Haven't really used fa for much besides art in a long while. Think I'll go back to being more active, so hi?

This is what happens when hipster fuckheads, politicians, and the media whip up a frenzy over nonsense. Nobody has any right to bitch when cops stand back and let the thugs burn down the hood.

Finally finished with the academy! Was kinda fun, but honestly I'm just glad that I'll be going back to doing actual work now. Was starting to get really tired of training for something I already knew how to do. Great success!

Also got to work the thanksgiving day parade yesterday. Spent the morning dealing with confused tourists mostly then manning a section of barricade. As soon as the parade ended my group was able to go straight home; I was even able to drive out and visit my family for thanksgiving. It's a good week =]

Over the past several days police in Ferguson were heavily criticized for use of, what people who don't know any better described as, excessively forceful crowd control tactics. This is in spite of the fact that the local PD's initial reaction was subdued, only escalating to the deployment of SWAT teams and riot gear after incidents of looting (and a shooting involving an armed man wearing a face mask).

To address complains about the way the situation was being handled by Ferguson Police, control was transferred over to the State Police. Surprise surprise, the State Police immediately determined that the methods being employed by local cops were indeed appropriate for the situation and continued doing the same damn thing. The past few nights there have been looting and firebombings of local businesses. This isn't a peaceful protest against police violence, this is a riot. With the declaration of a state of emergency and imposition of a curfew by the Governor, I think a lot of armchair activists online owe an apology to the Ferguson Police Department for criticizing their response without knowing what the hell they were talking about.

Moral of the story: Don't tell people how to do their job if you aren't qualified to do so.

Some interesting recent news! Months ago I applied for a job as an officer with parks police and, very lucky for me, they had just secured permission to hire new officers. I had a few interviews which went outstanding but didn't hear back for a while. From what I understood there was an issue with starting an academy class so the whole thing disappeared from my radar.

Last week I got a call from the department asking if I was still interested in the position. I of course said I was, and I got a packet of paperwork to submit for HR. Today they called back and gave me my appointment to begin processing. Apparently there still isn't an academy scheduled, but myself and a few other applicants with prior law enforcement experience are going to be hired anyway and work with an FTO until the academy begins. Even more exciting, they're looking at doing so ASAP and asked that I submit notice to the university. Today is the start of my weekend, so I'll be putting in my resignation tonight. Very excited =D

Wow, where did the time go? Life has been busy, but a good kind of busy. It looks like I may be leaving my university DPS job soon and starting with the parks police. The pay is about the same but there are better benefits and heavier caseload. It's not that I don't love dealing with drunk college kids and doing larceny reports, but I want a more challenging position (much increased jurisdiction will be nice too).

Overall things are pretty awesome! The apartment is furnished (mostly) and in a couple months I'll be time to sign another lease on it. No troubles at all at work- I honestly love my job. I'm in no rush to leave and will definitely miss the people I've been working with but there's no way I would forgive myself for passing up on a great opportunity. On the subject of jobs, JakeyInu's been working a lot again recently which is good. Better is that he's usually home when I am so no time lost cuddling his cute face!

So yeah, about a full year now of normal civilian life. It's kinda remarkable how little the 5 years I spent in the military come up in my mind. I had expected that a lot of things would be hard to adapt back to, but for the most part I've mostly just forgotten all the time wasted in barracks or standing in formations. I can safely say it's everything that I had hoped it would be when I was enlisted. Today is one of my days off, so on that note I think I'll go do a shot to this next year in the real world being just as successful. B]

Remember that time TEA party republicans dragged us into a shutdown of the federal government for 3 weeks, almost prevented congress from raising the debt ceiling, made the republican party the least popular it's been in recorded history, pushed president Obama's approval rate up, slowly came to grips with reality, stuck their tail between their legs and at the last minute backed down while having nothing to show for their fiasco? Yeah, just making sure we were all on the same page. Thanks for handing us the next election, dipshits. See you guys in 2016 =]

Getting very disappointed with the white house about the situation in Syria. There is an overwhelming lack of evidence to warrant military operations over these chemical weapons attacks.

