Category Archives: Loose thoughts and musings

August 10, 2012 · 12:12

The Pilgrimage to Houston

I made pilgrimage this week. I spent the past week in Houston Texas for a conference with my church leadership. It was a good week. I learned a lot and since I am a priest in a small denomination with no local parish near me it was good to be able to meet, worship and work with my bishop. Such meetings are important for military chaplains because even those from larger denominations often have to minister in isolation from their denomination which for some leads to problems.

There is danger in being a “Lone Ranger” in ministry and those that become isolated tend to get in trouble more often than those that maintain healthy relationships with their own churches as well as other chaplains from different denominations. Collegiality is important in public ministry, especially the chaplain ministry. Lone Rangers frequently not only lose contact with their roots but also tend to isolate themselves from other chaplains of different denominations that might be able to help them. So for me it was good to be with the church leadership, to reconnect and to see the things going on in the church.

Nationals Relief Pitcher Mike Gonzalez signing Autographs and talking to Fans

I lived in Texas from 1987 through 1994. I first went there in 1983 as a new Army Lieutenant. Texas is an interesting state and contrary to the impressions of many who have not been there it is not monolithic. The various cities and regions have their own unique flavor. Most of my time in Texas was spent in San Antonio or the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. I also served in the Texas Army National Guard while in seminary and during my Clinical Pastoral Education hospital residency. That service allowed be to become acquainted with parts of the state and its people that I would have never have experienced had I not served in the Guard.

However I never spent any time in Houston until last year when I came down for my first clergy conference as a Priest in the Apostolic Catholic Orthodox Church. http://apostoliccatholicorthodox.org . Houston is definitely different than San Antonio or the Dallas, just as it seems that you are in a different states when you travel between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Most places in Texas have a unique hospitality that is more welcoming of outsiders than much of the rest of the South. I think that is because of its unique history compared to the rest of the country. I found that especially true in Houston where wearing my Baltimore Orioles cap stood out from the locals. People were very friendly and helpful everywhere I went and I really enjoyed myself.

Astros Outfielder Marwan Gonzalez hitting a Home Run in the First Inning

I was able to take in a ball game between the hapless Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park on Monday. The Astros lost in extra innings but I had a great seat near the Nationals dugout with a military discount that got me into the game for $20. The game kind of took me back to childhood when I went to the California Angels games in Anaheim. Players from both teams were taking time to talk with fans and sign autographs and I was able to get a ball signed by Houston All-Star Second Baseman Jose Altuve. The man that sat next to me had retired from the oil industry and had moved to Houston in the early 1970s who was bemoaning the condition of the Astros franchise. Baseball fans who suffer with struggling franchises have a unique kinship. We are not like fans of teams that are always in playoff contention and feel the pain of the other. On the way back from the stadium, “Mo” the cab driver who came to the United States from Morocco 30 years ago talked baseball the whole way back to the hotel. He knew the game and the Astros, better than many Americans that  know. That was a enjoyable cab ride.

During the trip I was able to experience many of the local craft beers brewed in the city. There are many of these compared to other cities that I have traveled. I was fortunate to have stayed in a hotel near a new watering hole called the West End which features a large number of these beers. I particularly liked the (512) Brewing Company IPA, the BuffaloBayou 1836 Copper Ale, the Saint Arnold Brewery Summer Pilsner and the Karbach Brewery Sympathy for the Lager.

I am on my way back, well sort of on my way back. My flight is delayed and hopefully it will not screw up my connection at DFW. Last time this happened I made the connection but my baggage didn’t arrive until the next day.

Blessings and Peace, pray for me a wayward traveler.

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under Loose thoughts and musings

June 19, 2012 · 17:51

29 Years, Preparing for a Garage Sale and Roger Clemens Strikes out the Prosecution

A Young 1st Lieutenant Padre Steve on the East Side of the Berlin Wall in 1986

It was 29 years ago today that I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army at UCLA.  Time flies. Back then Ronald Reagan was President, the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union were still standing, Iran and Iraq were engaged in a brutal and bloody war, and Hosni Mubarak was just settling in as leader of Egypt. Moammar Ghadaffi was sponsoring terrorist acts against the United States and the Marines were attempting to help stabilize Lebanon.  Speaking of Mubarak it has just been reported that his doctors have declared him clinically dead following more strokes and a heart attack yesterday.  This means that if things keep going as they are in Egypt he very well could be re-elected as President.

