Category: New Book Discussion

I will discussing the book, Close Enounters of the Heavenly Kind: Through Bumper Stickers. I will shae my feeling on why it got started, and my feelings as I wrote it.

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Finally, The Outline of the Upcoming Book, Signs of Hope for the Military

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

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Military news…

A soldier with the Florida Army Reserve has a religious exemption to not only grow a beard, but also wear his hair long while in uniform.. Sgt. Jacob DePietro observes the Nazarite vow from the the Old Testament in the Bible, which states that “no razor may be used on their head.”

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+Report from Jeff Schogol on his trouble trying to get an Afghan interpreter way from his country. They are threatening these people ahead of the final withdraw.

“On Thursday, I received a series of frantic texts from Sher Ahmad Ahmadzai, an Afghan man who worked for coalition forces, after someone threw a Molotov cocktail at his home.” That’s from Jeff Schogol, who wrote this piece about his inability to help Ahmadzai and other Afghans who risked their lives to help the United States and are now in danger of being killed by the Taliban.

“This story is difficult to write because journalists are rightly expected to not get involved in the stories we cover, and the modicum of help that I have tried to provide to Ahmadzai clouds my objectivity,” Jeff writes. “In a way, I’ve already failed at my job.”
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When U.S. Marine Security Guards at American embassies around the world need backup, they call on the Marine Security Augmentation Unit. This may be your first hearing about the MSAU, but the unit’s been putting in a lot of flight time recently: in the past 30 days, the quick reaction force has responded to the call twice to protect embassies in Africa and the Caribbean.

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 A soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division is heading to a court-martial in connection with a murky incident in Syria last summer in which U.S. troops and pro-regime forces exchanged gunfire.

“We are all suffering in silence,” is how one soldier described the unseen problem of eating disorders in the U.S. military. The Army and other branches use outdated body fat measurements to judge soldiers’ fitness, which, when combined with PTSD, sexual trauma and other common military mental health issues, create a rampant eating disorder problem that has gone largely underreported until now.

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The U.S. may be leaving Afghanistan, but the ‘Forever Wars’ aren’t really ending, writes defense expert Bonnie Kristian in this guest op-ed. Despite his statements about leaving Afghanistan, ending support for the Saudi war in Yemen, and leaving Iraq, President Joe Biden’s plans for doing so remain vague, and you can stuff a lot of violence into an absence of details, Kristian argues.

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No excerpt today from my book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

What I am going to to is give you an outline of the book to give you a taste of what is coming:

  1. The first section will basic training. I have many stories there. Some funny some not so funny. Many things to talk about.
  2. The second section will be being deployed to Korea. Some very sad stories there, and few humorous.
  3. The third section will be my states side time at FT. Bragg. One very scary time there, but good vibes most of the section.

Then I will have two appendixes:

  1. Interviews from the trenches. I have interviews from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. Many are heartbreaking. I also have an interview with a Gold Star mother I am working on right now. Pretty exciting.
  2. The second Appendix will be eight pages of resources for veterans. It will have every conceivable information you may be looking for.

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How are you doing? Do you fear sleeping? Have you seen enough of the turmoil we are facing in this world today?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12, 550 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If the road is getting to rough for you, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number for you to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never face this not so friendly world alone!

1-800-273-8255, Texting 838255.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

___________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

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Many Soldiers Fear Going to Sleep, Because of the Nightmares That Are Waiting for Them

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Military news…

A self-proclaimed ‘incel’ allegedly joined the U.S. Army to train for a mass shooting of women but washed out after four months. What’s an incel? They are men who preach violence against women out of sexual frustration, and at least 50 people have died in the U.S. and Canada from incel attacks.

Prosecutors allege that sometime between July and August 2019, 21-year-old Tres Genco wrote a note saying he “will get arms training in BCT [Basic Combat Training] and the “KC [kill count] needs to be huge! 3,000?” 

By the time Genco was arrested, Sheriff’s deputies found an AR-15 rifle modified to shoot fully automatic, a 9mm Glock pistol without a serial number, and plenty of ammo. “I will slaughter out of hatred,” he allegedly wrote in a manifesto.

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Getting attacked by a bear is one thing. Getting attacked by the same bear repeatedly, however, is the stuff of both nightmares and films starring Leonardo DiCaprio. A story about a recent Coast Guard rescue of a man fighting off bears in Alaska in a real-life version of ‘The Revenant.’

This was the experience of one unidentified man at a mining camp in Alaska before the Coast Guard rescued him last week, according to a news release from the service. And they came just in the nick of time: “He only had two rounds left,” said Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer First Class Ali Blackburn. “I’d imagine you’d be a little loopy after not sleeping for so long.”

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What does the U.S. Army and the ‘Fast and the Furious’ movie franchise have in common? They both have robot mini-tanks that look ready to kick some serious butt.

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Most people wouldn’t do push-ups after climbing up 20,310 feet of snow and ice, but it was easy-peasy compared to what these airmen just went through. a tory about a group of remarkable Air Force mountaineers. Last month, the airmen climbed Denali, the highest peak in North America, but not without a near-fatal incident that took all of their training and resilience to get through alive.

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An Army Ranger who recently returned from Afghanistan has been accused of brutally murdering a security guard in Tacoma, Washington.  Spc. Patrick Byrne is now being held in a Washington jail.

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Here is another excerpt from Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Skosh the Dog

While I was stationed in South Korea, we had a company stray dog that made our Quonset hut home. She was a loving dog that was pretty small, and that is why we named her Skosh.

