So are you going to compete in the election or Olympics in 2014?

Me neither. But I will watch for the effort and the results. In the Winter Olympics I expect great performances, some of which may have extra chemical and hormonal boost - not because the competitors need it, but because they don't know they don't need it. They will seek advantage, programmed into our DNA, isn't it?

In the election the Media will declare the TEA Party is evil, divisive and not to be trusted. The two primary parties will continue to increase their power and influence by promising better tomorrows, until they get to the government, where the reality of how insignificance sinks in and they decide there needs to be another law, and good times must be regulated and taxed. They will also seek advantage, unfair advantage. If they had a real good idea, a known truth, it would be picked up by the people. But they don't and have to hide what they do, and lie about the effects.

Once upon a time I advised some young folks to make up a plan, to have goals and to prepare to meet those goals. Being an expert procrastinator (if I would just get around to finding my certification and writing that book) I have trouble with the Honey-do lists in my own home, but I still advise go get a plan and set a goal.

I have a Known Distance clinic to attend this weekend, the weather look COLD, but that is Idaho and close to Canada what would I expect. And then the following weekend I have a full Appleseed to help instruct in Ariel, Washington. So today, I happily signed up for my first Revolutionary War Veterans event of 2014, an Instructor Boot Camp in Battle Ground, Washington. I also put it on my 2014 calendar as my first Appleseed event of the new year. Only 364 other days to fill.

Leisure Living Estates...

Leisure living estates... so much promise in the name. I liked it when I first lived there. But I had been thinking as I worked a bit on my yard yesterday - that what was truly hurting the American economy is leisure, time off, unproductive activity. Sitting in the rocker or recliner and gazing at the television or cable feed or whatever feed your mind to keep it empty... of real content.

Now, advertisers want your attention, but you really don't have any left do you? Real working folks have something to concentrate on, to build, to fix, to find, to pay attention to... and then most of the rest don't have anything they can't turn on... I never listened to music as I jogged, excess weight and it would get in the way of thinking as I jogged. Of course, my mind would wander and my concentration on going faster fled quicker than my feet would ever catch up. Still it was all Earl, and I like background music, and bird song and wind whipping through the trees and thunder and lightening (over there not over here).


I think I know the suffering that too much time upon the hands, too much empty in the mind can bring about.

Isn't that why the boys will poke sticks into ant hills? Even fire ants? Wanting to know what could happen? And the government guys, aren't they similar? Poking sticks at the little folks, trying to stir up something? Had some fun watching the Kennedy Assassination stories on FOX last night. The truth is never going to be known, it was buried with Jimmy Hoffa. And you don't know where that is either. Aren't you glad you have so much to fill your life you don't do leisure?

Cool Hand Luke, finished tossing gravel on the oiled road and had to wait on the trucks to come pick them up... now that was leisure. Worked hard for it.

To be poor, isn't everyone deprived of something of value?

Mostly, money is the first thing to enter one's mind - I don't have enough money - for food, shelter, for stuff I must have to survive. But many without money aren't poor. I was reading a blog post about abstinence, the not having sexual relations with other human creatures I guess... most of my life is without having sexual relations with other human creatures, my mother expected too much from me, and having human sexual reproductive activities with humans of the opposite sex was really frowned upon by her.

I never felt poor because I wasn't following the Playboy Philosophy of Mister Hefner. Certainly did like looking at the charming young ladies in his magazine, and the cartoons, and the jokes. Don't remember reading any of the writing and I was a reader, reading more books in a week than some boys read in a year.

Being poor, feeling poor, never did - although I was sure there should be more money for Earl to catch up with the Jones boy - I realized later that my parents had done very well with four greedy little grubbers to clothe, shelter and feed. And it wasn't until I was throwing my own money away that I truly appreciated how rich that life had been.

I guess if I were to be asked, not that anyone cared, I counted my riches in the family, the dinner table and card table conversations, the number of magazines and books circulating in the home, always being read. I was rich in that there was only one television and one full bathroom and when I was a senior I got my own room. (decorated for a girl?). I was rich in friends that would tease me and people that liked some of me, hoping the rest would settle down and turn out okay. It was always difficult enough to live up to my own dreams and expectations - doing it for others was nearly impossible.

There was, and probably still are hundreds of sexual education teachers that tell young people that you aren't normal without sexual activity. That abstinence doesn't work, that... well, I can teach killing as well as that sexual education teacher can teach sex, but I also know that you really aren't morally prepared for the responsibility of killing another human being in high school - although, like sex, it does happen.

If when you are a child, you learn good manners, good language, sharing and helping, if you learn right from wrong then you will be closer to being prepared for starting a human life (which is what all sexual activity is designed to do) or ending a human life (which is what all military combat is about). But you would have to see beyond the video games, the movies and television drama to find the real people all around you - and you will notice you aren't going to have sexual relations with most of them, nor even try to kill anyone of them for the good of some government guy. And that is a much better normal than I or that Sex Education teacher can illustrate.

