Iraq War to Cost $2.4 Trillion

Bush estimated $50 billion...but add up a trillion here and a trillion there, and suddenly you are talking real money.

US Blackwater Security Safety

Your hard earned tax dollars at work. Read about the disgusting Blackwater USA guards:

Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case had been referred to the Iraqi judiciary.

How long until we read news about a raid on an oilfield and disposing of the warlords who were controlling it? And who are the real warlords?

There is a thin line between justice and crime, and in Iraq you can bet that the US is on the wrong side of that line every single day.

I Wish Bush Would Have Sent His Children to Iraq

Secrets for Security

Ultimately preventing communication and keeping secrets is more to manipulate the general public than to protect them.

I wonder how long it will take for the US gov. to request I take some of my sites down for national security reasons...I bet that they don't like me ranking #1 for other than honorable discharge and stating that I make over $100,000 a year on that page. Hehehe

I have a scholarship website. I am thinking that after I increase my current income about 10 fold or so (should take 2 years max I think) I am going to create a full ride scholarship for people who were kicked out of navy nuclear power program for using drugs.

I love the idea of giving opportunity to people who dealt with some of the same issues you dealt with and did not like.

Exploiting Children - US Military Using Unethical Video Games to Recruit Kid for War

America's Army is one of the most popular computer games on the planet and like many games, it is a shoot-em-up, get-the-bad guys kind of affair.

But unlike other games, America's Army is truly a product of the US military. The Army first released the game a few years ago as a recruiting tool. - from a BBC article on the unethical military recruiting video game

Given that the US military is using video games to recruit children, how is it possible that the government wants to protect children from violent video games?

Are the only quality violent video games ones that help guide kids toward signing up to die in a real war?

Last month, Sgt. 1st Class Alvin Martin, one of two recruiters at the Army's Woodinville office, rented a computer-gaming business called LanWerX for the tournament. The same day, recruiters hosted a parallel event at another LanWerX branch 12 miles away in Bellevue.

Martin put up fliers and made phone calls to offer free food and a day of free America's Army gaming to any interested boy, girl, man or woman over age 13 — no commitments required. A khaki Humvee was parked outside.

"The Army games are particularly objectionable because they also include an indoctrination component, deepening the ideology of war," Boyle said. The games are "preying on [teenagers'] natural interest in affiliation — all Madison Avenue stuff." - Seattle Times Article about America's Army

Wired published an article stating the military has a whole studio for creating these games.

The only type of violence that is appropriate for children to see is real life killing in far off lands. Hopefully they are not the ones dying, though.

More in depth coverage at Wikipedia and Justin Beck wrote a great essay about video games as military recruiting propaganda.

Down With the ROTC!

Surprising how little media coverage there is of people vandalizing ROTC offices. Hopefully a tipping point of some sort? I would like to see this spread like a weed.

Police still are looking for vandals who painted anti-war slogans and splashed red paint early Wednesday on the buildings used by Reserve Officers' Training Corps at N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.

An e-mail message sent to local media that morning to claim credit and to solicit questions from journalists wasn't much help to investigators, said Sgt. Jon Barnwell of the N.C. State campus police department.

The e-mail message, from someone claiming to be "celest ialbeing" at wildfish863@yahoo.com, turned out to have been sent from a public computer such as those available at libraries.

"They were a little smarter than we had thought," Barnwell said.

I love the idea of media coverage of the military exploiting the poor to fight in scummy wars created to drive demand for sleazy military contractors and oil companies.

Whoever you are hopefully you don't let down and hopefully more people start being active in fighting these bullshit wars. The scumbags in charge focus on their image, and IMHO with how bad the war stuff is anything that causes a few people to question motive or see the larger picture is most likely a justified action.

PostSecret

PostSecret rocks. Go there and check out the site...you will be glad you did.

Just came across this one:

I joined because i was patriotic. But since I joined they succeeded in convincing me my life is worthless, I'm just hoping I get shot

Don't feel it now, but a few years ago that would have been spot on w my life.

US Navy Defense Appropriations Discharge in Absentia

If you were in the U.S. Navy and are awol, or missing, or a deserter you may want to look into the Navy's Defense Appropriations Discharge in Absentia program. From the news blog:

If there is no other "impending offense" the "member" (a euphemism for deserter) is offered an administrative discharge by telephone and mail. The member doesn't even have to come back for out-processing.

