness we were all stuck in the same boat so there really isn't a need to blame them because I'm pretty sure I acted like an asshole at times too.

My first encounter with Geoff Johns (http://www.geoffjohns.com/) was around March 2006, I had been working the day shift which was usually 7am-7pm and in the early days of social media I sent him a message and to my surprise I received a response! Now at this moment I was ecstatic, the problem was I had no one to share it with. None of my co-workers or crew members were into comics and I was regularly teased for having comic backgrounds on my computer. So we had a short conversation about comics, where I was in Iraq (which I couldn't really tell him) and staying safe. Over the next few weeks and months we shared short conversations and again this really blew me away, now I was skeptical that this might not really be him but I didn't care it lightened up my day. But that would all be blown away when Mr. Johns attached some files of Infinite Crisis artwork that had not yet made its rounds in Previews or comic book media websites. He asked me not to send the pictures to anyone or post them in any forums, which I didn't do. I knew for sure that I was chatting with one of my favorite authors and this just made the first half of 2006 worth it for me.

By the end of May 2006, I was flying on missions and beginning to hear rumors that I was going to be sent back to the states sometime at the end of June. I figured I would try and repay Mr. Johns kindness and fly an American flag for him on one of the missions and either try to send it to him or deliver it in person at a comic book convention some day. After the mission I sent him a message informing him that I would like to send him something from Iraq, (I wasn't sure this was going to work or even if I would get a response for asking for his address.) He did respond with his address and when I returned to the states at the beginning of July I mailed him the flag with a certificate signed by all the crew members and information from the aircraft. Honestly I wasn't sure if I would ever get to meet the man, I did have plans in place to meet him in Chicago that August but due to a stateside mission to North Carolina, I could not attend or take leave. I was very disappointed but the worst would shortly come.

I found out right after a friends wedding that I would be returning to Iraq for the rest of 2006 and a portion of 2007, this put me in a very dark place. I couldn't understand why I was being sent back, I worked with other people who were mentally fit to deploy. All I was told was that I had the experience and that I really didn't have a choice in the matter. I had never experienced missing the holidays outside of the U.S. before, I know my family had a difficult time while me being gone but for me the trip continued to degrade and put me in a place that I had never experienced before. I have felt sadness and depression before but this time it was foreign to me, I had never been this upset and angry before in my adult life. The hate and anger I had for my co-workers in the states was something I had never before expressed towards them. I couldn't grasp why they had to send me back and on top of that Iraq was dealing with the failure of the surge and we were in prime position for all the shit they pushed out of Baghdad. To say the least I was nervous about what could happen and it didn't help that my sleep patterns were all fucked up and I began to deal with a slight case of insomnia. The work I was sent to Iraq for was the same nearly everyday, we didn't get to fly on missions any more due to a commander making that decision because of flight hours and pay.

I'm sure you are wondering how this all ties together with Geoff Johns and don't worry I promise we will get to that soon. In August I messaged Geoff and let him know that I could not meet with him in Chicago and that it would have to be another place and time. By September I was pretty much telling everyone that I was getting sent back to Iraq and I messaged Geoff and let him know that for the rest of the year I wouldn't be able to make it to any comic book convention due to being sent back to Iraq. Now I don't exactly remember when but Geoff messaged me sometime in early October asking for my address and at first I gave him my home address because I wasn't really sure why he was asking for it. After a few days he clarified and wanted my APO address in Iraq, so I gave it to him and didn't think anything of it. Mail usually takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks to arrive in the war and then it is delivered to our unit and distributed. So around Veterans Day 2006 I received a package from one G.Johns...

