pajarito

"The Force" has always been strong with me.

You know, I don't know that it would actually take someone going in and putting their hand on a body for confirmation. I've set off explosive charges up to 10,000lbs in size. Not much withing a certain radius of the blast is going to be moving afterwards. If it was a guess on their part, I'm sure it was a very educated one and you can probably place your bets on our side.

Actually - it was probably a lot like a crime investigation in downtown JHB... drive by... "yup.. That's where it happened... keep going, quick! Before we're hijacked!" t Actually, I just put that city in because of where you're from. I don't know anything at all about the place. Maybe that was a bad example.

How little you appear to understand about special operations. Don't be naive. By the way, it doesn't take "many."

Is there no follow up? No autopsy, or search of the wreckage? Do you really just bomb and say "Gottem" and move on? That seems a little haphazard to me. t I'm sure damage assessment was done and, from that, a determination was made. It's war. Nothing's perfect. It’s not like the investigation of a crime in downtown Johannesburg. I'm quite sure the interviewed "locals" would say something like what was quoted above. On another occasion, they might say that there was a wedding party going on and only women and children were killed in the attack. Why would you believe a “Falluja resident” over our guys on the ground?

I think Clinton's appearance will help Kerry. They've already said that people in wheelchairs will walk again once he's in office. Maybe his supported research will be able to grow Clinton a new heart as well. Clinton can be his new poster boy.

That told them to bomb a house that's been empty for 3 months? How much do you pay for that kind of intelligence? t Maybe I read it wrong. I thought they killed a top al-Zarqawi leader. Was the building empty? I know the article says that the family who previously lived there had been gone but it also said that the building was being used as a terrorist safe house. How do you figure? I’d say their intelligence gathering was right on. I say “good job” to our guys.

Wouldn't be the first time in this election year now would it?... It's a year old story brought up one week before election. Suspicious? I think so.

Human intelligence gathering on the ground by covert operatives, maybe?

Kind of nerve rattling when you first start doing it. Night jump over someplace you've never been to and only seen on a map. Chem-lights tied to your riser, leg, and chest strap. ~90lb rucksack zipped up in a bag that's snap-linked to your harness and dangling between your legs. Rifle strapped through your harness, positioned under your arm and across your body. Two oxygen bottles strapped to your side with a hose going up to the front of your oxygen mask which is hooked into your Gentex helmet. Clear full-face visor pushed down to fit snug on the mask. Illuminated altimeter on your left wrist. I've also jumped with an additional rucksack on the front, which I don't lower before landing, for added equipment. I'm kind of a lightweight. All this shit weighs about as much as I do. It seems like each added piece of equipment adds one more level of stress, mental and physical, to the whole event. All this added to being at 25-35,000ft where you can die of hypoxia pretty quickly. Add all that to a HAHO operation where your whole team opens up at altitude and glides like ducks in a wedge to a destination many many miles away. Plus...waddle out the back of a hauling ass C-17. Ride the wave!!! Can you dig it?! Man I miss it so bad!

I've ridden in all of them. I've jumped (military free-fall) DC-3, C-130, C-141, and C-17 out of the ones mentioned above. Never got to jump the C-5. The C-17 was by far the most enjoyable. We could mostly line my HALO team up on the ramp side by side for exit (with full combat load). Plenty of room for rigging. Incredible! What a ride!!!

Got this in an e-mail today and just had to post it somewhere. Hillarious!!!

AUBURN TIGERS “War Eagle!” War Eagle, fly down the field. Ever to conquer, never to yield. War Eagle, fearless and true. Fight on, you orange and blue. Go! Go! Go! On to victory, strike up the band. Give ‘em hell, give ‘em hell; Stand up and yell, Hey! War Eagle, win for Auburn, Power of Dixie Land!

Man! I hate when people do that! A couple of months ago, I found a cat that someone abandoned. I'm sure there were more that died in the woods somewhere. It was just the only one I found. It was sick with a respiratory illness and very skinny. I took it to the vet and planned on keeping it but it died 2 days later there (after I racked up a bill for around $150). I like to hunt and it doesn't bother me at all to see animals die. It just really pisses me off when they suffer needlessly like that. Starving to death by the side of the road. People should be beaten for doing crap like that!

GO AGGIES!!! GO AGGIES!!! DAMNIT!!! GO AGGIES!!!

AUBURN TIGERS Going undefeated this year baby! Regardless of who does or doesn't drop out of the top 3 to open the door. The Dawgs are also goin' down at Jordan-Hare this year! WAR EAGLE!!!

Wow... You'd think they wouldn't want to wait another 1-2 weeks for this given what could happen if another one ruptures. I hope all goes well. I really hate to see babies and children suffer.

WOW!!! That's ugly! Glad you made it!

