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                                    The Honor's Affair   January 5, 2011 I have this to say about Captain Honors, and then I will say no more. Captain Honors is a decorated Navy Pilot who has flown combat missions. I have served under pilots, I have been their subordinate, and I have also socialized with them after hours. This is not the normal state of affairs for the way officers treat their men. Fighter Pilots, as I came to know, are a breed apart. They have a wild streak that does not carry into their handling of a leadership position, on the contrary, they are better leaders; but the very nature of their job requires that wild streak and the unique way that they relate to their subordinates. Their  subordinates are the Plane Captains who make sure that the aircraft is ready to fly. They are the Ordnancemen that make sure that...

                                The Zadroga Bill   I normally do not write two of these things so close together. I don't want anyone to think that I am so full of myself that I think that someone really cares what the hell I think.   That being said, I just had to write today because the battle over the 9/11 responders bill, the so called Zadroga bill, so fills me with anger against these arrogant politicians, that I just have to vent it.  We are talking about people, men and women, firefighters, police, and just civilian volunteers, who went to 'Ground Zero' right after it happened to help out... first to try to find survivors, then just to help recover whatever body parts that they could find. It was nasty, choking work. That site bled smoke for what seemed like forever, and still they went. They were given filtering apparatus that was inadequate. They were assured that, despi...

This Jarhead's Viewpoint: New Year's Eve, 2010 : " And so, the minutes and seconds tick inexorably towards midnight, and the start of the New Year, 2011. Can any of us say that we are s..."