Before opening the box, I figured it was from my parents or friends sending me a care package; I happened to just look at who it was from and I looked over at one of my co-workers and said "Who the hell is G.Johns?!" It had totally slipped my mind and I forgot all about him asking for my address, when I opened the box I was completely stunned and immediately figured out that Geoff Johns sent me a box of comics (graphic novels and hardcovers) and they were signed to me. This blew me away and made me really happy, it also helped change my attitude and give me something to look back at; no matter how difficult my job became or dealing with lazy co-workers. My roommate that I was deployed with was also stunned by this, a person I had never met and didn't actually know me went out of his way to send me a box of comics. This is one of the brightest moments I had ever experienced while in the Active Duty Air Force. It is a story that I continue to tell because it is one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me. This gesture no matter how small it might have been, helped pull me out of a deep depression and just made me feel great. I know I wrote Geoff Johns a hand written letter at the time and I'm pretty sure my hand writing was terrible but I sincerely appreciate that he sent me that box. This day it is one of my most prized possessions, there is nothing in the world that can replace the feelings and joy this small box had brought me.

I wanted to tell this story because it is Veterans Day and there is a lot of negativity out there and I needed to write something positive. Tomorrow I can go back to writing about the veterans unemployment rate and the fact that it is really difficult to find work with the skills most of us veterans have from our time in the military. But for today I wanted to express gratitude and share how a person changed my life by just having an online conversation with me.

Cheers and Happy Veterans Day!

The Tea Bag Shutdown : An Iraq War Veterans Perspective

     We are week into the first government shutdown of the 21st Century and I figured it would be good to write an article about how this shutdown is being misreported and misrepresented in the American media. The country is at standstill due to the tea party and its members that have been elected to office in the republican party, this is all self inflicted. It is easy to say this all could have been avoided but I'm not exactly sure that's true, the Citizens United case allowed so much money into American politics that these Tea Baggers began to Primary those who were not right enough or weren't vocal enough about how they disliked the sitting President.
     The shutdown is a bad idea and there is very little anyone outside the Republican party can do about it due to their crazy demands about ending the Affordable Care Act (which they called a failure before it was ever implemented, not sure how that works). So pretty much everything is shutdown, federal workers are furloughed but Active Duty military is still being paid because come on Republicans care so much about military members (unless your gay, homeless, unemployed or suffer from PTSD). A stunt some Republicans pulled last week was one where they took photo-ops with WWII vets who stormed some fences to get to their memorial for their honor flight stuff. Of course the media ate this up and acted like it was the Park Guards fault for putting up barricades and not having the monuments open. Then these tea party members or republicans went on to claim that this is all the Presidents fault because, 1. he wont meet their hostage demands and 2. Affordable Health Care is bad unless you are a former Republican Governor from Massachusetts or Bob Dole.
     What I find insane about all of this is that these tea party fools claim that President Obama is disgracing the "greatest generation" from seeing their WWII memorial, but in the same turn are shutting down the Federal Government and dancing in the street about it. While current vets are watching the VA and other administrations shut down, when they are needed most. Current post 9/11 veterans need help, the unemployment rate is higher than the national average and PTSD is a serious condition that can lead to suicides, severe depression and substance addiction. So the party that claims to love freedom and its troops so much decides to shut down the USG because folks will have a chance to buy health insurance from a marketplace.
     I have had enough of these tea baggers, three years is enough for anyone. They have bastardized Revolutionary War History and the history of our founding fathers. Personally I have lost friends and family over these issues, politically I am not ashamed to be a progressive liberal but the harassment that ensued post 2009 has led me to only seek out debates with those who I know can be civil. This shut down isn't civil, its a temper tantrum while claiming the other party wont compromise to the crazy hostage demands of the tea party. So to those tea party people I say we compromised enough, we gave up the single payer plan because Republicans complained so much during the health care debates. The President and the democrats compromised on the debt ceiling and the sequester, now they claim that was never enough; of course like the addict one you give in they are always going to want more.
     The tea party has taken us so far down the rabbit hole that ideas that used to be thought of as insane are now being seriously discussed by Republican members of Congress, like Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin claiming that crossing the debt ceiling will have little impact on the markets and may even stabilize the global marketplace. This is INSANE! The data and history all prove otherwise, the tea party likes to parrot the lie that this will stop all new spending out of the Obama Administration, but the debt ceiling has nothing to do with current spending; it all has to deal with our past bills and interest on those bills dating back to 1776!
     I find it utterly irresponsible of the American media to say that this is both parties fault, the tea party which is a minority within the Republican party which is in 1/3 of government does not have the right to hold all of us hostage just because they do not like the President of the U.S. The GOP is running scared, the polls show that Americans are highly against a government shut down over the Affordable Care Act and 2014 is only a few months away, primary or not those Republicans who voted to shut down the government are about to face some stiff resistance regardless of the amount of cash they may be given from Super PACs.
     This shutdown may last sometime due to the stranglehold the tea party has on the Republican party but for me this just shows how much tea baggers actually know about government and how harmful this will be to their constituents. October 17 may rock the global markets or send our country into a deep recession and if that happens I will make it a goal of mine to remind every tea bagger / republican what they did to us post 9/11 vets; they refused to pass the post 9/11 veterans jobs bills that the President wanted, they shut down the government and resources that veterans needed during a time when companies only like to say they hire vets but don't actually do it or they expect you to show up fully trained when most of us had jobs that do not relate to the business world. Above all these people will need to be reminded that these are self inflicted wounds, that the tea party chose to hurt all of us because they couldn't handle the results of the 2012 election.

