I’m flying back to New York this afternoon for Cadet Field Training, so I won’t be online for about a month.
Before I go, I wanted to post a link about helping out the Iranian Twitter members who are trying to communicate.
http://heavenp2.somee.com/helpiraniantwitters.pdf
Also, you can set up proxies for them to use: http://blog.austinheap.com/2009/06/15/how-to-setup-a-proxy-for-iran-citizens-for-windows/
Please help if you can.
Michael
I guess I just want to take a few moments to say goodbye to someone in my own way. SPC Clay Rance.
I did my Advanced Individual Training for the Army in Redstone Arsenal, AL. It was a long course, so we all got to know the other guys there pretty well. I found out a couple weeks ago that one of the guys I knew there was in a coma and was most likely not going to make it. Yesterday I found out that he passed away on the 21st of May.
Being in the active Army, maybe you get more used to losing people that you know over time, but this is really the first person that I’ve known so well that I’ve had to see them go.
From what I understand, he went home on leave, had a seizure and went into a coma for a couple weeks before he passed. I don’t think anything can really prepare you for hearing that someone so young has died.
When I was at my unit, a guy in our battalion was involved in a fatal accident in the motor pool. I didn’t know him personally, but he had done his AIT at the same base as me, and had even been there for part of it while I was there. Hearing the final roll call, the playing of Taps and the 21-gun salute at that Memorial Service was perhaps the most heart-wrenching thing I’ve experienced. I can only imagine Rance’s funeral services with military honors were just as powerful.
Any of my usual readers probably have figured out that this blog is just my way of venting what’s on my mind. And this has been weighing on my mind since I first learned what was going on.
Rest in Peace Rance.
Michael
I haven’t blogged in quite a while now.
Things have been busy here, but mostly I just didn’t have anything important to say. I’m still here at the academy, currently in “summer school” for gymnastics, which I failed this semester. It’s going a lot better. I’ve already got almost as many points as I had at the end of my first attempt at the class.
Some fairly important stuff in the news today.
First, Iran sent 6 warships into international waters. Lovely. I’m thinking that we should probably do something about Iran, but that’s just me.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521730,00.html
Next, North Korea tested more missiles. I’m loving all these crazy dictators we have running around with substantial amounts of weaponry…and quite possibly nuclear ones. I don’t see how the US and the UN giving them a slap on the wrist and saying, “bad” is going to solve the issue.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521730,00.html
And my final note (not that there isn’t a lot of other craziness going on right now) is that the California Supreme Court, which I actually once had the opportunity to witness in session, has ruled that the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage in the state is constitutional and will remain. As much as this follows my own personal beliefs, I’m fairly concerned about the backlash that will come out of this. If you read back in some of my blogs, you’ll see the response, specifically against the LDS (Mormon) church while all this was going down initially. I doubt we’ve seen the last of this.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/26/california-high-court-rule-gay-marriage/?test=latestnews
On the personal front, once I finish my class here on 5 June, I’ll head home until the 17th. Then I’ve got Cadet Field Training in the fabulous Camp Bucker (A.K.A. Bucknam, Buckraq, Buckghanistan, Buckmalia, etc.) for 4 weeks. Then I’ll finish out the summer with Advanced Medical Training here in the <sarcasm> ever beautiful </sarcasm> West Point.
That’s enough out of me for today. You stay classy…all three of you reading this.
Michael
Erik Erikson presented a theory of psychosocial development wherein there are 8 stages. In each stage there is a conflict that must be resolved in order to develop to the next stage. That psychosocial conflict is the focus of that period in life.
I’d say it’s pretty safe to state at this point where I’m at. I didn’t really realize that I had been in a relatively good mood until things changed. I’m remaining purposefully vague, but nonetheless, it’s on my mind. I know I’m still young and need to relax and not be so concerned about my future in the sense of a companion, but that doesn’t stop it from being something I think about.
My blog usually is concerned with my life here at West Point, but I thought it would be good to change it up a bit.
Michael
It’s been three years since I graduated high school. Finally finished my first year of college. Hah!
Honestly, I wasn’t planning on having it done this soon, so I guess I’m really ahead of my own schedule. When I enlisted, I wasn’t planning on coming to West Point. I was planning on staying enlisted, doing my job for a few, or 20, years, then becoming a civilian one way or another and making lots of money doing stuff with all my Army training. Well, things have changed haven’t they?
I enlisted rather than going to college for a few reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason is that I knew myself, and I knew that unless I was in a place like West Point, I wasn’t going to do ANYTHING because no one was making me do it. I still rebel in my own little way at the Point and manage to get through things. The best example from this semester was my history class. I didn’t particularly like the class, so when I went into the final with a B- because of my research paper’s positive effect, I put enough work into the final to maintain it. I didn’t really study, because I knew by that point where the grade was going. I’m proud to announce that I got a C on the final and kept the B-.