"The member is contacted and we make them the offer for a non-punitive discharge. If they agree, we send them the paperwork. They have to waive their rights to an administrative discharge. If they agree and have not committed a serious offense, or there is no reason to believe there is any other offense, they are discharged," Higgins added.

Military Attacked for Invasive Marketing

Military Attacked for Invasive Marketing...not really a surprise there, but it is annoying knowing that by not leaving and paying taxes I support that shit.

Am thinking it would be cool to move to another country. Spain or New Zealand are at the top of my list. Hmm...

Cutting Edge Media Company Creates War Channels

How fucked is it that Yahoo!, a cutting edge media company, is essentially creating a war channel to track whatever conflicts are occuring around the globe.
http://hotzone.yahoo.com/

By tracking the conflicts, and offering them syndication, it will likely help aid funding for more weapons and more killing.

Naval Recruiters - Navy Reserves Posters on the wall

You will excell.

You will be relied upon.

You will make things better.

Those are the words of three different Navy posters I came across today during my travels.

Excell compared to what? Isn't life a series of ups and downs, with the Navy generally being accepted as a down?

Be relied upon. Wow, that also could not sound any more generic. Aren't we all relied upon even at the high school level? If nobody relies upon you in any way then the Navy is not going to be getting too many quality people.

You will make things better, but for whom? The people your ship's precision test missles blow up? Probably not. The shareholders and owners of the company that sold the government that weapon? Probably.

A more accurate join the Navy or join the Naval resereves poster would read "You will be a worthless number."

If I Were a Russian Submariner

there is a pretty good chance I would have died.

On one of my first underways a friend told me he thought we were going to die when we had a problem on the boat. That thought stuck in my head much of the time we were underway.

Also I was on a submarine that had a rescue vehicle on it when Russia's Kursk sank, but Russia was a bunch of scumbags and did not want any foreigners helping them and let their submariners die.

Not surprising to see some of their scumbag military leaders downplaying the current incident:

Captain Alexander Kosolapov, another naval spokesman, played down the incident's seriousness. "The situation is unusual," he said. "But it's not worth dramatising."

Their country has had a long line of having zero respect for human life, wasting military lives doing things like human wave attacks in WWII.

Truely Other Than Honorable...

So there were multiple terror bombings in London today. and Danny Sullivan links to a variety of sources. The subway is still shut down and over 40 people are dead.

the BBC reports the reasoning or statement behind the attacks:

In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate, may peace be upon the cheerful one and undaunted fighter, Prophet Muhammad, God's peace be upon him.

Nation of Islam and Arab nation: Rejoice for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist Crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rephrased better as:

We are ignornat scumbags who are so far off base from reality that we kill tons of innocent people because of the bogus religious ideals our leaders operate under. We also probably shorted stock recently to try to profit from the systems that we want to destroy, because deep down we are not only stupid but also greedy.

How long have people been on this planet? And this is as far as we are? Disgusting.

This caused a fairly large shock in the European stock markets but has had small effect on the US.

Also interesting to note that as they do these attacks on civilians they make the governments stronger by allowing them to rob civil liberties and pour more into fighting back. It is sorta like trying to fight symptoms instead of problems, and as civilians get screwed they will get more pissed off and want to fight back harder.

Seems like the ideas / techniques are not well thought through.

Chief Groover - The Navy and the "Real World"

Got this gem of a feedback today, oddly enough the email was titled The Navy and the "Real World"

We are all where we are by choice YOU chose to raise your right hand, there was no gun held to your head. If you are having a "bad experience" with the Navy and really want out just have a 1.0 on your next eval and make damn certain that you are not recommended for retention. Bottom line is it not for everyone, but those who CHOSE to make the best of it are the ones not bitching and complaining that just happen to excel because it is their CHOICE. See the pattern here!! The "real world" does not provide you with a housing allowance in your paycheck or a clothing allowance or provide you with a roof over your crybaby ass. So the next time you go to the ATM or bank or any other financial institution think about that.
In closing ALWAYS remember this for everyone of you that have this negative disposition your shipmates and fellow SeaBees are counting on you to do your job when the time comes and if you don't then the very life and liberty, you enjoy as an American, is at risk. Somewhere some crazyass radical extremist is thinking if we can break the infrastructure of the US military then we can take these freedoms and priviledges away from them and take over the US.

I love it when navy people talk about the real world like they know what the fuck it even is.

