There is currently no shortage of rude people on this planet, but we are, unfortunately, prohibited from removing them from the gene pool. Somewhere along the way, being polite has become passe, particularly among our youth. I was discussing rude people with a friend of mine the other day and came up with a list of stupid things that rude people do. Here's a few of the contenders.
Driving while yammering on their cell phone. This one drives me nuts (no pun intended). These clowns routinely cause traffic accidents, compound congestion, cut other drivers off, drive too slow/fast, weave all over the damned place, and generally drive like the morons that they are. I haven't decided if their habit of endangering others is due to arrogance, or just stupidity, but it certainly is rude. My wife and I saw a gentleman with a handwritten sign in his car window that read, "Get off of your damned phone and drive, a$$hole!" To him I say, "Bravo!"
Parents that let their undisciplined offspring act like amphetamine-fueled heathens in public. You know which kids I'm talking about--The ones that run loose in restaurants and pester other patrons, the ones that scream or talk ceaselessly in movie theaters (usually along with their alleged parents), the ones that kick the back of your seat on the plane...the list goes on forever. The parents of these little future welfare recipients pay absolutely no attention to the kids' behavior, or they offer, at most, a halfhearted, "oh, stop; don't do that," once in a while. If, after putting up with their kids' unacceptable behavior for a while, you dare to say something to the parent, the parent will almost certainly act offended, defensive, and almost accusatory in their rabid defense of their little angel. It's a shame that these people were allowed to breed.
Mothers pushing strollers down the middle of the street. I haven't figured out if giving birth to a child causes a mother to suffer from a certain type of selective blindness or not, but they seem incapable of noticing and making use of the perfectly good sidewalks that line their residential neighborhoods. Roads are meant for driving on; it's annoying as can be to have to stop or drive like I'm negotiating an obstacle course because one or more mothers has decided to push their offspring down the middle of the street in their ridiculously elaborate strollers. These pinheads often engage in this rude behavior in pairs (or more), walking two or three abreast down the middle of the road. Did they not pay attention to their own parents as kids? Try rolling down your window and politely asking them to use the sidewalk; you will almost certainly get a disapproving scowl from these self-important dolts, combined with some sort of weak excuse like, "All six of us can't walk next to each other on the sidewalk!" They need to get the hell over themselves and stay out of the street.
Shoppers that leave their unattended cart/buggy in the middle of the aisle. The aisles in our local supermarket are not very wide as it is; when some inconsiderate person leaves their cart in the middle of it, the aisle becomes all but impassable. Granted, it might take them an extra couple of seconds to push it to the side of the aisle, but that doesn't seem like an unreasonable expectation to me. These folks act as if they are the only ones entitled to shop that day. Sometimes, I'm tempted to grab the cart and park it on a different aisle; the oblivious shopper probably wouldn't notice.
Shoppers that don't know why the frozen food section has glass doors. Have you ever seen a shopper standing in the frozen food aisle of the supermarket with a glassy-eyed look on their face, holding the glass freezer doors open for minutes at a time? Have you ever tapped them on the shoulder and said, "Hey, do you know why the door is glass? It's so you can decide what you want before you open the door." If you've ever said that, you've undoubtedly had the shopper respond by looking at you like you have a penis growing out of your forehead. They don't comprehend that the door stays fogged up for half an hour after their confused effort to pick out a TV dinner has ended; they probably don't care either, because they're rude and inconsiderate of others.
People that don't pick up after their dogs. This one has been around for as long as people have had pets. Most people that walk their dogs will carry a plastic bag, or some other method or device for picking up after their dog when it craps on somebody's lawn (those in rural areas obviously don't need to bother with such things). A growing number of people don't bother with such distractions and just leave their mutt's droppings wherever they happen to land. I'd like to follow a few of those folks home, squat over the hood of their car, and take a dump on it.
These are just a few examples of the things that rude people do. Got any examples of your own?
The subject photograph depicts some Scout Snipers from Recon posing with an objectionable flag in the background. The font used is unfortunate, and the fact that all of these Marines claim to not have known what it represents is indeed sad. In their eyes, SS stands for Scout Sniper. The logo, however, means something entirely different to those that are moderately informed about world history.
Our Commandant took one for the team and addressed this issue head on, but it's a sorry state of affairs when we're in a situation that requires him to do this (Article Here).
Some have said that our military should take greater steps to educate our personnel about such issues. I have to ask the stupid question: What the hell is going on in our (now politically correct) schools? Is it so out of fashion to teach the truth that our young adults don't know about Nazi Germany, or what they did during WWII?
I worry that one day, we will have to stop using terms such as, "warrior," "war fighter," "kill," "destroy," and the list goes on. We're in a hard business, and we require hard men (and women) to do this business. As much as we want to make warfare more pleasant, it never will be. Will our concern over who we offend affect our readiness?
I'm certainly not defending the use of the subject flag, but I do question the need for such a high level investigation, and the shaping of operations based on feelings.
In the mean time, a hearty salute goes out to our CMC for handling this in a professional manner. The uproar, hopefully, will subside and we can re-focus on the threats ahead.
