In response to Doogle's comment he left on my profile, and to add a little more substance to my first comment - which had almost none -

Yes, if you didn't already know, I was in the Marine Corps from June of 2003 - June of 2007. I enlisted in 2002 (Right after the invasion) and have never regretted it.

My tour in Iraq is one of the best experiences of my life and I have no wish to change that. It can really open one's eyes to a world that is very much unlike one someone is used to.

During my time in the Corps, I married my "high school sweetheart" only to regret it and get divorced a short couple years later. Having no job upon returning home, I lived with the 'rents for a few months - and didn't work. Instead, I filled my long summer days with sifting and helping my folks get their place fixed up and ready to sell. Since then I found the job I have now and am glad I did.

Reading everyone else's story, I really seem to be an oddity because I'm not some college grad with a really fancy-pants degree and an important-sounding job, but I don't really give a shit. College isn't my thing, and if things go to plan, by this time next year I'll be a Law enforcement officer with the Tempe, AZ police department, making some pretty good money and doing what I think will be a job that I will love. Until then, I will work a very niche job that I enjoy.

Until then, keep em coming, I'm really enjoying these!

P.S. - I'm 23.

Hey Laura!
I´m absolutely impressed by your life´s history.
if at anytime it becomes a book or film, let me know
grande abraço
renato

In reply to this comment by laura:
^hey Renato ~ I grew up as a missionary's daughter in Campinas, S.P. Brasil! Hope to go back some day. As such, from the ages of 8-16 my family ran an orphanage, a Baptist seminary, and my Dad flew a Cessna back and forth into Matto Grosso and Minas Gerais "preaching to the indians". (I went w/ him a few times) I went to EAC, then when we returned to the U.S. I hopped around from Michigan, Texas, Alabama in high school.
I had two beautiful kids during my brief stint (4 years) as the wife of an abusive dude who happened to be in the U.S. Marine Corps. (So I know what military family life is like, big time.)
Upon getting out of that mess, I served as the live-in caretaker to a disabled retired psychotherapist. That lasted about 4 years, and was quite an interesting experience which I will not elaborate on here...suffice it to say that I ended up moving to Silver City, NM with said person and meeting the man of my dreams less than a year upon arriving. I have started and stopped my college education more times than I can count along the way, and still haven't finished! (Was headed for medical school!)
With that, I am currently homeschooling my son, helping my hubby with his business (link on my profile page) making reproductions of pre-colombian psychoacoustical whistling vessels, sewing/designing clothes (which is my passion), gardening, and hanging out on the sift!
You are all awesome, and I enjoy your comments!

^hey Renato ~ I grew up as a missionary's daughter in Campinas, S.P. Brasil! (am agnostic now, for the record) Hope to go back to south america some day. As an MK, from the ages of 8-16 my family ran an orphanage, a Baptist seminary, and my Dad flew a Cessna back and forth into Matto Grosso and Minas Gerais "preaching to the indians". (I went w/ him a few times) I went to EAC, then when we returned to the U.S. I hopped around from Michigan, Texas, Alabama in high school.
I had two beautiful kids during my brief stint (4 years) as the wife of an abusive dude who happened to be in the U.S. Marine Corps. (So I know what military family life is like, big time.)
Upon getting out of that mess, I served as the live-in caretaker to a disabled retired psychotherapist. That lasted about 4 years, and was quite an interesting experience which I will not elaborate on here...suffice it to say that I ended up moving to Silver City, NM with said person and meeting the man of my dreams less than a year upon arriving. I have started and stopped my college education more times than I can count along the way, and still haven't finished! (Was headed for medical school!)
With that, I am currently homeschooling my son, helping my hubby with his business (link on my profile page) making reproductions of pre-colombian psychoacoustical whistling vessels, sewing/designing clothes (which is my passion), gardening, and hanging out on the sift!
You are all awesome, and I enjoy your comments!

Someone once said, "The first person to raise his voice in an argument loses." O'Reilly is a perpetual loser and a belligerent fool. He says that Donahue doesn't know "geopolitics." I wonder what credentials O'Reilly has? He says Iraq was a "tactical error." No, a tactical error is a small error. Iraq was/is a strategic error of the highest order, creating unforseen complications and repercussions for decades, if not generations. O'Reilly has a classic move where he throws an accusation at someone that, if thrown back at him, would leave him incapable of replying. For example, the geopolitics comment. If Donahue had said back to him, "Well, Bill, explain the geopolitical ramifications of Iraq vis-a-vis U.S. relations with China," O'Reilly probably would have shit his pants. A friend of mine in the Marine Corps, intelligence, connected with Langley, assured me, ASSURED me, in the fall of 2002 that there wouldn't be a war because it just didn't make any sense. It just didn't make sense. He is fluent in Arabic, knows the region, etc., etc., etc., and he said that it just didn't make any sense to invade Iraq.