Stealing the line from a friend, I replied to Chief Groover with the following:

look, the navy isn't all roses, some people are satisfied driving a geo metro to work after 20 years. I, however, am not.

What I really wanted to tell him was:

I am not trying to break infistructure. did you read my whole site. Please do and then feel free to appoligize for that ignorant email you sent me.

Happy independance day BTW, I am doing far better since I became independant of the military. I make far more money than the military paid (6 figures now), have no boss, and work whenever I like.

The navy taught me a few important life lessons, the first and most important of which is that the navy is shit.

Military Stretches the Limits of Humanity

Ever notice how many scientific studies or vaccienes were funded by the military? Or how the military tests certain drugs to see how long people can stay awake for (see the latest issue of New Scientist for an example)? Or how the military also creates most of the nastiest chemical weapons? Or the fact that I was actually called to see if I wanted to be hired on a job in control of the disposal or destruction of chemical weapons?

It seems to me, that knowingly the military tries to test the boundaries of humanity. The test them as best they can. When those tests do not work on some REAL PEOPLE living under situations not accounted for in the tests many of those REAL PEOPLE die. Emotionally. Physically. Psychologically. or Spiritually.

If not physical death the people are shuned as the system tries to destroy them more to ruin their life to create an example to show the others what happens when they go outside the lines.

Pretty scummy setup IMHO.

MDMA / Ecstacy for US soldiers

American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares. source

Funny thing is that while you are in the military if you tell your leaders about suicidal thoughts and dreams they may ignore you until after they destroy that portion of your mind, life, or soul.

Then they may even go so far to destroy their own work records of your performance before discharging you.

According to the US national centre for post-traumatic stress disorder, up to 30% of combat veterans suffer from the condition at some point in their lives.

The two main reasons ecstacy is generally illegal are:

• the patent for it ran out a long time ago
  
• it can be used recreationally

Many people who join the military see combat or are hidden away from life for extended periods of time. After months or years of not trusting people and seeing the worst humanity has to offer it gets hard to ever trust anybody.

It gets hard to talk about things that are wrong in your life or mind.

If you lack a way to channel engery for long enough you lose the energy and become numb. You have effectively died.

And it is a bitch to start reliving again too.

Certainly many others had / have it far worse than I had it in the military. I think it is a complete crock of shit how poor this country treats those who give so much to help expand this empire.

I really wish they would start teaching about the military industrial complex in grade school to help many people avoid the mistake which enlistment is.

found from Boing Boing

Navy Core Values Chief Mike Michael Cosgrove Senior / Master Chief Manteli USS Dallas (SSN 700) COB

I went back and visited a bunch of my friends for the first time in about a year.

I spoke with some of them and they told me that indirectly and directly I was spoke of at GMT (which is general military training).

Manteli (the chief of the boat) stated that people could try their luck selling T shirts on the internet if they get kicked out of the navy. The irony of that of course is that I am confident that if I worked half as hard at creating and marketing T shirts as I did at other things I have been doing it would still work out. Incidentally Yahoo! Search currently ranks me at #17 in the world for "t shirts" although I have put little effort into marketing that product ;-)

These guys go out of their way to try to make me sound poor and lost because they do not like the idea of me betraying their system and almost instantly making way more money than them while

• living a more interesting and full life
  
• being able to go wherever I want whenever I want
  
• not needing to report to a boss.

My chief also said I was a disgrace to the Navy core values. My friend got in his face and backed him into a corner. My chief may have been right, but he too was a disgrace to the Navy core values.

The Navy core values are honor, courage, and commitment. Where was the honor when they destroyed their work records of mine? Was destroying my work records an act of courage? What about the commitment to your people? Not there.

My own core values include concepts like humanity, empathy, and understanding. The Navy is generally a disgrace to my core values as well as their own. ETCM ETCS ETC (SS) - or whatever label defines your life - Cosgrove have a happy new year.

Lots of Dumb Stuff

Goes on film...and this girl...well, she will be humiliated for THE REST OF HER LIFE

2004 USS Dallas Med Run - (SSN 700) Med Run 2004

So how is the crew of the USS Dallas doing?

Pretty shitty from what I have been told. After 4.5 months into the run they pulled into 2 ports. My buddy Luke just left the navy. The boat dropped him off in Bahrain and he stayed at the only hotel in town that let Americans stay there because all of the other hotels were afraid to get bombed for letting Americans stay there.