It really is hard to believe that it has been so long and so much has transpired in the past 29 years including my own transition from the Army to the Navy some 13 years ago. One thing that I do on such occasions is to re-read my oath as a Commissioned Officer. It reminds me that no matter who the President is or which party controls Congress that my duty is always to the Constitution and the nation, above any party ideology.

In my time I have agreed or disagreed, sometimes most stridently with the various policies and politics of the men who have served as President and I have done the same with those that have served in Congress.  It serves me well to remember that regardless of which side controls the reigns of government that I know who and what I serve.

Taking the Oath again in 2006 as a Lieutenant Commander with the Marines

“I, (state your name), having been appointed a (rank) in the United States (branch of service), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

That obligation that I and every other officer takes is one that should transcend politics even when we have deeply held opinions. Lord knows that I certainly have some deeply held opinions. Anyway, it is always a good thing to think about especially when the country is so deeply divided among political, ideological and even religious lines.

That being said I am taking a few days of leave in order to get rid of a load of stuff that we haven’t touched for years but have been paying rent to keep in a storage space. Early tomorrow before it gets too hot I will be emptying out the storage space and taking the things to our guest room where we will sort through all the stuff which includes more items than I can imagine, and hopefully, Lord willing sell a decent amount before hauling  whatever remains to Goodwill or keep to sell on E-Bay.  With that we won’t have to pay for a storage space again.

Roger Clemens outside the Federal Courthouse in Houston

Finally when I was eating dinner last night it was announced that Roger Clemens was found not guilty of all counts in his perjury trail where he was accused to lying to Congress. The trial, like that of Barry Bonds was a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money. It showed the ineptness of the prosecutors who having the thinnest evidence provided by some of the most disreputable sources decided to take on Clemens. I think that they wanted Clemons to plead but he wouldn’t give them that. He stared them down and like he did some many times as a pitcher struck out the side. One may have their opinions of whether they think Clemens did performance enhancing drugs and lied to Congress about it but the fact of the matter was that the prosecutors bit off more than they could chew in this case. Clemens may have done them but like Bonds there was no positive drug test. The fact is that during the steroid era a good number of players used various performance enhancing drugs. Clemens very well could have been one of them However, he still was an amazing pitcher and in my opinion the fact that his defense team totally shredded the credibility of his chief accuser Brian MacNeemee who by the way was the only person that made actual accusations that got Clemens on the now infamous Mitchell Report and which were the basis for the prosecution. The longer the trials of Bonds and Clemens went I realized that I was not watching a process of justice, I was watching a witch hunt in which Federal Prosecutors and the media feasted on them and others without much in the way of evidence. I tend not to be a fan of witch hunts. I don’t know if Clemens used or didn’t but I am glad that the trial is over and hopefully the prosecutors will find some real criminals to prosecute, maybe the bankers and financiers that about destroyed the economy in 2008. That would be a great place to start, none of them have even been charged with a crime despite their criminal malfeasance that has wreaked havoc here and around the world. But with the prosecutions latest track record maybe we better not go down that road.

Peace

Padre Steve+

Leave a comment

Filed under Baseball, Loose thoughts and musings, Military

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

June 10, 2012 · 22:37

Comings and Goings on a Sunday Night

It has been a few days since I have published and for those that are regular readers I do apologize. It has been a busy week which included a not to be repeated for more 10 years medical exam that comes with being over 50. I will let the reader defer to their imagination but it was a real pain in the ass. That aside, no pun  intended…the week has included a change of command at the Naval Hospital that I serve at o Friday and a celebration of the 114th anniversary of the Navy Hospital Corps rating last night as well as the normal load of pastoral counseling cases and inpatient groups.

I have also when not otherwise occupied I have been catching up on reading as well as reading for a purpose.  The purpose of the purposeful reading will be a review of the book “Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat” by Max Holland for the folks at TLC Book Tours that I will publish here on Tuesday.

Since I have either been too tired or not feeling well after the aforementioned procedure or busy I have been outlining a number of articles that I will post this week. Subjects will include the epidemic of suicide in the military which has exploded in 2012; an article on the Hospital Corps of the US Navy; thoughts on the state of the Church and despicable actions of some of those that claim to be “Christian leaders” in the past few weeks and months; some thoughts about how hateful language and the deliberate dehumanization of certain people based on their race, religion or sexual preference frequently leads to actual violence and even genocide.  I expect also to write one or more articles on specific topics dealing with the Holocaust and the subject of Crimes against Humanity over the next few weeks. Regarding baseball I expect to be doing an article about Washington Nationals rookie sensation Bryce Harper and why he should be in the All-Star Game at the behest of a reader. I may also play around a bit and do a short story in the historical-fiction genre.  I have some ideas for the short story but haven’t decided on a specific topic, but it will deal with something interesting with a current application.

