Some thoughts and Memorial Day

There hasn't been much happening since my last post. We call it Ground Hog Day - comes from the Bill Murray movies where he wakes up repeatedly on Ground Hog Day in PA and won't move on in life until he becomes a better man. I find it to be a hilarious movie and a convenient description of my time here on some days.

Earlier this week, the Department of Defense released a story about a captured Al Qaeda Torture Manual discovered in one of the raids. The story was presented along these lines:

"In a recent raid on an al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq, U.S. military officials recovered an assortment of crude drawings depicting torture methods like “blowtorch to the skin” and “eye removal.” Along with the images, which you’ll find on the following pages, soldiers seized various torture implements, like meat cleavers, whips, and wire cutters."


My first thought was, "How terribly inappropriate to release this story when two of three soldiers from the 10th Mountain are still missing". Their families don't need to read about such things in this time of crisis. I am glad to see this received only one day of press and I had to work at finding it again for this post.


My second thought: "This, my fellow Americans, is what we are up against here in this forsaken land." I have previously written about this region's lack of compassion and value for life. They do this to each other - the pictures in this manual show Arab men as the victims. You can bet your retirement on the treatment rendered to American soldiers is extra-judicial in the application of the torture techniques. No matter how many insurgents we pick up or kill, there are at least 2 more to take the last ones place. It is akin to a virus spreading through your computer infecting and corrupting every file until you are left with nothing but a box and no internal workings.



It's hot here. It was 112 in the shade at lunch, there's is no wind today, and the amount of dust and pollution in the air has created a low ceiling that traps the heat between the earth and the solid haze that hangs over us. With no relief from the heat, it's no wonder people fight all the time. Their brains bake in this heat and they can't think straight.


Tomorrow is Memorial Day. If you would, please take an extra moment of quiet thought and say the word "Thanks" for the kids who have paid the ultimate sacrifice here and for the brave American men and women who fought and forged our nation and this world through their efforts, tenacity, ingenuity and sacrifice. Land of the free and home of the brave. America's freedoms and rights of the individual are the example and the hope of every nation on this planet. To my fellow Veterans and their families who endured...Thanks! May God continue to bless our country.