Skippy Goes to War

its been 5 months

2010-02-20T13:16:00.003-05:00

and nothing has changed. Nothing noteworthy to write about. Just me... sitting here accomplishing nothing. I have not improved the world. I have not made massive changes to help better society. I have not served my country, i have not served my fellow man. I have done nothing of value. I have become what my recruiter said i would become without the USMC, i am a failure.

Ok so thats not fully true, i have made the first steps to open a buisness. I am in college. I am moving my life forward at a rate slower than i would like, but forward progression none the less.

I dont know what im doing, but im going to do it full bore, and i at least have the grit and determination to do that.

Ok... So heres what happened

2009-10-28T04:35:00.001-04:00

Holy crap its been a crazy few months.

So heres what happened.

Shipped to boot, got injured at boot, got sent home. Crazy ride i have to admit.

So my shoulder ripped out at boot camp. My medboard for some reason said the marines didnt need to fix me. Crazy right?

Well heres how its going to work out im looking for work, and since im not going into the military i think i might keep this as a personal blog.

where are all my friends going....

2009-05-15T15:15:00.002-04:00

First it was big tobacco...

Now its the Fobbits need ice cream too....

WHERE ARE ALL MY FRIENDS GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!1

im not sure whats going on. Both of them were some of my favorite blogs, and now they are gone.

However... i find solace in the fact that Ranger Up still has some of BT's writing including the 3 rules(which are printed out in my office, and at home, and in my truck and....)

Wherever you are BT...

As lame and gay as it sounds. You changed my life.

ADDENDUM:

I got an annoying e-mail from someone wanting me to write for him. Guess what. I don't write for anyone but me. The point of this blog is to remind myself what i was as a civilian so when i become a marine i don't fully loose myself, and know how much i have improved or not as a person. Thats the point of this. Not to entertain you (although i hope i do).

I don't get very many readers here, and im ok with that. I don't really care too much if i get 100 people reading or 0. Obviously my ego will be nicer if i have 100 then 0, but its not the mission of this to become popular.

I hope y'all realize that, the posts about not posting are reminders of what a flake i am. the posts about my fear are to remind me of how fearful i am, and how much i hate taking big risks.

but at the end of the day, as selfish as this sounds. This blog is for me. not you. I hope to share in the experience, but that's not the mission. The mission is to remind myself of what i am now so when i become more, i can judge myself fairly.

this past week has been....

2009-05-11T01:16:00.002-04:00

insane to say the least.

At work my coworkers have been on short fuses, and ive been the sane one for once. My replacement finally showed up so im training him to take my place in a little over a month.

Overall i think im staying fit, mentally im not even close to being ready for the path ahead of me but i dont know if i can be ready for it. Im about to make a massive change and everything i know is just going to psych me out. I figure im going to take my future as i take today, ill face it as it comes. I am armed with the knowledge it will take me, and i am armed with the knowledge of my body, and how far i can push it before it breaks, and how to keep going after it breaks. I guess thats the best i can do these days.

On a family note, my mom is out here in a month and i cant wait to see her. And im flying out to california on fathers day, so im going to see if my dad can pick me up from the airport so i can hang with him down in LA for fathers day, because i havent just hung out me and him in a LONG time. It will be a nice change.

I dont know whats going on with me with my family though. I havent missed them this much since i left. I think its the fear of going into the unkown without them that scares me. I dont know what im going to do without them a call away. Even living across the country i have always had them, and for the first time i wont. For the first time in 7 years i wont have a cell phone. For the first time in 10 years i wont have e-mail to talk to my family. I dont know what im going to do. For all my talk of being a badass who dont need no one, im still a little kid in that regard.

I dont know whats causing all this shit, but i feel like at this point i should be with my family, helping them and spending as much time as i can before i leave. I feel like im cheating them by not being there. And even tho they dont say it, i know they think it too. it sucks.

we are t-minus 3 months and im not nervous about going, im nervous about not having my family hate me when i go

sometimes i do indeed, suck at life

2009-04-21T22:50:00.002-04:00

ok so i suck at life for not writing in this thing for 2 weeks. So lets see whats been up.

I had 2 pool functions in the past 2 weeks. So what are the results:

Pool function 1 (South Florida Poolie compitition)

Did a shitload of pullups (19)

Did not a shitload of crunches (71)

did not run. Caused trouble, hung out.

Pool Function 2 (standard pool function, did IST)

Did some pullups (10, could do more but gunny stopped me)

Did even less crunches (61)

Did a pretty good run time (12 minute mile and a half)

So theres the marine aspect.

On a personal note, i have been sleeping like shit. Ive also not been focusing well due to the fact im so frikkin tired. Idk whats going on, but im trying to work on it. Thank god for 5 hour energy at work.

ALso, a great quote about personification:

Curious, i have never understood the human compulsion to bond with inanimate objects. This vessel has done nothing. It is an assemblage of bulkheads, conduits, tritanium, nothing more.

Oh your wrong, its much more than that. This ship has been our home, its kept us together. Shes been part of our family, as illogical as this might sound, i feel as close to her as i do to any member of my crew. Shes carried us, even nurtured us, and right now she needs one of us.

+10 nerd points if you can call the show, and episode its from. +5 if its just the show.

Pool Function and Laundry

2009-04-10T22:59:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is a pool function (i missed the last one in a stupid mixup with Dade county and Eviction Notices)

So apparently i have to perform well. Better yet, i have the Flu.

This is gonna be fun.

OH and double trouble, the dryer broke so i have to hang dry everything. In florida. With humidity at its max already.

Great fun this is eh?

overcoming the Odds/Aloneness part 3

2009-04-06T01:27:00.004-04:00

The odds were against me to graudate highschool.

the odds were against me to make it on my own in miami.

the odds were against me in every step of my life. And i have overcome.

Now the odds are once again stacked against me. And with my usual determination, grit and faith i will overcome them, bitching and complianing the entire way.

In other news im beigining to learn more about this aloneness thing.

Ive found a strange sense of..... aloofness i guess is the word... to some of my relationships recently. Its almost as if im looking on the outside of them and can kind of analyze everything and see whats going on. These days, thats a strange skill to have.