I did enjoy writing about D-Day and Midway last week. Those are subjects that I have studied or read about since childhood and which I always find something interesting enough to write about. I’ll probably do some more articles on Navy ships in the near future. I haven’t completed my series on the Super-Battleships of World War II so maybe I will do some work on those. Fore the readers unfamiliar with the series I have done a lot of articles on specific classes of the Washington Treaty Battleships of the US, Britain, France, Italy and Germany which are available under the “Warship and Naval Battles” tab at the top of the site.

I have had a good number of people suggest writing a book or possibly doing a compilation of essays from this site and turn them into a book. I expect that I will actually begin spending more of my writing time doing this and hope that I can shop around and find a publisher and literary agent. I wouldn’t mind doing a book tour of my own someday.

As for today it has been a day of celebrating a home Eucharist, doing laundry, reading and hanging out with my little dog Molly.  We went through a Hardee’s drive through this afternoon following a drive around the local area. When I ordered she had to start barking, like she’s not going to get anything. She is an entitled little dog. But then why should she not be?

Peace

Padre Steve+

Leave a comment

Filed under Loose thoughts and musings

Tagged as , , , , , ,

May 13, 2012 · 23:59

Mother’s Day Miscellany

Happy Mother’s Day to all those of you that are mother’s out there and those that tried to be but for whatever reason never had children or lost your children. Mother’s Day is a day that for some is happy and others not. That is one of the perplexing parts of the day. I had a happy childhood and my mom endured the life of a Navy Wife and mother raising two boys with her husband deployed, traveling or underway.  She did a pretty good job if you ask me. I think of the times that when dad was gone that she cheered me at Little League baseball and hockey games and would take my brother Jeff and me to the Navy Base Dispensary when we were sick. I also remember the time that she took on a neighbor who had threatened to hurt me when I was out on my paper route. The guy stood about 6’ 6” and worked for a competing paper.  Of course I was 12 years old and he was an adult. Mom marched down the street, and standing about 5’ 2” got right up on him and chewed him up one side and down the other and if I recall threatened his life if he laid a hand on me. It’s good to have a mom that can do dad’s job when dad is on an extended deployment in a combat zone.

Thankfully my mom is still alive and doing okay. I know that for those that have lost their mothers that this day can be hard.  Likewise for those who did not have mom’s that cared for or nurtured them the day can be hard. I was able to talk to my mom today and though separated by a continent it was good to talk with her and wish her a happy Mother’s Day.

I spent today at home with Molly my little dog at the Island Hermitage catching up on laundry, having some time of prayer and a celebration of the Eucharist. It has been a taxing few weeks with much travel and activity and after a celebration of the Navy Nurse Corps 104th Anniversary and National Nurses Week which cumulated in a Luau last night I was ready to do very little today.

I have been doing some reading, I am almost done with William Sheridan Allen’s book The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town 1922-1945. It is an excellent read and should be a cautionary tale for anyone that puts their faith in radical politicians that promise “clear solutions” to difficult problems, especially social and economic conditions and those that appeal to displays of religious faith and tradition to attack and vilify their political opponents.

Later in the afternoon I ran the furthest distance that I have since before I went to Iraq, a bit over 7 miles on the beach. It was a slower pace than I wanted because of the condition of the sand because of the tide, heavy surf and number of tourists who had tread upon it this weekend. Despite the slow pace it was really nice to get the distance in without any problems. A lot of credit goes to my new running shoes, the Merrell “Barefoot” model. I have been running in them for 2 months and for the first time in years I am running without pain and not twisting or turning my ankle. Likewise when I am done running I no longer am tight or in pain. I look forward to knocking our my Navy Physical Readiness Test on Friday. I feel like I am in the best shape I have been in years.

I finished the day watching baseball and then the film Nuremberg which is about the Nuremberg trials.  It does a good job in portraying the major Nazi War Criminals either justified themselves or came to see the gravity of crimes and guilt.

Anyway, have to get ready for bed and give my wife Judy a call to say goodnight since I was unable to be with her this week or last. All my stuff is packed to take to work in the morning.