Drone Warfare: 21st Century War Issues

It's been exactly one year since my last post and I figured it was about time that I got around to publishing another one. So sorry for the hiatus (I know I said that last time, I promise I'll try to write on a more consistent basis.)

Lately I have been drawn to these comments and debates over the use of drones in our continuing war on terrorism. It seems that every EMO progressive has had it up to their fedora with President Obama and his administrations ability to publish secret documents outlining the use of drones against Americans who have left their country and joined a crazy militant religious group. Lets just say that these progressives that are upset with the President for using these tactics are currently going about their gripes in the wrong way, this is an issue that could leave these voters home in 2014 because like 2010 "Hope and Change" didn't come fast enough. (Even though the banks totally fucked our economy in 2008, the President alone was supposed to fix all of that overnight.)

The issue I have with these people, is that they don't understand modern warfare. Would I love to see drones stop killing innocent civilians and children? Sure! But its not realistic that this is going to end anytime soon or ever! This is a type of warfare that can be done 6,000 miles away and does not need 150,000 troops on the ground to complete its goals, it saves soldiers lives and that is a positive talking point to keep the program up and running. Honestly who isn't a fan of keeping soldiers home?!

People are also acting like it is such a huge deal that we are using drones in up to 6 countries to kill people and all but one (Afghanistan) is where the "war" really is at. Ten years ago in March, Republicans and Democrats gave then President Bush a blank check with war powers and the patriot act (its only our own fault). If you actually think that ANY President would give those powers back, I have a certain bridge to nowhere in Alaska to sell you...

The real issue is that the public doesn't care about this issue or even the wars that have happened in the last decade. There is a small percentage of people in our country who actually care about these wars and they are mainly veterans, active duty folks and their family members (If they are informed, I can't vouch for all of us vets to actually know whats going on.) The media is mostly to blame on these issues because its never talked about in a broadcast, it is seen and unpopular and a topic that doesn't sell. The media feeds people bullshit about reality TV or whatever young crazy woman in Hollywood is flashing her junk while getting out of the car. It's sad there are so many issue that face us veterans after returning home that they are rarely broadcast unless it has to deal with some tragedy (IE the Iraqi War Vet in Milwaukee who shot his police officer wife).

Even then the media treats PTSD like its a crutch, when it really is a serious issue where something like 18 veterans a day commit suicide. But we as a country will never pump enough money into mental health to control this issue and make our veterans feel normal once again. This becomes an issue with veterans employment, especially since most enlisted jobs after 4 years do not give one enough skills to find a decent paying job after their 4 year service.

I have tied this issue in for one specific reason, that maybe Drone warfare can help cut down on the PTSD cases this country faces, it keeps boots off of the ground (At least in the massive numbers, like we saw in the surge or Iraq and Afghanistan). I'll admit that there are serious issue involved with using the drone program but until Congress takes those powers back and also takes on the military industrial complex, nothing is ever going to change. Money talks, the more drones that are made the more the U.S. has the ability to use them.

