Moms Always Said I Couldn't Shut Up

City of Lights #1

2009-03-21T19:12:00.001-07:00

I title this post 'City of Lights #1' because I'm sure there are going to be many other trips there; the next one scheduled for two weeks from now. So today I went on a 24 hour trip to Paris; I got on the bus at midnight Friday and got back at midnight Saturday. Surprisingly, if you're a good walker, you can see a lot of the sights in Paris pretty quickly. To name off some of the locations we visited today and my impression of them:

-The Eiffel Tower: didn't make it up the structure because of the line, but it really did look pretty. I've never been a fan of the various space needles/towers (Seattle, Tokyo, Seoul) but this one looked classy. I think a lot of it had to do with the iron working made to be aesthetically pleasing.

-Invalid Hospital/Napolean Tomb: My real impression of the tomb (really a church with a big coffin in the middle) was that it was very nicely lit. For a little dude Napolean's tomb is very large, and surrounding it are a bunch of carvings with Napolean dressed like a Roman, and a beautiful baroque alter and covering that rivaled Bernini's one for the Pope (left). Overall very cool and gaudy to a point where it's still decent.

-The Louvre: Wow! I thought that the Vatican Museums (not including the Sistine Chapel or St. Pete's, those are on their own plain) were the shit but the Louvre was on another level. Like in the Vatican I felt there was a lot of art there just to be there, while at the Louvre it was obvious that everything on display was there because it was big shit. The funny part of the Louvre was seeing the Mona Lisa, a normal maybe 3' x 2' painting, but it's surrounded by giant works, like an entire wall in size. It was also cool to walk through and see the statues of the chick without arms and the chick without arms but does have wings. We only got to see a little of the museum because of time constraints, but I'll definitely be returning and I grabbed some smaller prints of French paintings, including Lady Liberty!

- So, we didn't have a ton of time and to make it to Notre Dame and back to our bus. Really, Notre Dame was pretty but was really low on the wow factor. I think this has to do with having seen St. Pete's because after that, nothing can ever compare. Nothing. And the cathedral definitely wasn't baroque so there was nothing overy gaudy to pull a certain angle of interest. The place did have the wreath of thorns Jesus wore on the cross and I thought that was pretty interesting. I think my problem with visiting Paris was that I compared it to visiting the Vatican (not Rome) and while the Louvre is w/o comparison, one you start talking Sistine Chapel and St. Pete's, that's a whole different level. Notre Dame makes you think 'wow this is pretty' while St. Pete's evokes 'this could only have been done by the hand of God'

Other things:
-There really are that many cafe's in Paris, and I can't wait to chill at one during my next visit, this one was pretty much continuous walking
-The food there is pretty light, lots of sandwiches with less than Subway fixings, and they're super good
-The streets by the river are lined with 'book stars' that are really art stores and off the chain. The next time I come here, I'll be looking for some decorations for the crib.
-They definitely sell Barry books there and that's awesome.

I can't wait to return! There are more pics from the visit on my f-book album, check it:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2118482&id=2801376&l=a68346033d

Next week: The Old Empire - London

My Bad

2009-03-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

It's been almost three months since I last wrote. Over that time I returned home to Chicago, visited my Kuwaiti Roomie in Baltimore, witnessed history in DC, ran the marathon dedicated to Mardi Gras, and made my way to Germany; in short a lot has happpend. I apologize for not writing updates more often. Even before my last post I was crapping out by not detailing the trips to Athens, Rome, and Baghdad. Once again, my bad. Lets pick things up.

So right now I'm living in Wiesbaden, Germany; the part of Deutschland where the players play, we have the most millionaires in all of Germany. What does that mean? I live in a very nice neighborhood but I'm missing out on storybook Germany, but it's only a short drive in my BMW convertible away :-) I'm trying to make the most of my time here. Chances are I'll be here for most of this year and then make my way back to Southeast Asia for another year in the big show. I've been here for a little more than a month and I've already visited some castles, been to a pro soccer game, and seen a concentration camp. Over the next two weeks I'm going to Paris and London so things are really starting to pick up steam.

I don't think I've been this satisfied with life since I arrived at Tulane before Katrina back in 2005. My neighborhood is incredible, I have a car, money is no object, my boss is nice, and I'm making friends who are pretty cool and decent people. What has the one draw back been? My job is boring. But in reality, that's a small price to pay for living this kind of life, and I'm sure I'll learn to deal with it. On a positive note there's a Signal company here and I have my eye on Commanding it eventually (unfortunately, that may not be until 2011, but you never know...).

So Germany has lived up to my every expectation; it's the good life. After the miserable tour in Korea, and all the restrictions on life in Kuwait, I'm so ready to enjoy every moment of this. The only thing I forsee making this tour difficult is trying to do too much, whether it's see every things, try every restaraunt, my worry is that I'll get wound up in trying to make to much of this tour and not relaxing and enjoying the moment. So far this hasn't been a problem, and I hope it stays that way. BTW the beer here really is that good.

So for an initial entry for the year, I feel like I should explain my visit to Dachau Concentration Camp (pictured left). For long I've had a strange interest in the Nazi's; they're so evil, hate driven, but they came to power to quickly and came about as close as anyone to ruling the world. So when I got to the camp I went through the museum and learned about how Dachau was the only concentration camp to run all 12 years of the third reich and was used to hold political dissidents and then later 'undesirables' and POWs. The museum didn't phase me too much, neither did going through the reconstructed housing, but shit hit home when we got to the crematorium. It didn't help watching two teeny bopper chicks have their picture taken next to the oven with grins; that sicked me out. But seeing the actual ovens (below) and hearing that 32k people perished at the camp and only one ever escaped (they had an electric fence, the structure behind me in the photo is an artistic interpretation of a prisoner committing suicide by intentionally grabbing hold of the fence, it's called something like perpetual pain, pretty gruesome). Then we walked into the gas chambers that never went fully online but only because they ran out of coal to burn the bodies. After that I lost my taste for the Nazi's. I'm sure I'll go to Nuremburg to see the rally stadium and Munich to see the beer halls where it all started, and I will likely force myself to see Auschwitz (which I'm definitely having second thoughts about, in 12 years Dachau killed as many people as Auschwitz did any given week), but seeing Dachau was quite the experience.

I use that experience as my first post from Europe both because it left such a strong impression, but also to kind of give a contrast. I intend on spending most of my time here seeing beautiful things, baroque architecture, the products of the renessiance, great works of art, etc. but it must be remembered that the same land that gave these great gifts to humanity also bred what I consider the greatest evil to plague humanity. I've often said the Japanese during WWII were as bad as it got (look up the rape of nanking and Korean comfort women), but after Dachau I won't be saying that any more. Plus there's the fact that the Japanese people were following an Emperor who they were trained from birth was a God while the Germans knew Hitler was a man. I could get into that stuff forever. The things is that while Dachau left a very nasty taste in my mouth, I kind of feel a commitment to learn about the Nazis; there's a reason why it is mandatory all German school children visit concentration camps, to assure this never happens again. Anyways, it's good to be posting again, and soon there will be more positive posts, starting with the City of Lights next week.

Running

2008-12-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

To preface my story, I will refer to The Big Boss and working out:

'It's a schedule he started as a 22-year-old student at Columbia University in New York, and it immediately transformed him. In his 1995 autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," Obama said he was a casual drug user and an underachiever until he decided to start running three miles each day. He stopped staying out late, fasted on Sundays and became a voracious reader, spending most of his time alone in his apartment reading classic literature and philosophical texts.

Physical fitness yielded mental fitness, Obama decided, and the two concepts have been married in his mind ever since.'

So it's about time I've gotten around to writing about a giant part of my life: running. When I left Korea my boss and 1SG, as well as my mentor down the street, all said that I needed to get in shape. Looking in the mirror, I couldn't really debate them and when it came time of officer report cards I realized being in shape had a lot to do with how rankings worked out. I made the resolution to get myself in shape.

Once I got to Kuwait I saw the sign on the gym saying 'Open 24/7: There is no Excuse' and realized how correct that was. The only limiting factor was how much effort I was willing to put forth. So I started by trying to do the eliptical machine an hour each night, and then phasing over to the treadmill. By April things were going pretty well and I came up with the goal of running a marathon. What's the first thing you do after establishing a big goal? Figure out the coolest way to do it; style points do count in my book, and where better to do it than the original place?

Soon I moved from the oppressive Camp Virginia to Camp Arifjan where my roomie let me borrow his GPS watch and a four month training schedule. The rest is history.

The Athens marathon was incredible. The damn thing was uphill for the first 3/4 and I hadn't seen a hill in over a year, but I managed to finish it off. I can definitely say it was a gut check like none I'd ever had before; every next step was an opportunity to quit and there was no shortage of evidence showing that people had taken this route. My friends from the marathon trip said they felt bad for the fall outs, but they motivated me along the lines of 'I can do something they can't'. Yeah, probably not the most constructive mind set, but it worked. The feeling of accomplishment afterwards was overwhelming. Not since graduating college had I completed such a long term goal, and I'd been talk about doing a marathon since early in my college days. Really, it was an unparalleled high, and one that I said I'd repeat again.

I learned that I'd be in the US for the Mardi Gras marathon (February 1st) and I signed up. After 2 weeks of rest from Athens I was hitting the pavement again. Last week I ran a half marathon at Camp Buehring and last night I knocked out a 20 mile run. Tonight I had an epiphany: I think I've finally embraced running. For all of HS running was associated with punishment during football and wrestling season, and that image lasted through college while I was doing ROTC PT and Korea for unit PT. But now I find myself getting out there under only my own watchful eye. I think this has happened because:

1). running keeps me from gaining weight (and I like my Ninja Turtle diet)
2). I like being able to talk about running because in the Army its synonymous with competence (not a good thing, but I'll work it to my advantage)
3). It's really good to have a goal.

I'm hoping this becomes a habit. My moms has my pictures from the Athens marathon, and I lost my camera with the pics from the longer runs here, but I'll be sure to post something from the Mardi Gras marathon. Until then, I'll be trying to figure out how I'll handle the cold weather running in Chicago/DC!

No Longer a Thief

2008-12-26T09:02:00.001-08:00

One of amazing things that has happened this year, and perhaps in light of the current economic crisis, I've realized that life is going pretty good these days and I should really avoid fucking it up. So I quit tobacco, definitely made sure not to get too drunk (well except for one night) during leave, and the biggest thing: I stopped pirating music.

Although you could say I'm entitled to it by citing SWPL #93, but in Greece I decided to get with itunes (also, Greece is where my parents returned my computer to me, up until then I had not possessed a personal computer for 2008). The thinking with this was that as a single officer overseas without any debt I'm making Arab Money and catching a case for music piracy would definitely ruin my life. Of course the next month the music industry said it would no longer prosecute people who download music illegally.

But the big thing from this exercise is that life is going good enough these days I'm proactively making sure not to fuck it up. Also I love itunes. While I've sworn off any affection for Apple because doing otherwise would get me laughed at in the IT community, that program is the shit. Using it is even easier than stealing music! A case in point was last week when I bought my song for stealing things (Turn It Up by Chamillionaire)!

Which leads to my worst weakness right now: The Dude Next Door. I don't think I've written enough about my roomie; his inspiration is Hunter S. Thompson and he tries his best to follow in his footsteps (except he uses Nyquill instead of LSD/Ether/etc.). While this is a helluva comparison, look at this and don't tell me it doesn't prove my point. Read the rest of his blog, it explains everything better than I ever could.

Another Letter

2008-12-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

'The Problem for Gays with Right Warren - and Barack Obama' by John Cloud- TIME

Time~
Reading John McCloud's article on Barack Obama's selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration disappointed me as has much of the negative response from the liberal community in general. We elected Barack Obama on a platform of change, change from the incredibly bipolar political environment of the Bush presidency that was best summarized when President Bush declared, 'You're either with us or against us'. The world has more grey areas than those that are obviously black or white. We need to be able to work with people who see things differently than us instead of having a stance of zero tolerance. If we could support Barack when he said that he would have sit down conversations with the leaders of Cuba, Iran, and North Korea I'm sure we can allow him to consort with a law abiding clergyman, even if his views are different than ours. While I don't agree with Warren's stance on gay rights, I do agree with him that we can agree to disagree and be civil about our differences. Right now America is facing tough times, if we're going to get wrapped up in and divided by something this small, we might as well kiss GM good bye and throw in the towel on the other tough decisions ahead of us. When Barack campaigned he promised change would come, and it's here already.
v/r,
-Alec Kinczewski, Evanston, IL

First and foremost I misspelled the authors name, I blame adding the Highlander theme to my running playlist.

While I'm sure that I'd be pissed if Barack had selected someone who held views about the military like Warren's on gays, I think this is good sign. America needs to be weened of the 'my way or the highway' approach (and you're hearing a military officer says this) because it inevitably leads to divisions that become bitter. Karl Rove played this trait of American's like Vivaldi given a Stradivarius; he pitted the gays against the saved, the patriots versus the hippies, pro-life versus choice, etc. and he won. He won when he should have lost. He won because he made us see American's as 'others'

In the run up to Bush's re-election back in 2004 Barack got up on stage at the DNC in Boston, then an unknown, and started wylin out about 'we're not a country of red states and blue states, we're a United States of America'. Four years later he was able to ride that theme all the way to the White House.

I've always been convinced that the power of offering a better tomorrow is stronger than playing off feelings of fear. This conviction was a bit shaken when Bush defeated Kerry in an election he should have lost, but won because A. Kerry sucked and B. he scared the crap out of us on national security and people who didn't conform with the religious right. Thankfully, the victory of fear appears to be a blip on the screen. I think Obama really hit a cord with the whole hope thing because Americans by nature are arrogant, we're the leaders of the free world after all, but we lost some of our swagger during the Bush years because of our difficulties with the wars and our economy losing steam. What Barack did was sell us on the chance of being greater than ever before, Yes We Can, and we believed.

By inviting Rick Warren to do the invocation Barack has shown that he's not going to let the divisions of the past dictate his ways. Hopefully this will be the first of many olive branches to be passed across the aisle between the right and the left, because right now we're dealing with too many big issues to squable on small things. I think was a good start for Barack, it showed an effort, lets keep it going; before you know it the Right will start showing some love for us also. Who knows, maybe Barack can garener enough good will and political capital through rebuilding the economy and ending the wars that he'll eventually be able to get conservative to cross the aisle and help pass legislation giving gays the human rights they're shamefully denied. Only time will tell, but for now I believe in what Barack is doing.

All Caught Up

2008-12-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Well I'm finally all caught up on my homework now (I skipped an assignment while in Greece) and back in Kuwait so the blog resumes.

Lets talk some Chicago. First and foremost there's our Governor. I just watched him get in front of the camera's and say that he's going to 'fight till his last breath' the charges that have been brought against him. He actually quoted a poem was my 2nd blog post ever. I'll give the dude credit for a couple things:

1). That hair is wild
2). I got love for anyone who can make it with an ethnic Eastern European last name
3). He was on fire in front of the cameras, I mean even Don King was not capable of wylin' out like that

I also love watching Fox News hate on him, especially Shepard Smith talking about 'holding a children's hospital ransom'. Funny enough, that's the children's hospital where my sisters Godfather works. This case is not about to get any quieter and it's going to drag on forever. Mess. How is whoever gets selected to replace Barack going to have any kind of legitimacy since it sounds like our Governor is going to have to pick them? We'd need someone who's integrity is beyond raproach, and lets be real, we're the city that defended R. Kelly, integrity isn't our thing.

Now, while everyone is innocent until proven guilty, this cat is messing with Patrick Fitzgerald, and he has a pretty good record including going 18 for 18 on our last Governor. The man doesn't indict and not convict. I think the Gov's best hope is that the investigation was hurried because of the things he was saying and therefore has some gaping holes. This is just the beginning.

So I finally got a chance to listen to some new music. I'll do a post later on about reforming my ways and buying music off of itunes. So I bought a couple of songs off the new Kanye West album '808s and Heartbreak' and I love it. I've also discovered there are a lot of people who don't like it too much, but I want to atleast explain my view on it. First, I'll give credit to any artist who tries something new. Kanye didn't trying something a little new, he tried something vastly different. In the past his songs had elaborately produced beats, but this time it's just him, a voice synthesizer, and a beat machine (aka 808). Big change. Second, he's keeping it real. Kanye has never gone Cash Money ridic with his subject matter, but everyone toes the line on occassion. This entire album is dedicated to heartbreak (the man's Mom did die and he broke off an engagement in the last year), about as real as material gets, and he isn't diping his toe in the shallow end but jumping off the deep end. It's new, it's real, I like it. How many artists have put out the same thing time after time? Nickelback...... yuck, I feel dirty just writing that word.

Oh yeah, I finally made it up to Iraq last week! While I avoided all danger it was cool to actually be there and look around. The thought that resounded in my head was, 'man, if only the ghost of Christmas Future had visited Saddam before the invasion and said: better fess up to not having WMD's or else this is what your neighborhood will look like'. I think things would have worked out a little differently; too bad the supernatural characters to visit Mr. Scrooge couldn't make it. Anyways, the trip was well worth my time and I managed to do some good work that I'm sure will get me on karma's good side!

I apologize once again for falling behind on my blog, I promise I'll start updating like should once again. I'm sure I'll have something to say about celebrating Christmas and New Years here.... thank God bowl season is starting! I can't believe I won't be travelling with the family San Antonio to watch the NU-Mizzou game, but as TI says 'you gotta be thankful for what you got'.

New Level of Ridic

2008-12-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.thankyoupresidentgeorgewbush.com/

Click view signatures, it's amazing what happens when The Politico takes action. The best part is that it updates every couple minutes with more ridic comments! My fav so far is #1026 ;-)

Writing to the President

2008-12-07T14:43:00.001-08:00

So I crapped out on my long run tonight, I just lost the mental drive which happens on occassion, and thought I'd read the Chicago news. I came across an Op-Ed by the Trib's Opinion writer John Kass and it hit a note. Check the article out. This story has a long history in the Windy City and the George Ryan wikipedia page explains much of it. The whole thing sounds like it should be coming out of a novel; the corruption, the deaths, the dedicated prosecutors, the multimillion dollar pro bono defense, etc. He ended up being found guilty on 22 counts as described below. I feel VERY strongly that he needs to serve his full term. I often comment that the main job of being an officer is being responsible, often for things out of your sight or control, but yours to be responsible for. It often becomes very annoying because you're living a perfectly normal and karma friendly life, but then get wrapped up in problems of people with a multitude of issues. None the less, it's your problem to take care of. George Ryan needs to be held responsible.

So to go and prove my worth after bitching out on my run, I wrote my President the following, because there's no way he should be pardoning George Ryan:

White House~
This e-mail is in regards to the possible pardon of former Illinois Governor George Ryan. As a resident of the Illinois I think George Ryan should be made to serve his full sentence of 6 1/2 years. He was trusted with the welfare of our state when we elected him Secretary of State and later our Governor. What did we get in return? Guilty verdicts on 22 charges including racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering and tax fraud. That kind of corruption has to be dealt with decisively. I remember the shock in the media when Ryan was convicted; he had been the beneficiary of a pro-bono defense estimated to be worth millions of dollars; everyone thought he'd be able to buy his freedom. Despite his mysterious benefactor, Ryan was not able to beat the system, and was found guilty by a jury of his constituents. Now it is in your hands to carry out the will of people; don't cheapen our guilty verdict by letting Ryan off the hook early. His corruption cost six young children their lives, I think asking for him to spend 6 years of his life in jail is small penance.
v/r,
-Alec Kinczewski

If you wish to write also, and I'm sure there are many things to write about, send your words to comments@whitehouse.gov Usually I just bitch to my friends or coworkers, but this called for a little more.

Poor Blog Managment

2008-12-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

I apologize for how long I've gone without posting on the blog. I've still yet to write up entries on Rome, The Marathon, and The Vatican, and chances are they aren't coming. They were all awesome though.

On to modern times, as of tomorrow I'll have a month left in Kuwait. I've started to reflect on my tour and the overwhelming feelings have been positive. If you dig back to the first year of this blog there's ample documentation of how depressed I was with life in general coming out of Korea and how disappointed with the Army I was. I came to Kuwait with hopes of finding a good community of officers, some decent mentorship, and a place where my work would actually have an effect on the war. Fortunately, all of these were found here. Additionally I really kicked things into gear as an officer: I got in shape, ratcheted up the work ethic, and definitely became more result oriented both with myself and my subordinates. Having finished up this tour here I really feel like I'm hitting my stride. Also I made a couple friends here who will definitely be lasting and I was fortunate enough to see them on a daily basis.

ADD BREAK: THIS ALABAMA - FLORIDA GAME IS OFF THE CHAIN, 17-17 3MIN LEFT IN 4Q

So the excitement now is planning my leave for the month of January. Right now, the way things are shaping up, it's going to be a helluva party! Here are the current dates:

Jan 6-Jan 13 Chicago
Jan 14-Jan 16 Baltimore
Jan 17-Jan 26 DC
Jan 27-Feb 3 NOLA
Feb 4-Feb 5 Chicago
Feb 6 I leave for Germany

Let me know if you're going to be around. I'm going to be sending the dates out to everyone I know in another week or two.

Oh yeah, I should be visiting Iraq sometime in the next week or two (depending on the incompetence of our unit trip scheduler) so that should be pretty cool. With our departure from Iraq seeming imminent (they want us out, Barack campaigned on getting out, Afghanistan needs the troops, we're pretty broke as a nation and a deployed military is expensive) I think it's pretty cool I'll get a chance to atleast look around.

Until then though, back to football! BTW I'm calling the Missouri upset of OU.

All Apologies

2008-11-29T23:37:00.000-08:00

Yo, I've been mad busy lately catching up with work and homework after two and a half weeks of holiday so I've been pretty crappy with posting (Rome, The Vatican, more hater philosophy, etc.). I promise I'll have something up soon! Oh yeah, I designed my first ever Christmas card, which, as you can see, is awesome!
AK = Productive

Best Idea Ever: November 2008 Edition

2008-11-26T22:30:00.000-08:00

Yet another reason why I love Asians! And people thought Steve Jobs was innovative; this tavern owner is a true visionary.

New Philosophy on Haters

2008-11-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

TI, the only man giving Lil Weezy any competition these days, put out some great lines concerning that scourge of the world: Haters:

Nevermind what haters say, ignore them 'til they fade away.
Amazing they ungreatful after all the game I gave away.
Safe to say I paved the way, for you cats to get paid today.
You still be wasting days away, now had I never saved the day.
Consider them my protege, how much I think they should pay.
Instead of being gracious, they violated in a major way.
I never been a hater still I love them, in a crazy way.
Some say they sold yay and know they couldn't even work on Labor day.
It aint that that black and white, it has an area tha's sahded gray.
I'm West side anyway, even if I left the game and stayed away.
Some move away to make a way not move away cause they afraid.
I give back to the hood and all you ever did was take away.
I pray for patience but they make me want to melt they face away.
Like I once made them scream, now I could make them plead their case away.
Been thuggin' all my life, can't say I don't deserve to take a break.
You rather see me catch a case, and watch my future fade away.

The musical version can be found at the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XqKDYrQBVE

So, we should embrace the hater but not let the drag us down. Sounds like some shit I was hearing at the Vatican last week.....