Thats part of why im feeling alone these days, since i can analyze everything i dont really feel close to anyone. I dont know if its a good or bad thing, ill have to get back to you on that, but as i said in the last entry on this subject, ill continue to scream in the crowded room realizing i put earplugs in all my friends.

I am not sure how to fix it... but one day maybe i will.

As Captian Kirk once said, i like to think that there are always possibilities.

there are always possibilities i can repair whatever damage i may have caused. that i may be able to figure out how/why i do what i do.

there are always possibilities to begin to realize why i feel the need to over compartmentalize my life.

perhaps one day ill find the reason for it all... but right now...

the sound of the echo helps me sleep....

Honing my fathering skills... or lack thereof

2009-03-31T01:00:00.003-04:00

There has been a 1 y/o terror in my house for the past few days...

and i rose to the occasion.

like a good 'uncle' i babysat him. chased him around the backyard. We kicked a soccer ball around. we played with an RC car... and i showed him non-kids movies.

i tossed him around... did the old airplane thing. chased him around some more. The lil tyke wore me out.

so maybe... just maybe.. there might be some hope for me after all.

Also... Bonus points if you can call this non-kids movie i showed to the tyke (more like had playing in the background while he ran around)

You know what the first rule of flying is?

Love

you could learn all the math in the 'verse but you take a boat in the air that you dont love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells ya shes hurting before she keels. Makes her a home.

apparently utility knives are weapons

2009-03-28T18:34:00.001-04:00

So 4 stitches later and some blood loss.... i learned a valuable lesson why box cutters are not supposed to be on planes.

i fucked up my shoulder.... again

2009-03-26T14:55:00.002-04:00

Crew pushups are normally a good excersize. Except when the person in front of you has about 100lbs on you and dosent understand when the leader says up, you push up. It was fun... untill my shoulder tore and my arm poped out of socket. Great fun smashing to the ground and knocking the whole column down. Then even more fun to try and get them to pop it back in.

So yeah... im not allowed to do any pull ups, push ups or any real upper body excersizes except sun gods for a week.

Great fun let me tell you.

British MEP and a Rant about Obama

2009-03-26T12:22:00.000-04:00

By now i think everyone has seen this video. And if you havent, its the kind of dressing down Obama and Congress need. Its the kind of dressing down Mr. Brown needs and i sincerely hope that Mr. Hannan makes a speech at the upcoming G20 Summit. If not... im afraid all we will get out of there is borrow and spend more.... even though we are getting to the point where these numbers are so big and so rediclious they only exist on computers.

Something else that i found incredibly interesting is this image from the Heratige Foundation

To me George Bush's "compasonate Conservatism" was a stupid idea from the start. Instead of being a 'tax and spend' liberal he was a 'borrow and spend' liberal. the only conservative thing about him was social conservatism. But i think we have reached a VERY scary line. The 2009 budget was just signed by President Obama in the way of the Omnibus spending bill, the second half of the TARP bailout funds and the 'stimulus'. FY09 Started in november, during the transition where obama was a big part of the budget negoiations, hence why congress passed a stopgap to keep funding for everywhere at 08 levels untill the new congress was seated. Thats why the 09 budget is purely obamas budget. George Bush is in Crawford Tx. Obama wanted the job, and if he does not want to work on the problems and keep blameing the past president, i dont think hes matured to the point where he should be a president.

His answer to the townhall question about the Defict should have been:
"the problems we face today are not small ones. We have a financial crisis of epic proportions, we have American families unable to see a doctor becuase of cost cutting at major buisnesses. We have students unable to repay the loans to get the education for jobs that are no longer there. Thats why our budget has such massive deficits, we cannot easily raise taxes but we cannot do nothing while those people suffer"

as much as i disagree with that statement, its better than "but Bush did it".

So much for hope and change.

It makes Sense

2009-03-25T13:24:00.003-04:00

So yesterday im moving my boxes around during the daily fedex pickup, and i make the offhand comment to the driver that i really dont care too much on if the shelves fall over, they just need to stay up for 6 more months. Conversation follows:

Driver: Where you going in 6 months

Me: I leave for the Marine Corps

Driver: No shit, you know i used to be in the army?

Me: No i didnt, that makes sense though.

Driver: What makes sense.

Me: That we get along, you were in the army and you got your head on mostly straight, thats why your nice to us, politite to my coworkers and do your job well

Driver: I never thought of it that way

Me: If college has taught me one thing, many of the people with degrees these days are fucking retarded. Everyone i know who is in or has been in the military is an awsome person, most people outside that realm are kinda douchebags.

Driver: well... cant argue with good logic. Only 27 today?

Mel: Hey, i normally only have 5 boxes for ya, need help gettin em to the truck?

Driver: Nahh, im good. See ya tomorrow.

Ive never really looked deep to find that out, it just kinda happened. The people i choose to hang out with are either going into, have been or are currently in the US Military. I guess theres a certian quality of person that does that that i like.

Or im in miami and those are the only people who dont wave the 'im from cuba' or 'im from hati' flags

57 States

2009-03-19T20:45:00.001-04:00

Hey Guys,

Remember when President Obama was campaining and he said he had been to 57 states? It was a simple mistake and if i was running around the country as much as him, i prolly would have said it too.

But heres something funny. We actaully have gained 7 states since he has become president.

You may not have heard, so ive listed them below:

State of Depression,
State of Acrimony,
State of Misery,
State of Neurosis,
State of Anxiety,
State of Petulance, and
State of Envy

So there you go. Ammend the flag, we have 57 states now.

Dear President Obama

2009-03-16T21:01:00.002-04:00

Dear President Obama,

I understand that under the weight of your massive bailout and other big spending projects you gotta come up with a way to help close the budget deficit. I know its alot of work to try and save the economy, especially while the treasury department has only 1 cabnet level appointee. But those are just facts, and as Ronald Regan once said, facts are silly little things.

