An urge

I've had an urge to brag; just to say that I'm doing a good job, but I know that no one likes to hear that kind of stuff because I especially don't want to sit around listening to braggers. Some people mistake my humble nature for being shy.

Oh and the picture is irrelevant.

Afghanistan

We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.

So President Obama said this in his speech last week. To forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan....

“Afghanistan in many ways poses an even more complex and difficult long-term challenge than Iraq — one that, despite a large international effort, will require a significant U.S. military and economic commitment for some time,” the defense secretary and former CIA head wrote.

CNSNews

I can't say I am disappointed that our new president is heading towards Afghanistan; he said it himself in his presidential campaign that we need to spend more than ever in the military budget, but I just didn't want to see more declarations of war.

What's my reason?

Today I was talking to my friend over the phone while I was at the library, and he asked me why I joined the army. He said I should get out. When he was talking about it, I was a little disappointed with his tone. Sure, no one in my family really supports the idea of me in the military (they often ignore it while I'm at home), but my friend is like my high school chum. His opinions matter, and his question kinda hit me. Why did I join? I certainly disagree with a lot of our foreign policies, and I'm very outspoken against the war on "terror."

But what is my reason? what is going to keep me going? I really have no answer, and that really scares me. Maybe life is moving too fast for me right now that I cannot think. Back in the day, I was really spacy and had so much time to think. Of course, back in the day I was not doing all this bullshit I have to do now.

Point of this--
I will find my reasons before it's too late.

LTC memory: Update on something I found

While reminiscing through my old Lj, I found this interesting find. I wrote it after I had my precombat inspection last summer before I went to LTC.

Today I had my PCI and APFT in Dekalb. The PCI (precombat inspection) was to make sure i was ready to leave next wednesday for LTC. the only thing i didn't have with me was two athletic supporters. yuck, why do i need three jock straps? i heard no one wore those. :C i hope someone calls me and say, "nevermind we don't think you need it."
we also had to do the horrible fitness test. i get so anxious to get those over with. i did alright on my situps... average on the run and pushup though. SFC Lewis told me that i have to strive for 300 because soldiers look up to a leader who is physically strong. so i guess i'll aim for that by the end of my college career.

So as an update,
No I did not ever, ever wear those stupid supporters. In fact, they could care less. They never checked the things we brought. The list they gave us must have been old too, because they did not allow OTC medicines including tylenol and claritin. And I had them in my locker for two weeks before realizing I looked like I smuggled in drugs.

And look how youthful I was! To aim for 300 on the APFT. I'd like to see someone else reach that first.

Hamas

Hamas is an Arabic acronym for Islamic resistance movement meaning zeal.

Hamas is divided into political and military branches with the former directing Hamas' vast social service network. The military branch is reportedly divided into three wings: an intelligence arm which gathers information about Palestinians suspected of collaboration, an arm which pursues those who have violated Islamic law and the Izzedine al-Qassam squads who are responsible for most of the terror attacks. The al-Qassam squads are comprised of a few dozen activists loosely organized into small, shadowy terror cells, at times operating independently of each other.

Unlike the more shadowy Islamic Jihad, Hamas is a well-entrenched, all-encompassing presence in daily life in the West Bank and Gaza, administering mosques, schools, clinics, youth groups, athletic clubs and day-care centers. Capitalizing on depleting PLO coffers after the PLO's ill-fated support of Saddam Hussein, Hamas augmented its social service infrastructure, providing Palestinians with essential humanitarian services which the PLO was no longer able to furnish. In fact, 95 percent of Hamas' budget is believed to finance its social service activities.

Why are they so popular?

Many Palestinians are drawn primarily or solely to Hamas' humanitarian services rather than its political and military doctrines. At the same time, the boundaries between Hamas' political/social and its military activities are blurred particularly since Hamas leaders use mosques, kindergartens, and youth clubs as forums for spewing anti-Israel propaganda and mobilizing support for violence against Israel.

When Hamas scored a landslide victory in the Palestinian Authority legislative elections in 2006, the stage was set for a bitter power struggle with Fatah. It has remained steadfast to its pledge never to sign up to a permanent ceasefire while Israel occupies Palestinian territory and its troops are responsible for the deaths of Palestinians.

But if Hamas leaders thought its parliamentary victory would bestow greater credibility on them in the eyes of the international community - or if they thought in any way that they would be given any more leeway - they were mistaken. The new government was subjected to tough economic and diplomatic sanctions by Israel and its allies in the West.

Skirmishes in Gaza with the Fatah-dominated PA security forces escalated to all-out war, in which the well-armed and better-disciplined Qassam Brigades eventually ousted their rivals in May 2007.

The Israeli attacks in Gaza is horrible, and many would think it is unjustifiable. It is definitely wrong to attack civilians and civilian areas, also with reported death counts of 595 killed (close to 195 being children), but let's consider how much brainwashing Hamas has made. Close to 95 percent of their money goes into helping the people. By helping people with medicine, homes, mosques, and schools, they're giving off the impression of their goodness. It becomes easier for the people to accept them. It's not tactic to judge harshly; all countries have done it, and especially the United States. Hamas has done no wrong; we cannot judge them because everyone else has done equally evil things.
I'm not sympathizing with Hamas, nor am I siding with Israel. Israel is going about it the wrong way. The solution would be getting to the people, not killing them. The main thing I want out of this post is to get people to understand the hate and violence. There's really no reason to hate one another, for we have no right to judge.

Quotes from
BBC
ADL

anime lol #3

Gundam 00 Second Season.
Wang Liu Mei finally getting what she needed--a good slap from Ribbons.

LTC memory: DS Baker

Drill Sergeant Baker was a cool DS; he'd get pissed off and yell the shit out of himself at times, but he was still very well respected from all of us. DS Baker was in charge of 1st squad. He took care of my squad and our lieutenant. He was also pretty young; he was the only one not married. In fact, he was only a few years older than me. It's also interesting to think about; in a different life we could have been friends or we could have been enemies. Life takes us in all sorts of possibilities.

The first day we got to learn from him was on our group ice-breaking day where we did all sorts of physical puzzles. We had to work together as a team to solve them. The details in that would be covered later, but during that day we actually smiled and laughed. DS Baker also got kind of bored by the puzzles, and he actually gave us hints on how to solve them. I was grateful for that because he was relating to how we felt. We got to ask him questions about the Army and what he thought of us as a platoon so far. One comment that particularly stood out for me, was when we asked him if he met any fuckups. He talked about one kid who didn't know where he was going and dropping things, and it turned out it was the guy from Africa who was also in our squad! So we all laughed because he didn't even realize that the guy he was insulting was sitting next to him. Of course, in reality drill sergeants don't need to learn names.

Throughout the month there, DS Baker would push us hard along with DS Rhine-Russell and DS Dimick. We did some stupid shit, and of course we had to get punished for them. I was pretty annoyed by all the dumb shit we did, but it was expected I suppose. How would we lead soldiers when we are not even disciplined ourselves? It was a good point, and another reason for NCOs to dislike officers and cadets.

Facebook Ads

I find both ads funny, and I also wonder what words in my information box led facebook into giving me an ad on hair removal treatments. It could be the favorite book sections. "Dorian Gray" might sound like I need hair removal.

I also liked the Arrested Development Tees advertisement. So watery, and yet, with a smack of ham! hot ham water reference rocks!