Vacay Pt. I: Birthplace of Democracy

2008-11-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

Greece

It’s kind of hard to talk about my trip to Greece in narrative form, it just isn’t coming out right, so I’ll go by the bullet points:

-The first day I was there I checked into my airport hotel and started boozing off the minibar while watching the election coverage on Greek TV. My God; Yes We Did! The images on TV looked more like a velvet revolution than a free election. I think that says a lot about the out going administration. Anyways, it was beyond awesome to watch the Greeks wylin out in a positive manner and seeing Barack speaking to the hopefilled masses back home in Chicago. I’ll have a post about my feelings on Barack being elected later.

-I got to see my parents and it was awesome. Leigh was there too but like when the family came to Seoul, Ellen was not present once again. As always we picked up right where we left off talking about the neighborhood, sports, politics, etc. The two times I went to dinner with my parents I was able to crunk because one was two nights before the race and the other night the food did something to my stomach (and needless to say I was coming off rough nights with my new friends).

-I made some really cool friends on this trip also. They had all done marathons before so they doubled as my marathon support team and they provided an incredible amount of help. Like I would have been completely lost without them. An additional benefit was that three of them were from Canada and I learned a ton from them. They’ve got one sweet ass country to the north as long as you don’t mind the cold. But, maintaining my American arrogance I’ll keep my extremely flawed country, the country that produced Soulja Boy Tellum, Sarah Palin, and Nuclear Weapons (aka bad things). Of course we also produced T.I., Barack, and iPods… and the Canadians gave us gasp Nickelback so there.

-It was really interesting seeing all the ancient stuff here. A lot of it was so broken down it was hard to visualize what the buildings looked like in their heyday. None the less it was the oldest stuff I’ve ever seen and that was pretty cool. Also, what better setting to watch Barry win than the birthplace of democracy? Well Grant Park Chicago but besides that no where else. I was amazed that a lot of the stuff was still standing. The thing I took away from this culture was the ‘healthy mind, healthy body’ ideal of the Greeks. It has given me added fuel to keep on learning and running. Oh yeah, speaking of running:

-That marathon was no fucking joke; ¾ of it was uphill. Usually Boston is the standard for tough, hill inclusive, marathons and the guy who’d run that before said this was worse. The run was a struggle, I finished in 4:35, and I won’t lie I thought about being a little bitch and quiting more than once… but then remembered that Kinczewski isn’t a little bitch and there was no way I was going to punk out with my parents at the finish line (by the last 3 miles I literally thought ‘I just want my Moms!). The feeling of accomplishment was amazing though; such a big goal finally being realized. I don’t think this will be equaled until I finish my online masters. On February 1^st I plan on running the Mardi Gras marathon so that I I). Stay in shape while on leave II). Can call myself a marathoner III). After this course I think I could whoop up on a flat one.

-So I’m getting well rested and will be ready to whoop some ass for my final month and a half in Kuwait. And I don’t mean like tieing up loose ends, I mean like energized to make the earth shake and be a tyrant more than ever. Read about Rahm Emmanuel, although he went to my rival HS, I like his style and plan on copying it. Time to drop the hammer.

-I had an interesting talk about the future with my parents. I clearly want to stay in the Army through a Company Command (8 years) but I’m thinking that might be the end, even if there’s still a shitty economy. Turning 30 and going to law school just seems like such a natural progression, and it’s what Barack did. By God, we have a community organizer in the White House, how many people will this inspire to go out there and do good? Oh yeah that’s another blog post.

-So right now I’m the plane from Athens to Rome. At the last minute I decided to take my full 15 days (v.the intended 10) of vacation since it was obvious I’d been burnt out. I’ve been working my ass off in Kuwait for a while and it has taken its toll on me. So I had five days to kill, and Greece was getting old, so on the advice of one of my new friends from the trip I decided to take a trip to The Eternal City: Rome. With Expedia it’s amazing how easily/quickly you can schedule these things, especially in the off season (winter)! This Polish Catholic Mama’s Boy is ready to go see The Holy See and pay tribute to the ultimate Pole Karol Wojtyla aka Pope John Paul II. I’ll be posting this from the first café I can find.

Let Freedom Reign

2008-11-05T23:48:00.000-08:00

Oh man, the drink tally for the first night was two cans of beer, four glasses of wine, and 4 fingers of scotch; all drank to celebrate the election of President-elect Barack Obama mostly while watching the video below. I can't imagine what it must have been like in the states. On f-book I saw pictures of the people packed in the streets back in the old Berkeley neighborhood, TV of course showed the world reaction and the party back in Chicago. It looked more like the millenium new years celebration on steroids and I don't remember anything like this happening the last couple elections. I'm really excited to run around Athens the next couple days, being so obviously American on sight, and know that people don't hate me for the nation of my birth, not the content of my character (that's another story ;-).Yeah, I fucking cried and the tears were immaculate. With the giant crowd in Chicago I don't know how I'm going to get within earshot of the swearing in ceremony January 20th, but I'm sure I'll figure something out or get my hustle on (or count on my roomie to lie out way in). My only worry now, now that it's so apparent that people and to some degree the world are behind him, is that he'll have a hard time living up to expectations. Of course it's also nice to have expectations again.....

Also I think I'm going to make a collage of the international newspapers. Also for some historical background is the kink below:

http://alecerickson.blogspot.com/2007/11/time-has-come.html

This day has been long awaited, I reminisce about watching him announcing his candidacy in Springfield from Korea during another post.

The Boss

2008-11-05T06:18:00.000-08:00

Although I've had many bosses, and I love my current boss MAJ Dallas, lets be real: if you're a red blooded American there is only one Boss in your life, he's from Jersey, and he goes by Bruce Springsteen. My mother is celebrating her 35th wedding anniversary with my father this week , touring Rome and Athens, but in reality she's a polygamist and dragged her son along for the ride. We love Bruce. While working as a carpentry assistant I learned to love Bruce, he sang of working hard, loving you family and coworkers, as well as your nation. After the Hurricane Katrina, the love only became deeper.

Jazz Fest 2006, the first major event in NOLA after the storm, Bruce was the headliner. It was only appropriate; Bruce had put out an album of music by Pete Seeger, a Depression era singer whose songs were the musical 'Grapes of Wrath'. The setting was perfect: the area around the race track where the event was held had been washed out by the flood and most of the buildings were abandoned/unlivable, the concert was soon enough after the storm that only the true New Orlenians were there, to be honest the city was mess and the only people inhabiting it had no where else to go and nothing but do but put all their chips on NOLA's reburht. The stage was set, and the Boss delivered:

A week later during graduation my Moms was reading the NOLA Times Picayune and can across the line, 'Best Performance: Reverend Springsteen came and found his masses'. Truer words have never been spoken. Since that concert, I haven't felt a similar feeling of hope.... until today.

Barack Obama is going to be President. This goes beyond written words, but Bruce gave good reason for electing him:

Barack had Bruce, McCain had the Charlie Wilson Band, small wonder why it was a blow out.

Prediction

2008-11-04T05:48:00.000-08:00

The forces of good come short of the 60 seats in the Senate and Alaskans don't re-elect Ted Stevens because they are already looking pretty dumb right now.

In the main event Barack pulls over 50% of the popular vote and wins the electoral college with more than 300. I think it could go much farther beyond that as McCain will break 200 but not by much.

John McCain takes the defeat with class but Sarah Palin says something ridiculous, she's done everything short of deny the Holocaust so that might be on tap....

Tomorrow's NYT Opinion page will be my second favorite ever, predicting that the day before Barack is inaugurated will be my all time favorite.

Tonight's party in Grant Park back in Chicago will blow out anything Times Square can produce between December 31st and January 1st. With Barack bringing his Chicago posse to DC we'll no longer be the second city (especially after the 2016 Summer Olympics which I really think we'll get as long as the world isn't still pissed at us)

I'll be watching the television coverage from Dubai while waiting for my flight to Athens; Dubai allows drinking, the devils brew might be called for, I'm thinking champagne!

Just calling them as I see them.

Now I have multiple medias on my blog; first up T.I. parodies

2008-11-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

and for you white people who need some background:

My Minions, My Monsters

2008-11-01T03:11:00.000-07:00

Today while talking to my Roomie and 2LT Jessica I brought up a key part of my leadership philosophy: developing monsters. The topic came up as I was commenting on one of our Company Commanders. They treat their Lieutenants poorly, constantly berating them for small missteps and publicly embarassing them (making them do push-ups infront of the Soldiers, etc.). Their misery is apparent upon sight. As a result their Lieutenants have either 1). been broken down to where they're timid and avoid taking hardstances or being aggressive or 2). made them hate their lives. I really feel bad for them. My first boss in Korea, who I definitely hate, pulled that crap with me. I'm lucky that my three bosses since then (CPT Sun, CPT Kelli, and MAJ Dallas) have been very supportive and kind.

My strategy is the complete opposite; I want aggressive and stubborn subordinates. I would rather have my subordinates say 'No' to something incorrectly than say 'Yes' to something incorrectly. It's much harder to stop something than start it up. The idea behind this is that if the issue is important to the requestor, they'll press on after the initial 'No', and then it'll come to my attention for either a decision or to be relayed to higher (aka The Great Protector: MAJ Dallas) for guidance. I constantly tell my subordinates that I have their back whenever they're worried about taking a stand on an issue and I always tell them that I want them to be aggressive and stubborn. In short, I'm attempting to develop a bunch of monsters.

To give the required football analogy, I think back to my father refering to Northwestern's star defensive back on the 1996 Rose Bowl team, Hudafa Ismaeli (definitely misspelled) playing with reckless abandone and making all the plays. Today a sufficient comparison would be either Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu. I value aggression, and I'd rather have too much than too little of it in my subordinates. I want to see my people getting after issues on their own, and solving problems when they see them. When I envision my section I want to think sharks smelling blood in the water.

So far this strategy has worked wonderfully (although my roomie will argue that concerning my foremost monster). The only thing I have had to make sure of is that my subordinate monsters know who the top monster is. Usually this isn't a problem since we're all pretty cool and working towards common goal. With my vacation coming next week I'm especially happy with my little monsters because I know that in my absence they won't let themselves be pushed around or be intimidated. I'm actually worried about them getting out of control, which I can't wait to hear stories about when I get back;-)

You Know What's Pissing Me Off?

2008-10-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

So the Tina Fey routine as Sarah Palin, and the actual appearance of Sarah Palin, on SNL has received tons of press. During the Democratic primaries the media played up an appearance by the candidates on the show as a giant moment (I was so worried about HRC beating Barry that I took her appearance on the show as a serious problem to our campaign; read that sentence again, I have a lot invested in Obama and have taken ownership!). Now, similar predictions are being made about John McCain's appearance scheduled for this weekend.

My question though is who still watches SNL? I can still remember trying to stay up late enough to watch it as a little kid (rarely if ever successul), only to find out in my pre-teens that the show sucked outside of Norm MacDonald's weekend update (I loved Dirty Work BTW). Honestly, I've never really been that impressed by the show, although I have a deep dislike of improv commedy. I heard that back in the day when the Greatest of Chicagoans John Belushi through our Favorite Son Chris Farley (both of course dieing from substance abuse, Chicago: We Party Harder) were headlining the show it was the shit, but that was before my time (approximately 1995).

I can't wait for the election to be over when SNL will go back to being a crap show that is an unusually cruel punishment for those who's weekend plans fall through. While it's alumni have done some great work (30 Rock is great, just to name the first to come to mind, oh yeah then there's anything Will Ferrell touches) the current cast sucks.

So until SNL gets its line up straightened out, lets pay more attention to cool people.

Great Words From The Gonzo

2008-10-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

“October is the cruelest month of any election year, but by then the pain is so great that even the strong are like jelly and time has lost all meaning for anybody still involved in a political campaign. By that time, even candidates running unopposed have abandoned all hope of victory and live only for the day when they will finally be free to seek vengeance on all those treacherous bastards who once passed themselves off as loyal friends and allies…October in the politics business is like drowning in scum or trying to hang on through the final hour of bastinado punishment….The flesh is dying and heart is full of hate: the winners are subpoenaed by divorce lawyers and the losers hole up in cheap motel rooms on the outskirts of town with a briefcase full of hypodermic needles and the certain knowledge that the next time their names get in the news papers will be when they are found dead and naked in a puddle of blood in the trunk of some filthy stolen car in an abandoned parking lot.” - Hunter Thompson

Dedicated to my roomie, a giant Thompson fan. Bring on November, bring on the change!

Further Proof

2008-10-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

Just adding to the Zombie v. Liberals theory I found these links about how the youth in Red states handle firearms versus those in Blue states. I will now shift my investigation to the relationship between the McCain campaign and the Witchdoctor community...

Zombie Debate

2008-10-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

This evening I went with my buddy to go see 'Quarintine', what we thought was a zombie film (it actually turned out to be about hyperinfectious rabies, not as glam). I thought the movie was hilarious. Anyways, a more interesting debate surfaced: could a zombie take over scenario happen in the United States?

My answer is hell no. Although I'm all about arms control (I won't get into the Second Amendment debate except to say that if anyone tried to use it true to the written word, to keep the government in line, they'd be at Gitmo in a minute) I think that a zombie invasion would be cut down quickly by our well armed citizenry. Just imagine if you told the everyone, 'Shoot to kill anything that foams at the mouth'? It'd be like a video game. Our culture is so laden with the glamourization of weapons and violence I think the chance to knock off some zombies would be welcomed.

But there's a deeper aspect to this; the John McCain campaign. Many a pundit has wondered what can save his campaign at this point; bringing up Rev. Wright? a terrorist attack? Joe Biden making the mother of all gaffes? a streak of racism showing in our voters once the curtail is closed on the voting booth? Well, my argument is for a zombie invasion. The less armed parts of the country, assuming the more liberal ones, would be ripe for the zombie picking. Kiss Boston and San Francisco goodbye. On the other hand the well armed Southern and rural states would be good to go once they opened fire. The only kink in this theory is if the zombies went after the poorer neighborhoods instead of the suburbs of the liberal mecca's. If the zombies were to go through Oakland before hitting SF or approach Chicago from the Southwest (or God forbid go through Gary, Indiana first), there would be no problem with knocking them off.

So, add that to the possibilities of John McCain winning the Presidential election: an invasion by zombies who know which neighborhoods to avoid.

Being An Asshole

2008-10-26T04:32:00.000-07:00

http://mdunham.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-dear-tom.html

Read the post and check the comments. Yeah so I was going through my friend 2LT Jessica's blog and saw that she linked a blog to hers called 'The Writings of M. Dunham'. My mind thought, 'Hey, that sounds familiar!' and to have a little fun I decided to write a comment on the first posting that I saw. What I didn't realize until afterwords was that the post was about a dead online friend..... ouch, none the less the post stays since it provides some laughs. Jessica is going to tell her friend that it's all in good fun. The lesson: read before you post!

God Hates My Friend...

2008-10-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

That is a photo of my friend 1LT Leticia. Usually she's one of the bright spots, constantly cheerful despite many reasons not to be, in this unit. But, as you can see, she's not a happy camper in this photo. Why? Because she has been hated on.

She's the leader of the Wiccans on post (an officially recognized religion by the DoD) and earlier this week she had an announcement sent out to everyone the post notifying them that there was going to be a Wiccan celebration and everyone was invited. Now, I could rant about the topic of these e-mails sent to everyone on post (the ultimate spam) or how often they're about religious services (Revivals have been the most notable as of late), but rather I will discuss one of the responses she received.

Apparently her e-mail was generally well received, she was sent a couple e-mails from Soldiers expressing interest, but there's always a hater out there. Unfortunately in this case the hater was a senior officer (0-5) in the Air Force. This guy sent her back an e-mail basically saying to never send him this again, she wrote back saying the e-mail had all the required thumbs ups from post officials, and he wrote back that 'Just because the Constitution and DoD are forced to protect you doesn't mean God is....' Yes, in an organization that pretends to be as politically correct and accepting as the military, a senior officer put that in writing to a Signal Officer (we're smart and save our e-mails).

How fucked up is that? How many ways can 'Just because the Constitution and DoD are forced to protect you doesn't mean God is....' be interpreted? Is that a threat? This e-mail was sent by and O-5 which means the officer has the potential to be in Command of a Battalion sized element which is usually a couple hundred Soldiers. In this post I talked about the positive impact the last O-5 in charge of my unit had on me. What would happen if there were a Wiccan Soldier under his Command? It's scary to think about the potential for abuse. There's a reason officers need to be held to a higher standard; it's because we're given paramount power in this organization and there's no room for it to be abused.

I'm pressing my friend to take this issue as far as she can. She's already notified the unit and post religious officials (Chaplains), and they in turn have notified their Commanders, and everyone is sickened. Our military has a terrible habit of sweeping things concerning officers under the rug, and I'm telling 1LT Leticia she can't let this happen, and we both agree this can't because there's potential for this guy to be in charge of a Wiccan at some point and with it potential for abuse. And that's part of the reason I'm posting on this subject, we can't be quiet about this kind of activity within our ranks because it's simple unacceptable, and is not isolated. My roomie, an athiest, was castigated by his first Company Commander (O-3) because he wasn't Catholic. I told my former Company Commander about this, she told our O-5 in charge, and the nothing happened; my roomie's first Commander left with a Bronze Star Medal (BSM), one of the Army's highest decorations. Where is the justice in this?

About a week ago the Don of Don's in the officer world, General Colin Powell, got on national TV and endorsing Barack Obama, and cited the story of a 20-year old American Muslim who died while serving our country. He brought up how all divisive political crap needs to end we as a country we should realize we're one nation (under God) that is suppossed to be indivisible. The 'Player Hater of the Year 2007' Maureen Dowd wrote a great column about it.

I cannot say how disappointed I am when I read about people who won't vote for a someone because they're a Muslim (incorrect) named Hussein while wrapping themselves in the American flag; it defeats the entire idea of this country. Some people conveniently forget, or knowing our struggling education system were never taught, that this country was founded by Quakers who were trying to escape religious persecution back in Old England. Ever taken a look at what is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty, the ultimate sign of what America offers?

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

'Mother of Exiles', once we start rejecting people for their religious views, that's when will have lost our soul. There's no place for religious intolerance in our country, and especially our uniformed ranks.

BTW my ideas of some day making my way to the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division are alive and as well as ever; also, note, it's headed by an Asian chick ;-)

Update

2008-10-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

William Shatner is currently proving how hard it is to reform a hardend hater:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/10/23/william.shatner.takei.ap/index.html

For background info I summarized everything up a couple weeks ago with this post:
Scotty, Beem Me Up Some Hotpants

Election Day

2008-10-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/police-prepare-for-unrest-2008-10-21.html

I'd be more worried about the parts of the country Sarah Palin is getting excited while yelping about 'palling around with terrorists' and 'Muslims'. Although I've accurately termed Maureen Dowd as the 'Player Hater of the Year 2007 and a strong repeat candidate for 2008' shit hit the nail on the head with her column today. I think the polarization of Rove politics is coming full circle; people are getting tired of being manipulated to hate/fear eachother.

My Roomie's Rabbi Believes My Heart is Messed Defective

2008-10-19T21:28:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I ran a half marathon (a bit more than 13 miles) at Ali Al Salem AFB and it's the last big event before my marathon in Greece. During earlier conversation with my Roomie he said, 'half marathons are good fun races' while indicating the full one is another deal. Dude hit the nail on the head. I ran well yesterday completing the course in 1 hour and 47 minutes with an average pace, according to my running watch, of 8 minutes and 9 seconds. My first thoughts after the race were along the lines of, 'The full one is going to be a really rough day...' and this I have no doubt of. But like many things, most recently my foreign language aptitude test, I honestly think the magic of 10 months of sobriety is my main strength i.e. 'If I can't do this after 10 months dry it ain't gonna happen.' Whatever, I'm just running to finish.

As for the headline of this post my Roomie, an atheist, has claimed our unit Chaplain as his Rabbi. The Unit Rabbi is a pretty interesting guy, he was has a Phd. in Modern European History and was teach at the University level in England before coming here. When I see him I always find myself thinking, 'You were meant for more than your current occupation'. Anyways, very smart and interesting guy. He's also a dedicated runner who has completed a couple of marathons and I always talk to him about running and catch him at the races. So after this last one were comparing the stats on our running watches from the race. We talk about our 13 mile pace versus out 10 miles pace, different cool things our watches can do , etc. but then we get to heart rate his eyebrows raise; my average beats per minute (BPM) was 106 while his was 166 which is a giant discrepancy. Apparently his was more normal and he seemed pretty shocked, it was like my heart was messed up or something, possibly defective.

Beginning of Rant

A couple months ago I went to the doctor for a regular check up and they indicated that I had a very low heart rate (low 60's when resting) but high blood pressure. They credited it to running and my tendency to worry all the time. Feeling that this couldn't be right I didn't come back as ordered to get blood pressure medication; I don't trust Army doctors, their answer to everything is a drug never a treatment. This has been noted in the media with the Army's tendency to give people Prozac for minor mental concerns. Much like my views on the economic situation I believe resolutions are not found in patch work solutions but going to the root of the problem. While blood pressure drugs can't hurt, I'm sure that less caffeine and better eating habits would do the trick also, but I've been unwilling to give into those concessions for my health and need to work on that....

End of Rant

Is that all you got?

2008-10-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Back in 1975 in the Congo (formerly Zaire) Muhammand Ali fought George Foreman in 'The Rumble in the Jungle'. As with every Ali fight the action outside the ring at the least equaled what happened inside it. One of the many storylines was Ali's appeal to the Congolese, who feel in love with the man, and ran around yelling 'Ali Bomaye!' which means 'Ali, kill him!' While the hard hitting Foreman was the heavy favorite he ended up losing the fight because Ali used the rope-a-dope strategy where the smaller opponent absorbs the beating of the larger one, wearing them out, and then beats the fuck out them once they're pooped out. This strategy is so ingenious that Rocky implemented it against Clubber Lang during Rocky III! The 'Rumble in the Jungle' ended with Ali scoring a major upset and winning the hearts of a people. I highly recommend checking out When We Were Kings, a documentary film about the fight, they used to show it on HBO all the time.

So how does this relate to the picture above (I'm about anyone getting killed, that's reserved for Sarah Palin events)? It has become obvious that John McCain is in trouble with his bid for the top office. This has been true for a long time as was evident from the stunts of selecting Sarah Palin as his VP in an obvious pander to women/the extreme right and calling off his campaign to save the economy (the bill failed while he was in DC, the campaign resumed the next day).

As the days till November 4th, Decision 2008, dwindle we're seeing him become more and more desperate. I talked about being excited for this a couple blog posts ago. So what are his best shots, going no holds barred, trying to save his candidacy? Being linked a guy who was a terrorist in the 1960's but won an award as Chicago's person of the year? Joe The Unliscensed Plumber Who Does Pay His Taxes?

Is this all McCain has when he's suppossed to be throwing the kitchen sink? It's weak. I predict that much like Ali, Barack will let these blows glance as they wear out the next week or two, and proceed to blow out McCain come the 4th. Americans are tired of the Rovian negativity, we're tired of the economy sucking, we're tired of being a people at war, we're tired of the last eight years; that's what I think it's going to come down to. What do I call a blow out? Obama going over 300 electoral votes, check www.fivethirtyeight.com, it is possible and I think there's enough excitement about Barack to make it happen. As always only time will tell.