What’s interesting to me is that while you would think I’m picking up these skills during my process of figuring out how to succeed academically in a college environment, I’m just kind of using whatever works. In general, I’m putting as much work in as I did in high school, and sometimes less. People often say that people who had an easy time in high school have a rude awakening here. I’m worried that it’s still coming for me, and that plebe year has lulled me to then destroy me in the future. I hope not.
I’m currently figuring my total GPA for the semester at 3.114 and my academic GPA at 3.222. Down from last semester, but I probably could have taught some of those courses. Physical is a different story. Gymnastics awaits me in the first block of summer.
I thought of an interesting way to look at it. West Point could be compared to teaching an old dog new tricks. I am an old dog, using the old tricks, but in a new house.
Michael
Upon of the fields of Thayer Hall, the outcome of my war will be decided. Tomorrow is the Psychology Term End Exam.
So far, I’m beating the Dean to a bloody pulp, 5 wins to 0. All that remains is this final test of my ability to BS my way through plebe year classes. It’s a tough one. I am going to tell you all a secret: I’m actually studying for it. I don’t want this whole thing to ruin my reputation, but the class is a lot of stuff, so it is going to require some work on my part. However, have no fear, I just spent a couple hours playing F.E.A.R. instead (yes, pun absolutely intended). If you don’t know what F.E.A.R. is, I’ll tell you. It is perhaps the scariest game ever conceived by man. I won’t play it late at night because it will scare the crap out of me.
I read an article about the Miss California press conference, and I’m glad that she gets to keep her crown. That whole situation was ridiculous. I’ve blogged about the subject of gay marriage a couple times, in regard to Proposition 8 in California and the aftermath, specifically the attacks on the Mormon church. I think Donald Trump said it best, there was no way Carrie could give a “right” answer to that question.
Continuing on the gay rights thread here, I was reading an article about a West Point grad who was a founding member of Knights Out, an organization for homosexual West Point alumni. Well, when this officer who was still serving in the National Guard came out publicly, the Army sent him his separation papers. He wrote a letter to congress, as I recall, pleading that he not be fired, etc. The comments online on said article were generally about the fact that President Obama had said he was going to get rid of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and how he was a liar because he hasn’t done it, blah blah blah. And now for my response.
What the hell is wrong with a good portion of mankind? I don’t know about the rest of America, but I am a lot more concerned with your flailing economy and Al Qaeda about to take Pakistan’s nuclear weapons than I am about ending a policy that has been working for 15 years so that people feel better about themselves. Honestly, I don’t care if they end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. However, I think that President Obama is realizing the same thing that President Clinton saw when he made the policy in the first place. There are homophobes in the Army. Just like there are people in the rest of the country who strictly will not accept homosexuals, there are people like that in the Army. In a normal community, it’s not a huge problem. In a combat environment however, that kind of thing can be lethal. To just say, “Alright, openly gay people can be in the military now,” could cause a catastrophe. I think it’s shocking that people are so worried about what directly affects them that they can’t see the bigger picture and realize what is really going on.
Okay, that’s enough rambling for one day.
Michael
Current Score:
Johnston – 2, Dean – 0
The MS100 final wasn’t too bad. We had a Stryker platoon and essential had to write portions of the platoon level OPORD as well as plan and graphically show our plan of attack against a clan of pirates in a Somali port. It went well.
Saturday was the EN102 TEE. We had 3.5 hours and I finished in about an hour and 40 minutes. I read it over a few times, and I decided I was done. I think it went well. Both classes were going well thus far, so the chance that I could do bad enough to worry about the grade is pretty slim.
Chemistry TEE is tomorrow morning. It shouldn’t be that bad. The only ominous part is that it covers last semester as well as this one. That’s a lot of material. I’m not overly concerned though. Science tends to be my thing.
I really don’t have anything important to say. I just didn’t want to study. Of course, one could argue that I never really have anything important to say. Whatever.
Michael
Anyone who knows me would say that me not having homework is a dangerous thing. Mostly because chances are, I really do, but I don’t want to do it. In this case however, I really don’t…I think.
Today for psychology (a class that has for some reason been making numerous appearances in this blog lately) we had a special thing where we could sign up to listen to different lectures on a variety of topics. I chose the one about Serial Killers. It was really interesting, and the instructor used a great quotation that I’m including here for your enjoyment:
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche
I am of course not fighting the monsters per say when it comes to serial killers, but I still think it’s a great statement. It also doesn’t just apply to criminals. In a sense, we are all fighting monsters to some extent, even if it is little things in those around us.
