In the Army at 17

I joined the military in 1984. I was 17 years old.

It was a special program called the "split-training" option.

You went to boot camp (basic training) during the summer between your junior and senior years of high school.

You came back home, went to a year of Reserve drills during your senior year of High School.

Then after graduation, you went to your Advanced Training (MOS) the next summer.

I don't think the program was really ever that popular, but it still exists.

Not too many teenagers want to spend their summer doing military training.

My memories of it were ...... that it was hard as hell.

Most of the other soldiers were 22 or 24 years old.

In the physical combat drills, I remember getting my ass kicked a lot just because the other guys in my unit were older, bigger, and more physically mature than I was.

I was so young, I didn't even have to shave.

But, the experience did make me quite tough.

If I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn't go.

I was pretty miserable. I could have flipped burgers all summer and joined at some other time.

But like all who have served, I would say that I'm glad I did it.

Waking up at 5 a.m. Hundreds of push-ups, jumping jacks.

Forced road marches with heavy gear.

Laying in burning hot sand at the rifle range.

Sleeping in the woods, battling the heat, insects and snakes.

Walking around with gas masks on and preparing for chemical attacks.

Those experiences weren't fun, but there were good parts, too.

Firing a 5o caliber machine gun. Throwing a real, live hand grenade.

Setting off Claymore anti-personnel land mines. Firing an anti-tank weapon.

Winning the company shooting competition and getting an awesome helicopter ride as a reward.

Good to know that if the Russians or Chinese come calling, we will be ready for them.

Here are some photos.

Delta Company - 10th Battalion -- 1st Brigade -- 2nd Platoon

We had these cool dark blue t-shirts with crossed rifles emblem we wore for physical training (PT).

I'm the guy in the middle of this photo... looking kind of miserable.

It's difficult to believe I was ever that skinny.

This photo was taken in the woods somewhere near Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

My unit was on maneuvers and sleeping out in the woods overnight and doing training during the day.

It was hot, steamy, and generally unpleasant weather.

We all had our camouflage jackets off, and I had rolled up my pants legs because it was hot.

I have my rifle balanced on my legs to keep it out of the dirt -- so that I didn't have to clean it again.

I'm eating what they call an MRE - Meal Ready To Eat. It comes in a brown plastic bag.

You add water to a few items to eat them. It's not fine dining, but it keeps you going.

This is actually one of my favorite photos of myself.

Here's a photo of me trying to explain to one of the NCOs why I am taking my high school football jersey with me in the baggage we are packing to go on the REFORGER mission in Germany. They didn't like my explanation... and the jersey did not get to go.

Stopping Socialism and Communism

I am committed to a political philosophy of stopping Socialism and Communism in America. They are dangerous leftist ideologies that always result in the government using massive force and threats against their own citizens.

Obamacare is Socialism. The government wants to force you to buy health insurance.

Where do they think they have the right to do something as Un-constitutional as that?

The bill was not about health care. It never has been.

Health Care was just an excuse to give the leftists more power. The power to demand and control aspects of the medical and health services industries. Most voters don't understand it, but this is one of the most dangerous things our government has ever done!

How can you possibly take a chance on voting against tyranny, when those same tyrants control your access to health care? It's so disturbing that I cannot fathom what people are doing voting for any Democrat ever again.

We must elect Constitutional Conservatives who will reign in the supersonic growth of government power that we have witnessed during the Obama Administration.

I am one of those Conservatives committed to saving this nation.

Karen Bass? Not so much.

Pure Socialist. Job killer. Economy destroyer.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is the best!

I'm a big fan of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. She has that Minnesota/Midwestern common-sense that so many political figures lack. I'll never be able to thank her enough for the day she called the Obama Administration a "Gangster Government" - because that is exactly what it is. Obama started his career with ACORN causing trouble with banks in Chicago. He's an extortionist. He always has been.

Evil Triumphant! Sarkin and Neumann to Continue Reign of Terror in Studio City

Well... I don't have much more to say about this. It is a dark day for freedom and liberty in America...(but then again, we've been having a lot of dark days lately... nothing new)

First the voters couldn't get their act together and get rid of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who will now continue to destroy this City for the next three years unless my Recall efforts are successful.