Desperation Time

2008-10-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Down by a couple points as time dwindles on the clock, the time has come for desperate measures. Occassionally they work (as shown above when back in 1984 Doug Flutie's hail mary pass connected for 6 and defeated Miani on the road, The Play from Cal v. Stanfor, or more recently the Music City Miracle from when the Titans beat the Colts) but usually they just result in losing team looking completely futile (just watch football this weekend).

I'm troubled with the McCain though. Last night when I turned on the TV I caught some of McCain's rally in Wisconsin and it was ridiculous; it looked like he was pumping up an angry mob to go storm the bastille rather than presenting his argument that he's the best choice for president. The people looked like they were thirsty for blood. That last link was to the AP, but the heavily left leaning Huffington Post suspected the violent mood from Palin speaking engagements.

I remember over a year ago, sitting there with my Soldiers at Camp Casey, Korea and talking about the election. The common thought was that Barack would never be president because someone would assassinate him. Obviously my Soldiers weren't the only ones thinking this as Barack was assigned Secret Service protection earlier than any candidate ever had before. During his primary race with HRC, once she became desperate near the end of the primary season she played up Obama's race, mainly using Rev. Wright, and the dark underbelly of American racism showed itself with landslide wins for her in West Virginia and Kentucky.

The last thing we need is for McCain and Palin to be getting people riled up like this, it's disturbing. Over the past year it has been amazing to watch McCain come apart. I remember during the Republican primary debates when he was the only man on stage, out of eight candidates, to say that torture was wrong. I thought that was a mini Profiles in Courage moment. But, as the saying goes: all things pass, and he eventually condoned the suffering that was visited upon him and through which he courageously persevered. Now with this hate and fear mongering he's reaching the bottom of the barrel. At first I thought watching the McCain campaign go into desperation mode would be entertaining, but now I find it very worrisome and tragic.

BTW my buddy in resource management ran to Istanbul, Turkey for a couple days to simmer down, and while reading 'Audacity of Hope' all the Turks gave her props. This just feeds my thinking that a win by Barack could a lot to heal our world image, real fast.

Update 10/12/08:
NYT: The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama

Ah, another example of why the NYT Opinion page and I have such a healthy relationship

NYT: At Tulane, Sports Revival After Katrina's Wind and Water

2008-10-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/sports/ncaafootball/08tulane.html?th&emc=th

The NYT has been great about supporting the rebirth of NOLA and Tulane University, and the article linked above is another in a long line of articles supporting the effort. While I'm dedicated to continue my self-imposed/enforced ban on donating to my alma mater, this article kind of guilt trips me. I did have a lot (aka too much) fun during undergrad, and the university didn't pick up the room and board, I think I still harbor some bad blood because of some personal life issues that happened senior year that I got over a while ago. So, why am I such a shitty alumni? Well a couple weeks ago I was given a new reason: shitty personnel working at the registrar. As I sent gripes@tulane.edu:

Tulane~

I just encountered the wonderful customer service provided by the university registrar's office: I called needing quick action on a transcript being sent to my grad school, and I immediately get forwarded to an automated message telling me how to fill out the .pdf on the website. I could figure that one out on my own. Additionally the only avenues to place this request are through using physical mail or a fax machine... no e-mailing scanned copies. This is not the way for the university to energize its alumni.

v/r,

-Alec Kinczewski Tulane '06

While it may seem petty, and God knows I hate the class that this enabled me to register for at AMU, I was pretty pissed at the time. So for now, I have nothing against the university, but, there will be no money coming from my pockets (until I'm rich enough to sponsor the school and rename it T.U.P.A.K. aka Tulane University Presented by Alec Kinczewski, and you can guess what the new mascot is going to look like :-)

Euro-triping

2008-10-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

I'm composing the to do list for Europe. Yesterday I received my orders sending me to the Rhineland and I treated them like a religious relic, I'm very excited about this assignment (2-3 years). If there's one thing I learned from the down times in Korea it was that you should never spend a 4 day weekend at home. In the European command there's a 4 day weekend every month, so that should give me 10-12 opportunities to get out of the house. So, I'm developing the list, here's what I have so far:

1. St. Petersburg, Russia: I want to see the Hermitage Museum, reading Nicholas and Alexandra got me going on the Romanov's and I've heard Russia is a very different country.

2. London, England: I must go visit my lasting college buddies the Bieri's and Karen Thomas.

3. Paris, France: The City of Lights, need I say more? Probably going to have to go there twice

4. Rome, Italy: Duh.

5. Berlin, Germany: In the same country and with the historical angles (the wall, Brandenburg Gate, etc.) there's no way to say no, and while watching the Berlin marathon the city looked gorgeous.

6. Prague: Never heard a bad word about it

7. Barcelona: Still remember how nice it looked while watching the Summer Olympics back in the day.

8. Czech Republic: Because it will be next door.

9. Doing more research....

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/travel/20071209_WHERE_GRAPHIC.html#

Been using that to help me out but it's pretty whack (Detroit and Kuwait City? Come on!)

Run Fat Boy, Run

2008-10-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

'No one is going to call us morning people'

The month of October is packed full of races that I'll be running as a lead up to main event in Greece of The Marathon. Today the race seasons kicked off at Camp Buehring with the Army 10 miler. SFC Freeman and I hit the road at 3AM and just made it in the nick of time to get signed up and begin the race on time at 5 AM.

I was a bit worried about the race because most of my recent training has been on a treadmill in a hot room at the gym. This is where I train because it lets me watch football as I run. So I hadn't been on the road for a while, I train at night and this run was in the morning, and I'd never aimed my training at 10 miles, only the marathon training schedule I use.

Well those worries went away quickly; Kinczewski ran the 10 miles in 1 hour and 17 minutes which translates to 7.7 mph or an average 7:48 minute mile. That's big time because my fast runs are usually at 7.5/8:00 pace and my long runs (more than 8 miles) are run at 6.5/9:15. I think I might have to re-evaluate my training schedule. It was pretty awesome because I finished ahead of the other people in my unit who showed up, overall I was closer to the front than back, and as per the title I was running with the skinny dudes who you'd expect those numbers from.

So, things went great and I'm looking forward to the Navy 5k next week (aka sprint) and the Columbus Day 1/2 marathon the week after. There is a full marathon available on Columbus Day, but I'm worreid that if I mess that one up it'll ruin my psyche for Greece, so I'm going half way. More updates to come on this soon, one down and it couldn't have gone better!

If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants

2008-10-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

The above is a quote Isaac Newton jack off someone back in the day but it sums up the new reading program I'm putting myself on. My friend Reagan, yes I do talk to someone named after Him but note that I have no friends named Nixon or Bush, sent me an e-mail yesterday that referred to earlier ones I had sent her about how much I was reading (when I first got here). Recently I've been wrapped up in reading for my online classes and have neglected the books that I want to read, most recommended by my Pops, which I think holds greater educational value than anything AMU is having me read. SO, today I picked up The Best and The Brightest to restart from where I last left off and ran into Lydon Baines Johnson. As the great David Halberstam describes him:

'If later one of Johnson's qualities which caused doubts among the nation's critics was his force, the very abundance of it- the great capacity to plead, to bully, to beg, to implore, the capacity to manipulate them to what he considered his interest and the nation's interest- in those early days he was much hailed for it. He was not berated for being a manipulator then, that term would come later.' (pg 302)

Yeah, sounds like a dude who knew how to get his initiatives pushed through. One of the recent problems our unit has run with getting projects done are certain people who have approve/disapprove power at choke points for a project: they may have no interest in it, but they say no to be difficult. In light of this, and to try and develop myself to deal with it in the future I grabbed ordered the three books Robert Caro wrote on LBJ (with a 4th concerning the vice presidency and the rest of his life in the works). Much like my beloved Halberstam, this dude knew how to name books, just look at them: The Path To Power, Means of Ascent, Master of the Senate. If nothing else it'll look good on the bookshelf. Anyways, that's what I'll be reading as of next week and I'm pretty excited.

The Thomas Friedman of the 54th Signal Battalion

2008-10-03T04:23:00.000-07:00

My buddy in S1 needed some material for the Battalion newsletter and yours truly answered the call to word processing with overwhelming force. Below are my audition pieces for the NYT Opinion pages, double click them to enlarge for reading:

Times are a changin'

2008-09-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

NYT: Somali Pirates Tell All - They're in It for the Money

Pirates now have a spokesperson who communicates withe the New York Times, when I saw this the only thing that ran through my head was Bob Dylan singing '...times are a changin'...'

Beem me up some hot pants Scotty

2008-09-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/30/gay.in.hollywood/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

did you know Mr. Sulu is gay, Mr. Chekov was his best man, and Lieutenant Uhura was the maid of honor?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Takei

'On May 16, 2008, Takei announced that he and Brad Altman (his partner for the last 21 years), would be getting married. On June 17, shortly after Takei and Altman obtained their marriage license, they spread the news by holding a press conference outside the West Hollywood city auditorium.[17] They were married on September 14, 2008 at the Democracy Forum of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles (George is one of the founders).[18] Walter Koenig was his best man, and Nichelle Nichols was the Matron of Honor. Reverend George Matsubayashi of the Nishi Honganji Buddhist Temple of Los Angeles presided over the ceremony.'- wikipedia, George Takei

or that William Shatner is a homophob (and you wonder why he couldn't get a decent gig in Hollywood forever!):

'In a radio interview on The Adam Carolla Show on June 19, 2008, Takei made implications to the effect that part of his problems with Shatner began when, as Takei started coming out of the closet for the first time, his sexuality was accepted by almost everyone on the cast and crew of Star Trek -except Shatner himself'-wikipedia, George Takei

I think we now know why Mr. Sulu left the USS Enterprise to command the USS Excelsior.... I was hoping the future would be a more accepting place for people from every walk of life. Also this explains why the whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was a voyage to San Francisco! It all makes sense now!

This post is pending approval of my friend Chris on behalf of the gay community.

Rumor of the Day

2008-09-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

"The father of Sarah Palin's grand daughter is black, I saw it on Youtube"

- Mo aka G-Lover aka Latin Lover aka Julio Jones of the HHD Football team

This is by far my favorite rumor EVER. PS Mo is not the father.

Education in America

2008-09-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

After some good dialogue with my roomie about online schooling, and some thinking on the tread mill, I came to a conclusion: If I were ever to become a single issue voter (we'll besides the single issue being if they're a Democrat or not) it would be on education. My Pops always said that the military is the best place to meet America and I couldn't agree more. Over the last two years in Korea and here in Kuwait I've met a group of my countrymen more diverse than anything that could be intentionally put together.
When I talk about continuing my education with these online grad school classes I always make sure to drop the disclaimer that this is not to be my real grad school experience, but rather preperation for the real deal. It's like Ohio State playing a couple patsies before rolling out to USC (of course in my world Ohio State, me, will own USC). To put it as simply as it can be stated: online grad school is not real academia.
The problem I have is that the military treats a degree from Havard with the same value as one handed out by The University of Phoenix. If you have a BA you have a BA, all that matters is that you have it. The military extremely encourages Soldiers to take classes and there's nothing wrong with that, in fact it's a great thing, but the problem is that the Soldiers are told these degrees will be taken seriously outside the military; this is obviously not true. I like the program, but we need to be upfront with Soldiers that they need to take residential courses. In Korea it was heartbreaking to hear one of our bright Soldiers talk about transferring all of their credits to Ohio State and finishing off their. As my roomie told me when he tried to transfer his credits earned at on-post classes to a residential school not one class was accepted.
So what am I getting at? I end up reviewing a lot of the work Soldiers put together and I've come to the conclusion that our national education system is failing our youth. Too often I've gone over the work of extremely bright Soldiers to find out they have no idea how the express their thoughts on paper, nor use common writing skills; they're smart but uneducated.
Part of the reason for this may be that the Army has begun recruiting HS drop outs, and puts them through GED boot camp before they join the force to maintain that everyone has a HS degree. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm all for furthering education, but it shows a second problem. As AFN informs the entire military numerous times each day four out of ten high school students won't graduate. Does that sound like a recipe for disaster? It does to me.
Furthermore, I can make a reference to the much missed but never forgotten Favorite KATUSA (FK) Kim Chul Woo. FK loved to eat and I loved to take him and his KATUSA buddies out to eat. Everyone had a party. But I couldn't count how many times he said he couldn't go out to eat, even on weekends, because he had to do classwork. And this was not for correspondence courses, this was watching taped lectures for classes he would take in the future one his service obligation was up. The schooling regimes in the Far East are well documented, academic slavery of 6 days with 12 hours of education a pop. So our students are dropping out while the rest of the world is working harder than ever, this has potential to be bad.
Our government needs to do something and this is my big issue. Your chances for having a successful country are not good when the prerequisites aren't there, an educated population is essential to success. To drop a couple JFK quotes:

- 'A child miseducated is a child lost'

- 'Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.'

- 'Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain. '

- 'Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. '

Football's a Battlefield...

2008-09-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

While the Bears loss this weekend to the Carolina Panthers was disheartening I've loved what the players had to say after the game:

"I'm not a dirty player and never have been," said Briggs, who insisted Monday night that he would appeal any possible fine. They pay me to be mean on Sunday. It's football. You can't spend the rest of the game or after the game crying about hits. Not taking anything from Jake Delhomme; he's a great quarterback. But this is football. You're going to get hit."
"I told him to get off the field," Urlacher said. "It would have been different had they gotten the first down. Then I would have been ticked. But it was fourth down so, 'Go to the sideline. Your field-goal team is coming in.' "

Brandon McGowan picked up two of those special-teams penalties, including a 15-yard roughness call on Brandon Lloyd's 9-yard touchdown return of Darrell McClover's blocked punt."I just pushed the dude, and I shouldn't have," McGowan said. "I just felt like hitting somebody."

That my friends is what football is all about: controlled bursts of extreme aggression and violence (in a tasteful manner of course). The game is not meant to be played soft and anyone who feels that it should needs to pay more attention to The Golf Channel. While swallow a loss is always bitter, I'm happy to see that our players have their minds in the right place: beating some ass. Bear down Chicago Bears!

'Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You....'

2008-09-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

NYT Editorial - The Spirit of Public Service. Hmmm, call me silly but it seems like there's widespread bipartisan support to increase the amount of volunteer workers, similar to and in some cases in the role of community organizers. My how things changes fast; wasn't it just two weeks ago community organizers were being joked about on national television during the two most watched nights in political convention history? Maybe my thoughts are blury from eight months of sobriety in the desert. Anyways my roomie put the picture blow on his blog (essence v. existence on the right hand side) and it now is my desktop background! Back to important matters: Notre Dame needs to beat Michigan today, and I means I NEED them to for my own sanity. Go Irish.

Credibility Rises

2008-09-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

After finding this in the syllabus for my current class (about designing a research paper) I have a new respect for American Military University (AMU):

As part of the preliminary review -- using the APUS Online Library and/or any other reliable online resource site -- you will be finding 5 to 7 professional articles that seem most suitable for this research effort (the topic of Global Warming). Professional sources do not include blogs, Wikipedia or The Fox News Network.

There are many 'brick and mortar' schools that unfortunately will accept News Corps products, go AMU! Now we just need a football team!

Revenge is a dish best served in Indianapolis

2008-09-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears, Daaaaaaaaaaaaa Bears!

Last night (my yesterday morning) the Chicago Bears avenged the demons of two years passed and ruined the opening of the Indianapolis Colts new stadium. You can call me a small man but revenge was sweet. Like most of the world I thought the Bears were in line for an A-1 ass whooping but WOW! Our defense played like the gang of thugs we all believed they could be (Marcus Harrison, keep making us forget about Tank) but the offense, now that was a surprise. After the failures of Cedric Benson and starting a rookie, the last couple years, and how weak our o-line looked in the preseason I expected nothing of our offense. But, against all reason, they handled a defense with an all world pass rusher (Freeney) and the best non-pacific islander or Miami safety in the league (Sanders). The first thing listed deserves special mention: the rookie at running back! Matt Forte is the man! Being a Tulane alum I'm more than familiar with the struggles our highly touted players have had in the pros (JP Losman, Bernard Robertson, Patrick Ramsey and moderate successes like Roydell Williams, Mewelde Moore, and Shaun King) but after one game I'm ready to call Forte an unmitigated success! Next week Da Bears play Carolina and that should tells us a lot about the team, but things are looking good (until the injury bug bites) right now. I've also decided that if he runs for more than 1,000 yards I'll break my self-imposed and enforced ban on donating to Tulane and send some money in his name.

A couple thoughts about the NFL opening weekend:

-Brandon Jacobs officially owns Laron Landry

-Brett Favre might have put up good numbers against the Dolphins, but there were a couple very questionable throws that turned out well for him.... I don't see giant things coming from the Jets

-Must suck to be a Raiders fan!

-Minnesota and Indy play next week and afterwards one will be 0-2, big game

-Tom Brady getting hurt is a tragedy but a team like the Patriots rallies around adversity and I'll bet they still win atleast one playoff game. And you know what? I think the league will make sure (although I'm sure they can do it on their own) about that because imagine if the Pats play bad enough to get another high draft pick? It'd be unfair.

-Those Philly fans had better start treating Donovan right, the man is back

-Vince Young got booed off the field before getting injured by a home crowd, I'll need to research this more but without being too indepth with the Titans I thought he was the best thing to happen to the franchise in ages, what's up with the haters?

-Detriot got ran on for more than 300 yards? Still not as bad as being a Raiders fan

Now onto the countdown to Kansas-USF and then OSU-USC. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Two Down, Ten to Go

2008-08-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

To the right I've posted a picture of Memorial Stadium at UC Berkeley. Why? Because the reason I'm doing all this classwork is to try and strengthen my academic portfolio for 'brick and mortar' grad school. The end goal is to make it back in Berkeley without the aid of an act of God (last time being Hurricane Katrina). Yesterday I submitted my final exam for my second online masters class to wrap it up. Tomorrow number three begins. I can definitely say taking these classes has been productive in several capacities, namely they keep me writing (providing much needed polishing for my writing skills), have introduced me to some great research websites (here's a fun one about how well Alaska is run as a state), and have kept me reading academic works.

This latest class was on comparative politics. More or less every week I was learning about the civics of one or two countries. I won't say the text book was the most interesting reading in terms of how it was written but the material was great (so long as the wording didn't force me to pass out). For my final paper I wrote about the executive branch in the German government and the rules put in place after WWII to prevent another consolidation of power like what Hilter did, and that project involved tracking the history of their executive and government in general back to 1871 when Bismarck united Germany as part of the Prussian empire.

For the final exam I had to delineate the controls on the power of the executives in India and China which led to trying to figure out their entire governments. It totally opened up my eyes. Before doing taking this class, I honestly thought that parliamentary Prime Ministers were usually directly elected and I had no idea how communist systems worked. It was all well worthwhile and once I get some down time I plan to go through the chapter on the US because I suck on the civics of my own country.

With the pace of things at work the last two weeks have been incredibly busy with little sleep. Every now and then I'd get like 2-5 hours of sleep but otherwise I was on the studying/working/running circuit non-stop. Of course it didn't wear me out too bad because I registered for a third, pretty much concurrent, class and I'm pretty excited. When I have the classes I bitch about how busy I am, but in between them I complain about how bored I am. At least I'm exercising the inaliable right of every Soldier to complain to my hearts content (as long as I keep doing whatever I'm complaining about)!

Snap Judgement

2008-08-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

I hope John McCain was pandering to the disaffected HRC supporters with his VP pick because outside of that logic, well there isn't much logic. He had some very strong candidates out there, much stronger in my opinion than Barack did, lets go down the list:
-Charlie Crist: has proven his loyalty by spurring Guliani to shift the primary in the sunshine state, and effectively the nomination, to McCain. There's no reason to think that Crist couldn't carry Florida in the general election. More over he's a likelable guy.
-Mitt Romeny: Not such a likeable guy, and he did blow the Republican nomination, but the guy knows how to run an organization and has a proven track record plus is experienced on the campaign trail.
-Mike Huckabee: If he wanted to make the religious right happy this guy would have been perfect for.
-Kay Hutchinson: Would have covered the female aspect, helped hold down what might be a state now in play, and has a solid conservative legislative back ground.
-That former Governor of Pennsylvania: Without Pennsylvania the Democrats can't win, put someone on the ticket who has won there before.
Not a bad collection to choose from. I won't go over board on Palin, but it doesn't make sense; it takes away the best angle there is against Barack, his lack of experience, and the McCain campaign has no idea how she'll perform on the national scene. Well, if nothing else, McCain definitely has his independent streak back now...

'We Cannot Turn Back'

2008-08-29T06:09:00.000-07:00

This morning I found a better way to start off the day than a MAJ Moon led yoga session; watching Barack make history. I've been studying, running, and working my ass off lately and pretty much pulled an all nighter for Barack and it was definitely worth it.

To put the bottom line up front: Barack impressed the hell out of me. I think it's safe to say the era of the pussy liberal is over. I see that the AP is trying to knock him for attacking McCain and delivering little substance on policy, but I think the speech was perfect: it introduced his life story to new voters in a beautiful video (that showed him raised by white people, hopefully that'll calm some of the fence sitters), showed that Hillary isn't the only fighter out there willing to call someone out, directly met the celebrity/patriotism attacks, he looked so strong and purpose driven, there was no down point in the cadence or the substance, he made the Bush-McCain connection, it had everything. It was amazing to see how much he has changed, from big eyed and hopeful for change in 2002, to change needed now w/o turning back in 2008.

The 'We Cannot Turn Back' line especially haunted me. It made me feel like we really are embarking on changing things, and I loved the 10% change isn't good enough line. Then there was the dramatic music at the end, it was almost like something from a movie. I can't imagine how surreal it must have been to be there for both the speech and spectacle. I think the bounce coming out of the convention, with a unified party and a candidate who just gave the speech of speeches, is going to be giant.

I also really like how he pulled the JFK move of challenging Americans to be great but added in the standard Republican line of personal accountability. My biggest thing overall though is that he looked and sounded strong, driven, and confident and his words backed down from nothing (including several third rail issues that no one has brought up: abortion, gun control, etc.). I don't think anyone is going to worry about the Clinton's stealing spotlight at the convention anymore. Great way to start the day here; Barack delivered the goods better than I could have imagined.

Now the ball is in McCain's court, my favorite line by the commentators after the speech, 'If I were the person picked to be McCain's running mate I wouldn't be too excited right now'.

Unfortunate Landmark

2008-08-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

This morning I received an e-mail from college buddy Army Dan notifying me that one of our ROTC instructors, Sergeant First Class Todd, was killed in Afghanistan. This was a man we had daily interactions with for the better part of two years at Tulane. I immediately forwarded the news to the other members of my ROTC unit that Dan hadn't cc'd on the e-mail. When Dan called me he said the news hit him like a ton of bricks. Personally, I'm still waiting to have that same feeling; right now the feeling is kind of like 'shit happens, unfortutely it happened to a good man/NCO, God bless'.

I think I've kind of gotten to the point where I've accepted that people are getting killed in the Global War on Terror (GWOT: Iraq and Afghanistan) and was kind of waiting for it to hit home. The news really has yet to tweak me out. A couple people that I know have gotten pretty messed up, both in Afghanistan were Sergeant Todd was killed, but that's a dramatic step below a fatality. One of the things I've often said while paging through Army Times is that you never check the Killed In Action (KIA) list to make sure that your friends are ok, but rather to see if someone you have something against has been knocked off. Unfortunately this time the list contained someone I both liked as person and had incredible respect for as a professional; he was probably the best NCO I've ever met, Mark and I both said we'd give up ligaments to have him working for us. Anyways, God bless.

