2010 Happy Memorial Day

Veterans, Happy Memorial day.

For those who have served, it is often hard to think back about brothers we have served with who have gone before us. I must say it has been an honor to serve with each of them, and it is to honor them that I give everything I have to do what I do.

To those still serving, I am honored to be your brother in arms.

To those who have retired from active service: Thanks for your awe inspiring service. I hope one day to make it to that 20 year mark.

To those who served but did not retire but served: Thanks for playing a part in keeping our nation free from tyranny.

To those considering service in the armed forces of this great land: Don't. If it is something you can even consider saying no to, you are not called. U.S. Military service takes unwavering commitment and a willingness to spill blood, yours or your enemy's, in a fight you may be opposed to. You won't make it.

Only those who can't stop thinking about it, who just feel drawn to excellence, who absolutely must serve will make it. Every one of the brothers I have lost in combat were not there because they signed some silly contract (and they did voluntarily); not because they had considered it and decided it was a great idea; but because they just had to be there, doing what they felt called to do.


On Friday afternoon, the scouts of troop 597 and I placed flags at the headstones at the North Carolina veterans cemetery. The ground was hard and the flag staffs were breaking as we stuck them into the ground. Some of the fathers were smart and brought screw-drivers with them to poke a hole in the ground in order to put the flags in. All I had was a knife, but I cannot think of a more honorable task for a knife to complete.


After placing the flags, my sons and I went over to the Beirut, 9/11 and Vietnam Memorials, to talk about Memorial Day and what it really means.

I will never forget.

Semper Fi,
m

Back from OIF 9.2

Well, for those of you who don't know, I am back from OIF 09-10 and don't plan to go back to Iraq anytime soon. We will see though, right. We turned Anbar Province over to the 82nd Airborne, the same unit that turned it over to us back in 2004... Oh the irony.

It was not an easy deployment that is for sure. We worked, hard and long hours. The main reason I did not blog on this last deployment is our rules and regulations forbade it, but in reality, my schedule would have prevented it anyway. Our section worked too many hours for it to have been feasible. We had more drama than my last four deployments combined and most of it was unnecessary. We seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot and create more problems than we fixed.

Two of the Marines in my team were not just promoted, but promoted meritoriously. Those two were just two examples of the Marines we had that got recognized for their persistent efforts and hard work. Numerous awards and medals were earned and awarded by the time it was all over and we have now returned able to say we accomplished our mission.

During the trip, I got to go to Baghdad for a week. That was quite a trip, complete with several walk-abouts. The palaces there, although not in the best of shape, were so very interesting to look at. I got to walk into where they held Saddam Hussein before he was hanged.



We got back just in time to see the SuperBowl, in time for Colleen’s birthday, Caleb and Seth’s birthday and Valentine’s Day.

Yup, one more in the books… now on to the more important stuff: my family.

I am planning on getting overly involved in my boys’ scouting and enjoying what time I can squeak in with Katelyn. All three of my kiddo’s are just growing like crazy. All three of them are hitting that age when they need a daddy’s discipline and love.

Thank you so very much for all of your support over these last few months. The care packages were all shared and made a significant impact on the Marines, their morale and the performance of their duties. As hard as this deployment was, your support made it bearable and made our successes possible.

Semper Fi,
m

He's Coming Home!

In case you haven't heard the news... Mark is coming home in early/mid February. Nearly 2 months before his scheduled homecoming. Many people have asked why, and quite simply the reason is the Army showed up several months early. So the Marines are leaving early. Mark's unit was slated to "turn the lights out on Iraq", but the Army will now do that as Marines all over the globe prepare for their next assignment... Afghanistan. We have no reason to believe Mark will head there anytime soon, but we are certainly praying he'll be home for longer than he has been over the past couple of years.

So Mark if you are reading this, come home soon and come home safely.

We all love you and can't wait to hug your neck, give you a high five and simply live life with you!

"The Devil You Know"

The American Scholar magezine published an article titled "The Devil You Know," written by an American Army Officer.

I don't agree with all he says in the article about trust or understand his perspective, but I worked with "Rambo" and can honestly say I understand his perspective.

