The best write up about Iraq I've seen lately

I Miss Iraq, I Miss My Gun, I Miss My War this guy knows what he's talking about.

I've had days and weeks where I miss the weight of the armor on my shoulders, a weapon on my hip and sweet sound of a round being chambered. Unlike this guy, I can be blithe in reality about most of my trips except for those moments that still are burned behind my eyelids that I have trouble putting into words. Life in war wasn't the stasis of base life, it was a state of being beyond the wire, being shot at by someone who wanted to kill you and you doing the same thing back.

Taking care of the bride

The lovely bride is under the weather with a head cold which I've been treating with sudafed, tylenol, cold compresses, warm liquids and TLC.  Tonight she was lying about complaining about sinus pain and head ache so... I introduced her to the move I losely call the Afrin head bang.  I had her lay on her back with her head hanging upside down and spray it in her nose.  She yelled and I held her down for a second while her feet kicked and she said, "You're trying to kill me!"  Five minutes later, my head feels better!  Disclaimer on Afrin, don't use it more then 3 days.

Climbing Corona Del Mar's Green Burrito 1993

I used to climb back in the day when I was skinny, this one day, I wasn't really planning on going to the beach but somehow ended up there without the right shoes and saw some folk trying one of my favorite routes. It's not about how strong you are nor the gear that you have, it's about the skill or talent that you have inside.

Marvel Phoenix Time Lapse Tattoo Finish

I've been a fan of Marvel's Jean Grey as Phoenix since I was a little kid and used to have dreams of bursting into flame and flying away.  Those went away after catching myself on fire for real a couple of times but the thoughts still linger.  My wife surprised me last year with an appointment with Meghan Ortez of 92 Proof Tattoo in Lemoore to check out my idea for a Phoenix and we decided on a plan of attack.  After finishing up my first 7 and a half hour session I thought, that would look pretty cool on time lapse and below is the finished product of what I came up with.  20 hours total, 12 of those hours condensed in the video below to Aerosmith's "Livin' on the Edge" which I think fits. Thanks Meghan for the great work and the bride for starting it off and running the camera.

And this is how it turned out

California Marines We're Unforgettable

This was my old squadron HMM-764, I'm glad someone took over the picture and video taking after I left, good job guys!

Phoenix Tattoo

My third tattoo in time lapse, this was my second sitting and I made a video of it.  The artist is Meghan Ortez, shop 92 Proof Tattoo in Lemoore CA and the amazing camera girl is my bride.

Book Review of Robert McCammon's: The Five

First off, Robert McCammon is my favorite author bar none and I consider Boy's Life one of the best works laid out in the English language.  But that and the review below are both personal opinions, I wrote the below for Audible.com

"This story flows like a river"

With every word of this book, Robert McCammon builds an elaborate web that goes across the American southwest, an epic and yet still a personnel battle between good and evil, makes you question your decisions and lays the groundwork and the reasoning behind deeds done later. The heroes of this book are hugely flawed, and the villains even after doing horrible crimes, aren't beyond redemption. The book is magic but it's not quite a fantasy, there are magical elements. It's the magic of what lies under our perceptions and the movers that are behind the scene. 


The book takes place from the viewpoints of the band members, their manager and a damaged Veteran of the Iraq war who was at the point of suicide at the beginning of the book and see's a music video that the band made protesting the war and it touched him.... but not in a good way.

Like most of McCammon's work, at the end of the day, you'll leave after grieving, laughing with joy, shivering in the shadows, saying, "Oh no!" and falling in love with the characters and feeling hope for the next day.  Good job Sir!

Key West

Back in Key West, groggy first day on the ground, I would like to say its from partying hard but we just got in late last night due to flight delays from the Lemoore fog that filled the cetral valley like milk in a cup.  A midnight trip to Dennys of which in hindsight, sleep would have done me more good.

On the medical side of the house, so far so good.  Hopefully I'll get a pole in the water tomorrow.  The bride missed this trip, she has her final for her Masters degree in a couple of days.  Yawn!  Even a bad day in Key West is better then a good day in Lemoore! 

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!