So lets talk moral obligations. You are the Commander in Cheif of the United States Military. That means every order, every simple piece of the military comes back to you. You are the leader and are therfore responsible for the actions of those below you (namely the entire military). Therefore if someone is injured in the line of duty, it is because you sent them there (yes i know that there are outside forces and chain of command decisions that change that, but at the root that is the job of the presidency). Therefore you have a moral obligation to take care of those men. That is why the VA exists.

Now lets look at it another way. The United States Military has roughly 3 million employees. This plan is to take away workmans compensation from the us military. In almost every state, that is illegal.

As i said before, the challenge of closing the budget deficit is a big one. However, the United States Military is not the place to start cutting corners (maybe on appropirations, but not medical care).

Please consider this a warning.

Kindest Regards
Poolie Skippy

Update 1:

I forgot to link the news story. here it is

Insomnia Part 2

2009-03-13T02:50:00.002-04:00

The thought that is keeping me up at night. Its a thought that scares me. It chills me to the bone.

What if i have to enforce a police state in the United States.

Im forced to ask myself, what if i was the National Guard soldiers at Kent State? Would i fire too? And what if i agree with the people who are protesting?

What would i do if im faced with that dilemma? What would my soul do.

Before Jan 20th those thoughts never even occured to me. Now as we march down the path to socialism, i am forced to ask myself these questions that i dont want to answer.

The last time the United States Military was engaged in Major combat operations on US Soil was the Civil War. What has changed since then? Over 150 years have passed, and i would like to think we are a stronger nation now. However, i dont see us staying strong together for long.

I feel a dangerous change in the wind. a frightening sense that maybe this administration is going to kill this country. I know, i sound insane saying it, but i really have no clue what to think anymore.

so i sit staring at the celing staring at the celing while my brain runs at 10,000 MPH to nowehere. Weeks of all night brainstorming and im no closer to an answer than i was. I am frighened, a fear i have never felt before. A cold chilling fear. But like all fear, it exists to be conquered. Hell if Captian Janeway could figure it out, i certianly can. I mean shit, she was dumb enough to not use a fuse when blowing up the caretakers array, which we know she could do cuz she did it with a borg cube later in the series.

For all non-nerds, i appologize. Insomnia is turning into ADD.

the save and publish buttons are too close

2009-03-10T15:58:00.001-04:00

hence why updates only come when im smart enough to go into the edit posts window and see i have a bunch of drafts.

Yes im retarded. Thanks for realizing.

Aloneness: Part Duex

2009-03-09T15:49:00.002-04:00

I said earlier that i got a profound sense of Aloneness (thank you Joss Whedon for that one).

I feel like i need to delve a little deeper into it to really get to the crux of the problem.

Its not that i am lonely, i got people around me alot and i love it. I like hanging out with my friends, i like goin fishin and i like the beach. I dont mind the nightclubs and the ringing in my ears. So what is all this about?

Im not sure. Its not that i cant talk to these people, i can and do. Its not that i cant open up to them, there are a select few i do. Its more of a sense that they dont care. And even more of a sense that i dont care.

I like my solitude when i have it. I enjoy sitting and reading alone. I savor these things because i wont have them soon. I dont know if this is part of a defense mechanisim ive built into myself to stop myself from getting attached to people when i know im leaving, or if its a honest sense that since im not going to have privacy or alone time, i might as well get as much as i can now.

Most of all, i think im just scared shitless and refuse to cognitavely admit it. I am scared to death of what im about to do, scared to death ill be forced to compromise my morals to stay alive. but at the end of the day, id rather have those experiences as much as they may hurt, confuse and annoy me...

than continue in this boring office dweller life.

So i will continue to stand in a crowded room and scream while no one notices. I will savor the empty ring of my echo off the walls while no one turns... because soon, i wont have that anymore. And once that is gone... its gone forever. As my seargeant says: Savor the pain, it means you actaully did something you didnt think you could.

a prayer for my country

2009-03-02T15:41:00.000-05:00

Dear God,

For the first time in my life, im scared about the future of this country. For the first time, i truly feel like we are going down the wrong path, that we are going to teach future generations they dont need to work hard because the government will bail them out.

For the first time im not sure if my decisions for my future are right. I fear instead of being on a foreign battlefield i will be in the battlefields of fullerton, omaha and oklohoma city. Instead of protecting America from those that would do us harm i would be fighting against people who want thier freedom back.

Please lord, give me clarity to sort through all this. Please give my leaders the clarity to do your will. Most of all, please dont make this decision be one that i have to compromise my morals in order to complete.

Amen

Aloneness

2009-02-16T12:25:00.000-05:00

Aloneness: not loneliness.

Feeling absolutly alone. Being in a crowded room screaming and no one turns their head. That bullshit. Yeah, thats roughly where im at

Insomnia

2009-02-12T23:32:00.003-05:00

So tonight is the third night i have laid in bed, staring at the celing and waiting to slip into unconsiousness. Tonight, i am fucking tired. I dont want to take sleeping pills, although i know those would put me into a healthy sleep. I want healthy natural sleep. Ive been eating healthy, ive been excerzising. Ive been loosing weight. I just cant seem to sleep.

Any ideas on how to nod off would be grealty appreciated.

--skippy

5 miles, and stopping is not an option

2009-02-07T03:21:00.002-05:00

Mile 1:

start running in formation. its easy. Wind on our backs, sun is on its westward decline, and all is well.

almost get hit by a car, but thats par for the course in Miami. Remember to control your breathing, your doin good.

First stop/end of Mile 1:

Stop in parking lot. Push up position. 10 diamond, 1o regular, 10 wide. No Sandbagging. get up. Strech your legs.

Form up.

Mile 2:

Remember to breathe. Sound fucking off when doing a cadence. Dont fucking slow down. If the guy in front of you starts to slow down, push him. Dont fucking quit. Dont slow down motherfuckers.

Ignore the pain in your calfs. Ignore the slight ache in your chest. Almost at the second stop.

Stop 2:

Leg lifts, git your fucking legs 6 inches off the ground. Dont fuck around. Dont sandbag. keep the count.

Get your crunches. at least 30 in 1 minute. Dont give up. Body Builders, only 10 at this stop. Keep the count. Jump as high as you can at the end.