The cheifs onboard were complaining because they could not get a hotel out on town while my friend was worried about getting beheaded. Kinda shows you just how bad that med run must be if people would rather risk being beheaded than be onboard.

My friend flew out of Bahrain and was not beheaded. I talked to him on the phone today and he is doing well.

I also talked to a couple other friends so far while they were in that last deployment pit stop. They said that they were on rations ever since a few weeks into the run. In addition they said that they brought the seals onboard and did not do any excercises with them. They just hotracked and were on rations for 2.5 months.

good stuff. I wish I were there...

Erica & the Navy

This post could scroll six to thirty pages, but I will try not to let that happen.

I was in the navy and got my other than honorable discharge right around thanksgiving the year before last.

When I was in the navy I met a girl that I had a super duper crush on. she was fun, entertaining, smart, cute, etc. generally awesome and for the longest time (and perhaps for a long time going forward) she will likely be the girl I usually compare all other girls to. If for no other reason than the fact that she was the first girl I really really had a crush on. Her name is Erica.

Today I just got a forwarded letter that was sent to my old address. It was sent from a girl in navy named Erica. This girl is the same girl who sent me a similar letter about a year ago. This is not the same Erica I spoke of above. The current letter reads as follows...

July 14, 2004

AARON WALL
5209 OLD POST RD
CHARLESTOWN RI 02813

Dear Aaron:
Your technical skill, learned in the military, is currently in short supply. We are in need of former military personnel in your job field to fill jobs immediately in the Naval Reserve.

We have a saying in the Naval Reserve, "Make your experience count." This is a prime time for you to do just that. You have a skill that we need and here's an opportunity to put it to good use.

Why not give me a call at +1 (401) 941-2550, or drop by the office anytime! Call collect if needed.

Sincerely,
Erica
NC1 Erica L. Zecher
Naval Reserve Recruiter
+1 (401) 94102550
d5r09302@cnrrc.nola.navy.mil

The Naval reserve uses commercial mailing lists in its recruiting efforts. Such lists may contain errors which cannot be identified before we mail. If you should not have received this letter please accept our apologies. Perhaps you could pass this information on to someone who might be interested in Navy Reserve opportunities.

There are a bunch of funny things about this letter we shall analyze. First of all we will grab the low hanging fruit.

• The letter said "do not forward" and they did.
• I was kicked out for drugs and am fairly certain they would not want me in their system. I obviously would not want to be in their system.
• To the best of my knowledge there is no reservist nuclear navy. Obviously there is no need for persons of my skill set.

"Your technical skill, learned in the military, is currently in short supply."
Indeed it should be. That lifestyle was complete fucking hell. The only place where I have ever found myself in my lifespan where I was crying myself to sleep for weeks to months at a time. In addition you can tell what great lengths they go to to make this letter spam. Notice they never state what my rate or skill was, just that I learned it in the military.

"We are in need of former military personnel in your job field to fill jobs immediately in the Naval Reserve."
Since my job does not exist in the reserves this is a lie, but beyond that they would have a much better retention rate if they did not treat their people like shit.

"We have a saying in the Naval Reserve, "Make your experience count.""
And I did. That is why I created New Navy.US.

"This is a prime time for you to do just that."
And that is why I am typing this blog post.

"You have a skill that we need and here's an opportunity to put it to good use."
I agree, more people should speak honestly and openly about the navy.

"Why not give me a call at +1 (401) 941-2550, or drop by the office anytime!"
Your organization has been the single worst part of my memory. I should be dead now because it almost ate my will to live.

"Call collect if needed."
I just may do that.

"The Naval reserve uses commercial mailing lists in its recruiting efforts. Such lists may contain errors which cannot be identified before we mail. If you should not have received this letter please accept our apologies. Perhaps you could pass this information on to someone who might be interested in Navy Reserve opportunities."
I did my best to pass your message on.

Now here is the psychotic part of this post. The original Erica was the person I looked forward to seeing most for like close to a year of my naval "career." I liked her a ton but I still had a few years left in the navy and just prior to meeting me she got screwed over by some other guy in the navy.

I also do not know what I did with my manorisms and actions but she thought of me as a real gentleman. Reflecting back on how much I liked her and the fact that we never ...awe nevermind...it just goes to show how crazy I am.

I am super non agressive and she did not want me hurting her by going away and so we both were somewhat intentionally defensively non attached to one another.