The 'red line' hasn't just been crossed. It was crossed months ago, but maybe not by the Al Assad regime. The first cases of the deployment of what we now believe to be Sarin nerve agent came in March, 5 months ago when the government of Syria wrote the United Nations stating that rebels had used a chemical weapon resulting in the deaths of about 30 people, soldiers included. Syria REQUESTED that the UN send a team of weapons inspectors into the country. Several isolated incidents of chemical weapons being deployed are reported over the following months. UN weapons inspectors arrived earlier this month on the 18th; three days later the latest massive chemical attacks occurred resulting in a large number of civilian deaths with few reported losses on the side of the military and rebels.

The facts around these incidents are murky. Adding to the confusion is a report in May that senior personnel at the UN had strong suspicions that rebel groups, not the Syrian military, had been using chemical weapons. Indeed, over the past several months the rebels have been losing ground in the conflict as the Syrian military continues to take and hold ground. With the tide in the favor of Al Assad it seems unlikely that he would have anything to gain by deploying chemical weapons and a lot to lose by provoking the ire of the international community.

Could the Syrian military have been behind the chemical weapons attacks? Absolutely, but the rebels may very well have had the capabilities to conduct these attacks and would have far more motive to do so. Not nearly enough facts exist to warrant international military action; especially considering that the effects of this civil war have largely remained inside the country's borders. The white house is pandering to war mongers on the right (Like McCain who visited a group of terrorists in Syria responsible for the kidnapping of Lebanese civilians) and trying not to look soft on war. This is a mistake with massive potential to explode in our faces.

A few related links:
link 1
link 2
link 3

In a nutshell: I've pretty much completed my post-military objectives.

This is a pretty eventful week. On Monday I began my first day of work at my new job (Officer with the Department of Public Safety at one of the universities in Manhattan) with training. It's pretty cool as I haven't worked at all in over 5 months and was starting to get bored. So far this week of training has been great. Most of the other people going through the course with me are former law enforcement as well (one a retired narc detective from NYPD, a former hate crimes detective from NYPD, two others previously employed as public safety at other colleges) so competence is assumed and the training mostly focuses on the specifics of our jurisdiction. I'm getting paid a hell of a lot more than I was in the military

The only problem was my commute. Going from my family's house in Suffolk County to Manhattan can be kinda a pain. Was waking up at 4am to catch the train in. This has been resolved though: Yesterday signed a lease for an apartment in Brooklyn. Absolutely lovely pre-war building, 1 bedroom/1bath/living area+kitchen, newly renovated all for a pretty great price. I'll need to be really careful with my spending for a while, but certainly within my budget. Also greatly reduces my commute time/cost while making me more available for overtime. I'm moving stuff in today (and probably will be doing that for a few days to come).

Last, but certainly what I'm most excited about, my boyfriend jakeyinu is moving in on Friday. <3
I haven't been able to see him since I left California about 5 months ago so it's been waaaaaay too long. We've had the plan for him to move in for a while but things only really started to fall into place last month. He's been super stressed out and anxious about it for a while now and I feel really sorry about that, but mostly excited. =]

So yah! That's the general state of affairs. The biggest thing now is just getting over doing all the normal adult stuff. It's weird, but I've pretty much completely separated the 5 years I spent in the military from my usual thoughts. When I think about how my life has progressed my train of thought pretty much goes from the year after high school to the day after I came back from Korea. Truth be told I like it that way; being in the military doesn't compare much to real life. I'm mostly glad that at 24 I have a well paying job to support myself and don't live in my parent's house or anything. XP

Hup, so it's been a bit since I last posted something spiffy there.

Seems like later this month I'll be starting work. One of the universities in New York City is in the process of hiring me as an officer with department of public safety. I've been enjoying my vacation a whole lot, but I guess it had to end eventually. Some time in the future I think I would like to work for NYPD or another municipal agency, but the hiring process for those sorts of positions is more of a pain in the ass and a larger community than I would like to work for at the time.

My focus with this is to move into the city and get situated there, so getting this job is perfect for that. Pay is comparable to city PD with not quite as crazy a workload. Since I got out of the Army 5 months ago I've been on an extended vacation. I was getting pay still all the way until March and have done a good job of keeping my savings in order. I'm really surprised and glad how quickly I adjusted back to civilian life and the real world- it honestly kinda feels like I was never in the Army at all, which is how I want it. Over the course of the past months I took a 5 week road trip across the country, resumed hanging out with my friends, got an amazing boyfriend (who's birthday is today!), and did all sorts of other random shiz from drinking on a beach house on fire island to exploring abandoned industrial buildings. I've been sleeping at my family's house when I wasn't out at a friend's dorm or something, so I'm excited to be getting an apartment for myself some time next month.