Peace

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under History, Loose thoughts and musings, Military

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

April 30, 2012 · 23:48

The Battle of Camarón 1863: The Heroic Stand of the Foreign Legion

Lieutenant Clement Maudet Leads Surviving Legionnaires in a Final Charge at Camarón 

“We may die, but never will surrender.” Lieutenant Jean Villian

Almost every Army or nation has a story of a heroic group of soldiers that fight valiantly and often die against enemies of far greater strength.  The United States has the Texan defenders of the Alamo and in World War II the Marine defenders of Wake Island. The British the Battle of Rourke’s Drift in the Zulu War. In 1989 the 9th Company of the Red Army’s 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment conducted a heroic defense against Afghan Mujahideen at Hill 3234 during Operation Magistral.

However, seldom are “the few” honored by friend and foe alike.  Among these are the 65 men of the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion Légion Étrangère (Foreign Legion). These few would battle nearly 2000 Mexican Soldiers at a small Hacienda called Camarón on April 30th 1863 while proving an advance guard escort to a supply convoy which was to relieve French forces besieging Puebla.

Captain Jean Danjou 

The 3rd Company severely undermanned due to dysentery and 50 Legionnaires and all of the company officers were incapacitated.  The battalion Quartermaster, Captain Danjou took command and was joined by two other officers, Lieutenant Clement Maudet and Lieutenant Jean Villian joined the remaining 62 Legionnaires.  Beginning their March at 0100 and had marched 15 miles stopping for breakfast at 0700. While brewing their coffee with the convoy several hours behind scouts saw a force of several hundred Mexican cavalry approaching.  The fought a battle with the cavalry for several hours before getting into the Hacienda around the middle of the morning. The Mexican forces under the command of Colonel Francisco Milan were joined by additional forces bringing their total to 800 cavalry and 1200 infantry.  Milan realizing that the Legionnaires situation was hopeless offered Danjou the chance to surrender. With his force reduced to under 50 men following the skirmishes Danjou refused replying “We have munitions. We will not surrender.”

The Legionnaires defense held against several assaults but with casualties mounting, ammunition dwindling and without food or water in the scorching heat Danjou rallied his men. He had lost his left hand in Algeria 10 years before and had a wooden hand fashioned.  He went to each Legionnaire offering words of support, a sip of wine and had each man swear on his wooden hand that they would not surrender.  While doing so he was shot and killed about noon.

Lieutenant Villian, the battalion’s much disliked Paymaster who volunteered for the mission took command and the Legionnaires fought on suffering immensely under the fierce and accurate fire of the Mexican troops. Somehow as happens in battle, the formerly hated officer inspired the Legionnaires to continue the fight until he was shot dead about 1600 hours. Lieutenant Maudet then took command of the few remaining Legionnaires.  Around 1700 Colonel Milan approached the now burning Hacienda to offer the surviving Legionnaires a chance to surrender.  He looked inside the charnel house and saw Maudet rallying about a dozen Legionnaires amid piles of dead and wounded. Maudet refused the offer and Milan went back to his troops and ordered another assault.

With only himself and 5 remaining Legionnaires Maudet surveyed the situation. The Mexican troops were massing for another attack and his troops were down to one round of ammunition each. He and his men loaded their weapons and he ordered a charge into the massed Mexican infantry.  They engaged the Mexicans in hand to hand combat, Maudet and one Legionnaire were killed and four captured. The senior surviving NCO Corporal Maine requested that the survivors be treated for their wounds and be allowed to maintain their weapons and escort the remains of Captain Danjou to France. Acceding to the bloodied Corporal’s request Colonel Milan, a valiant and honorable officer was overwhelmed with emotion and said “What can I refuse to such men? No, these are not men, they are devils.”  Something similar to what the German Army called the U.S. Marines at the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918.

The sacrifice of the Legionnaires enabled the relief convoy to reach the French at Puebla. Emperor Napoleon III ordered the name Camarón embroidered on the Legion’s flag and the battle became legendary in the history of warfare. The Legion came into its own after Camarón.  Danjou’s wooden hand and forearm were recovered from the battlefield and returned to France 2 years following the battle.

Today Camarón is still marked by the Legion wherever its troops are stationed much as the United States Marine Corps marks their founding.  The wooden hand of Captain Danjou is removed from its case in the museum and paraded with the assembled troops. The officers serve their troops coffee symbolizing the coffee the defenders never drank and the commander of Legion at the headquarters as well as units deployed read the account of the battle. The week before the fall of their besieged redoubt at Dien Bien Phu was overrun the Legionnaires of the 13th Demi-Brigade of the French Foreign Legion remembered the sacrifice of their predecessors at Camarón with their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Lemeunier read the story over the radio to the embattled garrison.