In the actual article, you can see a picture of "Rambo" and some of my actual handwriting on the wall behind him.

In a wild-west kinda way, he is imparting the only kind of justice he understands to the best of his ability.

Anyway, the article is a glimpse into what we lived in over there.

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-devil-you-know/

Semper Fi,
m

Pool Uncovered

I am still on leave and enjoying time with the family.

The kids are back in school and getting ready for their End Of Grade (EOG) tests. Apparently those are some kind of important test that everyone teaches to. That concept eludes me. If you are teaching the things kids need in life, life will be the test to whether or not they learned it, right? Natural selection will just happen....

We uncovered the pool yesterday and should have it completely filled by tonight. We have been working in the yard non-stop since we got back and are just starting to see the fruits of our labors. We still have lots to go though, so no pics yet.

As for reading, I am slowly making my way thought the H. John Poole book, The Tiger's Way. It is pretty good so far, but I am not sure I buy all that he is preaching.

Semper Fi,
m

Somali Pirates using Intel!

Well who would have figured? I guess the Pirates off the coast of Somalia are not all that archaic and rudimentary in their methods after all.

Just because our imaginations go to images of "Hook" and his band when we think of pirates, doesn't mean they are not very sophisticated in their methods.

Consider the article written by Giles Tremlett in the Guardian and what he says about pirates picking targets.

That area is one of the most critical waterways in getting goods from the Eastern to the Western hemisphere and back. "The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia to Europe and one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, crossed by more than 20,000 ships each year. The alternative route around the continent's southern Cape of Good Hope takes up to two weeks longer at huge expense."

These Pirates are using RPG's and relatively small weapons to take down the crews of these ships. I know better than to arm-chair-quarterback this one, but will go so far as to say they are using very little to impede global commerce.

This is kind of like the elephant getting terrified by the mouse. What would it take to introduce some "cats" into the elephant's cage to take care of these rodents? How soon until the pirates migrate up to speed-boats with torpedo's and heavier weapons....

My thought is that the pirates really don't want to sink the ship or even hurt the crew. In my mind, a sunken ship has no value to them. A dead crew brings no ransom.

The fact that they are working with the Brits (infidels in the mind of a Muslim) says that this has nothing to do with religion, but then again, no one said it did.

The fact that they are working with the Brits says that they are developing an international coalition to do their work...

First generational warfare thinking would have us sending out mother ships and pirate rigs to hunt them down, broad side to broad side... I am just not convinced that would work.

Second generational warfare thinking would say we need to fortify the ship and strengthen her defenses. A good tactic I suppose, but doing that for the estimated 20,000 ships that pass that way each year would get extremely costly in a hurry.

Third generational warfare thinking would have us blitzing to the "head of the snake" (pirate leadership) to take it out so that the body (pirates themselves) die with it. My capitalist mind believes that if the bounty is still out there, a new profiteer will emerge.

Fourth generational warfare thinking erodes the pirate support base by turning the populace against the pirates. Some how making them socially corrosive to their own environment. These pirates are actually supporting their own tribe/local community with the scraps that fall from their tables. In Somalia, they are the ones with money, so they actually pay for services/goods and they are paying the locals.... It is kinda tough to see the guy feeding your family as a bad man.

So what is the solution? In my mind, and I eluded to this earlier, we must make the cost greater than the gain. Make it more painful to be a pirate than pleasurable to live that life.

No gain: If no ransoms were paid, pirates would eventually stop. If pirated ships were simply taken back with nothing gained by the pirates, eventually there would be no reward for taking the ships in the first place.

More pain: Aggressively prosecute all pirates that are caught in the act. Gather intelligence on the Pirate infrastructure and attack it with a vengeance. Return pirated wealth to those who were plundered.

Combine the "No gain" concept with the "More pain" concept and I think you have a working idea to combat this problem.

What say you?

Semper Fi,
m

Back from Disney 2009!!!!

We are finally back from Disney!!!

I will have more internet access now and will be posting more stuff... (I say that all the time, don't I...). I am working on it.