Simmering Music

2008-08-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

So now that I've been cut off from pirating music, and I can't stand AFN radio because it keeps playing Nickelback (three things I hate: racists, gypsies, and Nickelback), so I've been buying/borrowing a lot of CD's to put on my computer at work. The job keeps me super busy so try and simmer myself down I try to listen to chilled out music. For the last couple weeks this has mainly been James Taylor; it's hard to get pissed at someone with 'Sweet Baby James' and 'Only a Dream in Rio' playing in the background. It's impossible to get heated when 'Shower the People' is on, believe me, I've definitely tested it out. BTW, if you didn't know, check out James Taylor's bio on wikipedia, that dude was all kinds of messed up on drugs and his marriage w/Carly Simon was destroyed by his work. For a such a chilled out dude he was pretty fucked up. Back the the point: Unfortunately though the music got old after playing it 24/7 for a couple weeks.

The search then began for new music. I went to PX, looked at it's limited selection, and ended up buying the newest Alicia Keys cd and WOW! I was usually a pretty big fan of her hits but this entire album is off the hook! I really can't wyle out enough about the album, definitely gives some legitimacy to the whole neo-soul genre. I've been a sucker for any female artist who can play the piano, but this one is special. Sorry Vanessa, you're #2 in my book right now; Alicia is above and beyond. Smooth voice, real lyrics, and most of all she actually sounds passionate. I highly recommend the album, even if you're not trying to simmer down from frustrating times. The singles off it, 'Teenage Love Affair', 'No One', and 'Like You'll Never See Me Again' are all hot descending in hotness. The last two tracks on the album 'Tell You Something' and 'Sure Looks Good to me' are pr0bably my favorite songs with the former foremost, just real soulful, doesn't have a piano part, but definitely my fav. I highly recommend checking the album out. Oh yeah, as shown at the BET awards, she loves Barack much like some other people I know..... ;-)

Changing of the Guard

2008-08-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

Three times in the last month we've had the Army's classic summertime ceremony: the change of command. In normal world terms this means getting a new boss at different levels. Today we got a new Battalion Commander (the main Boss of my current unit). The out going boss (the dude on the left in the photo) was definitely a beloved leader. Experiencing his leadership was awesome. I like think that most people aspire to be the leader who has the parental like roll with their subordinates where they don't want to dissapoint the head honcho. This dude definitely did that. When I first got here I had to make a hiring decision that it seemed my predecessor (great guy, great officer) and pretty much everyone else was avoiding. Basically the problem was that his wife worked here also and we were showing favoritism based on that. Oddly, the dude was incredibly over qualified and it ended up being reverse discrimination where if his wife hadn't been here he would have been hired in a heartbeat. Anyways when I decided to hire him LTC Harris stood behind my decision and I was like 'wow, he trusts me'. I'm sure he knew all of the background on the story but it made a giant impact on me and definitely set the cogs for me to become the workaholic I currently am. It bought my loyalty. After he left command today we had to chase him down to sign some documents we fucked up on and while the dude no longer had any power over me I felt terrible troubling him on his way out and what had to be a special day for him (a Battalion Command is usually the highlight of an officer's career, many times the pinnacle before retirement). LTC Harris was a great BC.

The new dude, LTC Bullock, seems pretty damn cool and it seems like through the Army grapevine no one has heard a bad thing about him. Time will tell but everyone is very excited about the future. In the last month and a half the three most important people in the BN have changed out, and two of the three new guys had big shoes to fill, but all three of the replacements seem to be awesome and the future is bright. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out, but I'm excited.

How To Get Fired

2008-07-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

So John McCain has a campaign ad with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton comparing their celebrity status to Barack's.... yeah I think some DC area advertising agency is about to have an opening in senior management! America, like most countries, loves celebrities, and I don't think Obama's celebrity status is going to hurt him one bit. Also, of all the celebrities to feature, those two? The world's worst single Mom and the chick made famous by a home made porn? That is pretty low. Now an Alec Baldwin comparison, that'd be understandable, and if they were really cool and trying to get the youth vote they could use the Alec Baldwin from Team America! Not only would it paint the liberals as evil, but also let them use the celebrity angle (if it weren't for 30 Rock would this dude still be a celeb?) while most importantly showing a sense of humor. While my vote is pretty clear, I'd love to see them make this.

TCN's Rioting

2008-07-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

Monday this week our Deparment of the Army Civilian workers were told to avoid one of the main roads in Kuwait because Third Country Nationals (TCNs) were rioting. The picture to the right has nothing to do with them, it's from the Seattle WTO protests, but I thought it'd communicate the idea. There's no way the TCN's could get that bout it with how small and poorly fed they are. Anyways, why were they rioting? Because they hadn't been paid in 5 months. But get this: they get paid about 20 KD, approximately $75, per month. So basically these dudes have been subjected to slave like conditions. The US government employs many companies that use TCN labor to basically do the housekeeping work on post, knowing fully well how poor the pay and living conditions for the TCN's are. I find it disturbing that we support Operation Iraqi FREEDOM and Operation Enduring FREEDOM with companies that more or less participate in slavery. In Korea we had Juicy and those chicks were definitely A-1 human trafficked, but atleast it wasn't the US government paying their wages (just the US servicemembers, we have a long history of making poor decisions....). Anyways, apparently the TCNs got their rioting out of them and now they're back at work. Still, I thought it was a notable occurence of the hypocrisy of our United States Government, especially on the day we formally apologized for slavery and Jim Crowe Laws.

Obvious Indicators

2008-07-25T03:39:00.000-07:00

So 200k German nationals attended a Barack Obama speech in Berlin... if that's not an obvious indicator that the rest of the world is ready for some big change in US leadership I don't know what would be. One of things I've definitely learned in my studies and travels is that the United States is not an isolated country; we have our hands in the affairs of countries all over the world through trade, defense, aid, etc. While it might sound presumptuous to call ourselves the leaders of the free world, well, somebody has to take the reins in the past it has been us. I can't wait to see how the French react to Barack, I think him and Sarkozy meeting is going to be beyond awesome!

PS just as a follow up thought, what will Europe think if we don't elect Obama?

Getting My Jog On

2008-07-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

To the left is the original running man himself, MC Hammer! While my white heritage prohibits me from having any rhythm or ability to dance, myself and Hammer have something in common: running.

With all the time I've had to kill out here running has become my new hobby with aspirations to finish off a marathon. I've scheduled the long run for November in Greece; here's the information on it and here's my training schedule. True it is the second lowest level of training, but this player is trying to finish. I've been staying in line with the guidance of the training schedule but it has waring on me. I feel like it's good to be doing to work towards a big goal, and if there's a time for me to do a marathon it's now since hopefully I'll never go through another year of my life completely sober! Talk about nightmares. So I continue to jog; my goal is not to make a certain time but just to finish.

Anyways, I'm going to start posting updates on my running more often and thought this would be a good notification, and reason for me to post an 80's photo :-)

Fav Photo

2008-07-22T08:05:00.001-07:00

The title of this post says it all :-)

VIP Visit

2008-07-20T07:01:00.001-07:00

Yes, you know who's silhouette that is, and yes, that is the parking lot outside of the gym around the corner from my crib in Kuwait. Last Friday Barack visited and it was awesome! I waited with 1SG Whittington from my last Company and the two Major Powell's for about two hours for the man to come out but it was totally worth it.

Once he came out he only said a couple of words, mostly the usual stuff about how we're doing such a great job and while no one understands our sacrifices he'll make sure that we'll be taken care of once we're home. It was pretty obvious that his words weren't scripted because 1). he did have speech inconsistencies 2). there were words scripted on placards but he didn't follow them. I was also awed when I saw him because I thought back to the first time I saw him about two years ago at the 2006 NU graduation, when my sister met him in someone's backyard when he was running for the Democratic Senate nomination, Dad meeting him in the elevator at Marco, etc. just how paths run into one another.

It was just amazing to actually see him; the guy is one every news channel every day, is without a doubt the story of the year (possibly the 50 considering this might be the culmination of the Civil Rights movement), and this was his first stop on his historic tour of the GWOT countries and then Europe. Things are going to be wild once he gets to Europe, while the Germans are big fans of him I can't imagine what it's going to be like when he hits the ground in France. With the way those dudes love to riot, it's going to be off the chain.

Anyways, the best parts of Barack's visit here were 1). getting to have him look me in the eye and shake my hand while saying my service is appreciated (I just regret that I didn't give him a terrorist first jab) and 2). seeing that there was support for him in the military community. There definitely weren't any haters on the scene. One contrast that was apparent was the difference between the reception him and the current President received. For President Bush's visit they had to make it mandatory and there were definitely a lot of reluctant participants. With Barack on the other hand official word was never put out, it was a rumored event, and there definitely was no shortage of people on hand.

Overall, it awesome that he showed up, it definitely raised my morale, and I think everyone walked away with the feeling they'd just seen the next President of the United States of America. Great stuff!

Le Invasion

2008-07-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/16/europe/burgers.php

One of the things I noticed in Asia was that while America might not be winning the hearts of the world with our foreign policy, the world still loves our culture; while France might not be big on supporting the Global War on Terror, they're loving our trademark meal. I remember hearing about Kobe beef burgers being made, are foie gras burgers next? Who knows. I'm still awaiting the day the world accepts the Lutherburger :-)

Haters

2008-07-16T10:20:00.001-07:00

Man, it seems like the recent theme in the S4 shop has been, 'what hater is going to get us pissed off next? Is it going to be one of the usual suspects or a surprise entry?'

Often I like the quote that great soothsayer Sean Carter, and one of his many great lines: 'Haters don't phase me'. Well, today the haters finally phased me. As you can see on the left I had to have SSG Kaaihue and my roomie try to simmer me down after one of the haters pushed me over the edge. Their massaging and a couple of good jokes put me in a better mood but I was definitely listening to James Taylor of the rest of the day to keep myself in check.

I always talk about how I like this job because it keeps me busy, has small goals I can accomplish, and actually matters in terms of the unit accomplishing it's mission. These are great things and make me feel like I'm spending my time in a worthwhile endeavor. But man, some of these dudes get me soooooooooooo pissed, and the worst part is that one of my faults is that I am a vindictive person; the other cheek is not being turned on my watch. Luckily the important people in my unit are cool so I don't have to worry about getting punked by people who outrank me, but some of their subordinates do the trick pretty well. One of the things I've definitely seen within myself is that my tolerance for laziness and careless behavior has approached zero; I'm actually hoping this builds into a reputation so people don't think about brining half-assed projects to me.

To deal with all of this stress and hating, I'm thinking about increasing my attendance at yoga classes from 3 to five days a week. Yoga is the shit for getting stress out of the system, and the environment of the class is so friendly and polite.... it makes me smile, people are just so curteous. If anyone has any recommendations they're more than welcomed. Also, while this post is bitching about work, I must reiterate that I'm very happy here, love my job, and this place is 100% better than Korea.

INTERESTING NOTE: We got a new Signal General to lead us over here, and check out his education:

-Bachelors in Electrical Engineering: MIT

-Masters in Electrical Engineering: MIT

-Doctorate in Electrical Engineering: MIT

oh yeah, and somewhere along the line he decided to go for a change of pace and picked up an MBA from Berkeley. This guy is probably the best educated officer in the history of the military, and while he looks kind of frail, he makes me proud to be in Signal!

Fools

2008-07-13T06:16:00.000-07:00

Man, just to start this post off correctly, I've got to take on my hater alter ego and say Jesse Jackson is an idiot. While the guy has proven he has more political lives than a cat with the 'Hymietown' comment on NYC and being a reverend with a child out of wedlock this one might be fatal. It's all too ironic that the man who bases his street cred on being there when MLK was shot, the MLK who said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.", would say in language similar to a Chicago gangster of the 1920's that he wants to castrate the black man who exactly 40 years to the day after MLK professed his dream at the Washington Mall will be accepting the nomination of the Democratic party. I think this just shows why Barack's message of change is hitting such a chord with the American peope; we're tired of politicians who are cut throat, willing to say anything, slander anyone and betray the morals they profess among other things. Not to point the finger at anyone, but John McCain likes to ride around on the 'Straight Talk Express' and speak loudly about campaign finance reform (especially lobbyists) but, in the vein of bringing up old shit, there was that whole Keating 5 scandal.... read the link, while wikipedia isn't the most trustworthy site, I'm sure there is plenty of material provided by other news outlets.
Oh man, I had to get that out. It's been a while since I did a good Barack rant on here. So nothing too new this week, just the usual running around with purchasing orders, trying to get everyone on the same page for several projects, and running in general. I'm going to try and keep my posts limited to single theme so they can be more concentrated. God knows I have a scatter shot mind and I want to keep it from spilling over to the blog. I'll post something about the marathon training soon, it's going well :-)

Not A Bad Week

2008-07-04T04:33:00.000-07:00

Man, this was a pretty good week. I always write about how well we get along in the office and on Wednesday we got to celebrate the birthday for one of our DAC's (Department of the Army Civilians) and that went really nice. The birthday girl is in her mid-50's and unfortunately I think she didn't have anyone else throwing a celebration, but she definitely seemed to enjoy our little office party pictured to the right. This photo was taken during the little birthday speech. It felt great being able to do something nice for one of our own.

Then came Thursday, which turned out to be a banner day. We started off the morning with a short Battalion jog after which my roomie and I went to our yoga class. Yoga class is a Tue-Thu-Sat event. This last Tue was no fun, it was not relaxing, and my stomach is still sore three days after the fact from the ab work out. Thu though, it was good shit! After that we had this briefing for all the senior leadership (gay) that was followed by a promotion for some of the Soldiers in my old unit the 519th (awesome). After that I went to the Company BBQ and afterwards SSG K convinced me to play hooky from work to go get massages (I didn't feel guilty about this for a second, I show up to work an hour early and leave 2 hours late, nevermind it's the 4th and I was in at 0900 today) and that was suuuuuuuuuuch a good idea. SSG K has yet to fail/dissapoint. But the days main attraction was the dining in.

Now usually dining ins, formal military dinners, are drunk idiot fests and with this event being dry my initial expectations were extremely low. I usually love unit activities, which makes me a freak in terms of officers, but I wasn't very excited for this one... but that all changed once I got to the event: It was awesome. It was by far my favorite military event that I've ever attended. Everyone was into the event, the unit that put it together did an incredible job, the skits were hilarious, everything was awesome. Even General Freeman's (the big Signal Officer out here) speech was enlightening; did you know that in 1947 Ike told Congress we'd be out of Germany in 5 years? Interesting stuff. The event was great and I can't say enough about it. Above is a picture that shows a little of what the scene looked like but doesn't do it justice. It was an awesome day well worth being noted.

So today is the 4th of July, the birthday of our nation and my good friend Trustin. This is year number two (of what looks to be 5) of celebrating it outside the States. I'm at work today because things had to be done, and I really have nothing else to do. There are the standard large scale events (concerts with c-list to no name acts, over populated BBQ's, 10k's, etc.) but they hold little interest to me. I'm amazed by how seriously I take work, and how much I enjoy doing it although it's just paper pushing. I think it's because we're actually getting things done and getting this equipment matters in terms of operations. While I would love to be back in Evanston for the standard 4th of July celebrations, I'm perfectly content here doing my job in an over cooled office (it's July in Kuwait and I'm wearing SSG K's fleece she keeps in here for no apparent reason.... well I guess the reason is apparent now ;-) Anyways, no profound thoughts from spending the 4th over here, just happy doing my job and hoping the next long weekend we get for the 4th I'll be having a couple beers while writing post cards from somewhere random in Europe. If only you could see the smile on my face right now thinking about that :-)

Damn It's Hot

2008-06-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

Man, late June in the desert, the lows are in the 90's! I run every other morning at 0500 and lately I've been pulling up lame way earlier than I should, and I was wondering why? Well then I looked at the weather forecast and it all made sense. It sucks because I need to stay on the ball with running since I just put down the deposit on the trip to Greece to run the marathon in November, but I can't run for long in this weather. I'm sure I'll find a way to survive.

So work as the Battalion Logistics officer has become all encompassing; I work 7 days a week. The picture above shows my lair aka office. As you can see it has the usual Kinczewski paraphenalia: Bears stuff, Kennedy photos, Asian crap (the sumo coffee mug, my fav). I can't tell you how much time I spend here. But here's the magical thing about working in Kuwait: there's nothing else to do, so going to work is the highlight of the day. Additionally I don't have the internet in my crib, so, you can guess where I'm writing this from.

Anyways, things are really picking up at work, and I like it. This is by far my favorite of the four jobs I've had in the field Army. Being busy is waaaaaaaaaaay better than having nothing to do. My meter for how busy I am is by how far into the NYT Opinion section I get each day. At my last job, I made it all the way through, simply because there wasn't that much to do. These days I don't even open the daily e-mail from the NYT, too busy. But the cool part is I'm staying busy with important work (better believe if we don't get the stuff we're ordering, a lot of people are going to have phone and internet problems, and the Army is run by Outlook).

I've talked about how much I like the people I work with: 2 NCO's and 2 Department of the Army Civilians (DAC's). I need to get a photo of us to post. To the left is the best I have to offer at the moment; it's myself and SSG K (one of the two NCO's), I'm making her promise on a holy book not to whoop too much ass. She's awesome, and really likes standing up for people and was about to speak her mind to someone who was messing with the lower enlisted Soldier (in the middle) who our office has adopted. Standard officer fun. We didn't get a REALLY good pic but this one is servicable. SSG K is probably the most interesting person I've ever met. My friend April held that title for a while, but SSG K is off the chain. Anyways, I think she held up her oath and represented for our adopted Private without getting too wild.

So, some thoughts on recent topics:

- I just finished my final assignment for my first online masters class and it's such a relief; 10% of the way done. I'm not sure what grad I'll get in the class, I definitely had some problems with how it was structured (not very concise on requirements for assignments), but I definitely learned and got to work on my writing skills so it was worthwhile. Probably the most telltale sign of my experience with the class is that I've signed up for another one starting July 7th.... and I'm excited for it.

- So my immediate boss is the BN XO, the number two dude in the BN, a Major. The last BN XO we had is probably the best officer I've ever met, and that's the popular opinion on him. So, the new guy has some pretty big shoes to fill but I think he's going to do well. Thankfully he's also REALLY cool so everyone wants to work hard for him. I think we're going to have a good relationship.

- Thank God the Bulls picked Derrick Rose with the #1 pick. After seeing the positive impact young 1's like Deron Williams and Chris Paul have had on their teams, I want a sick 1. The Bulls have tons of underachieving young talent and I think having a good 1 will work magic. Additionally, the Bulls had the balls to do what the Bears didn't and brought home the young star. Derrick Rose is straight out of the Chicago Public League and the city will be ready to love him.

- While watching the election coverage I've become more and more convinced that Barack is going to run away with the election; all the coverage is centered on him. I think McCain would have done well against Gore or Kerry in the last two elections, but Barack is on a different level. The GOP isn't defeating this guy without cloning Ronald Reagan.

- The Cubs are floating around 20 games over .500, if this isn't The Year, it ain't coming any time soon.

The New Job

2008-06-14T04:10:00.000-07:00

This week I took over Battalion logistics and so far I'm really liking this job. The group I work with is pretty awesome, by leaving my Company I kind of had to abandone my social circle but I like these guys just as much, and we're about to have a couple of civilians join us who should really help with distributing the workload. When everyone in the work place gets along it makes life so much easier.

Currently my group has 3 uniformed personnel (myself included) and 2 civilians. Everyone does good work, but this one female NCO I have is the real star; a very smart, very knowledgable, competent, workaholic. If this were the 2005 USC football team, she's Reggie Bush and I'm still looking for Lendale and Matt Leinart. Sticking with my thinking on taking care of your studs she gets treated well: she needs someone to complain to her boss is listening, she wants some kind of food we hunt it down, etc. we take care of our star. Both my other NCO and myself have planned our exits from Kuwait to coincide with hers, because these the centerpole of this tent.

Luckily in about two weeks we should be getting another stud on the civilian side. This dude will be an interesting case, here's the analogy I've been using to describe the situation: Imagine your recreation league football team needed a back up QB, and somehow you ended up with a retired Joe Montana taking the role because he wants to play the game but isn't looking to do anything too wild. This new dude is a Joe Montana. He pretty much made it to the top of the contracting world and this is his retirement gig since his wife is here. Once he gets here, we'll be on easy street.

The job itself is keeping me very busy and I'm learning quite a bit these days. I have no background in logistics and contracting, but that's changing very quickly. My measure for how busy my job keeps me/interests me is how much of the NYT I get through each day. Back at the Company I read just about every Opinion Article in the Times every day. Here on the other hand, man, I've barely had time to keep abreast of where Tom Friedman is and who Maureen Dowd (Player Hater of the Year 2007 and a strong repeat candidate in 2008, but Fox News with the Obama 'Terrorist Fist Thrust' and 'Baby Mama' drama is looking like the favorite) is hating on. I've started eating lunch in the office because of the pace of things. I've literally have days when I've come in at 5 AM and was in disbelief when realizing 5 PM had come. A busy bee I am.

So life's pretty good these days, and that's not even factoring in that I've now got cable TV AND indoor plumbing. While living on an Air Force base is still the promised land, there's definitely some milk and honey in this land also. None the less, I still fantasize about the future in Germany. I definitely live in the present, my job keeps me so busy there's no other choice, but every now and then I think of Germany and the smile comes across my face. 2008 might be a banner year for Kinczewski.

The general election campaign has begun and this is going to be a wild one. I think that while the race will be a close one, it'll be a story about Barack more than McCain. Just walk into any magazine isle, for the last 6 months Barack's face has been everywhere. Turn on the news, it's always about him. Say what you want about media favoritism; Barack is the story of the year. More and more I read about McCain embracing more and more Bush positions, and I don't think he paid much attention to how playing up a continuation/revisit with the past did Hillary in. If the last 6 months made anything clear, this is a change election, and now McCain is moving closer to maintaining our current posture. Because of this, I think things are going to bode well for Barack. Whatever happens, it's going to be interesting.

My Pops sent me this David Hablerstam book about the Clinton administration and it begins with the run up to the 1992 election. It's amazing how Clinton came out of nowhere to defeat Bush, this incredibly intelligent and talented politician sitting in a poor state no one really cared about deciding to give the race a shot and winning it. I'm really excited about this book. It has already become apparent though: Bill's phenom was nothing compared to what Barack's doing, what we're seeing right now is on a different level.

Also, just as a statement for the record, I told everyone in this office that R. Kelly was being framed and that no Chicago jury would ever convict the Pied Piper, and you know what? I made up for my prediction of USC wiping the floor with UT in the 2005 Rose Bowl. Jigga, Kelly, not guilty.

Oh man, I have to finish this homework. Luckily, since there's not much to do in Kuwait, I have plenty of time to do this.....

We Had So Many Good Ideas

2008-06-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

Part VI of The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (2002)

We had so many good ideas back then, where did they go? This week we're going over political economy in my class, something I know almost nothing about, so I'll definitely be learning something. From the little I do know though, the plan back in '02 sounded pretty solid.

