Tsunami Fever

Well ladies and gentlemen, over the last week Japan has been devastated by one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history. The original estimates were 8.9 on the Richter scale (R) and the final measurement indicated that it was a 9.0 (R). This is an extremely large earthquake that provided multiple aftershocks that were far greater than anything that we have seen earthquake wise here in the States.

                Immediately following the earthquake the Pacific sides of Japan especially in the Northern regions were devastated by a massive Tsunami. It is estimated that 10,000 people are either missing or pronounced dead and this is only likely to increase as more coastal towns are cleared. The devastation will prove to be one of the most costly natural disasters ever far surpassing that of Hurricane Katrina. Katrina will look miniscule to the effect of this disaster.

                The major after effect of the Quake and Tsunami is the destruction of the Fukushima Daiichi Plant. Four reactors have been damaged which has sent radioactive fallout throughout a small area in eastern Japan. Hopefully the Japanese are capable of reducing the threat from the plant and are capable of cleaning residual radioactive debris.

                My concern is why the plant was so close to the coast, when the Pacific Rim is known as the ring of fire. I mean this region of the world has seen earthquakes for centuries and tsunamis are a given when these earthquakes strike. They believed a protective wall would protect the plant, give me a break. I really do hope this is a lesson for the Engineers and Designers of Nuclear facilities in the US. Risk Management must be considered when placing the most dangerous facility ever created, building a wall is no way to stop the fury of Mother Nature when she is pissed.

                I believe Nuclear Energy can be safe, clean, and efficient, until we gain the technology to create energy from nothing. We just have to be smart about where we place them and how we construct them. I know our nuclear facilities have as much security as possible and have conducted planning and exercises against many threats, I bet the Japs prepped for that one too.  Radiation is about the scariest way to die because it is slow and agonizing. For a large portion of our nation’s history we have been devastatingly scared of radioactive fallout from a nuclear war, let’s not suffer from the fallout through our own hands. Let’s learn from these mistakes and make a nation safer.

I made it to Afghanistan

Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it to Afghanistan. This is my 3rd trip here so I believe I can own property and become a dual citizen. It was a long flight 18hours of flying, but I arrived. Please if you have any question call my wife she hopefully will be able to help answer them. I will continue the best I can to do posts, but it maybe hard we work all kind of weird hours. So long for now.

Happy Veterans day

This music video I found from a wonderful band called O.A.R. I have been listening to these guys for years and I thought this would be a wonderful posting for Veterans day. Please enjoy the video maybe it will help you honor and remember our veterans. This band has traveled multiple times to Iraq back when the war was going really tough in 2006 and 2007. Unlike other young rock bands this band they keep whatever political motivations out of there songs and sing about the people actually fighting. They have also produced other great songs and are really catered to people in there upper 20's and 30's. They started as a young college band starting at Ohio State and have really developed into a great band with expanding horizons. Some people say they remind them of a young Dave Matthews Band, I see it to but they don't try to imitate them they have there own work. check them out at www.ofarevolution.com.
Sorry to get off topic a little but I had to give credit they did a great job. I'm about to be heading out now to my fourth tour, and my third time to Afghanistan. Though I have seen the horrors of war and have had my own experiences, I still believe that the older generations, the ones who fought in Vietnam, Korea, and WW2 had a far worse conditions and experiences than I could ever imagine. I would like to thank all of them for what they had done and what they had to experience for the liberties today.
Like myself I'm pretty sure they didn't have the countries liberties and government on there minds when they were assaulting beaches or going for patrols in the deep jungle. They were concerned for the safety of the friends and there comrades and a desire to kill the enemy before they could have killed them. So if you see another Veteran don't just thank him for what he did for you or you country, Thank him for possibly being the guys who brought your grandfather or brother home and watching his back.

Trains

On Friday last week my wife, kids, and I went to downtown Fayetteville for the "Trick or Treat events" they throw at the shops. The streets were lined with children both sides of Hay Street, fully crammed with children dressed in every fiendish ghoul and witch costume you could imagine. The kids had a great time Jacob was running around like crazy getting all the candy he could. Brooke she is still a little young and wanted to be carried most of the time. After all of that activity, we loaded back up into the car and headed back home and ended up driving right passed the downtown train station as a train was rolling by. This made my sons day, I have to say it made mine to. No matter how much he loves trains and sometimes how annoying it can be, I love making him happy and showing him the interesting things in life. One day he will probably grow out of trains and find other things to capture his imagination, but for now trains are his love. He might end up being a Train Engineer, probably not but the little things I can do for him now will help him as he gets older and becomes a teen. If I can keep him interested in these kinds of things maybe I can keep him from being a lazy teen that just sits there playing his video games and texting all their buddies.