Marry once and forever, and when sex dies, let it lie. Don't ever kill anyone, no ugly to try to not remember. Gee, I feel so rich in never having to have to have a hundred screaming fans watch me pretend to have sex in some love relationship - oh, yeah. Tom Cruise has it tougher than that forgotten soldier in Afghanistan - I guess being a short actor was tough on Clark Gable, too. I am so rich to have never been so deprived as to be an actor without a justification for my words, work or lack of height. Can't be poor all the time.

Thank you for your service...

Getting close to Veteran's Day, or Armistice Day (which I always thought veterans of that war really appreciated). Time to get specials for being there when the really smart powerful people didn't want to go, go get those specials.

I like the veterans I knew, they are all giants in my life. Lots of them from the Bible, many from mythology, bunches and bunches from History of everyone everywhere. While studying the Greek and Roman military I constantly noticed that the veterans were the backbone of the formations, were always the carbon in the steel, that make it tough and able to hold an edge... I was sure that Horatio at the bridge was my kind of guy, and Horatio Hornblower must have been a real sailor... yeah, those are people I think of as veterans.

I was lucky, didn't have to wait for Veteran's Day parades or sales to reach out and find a vet, I had the very best kind - a quiet humble man I knew as Dad. His parting comment as I left for my own military service "You aren't going to like it." . Having permitted (like I could change anything) my own son's enlistment and his service - I hope all the veterans know the love of all those they served, protected and have left behind while they did their duty. I hope all veterans know the day when they can just be quietly thankful for having survived and gotten on with the real joy of living, being in love and creating and growing a better world that they knew was out there on the other side of war. Oh, how I pray that the day comes when they step out into the light for they have had all the darkness they couldn't sleep through, and they shouldn't drag it into their dreams or allow it to weigh them down.

Yeah, I can't know what any veteran went through, but do know 'they didn't like it'. Sure they had the days, hours, minutes and seconds of pride in surviving something terrible, and the shame of not being able to save everyone, people they had come to love... but they are scar bearing, tarnished, dinged, worn and tattered.

Give them your thanks, say lots of prayers for them and their healing, and always know that only love will make it better.

So, I am going to shoot known distance...

Do much of my shooting very safely (no rounds, dry fire) or very close (25 yards or 25 meters), and all for marksmanship and instructing others in rifle marksmanship. But I am going to Idaho to a two day clinic for Known Distance and the range will go farther than I will engage. They may encourage me to take a 500 yard shot or two.

Researching I have been looking to find the Course of Instruction, so I would see how many rounds I will need. My M1 Garand is the primary rifle for this exercise, although I will take the Model 70 with optics to learn a bit about using the optics at the distances.

And not having a real sense of what is going to happen, I will make up a known distance course for myself to test my .22LR and the M1 skills and potential this Saturday, supposed to be cloudy and cool. Verify the zero on each rifle, move the target stand to 100 yards, place four inch square on white background, Shoot twice, once with each rifle five rounds, notice where the rounds hit, paste and then adjust aiming point or come ups for .22LR. Shoot again, 5 rounds, check and put four 100 yard targets up (reduced size), shoot four phases of KD AQT on those targets with .22LR. Check, which I always mean take a picture for later, post full size target on backer. Shoot 10 rounds standing in 2 minutes on it. Take picture, paste holes if any...

Move target backer to 200 yards, put eight inch black square on backer. Shoot with .22LR and M1, note results. Post full size target, shoot two and eight with M1, shoot ten rounds spotting with .22LR. Take pictures, move target backer to 300 yard line (will have to move Caravan down to target line for speed). Post 12 inch black square on backer, shoot with M1, check target. Post full size target shoot stage three with 2 and 8. Take pictures and pull backer and clean up firing point, recover brass.

Either YMCA is going to be very early or very late on Saturday, had my rest day yesterday.

I have been told that I limp...

I immediately put that remark beside the one 'looking sexy' - it depended on the voice, the moment and message. But it was followed with was it a war wound... nope, I never got wounded, that anyone could really see, by war - I love cover, really love cover. Skinny kids hide well in the depressions of little note.

Having been laughing at my fellow Men's Bible Study men, as they limp, sit and groan -- I have noticed that those that really keep working and moving, are still moving well. Those engaged in thinking, loving and smiling are even doing better than well. So I need to start back on the To Do List hanging on my wall.

Go with God
Husband my wife

and then the other measurements still unmet... I can look at them daily, doing them is another matter.

I don't have a lot of time left, or remaining here on earth and this time, time is almost up... Should I put annoying little pop-ups on my computer to drive me out to become better? Wasting more time?