So yeah, that's the current state of affairs in the world of fawks.

They're so cute when their logic doesn't follow <3
Also, the daily show remains hysterical http://vimeo.com/64432171

You know you're in America when 91% of people support something, 54 representatives vote in favor of that something, but 46 dissenting voices are able to block progress. The senators who blocked the gun reform legislation today are so out of touch with this country that even nutball John McCain broke from his party and supported the new gun control measures. The NRA and politicians they've purchased are such shitheads it's honestly sickening.

Grr! I totally wrote this before but forgot to create the journal and closed my browser. Growlfox! But yeah- got back from my road trip across the country a few days ago. It was initially supposed to last about 2 and half weeks but ended up being 5. By the end of it I'd traveled 9775 miles across 20 states and a Canadian province. It started as an idea I had while drunk in Korea months before the end of my military contract. Turned out that a friend from back home like the idea too so around the end of January we started driving.

Leaving New York through the city we drove through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio into Michigan through a snow storm. Spoiler alert: People in Jersey wish they were New Yorkers, people in Penn drive into ditches at first sign of snow, people in Ohio don't know how to drive over the speed limit, and people in Michigan abandon their cars in the middle of the highway. We got to Ann Arbor and crashed at a friend of mine's. We got him drunk and he spent the next 24hrs throwing up, great success!

After Michigan we drove south through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and into Oklahoma where we hung out with nikolaiswiss, nolanbear, and optur. I hadn't seen those guys since I left for Korea so was a really awesome time. Got ridiculous drunk, told some conservatives who were talking too loudly in a restaurant that they were losing the culture war, and hung out in a hot tub.

From Oklahoma we drove through Texas. Holy shit, what a wasteland. Eventually the christian billboards and failed towns disappeared into white as a show storm rolled in again and reduced visibility to a few feet. That kept up as we entered New Mexico and by the time the snow storm was over it was dark out. As we crossed the state line into Arizona we rendered the roman salute while playing deutschlandlied, as required by Arizona state law. Over the next few hours I almost crashed into 3 herds of elk before we made it to the grand canyon. Stayed there the night, saw the canyon the next morning, then resumed our drive west. The highway in Arizona looks like Iraq and the people look inbred. That's about all there is to say about that.

We made it into California and the Los Angeles county by the eventing. We found a hotel pretty easily and after exploring the area realized how much awesome stuff was in walking distance. The next morning was my friend's birthday so we hung out in Santa Monica shopping, going to restaurants and drinking. I also learned why I can never live in California: The traffic is absolutely fucking ridiculous. For about 4 hours there was just gridlock moving at about 12mph on every freeway in every direction. Was all worth it though, because I got to go pick up jakeyinu and make him hang out with us for the rest of the stay in LA. Jakes pretty much the sweetest and most adorable guy in the world, so spending time with him was just the best. Went to disney one of the days which was a blast, even if he made me ride the scary indiana jones ride. I love him <3

After a week in LA we headed north again, visiting an Air Force friend in Monterey before we made it up to San Francisco. We stayed in that city for 3 or 4 days just walking around mostly. We hung out in chinatown on chinese new year, drove across the golden gate bridge, checked out some great bars. If I could live anywhere in the world besides New York it would definitely be San Francisco. After that I missed Jake, so we drove back down south to Los Angeles and stayed down there for another week. We had been joking that a trail of destruction was following us across the country on our trip and as a funny coincidence the fucker who had been shooting cops in southern cali died in a fire the same day we came back to LA. Great stuff! The second week in LA we spent doing more of the same, even went back to disney, and before it was over Jake and I decided we wanted to be together, so yeah, happyfox!~

