Just another example!!!

See this is another example of how the left can't truly interact with issues rather they attack(literally) conservatives.

Check out this link and see how "funny" Al Frankin really is.

Amazon add for Al Frankin

Dude, where's my M16?

Today was not the typical day here at Ft Sill. This morning my friend and I went by the Clothing Sales to pick up a few items for our uniforms and while we were there we heard quite a story. A couple of the ladies working there were talking about how the gate security was taking almost 2 hours to let people off the base. On the base, the security usually does its job when people are trying to get on base. If you have no base registration sticker, they will search your car and check your ID and it takes maybe 5-10mins to get through the whole process. When we leave, it is just a matter of driving through the gate. No search, no hassle. Well come to find out, a Private First Class had somehow "lost" his M16 rifle on the way out to a range. I am unaware of all of the details around it but it affected the entire base. In the military, your weapon is your life. Your career and your weapon are directly related. In this case, I would hate to be in that PFC's chain of command. It is such a big deal to lose a sensitive item such as a weapon that the security was stopping every person trying to leave the base and searching their car for the M16. This goes on for several hours this morning and on through lunch. For a couple of friends in my class that live off base, a typical 15min trip home was stretched out to a 2 1/2 hour ordeal. The day does not end there though. We had a block of instruction this afternoon with two platoons of LTs. About an hour in to class, our Battery Commander informed instructor that he will have to take the class out to the parking lot and there, one by one, search every personally owned vehicle for the rifle.

Ever heard of the saying "arms across America?" When a unit is out in the field for any length of time and a soldier happens to lose, misplace, forget or all of the above a sensitive item like a weapon, artillery fuse (that is another story for another day) of night vision goggles, regardless of the size area, the unit will search for it. What this involves is every soldier, will line up within reaching distance and walk side by side through the area until the item is recovered. This time it affected a non-related unit in an entirely different environment. Fortunately for us, the search lasted no more then 20min because in that time I guess that the weapon was recovered. The whole base was forced to virtually halt all work and training for one M16.

Points to take away:
1) Your actions effect others in ways that you may not realize.
2) Keep track of weapon. If you lose your M16 you may lose your career.

Jeremy and Mel

Julia and I had the great oportunity to make it back to my hometown Paso Robles, CA for a wedding a couple of weeks ago. Jeremy was a groomsman in our wedding and I really wanted to be able to make it back for his. It was a great time of seeing my family and a lot of friends that I have not seen in a long time. It was also the first time that a lot of people met my wife and I was able to show her off as well. That is always fun. Either way, it was a nice break from the routine of an Army schoolhouse. The wedding was a beautiful outdoor ceremony on a nice fall California day. Everything was so charicteristc of Jeremy and Mel and completly fitting.

Congratulations Jeremy and Melanie. God bless your new life together.

The end is near

It has been a long and ironically, short stay here in Ft Sill. We have been here since the 4th of July and it has flown by. When we first moved in, well we were excited and now we are more then happy to see that our stay here is almost over. We finished our last Gunnery test yesterday. The dreaded "Manual Safety Exam." It was tough but if you know what you are doing, there should be no worries. We had our final APFT this morning as well. Glad to know that is behind me. It really was not bad though. I ended with a score of 272 out of a possible 300. That is pretty good considering that the last 2 weeks have been a little lax on the PT side of the house. We have one more major exam next week in Fire Support. That will be our final test and then the last 3 weeks is going to be in the field and out processing. I can't wait to finnish and see family again for the holidays. After all, "It's the most wonderful time of the year."


See you all on the other side.

On our way to Germany via Iraq

Everyone knows that the US Army is in the middle of rotating units in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan and has been since 2003. My wife and I are on our way to Germany where I will be stationed in Baumholder, with 4-27FA which is the Direct Support Field Artillery Battalion for 2BDE 1st Armored Division. I am looking forward to being in Germany as Julia is looking forward to going to Paris. It seems as though we are going to be there in time for Christmas, so we may go over to Paris for the holiday. That is if my schedule allows. You see the difficult thing about all of this is that, 2BDE is deploying in November so I am going to have to prepare and deploy as soon as the Battalion can get me there. There are other LTs here at the school house that I am going through the basic course with that are also going to 4-27FA so that will be nice to go with them. I don't know how much we will be able to see each other when we get to Iraq, but it will be nice to have some friends in the "neighborhood."

Pray for all of the Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors that are fighting even as I am typing.

Great Fellowship

Julia and I had an opportunity to really get to know a few couples in the last several months. We have been attending a nice church here in Lawton and through the church; we have met several other newly wed couples that are going through the Officer Basic Course. An idea that we had was to start having weekly devotions with these couples. Well last night was the first night that we were able to get together to study God's Word.

Things went great. Julia fixed some snacks for the meeting and I prepared a devotional. We had Julia's (well it’s her mothers recipe) wonderful meatballs, apple wedges with her brown sugar, cream cheese and walnut dip. It was almost all gone by the time we finished. The devotion was on Ephesians 4:17-5:8. I chose it because I wanted to make the first night set the tone for the future devotions. If you don't know what that passage says, well then, you should go ahead and read it for yourself. It is very powerful.

We are going to try to meet every week. Last night we had 5 couples here. It was a great time of reading, prayer and fellowship.