Form Up.

Mile 3:

Ignore everything. The honking and sidewalk. Ignore the trees cutting your arms. The seargeant screaming behind you fades out. you hear the words but you dont remember them afterward. they take over your brain functions. Thought stops. You stare at the head in front of you. You hear your breathing, you hear your feet. The burning in your muscles fades. your in the zone.

Stop 3:

Zone abruptly ends. Pain surges through your body as you stop. Back in push up position. 10 diamond, 10 regular, 10 wide. Strech a bit. Form up.

Mile 4:
you try in vain to remember how you got into the zone. Your breathing cant keep up with the oxygen your body needs. Your seargeant keeps telling you to control your breathing, but for some reason you cant remember how. Your calfs feel like they are on fire. Your legs feel as if they are either concrete or jello. your abs ache, your shoulders burn. you can feel a decent farmer tan start to take shape.

Stop 4:

Leg Lifts, sizzor kicks, and body builders. You stop caring. Your mucles hurt, everyones yelling. You want to quit, you want to cry. Your wondering why the fuck you do this.

Then you see your seargeants EGA. This is temporary. One day, you will have one of those as well.

Mile 5:

You ignore everything. Your not in the zone you were in in mile 3, you still feel the pain. The pain shoots till your eyesight is red. Your head throbs from dehydration. You start to feel dizzy and shake it off.

You reach the last marker, a red fire hydrant. you sprint. you sprint with every last ounce of energy you have. your back in the zone. Time slows down. you dont hear anything except your own breathing and the sound of your feet hitting pavement. This is what God must feel like.

you cross the stop sign. You slow down. You vomit.

--skippy

What does it mean to be an american

2009-02-04T15:26:00.002-05:00

Ive been wrestlin with this one for a while now. What does it mean to be an american. What does it mean to have strong american values. Well i found a list that dosent exactly hit the nail on the head. but it drives it in a lil bit.

This list comes from Glenn Beck's We Surround Them campaign. Its incredibly interesting. All you have to do is ask yourself do you beleive in the following statements.

I think a great american would answer yes to all 9 (if you have a problem with 'god' put in 'power greater than myself' and see if it works for you.)

A decent american would prolly beleive in 7.

Crappy douchebag college students prolly would answer yes to about 5.

And Nancy Pelosi's brain would explode at the thought people actaully think like this.

1) Yes or no: Do you believe America is a good place, that we've lost our way over the years, that we have done bad things but generally speaking we tried hard. We try to make amends. We have tried to do the right thing. Just like everybody else, we fail from time to time and we have truly lost our way in the last 20 years. But gosh, if you look at America, she's good and our founders were good and our founding documents are good. We've just strayed too far away from them. Yes or no.

2) Yes or no: I believe in God. I may not go to the same church or synagogue or mosque as the majority of people in America, but I believe in God and he is the center of my life, and God does not tell people to behead others or to persecute others that see God in a different way. As long as that god is not telling them to persecute others.

Yes or no.

3) Yes or no: It is my responsibility to try to be better and a more honest person than I was yesterday. Sometimes I fail, I'll make mistakes, but it's my main mission to be better than I was personally than I was yesterday.

4) Yes or no: The family is sacred. I and my spouse are the ultimate authority under God when it comes to my family. I raise my family, and that comes with a grave responsibility. If I fail, I answer to God.

5) Yes or no: If you break the law, you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

6) Yes or no: I have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but that is not a guarantee of equal results.

7) Yes or no: I work hard for what I have, and I will share it with others that I choose when I choose, should I choose. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

8) It is not un-American for anyone to disagree with my opinion, but my opinion or others' opinions may be anti-American. Anti-American rhetoric would be anything that is destructive to the Constitution and our country as our founders understood it.

9) And the last one is the government works for me. The government answers to me. I do not answer to the government.

Throw in your comments if you agree with these. I really want to see how people rank up and if my expectations for my fellow man are too high or not.

I think i might be either a sadist or a masochist or something

2009-02-03T11:52:00.002-05:00

So part of the way my office administers DEP (delayed entry program) is trying to see who has 'leadership capabilities'. So what does this mean for kids still in highschool and college who have no real responsibilities. Well... the recruiters make us design PT schedules. And even more fun then that, they make us administer them. Your job is to motivate the kids who cant pass the IST (this is half of the real PT test and if you cant pass that, you shouldent be signing up for the marines) and get them to finish your PT schedule.

I was not nice when i desgined it. I did a 3 mile run, then 20 2 man Marine Corps pushups (thats 40 regular). Max crunches in 2 minutes. Wind sprints. Then everyone did 15 pullups (as many as you can do then assisted for the rest). It was amazing, everyone was tired but feeling good. If i could, i would have made us do another 3 mile run. I want to cross the treshold where pain dosent matter anymore.

But there is 1 kid, im scared for. He cant finish the 3 mile run. We were running at a slow pace too. Its not like we were running hard. He kept stopping. I dont care if you have to slow down to slower than walking pace, as long as you dont actaully stop to walk. Keep the running motion at whatever speed you need to FINISH. But dont stop. I had to run the last half mile running backwards and yellin trying to get this kid to finish. I wish he would put out the way we want/ned him too. He makes us all look bad when he dosent finish. And with 3 guys yelling, you either put out or you go home. He refuses to do either.

To be honest i dont know whats happened to me recently. I used to not want to work out and not want to run, But now that im winding myself going on good long runs and doing some upper body i do feel like its a change happening in me. I like the pain. I like the feeling like i might die if i keep going, and toughing through it. I like being with people who im suffering with. Something in me is a little different. I cant wait till boot to finally become a marine though.

Dissent is the Highset form of patriotism.....

2009-01-27T21:08:00.002-05:00

unless your dissenting against a democrat it seems.

I try to keep politics out of my blog, but this has really irked me in a way few other things have.

Rush Limbaugh is a jackass, i make no allusions otherwise. However, he does from time to time say something that makes me think. Last Friday he said something that i disagree with, but made me think. He does not want the president to succeed because President Obama does not believe in the same things Rush believes in.

