I tire of hearing "The Battle of Mogadishu" (aka "Blackhawk Down") labelled as a defeat. As a bloody, black eye, on the history of our Military Operations. People forget that the military, at least in this country (and many, many more around the world), does not operate on its own. It does not just up and decide to go into places like Mogadishu to beat up on some mean old warlord who is starving his own people. Military operations are supposed to be, the extreme last resort of political interactions. This operation was the very same one where the first teams coming ashore were
met with TV News cameras because of "leaks".
This raid was a rousing success! The rangers and other special operations teams inserted and obtained their objectives. When this helicopter was shot down, while a heartbreaking experience for the families of those men, is a part of war. People are shooting at you! They intend to do harm to you! Warfare is not an even exchange where we are trying to make sure everyone goes home with a trophy. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson said it best with this sentiment,
"The time for war has not yet come, but... ...when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." It is the objective of any armed force, to inflict as much violence upon their enemy so as to break their will to fight back.
This country has forgotten what the true toll of combat is. World War II was the last time the U.S. truly appreciated, and SUPPORTED their troops. It began to wane after that, through the Korean War, and then even more so during the "Police Action" known as Vietnam. It has gotten so that the American population is revolted by the casualties we have sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(1)While i have personal issues with the 'causes' of heading into Iraq, people have obviously forgotten the 'why' we are in Afghanistan... for those confused about the latter, please review your history of 11-September-2001.
Our politicians are too flippant in their unleashing of the "hounds" of the U.S. Military (arguably, THE best military the world has ever seen to date). While i disagreed with the "whys" for the Iraq "II" involvement, and still do today, once those boots hit the ground, the only option in "Supporting our Troops" is to let the leash loose, and let the "Dogs of War" do what they are trained to do - within the rules outlined in
the Geneva Convention(2) of course. But, it HAS to be understood that once the bullets start flying, people are going to die - and THAT is why 'armed conflict', so casually tossed around needs to be held so much more sacred. War devastates all involved. From the men and women at the tip of the spear, to the locations where the engagements are fought, to the support systems of both sides - to include the very families of the men and women on the ground.
The engagement now known as "Blackhawk Down" is, to me, a resounding success story of our elite special operations teams. These men swooped in, obtained their objective in efficient and spectacular fashion, and - even after "the shit hit the fan" and the battle plan went out the window - they regrouped, secured the prisoners, the wounded, and the dead, and managed to get all but six (four crewmen from 'Super 6-4', and the two Delta Snipers, Randy Shugart and Gary Gordan) of their fellow soldiers, back to base. Yes (approximately) 100 of the 160 (and again, approximately) were either dead or wounded, but they fulfilled that promise to never leave a man behind (they eventually secured the bodies of the Delta Operators and bodies of the crewmen, and later obtained the release of CWO Durrant), but considering the numbers of enemy combatants they were constantly engaged against while they were out there, this is an AMAZING feat.
The "failure" of situations like Mogadishu, Iraq, etc., is not in the soldiers, sailors, airmen, or marines - it is the men and women who put them in those situations, and then failed to "support the troops". They allowed political positioning, image, and pride, to interfere, not realizing that they failed them before those combat losses ever took place.
If you are going to commit the lives of men, women, and engage in combat operations, don't give them an empty clip to put in their weapon, or impede their ability to fight and defend themselves by ludicrously complicated "rules of engagement.(3)
I encourage everyone to take the time, read the first hand reports, and learn the details of how things went.
A Special shout out of thanks to the teams at
SpecialOps.Org (they brought the
60 Minutes YouTube footage to my attention via
Facebook) and
11Bravos (they shared the 'Grunt' picture above), for their tireless support of our men and women in uniform.
- I am not dismissing, or diminishing, the sacrifices of these men and women, and/or their families. Their deaths, and lingering injuries, are not 'little' things. I truly believe the saying, "The ultimate sacrifice", because that is exactly what it is. One can simply not give more than their futures, either in severe injury or in death.
- I am not a fan of using Wikipedia as a source, but it can be useful, so long as one checks the sources, etc. that they cite.
- Please do note assume that i believe in just shooting and blowing everything up. That is NOT the case at all. But take the time, try and think through the eyes of the "boots on the ground" and try and get just a fragment of a picture of what they have to deal with, all the while there are people shooting at you.
This is actually normal for me. The reason it is "off" and not "routine", is because no two weeks of being "off" are the same. For me, life is like trying to work a studio grade mixing board. Like the one pictured here... only, even more 'in depth'...every week, every day, sometimes minute to minute, i try and adjust how i am interacting with the world. I only know superficially how a mixing board works. Essentially, each slide lever controls a sliver of frequency. When the technician knows how to adjust each one, it makes for beautiful music (i.e. sound quality). The "trick" is knowing how each slide interacts with the others, and how to make them work in harmony. For me, each lever controls sensory input. Light, sound, air temperature... how i read body language, vocal inflection, am i able to discern between the lines, all the while interacting with previous interactions with whoever, or whatever, it is i am dealing with. On many days, i am able to keep it "within parameters", mostly.... but often, things begin to go out of whack and i am just not able to adjust the "levers" fast enough.... which leaves me feeling overwhelmed. How to explain it... ?
