Ideals

I get asked a lot if I’m a liberal, or a conservative. Right off the bat I have to say it does not matter, because I am a patriot in love with America. And as a Marine I don't get to really voice my opinions TOO loudly.

But, I don’t really know.

First my take on politicians is this, they are ALL rich people trying to do one of two things, stay rich, or get richer. When it comes to the presidency I remember seeing Reagan and like him for nostalgia reasons. I grew up with Clinton and like him because he was there when I was formulating my ideas and ideals. I hate Bush because he got rich off the blood of my friends. I don’t care about Obama because were too far gone. And bottom line is I’m a Marine and we will do as the president directs.

I am typically moved deeply by stories of Truman. His life, his presidency. And Eisenhower. Eisenhower’s dad was a mechanic. My father talks about him. He is like Reagan is to me. Universally the best presidents come from the humblest of lives. Bad presidents (or less than popular) come from privileged lives (Bush,and Nixon for example).

Now for the issue. Liberal or conservative. I believe in a mixed up mash of ideals. I believe very strongly in highly disciplined homes. My mother was very strict and I am also very strict. I believe that family is the center of life. And a mans measure comes from the family he raises, with the materials at hand. I believe in the right to bear arms. But no one needs a machine gun. I believe in the “melting pot”, but at the same time I believe that illegal aliens are the greatest single threat to our longevity.

I believe God has no business in school, but we should still pledge our allegiance even if not “one nation under God”. I believe it is the responsibility of the individual to work as hard as they need to be as comfortable as they desire, but the government needs to give us health care. I believe that most “hot” political issues are based on religious ideals, and that is NOT a public thing.

I don’t care about gay marriage. I don’t care about abortions. These are all private matters that don’t affect me, and shouldn’t bother you. I think we need to take responsibility for the environment, and the nature we dominate around us. We need to revamp our federal, local and state laws to actually protect us. I think it’s stupid to kill an assailant trying to cause serious harm to my family in my house, only to get sued by the family that made him a deviant.

I firmly feel that the old world is the old worlds’ problem, and we need to focus our time and energy on our hemisphere. Our ancestors left Europe for a reason. I believe that drugs are very bad, but fast food is far more lethal. McDonalds, Marlboros, and Bud Light is kill more of us than anything. Marijuana from Mexico is not worth fighting a war over when there are meth labs in suburban America. We can go to war with them.

I believe groups who are overtly anti American or former enemies of our nation should be eliminated. When Germany was full of Nazis we blew them off the continent, but its o.k. for white kids from the burbs? We fought a war ending slavery and then crawled through decades of violence for equality, but it’s not a crime to be in the KKK? Foolish.

I also think that we NEED to censure television. News should be unbiased, and very plain. Information and raw data only. Teens should not be seeing idiots from New Jersey spread herpes and disrespecting there mothers. The grip of popular culture should not be around our throats. Famous people should not have any say in the politics or day to day of Americans who are poor. Except Arnold. He’s the man.

The list goes on and on. Very long, complex story short I am neither. I am both. I am middle of the road. If you are a decent person, you are good in my book. Work hard, contribute to those who need it, and take care of your family.

Culture

The Marine Corps is, in essence, a martial sub culture. I do not buy us as a martial culture for the reason that we are not born Marines. We are born people. We volunteer for this. We do this to ourselves. We come from the regular world and just assimilate into this one. We BECOME Marines. FOREVER.

The modern world forgets how much it owes to martial cultures. Laws, rules of conduct, what ever church they belong to, supermarkets. Most notably Americans forget to realize that we are a super power because we bullied, intimidated and fought to be one. All the people who bitch about the military seem to over look the fact that they are not starving. Or oppressed to the point that a family member from every family has been killed by the government, or unable to travel from state to state on a whim, or are imprisioned for talking bad about the state. The poor don’t complain about the military. Only the most comfortable Americans complain and judge.

I wish we could leave sometimes, all of us who fight. Fight for the idiots on M TV, and the war dead protesters, and the people who think the military is bad. How long before foreign boats with troops show up off shore, eager to take possessions like the European powers did in the 1600s?

We fight for Americans. Our prosperity. Safety. We fight just as much for the student of the month as the death row inmate. For the 3 job family struggling to make it, as the deviant using the welfare system to not work on purpose. We fight for all of you. Because we LIKE to fight. We LIVE to fight. We ARE martial.