Having gone way over schedule we started our trip back east. Our first stop was in Nevada where we spent an evening and night in Las Vegas. Damn, what a shithole. If anyone goes there and somehow thought it was a good time I just really don't know what to make of you. From Nevada it was on through Utah to Colorado. Stayed with a friend there for a day who had been in every unit of mine since basic training, then after that spent a few days with blitzkriegfox and cianthefur! We had a great time there; blitz showed us around Denver (which I was pleasantly surprised with. Upvote for Colorado) and we had some good discussions about politics back at their place. Big thanks to those two for putting up with us, lol! From Colorado we went through Kansas and back to Oklahoma, visiting the same crew there for a few days with the addition of blueotter. nolanbear got a little sick but still put up with us being loud obnoxious New Yorkers, so huge thanks to everyone out there for tolerating it. ^^

After Oklahoma I refused to drive through Missouri again, so we instead drove through Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio again and back to Michigan. Our friend up there let us sleep in his place again on the condition we didn't make him drink as much. From Michigan we went international, getting lost in Detroit (which is far worse than I could have ever imaged) before we crossed the ambassador bridge into Ontario, Canada. I really have nothing at all bad to say about that part of the drive. Canada is pretty awesome. We stopped in Niagara to see the falls and eat some authentic Canadian cuisine at Tim Horton's before we drove over another bridge and through a fortified border patrol facility back into New York State. Rather than go straight home we decided to drag it out a bit longer. We spent a night at my friend's sister's house and then another night down at a friend from high school's place. After another 7 hours of driving we were back where we had started our trip.

So yeah, that's what I've been up to since getting out of the Army. X3

So yeah, after 5 days of traveling I'm chilling out about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Left from New York with a friend of mine on Friday and headed to Michigan. Got drunk there with another friend of mine in Ann Arbor before we headed out to Oklahoma.  nikolaiswiss and  nolanbear were nice enough to let us crash at their place. Got drunk there too, then headed out west. Made it into Arizona (fuck that state) and stopped in the grand canyon at about 2am. Slept there, saw the canyon in the morning, and then continued across the desert and mountains into California. It feels fucking lovely to be in a dark blue state again with civilization. Honestly no idea how long I'll be here or what I'll be doing. This whole trip was pretty much carried out without planning and that's how I'm keeping it. So far, it's working out pretty damn well. So yeah, that's the ridiculousness that I'm up to now =]

So yeah, I've been on terminal leave for the past 3 weeks and so far the whole thing has pretty much been one big party. After I got home I relaxed for maybe a day before I commenced the post-army shenanigans. New years eve was awesome, hung out with some people from high school and got drunk until 5am, at which point a few of us washed up at a diner wearing suits and messing with other drunkards. I've since then bounced around in New York City, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts visiting awesome peoples and in general (often drunken) fox stuffs. Found a few cool bars in the area and have been hanging around a friend's university campus a lot lately. It honestly feels like the past 5 years I spent in the military were just a brief pause in between all the fun stuff I did before and have done since. I'm honestly shocked that I made it through my time in the Army without getting myself into some serious trouble. Being back in the real world it's hard to rationalize why I went along with such a bullshit regimented lifestyle. Fuck the armed forces, but hey, not my problem anymore! =]

Moving on, with another 2 months of paid vacation I've got a lot of free time and a lot of disposable income. A couple months ago I got really drunk, felt like going to California, and ranted to my old friends about it. One of them was really drunk and felt like going to California too, so tomorrow we're going to start driving out to the west coast for a few weeks. We honestly only have a vague itinerary of sites we want to visit and everything is pretty flexible. Planning on crashing at a few friends places in between and maybe sleeping in the car a few nights. Very much looking forward to seeing this terrible country of ours and once again reaffirming my belief that very little outside of New York State is worthwhile. That and mock the locals in little midwest towns we pass through. lol

But yip, that's a brief update on what I'm doing now that I've returned to real life. I figure when I get back I'll still have about a month of paid leave but will start applying for jobs anyway. Ultimately I'm going to be going for a job in county or municipal law enforcement, but as a temporary thing I think I want to go back to a low-stress security gig for a while. Worked for Securitas before I enlisted and was probably the best job I ever had. XD

About 5 years ago I got bored and made a pretty inadvisable decision. The other day I signed out at my unit, flew out from an airport in Korea, and landed in New York with an honorable discharge from active duty. Technically I'm still in the Army as I have a few years of time in the reserve, but that doesn't really count (que angsty guard/reservists). For all intents and purposes, I'm done playing soldier.