After I went away on a med run she met some other guy who later got her pregnant and then he joined the navy and moved to the other side of the country and screwed her over.

There is obviously some real irony there.

Now here is where the super psychotic part of this post comes into play. Earlier today this same Erica called me for the first time since I moved. We talked for a little while and she told me she is going to join the navy reserves (which obviously is a big thumbs down to me). What is even weirder is that her recruiter is the same Erica that sent me that letter I just got.

Now the Erica that I like was in NYC on September 11th and had taken amazing photographs of what happened that day. Based on the sounds I later heard and the vividness of some of her pictures I am sure being there would have cut some scars in my mind.

I told Erica though that I could not support our current wars in any way and that in all reality our current wars had nothing to do with that tragic event she saw. She said "I know." And I also said that there is no such thing as a passive supporter and by joining she was becomming an active supporter of the current wars.

I also asked if she saw Farenheight 911 and she said no and that she hated Moore. I asked her why and at first she said "I don't know" and later said that she did not like the roles he plays in movies.

He really doesn't play roles other than guy on the street smart ass investigator of alternative media heavily biased against big corporate bullshit and false blank ideals which are currently destroying our country.

The "character" Moore plays in his movie roles is extremely similar to the "character" I play in real life. I am not certain why she could dislike him so much and like me so much, but maybe there is a logical reason we parted ways?

Maybe she will be a better fit in the navy than I. and to her I wish luck...

I think I may want some french fries from McDonalds...

Karma Police Arrest this Man

So one night a good period of time ago I got in trouble for using drugs. I was blacked out drunk and then a kid gave me some illegal drugs. I am not going to say that I never used drugs, just that I never used them until long after I met the USS Dallas.

From what I was later told I told many many many people that I was using drugs that night. I don't remember it, but some friends said that I was even telling a bunch of officers on the boat how I used drugs.

To make a long story short one person out of the whole crew turned me in. Nobody else wanted to because I was generally a good guy and nobody wanted to see me get in trouble. Reflecting upon my actions I have not a single iota -not a morsel- of regret for that happening.

The kid who turned me in was a dumb cook. I say dumb not because he turned me in, but dumb because he was quite literally dumb. He initially was not going to turn me in but his older cook friend pressured him into turning me in. The kid ended up feeling so bad about it that he later cut his wrist and everything.

The asshole who convinced the kid to turn me in was a real fucking dirtbag. Again, he was not a real fucking dirtbag for convincing the kid to turn me in, he just was quite litterally a fucking dirtbag.

This probably seems like an anti navy rant, but it could not be less true. This is one of those days where I am more pro navy than I ever have been.

Why you ask?

Normally I would say I was joking or I must be on drugs to think this way, but today is different.

That older cook (complete fucking scumbag) just got in trouble for using cocaine. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it.

That is beautiful karma coming around and fucking that guy.

He is now in restriction. He was going to retire at his 20 year mark and he just wasted 18.5 years of his life in the navy to get no benefit and a big negative mark on his service records. And he is a dumb scumbag. I am extatic.

When you are in the navy as a nuclear technition they sell you this "world of opportunity bullshit" and when you get out it really does not match reality (even for those who get out the "right" way - at least based on what my friends have said).

I can't imagine anyone wanting to hire that guy because his is an old drug using scumbag. Normally my roommate tells me that negative energy is a bad thing, but he told me that this is one of those exceptions when it is ok to chear on and laugh at the failures of another person...and so I am sharing this with the entire world.

BZ MSC1 Selke

BZ is a bullshit line in the navy for bravo zulu (which also means congrats or well done)

incidentally boat steak was usually really well done

The title of this post is part of a Radiohead song. I heard them at Coachella this year. They kick ass...you should buy all of their CDs right now. As of right now the Coachella site is still playing Radiohead on their player. Fake Plastic Trees is #2, There There is #3.

US Army Critical of George W Bush

When even the US army publishes reports of how WRONG our current war on terrorism is, perhaps the administration should listen!

(OTH) Other than Honorable Discharge

[update: Hate the military? Are they trying to ruin your life? Debating doing something to get a discharge? If so you may want to look at sites like the GI Rights Hotline, or give them a toll free call at (800) 394-9544.

Getting an other than honorable discharge generally means nothing unless you want it to. If you are on the verge of getting an OTH discharge read the below comments left by hundreds of people to see how common that discharge type is and how many other than honorable people are doing well.