The sheep think THEY did this, with there good nature and happy thoughts. America is the cats me-wow ‘cause we recycle and talk nice and treat everyone fairly. What would the sheep do when we left? Bake cookies and talk it out? We, as a responsible(?) society need to realize that we make the world go round with our raw, overt aggression. With our Martial sub-culture.

I found that there is a REAL universal language in my 20 country travels, and it is a Marine pointing a service rifle at a dude who thinks he is gonna do something that Marine doesn’t want him doing. Universally understood as “stop, before this day becomes your last.”

We were born in a war. The Marines have fought in EVERY one of our nations wars but we have stopped more than can be counted. Just by showing up to the party. People like us are a deterent to people trying to pray on the weak. We are here to help. And we will help all those in need.

You need not thanks us. You should just think before you open your mouth. I don’t care how old you are. I don’t care where you went to school. I don’t care what the rest of the world does. I don’t care how you feel about war. Just think about running water, working sewers, clean clothes, average income, public school, and your cell phone, and then remember you only have that because of ME.

We are here to help.

Random thoughts

VOTE CASTRA PRAETORIA! VOTE AMERICA!

It will be incredibly difficult to “TAP OUT” with my bayonet in your neck.

If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid....unless an idiot came up with it.

I do not like the term “grunt”. I prefer “infantryman”. Grunt sounds like an idiot. Calling for fires requires a large brain. D-bag.

I refuse to argue with people. Your all wrong. Unless your right, in which case I can probably beat the crap out of you. Soooooo your wrong. Just listen to me.

I love reading these silly rules for a gun fight. They may be correct, but I think the first rule should be “don’t get in one.”

The news rarely talks about anything good happening in America, or the world. Either that or the apocalypse has already happened, and we were to busy to notice……

Peralta should have gotten that damn medal! Allen, Jones, and Turner are living proof.

Remember that "pain is weakness leaving the body".... via all that horrible pain. Which sucks!

I typically feel compelled to yell “AMERICA!” at the most inappropriate times, but only when NOT in America.

If you can read, thank a teacher. If you can read in english, thank an english teacher. If you can do ANYTHING else you want, thank a Marine.

Responsibility

Why are these wars against such weak humans so hard? People in the region don’t eat well, have poor hygene facilities, do not exercise, rarely exceed 160 lbs, and have very limited medical systems, yet they fight on. Well.

Every culture has a code, local and national level laws, or ideals to follow when implementing violence. When mindset, ethical and physical training combine properly, the result is a balanced warrior that can unleash controlled violence with a solid understanding of right and wrong. This is us on the moral high ground. Its also ethics as war fighters.

We use rules of engagement to take the thinking out of it. Simple. We have had these in every major conflict in the modern era, in some form. Now they are as complex a group of thoughts strung together, as a Chiltons manual to re build an F 350. This puts the public (sheep) at ease with the fact that, the military they depend on isn’t fighting a war to the utmost of its capabilities. It is seen blindingly here in our current wars.

I am certainly not arguing that our current conflicts would be over or “won” by now if we had the total war ideal of the greatest generation in WW II, but the Taliban are no less resilient than the Imperial Japanese of the 1930’s. They believe in the cause just as deeply as the WW II era Japanese soldier. The Taliban are un-uniformed by necessity vice design. They both attacked America, and I am acutely aware that neither a Taliban loyalist, NOR an Afghani was involved in the attack; they did take money, AND house our Al Qaeda adversaries. (I believe that it should be a law enforcement issue hunting Al Qaeda vice fighting with Afghanis, but that’s another story.)

I cannot answer whether or not total war would win in Afghanistan or not. I do know that Americans are not willing to try. Why not? What’s the difference? Americans. The generation of Americans. Read political papers from the first half of the 1900s. Find blind hatred for the president. Find corporate America controlling the media. Look at pictures in the 30’s and 40’s. Find 3 fat people. Find kids acting foolishly in public, find young people being rude to old people. Tell me how many school shootings there were. How many teen suicides? Pregnancy rates among teens, and then the TV (radio) show about them.

