And this is going to be a month of frustration, with the slow access and long hours cramping my style, I assure you! But, that's the way it's goina be until I figure out a way to make this blog pay as much as being a Beltway Bandit (Midwestern Edition)!
From the email bag:
Sir,
I am currently at my folk's house for a few days and I just wanted to send you a private note thanking you. I am a rather recently commissioned 11A who will be deploying soon to the Box for a 2nd time. The 1st time was during the march up back in '03 when I was an E-3 11B with the 3-7 Cav. I left college in December of '01, halfway through my sophomore year, because I wanted to go to the 'Stan and fight those who attacked us on their turf. I left the Army after my enlistment was up and returned home to civilian life and to finish school.
My dad, who is so gifted with foresight, that my brothers and I call him "Elrond", told me back then that he thought I had done enough and that he had a feeling that the war would be waiting after I finished my degree. I have to tell you, having my dad say that he thought I "Had done enough" is like praise from Caesar. My dad was medically retired from the Army as an O-3(P) back in '71 after he was shot in the hip and leg by some AK-47 wielding NVA
(who had about 2 seconds to live after he fired, my Dad's Top lit that NVA up). He was on his third tour and was on one hand happy about his likely upcoming promotion and on the other dreading it. It ended up being a moot point. You were a Major, so I think you can relate on both the pros and cons.
So, being brainwashed by the Bushhitlerhalibutron types, poor deluded victim me actually wanted to go back to the Army and I was commissioned thru ROTC and I will be going back as a platoon leader instead of a PFC. The amount of sheer idiocy, ignorance and laziness present on a college campus is staggering. I must say, I thought my head was going to explode on more than one occasion from being in such close proximity to those dolts on a daily basis.
Well, enough about me and my Dad. I just wanted you to know that we really like your site and appreciate the effort you and the others put into it. Dad says he knew a bunch of Tuttle types back in 'Nam and to this day he still appreciates them. He loves the TINS stuff, as do I. By the way, he found your little corner of the web back on a July 1st, a year or two ago when he was looking for articles to pass on to me about my favorite Civil War General, John Buford. If I remember right, you titled it "General Buford has his day." I was glad to see it, he is a rather obscure and forgotten man who did his country a great service. My dad and I have been regular readers ever since.
Sincerely,
Mike
Yeah, that was worth another couple of months.
Maybe more, if LT Mike sends us OPSEC-free dispatches. It's been a while since we've had a Correspondent (literally) in Iraq.
I know it said private note - but I did a little tweaking and sterilizing to protect the innocent.
Because 'Muricans need to know there are families like that one, with multigenerational service, and still serving, even if *my* family has taken a break after three generations and a combined 3 wars, 52 years, and (in one generation-Dad!) 7 Purple Hearts. BTW, because I know you want to know, I believe the record for Purple Hearts is 8. But not all 'Hearts are created equal. The national cemeteries are full of wartime-dated headstones where the occupant has only one Purple Heart, those are the ones that mean the most.
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