My Mother-in-law whom I have great admiration and respect for (also made a tandem skydive with me last year when she was 72 clicky ) has in recent past had some uncanny dreams. She had one while my wife was pregnant with my 3rd child. Her dream entailed a vision of a baby boy, lying on a bed, very pale, very cold, and looked as if he was dying. She told my wife about her dream as she usually does whether they are good or bad. They’re very close and talk a lot. My wife was infuriated with her seeing as how she was under a lot of stress at the time, near her breaking point, and didn’t want the added worry of negative speculation concerning the wellbeing of her pregnancy. She was in her last year of OB/GYN Residency added to being pregnant, taking care of my other two children on her own, and dealing with a live-in sitter. She didn’t tell me about the dream as I was about to be deployed to Kosovo shortly after 9-11. She gave birth to my youngest son and I had to leave 1 week later. Throughout the first months of my son’s life, he was sick and almost impossible for her to handle given the level of stress she was already under. He continually had projectile vomiting and she couldn’t keep much at all down him. He also seemed to have labored breathing with short breaths and grunts. He was looking very unhealthy, stressed, and pale. She had taken him to see the Pediatrician multiple times and his only guess was that he might have a problem with severe reflux. He was in really bad shape one day so she took him in again insisting that something more was wrong (he was then 2 months old). They finally did an echo on him and saw what was causing the problem. It turned out to be a very rare heart defect called Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR) . It’s not something a physician would normally look for given the symptoms and wouldn’t necessarily do an echo. It’s where the pulmonary veins which normally return oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium of the heart do not and drain to the right atrium via an abnormal connection. Therefore, at that stage of development, most of the oxygenated blood transfer is being done via a natural small hole in the heart called the foramen ovale. It is how the baby transfers oxygenated blood prior to birth when the baby is not using its lungs. This hole is supposed to naturally seal up. My son’s started to do that and he became critical. The content of blood being transferred was decreased as well as the oxygen content of the blood. He experienced hypoxia as well as acidosis among other things. The surgeon gave him a 50/50 % chance of survival and a 0 % chance without immediate surgery because he was going in under emergent conditions. Meanwhile, I received a communication from the International Red Cross telling me of his condition, that I should return ASAP, and that his “life expectancy was uncertain.” Let me tell you, there were a lot of prayers sent his way from the States as well as a few from my team house. I was in shock. My Mother-in-law was with my wife the whole time and made a very deep, desperate, and sincere prayer for my son’s full recovery. She said that immediately after praying and despite the critical circumstances, she received a very warm and comforting feeling that my son would be fine and would make a full recovery without any negative long term effects. She was confident, focused, comforting, and relaxed from then on. By the way, my son was put on a full heart bypass (ECMO) and had to be shocked on two separate occasions to get his heart beating again. They also had a lot of trouble getting a central line for IV medications. It was hairy. It took me 2 days to get back. I would call at every stop along the way for a progress report. From what I was being told, I honestly didn’t think he was going to make it and that I was going to have to bury my newest son when I returned. Long story – long, he did make a full recovery and the prognosis was that he would not be limited in any way physically or mentally due to the illness. The only way you’d know that anything had ever happened these days is if you look at his scar where they cracked his chest and a few puncture scars from the ECMO leads. He suffered no brain damage. His subsequent physical examinations and echoes have been completely normal. He is a completely normal baby boy now. You know, I fully believe that our prayers were answered, my Mother-in-law’s being most directly answered, and that it is a miracle that my son is alive and healthy today. He shouldn’t be here given the circumstances. However, it can just as easily be explained as coincidental with a completely scientific solution to the problem. I can’t say that a miracle has ever happened directly to me. Maybe I just can’t see it from my perspective. I’ve had what I consider to be answered prayers, though. For example, I prayed on multiple occasions to not get shot and killed while in Afghanistan performing raids. That worked out. I do believe in miracles, however. This whole experience brought chills up my spine even now thinking about it. You’d have to make up your own mind, though. It’s not something you can prove.

Butter knives make good weapons.

I guess you guys are just in that superior, intellectual, elitist, upper class of people. The rest of us poor ole boys and girls must just have a hard enough time gathering enough sense to walk around every day. I guess over half of the voting population in the US is just "clueless." Yeah, that's logical thinking...

You get tortured enough and you'll plead for your life. If tortured enough, you'll eventually tell them everything you know. Your machismo will go right out the window pretty quick. Or it should, if you're smart. Every person has their breaking point. It's how you control yourself to that point that's important. However, I wouldn't look down upon that person because they did break down and plead for their life. You don't know until you're in that situation how you’ll react so it’s pointless to speculate and say you’ll be tough. Making a video may be what keeps them from torturing you more. It may also be what extends your life for whatever time you have left. You never know what could happen. Despite what we’ve seen so far with most, they might let you go free. You may hold out long enough for a hostage rescue attempt to take place. You may be able to mislead them with false information and eventually make an escape. What shows up in the video may aid in locating your position for a rescue attempt.

Dazed and Confused "Behind every good man there is a woman, and that woman was Martha Washington man, and everyday George would come home, she would have a big fat bowl waiting for him, man when he came in the door, man she was a hip, hip, hip lady, man." "George Washington was in a cult and the cult was into aliens, man." "Did ya ever look at a dollar bill man? There’s some spooky shit goin’ on there. And it’s green too!" "Got any weed, ...man? It’d be a lot...cooler if you...did..." I loved that movie!

I like it!

WHAT!!! You’re talking crazy, man! You mean it’s not the guns themselves that are killing people??? The criminals are actually responsible and should be held accountable??? Surely you know that, if the people just didn’t have those guns, there’d be a whole lot less killing around. Come on Kennedy! What are you thinking! That’s a revolutionary thought! You’re really rocking the boat, brother!