To the progressives who are worried about the U.S. using them on our own soil, I'd say be more worried about your big city police departments getting their hands on them first. The police always want what the military uses, and soon we will start having debates about using drones to stop drug crime in our inner cities...Mark my words on it! (That's a debate for another time though.)

Drones are here to stay, they have been with us since the beginning of the war on terrorism. They will continue to shape the debate of the war on terror and voices on both sides of this issue maybe heard but to the military families and soldiers out there they will be happy that flying robots can take the place of 150,000 troops and maybe make the deployments a little more bearable.

This is a debate that will continue with the downturn of the Afghanistan War, those drones will be used elsewhere and I honestly don't see the Obama Administration stopping the overall war on terror, it will continue and may end up being more efficient than any right wing chicken hawk could have imagined. Overall this blog is just food for thought...

Cheers!

The Media & Iran

First off sorry for the hiatus, I've been off doing adventurous things.

But most importantly the recent outcry from the media about Iran is reminescient of Iraq circa 2002-2003. The nuclear paranoia is the same message the American media pushed then as well; it seems that in nearly 10 years we still have not learned that our government and media feeds off of our fear. It gives the media (which isnt run by ideology but money) the ability to push for another war to boost ratings and get the American public into an islamophobia frenzy again. But what the media fails to understand is that in 2012 we live in the era of superfast social networking and they may being trying to capitalize on it but as long as educated veterans and current military members speak up, just maybe someone will listen to us.

The U.S. cannot afford another war in the middle east, it is too costly in tax dollars and human life. But this will not stop the religious right from supporting Israels stance to bomb Iran. This is what I fear the most because the U.S. may not start any military type action but we will be pulled into and ultimately will take the brunt of it. In my own opinion a war with Iran is a bad idea; we need to rebuild our own country at the moment and after a decade of spending a trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan while not gaining anything from it. Also our military still needs to modernize, yeah people can argue that using drones is a step in the right direction but it also can create more problems.

And what happens if there is another war in Iran? Do we stay and rebuild there as well? Do we nation build while our country continues to fall apart and we take more from the poor and middle class while the rich pay less and will most likely never have their children serve in war. In the end we need to avoid a third war in less than 20 years, we need to rebuild here and help rebuild the middle class. We need to remove religion from our politics and with that corporate money, we need democracy to flourish in America otherwise we will go the way of the Romans.

Free Speech

Lately I've noticed some posts on a social media site about a woman who posted a video on youtube where she explains that she doesn't support the troops. At this moment lets put my opinion aside (GASP...I agree with her!) and address the issue of free speech. The people that had made a comment on this video on facebook where either military members or family of military people. I found their comments quite disturbing, not only did they call this woman names a few of them actually called to revoke her right to free speech because she doesn't support what the current U.S. military does. This is quite disturbing...I may not agree with others political opinions but I would never tell them they could not speak their minds, have we come that far as a Nation in the post war on terror age; where we must censor people we don't agree with? I sure as hell hope not, because I enjoy using my CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS to either protest against the wars or speak up about them because I've been to Iraq.

Since 2001 our Nation has been torn apart both by petty politics and fake patriotism, democracy cannot let people take others voices away just because a few disagree with what they say, because then democracy dies. If that was the case most all politicos would be out of jobs and in jail. This was troubling to me because the people who posted the initial comments I had served with or had spent time talking with and I was surprised by their ignorance and lack of ability to protect the first amendment. I wanted to debate more with these people on the issue but to my surprise I was blocked after an initial comment, because my beliefs are you cannot separate supporting the troops from the supporting the so called war on terror.

My argument dives into a historical one because following orders does not mean the soldiers do not have a choice. (This is something I've struggled with since I left the Air Force, because had I looked closer into our missions while I spent 500 days in Iraq I would have objected and made my voice known but that's hindsight.) Two points come to mind when dealing with this subject matter; The Nuremberg Trials after WWII and The Mai Lai Massacre and the U.S. war trials after. In short both of these cases prove that the soldier cannot use orders as a defense from war crimes, in this case killing innocent civilians. So following orders is no excuse when one is ordered to do something that they know is morally wrong, this is where you cannot separate what we have done in the war on terror. We all played a part in these wars, whether we like it or not. Some of us prepared the planes and equipment so other soldiers could go out and complete those missions, those missions could have led to innocent death or the torture of kids. Either way we all have blood on our hands...