I'm honestly kind of shocked it went as smoothly as it did; my last new years resolution was to not lose rank before I got out. I was pretty lucky, avoiding most of the shit I hated to do and doing a good enough job to keep supervisors from fucking with me. It's fair to say that my Army experience wasn't the way it's supposed to happen. For most of 2010 to the end of 2011 my boss was always a civilian, I haven't had an NCO as a team leader or squad leader since I got back from Iraq, and I'm fairly sure that the longest I ever spent training in the field was that week-long FTX in basic. The biggest issues I had were always about the fundamentals of the organization and constant fear of arbitrarily finding myself in a job position I would hate.

I don't think I'm going to miss being in the Army. I had some good times and got a lot of great stories out of it, but there isn't a thing on this earth that could coax me into voluntarily doing it all over again. I'm honestly shocked I made it to my ETS date, let alone without getting myself in serious trouble at any point. I'm just happy to be out again and have options for my life. With all the leave days I saved up I'm taking a couple of months off before I'm going to bother working again. A friend of mine and I are going to do a road trip out to California for a couple of weeks; may get a temporary security gig again after that until I start the hiring process for a police department.

But yeah, so that's what's new in the world 'o' fox. Good times! =]

My contract with the Army is pretty much winding down now. Today I worked my last shift as a traffic investigator, which is what I've done for 3 of the 5 years of my time in the military. I'm definitely excited to be at the end of my time here, but part of me was kinda sad to be done with it. Its a job I've worked for quite a while and apparently was pretty okay at. After thanksgiving I'll be assigned to a line platoon where I'll probably fill in as a normal patrol while I go through out-processing the Army; at which point I'll be at about my last 30 days. There's a lot of stupid shit coming up which makes me glad to be leaving when I am. The MP corps seems to be saturated with leadership that made all their rank in combat but doesn't know shit about law enforcement, the station I work for here is being scrutinized for unfounded allegations of excessive force, and we're having arbitrary new rules put in place which make looking pretty and saluting officers more important than effective police work. Overall I'm extremely dissatisfied with the law enforcement apparatus of the military, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to miss my old office I suppose. Just a random update on stuffs because I'm bored. =]

Sometimes you guys are alright. I'm glad this country didn't do something disappointing this election year. <3

So yeah, I talk a lot about politics but don't usually make my own journals about it. With the election going on now, I feel compelled to bitch a bit about an ideology which I feel is being hyped up into something it's not: Libertarianism.

My first big issue with libertarians is how much their ideology often seems be driven by disillusion in a different candidate. A lot of the people I talk to who politically identify themselves as libertarians often start off by telling me how they feel Obama let them down or that Romney isn't the candidate they wanted. I can understand people being disappointed in both candidates as they both leave a lot to be desired from any perspective, but (this is a generalization, but one I see a lot) too often this disappointment then gets turned into a warped view of the situation. What I mean by warped is that this manifests into a view that both candidates are essentially the same- or at least very similar.

Obama and Romney have two very different political ideologies. I'll try to make this sound as non-partisan as possible while addressing the issues. Some key issues the Obama administration has campaigned for a consistent role of government in the private sector, increased government oversight and regulation of healthcare, and extending civil laws regarding marriage to a new demographic. The Romney campaign contrasts directly by arguing for deregulation of the economy, more privatization of the healthcare system, and maintaining traditional social norms. Whichever viewpoint you think works better, those principals stand in stark contrast to one another.

What do Obama and Romney agree on? Well apparently both are pleased with the way sanctions on Iran have worked out and both like to turn a 30 second debate response into a 2 minute speech. Other comparisons I've heard regards their foreign policies, though I think it's blatantly stupid to blur the line between UAV surgical strikes and boots on the ground in foreign countries.

Okay yappyfox, you talked about the two party candidates ruining our democracy, but haven't said anything wrong with libertarianism. My problem with the basic ideology of libertarianism is that it combines some of the worst aspects of both parties into a hybrid who gets a free pass on his own bullshit. I can't really do this part of my assessment without sounding partisan, but here's why no rational person who previously considered supporting Obama should find libertarianism a viable alternative:

Economic deregulation: Libertarians like Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are selling the same koolaid as Mitt Romney. This is exactly the sort of thing that after 8 years of reducing government oversight under Bush culminated into the biggest and most destructive financial collapse of decades. Free capitalism for our country is a very powerful force which has made us the most competitive nation in the world, but it also needs comprehensive regulation to make sure that people follow the rules. Ron Paul states directly in his platform that he wants to cut the US Department of Commerce. This would absolutely cripple our ability to hold businessmen accountable for their actions and make sure people follow fair rules. The same department also furnishes our economic statistics, which I assume means that a President Paul or Johnson would have us relying on a private company to tell us how they're doing. I think that's enough said.