The Mexican Army too marks the courage of the Legionnaires with a parade, speeches made and French dignitaries including the French Ambassador and Legion veterans honored.  It is a fitting tribute to the men that fought that day.

Peace

Padre Steve+

3 Comments

Filed under Loose thoughts and musings

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 25, 2012 · 17:00

Law School Here I Come: Padre Steve Plans his Post Navy Chaplain Life

“We have geniuses in this country. True pioneers of innovation. Steve Jobs, Steven Wozniak, Steve Ballmer…if we could just round up some of our best Steves!” Alan Shore (James Spader) Boston Legal

Padre Steve has decided that his post-Navy Chaplain life will be as an attorney. Yes he is going to be rounded up as one of our best “Steves.” Now I know that according to Shakespeare King Henry VI was reported to have said “first kill all the lawyers” Obviously he was talking about the bad ones or the ones that gave him bad advice.

I had the honor today of being a character witness for a military officer accused serious crimes on what appear to me based on the testimony that I heard seem at best spurious     case and evidence.  I have a tremendous respect for the legal tradition in our country. I think that it is one of the very few things that keep us from becoming a tyranny.  I respect the courts, our legal tradition and those that honestly seek to best represent their clients within the confines of the law and legal ethics regardless of their ideology or even dare I say… (oh say it Padre we dare you) well….okay….I guess…their faith and tradition.

The trial is not over as the jury has not reached a verdict but if I was the prosecutor I would not have taken the case to trial and if I did I would have done a lot better than the government prosecutor and I certainly would have done a kick ass job on defense.  I do hope that my friend’s attorney git his point across and that he will be acquitted but one can never be sure, thus when I see things like this I realize that my talents could be used in the courtroom as well as behind the pulpit and altar.

Back when I was in high school I had to take a debate class. One of the debates I had to do was to put the death penalty on trial. At the time I was a death penalty advocate and believed that is was a mistake for the Supreme Court, or simple The Gladys Knightless Supremes to strike down the death penalty statutes.  In the class I had to take on something that I strongly believed in. However I was able to destroy the arguments of my classmate who was defending the death penalty and I realized that even though I thought that the Gladys Knightless Supremes had made a mistake I also realized that I had reservations about the death penalty. I found in that class that I could take the facts of a case and use them with historical, legal and theological arguments argue for almost anything.

Thus when I was a company commander and staff officer in the Army I was pretty much a “hanging judge” kind of guy I could always see the other side. It didn’t mean that I had to agree with it, but I could see it and if I worked hard enough could even see the legal precedent that backed up the other side.

Now the fact is that I have very strong beliefs, thus the whole “Passionate Moderate”  thing does have a foundation. I am not wishy wash but can use any facts and precedent at hand to argue for almost anything. I guess that I would have been either high on King Henry IV’s  “enemies to be killed” or must “keep close to my side list.”  Regardless as I entered the hallowed halls of the courtroom, gave my testimony and then listened to he rest of the arguments bereft of a full day plus worth of sleep I knew that I could do better than either the prosecution or the defense with the evidence or lack thereof at hand. It is no wonder that some of my seminary classmates asked why I was in seminary and not law school.

But I am a Priest and historian, but not an attorney, or at least yet. I wish that I had been one of the opposing attorney’s today. I could have kicked ass because I am that much better than the two attorneys that I saw at work today. I would have had the jury hanging on every word I said.  The problem that I have seen is that many younger attorneys have no understanding of precedent, history or tradition thus no-matter what their ideology they always look bad when someone goes back to precedent, history and tradition and they either lose or make their cases more difficult.

But why can’t I be both? Al Sharpton is a minister, attorney and TV show host or at least two of the three, he did show up on Boston Legal so that should count for something, but I digress…. I don’t have the Rev’s hair but I do have an attitude and passion for the underdog and others have done similar things in life like the great Saint Thomas More who lost his head in dealing with the many wives of Henry VIII.  He didn’t get a TV show or appear on Boston  Legal, but still is considered a Saint, but again I digress, it must be the lack of sleep and my completely screwed up body clock since I am on the wrong side of the Atlantic.