The military tries to make anything other than an honorable discharge sound like a big deal because the military lifestyle is so bad that they need to make alternatives seem bad.

As my honorable friend Mike so eloquently puts it, an OTH discharge is like:

if your life goal was to have a government job and retire on a shitty salary after 20 years of mediocrity: WE FUCKED Ya...otherwise...no biggie

I type this from my home, getting read to go to yet another concert somewhere in the Californian desert. I have no boss and even travel a good bit now. I work when ever I want to. Thanks internet marketing. Thanks to the US Navy for trying to destroy my life.]

Today I got a job offer from a prospective employer. I told him there was no way in hell I was interested in the job, but asked him what it was anyway.

Its funny because the job he wanted to give me was as a civilian Chemical Weapons caretaker in the US Army.

After my recent other than honorable discharge from the US navy I find it rather repulsive that they would still want me for that job.

It just goes to show how slow their feedback loops are and how broken their system is.

A tip for those who feel they achieved an other than honorable discharge in bad faith by their organization. If you know deep down inside that the organization was other than honorable you have absolutely no reason to carry any of that burdon with you and I suggest you just lie about your terms of discharge, as frequently they involve lies about you.

Destroying my work records prior to processing me, for example, was other than honorable.

Kill Kill Kill

“I have just returned home from "Operation Iraqi Freedom". I spent 5 months in Baghdad, and a total of 3 years in the U.S. Army. I was recently discharged with Honorable valor and returned to the States only to be horrified by what I've seen my country turn into. I'm now 22 years old and have discovered America is such a complicated place to live, and moreover, Americans are almost oblivious to what's been happening to their country. America has become "1984." Homeland security is teaching us to spy on one another and forcing us to become anti-social. Americans are willingly sacrificing our freedoms in the name of security, the same Freedoms I was willing to put my life on the line for. The constitution is in jeopardy. As Gen. Tommy Franks said, (broken down of course) One more terrorist attack and the constitution will hold no meaning.”

More than a few soldiers who do not believe in the war have sent letters from Iraq

Join the Navy...See the Brig

from a navy site
we have quotes like "I was tested three times first in boot camp, then at Corps School and here, said a NMCP sailor who wishes to remain anonymous. It's like the lottery, you never know when you are going to get picked," he added. "It's weird because you go from an average person to someone who is in the spotlight and you have to wear a restriction badge around the whole time," he said. "Now that I have gone through everything I see that I'm losing out on so many things. I wanted to go to college, but now I will have pay for it on my own. I lost my GI bill everything," he added.

Notice the incorrect quoting by the moronic official voices of the navy. If they want to make it seem correct they could at least make the qoutes correctly.

The navy is all about selling an image...my two cents say this image is bullshit.

Later we read that "The tests are 99.5 percent accurate."

This indicates that only 1 out of 200 people found guilty and put through thus torture are completely innocent. And you and I both know that 99.5% figure is likely a highball estimate. Consider that after years of hard work you can be punished for bullshit drug testing.

MOTIVATIONAL!!! Go Navy

The other side of the coin.

Because the navy tried to destroy me I learned about the internet and how to become an internet marketer. People I do not even know take comfort in giving me hundreds or thousands of dollars to do things they do not even understand.

Within a few months I will personally meet the president of a European country because of my work. Not bad for getting kicked out of the navy about a year ago.

For those wanting a good book about submarines in a few years I will be releasing "ECSTASY UNDER THE SEA: Holes in My Mind and Holes in the Story."

science project submarine

I picked the title of science project submarine so that some young kid interested in the navy may find this post. This post is about a person by the name of Hoa Huynn.

He joined the navy about a year after I did. I was the workhorse of our division, but I was not very militant. Essentially the submarine made me feel like I should kill myself, so I joked around a bunch.

Hoa Huynn received favorable evaluation reviews to me despite not having my skill level. Being on submarines is just like a science project. You see, it does not matter what your goals or aspirations are in life, you are just a toy.

Hoa Huynn was firmly against being part of the submarine shipboard survivability exercise. They locked a bunch of people in the submarine to see how they would react after a couple days of no fresh atmosphere.

Since Hoa hated the idea of being around a bunch of stinky people his chain of command though he stunk. He messed up performing maintenance. They wanted to send him to captain's mass. He refused and wanted to go to court martial.