I know people like to defend the soldiers and say that we fought for America's freedom, but we know that's bullshit! The only freedoms that were lost after 9/11 were those taken from our own government, the lies that the middle eastern world hates us for our freedoms only stoked the political fire even more. Most of America is too stupid to understand what happened that day, nor did they ask who they people were (Saudi Arabia anyone?) Instead we survived nearly a decade of war and lies through our mainstream media outlets. But of course the American public doesn't want to hear any of this and either do the politicians because that means the wars would end and their pockets would be lighter, because there was a lot of money to be made in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because the American Empire is vast and the middle east was a place we needed to keep our eye on, but our actions since WWII have caused these problems and Imperialism is not going to solve them now.

Free speech and the right to protest our government are important to our Democratic Republic, we need to embrace being free and not living in fear and not letting those who seek to use fear to their advantage back in office. Now going back to the woman in the video, I agree with her and have made these types of comments before either on facebook or in person. After WWII the U.S. led by fear, fear of communism and the A-Bomb, the Cold War created the Military Industrial Complex which now our economy depends on. We spend more in defense then something like the next 7 countries combined, and it continues to go up every year. War has become a business, if you happen to be a defense contractor chances are you made a shit ton of money in the last 8 years and it may not all have been legal. My end point is that free speech is too important and just because you do not agree with someone does not mean their rights should be taken away, ignorance is what leads to the death of our democracy. If we were all more involved with what our nation does and actually paid attention instead 30 second news clips our nation would be better off for it.

The occupy movement issues...

I was recently in a discussion about the occupy wall street movement that is somewhat sweeping our nation at the moment. Now I know this movement has been going on for over a month because I am a regular user of twitter and follow many progressives who passed the information along. Now don't get me wrong I think it's great that people are in the streets like they were back in March here in Wisconsin. But as I mentioned in my class, no matter who WE vote for they are not going to bite off the hand that feeds them, politician's survive on wall street and corporations money. Any politician who would cut that off would be cutting short his own career, and these people who are power hungry are not going to give up that lively hood for democracy to flourish. Capitalism and the version we have become accustomed to in this county is just too damn powerful and too damn enticing.

Here's the problem....it is US! We are consumers we buy products from corporations who in turn have shares on wall street, so while you maybe out in the streets with thousands of other protesters filming police brutality, you are most likely filming it with a product that you purchased from a company that has its hands in other business or government projects. Now I'm not saying we should jump into total chaos but if you really want to shock the American system, stop buying products. Sure it will most likely tank the economy even more but it will quickly get politician's attentions. We as Americans are too naive, we believe the mainstream media at every turn, we fail to understand that the spending of two wars has severely hurt this nation.

Change always comes at a price, but like in Millennium People, we fail to understand the consequences of our actions, if you truly wanted to dive into these protests our actions would make our lives less comfortable than they currently are. An example is the Iraq War, I'm sure if you asked the nation if the Iraq War was mistake, illegal and pointless more than half of the 300 million people would agree. But if that's the case how come we have been there for nearly 10 years? Protesting and free speech are great but if there is no sacrifice and no ambition to end the war from the people, why would the government change? And another example is Daniel Ellsberg, sure people protested the Vietnam War, but his Pentagon Papers which were an eye opening view to the war, took nearly 5 years for someone in our government to listen and end the war.

Sure the people can enact change, but short of a revolution and overturn of our economic policies the government and big business is happy with the status quo. Sure the people in the poor and middle class suffer but big money walks and talks! While WE the people have no real say in our elections, big money is even hitting the local levels, the crushing of unions has business licking its lips and relentlessly hoping for the 19th century again.