As our military faces deep, possibly crippling cuts, those that have spent the better part of their adult lives serving our nation are, once again, being targeted.
SecDef Leon Panetta outlined his plan for saving dollars and many are concerned that it will adversely affect our defense capabilities and readiness. He centered on the fact that draw-downs would keep our forces above pre-9/11 levels, but not by much.
In addition, "the Pentagon recommended an increase in health care fees, co-pays and deductibles for retired military members." Really? I'm sure that a few stuffed suits will argue that this is smart business because it won't have any effect on readiness. I disagree, and here's why: Retirement benefits are incentives that directly affect long term retention of quality personnel. If retention suffers, readiness will suffer. Get it?
It's not rocket science, but this sort of thing sure seems to be beyond the grasp of those holding the purse strings.
Article here
I came across an article that informed me of Wikipedia's intent to "blackout" for a day in protest of some pending asinine legislation that many search engines and online providers of various media are in opposition to. To this announcement I say, "Well then, I guess lazy students and bloggers everywhere will have to use real references and sources for a day!" (article here) Perhaps I'm missing out on the significance of this event, but I think the sun will still rise tomorrow without this glorified social media site being up and running. Well, there could be some entertainment value to this; we'll see...
UPDATE: It seems that our elected tormentors have had a brief moment of clarity and have abandoned (for now) their efforts to pass idiotic and freedom-stomping SOPA legislation (article here). I do, however, doubt that Wikipedia is the source of this rare dose of common sense. There are far better ways to get the word out than by adopting an "I'll show you! I'll take my ball and go home!" approach. Other, more realistically managed websites simply encouraged patrons to contact their legislators. THAT is what got the attention of our slimy politicians. Hollyweird's tantrums bore no fruit...this time.
I watched the video that allegedly shows Marines urinating on dead Taliban bodies. My initial reaction was, "You guys are idiots; I can't believe you filmed that crap." What those Marines did was wrong, but the words "mountain" and "mole hill" come to mind right now. The incident is being investigated, and those responsible will be punished accordingly.
The emotion-based condemnation of these Marines is off the mark. Representative Allen West weighed in and I agree with him on a couple of points (article here). He initially states in his letter that what the Marines did was wrong; I agree with that. He also points out that there is a double standard in the media (and D.C.) by asking where all of the outrage was when American bodies were mutilated by our enemies; I agree with him on that, but I don't believe that the blatant media bias in any way lessens what has been done.
What do I think should be done about the incident? First off, let me say that the actions of these Marines is not in keeping with the high standards that we set for members of our Corps. Beyond that, I say let their command handle the situation with appropriate punishment and let's get our eye back on the ball.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! It's a beautiful fall day here in North Carolina, and I'll be frying a big ole bird soon.
My family and I have just relocated from Okinawa, Japan, to Eastern North Carolina. We spent some time on leave in California in order to visit family, followed by a circuitous drive across the nation. I've made some interesting observations during our transition. I used to think that people in America were very rude compared to the people of Okinawa; that belief was effectively dashed upon driving through and settling back into The South.
Folks on the coast of California met my expectations: Rude, impatient, and linguistically challenged (family and friends didn't seem to fall into this category). As we worked our way eastward, we met more folks that made me ashamed of the fact that I'm from California.
When we got to The South, we were reminded of why we liked it here so much in the past; the people are really that much nicer. If you look at someone on the sidewalk, they say hello. If you slow down and ask someone for directions, they help you out, and might even give you directions to their competition's place of business. The folks in the restaurants don't care that you sound different; they go out of their way to help you and make your meal pleasant. Many of the things I've seen here would be met with anger or violence on the Left Coast. It made me thankful that my parents raised me the way that they did (Neither of them are from California).
I have to say that our moving to North Carolina has reinforced my belief that California is a terrible place to live. Even with a huge hurricane on the way, this place is just so pleasant that it sneaks up on you. Coming from the jungles of Okinawa, the bugs here aren't even that bad.
I typed this out when we first got here, and it holds true today.
Here's a few shots of the damage from the typhoon...Luckily, we escaped any damage to our home. We watched a few patio covers get torn away and, as you can see above, there's a few trees uprooted and broken.
Here's a picture of the super typhoon that is heading our way. The island of Okinawa is circled in red. This storm comes at a perfect time, as we are in the process of moving out of our house. No need to clean the outside of our home, the storm will scour it for us! It does put a bit of a damper on our Memorial Day weekend.
Washin' the junk
In the earlier days of our Corps, our supply section was run entirely by Marines, and they were in charge of issuing out our field equipment (packs, helmets, tents, etc). We called it "782 gear," or, "deuce gear," for short. This was because you typically signed for the gear on a NAVMC 782 form.
Those days are long gone. Now, the gear is maintained and issued at a "Consolidated Issue Facility," run by...you guessed it, civilians. They're a bit nazi-like when it comes to cleanliness of the gear upon turn in. The ironic part is that most of my junk is obsolete and will be simply thrown away. I still have to scrub it with soapy water and basically waste a day of my life getting any dust or stains off of it.
It gets me one step closer to getting out of here though...
You know you have a tolerant wife when she doesn't complain about body armor hanging in her bathroom.
