Back from Hawaiian Hell

Well, I guess it's time to throw down more words of what some day someone might think are wisdom, or maybe just the ramblings of a semi conscious mind.

I have spent the last three weeks in beautiful Hawaii. I was hammered with sunshine, heat, and humidity. I was also befuddled by the complete lack of planning and organization that went into the exercise. You see, I was not there for vacation, I was there to flex the muscle of the military.

I know that the military is seen as the end all of mission planning and success, more often than not that view is true. I hate to admit that there was a lack of planning, but I am proud to say that there was complete mission success for our part of the exercise. We had planned to do training locally, and use a facility close to us to gleen the knowledge and expertise from professional trainers that would spend a couple of weeks to marmalade information into our melons. That plan was scrapped when someone decided that we needed to perform a mission that we had not trained for yet, and do it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You think I am complaining....maybe I am. I was sent to Hawaii, vacation spot to the stars, plane ticket paid for, housing paid for, and meals for free.

Definitions:
Housing-60 year old barracks that have not seen a human inside for approximately 4-5 years. The majority of the building was unfit for habitation due to the black mold covering the everything. I found out at the end of the mission that our squadron mothership had paid $50K to have new tile work done and fix up the building, only to have the entire thing gutted after we leave so the place can be converted to a Navy Lodge. Smooth. No TV, internet, and almost zero cleaning supplies. Yes, we got to take care of the facilities ourselves. Joy.
Meals-Two "hot" meals a day. Breakfast was an egg of some type, a sausage product, a roll, and either rice or potato product. Almost enough to get the front of your stomach away from your spine, but not enough to fill up a 6'2" 230 pound male adult. Lunch was a MRE, what I like to call food in a bag. The contents was one of 12 things, 10 of which tasted like shit, and the other 2 tasted like crap. Dinner was a meat product, rice, and a vegetable. Usually a salad and a roll came with it, but not always. Funny thing is, the Per Diem for Hawaii is over $100 per day per person, and that is NO WAY that the food we consumed was worth over $25 (even with Hawaii's inflated food costs). What did the caterer's charge for the food? Don't know.

I think that I have just stepped off of the train for a minute, and I don't think that I am ready to get back on right now.

Here is a joke that I heard from some Australian Sailors.
What is the difference between jam and marmalade?
You can't marmalade your dick up a chick's ass.

Back to the world.

Birthdays are just another day....

Here it is...the day after my 37th birthday. I was given a great party the night before. Mom and Dad showed up, my brother was there (he had just finished a ride-a-long), and my wife and kids. We had a BBQ, steaks, pasta salad, baked potatoes, ceasar salad, and I don't remember what else. Good times.

Monday, the actual birthday, I got to sit around and watch DEA (my new favorite show) and eat cookies. My youngest sister called me at about 8 am and wished me a happy b-day. Very cool. My mother-in-law came over about 9 pm so my wife and I could go to a late movie with NO KIDS!!! First time this year we have been able to go out alone. Damn, well into the second quarter and we just now get alone time.

Now back to present day. The day after. Still feel the same. Still can walk on my own. Guess I have a few more days to live.

Later

"I didn't know they were in there."

I had been driving around trying to find a person to give a hard time. I wasn't needing to make an arrest, just needed someone to yell at for a minute. I had been having a lot of stress lately, and I needed a release, and I spend too much time being nice to stupid people anyway.

(Juggalo enters from stage left)

A Juggalo is someone that "follows" the Insane Clown Posse. By follow I mean that they are a gang member and are sporting the "Running Clown" or some other clown related tattoo/sticker/clothing etc.

I see a beat up truck with two dip wads in the cab, both have their hoodies up and covering what they can of their faces. It worked too, because since we couldn't see their faces we wanted to get an interview done with them and find out who they were.

We did the interview, and after it I asked one of the twits what the silver thing was on his keychain. He said something I couldn't understand, then said that there was nothing in it and proceeded to open the thing and out spilled two small white pills that earned him a trip to the jail for a felony booking.

Funny thing was, when he saw the pills falling, he said "I didn't know they where in there." To which I responded "Are those your keys?" To which he responded "I thought I took them last night."

Twit.

So it begins.....

I have not spent much time reading blogs, to be quite honest, I have a friend that has one, and I have only glanced at it.

Sorry b'Sean.

I am not one to journal, and that is what I think this really is, as it is my thoughts and perhaps a tad bit of my personal life. Who is going to read this? If I was not writing it, would I? Hmmm, something to ponder.

I was the first of my crew to place this mark on/in/under my skin. It more or less describes what I was/am/want to be. I spent about 18 years figuring out what tattoo I was going to get, and this one spoke to me. I guess it looked okay because about 7 or 8 more people got it within a week or so. Eric was the first, second was Bicklet, then Doc, then I took Nuner down and she got it done between her shoulder blades. Next were the "sisters," called that because three grown men could not have been any closer. I am not sure if b'Sean got one, I can't remember. If not, then we will have to get it done before too long. The design was used by our unit as the new logo, and has been carried through now that we have changed our mission.

Enough for now.......