Oh yeah the essay from last week, I scored pretty well on it:

Prompt: Validate Paul Collier's construct: 'Civil war has nothing much to do with the legacy of colonialism, or income inequality, or the political repression of minorities. Three things turn out to increase the risk of conflict: a relatively high proportion of young uneducated men; an imbalance between ethnic groups, with one tending to outnumber the rest; and, a supply of natural resources like diamonds or oil which simultaneously encourages and helps to finance rebellion'

I don't know why my response shows up as a link, I didn't post Table 1 because this post already takes up a ton of space:

Paul Collier’s construct on the nature and causes of civil war can be broken down into two parts: what factors do increase the likelihood of conflict and what factors have nothing to do with civil war. I’ll examine the former first and the later second. While doing this, the standard for validity of a factor will be that it applies without discrepancy.
The construct names three things that increase the risk of civil war: a relatively high proportion of young uneducated men; an imbalance between ethnic groups, with one tending to outnumber the rest; and, a supply of natural resources like diamonds or oil to simultaneously encourage/finance the rebellion. In Table 1 each of these factors has been applied to 10 unstable countries.
Collier’s first factor is the presence of a relatively high proportion of young uneducated men. In Table 1 young men are defined as being between the ages of 15 to 24 and literacy is the benchmark for being educated. Years of schooling was not used because quality varies from school to school (as seen in the US) and country to country. The first percentage in the column is the literacy rate for males between the ages 15 to 24, and the second percentage is the proportion of the countries total population that they make up. The large number of nomads and refugee movements complicate population counting in Somalia and there is no statistic listed for it [1].
With the exception of Sri Lanka each of the countries listed has a very high illiteracy rate among young males who make up a significant proportion of their countries populations. Additionally, when put against the world illiteracy rate for males of all ages (13%) [2] the numbers are again higher than normal. Considering that Sri Lanka’s percentages are lower than the rest of the unstable countries in Table 1 and their literacy rate being higher than the world average, this is not an accurate indicator of an increased risk of conflict. It does not apply to all the countries studied.
Next, Collier lists the presence of a dominant ethnic group. Referring back to Table 1 this can be found in seven of the ten countries. In Iraq and Sudan there’s actually the presence of ethnic and religious majority groups that have caused fighting (Iraq: 75-80% Arab v. 15-20% Kurd & 60-65% Shi’a v. 32-37% Sunni Muslim, Sudan: 52% black v. 39% Arab & 70% Sunni v. 5% Christian). Of the three without clear majorities, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Liberia are made up of numerous tribes and Sierra Leone has two ethnic groups that are approximately the same size. Additionally, while the CIA World Factbook lists Somalia’s ethnic make up as 85% Somali that group is divided; the country has had clan warfare so extensive that there are two self-declared autonomous countries within its borders (Somaliland and Puntland). That three (four if counting Somalia) of the ten countries don’t have ethnic majorities invalidating this indicator as an all applicable factor for civil war.
Collier’s third and final indicator is the presence of petroleum and diamonds to finance the fighting. Like dominant ethnic groups these resources are present in seven of the ten unstable countries. The diamond industry itself has admitted to use of diamonds to fund civil wars in the DRC, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Cote d’Ivoire [3] and oil is present in Pakistan, Iraq, and Sudan. The influence of diamonds and petroleum in increasing the risk of conflict is unquestionable. Of the three countries that don’t have oil and diamond reserves the Tamils abroad support the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and misused humanitarian aid is used to fund the war economy of Sudan [4]. This factor is invalidated because neither diamonds nor petroleum is present in three of the countries listed.
Reviewing Collier’s construct for what does cause civil war, Table 1 invalidates his argument. All three of his factors are found in only half of the ten countries listed. Only one of the factors applies to Sri Lanka. If the presence of two out of the three indicators were to be used as justification for the construct the question of whether civil war is likely in the US and UK would arise since both have ethnic imbalances and the required natural resources. That would again invalidate the construct. Collier’s construct for what does cause civil warfare is not all encompassing; in Table 1 it only hits the mark half the time.
Having invalidated Collier’s construct for what increases the risk of conflict the focus will be moved to what he says has nothing to do with civil war. He lists three of these factors: a legacy of colonialism, income inequality, and the political repression of minorities.
Of the ten unstable nations listed each one of them has a colonial legacy, making it more prevalent than any of Collier’s factors that increase the risk of conflict. Postcolonialism and the effects of decolonization are widely written about. When colonial powers abandoned their colonies they left neither stable governments nor healthy diversified economies and often boundaries that had nothing to do with ethnic populations. Many of the countries listed in Table 1 are still dealing with the fall out this in the forms of continual political turmoil, ethnic/tribal fighting and underdeveloped economies. While Collier dismisses the importance of a legacy of colonialism, its prevalence in the countries studied and lasting impact indicates the factors importance.
Collier argues that income inequality has nothing to do with civil war. This has been, and continues to be, an extensively argued subject without a consensus being reached. For this exercise I cite the empirical instead of qualitative information. Comparing the lowest 10% versus highest 10% of household income or consumptions by percentage share the unstable countries with statistics available had a greater difference (Cote d’Ivoire 32%, Rwanda 36%, Sierra Leone 43%, and Sri Lanka 38%) than either the US (28%) and UK (26%) with the exception of Pakistan (22%). Similar mixed findings are produced when reviewing the Gini index [5]. The impact of income inequality on the likelihood of civil war has yet to be determined, and I can’t say whether Collier is correct or incorrect his assertion.
Then there’s the insignificance of the political repression of minorities. On this point Collier is also correct in most cases. Usually it is not the political repression of minorities that increases the likelihood of civil war, but rather the repression of majorities. This can clearly be seen today in Iraq where the minority Shi’a Muslims have lost hegemony they held under Saddam Hussein and in the past when the Belgians put the minority Tutsi’s in power but then replaced them with Hutus shortly before leaving Rwanda. The exception to this claim is Sri Lanka where the separatist Tamils claim the government prefers the majority Sinhalese for educational opportunities and government jobs. Collier’s point is valid in nine of the ten countries listed, but Sri Lanka shows the repression of ethnic minorities does matter.
Reviewing Collier’s factors for what does not increase the likelihood of civil war none are all inclusive. The political repression of minorities is arguable since it only appears to be a factor in Sri Lanka, but that proves that it does contribute in certain cases. The prevalence of a legacy of colonialism shows that it increases the likelihood of civil war and the impact of income inequality is a debated subject. None of the three factors can be completely dismissed as a cause for civil war.
Overall I find Collier’s construct on the nature and cause of civil war to be invalid. When the three factors that increase the risk of conflict were applied to the ten unstable countries in Table 1, all three of Collier’s factors were present in only half the examples. Next there were the factors that Collier said have nothing to do with civil war. Of these, none have been proven to have nothing to do with civil war and the legacy of colonialism is more prevalent than any of the facts Collier cites as causing civil war. Collier’s construct is off the mark on both what it claims does, and does not, increase the likelihood of civil war. No theory concerning international relations has been all inclusive. Collier’s construct for what causes civil war works in only a couple of examples and all of the factors he cites as being irrelevant are present in at least one of the countries studied.

Works Cited:
[1] CIA World Factbook
[2] Ibid 1
[3] http://www.diamondfacts.org/conflict/background.html
[4] How “New” Are “New Wars”? Global Economic Changes and the Study of Civil War, By: Berdal, Mats, Global Governance, 10752846, Oct-Dec2003, Vol. 9, Issue 4
[5] Ibid 1
Additional citations are below Table 1

The last week of May

2008-05-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

Oh man, life lesson learned tonight: Do not try to run long distances after eating a big thing of cashews. I thugged it out for like 4 miles but I had to tap out after that.

So this week was my last one with the 519th Signal Company; next week I'll be moving over the Battalion to start the switch over as the logistics officer (S4). I really like almost every one (i.e. except one) in my Company and I'm defintely going to miss the community atmosphere we have, but the fact is the time to go has come. Moving over/up to S4 from Company Executive Officer (XO) is the standard progression of an officer. For the last two weeks my Company Commander has been gone, leaving me in charge, and not that I've done anything to prompt it but the Company is having all kinds of issues. It's just a lot of things coming out of the wood work simultaneously and it's very frustrating. Tomorrow I'll be debriefing my Commander about the last two weeks and I'm going to start with: 'Ma'am, if there was a time you could use a very good XO'. She's going to have a rough June with the issues we're facing. Anyways I'm excited about the challenge of S4. The current S4 is an extremely competent officer and I definitely have big shoes to fill. But both here and Korea I've felt that I've been pushed to periphery, not give the chance to work in the spotlight and show was I can do. Well, now I'm getting this chance, and I'm excited. Not to miss a chance for a sports analogy: Walter 'Sweetness' Payton (blessed be his name) played college ball in the shadows of the titans and Jackson State, and look what he did in the pros. I have no doubt that with the work ethic I've developed here, my level of intelligence, and willingness to learn that I will be successful.

So my Pops sent me a book on writing by E.B. White (Charlotte's Web) that's very colorful with waterpaintings every other page (my favorites). Despite it's cute appearance, the text is very demanding and I'm sure it's going to improve my writing. Right now I'm going through and akward period where I'm trying to apply it's principles to my homework and it's coming out with mixed results; I hope it's lessons become natural soon :-/

Some quick thoughts:
- Chris Brown, I hope you're enjoying your time with Rhianna because Usher is back on the scene! I love Usher. I can still remember when 'Confessions' dropped. Wow. Now there was a hot album. I went home and listened to it again after catching the 'Love in the Club' video. It's still hot.
-The Bulls have the #1 pick in the NBA draft and it looks like they're going to bring Derrick Rose home to Chicago. Seeing the improvement that the Jazz and Hornets have experienced with Deron Williams and Chris Paul I can't wait for our team to have a special player at the 1.
-The Cubs and White Sox both in first place? Can you say 'when worlds collide'? The Crosstown Classic is about to be sick.
-Watching the endgame of Hillary is going to be interesting, I really hope she ends her campaign with class (not a Clinton trademark) and represents for Barack. Unfortunately I think it's going to be an ugly ending fought all the way to Denver. But, I think enough superdelegates are going to declare after the final primary that she'll consider calling it quits. If nothing else it'll be a total blow to her self-esteem: all of her colleagues coming out against her. It makes me envision the Roman Senators killing Caesar.
-I was reading Foreign Policy and it had a list of the top 100 intellectuals in the International Relations field. Suprisingly it lacked Joseph Stiglitz. I got in an argument about Stiglitz v. Thomas Friedman with this chick when I was in Korea and she won. Stiglitz is the man. But Friedman made the list and Stiglitz didn't. The most interesting name I saw on there was General David Petreus. I'm sure that history will link his name foremost with the war in Iraq. I really hope that it's in the same vein as George C. Marshall and not William Westmoreland.
-Camp Virginia Subway raised it's prices and I'm irate. I guess the American recession has finally hit my life. As a protest I've cut back to Subway once every three days. I really like my Subway.
-Man, this online masters class I'm taking is for real. Like I work extensively on my assignments and read every page I'm assigned. I made it out of a top 50 school in Tulane with a B average never having done my reading. I miss residential academia.

Quick Note

2008-05-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

Writing my mid-term paper has produced this conclusion:

While the United Nations isn't good at getting things done, they can sure produce some handy stats.

Examples:

Hillary Has Hit the Bottom of the Barrel

2008-05-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

Referenced Article

Wow. That is possibly as low as it gets. First Hillary more or less said that she can win in November because she has the backing of bigots (uneducated, blue collar, white males who will not vote for a candidate based on race). But now saying that she's continuing her candidacy on the assumption that someone is going assassinate Barack, which can be reasoned to she's hoping he'll be assassinated since she wants to win the election.... wow. While she has touted her experience, she's definitely shown a lack of it when it comes to speaking to the press.

On a more positive note the new GI Bill passed Senate by 75%, well above the 60% required, and you'd be surprised who voted against taking care of our Soldiers. Hint: they are all a part of the party that tends to wrap itself in the American flag and wave the bloody cloth of 9/11.

A couple quick thoughts on Sports:
-The Cubs are going to break the 100 year curse and I'll be watching it from Kuwait.... as long as the curse ends I'll be happy to watch it from anywhere
-Is it just me or do the Spurs look like a team with a fork stuck through them?
-Is it just me or does Kobe Bryant look like he's ready to start having people call him the next Jordan again? Sorry Lebron.
-I'm pretty sure Lebron went to his GM after Game 7 and yelled: 'Surround me with some talent!' King James played a helluva series and Game 7, but its apparent he needs some support.
-The Bulls got the #1 draft pick! Now the big decision between Beasley and Rose. While the Bulls need a go to scorer, which Beasley would provide, Chris Paul and Deron Williams have shown how quickly a star at the 1 can make a team come around, and Chris Duhon isn't doing that for us.
-USC at Ohio State nears, the planets are beginning to align, this is the biggest regular season game since VY's UT team travelled to Columbus. This game is about to be the shit!

Missing the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-05-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

Just the last month or so I've been reminiscing about how beautiful the summer is in Chicago. If you know what I'm talking about, is there really anything better than the Chicagoland summer? These are a few of my favorite things:

- The Cubs whooping ass on the Northside. Night games, matinee's, it doesn't matter. There is nothing better than the Cubs on their A-game and being able to enjoy the weather with some $8 beers in a packed Wrigley Field. I won't even get into how much fun the surrounding Wrigleyville is except to say it's a wonderful playground of 20-somethings. Then there's the cross town classic with that other team (that unfortunately Barack and Mayor Daley support) and honestly, I don't think anything from the world of football gets that intense, and the greatest weekend of all at Wrigely: the weekend of the Chicago Air and Water Show. I just remember chilling there as a little kid in the right field upper deck and watching the various air craft buzz the stadium once they'd finished their lap around the lake side.

- Ravinia. Little known outside the Chicago area Ravinia is a great place to haul a box of Franzia and picnic blanket to for a night of music. My buddies and I used to go and get pretty crunk there every summer when Blues Traveller came through and wow, that was some good stuff. It looks like they have a pretty awesome line-up this year.

- The combined attractions of Navy Pier, Millenium Park, and Museum Campus. Singularly, any of these forces would be potent, but put together they're a world beater. When I'd have visitors I loved to get dropped off in Millenium Park, make my way down to the aquarium and Field Museum, and then catch a cab to Navy Pier for dinner. Just so many nice places and beatiful scenery. Also, I'll never get tired of going to the aquarium and seeing the Beluga whales and dolphin show!

- The theatre scene: I've only seen a handful of musicals in the loops theatre district but was never dissapointed. Over in Lincoln Park, the Improv Olympics were pretty gay but the mid-night show at Second City was off the chain when I went there with my buddies. I can't wait to go again some time!

- Taste of Chicago: The name says it all, you go to Grant Park and eat everything, I mean everything, while enjoying the scenery of the lake front. Gorgeous.

- I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when Kayne and Lupe Fiasco come back on the Flashing Lights tour. I've heard the show is off the chain and those two represent the hell out of the city by the lake. I'm sure it's going to be a memorable night for everyone in attendance.

- With being in Evanston, just having such easy access to a beautiful beach. From my crib it was literally an 11 block 20-odd minute walk. It's unbelievably beautiful, and with the size of Lake Michigan you'd think you were on the ocean. I've yet to find a better beach. Also, the proximity of down town to the beach makes it super convenient!

I could go on with the list for a while, but I've got to get back to work (fire safety documentation day)!

Graduate Work

2008-05-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

Man, I just finished with my weekly writing for my IR graduate class. While I've joked about online schools in the past, these guys have me working. While during undergrad I could get away with not doing my reading by going to class and playing stenographer, that game can't be played when there is no class to attend. Additionally without a class for 'discussion', I'm required to post about a page weekly responding to whatever prompt is posed. While this doesn't sound like a lot, I'm a pretty poor writer and hate doing citations so it's pretty tough. Actually, after writing that sentence, I'm convinced this class is just what I need: practice on my weak points.

Below is what I wrote up for this week, it was suppossed to discuss World System Theory by Immanuel Wallerstein and future cycles. I think I did a pretty good job, and considering the amount of time I spent on it, I had bests of produced something worthwhile. Also, a lesson recently learned: The CIA World Factbook is one helluva resource! Anyways, here's my IR spit for the week:

Immanuel Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory describes a world system that began around 1450 with the end of feudalism and the beginning of a capitalist world economy. The defining mark of this system is the division between the core and peripheral areas (with a semi-peripheral area between them and external areas that weren’t involved).

Core areas are characterized by strong central governments supported by extensive bureaucracy and large militaries, while peripheral areas tend to have weak central governments or are completely controlled by another country. The economies of core areas control international commerce and concentrate more on manufacturing and less on agriculture. To meet the need for food and raw materials they extract the surplus capital of peripheral areas, often through unequal trade relations. [1]

Historically the core areas compete with each other and on four occasions states have been able to claim hegemony in the capitalist world economy (Netherlands 1625-1672-75, Great Britain 1763-1815 and again in 1850-1873, and the US 1945-1965/67) [2]. What exactly are the requirements for hegemony? Having economic capabilities far beyond anyone else, unparalleled military strength, and being the cultural center of the world fit the bill [3]. Hegemony is fleeting though as other core areas compete with the hegemonic area for the top spot [4].

I find World System Theory to be a valid explanation of the past but question Wallerstein’s theory in the future. Currently things are going according to Wallerstein’s prediction that with the decline of a hegemonic area its economic capabilities will spread and competition will begin among other core areas [5].

Using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the measuring stick of economic power, the US economy remains without peer. China has the world’s second highest GDP and it’s little more than half of what the US produces. The only group comparable to the US would be the combined European Union (highest GDP in the world, 3% GDP growth rate) [6]. None the less, diffusion of the US economic hegemony is in full swing. Not only have the traditional core areas in Europe and Japan gained strength, but new core areas are developing. Recently while the US economy has slowed down there has been notable growth in the economies of several large countries: China (3rd highest GDP, 11.4% GDP growth rate), India (5th, 8.5%), and Russia (8th, 7.4) [7]. During the US hegemony 40 years ago Russia and China could have been categorized as external areas and India as peripheral. Now these states looking the give the US competition and ascend to being core areas themselves.

Interestingly Wallerstein predicts that the core areas of Europe will construct an army which will later link up with that of Russia and that China, a reunited Korea, and Japan will begin to move together economically and politically [8]. I have a tough time seeing the EU taking on a serious military capacity since after having experienced the horrors of two World Wars during the 20th century Europeans have been reluctant to engage in large scale conflicts [9]. Additionally I see too many cultural differences and bad feelings produced by a shared 20th century experience for them to come together. I also can’t see North East Asia uniting for that same reason.

For future cycles I like Huntington’s idea of civilizations rather than core and peripheral areas competing for hegemony. In 1993 Huntington cited clashes between Islam and the West and the West’s attempt to spread democracy [10]. In the 15 years since his article was published, these tensions have only become stronger as Islamic terror strikes in the West increase and the West’s continued support of Israel, the invasions of and attempts to stand up democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and use of militant rhetoric concerning Iran have alienated the Islamic world. Additionally it only appears that these tensions will grow stronger as the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan continues, Iran openly aspires to have a nuclear arsenal, and Israel moves from one conflict to another. The clash of civilizations can also be seen as both China and Russia have grown tremendously since the fall of Communism and now both have disputes with the West (China with it’s support of rogue nations like North Korea and Sudan, poor human rights record, trade imbalances, and lack of democracy, Russia’s interference with democracy at it’s borders as currently seen in Georgia) that have shown no signs of improvement.

Works Cited:

1 Modern History Sourcebook: Summary of Wallerstein on World System Theory
2 Dougherty, J. E., Pflazgraff Jr., R. L. (2001). Contending Theories of International Relations: A Comprehensive Survey. New York: Longman.
3 U.S. WEAKNESS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR HEGEMONY, By: Wallerstein, Immanuel, Monthly Review, July-August 2003, Vol. 55, Number 3
4 Wallerstein, Immanuel (1976). The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press, pg 229
5 Ibid 1
6 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html
7 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html
8 Ibid 2
9 WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED, IF ANYTHING?, By: Judt, Tony, The New York Review of Books, May 1 2008, Vol. 55, Number 7
10 Huntington pgs 5-6

NYT Obama Article

2008-05-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

President Apostate?

Now that is a truly ridiculous article. I believe the articles point is that Barack's Muslim background, as minimal as it is, would hurt American foreign relations with the Islamic world and possibly result in his death.

The publication of the article has me thinking back to the neo-con taglines about 'the terrorists have won when...' and 'living in fear'. Is the NYT really publishing a piece that says the irrational beliefs of other country's should dictate who heads our government? Shouldn't they also be publishing a piece about how HRC wouldn't help relations with the Islamic world by talking of 'obliterating Iran' or John McCain saying that we might be in Iraq for 100 years (although the Left has taken that out of context)? I think the day that our country starts choosing it's leaders due to the feelings of other cultures, that will be the day the 'terrorists have won'.

Furthermore, I doubt that middle eastern states would neglect the security of Barack much less invite violence. Under this dude's reasoning, how does he explain Nancy Pelosi and Condoleeza Rice being accompanied by men outside their familes in Islamic country's? Being in the private presence of men who they're not wed to? Last time I checked, they weren't being prosecuted for these actions.

Maybe this article caught me at the wrong time (morning) but it definitely zinged me as a fear mongering piece. I think that with the current state of our economy, healthcare system, schools, and the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq we have much greater issues to deal with than the incredibly unlikely scenario that Islamic countries would invite the assassination of Obama. Ridiculous article.

Update: So I saw my boss off to the airport (you guess who is in charge for the next two weeks, that LT King Kong doesn't have shit on) and came back to check the comments made on that article and daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, this dude has been hated on. In less than 12 hours there were 365 comments before the NYT stop accepting posts.... you can guess how I figured this one out. It's good to see the readership giving the Gray Lady some feebback!

E-Town Reunion in Kuwait

2008-05-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

This evening I got to catch up with one of my friends from high school who I hadn't seen in six years. After graduation, I went off to Tulane while David enlisted in the Marine Corps. Tonight was pretty special. I often refer to Kuwait as the 'Crossroads of the Global War on Terror'. One of the pluses of being assigned here is that I often get to run into friends from around the service. In the three photos in the blog entry, my friends are stationed at: Ft. Lewis, WA, Ft. Hood, TX, and Washington, DC. If I were stationed anywhere else the chances me seeing my buddies would be slim to none. I actually have a pretty good diversity in these photos; David is from HS, Trustin from college, and Nikki from Signal School. All of the reunions have been awesome. It's amazing how easy it is to catch up with people. I always get a little nervous before meeting up with people I haven't seen in a while because I worry that things are going to be awkward. But, so far that hasn't been a problem. I really can't stress enough how awesome it is to see my friends here, especially considering that they're either going into, or coming out of, the most dangerous place in the world (to be dramatic). Great times. I can't wait to post more photos soon. My friends really do mean the world to me!