Heck, I could be a Priest, Attorney, Historian and maybe even MSNBC host if I do tis right. So I think that it is high time that I take my GI Bill while I am still on active duty and start a law program so I can pass the Virginia or North Carolina Bar so I can practice law on the weekdays when I am not celebrating the Eucharist and preaching the Gospel. I think I want to do is civil rights and religious liberty law as well as to defend military personnel that I think are wrongfully accused.  I think I could kick ass in any courtroom.  The Priest version of William Shatner’s Denny Crane, or perhaps James Spader’s Alan Shore….

Now it is time to get the education to make sure that I can do this and either make sure that cases like this never see a courtroom or get cut to pieces when they show up.

Pray for me a sinner because if you don’t nobody else will.

Peace

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under faith, Loose thoughts and musings, Military

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 28, 2012 · 00:30

Birthdays Baseball the Liturgical Year and Friendship

I like my birthday the only problem is that it does not fall within the regular season and almost always falls during Lent.  It still falls during Lent this year but thankfully was not a Friday so I had a very nice steak at a local restaurant but it almost made the regular season this year since the Oakland and Seattle Mariners open the regular season in Tokyo tomorrow. Of course I can’t get or find what channel it is going to be televised on and even if I could I would be on my morning commute and in the regularly schedule hospital Board of Directors meeting.  Nonetheless I do home to find something maybe even a replay of it sometime tomorrow after work.

Like I say last night today was my 52nd birthday.  I kept it under wraps in the weeks leading up to it at work because I typically don’t like a big fuss made about it. Judy ordered me a personalized Baltimore Orioles jersey which I hope to get soon and that is all I really wanted.  I also wanted to do something exciting like walk through an exclusive gated community in a hoodie but forgot that here on the Outer Banks that everyone wears a hoodie, which means that despite the overwhelming number of fashionably well off people that live in my town that most of them must be potential gang members and criminals.  That took all the excitement out of it so I canceled those plans.

The really cool thing today were all the calls and messages that I got from so many people today and last night. My mom and brother, my cousin Chadd who pastors a Baptist Church in Huntington West Virginia while serving as the chaplain to the local rescue mission, my dear friend Father Jose Bautista-Rosas who served with me in Iraq and put me up for the first couple of months that I was stationed in this area. I have lost count of the number of friends from across the spectrum of my life on Facebook who posted very kind words and wishes on my page, I think around 150 or so and I am trying to send a personal thank you to each of them.  I am very grateful to have so many people from so many different backgrounds and parts of my life that still remain in contact with me.

After work and dinner I came home and was greeted with great gusto by Molly my faithful Papillon-Dachshund mix. It is always nice to come home to that and take her on her walk to the beach and deer hunting expedition. She didn’t see any deer tonight but about went ballistic on an unsuspecting cat that happened to be in the neighborhood. She scared the hell out of that cat and of course that made her day.

So with all that in mind I close out a quiet and nice birthday.  Thanks to all that have sent me well wishes, offered prayers for me and in spite of different political or religious views remain friends.  That is the real test of friendship, that you can remain friends with people, care about them and have room to disagree without destroying respect, friendship or relationship.

 

Peace my friends

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under Loose thoughts and musings, sports and life

Tagged as , , , , , ,

February 20, 2012 · 23:39

The Up Chuck and Die: Was it Stomach Flu or the Cookie?

I think I had a wicked case of the stomach flu this weekend, but then it might have been the Black and White Cookie.  Either way I am still recovering and thankfully not feeling as bad as I was on Sunday.

Sunday was bad all night long I was doing the full body heave.  I have tossed my cookies before, but this time was more violent than cookie tossing that I have been involved with. I mean my stomach was doing summersaults in my gut, it was though it had taken on a life of its own. I have never had my stomach do that before nor have I remained in pain the following day after tossing my cookies. Thankfully I seem to be recovering and the day after the morning after I seem to be feeling much better.

I was wondering if it might be something that I ate but since Judy and our Nephew Adam who was visiting for the weekend both ate what I ate the chances of that were small.  Thus I believe that it was a case of the latest stomach flu bug going around.

Now Judy was telling that it might be psycho-somatic but I reject that out of hand unless it was the cookie….

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlLPAIrmqvE

Seinfeld again imitates life perhaps?  As I downed that Black and White Cookie I remembered that great episode from Seinfeld called The Dinner Party and as the cookie descended into my stomach and I put myself to bed I thought “no, that could never happen.”  But I as I laid in my bed unable to sleep with reflux building I knew that there was a war going on in my stomach.  It was as if David Duke and Louis Farrakhan were leading crusading against each other in my stomach and Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney were not playing Ebony and Ivory.  No my friends, Padre Steve’s stomach was the apocalyptic battleground of a cookie divided against itself.

