oh gosh..

Well,
ever since my boyfriend and I have been dating, for a little over two years,
he has always talked about joining the military.
He wants to be a cop when he gets older, so he feels like the military will benefit him the best,
this coming week, he is going in the recruiter center to join the Army.
It all seems pretty scary, but I know we will get through it
so...let the games begin i guess....

this is the coolest thing ever...

http://welcomehomeblog.com/

I don't really think this needs any words, it pretty much speaks for itself

Here is a photo that I took at a golf course with my phone

Bomb Patrol

Last night, on G4, a new show started called Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan. I stayed up late and watched it, I had been waiting for it to premiere for a few weeks. I think it is pretty cool how they are making shows about the war, it helps us to open our eyes to what really goes on overseas and how life is in the military. I really loved the show.

The show is about a platoon in Afghanistan for a 5 month deployment. It was very eye opening for me. The only time I have ever seen anything on the Bomb Squads is in the movie Hurt Locker, which is an amazing movie. This show really depicts the hardships of being overseas, from actual combat to just missing home and family. They also show lots of natives to Iraq and Afghanistan who do not like the Americans at all.

Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan is an amazing show and I think everyone should watch it.

Why ??

Recently, my boyfriend, Kevin, and I went to his Dad's work at Napa to get something for his car.
While we were there this old man was in there and Kevin's dad was bragging about how Kevin wants to go into the Military. The old man overheard this and started telling Kevin that he should not go into the Military. He went on and on about how bad it was and it is only for drop outs and people who have nothing going for them in life.

This seriously upset Kevin, and me as well. Even if someone does not like the Military, you should never discourage someone for joining. I just wish people would keep in mind that the only reason they are allowed to say how much they hate our military and so on, is because of all the fighting our military has done for this country to make it free. Without the men and women of our Military fighting for us everyday, we would not live in a free country and none of those people would be allowed to say those things.

My Family

This week, I thought it would be kind of cool to write about military history in my family.
I have lots of military history in my family and in lots of different wars.

• My Great Uncle Acey was in Peral Harbor when it was bombed, he survived, but he was stuck in the water for a few days before he was found. He never told me much about what happened, but all I know is he was there. 
• Both of my parents were in the Army, they never went overseas or anything, but they were in the Army. They were both Medics, and that is actually how they met !
• My cousin, Seth, is in the Army right now, he is in the 101st Airborne. He has served on deployment to Afgahnistan already and is in more training now. 
• Scott, my friend, who I talked about in an earlier post, is in Marine Infantry, he hasn't gone through any deployments yet, he is still in Infantry Training.
• I also had a cousin,Chris, who was in the Coast Guard, I never knew him because he passed right before I was born, I'm not sure if he served a deployment, but I know he passed in the service.
• My boyfriend, Kevin, is actually going through the process of joining the Army right now, he wants to be an MP(military police)
• My Grandpa was also in the Army, but never served a deployment
• My Uncle Jack was in the Vietnam War in the Army, he is still alive today and has all his medals hanging in a glass box on his wall, one being a Purple Heart from Vietnam.

That is everyone, that I know of, that was in the military in my family. I am very proud to name all of those names. 

Hogs in the Shadows

".............When Romeo stopped and brought his scope to his face, he could see the man, now lying on his stomach, beginning to pull his rifle into his shoulder to aim at him. Immediately Romeo rested his sights on the man's chest and squeezed the trigger. His heavy breathing threw the shot off, but he watched the man flinch in pain as the bullet entered his hip. Part of the robe around his waist sprang up, revealing to Romeo where the bullet had impacted.

Standing between the palm trees and with no cover, Romeo knew that one bullet wasn't going to kill the gunman; at best it would only temporarily disable him. With his sights higher on the man's chest he squeezed the trigger again, sending another bullet into his stomach. The man flinched and his robe sprang up again, but he was still moving. Romeo used Kentucky windage and estimated his sights to where they needed to be to shoot the man in his chest. He squeezed off one last bullet and hit the man in the chest. The man collapsed to the ground as the sniper rifle slipped out of his hands. He was dead." -Hogs in the Shadows 


Hogs in the Shadows is a book of journal entries from Marines during Operation: Iraqi Freedom. I have not read this whole book myself, but my boyfriend, who is in the process of joining the Army, and my Government teacher from Senior year has. They both loved the book. I have read some entries from it, but not all of them. What these men and women go through to keep our country free is amazing. I have nothing but respect for the men and women of our military. 

Obama trying to take away Military retirement ??

So I was looking through the news online, and I found out that Obama is trying to take away retirement for our military. Who in the world would ever think about doing that ? That is just ridiculous. The people in our country fighting for it to stay free and you wanna take things away from them, I find that completely wrong.
This is what I read on Fox News: "Obama released a plan Monday that calls for reexamining the retirement system that 'provides generous benefits to the relatively few members who stay at least 20 years and no benefits for the roughly 80 percent of servicemembers who stay less than 20 years.' "
That is just completely stupid if you ask me, I feel like out of all the jobs in america, military should be one thing that never gets reductions just to put money in the economy. I really don't understand how Obama could possibly think this is a good way to put money back in the economy. If you ask me, I feel like our military is going to get smaller if you cut retirement out of it. 
here is the article I read: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/20/obamas-deficit-reduction-plan-takes-aim-at-military-retirement-system/

Visiting my friend at Camp Geiger

Scott's Barracks at Camp Geiger. 

My boyfriend, Kevin, and our friend Scott. 

So, this past weekend I visited my friend, Scott, at Camp Geiger with his mom and my boyfriend, Kevin. Camp Geiger is near Camp Lejeune and it is the Marine Infantry School where my friend is right now. The night before I went I could barely sleep because I was so excited to see Scott, who I haven't seen in almost a year because I wasn't able to go to his Boot Camp graduation. I was very excited, I woke up at 6 to leave by 8, I even charged my camera up all night in hopes that there would be some pretty cool photos to take.

We drove 4 hours down to see him and when we got there I couldn't even believe it. It was probably the most boring place I have ever been. Now, I understand that Marine Infantry is pretty serious, but I think they could have at least made Camp Geiger a little more exciting. I was extremely disappointed about it. I love photography and I took it for 3 years in high school, so I was very excited to take some pictures, but the place was so boring I couldn't even find things to take pictures of. Every single building looked the same, there was nothing but grass, just simple signs in front of the buildings telling you what it was(barracks, school, gym, etc.). The only things to do were: MCX which was the clothing store, The Commissary which was the grocery store for families who live on base, a Wendy's, A Movie Rental place, A Theater(which only showed two movies), A Pizza Place, a bowling alley, and a hockey rink. Other than that, you sat in your barracks all day and took orders from your sergeants.

I definitely and proud of my friend for doing Marines, but I feel like the Marines should treat people better for what they do. I saw a platoon who had just gotten to Camp Geiger and something fell off of a guy's book bag and he got yelled at for it. Scott's sergeant wouldn't even give him permission to leave base while we were there. I feel like Marines deserve a lot more respect than they actually get, even while they are still in training.