Going Back To School

2008-05-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

As I've referred to in other posts I've decided to get off my butt and start working on my Masters. My excuse for the last year had been, 'these online schools aren't legitimate and when I get my Masters I want it to be at a respectable residential institution'. While I still remain solid on that line, I also realized just recently, 'I'm doing all of this reading without getting any kind of official recognition so it won't help me with admissions, I really have nothing to do these days except read and write, and how can I tell my Soldiers to take online classes when I don't myself?' To the left is a picture I threw in just for fun of my driver and some camel that were wandering around. Herds of camels just walk around aimlessly. On this date about a week ago it was a bunch of dirty camels. This week, when I didn't have my camera, my boss and I drove through a herd of really nice looking cleans camels. Apparently the men ride the white camels while the women ride the dark ones. The ones pictured are dark. Ok, back to my return to the world of academia.

So last week I enrolled in classes. The Army is very proactive in getting us in classes, and it literally took me a day and a half to select a school and program, apply, enroll, pay up, and order my books. The other day I received my text book, which I'm already working on and it is definitely legit, and I couldn't be more excited about starting my class tomorrow. While I still doubt the legitimacy of my institution, I'm doing something productive on a subject that interests me, and it's helping me kill the time. Kuwait is a perfect enviroment to be taking classes because there's literally nothing to do but study. Additionally, the #1 killer of productivity is banned: facebook.

I intend to go 100% in this endeavor. Ever since Berkeley, where I realized that if I worked hard I can do well in school, I've been trying to go all out and this policy isn't changing due to my courses being online.

The program I selected is International Relations and going through the courses introductory book, the subject sounds perfect for me. Naturally the coursework is about the relations between nations, multi-national corporations, non-governmental organization, civilizations/ethnicities, international groups/organizations, etc. and how they interact and effect eachother. Of course how do I spend my days? Reading the news, reading my history books, and looking at maps. What is my hobby? Travelling. What do I do on these travels? Get crunk after packing as many museums and historical sites into the day as their hours allow. This stuff is right up my alley!

I remember during college I was never that excited for courses to start, K-8 I dreaded it, but right now (to use another football explanation) I feel like I'm getting ready to run on the field for the season opener. I really couldn't be more excited! I'll include updates on my work in future blog enteries since this is about the most exciting thing in my life right now. Good stuff!

May 3rd Update

2008-05-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

I found a way to get Blogger to work on my work computer, so regular updates will resume! We had some rough weather this week and to the right is a pretty awesome photo I managed to snap of sand storm approaching:

The month of May has come and I have now been in Kuwait more than 100 days. Time has actually gone by pretty fast. I think this has to do with staying busy and being productive. Right now I'm keeping myself extremely busy; with the summer approaching I'm going into overdrive on trying to get my facilities under contract for power and cooling, my first grad school class starts Sunday, I'm trying to run long distance more often (two night on, one off, cycle), and I've been drafting my annual catching up e-mail. Getting these contracts finished off has been a pain in the ass due to several issues headlined by it being a goofy situation in general and underscored by lazy subordinates. It'll get done, because I need it to happen, but I've been extremely dissapointed with the level of competency some of my subordinates (namely a 2LT and a senior NCO). Luckily this grad school thing is going to be completely on my shoulders. I'm extremely excited about the courses. Here's a description of the degree I'm pursuing. While I find it difficult to take online degrees seriously, I've received the materials for my first course and they look serious. Hopefully this proves challenging enough for me to learn something while allowing me to concentrate on my new job.
Next month I'm going to be headed for my new job as the Battalion S-4 aka supplies and maintenance. While this is a bitch job in many units, it's different here. With the way this Battalion is set up, we're building some very cool facilities and buying things from a lot of vendors, all of which makes the job interesting. I'm extremely excited about this new job and have already started preparing for it. I can't wait to dive into it head on when June begins. Also this is pretty sweet because the current S-4 who is really cool and competent, has assured me the hand off will go well. There are some other positives associated with this move, but they're not really worth mention. Well, there is one. Some of the Soldiers (and a certain other 2LT) have been getting me pissed off and it has gotten very annoying. When I went to the doctor earlier this week my blood pressure was high, first time ever :-(, and I blame them for it. How else could it be up when I quit smoking/drinking, have started eating healthy, and work out heavily? Of course I don't need much motivation to blame these characters for anything. I've started listening to a lot of soft rock to cool my ass down, but the fuse is already shortened.
Probably the thing I'm having the greatest trouble with is writing this catching up letter. I'm having a tough time keeping it below 3 pages single spaced. When I tried to write out my last 8 month in Korea as concisely as possible, I almost had 5 pages. Korea is suppossed to be the shortest part of the e-mail. It's really interesting though to try and describe everything in so few words, it requires planning. I do mention in the first paragraph that behind every sentence is a paragraph, and that is definitely the case. I'm trying to get this thing sent off around May 12-14th because then it'd sync up with commissioning (12) and leaving NOLA (13). I don't think I'll have any problem with the deadline, but it is not easy trying to give a concise yet deep look into my life in 3 pages. But, that's why I have a blog!
A wierd thing happened last night. I was chilling there in my bed, lights off, getting ready to continue watching the last Lord of the Rings movie. My mind was doing it's usual wandering deal, when the thought just jumped into my head, 'Life isn't too bad these days'. Wow. I did not expect that. I don't know it speaks more to how unhappy I was in Korea, or how little it takes to make me satisfied with life these days. I think it was a combination of knowing that I'm doing a good job here, headed to a better job, and in a couple of months I'll finally be making good on my dream of going to Germany. It was a very special moment.
Now for a couple quick thoughts:
- I think Barack's idea to tax the hell out of the oil companies is awesome. They're making record profits (check Exxon last year) while the consumer's pocket book is being battered, I think it's time for them to feel the pain a little bit also.
- Man I'm so happy Barack told Rev. Wright to buzz off. I've loved Barack for a long time but Wright had me wondering. As for Wright, talk about someone who doesn't know how to handle their 15 minutes of fame with class and dignity.
- Da Bears draft...... not so hot. I can't hate on a fellow Tulane alum making it big, but I don't know how he's going to translate into an NFL back. For all parties associated with his selection, I hope the translation is smooth. Speaking as an individual fan, I'm just happy to see da Bears putting some heat on Ced Benson. The Chicago fan base is not kind of group to embrace an overpaid prissy running back. We like seeing a lot of contact. There's a reason Walter Payton lives on as a saint in the Chicagoland area. Well, there are actually many reasons bc he was a really good guy, but we all remember that he never finished a run out of bounds! Where's my polish sausage...
- Rashard Mendenhall and Tommy Z, I wish we would have drafted you guys, best of luck with your teams. Thank God they're playing in the AFC!
- That dude who jailed and raped his daughter in Austria, wow, he's a true monster. I can't believe that his wife had no idea what was going on. Didn't she ever wonder what he was doing in that basement? Why he brought all that food down there? Wouldn't a spouse notice some change in her husband's sexual patterns with her? I hope they hook her up to a polygraph machine at some point. I think we've all met people that anyone can pull a quick one on, but she'd have to be pretty out of it not to notice this one.
- It's going to be really interesting to see how these Beijing Olympics go. I think there's going to be a mess. China has already proved that people around the world are pissed with them for a variety of issues during the torch relay, and I think something is defintiley going to go down during the competition. Communist nations of the micro-plan giant events, and I have no doubt the Chinese are doing this. It's going to be awesome to watch them lash out when they get messed with.
- I've become thoroughly convinced this war in Iraq is never going to end. Of course I'm also convinced this primary season is never going to end either. Hopefully both will come to a less than dramatic close.
- Man this has been one helluva Friday. I've had to get down twice on idiots Soldiers. The first one sent out this e-mail to a bunch of people trying to call out my Boss, so he's having a meeting with me at 10PM tonight but that should be nothing major. I expect his NCO's to do much worse because they have an officer dipping his beak into discipline. Then this afternoon our resident nut case who's about to retire after 22 years in the Army continued his habitual habit of forget to turn in paperwork necessary for his retirement, and continued in trying to pin the blame on the people who process the paper work. I actually had some fun getting mad about that one because I didn't yell at him, but instead went to the annoying NCO in charge of him and got to use my Charlton Heston voice and do the whole 'This can NEVER happen again!' And it won't, because this was the last piece of paperwork required from the nutcase :-)

Apologies Due

2008-04-19T23:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, I really promise this time that I'll be better with updating my blog. Anyways Friday I came upon the joyous news that my next assignment will be with the 2nd Stryker Regiment out of Vilseck, Germany. This news came as a Godsend. When I received the e-mail I had just called it a night on drafting my annual catching up e-mail. I'll be sending that out mid next month. Some of the things it'll highlight are how I'm so much more happy here than I was in Korea, but now I'm having some troubles with feeling like a wuss while there's a war going on and my buddies are doing some serious work. I'm fully aware that less than 1% of the US population has an relationship with the military, and that gives me some cred, but I still feel like a wuss. Then I got the news about Germany. In Kuwait and Korea I've been part of Signal Brigades which aren't much fun and don't do much tactical stuff. The new unit I'm going to is most definitely a unit that uses it's rifles. Furthermore Strykers units are the future of the military and this is the newest one. So this new assignment presents opportunities to: continue seeing the world, stop feeling like a wuss, and do something more tactical. Additionally I expect to have indoor plumbing again once I hit Germany.
This assignment also marks a landmark in my life. By selecting an overseas assignment (believe me, I aggressively persued this one) I've volunteered to stay in the Army for it's duration of three years. What's so amazing about this? Once I get done with Germany I'll be on my 5th year in. I always said during college that I'd do my mandatory 4 years and then get out, but over the last nearly 2 years I've become much weaker on that position, and now I've said I'll stay beyond. The real interesting part is that once I get done at this next unit, I'll be completely free to walk away from the military and move on with my life. It's going to be pretty interesting when I get to that point. I have started seriously considering making it a military career (20 years). I've definitely become indoctrinated to the culture and the much talked about 'feeling of having a mission in life, a purpose' has kicked in a bit. Of course I still maintain that I'll be able to get this feeling from working in the State Dept. also. I really think I'll let the big decision of sticking it out or leaving wait until I hit the eight year mark. Who knows....
So life out here isn't bad. I've become extremely busy and it helps pass the time. With the stuff I'm learning here, I have absolutely no doubt that I'll be showing up in Germany as a very very good officer. My catching up e-mail will explain a lot of what's gone on here, but to put it in short it's becoming familiar with the different systems (supply, personnel, etc.) the Army uses, getting comfortable in leadership, and more than anything else seeing a project through to completion and setting expectations for subordinates that competence and success are expected (are there any excuses when you're boss says 'what do you need to succeed? name it and you'll have it'?).
Outside of work things could be nicer. I like my Soldiers and the other officers in my unit, they're the only people I socialize with, but to call them friends would be a little wierd. None the less I enjoy spending my time around them and that's what matters. I am completely honest with my boss and bring my problems to her. Ok calling her a friend would be dead on. While I liked everyone in Korea also, it was just completely different social circles for the most part, something that I reinforced on my own since my predecessor had gone so far over the line in terms of acceptable behavior of a leader infront of subordinates. What has been the result of these different environments? In Korea I felt lonely and here I don't. Just writing that last paragraph has me doing some pretty serious thinking. Hmmmm, well that'll be something to occupy my Sunday. Anyways, as I bitched to my boss and then dropped in casual convo with her boss, 'I can deal without the booze, any cars, indoor plumbing, but it's the no chicks that's driving me nuts!' I talk about this with my Soldiers all the time. Like I was never a professional skirt chaser, but man there is nothing out here and just seeing a normal chick would go miles. When I get back to the US in January of next year, I'll probably be walking around with my jaw on the floor.
So overall life ain't bad. I wish I still had enough internet access to post my random thoughts especially with the election and everything happening all these days, but I don't so I deal. I still kill my time with reading and running and both learning tons and getting in shape. I had a mad stressful week at work (my Soldiers seem to get the who expectations of competency thing, it's the NCO's that don't and it is a very bad thing) and plan on chilling out today with some non-alcoholic beer (haven't tried it yet but I have low expectations), whatever AFN sports has on, and some reading. My boss tells me I'm doing a good job and that's all the reward I need for the long nights. Luckily things this week should be more simmered down.
To finish off this post, I apologize again for how bad I've been about posting. I promise I'll get something up every other week. I can't reiterate enough how appreciative I am to know that people actually read this. Furthermore, I can't stress enough how much I enjoy receiving any kind of communications from anyone. Whether it's snail mail, e-mail, f-book messages.... anything, it makes my day whenever I get some kind of heads up from my friends. Please never hesitate to send anything. I have my e-mail up all day at work and try to answer whatever I receive as soon as possible. So please holler away, expect my catching up e-mail soon, and enjoy your weekend!

26 Feb. Post

2008-02-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

To get it out of the way: My bad on not posting lately. Excuse: I don’t really have access to Blogger except for when I go to the library and the librarian kind of creeps me out. But, I will brave this to get back on the ball.

So today is February 26th, I’ve been here about 50 days, and so far things are going great. While my post has many lackings in terms of amenities, housing, and entertainment, it also eliminates distractions. Pretty much all I do is work, do my cardio, read, take my Spanish classes, and closely follow the primaries; and I really like it. I’m definitely performing better as an officer than I ever did in Korea, getting in great shape and right now comprehending a marathon (run 9 miles every other day, stair climber on the off days), while actually beginning to pick up Spanish.

I was chatting with another one of the Lieutenants in my unit, and she brought up that she was feeling kind of lonely (she’s at another post) and I half jokingly replied, ‘don’t worry, you’ll get over it, I learned how to deal with being lonely in Korea and I’m all good now!’ For some reason the loneliness hasn’t hit, and it’s awesome. I think this is because without daily access to f-book/gchat/AIM the friends back home are a little more out of sight out of mind. While definitely not forgotten, you have to stay focused on the current situation.

Some people have questioned me about my choice to come here after seeing my trailer park where I live, but this is definitely the best option I could have made after Korea. There are a number of reasons including next assignment (I get preference over everyone), location (still seeing the world), and professional (my last unit was not the place to grow as an officer). I could go into the third one in much deeper detail, but trust me. Another plus, was that I got away from my 2LT time (1st year in the field Army). I think 2LT time is awkward for many people, and with the lack of mentoring under my first Commander CPT Yi it made things worse for me. Under my second Commander CPT Koh, I definitely caught up, but I felt cheated by my first Commander and still had to deal with some of my previous screw ups. The nice thing about coming to Kuwait is starting off with a clean slate; being able to walk in confident, knowing that I’m competent, and as long as I’m willing to ask questions having great potential to grow. This unit has some VERY good officers running around and they take mentorship very seriously. I’m happy to be here.

While 2007 in Korea was probably the most depressing year of my life, I really miss Asia. Do I miss my old Brigade on down? No. Do I miss a lot of the Soldiers and Officers? Very much so. My biggest regret from Korea is asking myself: did I do everything in my power to make it a positive experience? I do not know the answer, but I do know I gave it a good shot. I think anyone in my old Company would attest that it was not a happy situation. Once I started travelling Asia, visiting Beijing and China, I fell in love with the region. One of my friends from college is in China and has learned Mandarin. I can’t say how badly I wish I was in his shoes. Just imagine having the opportunity to explore a nation that giant with so many diverse places. Just saying the names (Hong Kong, Canton, Macao, Beijing, etc.) make me jealous in a good way.

I’m going to try to be stationed in Japan after my time here. If I don’t get that, then I’m going to try Italy or Germany. Germany is easy and Italy is more of a wish list assignment. With the situation of our Army, my commitment really is 8 years, which means I’ll be wearing camouflage until I’m 30. In light of this reality, I’m planning on trying to make my 20’s into my chance to see the world, and in the Army this is not hard to do. I really think that being away from the US; I’ve learned a lot more about the Army, the world, the US, and myself than I would if I were stationed in the US. I think this will give me a big advantage with where ever my life goes after the Army.

My life will go somewhere after I finish off my 8 year commitment. Eventually I hope to have a family and find a community of my own, and the Army doesn’t really facilitate this. I’ve heard of and seen way to many situations where families and relationships are stressed and ended due to the needs of the Army. I will not become one of these stories. Also, I don’t think I really want to work for the Department of Defense forever. It’s amazing to see how much money we’re spending on the Global War on Terror and overseas operation, and then extremely frustrating to hear about our national debt, social security and healthcare funding problems, and our inability to make education affordable, take care of our public servants (my supply tech makes more than my old elementary school is funded for any department), etc. Seeing how much money and effort, how many lives, we spend trying to rebuild other nations while letting our own fall apart is a shame. Baghdad is getting new schools, but New Orleans is not. It’s not right. I hope Barack can change this.

With my limited access to blogger, chances are there won’t be too many of my off the cuff posts about current events and my feelings on them., but there will be more in depth post similar to this one. I don’t think anyone has ever complained about receiving more substance and less filler. I read my e-mail alec.kinczewski@gmail.com constantly, and I love hearing from people. A couple key strokes can mean a lot. I’m trying to write more e-mails, even if people don’t write back, because if I fall off with people (which is an inevitability), I don’t want to ask myself the Korea question of ‘did I give it my best shot?’
Holler at me and you’ll be hollered back at,

-AK

Limited Time On The Non-Restricted Internet

2008-01-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

The only access I have to the internet outside of work is in this trailer where it costs too much so I'm going to be brief:
- I'm actually really happy in Kuwait. My post is made up of temporary buildings and is where all the units rotating out of Iraq spend a couple weeks so it's a pretty happy place. There are a ton of limitations on life and there's little to do but read and work out (although Scarlette Johannson is coming tomorrow!). The good part though is that the unit is doing a lot of cool things out here that keeps us busy and makes us feel super useful.
- Also, my Commanders (Company and Battalion) are both professional and completely approachable and competent, and that makes all the difference in the world.
- Unlike Korea, the work environment is pretty enjoyable, we're all getting along so far and there aren't really any truly bad apples. A couple of JV teamers yes, but no one who's actively trying to fuck things up. Also it seems we've got a decent amount of competent people which is new and awesome.
- Since there's nothing to do here, I do cardio for about and hour and a half each night to exhaust myself for sleep, drink only coffee and water, more or less live off of protein bars and tuna fish, so basically I'm trying to get in shape. Officers are suppossed to be physical studs and I think it's about time for me to get on the ball.
-No booze. My buddy Dan said he thought I'd have a religious experience out here, and I think he's right. With so much time to do nothing, it's kind of like prison where you get to rethink your life (mind you, I've only been here two weeks) and kind of start planning forever while making amends with the past. Honestly, it's pretty deep.
- There are things I miss about Korea, mostly the soldiers and officers that I liked, the KATUSA's, and the Korean culture. But, I never forget how miserable I was there, and when I left Korea I swore I'd never forget how down I was. That unit (Company and Battalion) had become poisoned with personal vendetta's and I'm so happy to be here. In fact, I tell everyone I see that I'm really really happy to be here!
- Man, life in the desert, it's different. Like today it's January 20th and I was walking around in shorts. Summer is going to we ridic, but right now I'm enjoying the weather. Also going from the mountains of Korea to this plain (as far as the eye can see) is wierd. I still don't like the desert, but it's good to see new things.
- Also: I live in a trailer with no cable, internet, or plumbing. Bathroom and showers are about 75 m away in another trailer. Power goes out on occassion. Collectively it's all very humbling. Where Korea made me value every moment with my friends back home (since it was so lonely) this place makes me thankful for modern comforts. Also, maybe it's because I just got here, but I don't feel lonely although this unit is extremely similar in structure to my last one. There is another LT here, and he's ok (30 year old Mormon w/5 kids, really good guy) but at a different stage of life than me so we don't hang out a ton, but for some reason I don't feel lonely. I think it has to do with the lack of booze (which leads to irrational thoughts) and facebook access (look how much fun everyone else is having!).
- I've been reading a lot here also since there's, well, nothing else to do. I rolled out here with a couple thousand pages of non-fiction, and I have absolutely no doubt I'll make it though the entire stack.
- Man, my boy Barack needs to win. We're 8 hours ahead of EST here so with the Nevada Caucus on Mountain Time, it's going to be a really long Sunday morning for me, especially with the Jones-Trinidad fight. I'm hoping for a Obama-Jones victory tonight.
- NFL Playoffs = Never Dissapoint!
- Since I can't get on f-book much, and skype is no longer an option w/o home internet, please feel free to send me at alec.kinczewski@gmail.com I swear I'll make it interesting!
- I'll write something to cut and paste later for a longer/edited entry. Just wanted to let folks know that while my standard of life has definitely declined dramatically, I'm a happy camper.

Leaving home!

2008-01-04T06:47:00.001-08:00

Today it's January 4th, Barack just won Iowa, Britney somehow found a new low, and I've just finished packing my baggage to head off the Germany tonight and Kuwait shortly there after. Right now, I'm pretty excited to just be alive. Man it was good to come home, see my family, lots of friends, and more or less get in some chill time after Korea. I really needed some time to unwind after Korea, things got really stressful at the end.
I can still remember when I first got to Korea and was really excited about being there, just seeing something new ya know? Man, did things change after about two months. It all came down to my work environment, and the one out there of a spread out/isolated unit totally killed the good feelings. One of the things I'm looking forward to in Kuwait is that I should have more officers around me to hang out with and be mentored by. If nothing else, it's not Korea, so things are already going positive for Kuwait. For the flight I plan on trying to finish American Psycho, which probably isn't good for a long flight bc those always get me moody, and get started on Stillwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45. I'm all about China these days. I'm planning on reading a lot in Kuwait, like one of my check in bags is mostly books, all non-fiction of course.
Barack won. My God, Barack did it. Although I called it, I didn't think it'd really happen. With Hillary's well documented 'feel of inevitability' it seemed like a dream that she could be knocked off. Wow. Should she lose NH, it's about to be game over, and this looks like a very real possibility. It's going to be awesome seeing Hillary on the defensive and fun to watch her turn negative if NH doesn't go her way (which of course plays directly into the hands of Barack's positive campaign.). Anyways, Goliath is bleeding, and David throws his next stone on January 9th.
As for the Republicans cough cough jokes cough cough, there's still a lot of fun to be had. It's cool that Huckabee beat Romney, but now McCain is in the game with Rudy lurking around awaiting Super Tuesday. The Republican side is about to be really interesting.

Some Predictions

2007-12-29T23:44:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't like getting to tell one of their friends, 'I told you so'? Well I for one love it.

-Right now with the Iowa Caucus bearing down, things are getting really interesting. Cutting to the chase I think Barack is going to take it on the Democrat side. With the oddness of the Caucus system, and it's use of 'second choice voters', I think it's perfect for Barack. It appears after the first run off it'll be Barack v. Hillary, and I think Barack will do better in attracting the Edwards left overs than Hillary... and therefore winning. Should Barack take Iowa, it's going to be awesome to watch Hillary on the defensive, trying to show she's not hurt by the loss while at the same time striking back (while trying not to make it look cold hearted). January 3rd will be an interesting day, that at least is for sure. On the Republican side, with Guliani forfeiting the early states, McCain not bothering to work to the finish line in Iowa, Huckabee talking some non-sense about Pakistan, Thompson not even really putting forth an effort, and Romney being undesirable in general with his flip-flopping, does it really matter which one takes Iowa? They're all extremely unattractive for different reasons and who ever wins will only be targeted more harshly by the others for criticism.