Two things we're waiting on and God please hurry

Today there are two things that I would just love the country and the government would just hurry up and finish already. First are the mid-term elections, please November 11th hurry up and get here. I am so tired and bored of all the political talk. I can no longer submit myself to watching TV or listening to the radio without being bombarded by political campaign slogans. You can't even drive down the road without seeing signs everywhere. It’s worse than having a bunch of litter bugs. Maybe the news will have something else to talk about like an internet site just throwing out thousands of Government secrets on the internet without abandon. The second issue is the whole don’t ask don’t tell issue. Now I have my own standing on don’t ask don’t tell but I am just a Soldier and not a policy maker. The courts have made a decision,  a careless decision without concern for the wellbeing of the country’s military members. The courts believe they can force the military to change on a dime. This can be done but it would not be completed without extreme growing pains and danger. We as a nation have elected a leader who ran on the campaign of removing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Just to let you know I did not vote for him. Obama has stated and I agree with him on this issue is to provide time for the military to determine the best was to implement the new law and way to inform Soldiers and be able to protect both parties. This is an excellent idea however I hate the incoming law.  I just wish it would be over with and the system changed so the Soldiers serving who are gay can do what they do. I just really hope the military makes a good decision on how to implement this. It’s just going to really suck, we’ll have a bunch more sexual harassment classes and classes on how to not call people homo’s, fag’s, or queer’s. Man this is going to blow that all I have to say. Dude this sucks.

Awesome day with my son and finding out about yesterday

Well since yesterday’s post about if all else fails, I decided to delve a little more into the subject. It started earlier this morning when Jacob watched the classic 1973 version of Robin Hood, you know the animated version with Robin as a fox. It was one of my child hood favorites and I was glad that Jacob enjoyed it. Well the movie got him liking bows and arrows so I showed him mine. This interested him and he wanted to shoot it, but the draw is far too difficult for him to pull. So I decided to make him one. After watching almost every episode of the 5 different survival shows on TV these days I decide to make an old fashioned bow and arrow. We have a small dogwood in the backyard so I grabbed my axe and cut down one of the limbs. I took a small section and turned it into a bow. I took one of my knives and peeled back the bark, made two notches at the top and bottom, and grabbed a piece of rope I had sitting in the shed. I bent the stick over to put some resistance on the string and Walla a functional bow fit for a little boy. I made an arrow as straight as I could get, cut a notch at the end to fit the string and it worked beautifully. I mean this thing would shoot 50 FT no problem, only if the arrow was just a little better. I didn’t put any fletching on it yet, but it still works beautifully. My son loves it and played with it all day long and well for a four year old he got pretty good with it.

I took another lesson I learned from watching dual survival. I really do like the Indian dude from Arizona who wears no shoes. He seems to know more about real survival and primitive techniques that have worked for millennia. I took the bow and the small arrow I made for him and heat treated them in a fire I built. They now seem stronger and look way cooler. I also took this as an opportunity from something I seen in Arizona where an Indian was selling Survival hiking sticks on the side of the road. What he did it take basic handmade hiking sticks and added in survival tools for that sticky situation. He took 550 parachute cord and tied a Uley knot around the end creating the handle and inside that handle he placed a square VS-17 panel as a visual signal, strike anywhere matches inside a plastic bad, fishing line, hooks,  sinkers, and other various small survival items. He also tapped the end at the bottom and place the insert for an arrow head that you find in modern arrows, so you can screw a broad head into it and have a make shift spear, pretty cool if you ask me. So starting today I created the prototype, and soon will be manufacturing them and attempting to sell them any way I can.

If all else fails

What would you do tomorrow if the grocery stores did not open? Would you have enough food to feed yourself and your children? What if they didn't open the next day or even the rest of the week? What about a month or beyond? This would be a nightmare beyond all proportions. What if other major item facilities didn't open either like gas stations? In the Army I have always been taught to prepare for the worst case scenario and have multiple options available for any situation. I have done this in my job and in providing options for my Commanders on the battlefield. I can honestly tell you that I have not done this in my home life. We generally keep enough shelf stable food for about a week, and I generally smart enough to make a homemade freezer that can help keep other food for about a day. But I can honestly tell you I have a shortage of ammunition and probably couldn't support much after that. I could hunt and trap pretty easily but it wouldn’t be long in a city such a Fayetteville before all that is living edible is gone. I have always been a pretty good scrounger and could probably find enough food to get by for a while. I mean how many people know that Dandelions are edible and actually can be a pretty good salad, or even know what poke salad looks like or now that you need to boil 3 times to remove the poisons. Basically if it has the black seeds on it don't eat it. Could you survive, probably not without help? This is when actually becoming a village or a close nit community will be a must. Civilization will be crumbling around us, you would have to know how to defend you community and yourselves. The men and the women would have to work together and all become warriors, hunters, gatherers, and a larger family group. The two biggest things that you will need to have is a faith in God that he will help guide you and your small nit community. The other would be hope. Hope that state or federal government had gotten its head out of its fourth point of contact and is helping out small communities or at least letting they know they are working toward them. The next thing that we will all have to do is relearn the long forgotten tricks of the trade that our forefathers failed to pass down. Blacksmithing will be a key element, just finding the materials will be essential. Do you know where you can find iron ore? Just finding horses these days to be able to plow a field and plant food for the next harvest will be an amazing feet. Who still has a working horse drawn plow? I think my plan once all else failed and no help was coming would be to pack up our items that we had left, the cars would really be out the window and start heading north to my parents’ house. We would probably be walking, so it would take a few days to get there, but that would be our best bet. It is a heavily rural community away from large populated centers. There we would rebuild and attempt to communicate with our other family members and friends and develop further courses of action if plan A failed. It would be tough but with our collective knowledge of modern methods and education that was not there in the past will help us survive and eventually thrive. So just a piece of advice don’t turn into a militia crazy person but have a little extra to help survive, maybe a couple extra bullets, a small storage a food that will help in any situation, maybe some seeds too. What do you think post your comments?