Now, the voters in Studio City could not get their act together and get rid of miniature tyrants Lisa Sarkin and Ben Neumann. Yes, the same Sarkin and Neumann who were loudly booed at the last big SCNC meeting.

I think the voters will pay for this. Sarkin barely escaped defeat, and Neumann wasn't impressive either.

Elections have consequences.

Unfortunately for them, the members of the Studio City Neighborhood Council are about to find that out.

Please donate to RecallCityHall.org ($)

We have hundreds of signed petitions at the Recall offices. We have thousands of signatures. But that is not enough. Having the website RecallCityHall.org has been a good thing, but not everyone in the world has a computer and a printer. We have received many phone calls from people who don't have printers or don't know how to get this done.

Within days of beginning the Recall, we realized that many of the older voters who have been calling us don't even use a computer. We decided that we need to be more accessible to those voters who are not "high-tech".

After some brainstorming, we came up with a solution. We are going to do a direct mail campaign.

Most of our signed and returned petitions come from the San Fernando Valley, so it is quite obvious that the Mayor is intensely disliked by voters there. We are raising money to cover printing and mailing costs.

Bulk mail rates can get postage down to about 25¢ per piece, so if we raise $50, 000 , then we can get mail pieces out to about 200,000 voters (more or less, calculating printing costs). We plan on covering the San Fernando Valley first, as we have had much success there already. Eventually, we hope to raise enough in donations to be able to hit every household with a Recall petition. Let's see the Mayor laugh at that.

Hitting voters with an explanatory letter, a Recall petition, and a return envelope asking for a donation to continue the campaign should guarantee a decent return rate.

David Hernandez is heading to Arizona to talk to various political leaders there, and also various officers of different Civic groups and Chambers of Commerce. Things are looking good for his visit.

So, to all the haters out there (Joe B. and Mary Cummins), you can stop emailing us now. The Recall is going just fine. Someone made the maximum $1,000 dollar donation yesterday, which guarantees our printing costs to get the first few thousand direct mail pieces out.

SCNC voter ALERT!!: STOP Sarkin & Neumann!!

As I mentioned before in an earlier blog, the Studio City Neighborhood Council recently, in a fit of temper, voted out Michael McCue, a member who had previously been elected to this organization by the voting public.

In my opinion, this makes the SCNC a lawless, rogue organization.

They should have their City charter revoked.

Anytime that someone decides that they are going to overturn the will of the voters and reverse the results of a free election, they are revealing their true tyrannical nature. They are displaying their inner love of despotism.

Ben Neumann is a punk. He will extend his little tyranny about as far as it can go... which isn't far because SCNC doesn't have any real power. But Neumann will do his best to make others miserable in his little corner of the world. I saw the way he treated dissenting opinion. He fits right in with the Stalins and the Mao Tse Tungs of the world. He has no problem trampling all over your personal freedoms, because in his sick, twisted little world...you don't have any freedom.

Lisa Sarkin has proven herself to be an Extremely Dangerous Enemy of Freedom. At a previous meeting she was content to tell the proletariat voters of Studio City that they "have no right to have an opinion!"

That went over really well....Sarkin was booed about as loudly as Mayor Villaraigosa at any public event lately.

Sarkin is evidently not content with deciding who can and cannot have an opinion. Recently I caught wind of the fact that she is trying to decide who can and can not have certain sized houses ..???!!!! OK, Comrade Lisa.

I've heard enough.

Sarkin needs to go. Neumann too.

Please email this blog to any Studio City voters you know.

And while they are at it, they might want to get rid of Ethics Violator John Walker.

If he can commit ethics violations and support tyranny like this... he isn't of any use to SCNC voters.

Karen Bass : Tax Raising Bureaucrat

Here is a little video clip of why I find Karen Bass to be so repulsive. In this interview with fellow left-winger Rachel Maddow, Karen Bass laughs and smiles when she talks about raising taxes on Californians.

Karen Bass is an economy-killing Socialist, and she must be stopped.