-Benazir Bhutto, man, that is one fucked up geopolitical situation. Here are my thoughts:
1). Pres (Gen) Musharaff did it, she was the main threat to his power and with three adversarial claims as to her means of death, there's something shady going on.
2). What has every authoritarian learned from the execution of Saddam Hussein? If you have power, don't do anything to mess it up. I honestly don't think Pres (Gen) Musharaff did it simple bc it threatens his power
3). The Northern Tribes don't kill women, simply stated by them
4). Al Queda has more pressing matters
Overall, a populace that is not sure in it's government's claims, is a dangerous one. Especially in less than first world countries. The fact that #1 is even considered is very dangerous. Overall, I'll take the easy road and say the assassination was done by a lone gunman produced by a small extremist cell. Mush is already in a pickle, this has only made things worse, and from the turning of the Sunni's v. Shiites in Iraq by Al Queda we know how they like to take the anarchist role. I doubt Mush wants to lose power, but what's worse: losing a fair election to a popular but fair woman, or setting a country on fire with a civil war which a la the French ends up with a couple dead leaders? Mush ain't dumb and that's my reasoning as to why he didn't order the hit.
The main thing though is a good person died for reasons of hatred. Hopefully some day we'll be able as a species to move beyond the means of violence. I honestly think it might be a while before this happens.

- I hate to say it, but Illinois and Ohio State are about to get their asses whooped and once again the Big 10 will be embarrassed by their BCS performance. This is widely known and grudgingly accepted in the midwest.

So, now I've been home 10 days and it's awesome. All I do is chill on my couch, sleep too much, and see old friends. Tom Cayia, my little brother in the frat, and I went to the Bears Packers rape and pillaging last Sunday with his Pops and it was the shit! I don't think I could have had a better welcome back moment to Chicago than freezing my ass off at Soldier Field and drinking Miller Lite slushies with one of my best friends! It was surreal. Definitely one of those moments where I get my 'God I love this country on'. And it felt good :-)
Believe it or not, I actually drink a lot less here than in Korea. Guess wanting every moment to be enjoyed has it's side effects :-) Korea got pretty depressing at the end, and I'm really happy to be out of there. Loved the Soldiers and my superiors, but it wasn't a good situation for anyone. I'm just glad I got out of there before Christmas.
Actually, I'm so happy being home, initially I thought 'man is going to Kuwait the right idea? Going away for at least another 12 months?'. But then the usual reasons for opting to stay overseas set in; Where will I grow the most as an officer and a person? Which assignments let me get to travel? Where would I get the most worthwhile experience? Abroad. Abroad. Abroad. Probably the big draw backs of going abroad are:
1). not getting a real adult life started with a true home, community, car, etc. in terms of possessions, right now I have a big ass tv and ton of odd ball things from the orient (that I love) 2). man the lack of a love life sucks, it's weird going out with my buddies here and they're all talking about their gf's and I'm kind of like 'yeah, man a couple years ago there were a couple chicks I dated....'
3). feeling that I'm losing touch with the US, just keeping up with pop culture, or seeing my friends, it's not easy and it's something that when reppin the US overseas I think is crucial to supporting morale (ie answering the question 'why am I in this shit hole?')
That pretty much sums up the thought process. Right now I'm extremely excited to be headed to Germany to do some pre-Kuwait training and then hauling my ass off to the desert. It beats the hell out of sticking around my parents house (high on comfort, low on challenges and adventure). I love being home, but I've done this deal before, and it's time to continue seeing new things and meeting new people. Time to enjoy these last 5 days in the states, might be a little while until I get more of them!

Going Home

2007-12-21T10:39:00.000-08:00

21 Dec 2007
Right now I'm chilling at home, waiting for my sister to get off the tred mill before we go to a matinee of the new National Treasure movie. Back about a month and a half ago I was getting shitty with my old college friend JT$ in Beijing, and he scared me when he said, 'you'll be happy to go home, but when you get there you'll be so changed, know such a different world, from your travels that it's not the same with old friends'. Losing touch with The E? My Home? My Friends? God might as well put a lightening bolt through my chest, I am nothing without my roots. Nothing. So when I got home, my friends quickly found me, and shortly we found booze, and you know what? We picked up right where we left off. Chatting up the Bears, the Cubs, how we all believe in Barack and have pretty similar political values, how Britney's sister engraved white trash on the families name if it really needed it to be made any more obvious. It was awesome. I am very much looking forward to each of the days of my short stay here being especially special!
At the same time, while Korea is a world away by plan and a lifetime in my heart, it's hard to believe three days ago I was saying my good byes in Uijeongbu, telling Favorite KATUSA I hope that some day I'll be able to look him up when he's Mr. Kim, and in general feeling bad about leaving my unit. To some degree it was survivors guilt, because it's such an unhappy situation. November was probably the bottom of the barrel in terms of morale, and December had shown improvements, but things were still pretty bad. It probably would have been easier to leave a happy situation where there wouldn't be a feeling of having work left to do, instead of a rough one where I felt that I could help fix things. Overall though I'm beyond happy to be home!
22 December 2007
Man the awesomeness of being home continues. I got to give some love back to my block when I dropped off some Hello Kitty dolls with the little girls at my old crib on the corner (used to live at 1226, now I live at 1214) which they loved, and their momma was impressed by their tags being in Japanese aka 'wow it's not imported'. Gotta love the kids. I brought an MRE for my main man Mark's little bro (he's like 7) and I'm sure it'll be the coolest thing in the world for him. I can just imagine the line, which I have rehearsed, 'Justin, what do you have in common with forward deployed American soldiers and refugees? Menu number 22, Jambalaya, my favorite'. Anyways, the magic of being home continues. Like with people you're close with, it's not catch up, but just seeing them in person. There's no reason to catch up since you know each other so well, it's just the joy of being able to see each other. Saturday hold promise for more reunions, my sisters Godfather and my sister included, and I believe the magic will continue.

Street Cred

2007-12-15T05:31:00.000-08:00

So being a lover of the 'real' people, I love using the term 'street cred'. Like, I upped my street cred with our Korean workers when we went to eat dog, and they got a kick out me trying a little, so what to do? Man I pigged out on that shit, I ate Toto, his cousin, and his brother. The Koreans loved it. Also have a Denver drinking tolerance, mile high, helps here because the Koreans don't get drunk, they get shitty and consider it a measure of being a man. I think I found my place in the world on that level. So Favorite KATUSA ( long story, but I had a really late night at work so I decided to visit the barracks to see how everyone is doing, I ended up giving Favorite KATUSA a 40 since he looked so happy when he was looking at it. anyways, the other KATUSA, who's mad cool, said 'Sir, I want one too' and I had to bust with finger pointing, 'him Favorite KATUSA, you, not Favorite KATUSA') asked what street cred is, and one thing came to mind, check the video I showed him:

The Funeral of Biggie Smalls; his last ride in Brooklyn

Now that is overwhelming street credibility!

Just a Quick Update

2007-11-30T16:37:00.000-08:00

So,just some details about what's up:

- Man right now I'm just wrapping up the year. Chances are things are going to get mad stressful after this weekend with finding everything on my hand receipt back at Camp Casey (it's literally, over 250 pages worth of crap that's for the most part out dated), trying to out process, and seeing if my curtailment will go through (ie whether I get to go home for Christmas or not). My boss, who I'm a really big fan of, said he'd find a way to shove it through with higher. I submitted the paperwork on time but our battalion's personnel officer's office seemed to have lost it. In Korea, with everyone coming and going so quickly, there's a lot of paper work and I've seen how a couple pieces of paper being lost can really fuck with someone's life. My situation is pretty compared to some of the others I've seen. One of our senior NCO's, he reminds me of Ned Flanders, is being fucked with on another level where he thought he had go to Korea and would return to Oklahoma so he moved his family there and bought a house. Now they're saying he's going to Kentucky. My only only comment was that the Army is lucky that SFC Noel is such a good Christian, because if they did that to me I'd be tempted to pull an Al Pacino 'Scent of a Woman' and take a flame thrower to the place. It's amazing how powerful paper work can be.

-So I just received two very important pieces of paperwork. The first were my orders to be promoted to 1st Lieutenant (from 2nd Lieutenant). I joked with my soldiers and peers that this marked 'the twilight of my mediocrity; the question is whether this is the dawn of my greatness or the beginning of the downfall of Kinczewski?' Personally, I think it's just a milestone in the learning experience and nothing that big. Some people like to go big with their promotions, the douche bag LT decided to organize an event in Seoul with a bunch of high ranking officers, but I chose to do it with my soldiers bc 1. they're the only ones affected by a junior officer gaining rank 2. we've been away from home, isolated from the higher unit, and living in close proximity with so many shared experiences, I should share my fun experiences with them since they've shared so many hardships with me 3. it felt right. Anyways, after the fact it felt gooooooood, and to celebrate I dropped half my raise ($200) as per custom on my troops, at Starbucks. I can gauruntee that Erin at the Red Cloud Starbucks knows exactly who I am now ;-)

-Man, if the National Championship game is WVU-MIZZOU it will officially be the low point of college football history. Now if UF plays UI that could be fun!

-Devin Hester. DEVIN Hester. DEVIN HESTER. THE GREAT DEVIN HESTER. I've never seen or heard of anything like him. He showed this last Sunday versus Denver how dramatically he can change a game. Whether it's housing the kick at a crucial time, getting the D excited that if they can make a 3rd down stand the most electrifying player in the NFL (sounds like I'm quoting The Rock from WWE) will take the field, or Denver kicking the ball short and giving the Bears great field position. In case if you missed it check out what he did against a Denver team that decided to kick to him.

-Finally seeing Da Kid on a competitive team is very scary. There's a great Nike ad out there with KG dressed at a Spartan warrior, and the way he plays definitely justifies it. His game is one of when talent, passion, and the determination to win collide. It's awesome to watch.

-I think Barack is going to do it. Him asking 'well if Hillary did all of this stuff during the Clinton administration, then what did the President, Al Gore, the Sec. Def./Sec. of State/ etc. do?' When it comes to politicians, striking at their legacy is a sickle to the heart. I think it's going to show that the only thing Hillary did during the Clinton admin was kill social healthcare and not get a divorce. She should if anything focus on her valid and impressive work in the Senate, because her claims of White House experience will only make her a eventually be seen as a king without a throne, heard of Chiang Kai-Shek?

I've got more to say but I need to write something for a friend, will update soon!

The Time Has Come

2007-11-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

Moms told me that the Iowa Caucus is being held January 3rd. The news is saying that Iowa is where the fight is going to happen, and I intend to be there talking up my boy Barack. For long, I have thought that my short time home would be magical, and now it's even more so. Man getting to go home, see my family and so many people I love, having the opportunity to represent for a political candidate I truly believe in..... December will be a special one to remember, for so many reasons.
If you ain't making it to DC or the Chi, Lets meet in Ames,
-AK

Idea

2007-11-17T17:12:00.000-08:00

Man, just imagine it Texas Tech played Hawaii in a bowl game..... I'd bet it could get higher ratings than at least one BCS game. BTW it's weird watching TTU v. OU and seeing that Donald Trump is boys with Mike Leech the TTU coach.

Gotta Give Props

2007-11-13T05:46:00.000-08:00

This was taken after we climbed a truly wicked hill, nobody was in good shape after this one, but the important part is we all made it together. Anyways, I thought it would be good to put a picture of my people on my website. Gotta love your own!

And just to point out one of the things I love the most about the military: look at the racial diversity in that picture. I still remember my Pops telling me, 'The military is the only place in America where you'll meet every American'. Our little Company has the vanilla Americans (me), Native Americans, Mexican immigrants, a dude from Sinai (kind of like Guam), Australian aborigines, all kinds of Koreans, African Americans, like it's truly everyone, and it's awesome! Gotta love diversity!

BTW

2007-11-13T05:08:00.000-08:00

Yeah so I just realized that if you click on my pictures they come to full size, and my camera goes 10.1 megapixels so things are pretty detailed. Try it out!

Why You Buy A 4 Gig Memory Card For Your Camera: China

2007-11-13T02:19:00.000-08:00

So this last 4 day weekend I went Beijing China, and wow, that place is the shit. Like Tokyo was beautiful, and learning their culture was amazing (and scary), but Beijing was awe inspiring. Since this was a group trip everything was pre-planned for us so we hit everything. Temple of Heaven, Tianenmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall, Summer Palace (pictured below), their version of the Politburo, and I made it to a war museum with John Tracy aka JT$. Seeing JT$ was awesome and watching him talking Mandarin was a tweak out moment that can't be summed up in words! I met up with him and his Pops, he had a super nice dinner, and then JT$ and I took off to do some crunk catching up. Man, we had so much fun chatting away over a lot of Chimay. Good Times! It had been so long since I had seen a friendly face from the past and it was big time. So this blog entry is supposed to be about my impressions of China and not a log of the trip, so lets kick it off.
- China: the land where everything is bigger. I had never felt so small. I mean seeing how the Great Wall went on forever, how Mao's tomb is the size of a small basketball stadium, their politburo theater that seats 10k, that the forbidden city really is the size of a city, and that the Summer Palace was even larger. And of course, how was all of this created? By human hands. It's amazing what can be accomplished with an authoritarian government and an endless supply of slave labor. Anyways, I was constantly in awe of everything I saw.
- Of course seeing things in China was a bit of a problem since the pollution was ridiculous. Like, you could visibly see it in the air, if a car stopped somewhere for for too long dust would settle on it, it was over the top. Like I was talking to JT$ and he put it best, 'I'd love to stay in Beijing for 4 more years, but because of the air and my health I only think I can do 2'. This only reaffirmed my impression that China, while growing rapidly, is not going to last because they're spiking the environment and while a rising GDP is nice it'll be hard to enjoy when the desert takes over the cities and people can't go outside.
-So recently I've been reading The Coldest Winter, the swan song about the Korean War by the great David Halberstam, and it totally helped make my trip special. While on the trip, I was at the part of the book where it talked about the run up in the Communist world to deciding to intervene in China and the first contact of Chinese and American troops. Walking around the
politburo building where Mao (who's tomb is across the street) decided to intervene, and going to the war museum that kept playing the infamous Chinese horn toot (do-doooo) and thinking about those poor soldiers sent by Gen. MacArthur in his ultimate moment of vainglory to their death not far from where I live blew my mind. Also, that museum was big on China getting back Hong Kong and Maccau, which just gave off vibes of Taiwan is coming. Chilling there in Tianenmen Square, seeing all those Chinamen, and thinking 'it's completely plausible that during my military career we'll be blowing this guys away'.
-Also it was mind numbing to be sitting there in the politburo building and thinking '20 years ago, who would have thought there'd be a 23 year old American military officer bouncing around this place on a leisure tour?' I'd say no one. Times are a changin!
-For those unfamiliar with the Korean War, to put it in a nut shell: the country was divided in half along the 38th parallel with the North being Commie and the South being semi-democratic (better described as not-communist), then the north invaded and almost drove the Americans into the sea, but then we did a ridic amphibious landing that cut all of the norths supply lines from just south of Seoul and we more or less whooped the shit out of the commies all the way to the Yalu River which is Manchuria's (China) border with Korea, Mao sent his soldiers to intervene for a number of reasons using many pretenses but their strategy was to use human waves (Mao had no respect for human life, only the preservation and growth of the revolution) which led to US technology slaughtering tons of Chinamen but eventually being over run. It was pretty ugly, US units were whipped out, but took A LOT of Chinese with them, it was very bloody. In the end, both the Chinese and Americans lost, only the undeserving North Koreans won. With the technology we have today in terms of true close air support (A-10's, attack helicopters, carpet bombs, and the US fav Napalm) human waves might still work, but it'd be really really really ugly. Just check out Black Hawk Down or When We Were Soldiers and you'll get the idea of what we're now capable of.
- Probably one of the coolest things about Beijing was that it almost seemed like a giant history museum: hey there's an ancient wall over there, a communist building here, a super modern building for the Olympics over in the other direction, it was wild.
- When I talked to JT$ we agreed that Chinese chicks are ugly. Just a statement for record. He said Hong Kong girls had it going on, and my boy Glenn dated a chick from there
-So real Chinese food, man that shit is a lot different than Manchu Wok and Panda Express, but it's even better than those fine establishments. The eats I got with the tour were plenty good, but the places where JT$ and I went to were amazing. I now understand why Europeans came to Asia to get spices. At our last meal, the shit was so spicey I hit the triumvirate of hottness: sweating, nose running, eyes watering. It. Was. Beyond. Awesome. Beijing duck is also pretty damn awesome (although I don't know how they manage to force feeds the ducks...?). And what's the funniest part? Korean food is the favorite of Chinese people. While I love Korean food, that Chinese cuisine was off the chain. One thing I'll say about being stationed in Korea is that I've never been short on good eating. And tomorrow, my favorite KATUSA as pictured to the right (when I see him in the hall now, I just say 'hey, favorite KATUSA, how's it going?' being partial is so much fun even though everyone knows I'm just having fun) and I are getting some Korean food!
-So overall, I cannot recommend Beijing highly enough. I was awestruck at every turn. I wish I would have had more time to visit the Summer Palace in depth, see the exhibitions in The Forbidden City, so many things. Also, I wish I had brought my the battery charger for my camera. Bitch ran out on the first day. I ended up going through 5 disposable cameras over the next three days, and I wish I would've done a 6th. The place is jaw dropping. Once I get the pics developed, there will be a ridic f-book album posted immediately ;-)
-Another cool thing was that we got to do a re-enlistment on The Bridge of No Return on the DMZ and wow, that was probably the coolest thing I've done since I got here. People don't usually get to go to The Bridge of No Return because of The Axe Murder Incident. And since we are in the Army, in our early 20's, you know what we did? We threw up the over played but always fun 'Shocker'!
-Take that Kim Jong Il. A week of Forbidden Cities, Bridges of No Return, and Temples of Heaven has been much enjoyed! While I can't wait to get home to my family, friends, and familiar world I am going to miss being here. 4 months ago I would never have imagined saying those words. It's interesting how things work out, isn't it?

How Can't You Like It?

2007-11-06T06:30:00.001-08:00

I've been hooked on this song ever since I got here, and ever since I found out Luther did the Army's old 'Be All That You Can Be Song' him doing 'Love The One You're With' is twice as hot

Can't Believe Tulane is Letting Coulter on Campus

2007-10-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent excerpt from a Fox News interview:

COULTER: Well, OK, take the Republican National Convention. People were happy. They're Christian. They're tolerant. They defend America, they --

DEUTSCH: Christian -- so we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?

COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: We should all be Christian?

COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?

DEUTSCH: So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place? (snip) We should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or --

COULTER: Yeah.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Well, it's a lot easier. It's kind of a fast track.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Yeah. You have to obey.

DEUTSCH: You can't possibly believe that.

COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: You can't possibly -- you're too educated, you can't -- you're like my friend in --

COULTER: Do you know what Christianity is? We believe your religion, but you have to obey.

DEUTSCH: No, no, no, but I mean --

COULTER: We have the fast-track program.

COULTER: No, we think -- we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.

DEUTSCH: Wow, you didn't really say that, did you?

COULTER: Yes. That is what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws. We know we're all sinners --

DEUTSCH: In my old days, I would have argued -- when you say something absurd like that, there's no --

COULTER: What's absurd?

DEUTSCH: Jews are going to be perfected. I'm going to go off and try to perfect myself --

COULTER: Well, that's what the New Testament says.

DEUTSCH: Ann Coulter, author of If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans, and if Ann Coulter had any brains, she would not say Jews need to be perfected.

On the 22nd of October Coulter is scheduled to speak at Tulane. While I'm all about free speech, even when it becomes something ugly or distasteful, a University that has a very large Jewish population and makes overblown claims to being one of the best Universities in the South should not be funding this woman. If she wants to speak without an appearance fee or the usual guest perks I'd have nothing against it, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I also find it funny there's no mention of the appearance on Tulane's website. I just hope Tulane does better in the future when it comes to supporting haters.
So this only fuels and further justifies my commitment to being a cheap alumni. It's feels good to have a moral justification!

Konichiwa Bitches

2007-10-10T05:38:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I visited Tokyo with a couple other LT's for the 4 day Columbus weekend and it was awesome. I'll skip over some of the personal stuff (I don't think I'm ever going to talk to one of my travel mates again, although I've said that about them several times before, but the woman is nuts) and get to the observations. First off, II drank a ton of Japanese beer and they know how to do it right. Thank God for Green Tea and its tendency to help me shake off rough nights ;-) The picture to the left is me asking the Shinto Gods to grant my wish of 'let Notre Dame win some games, preferably including USC, and let Jimmy Clausen become the next Montana'. The Previous week I went to a Buddhist temple in the Korean mountains and asked for a victory and got a close game against Purdue. My Catholic God only brought me blow outs. While my faith remains unshaken, I now know where to go when I want results, not tests of faith.
If nothing else, just getting out Korea was a blast. I've been almost exclusively in Area I and II for the last 9 months and it has taken it's toll on my humor. I really wish I would have started travelling earlier but I was lazy with getting my passport.
So our first day in Tokyo we visited a smaller temple, getting some drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe, then getting crunk and doing Karioke (these Asians have the right idea, karioke is the shit!), and passing through the red light district. Their red light district was pretty shady, but it didn't have shit on the neighborhood outside Camp Casey aka Caseyville. At least the red light district had clean streets and decent lighting.
The next day we went on a morning tour and it was sweet. One of the places of note we to was the Imperial Palace. The Japanese, when they use the word impregnable, they mean 'you ain't getting in'. From the assessment of us 5 officers, even with our modern weaponry, busting into the palace would not be a small task (picture to the right is of the entrance). The building was also beautiful with it's combination of white washed walls, dark grey stone walls, and beautiful scenery. I was very impressed. The next stop was this sick Shinto Temple that had a sweet market outside it were I decided it was time to continue the Asian theme of my home decorating and I picked up the usual lions/dragons/samurai works. Whenever the day comes that I get to have a home instead of a barracks room, it won't be tough for me to make an East Asia themed room.
After that we made our way to the Japanese National museum which was kind of boring since it mainly covered their history before the West started to screw with their affairs. None the less, it was very educational. After that I was pretty pooped out but straggled on with two other people from my group to do some wandering.
Monday was our last full day in Tokyo and we started it off with some hibachi (no showman ship, great food but it was all straight to the point). Also on that note, these cats do not do sushi, they're all about sashimi. It is impossible to find a california roll in Tokyo.
After chow we tried to go to the sword shop, but it was closed, so we tried to find the monument to the 47 Ronin. This we did not find, but instead stumbled upon the Japanese version of Arlington National Cemetary combined with a museum covering all of Japans foreign wars since the Westerners came.
Here I'll revert back to using bullet points, because this shit it ridiculous:
- The museum starts off with some hateful stuff on CPT William Perry who basically came to Japan, said 'you need to sign this treaty saying you'll open your ports', the Japanese refused to sign it, so Perry rolled out, came back 9 months later with the US fleet, shot a couple shots over Tokyo and said 'Bitch, I said sign this mo'freakin treaty' which the Shogun did. Most of the museum was actually about the evils of Westernization and make no mistake, this is a federally funded museum, next to a sacred monument, with a college campus build around it. This is not the hidden work of some nut ball with a grudge against the land of Rambo.
-Now up until this time the Shogun ruled Japan, but this treaty got his vassals pissed and led to a coup de tat where the Emperor once again headed the government as of 1888.
-So from 1888, until 1945 when the treaty to end WWII was signed on the deck of the USS Missouri, Japan went on a 50 year ass whooping tour including: China, Korea (always referred to as 'the Korean problem' and had no references to 'comfort women' and erasing Korean culture), Russia, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, you get the idea. Their take on this? They claimed it was so they could teach all these countries to be independent..... hah.
-So while Japan is going wild, the US realizes this isn't good and since Japan allied with the Axis powers we froze their assests in American banks and embargoed oil and tin which Japan desperately needed. The museum said that this made war inavoidable and Japan decided to strike first. They were very proud of their tricky move (when I got to that part of the exhibit my mind automatically thought 'tricky bastards').
-But the museum admitted that things went downhill quickly as the US had victories at Midway and Guadalcanal. So the exhibit started inching towards the A-bombs being dropped and the English placards started dissapearing except to say our demand for an unconditional surrender protracted things. Now one of the things the exhibit made very plain was that Japan was willing to fight to the last breath. They had their civilians working 24/7 building defense structures and preparing for kamikaze missions.
-There wasn't a ton on the actual bombs, but the last couple of rooms were dedicated to the Kamikazes and it was intimidating, they had about 6k pictures of the suicide soldiers. Now don't get me wrong, I'm patriotic, but the last thing I'm going to do is kill myself for George W. Bush. These dudes all killed themselves for their Emperor and country. Now that's how to intimidate an enemy.
-Also, you know how in the US we think the Japanese loved MacArthur? Well not so much really. They claimed that during the US occupation we tried to erase their culture but reworking their history books (ok maybe) and cutting state funding of Shintoism (seperation of church and state, something we've been all about until lately).
Then we checked out the shrine next door (above) where Koizumi got in so much trouble for honoring all of Japan's soldiers and the Sumo ring next door as you can see to the left (Will and I had to bust the pose!).
So my conclusion from seeing their war museum and shrine to dead soldiers? There's a reason we wrote in the Japanese Constitution that they could never again have a military. Ever since we told these guys there was an outside world, they successfully whoooped and oppressed every nation in Asia and then decided to was time mess with the US. South Korea is scared of Japan for good reason, these guys don't f around.
So despite some of the personal conflicts the trip was awesome. You know how much I enjoyed the trip? I got back yesterday, and today I booked a November tour of China. Japan as a country? Clean. Sophisticated. Hot Hot Chicks. Guy who look like they came out of an anime magazine. Modern. Beautiful mixture of old and new. Suprisingly Spacious. I was a really big fan of Tokyo and it definitely makes me look at Seoul in a different light, an incredible culturing experience. I really hope I get to go back at some point and see more of the country (it definitely kicks the crap out of Korea, Japan is a first world country, Korea is like world 1.75 working their way up desperately). So to close things out, here's a picture of me doing Karioke after the booze hit me, looks more like a Journey song than 50:-)