Think of this. Anti war hippies from the 60’s who were in college during the Vietnam conflict are now our politicians. Not really a HUGE deal because they are ALL greedy pigs and want to be re elected and take what ever stand money takes. Think about this now, the politicians of WW II era America were isolationists one generation (or less) away from our civil war. Hippies? No. Fans of war? Hell no! Than why the immediate total response to Pearl Harbor? Its not patriotism. Its not even national pride. Its responsibility.

Our culture is so weak because parents stopped taking responsibility, journalists stopped being responsible, we stopped holding politicians responsible, and we follow the path of least resistance. We got attacked. We then started a war, and then another completely unrelated war. We have a responsibility to end them. Not through total war or even less rules. We need to realize why they hate us so much.

They think of America and they see greedy, morally unsound, hateful people. They see our news. Violence, crime, corruption. They see our TV. Jersey Shore. They are America.

The concept of poor Americans to Afghanis and Iraqis is obscure. Hard working? Impossible. Morally up right. No way. That’s not on M TV. WE DOMINATE popular culture. This is what our enemy sees. This is where they base there opinion. Perhaps if we were more responsible about it they would hate us less.

Remember too that I am an American Fighting man. A War Machine. I believe. But sometimes I wonder if we are still the better of evils? I will be responsible. With my children, with my body, with my violence, and with focus. If every one else would, we could turn the corner, right our course, and prevent the next ideological war. Maybe.

No crazy, radical change in our lives. Just a method of finding a balance. Finding LESS. Less fast food, less media, less indifference, less acceptance of weakness. Weakness of mind, body, spirit, and community.

the unforgiving trade

Welding.

I was a welder when I was a person. I was a good welder. I was school trained in MiG, TiG, and Arc. A man named Russ taught me how to make trailers. I loved it.

Armed Conflict.

This is now my trade. Weapons are my tools. I am school trained to locate, close with and destroy enemies. I am a warrior. Many men have taught me how to fight. I LOVE IT.

There is no “measure twice, cut once” for me.

USMC (we are here to help)

We are here to help, but should someone get in our way... this is why we train. We train to shoot, stab, slash, and beat men to death. We train with rifles, pistols, bayonets, knives and weapons of the body. We train to advance from land, sea, and air. We train to locate and close with them, to attack until they are eliminated. We teach men to hunt men. We will stop only when they are all dead.

And we will help all those in need.

The world according to me. Part 1

I will start these installments with gear. Crap we buy. Americans buy a lot of crap. I buy as much crap as some, but less than most. I look for economy for the most part, yet functional and reliable products that fit the bill.

I will now talk about stuff I buy that is not crap:

KNIVES

There are two basic types of knifes; Folder, and fixed blade. I have three categories in my little universe for knives; fighter, survival, and carry. It is important to understand that I advocate knives that can be all three.

First things first. Fixed blade knives need only be carried in the “scout carry” across the small of your back horizontally. Folders in the hip hinge of your belt line or front pocket of your dominate hand.

1. Fighter. I have the Strider Ranger w/ bone saw.



I advise these for a few simple reasons, grip, maneuverable size as it pertains to yielding, and weight.

The grip is damn near long enough to hold with two hands. It is narrow enough that the entire hand can completely wrap around it for maximum control while yielding, and is made of a durable material with a good non slip pattern.

Though it is a large fixed blade it is not all that wide. This makes for quick transitions of hold easy, and gives you the ability to strike multiple target areas in tight spaces rapidly.

The knife, as a tool, is light. But this badlarry is dense enough to crack open someone’s head. It is thick enough to puncture through battle field debris as necessary.

2. Survival. I like the Tom Brown Jr. Tracker.

This is NOT just a knife. It is a hatchet, saw, knife, and hammer. It can be used as a fighter as necessary for the above reasons, but it is extremely wide, so maneuverability is lost a bit. Tom Brown is a hippy, but this knife is solid! Unfortunately you have to buy a leather sheath separately. It’s worth it.

The saw is completely functional, and behind it there is an arch for striking it with another object to hack at stuff.

3. Carry. Zero Tolerance z350 folder.

It has all the qualities of the Strider in a folder. It fits in your hand, can be employed from multiple carries, is designed with fighting in mind, and has maneuverability unlike any other folder I have come across.

With these three knives all bases are covered and you have standardized your equipment there by adding efficiency to your arsenal, and focus to your training.

Tune in next time for firearms!