Ya think we need a correctional officer(s) to pay her a visit???
Let's go mg..I'll pay yer tab-
God Bless the Marine Corps, Happy Memorial Week!!

Happy Memorial day to all, god bless the Marine Corps, in and out as well, hot as Malaysia in SE Texas.....feels great to sweat-much love for getting back to me....have fun all you cats, stay safe, sane, and single-

MINI Cooper? Same gas mileage as you get in your volvo and highest horsepower to weight ratio of anything you can afford.....Then put a Marine Corp bumper-sticker on the back, and wait for someone to heckle you......by the way, also a chick magnet-for when yer med-school gf trades you in for a doctor.....

Ya know, when this shit all started in 2003, with the "evidence" provided at the time, I think that it's safe to say that the majority of the nation wanted to go to war with Iraq. Hell, they had WMDs? And intelligence said that they wanted to use them on us? Get the fucking bastards, right? Yeah!

Lo and behold, if they had them, they're now gone. That's if they ever had them. At all.
Once we had confirmed that there were indeed no WMDs, we had no right to be there. A sovereign nation had not attacked us, and presented no threat to us if they really had no WMDs. Seriously - what are they gonna do, invade the U.S. with a bunch of guys with AK-47s? They would get massacred. But that's all a moot point, because they had absolutely no means of even getting to us. Therefore the only threat they posed were WMDs - of which it turns out they had none.

Yeah, the got a little repetitive, but bear with me.
When I joined the Marine Corps in 2003, I had only spent about 6 months in the Fleet before I was cast into the giant sandbox to help the war effort that was supposed to be outing a regime and searching for WMDs. By that time (July 2004) we had already caught Saddam cowering in his little hole like the piece of shit that he is was.
By that time there were still no WMDs to be found.
By that time Bush had delivered his "Mission accomplished" speech on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.
That was May 1st, 2003. Before I had even went to boot camp.
By that time, we realized that we had accomplished our main goal: Outing the current leader of Iraq.
There were no WMDs to be found, and we knew that. To my knowledge, there are NO teams currently looking for them, or were when I was there.
That means we no longer had any business left.
But wait - there's people shooting at us.
So we'll stay and kill them, right? Sure, why not take care of it while we can!
But do you think those unorganized ragtag insurgents are going to follow us if we left Iraq?
No.
Because we'd be giving them what they want.
Us to leave.
And never come back.
But no, we'll continue a war that doesn't even have a defined goal.
We'll continue it even WELL after we've run out of money to fund it, so long as China keeps loaning us money, which I'm sure they will do for as long as wee keep buying their shit that poisons our kids and breaks within a month.

But here's the part that REALLY baffles me:
1) This nation was created by the people, to be run FOR the people.
2) The majority of the nation thinks that we need to pull out of Iraq.
3) There is a candidate that is actually dumb enough to base his campaign on something that the majority has been proven to not want. Who fucking does that? Sides with the minority when trying to get votes? Seriously?
4) We're not out of Iraq when the PEOPLE want us out, and that our CONGRESS that was established BY the PEOPLE to SERVE the PEOPLE hasn't done SHIT.


Do I regret joining? Hell no. I miss it every day and even think of going back in almost as often. Would I go back if I was still in? Yes, because those were my orders, and I know that there are a lot of Iraqi civillians that want us there, because we bring them new schools and hospitals, among lots of other things. Do I think that we should get the fuck out of there, thereby saving billions of dollars and thousands of lives?

How does saying "no" not contradict sanity?

KP posted something for you.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'old fort henry, ontario, army news, marine corps, usmc' to 'old fort henry, ontario, army news, marine corps, usmc, marine, marines' - edited by CaptWillard

Apparently BillO was right, the puppy was an Al Qaeda operative. "A top Iraqi insurgent has been executed by US Marines in Iraq according to worldwide reports. A video showing the execution has since been removed from youtube.

'Patch' a mongrel puppy is believed to have been responsible for numerous attacks against coallition forces including the nipping of ankles, pooping on sleeping bags and stealing scraps of food from ration packs.