For the past 8 years, the 'left' has said some pretty fucked up things about the President.

I am not one to go after a president, they have the hardest job this side of existence. Do i think Bush did a good job, overall i dont think he did that bad. Yes he messed up with the handling of Iraq, and he did a damn bad job letting rumsfeld do his military thinking for him. What he did a great job of is improving our status in Africa, doing more to help combat global AIDS than any other president before him. Thats something to be proud of. But the left ignored that, instead having something the 'right' called "Bush Derangement Syndrome" or BDS for short.

Symptoms of BDS were blaming George Bush for everything from gas being too expensive (market forces such as increasing demand and a strong US economy helped push gas to 4 dollars a gallon) to the weather being too hot. Terminal cases of BDS thought he caused 9/11 to invade iraq for its oil (which makes no sense when the government of Kuait is almost owned by the US and has a stranglehold on Iraq's oil exportation).

But now that Obama is president, the left is saying things like 'im proud to be an american again'. That bugs me, but its typical of hollywood jerkfaces. They are just like code pink, except code pink has the balls to say what they think.

But what i have a REAL problem with, is the fact it was ok to call Bush everything from a war criminal, devisive politician (remember, it was a group of democrats that said they would not work with him, not him who said he would not work with them) to warmonger and murderer. Now 1 guy, who would be the OBVIOUS person to not want a democrat to suceed with their agenda says what he said when clinton was president (i dont want him to succeed), its something the president himself has to call out. MInd you, when President Bush was being called a war criminal by Keith Olberman, he never said 'Keith Olberman is really a jackass, i wish he would stop being so harsh' (btw that quote is NICER than what obama said about Limbaugh). He didnt say anything, becasue he was above that. Limbaugh says EXACTLY what his listeners want him to say, and the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, calls out a PRIVATE CITIZEN who has merely used his freedom of speech, and tells congressional republicans that they cant listen to him if they want to work with his administration. WTF?!?!?!?!

Am i the only one pissed about this?

That is FLAGERANT disregard for the First Ammendment. Hes a CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO HOST. His job is to want you to fail. Just like keith olbermans job was to want bush to fail.

I am still in utter shock over this. I hope im not the only one.....

I am begining to question my muscles obedience

2009-01-21T22:23:00.006-05:00

'You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back.' - Vincent from Gattaca

this morning it took me 20 minutes for my legs to start to work again. PT is slowly killing me. But at the same time, i love it. I love the feeling of being in my unit and us all suffering together. It makes it much easier to do more, makes me push myself farther than ive done before, make my muscles ache more than ive done before.

I have never saved anything for the run back. I havent saved anything for the drive home. I havent saved anything, and i have found out how much i really have to give. I have made my 09 resolution to not hold anything back. Give my all and get through this (whatever this may be).

Now if you will excuse me, i will rub my legs with icy hot and eat 100 bananas.

i think i might be a little bit retarded

2009-01-15T15:51:00.002-05:00

YEah.... i stalled my car, getting onto a freeway. IM not quite sure how i managed to do that but it was a special level of retard that only i could do.

Anyway ive been working in the warehouse here moving shit around so we can eek a little more space out of the cramped area. And its been nice and cool so i can actually be on the second floor without sweating like a whore in church, or larry craig in an airport bathroom....
or whitney huston in the hood....

Sorry... something shiney must have moved by. Anyway, been moving pallets and getting the warehouse organized properly so we might actually not loose any boxes this year (woohoo!!!!)

in other news, my legs are still fucking sore from duchebag running farther faster than he possibly can.

Also, i foudn my marine PT shirt finaly. I thought i left it in california with an ex girlfriend, but after going to grab some long john shirt yesterday, i found it. Crazy shit this putting shit away is.

Anyway. i gotta git off here or my boss is gonna hang my ass from the lift in the warehouse. Be safe yall.

A nice little ramble

2009-01-14T10:41:00.002-05:00

So i aint updated this in a while. I must admit its a cross of me being lazy and busy.

So let me do a quick up-to-speed of whats going on with me

Work:

Work has been kinda busy, not so busy that im stressing and pulling my hair out, but busy enough i dont get to sit and play yahoo checkers all day. In otherwords, the extra employee is helping my stress levels as well as there being enough work for the 2 of us to comfortably make money.

School:

My dumbass singned up too late for classes, so i was put in a status where if enough people dropped from the classes i wanted i could get in. Well apparently people care about their education so i am not in school this semester. I guess thats a good thing so i can work my ass off and try and pay off my truck before i leave.

so now comes my opinions on crap going on in the world

Gaza:

Since when is one side breaking a ceace-fire not grounds to go and resume the war that the ceacefire stopped. Hamas has been firing rockets since june. To me this is extrodanary patience on the side of the Isrealies for not launching the attack earlier. I think if more of us knew what hamas was really doing (stockpiling weapons in schools, mosques and hospitals and hiding behind civilains) we would really be in support of isreal. But you cant expect the media to like... report or anything. They are more infatuated with Obama's inaguration.

Economy:

People, for the love of god. YOU CONTROL THE ECONOMY. the economy is one thing that if you put your head under the sand will actually fix itself. Lets look at situations A and B for a moment.

A: People stop paying attention to the stock market. They continue to live their lives and giggle at wall street execs going down in flames. Ressesion is small, pulls self out quickly.

B: People freak out when there is no real reason to. Uncertanty rises. Government socializes country. We end up like france.

Do you really want to end up like france. Go to best buy and buy some little stuff that you can afford. Try to save 10% of your paycheck. Lets be honest here guys, we need some new thinking to get us out of the mental hole we dug ourselves. If consumer confidence numbers went up, then the economy will sort itslef out.

Anyway guys, thanks for stickin with me for this long.

The Line Must be drawn here...

2008-12-21T02:41:00.005-05:00

.... this far and no further.

This post was originally going to be about how my family has once again shoved me into a corner for being conservative and even more this year since i told them i joined the marines.

This post was originally going to be about why my family continues to drive me insane and continuing to be around them is cutting the last few shreds of my insanity.

How fucking selfish is that?