Where Soldiers Come From

"From a snowy, small town in northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan, Where Soldiers Come From follows the four-year journey of childhood friends who join the National Guard after graduating from high school. As it chronicles the young men’s transformation from restless teenagers to soldiers looking for roadside bombs to 23-year-old combat veterans trying to start their lives again, the film offers an intimate look at the young Americans who fight our wars, the families and towns they come from — and the way one faraway conflict changes everything. A co-production of Quincy Hill Films and ITVS in association with American Documentary | POV, with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (90 minutes)" 

Watch Where Soldiers Come From - Trailer on PBS. See more from POV.

Veteran's Day # 8 for DITB

Have you gone out and hugged a Veteran today?  This year might being a close to the Iraq conflict and a general wind down.  Military budgets are also slimming down, peacetime doesn't need as many mouths to feed and boots on the other side of the world and as any period of history can show you, this is never a smooth transition.  In this time of cuts, there are still many people who are supporting the Vet.

Knott's Berry Farm Veterans Day Tribute, 1st through the 24th of November is free for the military person and a guest, each extra person is 17 bucks.

Here's a list of 195 military discounts which I'll put on my sidebar later

Stores & Services Offering Military Discounts

www.bradsdeals.com/military

Blackhawk ride around NAS Lemoore

My department does the flight physicals for the local National Guard folks up in Fresno, as a gesture of good will, they called us on Friday and asked if we would like a ride.  So I gathered the people who were able and up we went, here's a video.  Thanks guys, we had a great time!

Camping Kick

My wife is a technophobe who married a cyberpunk geek.  With her treasured AAA membership, every time we drive by one of those stores, she can’t help herself and has to grab a stack of maps which she puts in stashes all over, behind seats, glove compartments and luggage. 

Me?  Since GPS and Google maps came out, I like knowing how far I am from my destination and being able to find out what’s interesting around me and with smartphones, everything is connected.  You have a friend on Facebook, with that app and a couple of clicks, you can call them, click on their address and get turn by turn directions to their house or even spookier, to their work, someone else is looking for their contact info, in less than 10 button pushes you can that zipped over to that friend without even typing in a letter (which I did earlier today in less them then I thought possible).  You can find good places to eat, times for movies, balance your check book and be in touch news just about anywhere.

But over the last few months, I’m getting a feeling how thin that cyber spherical is once you leave the highways and the online reviews.  The Brides maps are coming in handy, in fact, we have been buying the expensive maps from the National Parks because we need the detail when we’re out in the middle of nowhere.  Some of the roads we've traveled on, we've gone down and have only passed one or two cars in in a day of travel.  Yet, we’re still noobs out here compared to the folks who hike the John Muir trail.  

It is interesting going out to the edge of a map and seeing a road that goes in a mysterious way and finding where it leads.  We’ve had some grand adventures lately using this method and found things that we haven’t been able to find in the internet. 

I know we’re not the first people who have been to any of these places but we get the feeling that they’re rarely seen and from what we can tell, the people that see them don’t post them online.  Maybe I’ll show you something new.

Anyhow, here’s a video of our last trip and by the way, have I mentioned that I’ve been selected to transfer to NAS Whidbey Island in the spring? 

Tales from Afghanistan

Since I'm not the same milblogger that I used to be, let me point you to a rising talent and close friend Nate.  He deployed a couple of weeks ago and started blogging over at Tales from Afghanistan.  He tells a good tale. Keep your head down brother, I'm looking forward to turning up a bunch of cold ones with you.

If money could have bought a cure…

I’m feeling a bit guilty today, you see, back in 2004 I had 16 thousand or so songs on my 160 gig external hard drive in Iraq and at that time maybe 10 thousand pictures.  Once of my Marine buddies wanted asked to copy some of my music and I said sure.  He plugged it into his Mac laptop and it changed the format of the entire hard drive and I lost everything.  Well, all of the music anyhow, I still had the pictures. 

But I was stressed out by Iraq and it made me so angry that I swore to myself, I will never buy a Mac product.  I did get over that angry outburst but when I had a choice between Apple and something else, well I’m a Zune and PC user and use a Creative Zen for Audiobooks.  And I really do love the IPad and since I’m a photographer and video maker, Mac’s do sort of rock. 

Steve Jobs changed the face of the world and if anyone seemed more then human, he did.  He has passed away earlier today, but no one can say his life was wasted.  Tonight, I’ll put an Apple product on the wish list.