I DON'T CARE!

Just realized this one didn't publish months ago as intended...

Well, to date I've failed miserably in keeping this thing alive. If I finally turn this blog into a habit I'll start advertising it to my friends. Why did I pick today, of all days, to try to rescue this thing? Well, let's see. First, I'm home with a sprained ankle and a nasty head cold. Second, no Cub Scouts tonight to prepare for. (I just ended a sentence in a preposition...tee-hee). Third, today is known in the Armed Forces informally as ... "Ask and Tell Day!!!" Yes, this morning at one minute after midnight, the Clinton-era law known widely as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was officially dead. Already on the news have been a handful of tearful declarations from my brothers and sisters in arms, and I too have a very important announcement that I can finally share with the WHOLE world without risk of losing my job. And that is ........... (drum roll please) .........

I DON'T CARE!

Nope, sure don't! I don't care if my battle buddy is straight, gay, lesbian, undecided, or none-of-the-above. I don't care if he or she is bisexual and trying to figure out what trisexual could possibly mean. I don't care if he or she is into transvestites, dolly-dolls, farm produce, or whatever. As long as he/she is dead-serious about his/her sworn oath to protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, even if it means death or permanent maiming, and is professionally competent in combat, I'm good to go. I can fight next to that American, and I'll trust that American with my life without a second's hesitation. I mean it.

How can I possibly take that attitude as a Methodist Christian? Easily. I don't need the Warrior next to me to follow Christ with me in order to trust him/her with my life. I have served with Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, undecideds, and others. I have worked with other straights, and I have likely worked with gays. I have worked with Catholics, Mormons, Scientologists, and surely countless others with whom the topic never came up. My opinion of where they will go after death has varied, but is ultimately not my decision ... it's God's. Conversely, I have worked with devout fellow Christians who are 100% right on in their faith, but whom I'd not trust with a dollar to bring me a Coke. Ultimately, my faith teaches me to hate the sin and love the sinner. I can do that and keep praying for them. But if I know I can rely on them when the bullets start flying (which they have in my presence), I don't really care what (or whom) they would rather be doing. I'll worry about their faith when I check their dog tags, should they make the final sacrifice that those who have never served--yet are "morally opposed" to gays in the military--have never even risked.

Sure, there are some things that the Armed Forces are going to have to figure out. What about transgender men who want to wear a female uniform, or vice-versa? I say no, wear your birth-gender uniform and stop being ridiculous, but that's one for the Pentagon to figure out. Another is housing, both in-garrison and deployed. Figure it out, Pentagon ... been there myself for other harder choices, so suck it up and make a decision.

Now, let me tell you the two things that piss me off about today.

1. I do not appreciate the American Armed Forces being used by some for politico-societal ping-pong yet again, by both ends of the political spectrum. Party partisans: Stop using the military as your proving ground for "status-quo" or "social progress" ... our job is to efficiently kill people and violently break their stuff. We even voluntarily modify a handful of our own Constitutional rights in order to servw. My point: We are not a representative sample of the Republic's populace.

2. Press: (Yes, this likely falls upon deaf ears.) You already made a drama today of Servicemembers "coming out". If you make a bigger deal out of the first openly gay or lesbian Servicemember's death than of the prior's, you can go to Hell and burn on sulfur for all eternity for all I care. I mean that exactly as literally as I have written it. Their sacrifices are equal and cannot be ranked in order of social importance. You may think a gay's or lebian's death is a more significant sacrifice to recognize than a strait's, but again I DON'T CARE! Every one of my brothers or sisters who dies serving this nation deserves our life-long reverence. Regardless of whom else they loved, they loved you enough to die in your place.

John 15:13

Until Next Time
-Casper of the Rockies

Smoke'em if Ya Got'em!

Here's one I don't get. Pentagon leadership plans to recommend to Secretary Gates that he ban tobacco use in the US Armed Forces. So, my Commander in Chief can smoke, but I can't?

What train of thought stops at that station? "We can send these kids to places where people shoot them, plant bombs on the side of the road to blow them up, lob Iranian made rockets at them with near impunity, and behead them on camera from time to time. But goodness, don't let them smoke or dip...someone could get hurt."

I don't smoke, save the occasional excellent cigar. I don't dip, though I used to when I was young and bulletproof. I have no data to refute the Pentagon's $846M annual tobacco-related medical cost, nor the $6B VA's cost. I also don't care. I'd be interested in the annual Medicare equivalent cost on those who have not served. Wonder what the equivalent civilian cost would be under universal health care...

And then what's next? Coffee and salty food? Candy bars? Alcohol? Sitting too close to the TV?

In 120+ degree heat or Himalayan cold, full battle rattle, heavy gear, incoming fire, pressure-plate IEDs, fear of fratricide in the fog of war, new restrictive Afghanistan ROE, and all the other necessary stresses of modern 4-dimensional combat, if our superhero soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen want to smoke to stay alert or blow off a little stress...I say smoke'em if ya got'em!

I just spent four years at the Pentagon. Believe me, there are bigger things to worry about in that building. In my humble yet accurate opinion...

Until Next Time
Casper of the Rockies

One Small Step For Man...One Giant Noncommittal Leap for Casper

Well, after getting caught up on Bilbo's Random Thoughts Collection (my favorite blog), I'm finally thinking about contemplating the notion of cogitating the possibility of entertaining the inkling of starting to blog. See, though he's much more hip, Bilbo is even older than I...if he can do it well, I can at least make a mediocre hash of it. Besides, this gives me an excuse to sip Scotch in the double-digit hours of the night from time to time. Next time the muse strikes me, I'll have no excuse not to scribe.

Until Next Time
Casper of the Rockies