The first month of TBS is in the books and we now have MCMAP and the rifle range under our belts. Coming up is tables two and three at the rifle range (our combat marksmanship package), the 6-mile hump, and land navigation. The past two weeks have been pretty intense physically, I’ve been sore from humping to and from the range and had a fever last weekend from the 14.5 hours we spent in the freezing rain.
I am planning on going home next weekend for the three-day weekend. This would normally be exciting, but I found out yesterday that I will be the platoon sergeant for the next two weeks, so I probably will be very tired, and the billet might affect the chances of my out-of-bounds chit from getting approved, but we will have to see how it plays out.
I finally bought Imperial Hubris and Dying to Win today, and I am looking forward to reading both of them. I read chapters from both in college and they have been on my “To Read” book for quite some time now. From what I have read I highly recommend both to all interested in better understanding Al Queda, terrorism, and the War on Terror.
I might need Ass Pennies for confidence as Platoon Sergeant:
Recommended reading for the week of February 10, 2007:
You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming. Alan, age 10
We need more Freddies and less Camilles.
What is the right age to get married?
Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then. Camille, age 10
No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married. Freddie, age 6 (very wise for his age)
But network-centric warfare, with its emphasis on fewer, faster-moving troops, turned out to be just about the last thing the US military needed when it came time to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. A small, wired force leaves generals with too few nodes on the military network to secure the peace. There aren’t enough troops to go out and find informants, build barricades, rebuild a sewage treatment plant, and patrol a marketplace.
“When a fierce Republican foe of the wars on drugs and terrorism is able, without really trying, to pull in a record haul of campaign cash on a day dedicated to an attempted regicide, it’s clear that a new and potentially transformative force is growing in American politics.
That force is less about Paul than about the movement that has erupted around him — and the much larger subset of Americans who are increasingly disillusioned with the two major political parties’ soft consensus on making government ever more intrusive at all levels, whether it’s listening to phone calls without a warrant, imposing fines of half a million dollars for broadcast “obscenities” or jailing grandmothers for buying prescribed marijuana from legal dispensaries.“
“Several officers, from captains to lieutenant colonels, told me, ‘Recruiting duty is the worst job in the Marine Corps.’”
- One of Us: Officers of Marines.
In search of more information about how OCS was in the old days, I stumbled upon this: a website for the reunion of 1956’s Delta Company at TBS. They still meet once a year. How awesome is that?
Recommended reading for the week of November 18, 2007:
Past is Prologue
From: American Thinker | Date: 12/05/2004 | Author: St. John, Dave
The funniest man on the planet quite possibly may be Gunnery Sergeant Wright. GySgt. Wright was a Sergeant Instructor in India company during juniors (then a staff sergeant). Some of the funniest things I have ever heard in my life (note that just like every other emotion, humor is amplified at OCS) have come from this man. Some highlights from my memories awith an EGA on itnd some from the facebook group “I survived the black devil…“: Read the rest of this entry »