We had to protect her as much as we could, because the Koreans consider dogs a delicacy. She wouldn’t last long in the village outside the Camp Red Cloud compound.

Much to our surprise she got pregnant. We didn’t know there were any other dogs in the area. I guess when a dog is in heat, any dog will find them.

She had four little puppies. As soon as they were born, right in our hut, she took them and hid them. We feared for the lives of those puppies, and we were right. Withen a week after Skosh moved them, she came back to our hut and never left again. She obviously lost her babies.

It was sad time for the soldiers in my hut. We knew what had happened, but there was nothing we could do about it. Skosh wanted to raise her babies her way.

I find that this happens in life today. We do whatever we can to guide our children, and show them what is best for their lives, but they still go into unknown territories and see what they can find out.

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There is much more to this chapter in the book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Come back often to see more. Better yet… Go to the top of the pages and click on “Subscribe.” When you do all future posts go directly to you inbox.

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How are you doing? Does going to sleep frighten you?

FEAR NOT!

There are 12,525 fellow veterans subscribed to this site and they all have your back.

If the night a just too much for you, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number for your to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until the know you are OK.

Never sleep in fear!

1-800-273-8255 ….For texting, 838255

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never fosaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

___________________________________

If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

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Prostitution Can Cause Havoc With Our Soldiers Who Are Deployed

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I am sitting on my patio doing my post today. We just had the patio extended by four feet, and that made world of difference. It is 70 degrees right now with a high of 91. I decided to get out early and do my posts before it gets too hot.

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Military news…

About 70% of soldiers have received the COVID-19 vaccine, but some of the ones who haven’t may have baseless concerns about it. Three Army doctors took to a podcast this week to debunk some of the common myths about the vaccine, like whether it causes infertility, erectile dysfunction, or miscarriages. There is no evidence that the vaccine causes any of those issues.

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The first 2,500 Afghans evacuated were the easiest to get out. What about the rest? There are still an estimated 70,000 interpreters and their families at risk of being killed by the Taliban, and the 2,500 coming to Virginia are “not nearly enough,” according to one expert.

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An Air Force commander at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma took serious heat from airmen on social media this weekend for berating his crew when they decided not to fly a training mission in dangerous conditions. A recording of the commander’s speech went viral on Reddit and Facebook, where many airmen identified with “the push for a mission by those who aren’t putting their lives at risk,” as one airman said.

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Two of the four soldiers killed during an October 2017 ambush in Niger have been symbolically inducted into the Special Forces Regiment to recognize their bravery during the hellish battle. Becoming an honorary Green Beret is an extremely rare honor reserved for those who distinguish themselves through their service to the Special Forces community.

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No, Russia’s new fighter jet can’t fly at twice the speed of light, despite Fox News reporting to the contrary. While a Fox anchor likely made a mistake in saying that the upcoming Sukhoi Checkmate can fly faster than light and thereby break the rules of physics, who knows? Maybe the Russians have something up their sleeves.

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I will share another excerpt with you from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Iriwaba Means Come Here in Korea

After I was in Korea for a while, I had time to go for walks in the village of Uigongbo, Korea. At the time it was a broken down village that didn’t seem to find any industry to support it. Today it is a thriving town.

I soon found out that the industry was prostitution. There were women of all ages waving at me and yelling Iriwaba.

Iriwaba means come here in Korean. These women were all trying to to entice you to come over to their little parlor and have sex with them for a fee. I was such a naive young man I didn’t respond for the first few trips there.

One night the guys decided I needed to get drunk and party. I ended up waking up and saw an elderly lady on top of me buck naked, and I was too. She was having sex with me, and I didn’t know it. As my eyes cleared, I saw she was eating an apple like I was one o the people she would please while she was on a break!

I was told she was a “Mommason,” A mommason is the boss of the prostitutes, and I was delegated to an old pro who thought she cut eat an apple while she was performing her act for me.

I asked her the fee. She told one of the guys paid it and the going rate was a cartoon of cigarettes. She said one cartoon of cigarettes, which was worth $2.99, would get her family enough food for a week. The cartons were a hot commodity in the “Black Market.”

I thought I would try to go out and “test,” the market one night. A mommason beckoned to to me to come into her shack. I thought she was the one providing the services, but she walked me into her bedroom, and lying on the bed naked was a little girl that couldn’t have been more then twelve years old. She looked very frightened and wouldn’t even look at me.

I was very angry and wanted to punch the mommason in the face. I left quickly.

Later learned that having so much sex in that village can be deadly. One of the soldiers, who bragged about being with a woman every night, caught some serious infection in his gentiles and eventually had to have them cut off to save his life.

That vision cured me of any other trips to the village for pleasure.

The experiences I had in Korea changed my life. Some of the experiences I am not proud of, but I learned so much in the thirteen months I was there.

With This particular lesson I learned is that something may look enticing, and could give you pleasure, but it also could be something that is very serious and could lead to a “dead end.”

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This is just a part of this chapter in my book. If you want to read more, come back often to see more excerpts. Better yet… Go to the top of this page and click on “subscribe.” When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox.

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Breaking news… As I am sitting here typing this post, humming birds are coming in to feed at our bird feeder. They can’t be more than six feet away from me.

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OK, time to check in. How are you doing? Have you had some scary nights dreaming? Does the world seem to be closing in on you?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,525 fellow veterans here who have your back.

However, if you are overwhelmed, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never face this not so friendly world alone!

1-800-273-8255 , texting 83855

___________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

___________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.