I love my family, and i love to hate my family. There are thousands of men and women who dont get to see their parents this year. There are even more who dont have their parents drive them to the brink of insanity by 'getting low' in front of their adult children. There are parents who dont get to tell their kids about their failed relationships with men other than their father, and going into horrible detail about their sex lives.

Even with that crap, i love to see my family, and am truely blessed that i get to see them at this time of year.

God bless everyone this year, no matter what God you belive in.

and remember kids, dont light the menorah in the car (long story for another time.... after i can stop hacking vynl out of my lungs.)

The more things change the more nails stab your feet

2008-12-15T13:15:00.001-05:00

I think my office is going to collapse.

And not in the cool holy shit its on fire and way. No this is going to collapse like a building in India way. Ill justify this statement with a story of why i now have a gangster ass limp.

I had to go upstairs here at the office so i could go through some records. That means getting a ladder, going above the speaker repair rooms and climbing the wall, officially meaning that our records are as hard to get ahold of as Fannie May without a subpoena. So i finally scale a wall of perfectly smooth drywall that im not allowed to kick a hole in to get a footing (stupid office damage policies) i end up on the evactuated second floor of this office. Now, according to Dade county fire code, this second floor is not to be used at any time. Were not supposed to have access to it. And thats why i have to scale a wall of drywall.

So as im on the second floor, i walk across to the lone shelf with our wonderfull stacks of banker boxes piled high as if to say 'yeah you try and find that gorram file your looking for punk'. well after about 2 hours of going through boxes i got it. am walking back across to the ladder point and a freaking nail goes through my shoe and into my foot. the second time this has happened in the year and a half have worked here.

And for some odd reason this whole nail in the bottom of my foot thing got me thinking about my job. Now i know, i have a job and times are tough, but i mean seriously, last week i was a 19 year old running a company and now im getting everyone lunch again cuz i told my boss i was going into the military. Thats kinda fucked up.

I dont know anymore guys.. I like my boss, hes a cool motherfucker. But at the same time, hes a duchebag of epic proportions sometimes. I gues thats the job of a boss, but idk i mean i hate this whole having to be friends with my coworkers bullshit. I dont like them, they dont like me and we aint no fucking happy family and when we try to be, its just like my dysfunctional family at home and who wants that shit.

So the more things change the more they stay the same. I move across the country to get away from my parents, only to have the things i left forcefed to me again through a different tube. I left to get away from nails going thru my boots at the ranch, now they go through my loafers.

Oh and with a bonus, I DONT GET PAID THIS WEEK, OR LAST WEEK OR NEXT WEEK BECAUSE OUR BOOKEEPER SENT OUR COMPANY INFO TO A SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOD i cant wait till september.

Oh, and on the practical side i wish i could collect unemployment for the next few months so i can do fuckall and just work out till i ship out. But i hate handouts so i will keep working.

nails through loafers and all.

the 'other' Skippy

2008-12-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

Spc. Shwarts had the Nickname Skippy when i was learning to walk, talk and do basic arithmetic. I have no clue about his whareabouts. I saw this on another blog and im stealing it.

213 things Skippy can't do in the Army (or most likley any other branch of the Armed Forces)

by "Skippy", a.k.a. SPC Schwarz

Not allowed to watch Southpark when I'm supposed to be working.

My proper military title is 'Specialist Schwarz' not 'Princess Anastasia'.

Not allowed to threaten anyone with black magic.

Not allowed to challenge anyone's disbelief of black magic by asking for hair.

Not allowed to get silicone breast implants.

Not allowed to play 'Pulp Fiction' with a suction-cup dart pistol and any officer.

Not allowed to add 'In accordance with the prophesy' to the end of answers I give to a question an officer asks me.

Not allowed to add pictures of officers I don't like to War Criminal posters.

Not allowed to title any product 'Get Over it'.

Not allowed to purchase anyone's soul on Government time.

Not allowed to join the communist party.

Not allowed to join any militia.

Not allowed to form any militia.

Not allowed out of my office when the president visited Sarajevo.

Not allowed to train adopted stray dogs to 'Sic Brass!'

Must get a haircut even if it tampers with my 'Sampson like powers'.

God may not contradict any of my orders.

May no longer perform my now (in)famous 'Barbie Girl Dance' while on duty.

May not call any officers immoral, untrustworthy, lying, slime, even if I'm right.

Must not taunt the French any more.

Must attempt to not antagonize SAS.

Must never call an SAS a 'Wanker'.

Must never ask anyone who outranks me if they've been smoking crack.

Must not tell any officer that I am smarter than they are, especially if it's true.

Never confuse a Dutch soldier for a French one.

Never tell a German soldier that 'We kicked your ass in World War 2!'

Don't tell Princess Di jokes in front of the paras (British Airborne).

Don't take the batteries out of the other soldiers alarm clocks (Even if they do hit snooze about forty times).

The Irish MPs are not after 'Me frosted lucky charms'.

Not allowed to wake an Non-Commissioned Officer by repeatedly banging on the head with a bag of trash.

Not allowed to let sock puppets take responsibility for any of my actions.

Not allowed to let sock puppets take command of my post.

Not allowed to chew gum at formation, unless I brought enough for everybody.

(Next day) Not allowed to chew gum at formation even if I *did* bring enough for everybody.

Not allowed to sing 'High Speed Dirt' by Megadeth during airborne operations. ('See the earth below/Soon to make a crater/Blue sky, black death, I'm off to meet my maker')

Can't have flashbacks to wars I was not in. (The Spanish-American War isn't over).

Our medic is called 'Sgt Larwasa', not 'Dr. Feelgood'.

Our supply Sgt is 'Sgt Watkins' not 'Sugar Daddy'.

Not allowed to ask for the day off due to religious purposes, on the basis that the world is going to end, more than once.

I do not have super-powers.

'Keep on Trucking' is *not* a psychological warfare message.

Not allowed to attempt to appeal to mankind's baser instincts in recruitment posters.

Camouflage body paint is not a uniform.

I am not the atheist chaplain.

I am not allowed to 'Go to Bragg boulevard and shake daddies little money maker for twenties stuffed into my undies'.