Don't be negative, teach no wrong, live only right, spend time in love with love and for love... God is watching, all the time and time keeps moving on.

Part of that motivation is to get a new suit, my funeral suit, when I get light enough for six ladies to carry...
title IX adjustment. I don't want to bother my military, I need no more honors than having served and having been well remembered, surprisingly often. While putting on my Sunday best today, I looked in the mirror and said the waist would have to be at the waist and belted there, the coat would have to be hanging from the shoulders, and then I realized I want a waistcoat (vest) to be under the jacket - which would make it a real coat, then I would have to get an overcoat for the cold weather.... Winter is Coming. Where is a great tailor when one needs one? Ah well, seems like Summer of next year, or as the election season starts, right after Christmas of this year - and not something that a truly humble man would ever concern those that love him.

So I did see Ender's Game on Friday evening, enjoyed it very much, having read the book and the follow on books leading to Ender's Shadow. Great adaptation, and I really liked being reminded of why we send young people, without fears and experience up against enemies and fears of the old fools.

So, since running is off the table for now (as a training tool), I will have to aspire to walking along the road, and being offered rides by those many kind people - which I will thank and ask God to bless them.

Is time travel an important part of Science Fiction?

With faster than light, or even getting closer it has always been part of - is it an important part? There is a effort to get some science fiction writers, a new generation of them.

Military Sci-Fi Book Needs Writers, Guns, and Money

So I look at it, having read most of the great ones, and think Ender's Game becomes many other titles, Forever War touches on it, and my favorite Starship Troopers never touches it. Reminding me to go see Ender's Game today. There will never be Time Travel there will always be Time Travelers.

I am a time traveler, I study History, I have lived History and will soon just become History.

Ever wonder about the Patriots of 1775 in Lexington and Concord on April 19th? How did they become the Patriots of Tom Brady in  2013? Take that fifty some man team back into the early dawn of Lexington and place them beside Captain Parker and his muster, would it have slowed the Light Infantry companies marching onto the green, chanting Huzzah, huzzah? I always wondered when Hoo-ah got into the modern military lexicon.

Personal Short story - all real time travel:

I think you were my drill sergeant.

Answer: I have no idea if you were in one of my platoons, I was Drill Sergeant for the 1st Platoon of A Btry, 2nd Battalion. I looked at the picture books I have copies of and never found your name. But still it is possible.

You were my Sergeant!  It is really quite amazing to be able to converse with you.

We had you for the first part of our training, and then suddenly one day you were gone.  Spent several days without an assigned Drill, and then got a SFC  named H or He.  I don’t remember much about him, except that he was a bit lazy, and couldn’t sing or even march troops.  We were used to you, and we had some pride in our D&C abilities so a couple of us were allowed to take over those duties.  One of my proudest days there was the day I got to move the whole Battery a couple of miles or so, and there were quite a few spectators whose lives we were interrupting because the cattle cars didn’t show up to pick us up.  

There was an incident at the record fire range with him and one of the trainees.  Some kid from one of the other platoons allegedly cooked off a 5.56 round...they said towards him...  I know my weapon disappeared from my hands to the hands of a Drill, and we were left standing for quite some time in the culvert Firing Points facing “down range only”.  The only other thing I remember about that incident is we were put in the back room of the Orderly Room Building for several hours after we got back to Garrison...  I do not remember if that was before you left, or after.

Answer: I disappeared to work in the S3 at Battalion Headquarters, since I was having trouble being less than I thought I should be.

That whole incident was after I left, I never heard about it.  While I was there we had no trainee Drill Sergeant problems, all the problems were with officer control of training and Drill Sergeants which you would not have known about. Nothing to do with firearms, just the standards of training.

That range incident was for a couple of days pretty “front burner” amongst the trainees.  Then it was addressed in a Battery formation rather succinctly...as in “you all will shut your mouths unless asked to speak about it!”.  We did just exactly that!

I was never convinced the shot was fired back towards the range control.  From where I was, and where the trainee was, it would have had to pass pretty close to my six.  I always thought I would have heard it...but who knows.  I know the kid was a screw up, and he was a bit “off center”.  He had words with the 2LT XO earlier in the week.  I was the Training Platoon Leader, and it was witnessed by one of my guys who was assigned a Female Barracks Roving Patrol one night.  I had to tell the CSM about it, and it was not one of my favorite days.

I will write more as I remember, but know that in a part today, I am who I am due to you!  I have an evening fire at the range tonight that I have to Range Master for...we are going to open up the 1Km lane tonight...it will be all .308 and .338 stuff. 

End of Story, kind of... but there we were and now here we are. Still with troops in Asia, my father was there in 1945, Easter April Fools day, yep. This video from YouTube SPITFIRE 944 is a great story about a great story and time travelers.