This maybe a negative blog and bit off my normal topic about the wars and my military experiences, but I suppose we will see how motivated these protesters really are once the cold sets in on the east coast. If this survives the winter we may have a movement that gains steam and actual power with the political community but for now every conservative, republican and teabagger are writing these people off because they like the status quo even those most of them are not rich, or ever will be. We love the fantasy of being rich, but we fail to understand that we can never be a nation of rich people, and until we grasp that as a Nation we will continue down this path of greed.

Cheers!

10 Years later...

First off I must warn that this post may offend some of you, but do not think that for one moment I will regret what I post. Tomorrow is the 10th year after the September 2001 attack, now the American media is playing to that to get people to watch these shows where politicians get the chance to try and re-write history while saying things that never happened or are even true.

Since that day we have lived in a country where our American freedoms have been taken from us in the name of security. The DHS and its overpowering and over growing authority still exists, the pat downs and the body searches at the airports are still here. The war in Afghanistan is still going on and IT IS a failed war, the illegal war in Iraq that was started because of a government that let one Administration manipulate the facts to send American service members to do their dirty work so private contractors and oil companies could reap in record profits. All the while destablizing Iraq and other countries in the middle east, because America always needs to get involved when oil is present.

My military friends may not be happy with what I say, or how I say it. But in the real world, where we the common people live; the only thing that has truly changed in ten years is that we have lost our freedoms. Americans have died in two countries where the wars weren't needed, and on a daily basis I see posts that say it is important to support the troops even though you may not support the wars. I think this is complete bullshit! As members of the military we cannot hide behind orders and hide behind the fact that officers may have told us to do missions that have caused harm to others. But more on that in another post...

People are talking about this 10th year anniversary and how important it is, and it is important. The message that needed to be broadcast should have been one of truth and facts. Yes 3,000 people died that day, but what happened next is even more important. The expansion of the government, the creation of the DHS and its ability to use the Patriot Act. But in all honesty compare those 3,000 to the hundreds of thousands that have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since. Where is their day? Where is their justice? How do you think they feel? To watch another country bring its military forces and destroy everything, to round up people for fighting back or even kill them without cause. But of course we are selfish country and any republican or American who just watches fox news would tell that the Iraq war was necessary because of that day. But thats not true, there was no connection or wmd's. How come we aren't talking about those lies?

As Americans we are a society that is fueled by racism, we have politicians who claim that Americans who are Islamic deserve to be watched and have their rights stripped from them. Does this sound familiar? We did it in WWII against the Japanese, or how about the 1950's and McCarthyism. We do not learn from our past, we repeat it. It's an on-going cosmic joke that Americans will never learn from their past, we tear down one group of people whether it be over; race, gender, political status or societal status. And for most people this would make them sick to their stomachs, instead is encouraged through the republican party and their racist wing in the tea party. These people want to ban Islam because they think a religious law will take over our land, news flash these people are trying to enforce a christian law. In my opinion no religion is right, no religion should be used in this government in anyway shape or form. The founding fathers saw that and put it in the constitution, but more and more we see politicians use the religion as way to get votes and push some crazy ass agenda.

It is true that this is a time to reflect on ourselves and as a country as a whole. We need to see that in ten years nothing has changed. Two wars continue on that drain our country of money and human life, we need to see that it is time to rebuild our country. We need to continue to push for my generation and the generations after me to grow up in a country where FEAR isn't used a political tool. We need to reflect on both wars and how the have impacted the world and our country. How one war has since failed and the other was started under illegal actions.

I remember where I was in 2001, I was a sophomore in high school. What happened that day did not shape me in anyway shape or form to serve in the U.S. military. I did that on my free will, I did that because the only way to understand it and understand the world it lives in you have to serve in it. My past in the military may haunt me from time to time but one thing is for sure, I did not join it to take freedoms away from my own countrymen.

We must not back down from our politician's, we must seek out the truth even if we do not like what the truth is. We cannot hide behind orders from officers and a rapidly changing world to say we were afraid to speak out. We must remember that WE THE PEOPLE run this country, and the most important thing, it was just not Americans who suffered on that day, or the days afterwards. Many people suffer in this world and they do not get a media driven day just to get ratings to help themselves.