I have my last boxing bout tomorrow afternoon. I’m feeling pretty good about it though. I got an 80 on my last one and my nose is still intact as far as I can tell. It will be nice to get it over with. Although, I must admit, if it would get me out of redoing gymnastics this summer, I would redo Survival Swimming AND Boxing.
The news is getting crazier every day. Someone hacked a Virginia prescription medication database and got 8 million patient records and left a note demanding $10 million. Pakistan in general. Iran’s nukes. The whole Miss California incident, and so many other crazy stories. I don’t know what to say about it all.
Okay, I think I’ve wasted enough time on this. I better go find something productive to do…like Facebook.
Michael
This week is going WAY too slow.
I was thinking the other day as I was walking back to my room after a class, before I got here, I didn’t even know what this place looked like. It occurs to me that I had no information whatsoever about what I was getting myself into. This was a bad idea. I’m not saying that I want to leave. I do however encourage my noble readers to thoroughly investigate important life decisions.
This leads to my pondering for this post. During psychology the other day, I got to thinking about what I’m being trained to do. When I graduate, I’m going to lead soldiers. I’ll have a platoon of people that I am responsible for, and later a company of them. Every so often that really sinks in for me. It’s not that I forget about it the rest of the time. Some days are just more thought provoking. One thing that scares me a little is that I’m not sure that a lot of people here really think about that fact. To some people at the academy, it seems like this is just school, and that after this they are going to get a job just like any other college student. But we aren’t just any other college student. I can’t help but be amazed at the culpability I will have in my job.
Some of us will be leading men in combat, others working in the rear to keep things maintained. Regardless, we will be responsible for the lives of our troops. When I was in Germany, in a sustainment and support battalion in garrison, a soldier in another company died in the motor pool from an accident. How does his PL feel after that? His CO? Do they feel responsible? Like they failed him? I have to think that I would feel that way, even if there was nothing they could really have done. And that’s just in a garrison environment; what about in combat?
I don’t really mean to be so somber, it’s just been on my mind with my old unit getting ready to head over. Some days when things are just stupid, I wish I was going with them, doing something useful, instead of sitting here picking up people’s trash and delivering their laundry.
Michael
Last week was just a joy…
I wish there was a button to indicate sarcasm when typing.
On Wednesday night we had people from the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company here to perform a condensed version of Macbeth for all of the plebes currently taking the Literature course. The events of that night poisoned the rest of the week.
I suppose a good place to start is that in regards to briefings and other presentations of this variety, cadets as a whole display an abhorrence for being forced to sit and listen to someone. Typically, it results in an obviously false motivation, excessive clapping, etc. On Wednesday however, it went a little far.
I suppose that our actions would be close to anything you might find in a high school, which explains why many of my classmates feel we did nothing wrong. However, I hope that those who do not see can at least understand what those of us who can are saying. Regardless of how many of that class have only been out of high school for almost a year, we are training to lead soldiers. People think that we are in our first year, so we have an excuse. I disagree.
More than anything, I think that the biggest problem on Wednesday was the way people treated each other, their own classmates. There is a huge stigma against asking questions at these kinds of things. Mostly because many people feel that if we don’t ask questions we can leave sooner. But also, many people just ask really stupid questions.
I was actually surprised at the questions on Wednesday though; there were some really good ones. There were of course stupid ones too. Regardless of the question, our class would erupt in some kind of noise or another. This prevented the questions from being answered right away, and just gave a really unprofessional display.
The play did invite interaction from the audience and I don’t deny that, but I think that as a whole, our class did not know where the line was. This prompted a 0530 meeting with the Brigade Command Sergeant Major. There was a great deal of speculation about what would happen there, especially after the uniform was sent out as PT’s with running belt and camelbak.
In the end though, it was just a stern talking to, from CDT CSM Diakabana, CDT 1CPT Amsler, and the Dean, BG Finnegan. I don’t know about you, but when a general tells me that he’s “ashamed” of me, it’s not good. We also heard from our class president as well as a few members of the class who had suggestions on how to improve our class.
Now, I am the first to admit that some of the ideas were downright silly. Many people in the class thought so too and felt the need to make their disagreement audible through moans, laughs, etc. This is EXACTLY the kind of behavior that led to this in the first place. I may disagree with something, but I’m not going to announce that in an improper setting.
The final part of all this is that we are all writing apology letters to the group who came, regardless of whether we were there. I was there and have already written my letter. I don’t know how effective all this will be as a solution to the maturity that seems to be lacking here, but we shall see.
I think there was something else I was going to talk about, but I don’t remember. It will come eventually.
Michael