I am not authorized to fire officers.

I am not a citizen of Texas, and those other, forty-nine, lesser states.

I may not use public masturbation as a tool to demonstrate a flaw in a command decision.

Not allowed to trade military equipment for 'magic beans'.

Not allowed to sell magic beans during duty hours.

Not allowed to quote 'Dr Seuss' on military operations.

Not allowed to yell 'Take that Cobra' at the rifle range.

Not allowed to quote 'Full Metal Jacket ' at the rifle range.

'Napalm sticks to kids' is *not* a motivational phrase.

An order to 'Put Kiwi on my boots' does *not* involve fruit.

An order to 'Make my Boots black and shiny' does not involve electrical tape.

The proper response to a lawful order is not 'Why?'

The following words and phrases may not be used in a cadence- Budding sexuality, necrophilia, I hate everyone in this formation and wish they were dead, sexual lubrication, black earth mother, all Marines are latent homosexuals, Tantric yoga, Gotterdammerung, Korean hooker, Eskimo Nell, we've all got jackboots now, slut puppy, or any references to squid.

May not make posters depicting the leadership failings of my chain of command.

‘The Giant Space Ants' are not at the top of my chain of command.

If one soldier has a 2nd Lt bar on his uniform, and I have an E-4 on mine It means he outranks me. It does not mean ‘I have been promoted three more times than you'.

It is better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission, no longer applies to Specialist Schwarz.

Command decisions do *not* need to be ratified by a 2/3 majority.

Inflatable novelties do *not* entitle me to BAQ or Separation pay.

There are no evil clowns living under my bed.

There is no ‘Anti-Mime' campaign in Bosnia.

I am not the Psychological Warfare Mascot.

I may not line my helmet with tin foil to ‘Block out the space mind control lasers'.

May not pretend to be a facist stormtrooper, while on duty.

I am not authorized to prescribe any form of medication.

I must not flaunt my deviances in front of my chain of command.

May not wear gimp mask while on duty.

No military functions are to be performed ‘Skyclad'.

Woad is not camouflage makeup.

May not conduct psychological experiments on my chain of command.

"Teddy Bear, Teddy bear, turn around" is *not* a cadence.

The MP checkpoint is not an Imperial Stormtrooper roadblock, so I should not tell them "You don't need to see my identification, these are not the droids you are looking for."

I may not call block my chain of command.

I am neither the king nor queen of cheese.

Not allowed to wear a dress to any army functions.

May not bring a drag queen to the battalion formal dance.

May not form any press gangs.

Must not start any SITREP (Situation Report) with "I recently had an experience I just had to write you about...."

Must not use military vehicles to ‘Squish' things.

Not allowed to make any Psychological Warfare products depicting the infamous Ft. Bragg sniper incident.

May not challenge anyone in my chain of command to the ‘field of honor'.

If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it.

Must not refer to 1st Sgt as ‘Mom'.

Must not refer to the Commander as ‘Dad'.

Inflatable sheep do *not* need to be displayed during a room inspection.

I am not authorized to initiate Jihad.

When asked to give a few words at a military ceremony ‘Romper Bomper Stomper Boo' is probably not appropriate.

Nerve gas is not funny.

Crucifixes do not ward off officers, and I should not test that.

I am not in need of a more suitable host body.

‘Redneck Zombies' is not a military training aid.

Gozer does not dwell in my refrigerator.

The proper response to a chemical weapon attack is not ‘Tell my chain of command what I really think about them, and then poke holes in their masks.'

A smiley face is not used to mark a minefield.

Claymore mines are not filled with yummy candy, and it is wrong to tell new soldiers that they are.

I am not allowed to mount a bayonet on a crew-served weapon.

Rodents are not entitled to burial with full military honors, even if they are "casualties of war".

My commander is not old enough to have fought in the civil war, and I should stop implying that he did.

Vodka, green food coloring, and a ‘Cool Mint’ Listerine® bottle is not a good combination.

I am not allowed to bum cigarettes off of anyone under twelve.

I may not trade my rifle for any of the following: Cigarettes, booze, sexual favors, Kalishnikovs, Soviet Armored vehicles, small children, or bootleg CD’s.

Must not mock command decisions in front of the press.

Should not taunt members of the press, even if they are really fat, exceptionally stupid, and working for UPI.

I am not authorized to change national policy in Eastern Europe.

Never, ever, attempt to correct a Green Beret officer about anything.

I am not qualified to operate any US, German, Polish, or Russian Armored vehicles.

When saluting a ‘leg’ officer, an appropriate greeting is not "Airborne leads the wa- oh...sorry sir".

There is absolutely no need to emulate the people from ‘Full Monty’ every time I hear the song "Hot Stuff".

I cannot trade my CO to the Russians.

I should not speculate on the penis size of anyone who outranks me.

Crucifying mice - bad idea.

Must not use government equipment to bootleg pornography.

Burn pits for classified material are not revel fires - therefore it is wrong to dance naked around them.

I cannot arrest children for being rude.

An EO briefing is probably not the best place to unveil my newest off color joke.

I should not use government resources to ‘waterproof’ dirty magazines.

Radioactive material should not be stored in the barracks.

I should not teach other soldiers to say offensive and crude things in Albanian, under the guise of teaching them how to say potentially useful phrases.

Two drink limit does not mean first and last.

Two drink limit does not mean two kinds of drinks.

Two drink limit does not mean the drinks can be as large as I like.

‘No Drinking Of Alcoholic Beverages’ does not imply that a Jack Daniel’s ® IV is acceptable.

"Shpadoinkle" is not a real word.

The Microsoft ® ‘Dancing Paperclip’ is not authorized to countermand any orders.

‘I’m drunk’ is a bad answer to any question posed by my commander.

No dancing in the turret. This especially applies in conjunction with rule #113.

The loudspeaker system is not a forum to voice my ideas.

The loudspeaker system is not to be used to replace the radio.

The loudspeaker system is not to be used to broadcast the soundtrack to a porno movie.

An order to put polish on my boots means the whole boot.