For-profit law: Part of the Ron Paul budget plan is privatization of some security agencies like the TSA. Gary Johnson as governor of New Mexico was a huge advocate of private prisons operated for profit. I can understand people who have a hardon for business, but there are certain things which should remain government duties because they're too important for the profit motive. I want firefighters and cops who's jobs are managed based on the need of the community they serve, not based on what will bring in the most income. Private security companies at airports created an un-uniform and sometimes dangerously unsecured situation at our nation's airports. Private prisons have been linked to scandals of illegal incarceration, judicial misconduct, and runaway numbers of people locked up.

State vs federal power: The constitution delegates certain powers to the federal government and leaves all others to the states, we all know this. We also know how confusing this can be in application, which is why we (like the decisions they make or not) have a supreme court so that a legitimate governing body set forth by our founding fathers can determine the legality of legislation. The issue with the states is that they have the exact same potential to repress their population as the federal government; sometimes even more so. American history is littered with examples of the federal authorities stepping in to reign-back a local government. There are even cases, like the integration of mixed-race schools, where armed federal soldiers had to be sent in and enforce a federal law at gunpoint against the states. I can understand a healthy suspicion of the government in Washington, but we should also do well to curb our enthusiasm for powers being thrown down to state or local governments. When a libertarian candidate says they want to delegate a power away from the federal government, think very hard about what that lower government will do with said power.

International non-interventionism: One thing that I think always brings a few liberals to the libertarian camp is the enthuses the ideology has on keeping our troops out of foreign countries. To an extent, this is of course sound. There is no debate that a US tank rolling through some other nation's street can be a source of anti-Americanism. The problem I have here though is that when libertarian politicians speak it seems like they wear blinders to all the other factors. It's not just our inflated military swinging around the world which pisses people off, but also the actions of western businesses and incursion of elements of our culture which clash with local customs. Before 9/11 we weren't shooting machineguns at the locals of foreign countries in the middle east. It had been a decade since desert storm and years since Somalia and Bosnia were hot. The most fighting the US military was doing were the occasional support mission or shooting cruise missiles at training camps. It's very telling that the attacks on 9/11 weren't just conducted against our military command, but also the hub of our international commerce. The fact is that even if we institute public policy resolving to abstain from interfering with other countries, our business (which I should again point our would have their interactions deregulated under a libertarian president) would still operate outside our borders wherever profitable- including the violence and conflict abroad. A non-interventionist foreign policy is naive and short sighted.

The bottom line that I'm getting at here is that the libertarian party isn't some kinda new and cool solution to a sometimes droll two party system. Libertarian candidates differ only marginally on the worst economic doctrine of the GOP and don't offer anything that other liberal political organizations don't already support. The only difference between libertarians and the GOP or tea party is that most libertarians I know are at least well intentioned.

If everything goes to plan, I'll start my terminal leave in 100 days. I've got 85 days of leave saved up, so pretty much gonna collect US Army pay for that time without really being in the Army anymore. I'm not sure if it feels like it's already been 5 years, but I can't wait to get the fuck out.

Along those lines, been going to the mandatory ACAP classes for people getting ready to finish their contracts or retire. It's legitimately sad to see how some of these people have become so dependent on the military lifestyle that they need a whole reeducation in real life. I'm not really worried about it considering that I have a lot of NY state certifications from my time at Ft Drum and 3 of my 5 years were spent in traffic collision investigations using the same NHTSA standards as the rest of the country, so pretty much translates directly to a non-military job skill. Again, I really just can't wait to get out.

