Horse Cave,Kentucky

Well,we decided to get out and see some sights-went down to the cave country-little over an hour south of here.We stopped off at a little hillbilly diner along the way,and got totally stuffed on good down home food-a REAL diner.....then went on down the road aways to the town of Horse Cave,KY-such as it is-good thing we did'nt blink,or we'd have driven right through.Anyway,we went to the museum of the American Cave Conservation association conducts tours.The guy figgered out the price for all of us-30 bucks-then when he found out I was active duty army,waived the fee-COOL!We then embarked on the tour,with EArlt the cave dude...this guy was warped...bet he's fun at parties..........it was a pretty interesting tour-took an elevator down to ground level of the sink hole,and the entrance to the cave-descended 230 steps,then Earl showed us around-had a great timeDid'nt see Fred or barney anywhere though...then earl asked if we had any questions...well I HAD to ask,,,,wheres the mutant life forms?of course the old lady hadda say that yours truly was mutant...anyway,had a good time,and we'll explore other caves time permitting..

Quote of the Day

"The military don't start wars.Politicians start wars"

general william westmoreland,supreme commander,US Forces,Republic of Vietnam

Trying to get orders deleted

Well,as mentioned before,I'm on levy for Fort hood,TX.Now,I don't mind Fort hood,OR Texas,but I AM awfully tired of moving-this would be 4 PCS in 4 years-thats too much.My First Sergeant and Sergeant-Major are attempting to get these orders deleted for me-hopefully they'll have more success than I have so far.I called the cavalry branch manager the other day,and he was shall we say,less than helpful.Ok,he was a downright prick....I mentioned that I'd already had 2 combat tours in Iraq,but that did'nt matter to him.but I DO have an ace up my sleeve-we got a letter from my daughters Neuroligist up in Cinncinati,requesting that I be kept here at least till March of 07-in the right channels,that letter SHOULD hopefully get me out of those orders.And just to make SFC prickwad at branch happy,if I stay here,I'll volunteer for a 30 day short tour.....

Back in the PSG saddle......again

Well,found myself filling in as the platoon sergeant again-but fortunately,I'll soon be getting PAID for my agravation-got my promotable status,and will be pinned as a staff sergeant on 1 may.Feels good to be getting it,and in 18 months,unless I go to Iraq in the meantime,I'll be branch certified as an SSG,and therefore eligible for promotion to SFC.(If I go go to Iraq,6 months is waived,making me certified in 12 months).Today I reccomended my first article 15 as a platoon sergeant-and got the full backing of the first sergeant.Of course,that means MORE paperwork for me....oh wel,an NCOs work is never done.....been working late all week,and jumping through my ass trying to cover everything under the sun,and one of my E-5s is in school,anothers on emergency leave...well,guess thats why I make the big bucks...yeah right....

Quote of the Day,Part 2(I Love 2nd amendment quotes)

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms,is as a last resort,to protect themselves against tyranny in government"

Thomas Jefferson

"No Freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms"

Thomas Jefferson

I like this T. Jefferson-lord knows we could use a few more of him

Quote of the Day

"An armed society is a polite society.Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life"

Robert A. Heinlein

Trip to Cinncinatti

My daughter,Poo the strange,was diagnosed as being epileptic at the age of 2. it got real interesting for awhile-the first 2 grand mals she had were the mother of all seizures...but eventually things stabilized,and she has'nt had a major seizure since 1999-and that one was'nt all THAT major.Anyway,she's been on anti-convulsant meds since 1998,and we've been routinely taking her to neuroligists to see when we could take her off her meds.Now bear in mind,the field of pediatric neurology is a very SMALL field-for example,while still living in wisconsin,we re able to find only a single one in the northern part of the state-and HE was an idjit.The one we had while living in West Michigan,was world class-a pioneer in his field,but once I returned to active duty,we have'nt been able to take her to see him,and have been around some total quacks in military hospitals.Well,Fort Knox does not have ANY neurologists,pediatric,or otherwise,so they sent us up to see Doctor Hadji in Louisville.Well,it was far from a satisfying experience.Kids of Desert storm/OIF veterans should probably NOT go to Hadji doctors,because-duh-we don't LIKE hadjis.....and our big problem with the succession of quacks has been that they insisted on keeping her on her meds,although there has been no evidence of seizure activity since 1999.considering that prolonged usage of most anti-seizure meds DOES have adverse side effects,we've been wanting to get her off them.Well,we requested a second opinion after our relationship with Doctor Hadji did'nt produce any results.They referred us to Childrens Hospital of Cinncinati-about 3 hours north of here.I took the day off,and we drove up the night before to get a room close to the hospital.Now,being a United States cavalry Trooper AND former Field Artilleryman, NEVER get lost-suffice it to say however,that we were very mis-oriented.We finally found the street the Hospital was on-next step,find a motel.Well,it appears that this motel was designed by Stephen King,with collaboration by Douglas Adams,and run by Norman Bates.....I'm thinking,gee and I did'nt bring a sidearm......anyway,we went to the appointment in the morning,and met with Doctor Not-A-Hadji-a white american doctor who speaks ENGLISH....he ran some tests,and asked questions,and came to the conclusion that its now safe to take her off her meds.FINALLY!Poo was ESTATIC-she asked me-"after i'm off my meds,can I drink beer":?-YUP-"COOL!!!!"