Shouting ‘Let’s do the village! Let’s do the whole fucking village!’ while out on a mission is bad.

Should not show up at the front gate wearing part of a Russian uniform, messily drunk.

Even if my commander did it.

Must not teach interpreters how to make "MRE" bombs.

I am not authorized to sell mineral rights.

Not allowed to use a broadsword to disprove ‘The Pen is Mightier than the sword’.

'Calvin-Ball' is not authorized PT.

I do not need to keep a 'range card' by my window.

'K-Pot, LBE, and a thin coat of Break-free' is not an authorized uniform.

I should not drink three quarts of blue food coloring before a urine test.

Nor should I drink three quarts of red food coloring, and scream during the same.

I should not threaten suicide with pop rocks and Coke ®.

Putting red 'Mike and Ike's' ® into a prescription medicine bottle, and then eating them all in a formation is not funny.

Must not create new DOD forms, then insist they be filled out.

On Sports Day PT, a wedgie is not considered a legal tackle.

The proper way to report to my Commander is 'Specialist Schwarz, reporting as ordered, Sir' not 'You can't prove a thing!'

The following items do not exist: Keys to the Drop Zone, A box of grid squares, blinker fluid, winter air for tires, canopy lights, or Chem-Light ® batteries.

I should not assign new privates to 'guard the flight line'.

Shouldn't treat 'piss-bottles' with extra-strength icy hot.

Teaching Albanian children to taunt other soldiers is not nice.

I will no longer perform 'lap-dances' while in uniform.

If I take the uniform off, in the course of the lap-dance, it still counts.

The revolution is not now.

When detained by MP's, I do not have a right to a strip search.

No part of the military uniform is edible.

Bodychecking General officers is not a good idea.

Past lives have absolutely no effect on the chain of command.

Take that hat off.

There is no such thing as a were-virgin.

I do not get 'that time of month'.

No, the pants are not optional.

Not allowed to operate a business out of the barracks.

Especially not a pornographic movie studio.

Not even if they *are* 'especially patriotic films'

Not allowed to 'defect' to OPFOR during training missions.

On training missions, try not to shoot down the General's helicopter.

'A full magazine and some privacy' is not the way to help a potential suicide.

I am not allowed to create new levels of security clearance.

Furby ® is not allowed into classified areas. (I swear to the gods, I did not make that up, it's actually DOD policy).

We do not 'charge into battle, naked, like the Celts'.

Any device that can crawl across the table on medium, does not need to be brought into the office.

I am not to refer to a formation as 'the boxy rectangle thingie'.

I am not 'A lesbian trapped in a man's body'.

On Army documents, my race is not 'Other'.

Nor is it 'Secretariat, in the third'.

Pokémon® trainer is not an MOS.

There is no FM for 'wall-to-wall counseling'.

My chain of command has neither the time, nor the inclination to hear about what I did with six boxes of Fruit Roll-Ups. ®

When operating a military vehicle I may *not* attempt something 'I saw in a cartoon'.

My name is not a killing word.

I am not the Emperor of anything.

Must not taunt officers in the throes of nicotine withdrawal, with cigarettes.

May not challenge officers to 'Meet me on the field of honor, at dawn'.

Do not dare SERE graduates to eat bugs. They will always do it.

Must not make s'mores while on guard duty.

Our Humvees cannot be assembled into a giant battle-robot.

The proper response to a briefing is not 'That's what you think'.

The Masons, and Gray Aliens are not in our chain of command.

Shouldn't take incriminating photos of my chain of command.

Shouldn't use Photoshop ® to create incriminating photos of my chain of command.

I am not allowed to give tattoos.

I am not allowed to sing 'Henry the VIII I am' until verse 68 ever again.

Not allowed to lead a 'Coup' during training missions.

I should not confess to crimes that took place before I was born.

My chain of command is not interested in why I 'just happen' to have a kilt, an inflatable sheep, and a box of rubber bands in the back of my car.

Must not valiantly push officers onto hand grenades to save the squad.

Despite the confusing similarity in the names, the "Safety Dance" and the "Safety Briefing" are never to be combined.

'To conquer the earth with an army of flying monkeys" is a bad long term goal to give the re-enlistment NCO.

NEVER nail a stuffed bunny to a cross and put it up in front of the Battalion Headquarters sign as an "Easter Desecration."

Don't write up false gigs on a HMMWV PMCS. ("Broken clutch pedal", "Number three turbine has frequent flame-outs", "flux capacitor emits loud whine when engaged")

Not allowed to get shot.

The Chicken and Rice MRE is *not* a personal lubricant. (Skippy wanted this noted for the record that this is not something he has ever attempted or considered! It was something we heard at dinner on 22 September 2001 and it was just so obscene it had to go here.)

Not allowed to play into the deluded fantasies of the civlians who are "hearing conversations" from the NSA, FBI, CIA and KGB due to the microchip the aliens implanted in their brain.

An airsickness bag is to be used for airsickness *only*. (Also not a Skippy-ism...this was the same dinner.)

Must not make T-shirts up depciting a pig with the writing "Eat Pork or Die" in Arabic to bring as civilian attire when preparing to deploy to a primarily Muslim country.

Don't ask LTC Steele to sign my copy of Blackhawk Down.

Must not go on nine deployments in six years that require a security clearance that I don't have, even if the Army tells me repeatedly that I have one and I have no reason to question them.

Do not convince NCO's that their razorbumps are the result of microscopic parasites.

The Journey Begins

2008-12-13T16:19:00.000-05:00

So yeah.....

i recently saw a sign about blogging, never before have so many said so much to so few. And i guess this is true about me as well. I am starting this because i truely want to keep a log of my transformation from Citizen to Marine.

So lets introduce myself... im Skippy. This nickname was given to me a long time ago, and will be used to refer to myself as long as i can think of... untill someone else gives me another nickname or somethin i guess. I just signed my papers to enter DEP... so i guess it will be about a year from now before i can actually call myself a Marine. As of right now my rank is Poolie.

I dont know what im going to do with this thing... but we will see how time molds me, this and everything around us.

God Bless,
Skippy