I have often had a conversation with my beloved, where she will say, "what do you mean?", and i find myself re-evaluating the last several minutes of conversation, and i will always repeat the exact same thing i just said. Why? Because that is how i communicate. If there were proficiency levels in sarcasm and innuendo, i would probably be at low level. I say what i mean, and i mean what i say - and that is how i interact with the world around me. That is my "default" setting if you will. Now, in my 40+ years of learning to adapt and process, i am able to contextualize situations within "known" parameters. Does this person use sarcasm? What are their life experiences that they have shared? I can sometimes (not as often as i would like to think i can) adjust my "settings", so that i know how to act appropriately. I have learned that, my intense desire to learn how to play the Elf Whistle (Tin Whistle - but made of wood), to read and to speak Sindarin Elvish, or desire to play and share all i know about Shadowrun, is almost always (i.e. 99.99% of the time), NOT appropriate to talk about.
is how i see myself most of the time. My overwhelming effort to just interact with the world around me... and no... this is not an exaggeration. I am at conflict with my instincts, with my own desires, my own emotions and thoughts, constantly. The great thing is, i am not sharing this to complain about it. I am sharing it to give thanks for it.
i don't get lost in the tangles, but i am able to see the way out the other side. For me - that - is natural, and while i obsess over things like Elves and certain role playing genres, i also obsess over things like the character of God. For me the decryption key to the Bible is the very nature of God the Father, His Son - my Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. God being perfect, cannot contradict Himself, He cannot violate His own character or nature... and i totally get that. His Law is perfect, His Love is perfect, 
He is omniscient (all knowing), He is omnipresent (everywhere, equally, all the time), he is omnipotent (all powerful). So, no matter how much i struggle with keeping "dialed in", i know that He is already there. He has already seen all of my imperfections, all of my sins - past, present, and future, and He is not surprised by my struggles, and He has watched over me... given me friends to "watch my back", who 'tolerate' me, who "get" me. While i am not perfect, i am fully justified and yet, walking out my sanctification, and while, i have many deficiencies, He has provided for me... friends... a family... a career... i am in awe.
- also, i would never equate what i went through in training, with what those who have actually seen combat and have had to go through). One has to be able to focus on the tasks at hand and what needs to be done. It is not a time for self indulgence.
Life... i am no longer going to try and explain why i've not been blogging every time i finally get back to it. I will just do my best to do it more often. And now, on to my typical ramblings...
Then, around October there was a players meeting, and i forget now who did the talking, Jordan Gross i believe, but they turned things around. After going 1-3 in the first four weeks, the Panthers finished the NFC South champions and a 12-5 overall record. They lost to a very physical San Francisco 49ers team. I knew that the Panthers were in trouble in the first quarter when the Panthers players had 3(!) personal foul penalties, one of which gave the 49ers a crucial 1st down. I could ramble on and on, in more detail than i care to think about, but i was not very hopeful for a post season in August, and i was pleased to see them make it into January. My goal for the team in the 2014, a 9-7 season. I would just like to see two, back to back, winning seasons at this point. :) Oh, and they had best lock Steve Smith in for the rest of his football career.
a computer game called Shadowrun: Returns. As things are likely to do in the corporate world, drek happens. There are at least two table top versions of the game. One is a "gang sized" miniatures version, and a card game. These have been delayed for play testing reasons, etc. However, i am really happy to hear that the card version is ready to move to the production side of things. Shadowrun: Crossfire. 
The one i am looking forward to the most is, Shadowrun: Online. It will be an MMO, with a changing story line as it goes by. The characters will have an influence over what happens as the story changes. I have shifted my story writing to follow more of the Cyberpunk-ish themes of Shadowrun... so far... i have... maybe, four characters, i will be following. Not even sure of the what/when/where. 8) A really good interview with Jan Wagner can be found at "The Arcology Podcast". Jan talks about cross platform, simultaneous, game play with both friends, and available Chummers. Seriously, this last one looks, and sounds, the coolest of all. Online will be released in Beta (with monthly updates mentioned in the podcast linked above) late 2014Q1 (late March).
To let us try and earn His good graces, to try and do it on our own, and that is where the suffering truly comes from. He has provided a way, He has shown, and provided, us a way through His Son, He has even taken the time to write it down, and yet, the one thing we truly do not want to believe is... the human heart is NOT naturally good. We do not inherently seek out the good of others - especially when it conflicts with our own wants and desires. I am not discounting those who help their fellow man out, but there is almost always a limit. A line that will not be crossed. Why, because no one likes to be thought of as a pushover. From individuals that feel the need to have some personal wish fulfilled or want to get tended to, to nations that want to exert influence in the world. 
Pride will invariably, at some point, exert itself, and God has told us what will happen to us because of our pride. He also does occasionally do something about it - hello, the Flood (Genesis 6-9), or Sodom and Gamorrah? (Genesis 19) He has also promised that He will be dealing with the entire world, and their transgressions against Him, and each other (which is, in turn, a transgression against Him), in His own time. However, if one chooses to not accept His time and place for such things, than they will most likely find themselves placed alongside Satan and his fellow angles who wanted to be like God and rebelled.