Household appliance commits suicide

Well,I had to gfo to the field at oh dark stupid yesterday to haul vehicles back from the training site-so,the day did'nt start out good-I was at regiment at 0530,in the RAIN,(w/o wet weather gear-nice example to set fer the troopies...),had 2 knuckleheads AWOL,and then it REALLY started going downhill.....we have to load tanks and brads(and no self respecting cav scout rides on brads-those are for SKANKERS-cav guys ride hummers),onto civilian HETTS for transport back to the motor hole-anyway,some genius figgered we should take the civvy convoy the BACK way,to minimize our footprint on Kentucky Hiway60.Well,the back way is pretty near impassable for MILITARY vehicles at times,let alone civilian rigs-plus theres a narrow,low water crossing bridge.I asked the SFC in charge of the mission,if anyone had taken anyone from range control(who had cooked up THAT bright idea),out on a route recon to evaluate trafficability.He replied they had."And they STILL want to do it?????"Helmet flies off,SGT King's vocabulary improves-screw it,time to go smoke.....well,all the NCOs were thoroughly disgusted at this silliness,and cursed the powers that be here at Fort knox-eventually word came down that we COULD use the public hiway.(Whew)(I'd had mental images of flipped over tanks in the river).Anyway,we finally got all the tanks and brads hauled to the motor hole,and locked up till tuesday,and went home.I walked into a flooded kitchen,and noticed the washing machine was unplugged,and the unmistakable smell of burnt wiring in the air....well,we'd had this washer for years,and gotten lots of good use out of it,so it should'nt have been a surprise.So,we hauled it to the curb,and cussed some more...well,we found a purty good one at the PX today for 300 clams and hauled it home,and got it set up-so alls well that ends well I guess

Quote of the Day

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest"

Benjamin Franklin

Quote of the Day

"Wars are not won by the most COMPETENT army-they're won by the LEAST INcompetent army"

Marshall Of The Soviet Union Georgi Zhukov

On the Road Again

Well,I don't even have a year under my belt here at Fort Knox yet,and I've just recieved a levy alert that I'm being sent to Fort hood,Texas.Gee,I was kinda hoping to stay put awhile......well,thats ok-I've been talking to others,and Fort hood levies have been hitting all over post,and they're all pinpoint assignments to First Cav...so,I'll be going home.I grew up militarily in third corps,headquartered at Fort Hood,and served with First Cav in Desert Storm-except this time I'll be going there as a staff sergeant and not as a lowly spec-4.I thought I'd have a fight on my hands with household six and the kids about this move,but they're actually rather excited about it.militarily,it'll be pretty hoo-ah for myself too-I get to go to one of the new brigades being formed under the army transformation,and it'll be cool-plus,it looks like I'll qualify for a re-up bonus of 15K AND be stabilized in this assignment for at least 3 years-not bad considering I LIKE Texas,and I've got friends there-hell,now that I'm a 19D,I'll REALY get into the whole First Cav thingy....

On relative wealth and poverty

You know,I get real tired about people whining about the "poor" here in America?Give me a break-our "poor" own 3 cars,4 televisions,a computer and all the junk food they want-contrast that with REAL poor people in other parts of the world.While I was deployed to Thailand,a few years ago,we bought a cheap coffee maker for about 10 clams,to use while we were there for a month and some change-as we were getting ready to leave,we gave it to a Thai Marine corps Sergeant-Major-and he was as happy as the proverbial pig in shit to get it.......and it was'nt anything to us.Or,as I was clearing my hotel room in Patteya Beach,Thailand,I tipped the maid 400 baht(around 10 bucks US),and once again,she was estatic-but ten bucks was'nt a major issue to me-especially considering that the army was paying me well for my travel expenses.I've seen numerous other examples of this,like Greek soldiers,who'd recieve their monthly pay,buy a carton of smokes,and be broke till payday-that would suck.....as a sergeant,I make more than colonels make in many armies around the world,and really can't complain about my standard of living.Sure,I'd like more money,and upon my promotion to Staff sergeant,in May or June,I'll get close to a $5,000.00 annual raise-and theres guys in other parts of the world who would give their left nut to earn just what my RAISE is!Maybe compared to Bill Gates,or Warren Buffet,I'm "poor",but we seem to be doing ok on what I make-of course,there IS my well known addiction to dumpster diving and thrift shops that REALLY stretches a paycheck.....of course,exageratting the plight of the "poor" here in America makes great political capital for lefty kooks,but in my book,it just does'nt wash.

glitches with my blog

ARghhhh..!@#$%^&*(&^%$#@!!()*&^%$##@!@!...(trying to speak like Sergeant Snorkel in Beetle Bailey......I'm having fun and games with my blog-EVERYTIME i go in to make a post,I hafta change my password-I'm getting peeved-thinking of changing my password to"usuck".....

Quote of the Day

I have spent my career trying to get Congressmen to spend the people's money as if it were their own.But I have failed.

Senator William Proxmire


As a cheesehead,I remember Sen. Proxmire well-he may have been a liberal democrat,but he certainly had no tolerance for naked pork barrel spending-we could use a few more-oh,say 99,of him in the senate.

My daughters medical advice

my daughter,Poo,is just a bit on the strange side-as we've discovered from time to time.....today,she delivered some real words of wisdom though-she was feeling icky,so she figured she had to crack open a can of Bush's beans,so she could fart and feel better-flatulence therapy?