Sources at the Marine Corps base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, said they were proud of the US Marine who carried out the execution and that he would be receiving a medal of honor for his valor.

The brave marine, known only as Motari, has rid Iraq of a dangerous menace, hell bent on causing mayhem and destruction. 'Patch' was thrown from a ravine.

"Hero 'Motari' has upheld the fine and honorable traditions of all the US marines who have served in Iraq, as well as those who have served in other conflicts, his friends and family must be very proud today" said Major Tom Tom, "By tossing that evil puppy of a cliff he has shown himself to be the biggest tosser the corps has ever know." spoof.com

More fun and games with animals from the Marine Corps and Army in Iraq:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i60f3vnlDw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj32twJXxsY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULcj-Epr1rI

And a link to one of many studies linking animal abuse to sociopathy and psychopathy: http://usfnews.usf.edu/page.cfm?link=article&aid=358

Please people, can we have a consensus on animal abuse videos on the sift, whether they're cute or not?

Please, no more.

I've read in several places that some people think it's a fake. Some think he did a quick change, substituting the real puppy for a toy when his arm was way back. I don't know, I suppose it's possible, but I don't think it's really the main point. Hear me out:

If it WAS real then of course it's disgusting. That guy should be brought up on some charges, if nothing else then at least conduct unbecoming. If it was fake it's still disgusting. Granted, not as bad as the real deal, but it's still disgusting. In that case he is still bringing shame to the uniform, the Marine Corps, every man and woman in uniform of all the armed forces, and the United States. His actions look real enough, and therefore it would convince a large segment of the viewing population. It brings shame to me just knowing this guy is a fellow American, regardless of whether it's real or not.

Yes, it's certainly not the same as taking a human life, but it's still the act of senselessly taking the life of an innocent creature, or at least the realistic depiction of such. Similar acts of cruelty to animals take place every day all over the world, and I'm sure if we scour the internet we could find some of those acts on video too. However this case is a little different, in that he wears the uniform of the most powerful nation on Earth, while occupying a nation where most of the locals resent America's presence, taking place after a highly controversial war. They should kick his dumb ass out of the Corps after serving the standard sentence for animal cruelty, whatever that may be.

Now can we return this video so I can downvote it already?

First thing... Camel spiders scare the crap out of me, and if I am not mistaken, have been known to bite people. If I saw one I would kill it, assuming I could muster the courage to not run away screaming like a little girl. Puppies pose no such risk to me.

Second thing... I really hate the title you chose for this. I did not watch the video, as puppies and dogs in general hold a special place in my heart and I am just not in the mood to see one killed or hurt at 6:45AM. But unless it is an entire division of marines all killing puppies, you have quite unfairly associated the acts of one sociopathic scumbag, with the entire marine corp.

MGR,

You said: "Ron Paul doesn't want to straight-up abolish Social security. He wants to ween the nation off of it. Keep the people on it that are on it now, but don't make any new workers pay into it...."

To "ween us off" of social security is--as you say in your post--to slowly abolish it by not having new workers pay into the system. This removes both the source of future benefits and those workers' eligibility to receive them. Now, last time I checked, if you intend to slowly eliminate something, then you intend to eliminate it. Wacky logic there, no? Moreover, if you reread my post, you'll note that I made no claims at all about timeframes. That was just you putting words in my mouth so you could try to talk down to someone. In other words, you were engaging in the "strawman fallacy"--something that I suspect is bad form even in the Marine Corps.

Or couldn't you look that up on the internet?

You also said: "It's a failing system with a shrinking treasury, and the people that pay into it now won't see that money in the future."

All I can do here is refer you to Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot's excellent "Social Security: The Phony Crisis." I think you'll find your claims soundly refuted there. You'll notice it's published by that bastion of radical leftist thought, the University of Chicago.

In closing, I'd point out the irony--almost certainly unnoticed by you--of your post. I make a comment about Ron Paul's overtly ideological approach to policy; an approach which disregards widespread political concensus. You then respond in a way that is condescending, puts words in my mouth, and seems unable to recognize a simple truism based in the most elementary point of logic (If you want to do 'A' over the long term, then you want to do 'A'). In other words, your response bears the marks of the same ideological blinders I accuse the good doctor of wearing.

So, some condescension of my own in the form of advice: if you intend to argue with someone, try not to be a walking example of the problem they purport to point out.