Since they had painted him with such rosey remarks in the past they had nothing to really get him on for court martial. Some people on the boat started rumors saying they kicked him out of the navy and made him repay the $45,000 reenlistment bonus they paid him in the past. He is still fighting to stay in, but this clearly shows that they only use the evaluation system to fuck people, and that there are not legitimate feedback routes, only examples to be made.

In my division of the people who came to the boat with me, before me, or just after me here is what happened
guy 0 (before me): his back fell apart
guy 1 (before me): got married and wife cheated on him
guy 2 (came with me): sent to another boat, was not trusted to stand watch, treated aweful, was viewed as piece of shit
guy 3 (came just after me): went to mass
guy 4 (came just after guy 3): Hoa Huynn
guy 5 (came just after guy 4): wife cheated on him - got divoriced
guy 6 (came just after guy 5): literally ripped a hole in his ass (and nearly died from it)

These are the results of 7 individuals who all joined the navy with good intentions. Of the above only 1 has got out mentally physically and financially well. Conclusion: study a little more about submarines before you become a science project.

Disclaimer: I am not one of the subjects listed above, but when I got out of the navy I was
1.) pissing blood
2.) in debt
3.) suicidally depressed

Navy Meeting Quota

So I am at the house of a friend right now. He is on the phone complaining to his mother of the lack of efficiency in the navy. He is currently going to a force protection school which costs thousands of dollars per person. The Marines that are attending the school are admitting that the school is better than what they were offered during training. My friend stands a watch that is unarmed and will never be using the knowledge from this course to benefit the navy in any way. For my friend to use a weapon it will require that he abandons his post as the single supervisor of a nuclear reactor - a highly unlikely scenario. With his completion of this school the boat will be closer to meeting quota though.

In addition he just spoke of the $587,000 pump that was ordered incorrectly. When you break the price down by horsepower it is under $60,000 per horsepower - just barely though.

Prior to me leaving the navy our drug counciler told me that about 10% of the crew got kicked out of the navy for using drugs in the prior year. As history repeats itself we yet again find that the navy finds a new way of meeting quota.

Good businesses have feedback loops vice quotas.

What is the cost?

Many of the people who send us to war have never been in war. I don't need to talk Bush down as a draft dodger or deserter...that is not my point.

Many moons after wars end they still loom on inside heads of soldiers. The lives which are ruined are not just those who are killed, that would be too easy.

From the official PTSD site "The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among American Vietnam theater veterans is 30.9% for men and 26.9% for women. An additional 22.5% of men and 21.2% of women have had partial PTSD at some point in their lives. Thus, more than half of all male Vietnam veterans and almost half of all female Vietnam veterans—about 1,700,000 Vietnam veterans in all—have experienced 'clinically serious stress reaction symptoms.' "

I only think of this because a lady I worked with has a son who was there when Saddam's sons were shot. What did it do to his mind? Can he ignore the blood he has seen? Or his friend who died? Can he ignore the young teen who was shot dead?

National Center for PTSD // National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Why is Peanut Butter So Good

I was a nuclear reactor operator on fast attack submarines. We did not usually have donuts down there...what was I to do.

I generally felt somewhat inadequate with life until I came up with a solution...PEANUT BUTTER

Sure peanut butter tastes great, WE ALL KNOW THAT! There are other reasons peanut butter is good though. Peanuts contain a subtle amount of a chemical called Tryptophan. Its that stuff in turkey that makes you sleepy.

I would sit down at breakfast and throw over a half jar of peanut butter on my waffles. Some of the other sailors were offended. They said comments like "I hope you get fat." Another one of my favorites is "Your going to hell."

The problem with those statements were that I was
1.)already fat
2.)alerady in hell

When people gave me comments like that I would feast off them though. I would point at the menu and say "what are you talking about, its only 348 calories - see waffle with assorted toppings -348 calories."

I continued on a peanut butter rampage the whole time I was on that submarine. The funny thing is it wasn't until years later that I discovered I was using peanut butter (and its tryptophan) to fight off my depression.

Why Me?

This blog is going to be a personal public blog about all things me. When I am happy, you will know. When I am pissed, you will know. If nothing else this will give me a place to display my open affection for peanut butter.

some of my other websites

Drugs, Depression, and Antidepressant Drugs
Reform Blog
Search Engine Marketing Info
5 HTP (5 Hydroxytryptophan)
Navy Nuclear Power and Navy Nuclear Submarines