I don’t want to believe that it was the cookie, or even the latest comments by Rick Santorum, but I prefer to believe that it was the impersonal action of a virus.

Peace

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under Just for fun, Loose thoughts and musings

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

February 7, 2012 · 23:59

Padre Steve Reviews “The Wounded Giant: America’s Armed Forces in an Age of Austerity” by Michael O’Hanlon

The Wounded Giant: America’s Armed Forces in an Age of Austerity (An eSpecial from The Penguin Press)

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1685 KB
• Publisher: The Penguin Press (November 15, 2011)

I was recently asked to do a review of Michael O’Hanlon’s new book The Wounded Giant: America’s Armed Forces in an Age of Austerity by the folks at TLC Book Tours http://tlcbooktours.com/ I am a historian and have served 30 years in the United States Army and United States Navy. As such I try to look at the nuances of Defense policy from a historical as well as current point of view.

O’Hanlon’s book deals with a topic that is receiving much attention and debate in the wake of the 2011 Congressional Budget impasse and deal and the recently release of the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance and the FY 2013 Department of Defense Budget request. O’Halon’s book was published in the midst of the budget impasse in which could bind Congress into cuts well in the excess of the proposed $500 Billion in cuts proposed by the Pentagon and the Obama Administration. Cuts that could total over a trillion dollars over the next decade.

O’Hanlon deals with the economic necessity of Defense budget cuts laying out his thesis in the first two chapters dealing with the history of US military budgets since the Second World War with particular attention to the post-Cold War cuts under the Bush and Clinton administrations. In the following chapters O’Hanlon argues for what I would call a strategy of calculated risk in which Defense budgets and the necessary force cuts are balanced with the economic realities of our present time. He does not argue for massive cuts and disengagement from the world that some argue for, at the same time he realizes that defense cuts are necessary but cannot be too great.

He then goes on to discuss the potential reductions for ground forces as well as air and naval forces within the context of potential threats, especially those posed by Iran as well as the potential threat from China.  He argues for a leaner military but also acknowledges the danger of cutting too much.

His conclusions regarding force size and composition will be attacked by some and defended by others.  I think that his arguments regarding ground forces which support going back to the approximate numbers in the Army and Marine Corps in 2001 are reasonable presuming that there is a substantial reduction of US forces in Afghanistan and no other major ground campaigns arise.  The current personnel authorizations were only made reluctantly after years of war by the Bush administration whose first Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was no advocate of large ground forces.

O’Hanlon also discusses the possibility of savings through some base closure as well as reductions in some Air Force and Naval capabilities while attempting to minimize the effects of the reductions by crew rotations of forward based warships and more use of drone aircraft. He also discusses the US capabilities in intelligence and Homeland Security in the context of the overall defense structure.

One thing that I find lacking in O’Hanlon’s treatment of the defense strategy and budget is the lack of attention paid to the overall industrial base required to support the replacement or modernization of our current forces. He argues in favor of keeping production lines open but neglects the fact that most of the US defense industrial base is now the property of about five major corporations. At one time we had more shipyards  and other facilities that made the rapid production of war materials in times of national emergency which at the end of hostilities could revert to civilian industrial production. Much of that capability is now gone, outsourced to China and South Korea.

O’Hanlon has some good proposals and his numbers are not much different than those proposed by the Pentagon. His analysis does included what is called the DIME, the diplomatic, intelligence, military and economic aspects of national security strategy. He describes his vision for a military that despite cuts can still be mission capable. One may argue with his overall strategic thinking and his detailed proposals and many will. I have issues with some of the proposals.  Likewise anyone attempting to project a vision of a national security strategy and military force structure is always fraught with the ever present reality that no one can predict the future. However history tells us time and time again that we seldom are right and that threats yet unimagined can shred the most well thought out and detailed plans.  Making such decisions in an election year makes them all the more prone to being wrong because the political establishments of both parties

It is a good read for anyone seriously interested in national security strategy.It is not perfect by any means but worth the read.  It it is published in paperback as well as the Amazon Kindle edition.