In other interesting news, kinda got myself a little bruised the other day. Back at Ft Drum between OC spray, tasers, and competent back-up any fights I got into on duty usually happened on the ground and were short lived. For law enforcement in Korea, it's like you took the dial and went back two decades to where your only tools in subduing a person are your baton and handgun. Pretty much some big gorilla elbowed me a few times in the head when I went to put cuffs on him, another MP hit him several times with the baton to no avail, and when we finally got him on the ground he managed to fuck up another MP's knee pretty bad and kick me in the ear. On the bright side, the bruise looks pretty cool and one of his idiot friends who thought he was helping his buddy by videotaping it actually gave us some damn excellent evidence.

Tying my frustration in the military which had lead to me getting out with this story: The guy who assaulted me was a staff sergeant, as was one of his friends who got arrested right after that for disorderly conduct. The US Army has this gigantic boner for the NCO corps where they insist that sergeants aren't merely experienced supervisors, like in the rest of the world, but standard setting supermen who must in all aspects of their lives be a beacon of excellence and leadership. It's more than a little frustrating when in spite of this huge pedestal, a lot of these guys are blatantly scumbags. Both of these guys had prior DUI convictions. One of them had 3 counts of driving while his license was suspended for that. The other had an aggravated larceny conviction. These are people who would be considered shitheads and probably duds in the civilian world, but in the world of the US Army they've still managed to rise to leadership positions where they have considerable authority over the entire lives of their subordinates.

Not a new revelation for me, and this is far from my first experience which has demonstrated this to me. It's just amusing that every day I get a new example to reaffirm my dissatisfaction with the military. I think I kinda hate soldiers. lol

Poking fun at the other branches is something everyone in the military does, but I'm serious about this: Air Force military police are fucking incompetent. Totally bracing for massive shitstorm and retraining across the peninsula now for our job because the USAF's SFs don't know how to do their fucking job. Apparently the PMO leadership is just getting told about this now as well. It's gonna be a lovely week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/w.....;amp;ref=world

Well, that just made my night. That is all =]

Inspirational singer, Eduard Khil, died today after a stroke. Tis a sad day =<

that is all =3

Been a hot second since I posted a journal. For those of you who don't care, here's what's new! =D

As of today I officially have one year left of my contract. Looking back at it, I can't tell if I feel like I've been in this organization forever or if I just enlisted a few days ago. It's weird, but I can't tell if time has gone by slow as shit or really fast. Regardless, I can't wait for my contract to be up.

Less relevant, had a PT test the other week. 65 push ups, 67 situps, 15:08 2 mile, 175lbs. Army standards that's passing with 249pts out of a possible 300. Considering that I haven't done PT with my unit in almost 3 years and hate working out, I'm pretty satisfied. At the very least it keeps my unit off my back and ensures I'll keep working in my investigative section rather than playing Army in a line unit.

Less relevant still, finally been able to drink again. Last month I stopped because I had a promotion board and shortly after that our unit went on dry status for a field exercise. Even though I wasn't part of the exercise, I still wasn't allowed to have a drink. Stopped drinking for about 4 weeks; which was a nice way to reaffirm to myself for sure that I'm not an alcoholic or anything- but I'm glad that the past couple weeks I've been able to get pretty hammered on my time off just because it's fun.

Since I mentioned it- went to a promotion board at the start of the month and got recommended for promotion to Sergeant. They sent me to a promo board a few months prior which I failed intentionally since I have absolutely no desire to be a supervisor in the organization. When I found out they were sending me again I decided to study this time just to get them off my back. Even though I'm recommended for promotion, I'll never make the rank of Sergeant while in the Army. I have nowhere near the required number of 'points' for it and have absolutely no intention to change this. I've always been content to be a subordinate in this organization and I'm not trying to change that.

Fuck me though, the Army is. After passing the board I got assigned some soldiers. For a while I was in charge of a PFC in my section- but he's gone now that he failed the last PT test (dumb privates). Right now I'm technically in charge of two Korean soldiers. The few of you who read this and aren't in the military are probably going 'korean soldiers, huh?'. The US Army has a program where a large number of Korean soldiers are selected to work with us. These guys are fucking awesome. The KATUSA program is very selective so the ones who make it into the program are smart as shit. The two who I'm responsible for are all around cool guys. Very competent, they stay out of trouble, they do their job. Works for me.

That's about all I can think of right now. Overall, things are pretty okay. I'm sure as soon as things change I'll rant about it here. haha