On a related note, we are working on my kids writing skills and have convinced them that blogging is a good idea! I will be posting their site information up here soon, so all you relatives and those who would like a glimpse into their lives, stay tuned!!! Their Blog's will be listed in my Blog Roll here to the right.

Semper Fi,
m

Is Torture Right?

Torture is in the news quite a bit lately.

Here is one article written by a Retired Marine (http://www.thebutter-cutter.com/Torture_in_Interrogation.php) and another from the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/opinion/23soufan.html?ref=opinion).

Can "water-boarding," or other extreme/ traditional methods of interrogation be effective if used correctly or do they simply elicit stop-the-pain responses?

The real issues here, in my mind anyway, are: 1. Defining torture, 2. Do the ends give you what you are looking for and 3. Does the end justify the means?

At what point does physically or verbally communicating with someone become torture? I can recall numerous professors who "tortured" their students with hour after hour of grueling powerpoint slides. I can also recall Drill Instructors "training" me with hundreds of push-ups and 8-count body-builders. Where is the line?

In both of those cases, I think the end justified the means. I learned the lessons they were trying to teach me and am a better man because of it... but their lessons were intended for a very, very small audience. They were influencing me, a classroom, or a platoon of Marines, at most.

Information gleaned from a solid interrogation is often used to protect thousands if not millions of American lives. That said, effective intelligence impossible to quantify. You never know how many lives were saved because a "9/11" was averted by good intelligence. We don't know what our intelligence has prevented or how much good was done because of "water-boarding" or other traditional methods.

We simply cannot see the ends the means have brought about and therefore cannot tell whether the ends justify the means.

All that said, I am against inhumane treatment of all sorts against all non-combatants; however, I am also all for doing what needs to be done to protect non-combatants as well.

Any thoughts?

Semper Fi,
m

Anti-Pirate Duty

Colorado Representative, Republican Mike Coffman is pushing to put military members on board all U.S. flagged ships passing through pirate waters. http://coffman.house.gov/2009/04/coffman-wants-us-military-on-merchant-ships.shtml

Marine Commandant, General Conway wants Marines to have more of a maritime presence, like we did at our inception. http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4101

It is my opinion that the primary roles of the Marine Corps is to defend ships, conduct amphibious, expeditionary operations, and operate in small teams to defend installations/persons vital to U.S. interests.

If we adhered to these missions, Marines would:
- do just what Representative Coffman is suggesting and man all U.S. ships,
- remain at U.S. Embassies and diplomatic facilities both domestic and abroad,
- pull completely out of Iraq, Afghanistan and all other protracted struggles more suitable for U.S. Army involvement and,
- expand the number of Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU's) that are currently deploying.

We are good at protracted ground combat and know how to engage a land adversary in conventional combat, but that doesn't mean it is or should be our mission. Hammers are good at pounding in screws, but that shouldn't necessarily be their mission.

What do you think?

Semper Fi,
m

Happy Easter '09

Well, I sure hope you all had a happy Easter this year. We sure did. If you have seen Colleen's page, you know that the boys and I painted our heads like Easter eggs this year.

We spent lots of time together as a family and doing things together we enjoy. We, I mean the Easter Bunny, hid the kids Easter gifts and they had a blast doing the hunting.

Church was our next activity. Between ushering and work in childrens church, we spent that part of our day serving, which we find more rewarding than just sitting in the service. We get the CD, so we still get fed, but making sure others get fed is just so rewarding.

We went out to eat, so Colleen could have a break from dishes and cooking chores.

Then we came home and just relaxed around the house. Colleen and I napped to the background noise of the TV and the kids cuddled with us in between playing with their Easter stuff.

Before our dinner of popcorn and a movie, we colored 48 hard-boiled eggs... and yes, Colleen cooked them so I would not make a mess.

The Marine Corps saw fit to let me sleep in today and is only requiring me to come in at 1130... how nice of them. Actually, they would be much nicer to me if I were back in my unit. Most units on base don't have to go back to work until Tuesday at 6pm. Since I am at the Academy, I have less time... gotta get those academic hours in.

The kids are on Spring Break and enjoying time with mom.

Have a great week!!!

Semper Fi,
m