The Author: Dr. Michael O’Hanlon is is director of research and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, homeland security and American foreign policy. He is a visiting lecturer at Princeton University and adjunct professor at John Hopkins University. O’Hanlon is the author of several books, most recently A Skeptic’s Case for Nuclear Disarmament. His writing has been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, among other publications, and he has appeared on TV or radio almost 2,000 times since 9/11. Before joining Brookings, O’Hanlon worked as a national security analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Congo/Kinshasa (the former Zaire). He received his bachelor, masters, and doctoral degrees from Princeton, where he studied public and international affairs.

3 Comments

Filed under books and literature, Foreign Policy, Loose thoughts and musings, Military, national security

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

January 1, 2012 · 23:59

2012: A New Year Same Old Stuff

I really am glad that my Near Year resolution was simply to try to do better and not screw things up too badly.  If I had set the bar higher I would have already blown it after a quick trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of things that Judy will need when I go back to North Carolina tomorrow.  I am not a fan of the place but buying the items that I needed there did same me at least 10 dollars on a $50 trip so I am willing to put up with a certain amount of pain and frustration but sometimes, no let’s say often I end up feeling like Doctor Jeckyll on a Mr Hyde day or like I would driving down route Michigan in Ramadi.  Judy says that my eyes flash when I am pissed so I’m sure that they were flashing daggers or maybe looking like those of a rabid wolf as the short trip unfolded.

It began in the parking lot when a lady cut me off for a parking space that I was waiting on with my signal even flashing to indicate that indeed the spot was mine. Unfortunately the idiots in the mini-van leaving the space managed to botch their exit blocking me and allowing this asshole to come across from another aisle to steal the spot as she talked on her cell phone. I exploded in a torrent of profanity questing not only her character but her parentage and sexual proclivities.  I then had to find another spot which I did while weaving in and out of people with death wishes blundering around the parking lot.  I would have loved to have an up-armored HUMMV with a turret gunner to clear the lot but Santa didn’t give me one this year.  The good humor continued inside the store as try as I might I couldn’t avoid the people that stood by as their kids screamed bloody murder, the noise from the big screen HDTVs and the ass that decided to take almost 40 items through the 20 item limit express checkout. He must have figured that I was glaring daggers at him because he gave me a dirty look and turned around in shame as his teenage son stood in front of the cashier. I personally think that fines should be assessed based on the decibel level of the kids and for the number of items that a person goes over the limit in an express line.

So if I had set too high of bar on my resolution I would have totally destroyed the resolution before sunset.  Thankfully the day was more like going hitless and having an argument with an umpire without getting tossed from the game.

So that being said the new year doesn’t seem a whole lot different than the old. The same problems that beset us in 2011 are still with us now as are the same sorry lot of world leaders and wannabe world leaders and the same teams that were expected to get to the playoffs are flailing and failing, not that I really care but the point is that things don’t change much just because the world’s chronometer clicks over.

There are people that interpret the ancient Mayan calendar in such a way that the world as we know it will end on December 21st, but a friend of mine who is kind of into that stuff says that they are wrong and that it was supposed to be like October a year ago.  I don’t believe it because I believe that this can only happen if the Chicago Cubs win the World Series and the Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl in the same year. I used to believe that only the Cubs would need to win the World Series for Jesus to return, but although that would be cataclysmic it would not be the end. Like any good end times teacher I have revised my prediction. I now believe that the Browns would have to win the Super Bowl in the same year that the Cubs win the Series for the world as we know it to come to an end.  So even if the Cubs win the World Series this year the Mayans are wrong because the Browns can’t win the Super Bowl this year.  My critique of the Mayans is that they should have paid more attention and used a bigger rock to accommodate the Cubs and the Browns predilection to lose.

They also should have accounted for the unending election cycle in the United States, the current cycle which began in November 2008 has under a year left until the next cycle begins when the next President is elected. Boy won’t that be exciting?

Speaking of exciting we saw in the New Year in a quiet but nice way. We had dinner with some of our friends at Gordon Biersch Virginia Beach before going home to watch the classic comedy It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.  It used to be shown on the broadcast networks every New Year’s Eve when I was a kid so in a way it was part of growing up. As far as laughs are concerned there are few films that can match this classic directed by Stanley Kramer and featuring almost every major comedian of the

Anyway, the new year is off to an inauspicious start and Lord knows what tomorrow will bring. All I can hope to do is not screw up my part too badly and that I don’t have to make any Wal-Mart runs soon.

Peace

Padre Steve+

Leave a comment

Filed under Loose thoughts and musings

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,