Quick Update

2007-10-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I've been pretty shitty at posting lately so I figured it would be a good time to update. Anyways, life is pretty good these days. My boss and First Sergeant are both awesome, which is an amazing turn around from when I first got here, and it definitely shows. The morale of everyone including myself has raised dramatically. Of course while having an enjoyable work environment is nice, having a decent crib is really really nice. Back at Camp Casey, my living conditions were pretty bad, mold on the walls, holes in the ceiling, stained ceilings, fault lines in the floor ect. Oddly enough my current crib has the exact same architecture as my old one... except there has been decent upkeep on it over the last ten years. Waking up, and not asking yourself, 'how did I end up this shit hole?' is just as good a morning call as Starbucks. To pass the time these days (since when you're the only LT in the unit things get pretty lonely) I work out at night, play raquetball/badmitton with my soldiers, and more or less try to wear myself out for an early bed time. On the weekends I go hiking (the country is 70% mountains) and it's really interesting. Apparently back during Korea's high period during the Joseon Dynasty the government hated on the Buddhists and chased them into the mountains to build their houses of worship. And build houses of worship they did, way up in these draws you find these giant, ornate, temples that still have monks and are fully functioning.
Despite the improvements I'm still itching to get out of here. The work load is piling up to unreasonable levels and trying to get anything done (like get a pass to Japan for this weekend) is an incredible hassle (almost 20 pages of paperwork). The loneliness sucks, but I've definitely learned how to deal with it pretty well. I can't wait until I get to a decent sized unit with a bunch of officers my rank. I've started having second thoughts about Kuwait, it is another hardship tour after all, but I really pushed for the assignment and if nothing else I'm happy the Army gave me what I asked for. Of course, I'd feel a lot better about the assignment if the unit would give me a POC over there so I could figure out where in West Asia they're planning on putting me.
Actually I recently had to recount life since HS, where I've lived and what I've done, and it was amazing to realize that since walking the stage back in The E I haven't lived somewhere for more than 6 months at a time except Camp Casey. After Kuwait I think I'll be looking for some permenance. As previously mentioned, I get along with my boss really well, and we were talking this morning and he asked me if I'm thinking career Army. My response was that I felt pretty sure about sticking around for the full 20, until none of the Democratic political candidates could garauntee we'd be out of Iraq by 2013. I'm sure many of my peers share this feeling. The Army is offering some pretty ridiculous offers for officer retention which I get the feeling is a desperate times call for desperate measures deal.
Actually one of the advantages of being kind of on my own: lots of time to read, catch up on the news, watch documentaries, and let the mind wander. I can't wait until the time for grad school pops up. When AK walks into his fist graduate level international policy class, might as well start playing the Stone Cold Steve Austin theme music.
So on the most important subject of this e-mail: I'm completely buying into the Cubs this post season. We've got a strong lineup and we're entering the post season hot. Like most fans I've been pretty hesitant the last 2 post seasons, especially since the Marlins debacle, but it's time to go all in and believe! I wish I could say the same for Barack, but I've been watching too much news and they love to act like Hillary has already won the nomination. Firstly, I still have no idea why anyone wants to vote for her. Secondly, she might be hot in New Hampshire, but Iowa is anything but garunteed (it's actually leaning Barack) and I can't see her winning South Carolina. I think it'll be an interesting race.
I'll definitely be speeding things on the blog with the post season and my travel schedule heating up. So, overall, life is better but I can't wait to bounce out of here but I wish I had some idea what I'm bouncing into, but if the Cubs win everything else will be c'est la vie (as long as I survive the one man victory celebration;-)
-AK

Update for September 27th

2007-09-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I've written a state of Kinczewski mail so it seemed like a good idea for a lazy Saturday. So now I've moved down to Camp Red Cloud where I work directly across the hall from my boss. This move has resulted in longer hours, but I'm doing good work and I like being around the people I'm around. The negative part of the move is that everything on post closes at 7pm. I'm happy about the move though and life is pretty good. I wish there were a couple more LT's in my company (ie more than just me) so I could kill the loneliness, but I think being isolated is a learning experience and I try to look at it that way.
Right now my big thing is trying to get some travel in. I've got Japan scheduled for Columbus Day weekend and am trying to do China and Thailand also. There's actually a chance I might get to see one of my old friends in China since her family is going there to see her brother for Thanksgiving. The chance to travel is awesome and it's getting me really excited. Like, the most exciting part of being here is the chance to leave for a 4 day weekend. It's kind of sad, but it's a hardship tour for a reason, Korea is lacking on fun if you're in Area I.
The next assignment is Kuwait and it's an interesting future. Basically your unit is in Kuwait, but you're assignment can be anywhere in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Quatar, Uzbekistan, and Saudi Arabia. It's kind of a fun assignment, because when people ask you in Korea it is an eyebrow raiser since it's another hardship tour, a lot of people in Korea are running from Iraq, and since it's another overseas assignment you had to have asked for it. As to why I asked for Kuwait there are many angles: man up after being in Korea where so many people run from the war? myself running from the real world of finding a home, car, girl friend, etc.? Wanting the extra money and the travel? Whatever. It's what I wanted, it's what I planned for, and I'm geeked for it.
4 month ago I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm going to get teary when I leave here. Back then I hated my boss, and felt like I wasn't part of the company, battalion, brigade, usfk, or Army. The old Boss more or less left me in the cold. But ever since the new Boss has come in things have changed. Feeling loyalty to a group is a great thing and I really do like and care about the soldiers in my unit. And to be real, the ones I don't like that much scare me because I think they might be a bit (legit) crazy. When I first got here the story was different, but I like our line-up right now.
So people always ask me about when I'll be back in the States. At this point I honestly only know that I leave here December 28th, and report to Kuwait at the latest on January 25th (the day after my b-day). I'll probably have 17 leave days come January, but I want to spend maybe 10 at most because when mid tour (2 weeks of vacay during the middle of my Kuwait tour) comes in Kuwait I'm sure I'll want to take it. So taking 10 days, I'd probably say let me go to Evanston for 5 days, see the fam and the Grandma (G-Moms impacts my plans more than anything else), then make a three day trip to DC since I have a ton of friends there and I like to look at White House before I get sent far away. I still remember last December, looking at the White House and thinking 'that's what's sending me half way around the world'. And then looking at the Rayburn building and thinking 'Jan Schakowsky, watch out, 2030 I'm taking your seat. Yes, the plans to rep The E are still alive and well. No where else in the world I'd attach my name to.
It's kind of odd. I started this blog as a way to express myself when I first got here and felt I had so much to say. Now, 9 months in, it's changed over to where I've learned so much and only my Korean buddies can really understand the lessons, why should I try to tell my friends about them? Today this one awesome woman who dated my boy for 2 years was IMing me about being lonely and wanting to find someone. While I've documented my loneliness fairly well, I didn't have the heart to tell her about the broken marriages that Korea causes and the ones it creates as a result of human trafficking. Lots of people like to assume, from watching Full Metal Jacket, that going to East Asia means chicks left and right, but it's different in Area I. I know I refer to Area I a lot, basically it's the buffer between nKorea and Seoul and has very strict rules and no Koreans live there because it's so close to the North. There are no women in Area I, US military or Korean. Just Filipina bar girls who were trafficked here. Their stories are sad, most are educated and speak very good english, but got tricked into living in bars by military bases and dressing up less than classy. I honestly feel bad for them and think down upon the Korean government for letting this happen. I'll explain the whole thing some other time.
So overall life is decent, I'm excited about the future, I love my Boss and like the soldiers I (funny to say) work for. I love to hear from my friends so throw a shout out!
-AK

Moving Day

2007-09-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

So I finally moved down to Camp Red Cloud. I'm actually really liking it since my current boss is the shit and my apartment, although identical in design, is an incredibly upgrade in living standards (the old place, wow, sometimes we over use the term ghetto, but not in this case). Anyways to get my blog on:

-Bill B. cheating? I guess heroes do die...

-I saw this a couple months ago but my buddy posted in on f-book, and I had to put it out there also, it'll blow your mind:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=881321004838285177&q=power+of+nightmares&total=340&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

-Chicago Bears, lets whoop up KC, I can understand the O sucking against a great SD defense, but lets straighten things out.

-Notre Dame is pushing me to drinking at 530 AM. Jesus, this is something else, Korea has a lot of mountains, maybe I can find a cliff to jump off of. Jesus this is bad.

-Yeah so I'm having second thoughts about Kuwait. I think it's innately human to second guess yourself, especially when asking for another year in a shit hole, but I'm still confident in my choice. My friend April was initially headed to Kuwait but got switched to Kentucky, and I thought about the e-mail I'd send human resources if they said I was getting switched from Kuwait. More or less it'd say 'send me to where the bad asses hang' and after pressing send I'd be in the gym 24/7.

- Yesterday I bought tickets for me and some friends to go to Japan over Columbus Day weekend and Veterans Day weekend I'm planning to head to China. Thanksgiving in Thailand? Not out of the question. Every long weekend we have for the rest of the year I'm planning to be out of the country and I have my Battalion Commanders blessing. Actually it's kind of funny, by going to Kuwait next, where I'll make a ton of money and have no where to spend it, I'm actually gaining freedom of travel out here (I'm not afraid to use the credit card, because I'll be able to pay it off!). Anyways, look for a lot of F-book albums.

-This being a blog, I feel I need to mention Britney at the VMA's, wow, she the biggest fall off since lloyd carr/charlie weiss/ the senator who looks for homosexual love in the rest rooms. But at least those dudes have a chance to fix things, Britney is done forever.

- Yeah so now that I'm at Red Cloud with the rest of my Company (the element above my former platoon) and I've decided to take some ownership. I've started off with the KATUSA's I mean who doesn't love a KATUSA? With my overweight buddy SGT Kim getting ready to end his service, I've annointed a new favorite KATUSA in PFC Kim ie K2 (I think calling him 'the other Kim' hurt his feelings) and I give him ice cream every day to try and chunk him up. I've also determined PFC Jung in the orderly room is my KATUSA and from now on he'll be addressed as Simba (you can guess who Mufasa is). Also since Simba and I share an office, I've started covering it with Chicago Bears paraphenalia. I'm having a good time with this move!

-Is it humane to let Notre Dame get on the field with USC? Can we really condemn Mike Vick of cruelty charges yet put this on world wide (I can see it in Korea) television? The murder of mans best friend, and the blowing out of Notre Dame are very similar in my mind. Can we get another service school, well not Navy, on the schedule?

-Yo I'll call it out right here, USC is about to beat the poop out of Nebraska because when USC decides to bring it's A-Game they could win an NFC wild card game. Take it to the bank player.

The Need for Signal is Alive and Well

2007-09-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9dba9ba2-5a3b-11dc-9bcd-0000779fd2ac.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a89c1c88-5a38-11dc-9bcd-0000779fd2ac.html

Very scary.
-AK

Fantasy Draft and then some!

2007-09-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well first off I looked at my week one match up, and I'm pretty excited. The other dude has a lot of Chargers on offense, and I think the bears in their first home game will be ready to rock, and I've got the SD defense which is good because we know the Bears O will be hurting. So there was the Brandon Jacobs debacle ( signed in late to the draft, got a shitty RB instead of a ridic one ), but I still came on strong (especially with a 14 team league). So here's what I have
Starters
QB: Carson Palmer
WR: Lee Evans, Calvin Johnson
RB: Willis McGahee, Marshawn Lynch
TE: Jerramy Stevens
K: Olindo Mare
D: San Diego

Bench:
QB:Matt Leinart
RB: Lendale White, Brandon Jacobs
WR: Anthony Gonzalez
TE: Greg Olsen (injured as I found out after drafting him)
K: David Akers

To the above right is the photo that makes everyone hesitant about Willis; his knee was turned inside out during his last college game. It was perhaps the worst injury I've ever seen. But, modern medicine is amazing and I expect big things of him now that he's with run oriented Baltimore.

I'm all good with leaning on the SD defense, at QB the USC Heisman boys have me feeling secure, at RB I'm excited with Willis because Jamal Lewis in his down trodden state still put up 1400 yards with Baltimore last year and Willis is way better than him. Lendale was a fun pick, Jacobs a accident but not a bad one, and with Lynch I think there's some real potential in Buffalo. TE I'm hurting. Wide receiver, I love Calvin and with Lee I heard he's a good pick. Kind of hard to believe I invested in the Bills offense.

On other business I was wandering around the internet last night when I saw that the Smashing Pumpkins got back together it made me really happy. As far as musicians of my childhood go, I think Nirvana got overblown in Kurt Cobain's death, I love Pearl Jam for trying to be in your face and sensitive at the same time, but the Pumpkins, those are some legit artists. Through Melloncollie and Infinite Sadness I dare anyone to find a better streak of musical work. I mean, dude, Johnny Cash did a cover of one of their songs ('Hurt'). My personal fav is Thirty Three, don't know why, I just think it's the shit. Anyways it's sweet that they're back on the scene, but without Jimmy Chamberlain my expectations aren't too high.

It Done Been a Minute

2007-08-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Yeah so my bad on not posting too much lately. The last post should explain what I was doing and blogging on DoD computers is not a good idea. Anyways exercise was a good time and an amazing learning experience. Just chilling around the retired Generals restored my faith that there are some extraordinary officers out there who are dedicated and talented. The main dude we worked for, LTG (Ret.) Randy House was perhaps the coolest dude I've ever met. You name it, he did it. Infantry officer, Armor Officer, Aviator, dude did two straight years in 'Nam, got shot in the head, and used to hang out with the Sec Def. And after all of this he's real beyond belief: 'Sir, have you every thought about writing an auto-biography?' 'Oh no, I'm really not that interesting' and then he talks about going from the North Pole to the South Pole in 5 days and bullshitting with the current Sec Def...... but all he really cares about are his Texas A&M Aggies and the live stock on his farm. Dude was the shit.
Anyways I also ended up doing a lot of IT support work which made me confident in my trade skills, but also forced me to realize that Signal officers will always be the 'AV guy' that is so ostracized in HS. I've still got a lot of HS Wrestling Team Captain in me and the need to switch branches has struck me, so the plan is about this time next year to put in packets for Psychological Operations and Civil Military Affairs because PSYOPS is doing propoganda with is my dream (to do for Barack) and CMA builds communities which is tight.
So speaking of next year, my date to leave Korea has been pushed up to the day after Christmas and my next assignment is Kuwait. I requested this assignment, I have my reasons, and I'm extremely excited for it. Right now life is pretty good in Korea, but more and more I realize being young/mobile/single is something to be taken advantage of, and I'm all about seeing the world. As Clerico's dad (mad cool, but like most mortals no where near General House) said, 'don't worry about settling down until you're 30' . Anyways, we'll see where Kuwait leads, hopefully Afghanistan, but our Lord's year of 2008 AK will be chilling in the middle east.
After this 4 day weekend I'm being moved from my beloved Camp Casey to Camp Red Cloud about 40 minutes South to where my Company is. Under the last boss, if this had happened... the depths of my unhappiness probably would have reached depression. But, under the new boss a chance to be around him every day is a great thing and joy, so I'm all about it.

KATUSA Educational Program:
- The Story of New Orleans Louisiana:
I love myKATUSA's and like nothing more than educating them about America (my US soldiers are always invited) and my lessson plan after 8 months has finally been perfected by youtube. Here's the script (imagine talking very deliberately)
'After the planes hit the buildings in New York our nation was hurt very badly. We invaded Afghanistan fast, but the hurt was still there. One of the things that helped heal the hurt was the sport of football. You know Americans love football and a team named the 'Patriots' from Boston made it the Super Bowl in New Orleans where they were not expected win. At half time, I feel, the nation did a lot of healing when U2 performed and brought out the names of the 9/11 victims. New Orleans has always been America's favorite place, anyone who likes fun like New Orleans. But then a tsunami like storm came and flooded the city. And it hurt very badly. Blame can be placed on many people and groups, but the city is working it's way back back, because everyone loved it. And it will come back, because it's a very important part of America'.
- Yeah, in terms of my political stances, our failure to bring in the active military right off the bat (althought the reserves were the saving grace) to fix the situation was bad, and to make a statement: We go overseas in the name of protecting the homeland, but when something unexpected happens we're defenseless? Homeland and National Security my ass. If we can't save our own how can we govern others?
a bit pissed from too many Katrina vids,
-AK

PS Go Irish
PSS Go BEARS!

A Quick Update

2007-08-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of exercise right now so I've been AWOL from the blog but I had to submit this article to my unit to explain what my people and I are doing right now. It pretty much explains everything. As for now I just got the day off and am going to see Happy Foot.

The Maneuvers of August
By 2LT Alec Kinczewski

This August thousands of soldiers from around the world converged on the Korean peninsula for the exercise Ulchi Focus Lens 2007 (UFL ’07).
The Korean Battle Simulation Center’s Expert Analysis Branch (EAB), led by eight US and five Korean retired and active Flag officers from each branch of the military, oversaw and produced UFL ’07s after action review (AAR) for USFK/CNC/UNC Commander General B.B. Bell.
Analysts frequently used video teleconference (VTC) to view the work of the various Korean and U.S. staffs. 1LT David Buck USMC, 1LT Iaasac Simpson and 2LT Remington Vandergriff of the 1-43 ADA Battalion, 2LT Alec Kinczewski of the 41st Signal Battalion oversaw the connectivity and quality of the VTC. Their responsibilities grew beyond VRC duty as time wore on.
“We showed up 2 weeks before UFL and initially, our assignment was to make sure the VTC worked in the Generals conference room,” 1LT Buck explained. “Quickly though, we found out why we arrived 2 weeks early as our responsibilities grew to include: installing VOIP phones/CENTRIXS-K and CEIS computers/secure telephones, networking printers, loading drivers, and pretty much making sure anything with a power plug worked”.
2LT Vandergriff’s only comment on this statement was: “Amen”.
Once UFL ’07 began, their job took on a different nature. The lieutenants were directed to take screen shots of each and every Common Operating Picture (COP) and slide presented, during every meeting, of every day to assist in creating the slides for the AAR.
“It might not sound like much, but think of the numbers: 10 meetings a day covering 10 and a half hours, that’s a lot of COPs and slides to copy,” 2LT Simpson said. “And the analysts, they won’t let you miss a beat because the slides we copied were the material they presented to General Bell.”
The group’s original mission of VTC technical support, however, remained the top priority. CPT Kenneth Lee of the 41st Signal Battalion, who has participated in the last 5 exercises in the capacity the EAB VTC manager, reminisced: “I remember last year when I was a 1LT, and the VTC went down for a couple minutes, and a retired LTG who’s usually pretty chill said, ‘If you ever want to see Captain you’d better get that thing working now son.’”
Overall, all the Lieutenants regarded their UFL ’07 tasking as a great learning experience that easily outweighed the exhaustion of continuous labor.
“How often does a junior officer get the chance to talk casually with General Officers?” commented 1LT Simpson. “With some of the stories I heard, if any of them wrote a book I’d be the first person in line to buy it. One of the retired Generals was telling us about how he flew around the world with the Secretary of Defense in a C-17 that he parked his trailer in so he and the Secretary of Defense could get some rest in between stops.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever see Command and Generals Staff College or the Army War College, but seeing the Generals moving around the red and blue boxes on the map while talking strategy was pretty cool,” 2LT Vandergriff said. “If nothing else it made me realize how small me and my unit are in the grand scheme of things.’ “Working in both a combined and joint atmosphere is always a good learning experience,” 1LT Buck summed up his experience. “Seeing how the Korean and US Armies function definitely expanded my horizons and gave me a chance to proudly represent the Corps.”

The Morning Report

2007-08-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

Why you don't hit a 40 after a long day at work: You try to blog and then hit a series of keys that deletes everything. My bad ya'll. More will be up soon!

Mo Thangs

2007-08-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

-Dude the new Incubus song is HOT. I still remember when my boy boy Fodor and I rolled up to Minneapolis to visit some of my underclassmen at wrestling camp (back in HS). During that drive we listened to the complete Incubus library and remarked about how they started off mad funky but have moved towards straight rock, and the evolution continues. Their material is still tight but it's changed over the years.

-Yeah so once again my old boss has found a way to throw me 'the shocker'. I can't get to much into it but basically I'm getting screwed again, this time for a month, so once again it's time to roll with the punches.

-Interesting thing: I was talking to my KATUSA's about the V-Tech shootings not that long ago and they talked about how Koreans like to blame entities instead of individuals (while in the US we love to blame individuals example: 'Man this country is jacked up, Bush sucks' when really there are a lot of things going into our country slouching) and how they were afraid the US would blame all Koreans for the tragedy and were relieved that we only blamed the tortured young man who caused all the trouble.

- FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTALL IS ALMOST ALMOST ALMOST HERE HERE HERE Man I can't wait to watch the Bears continue to bust a can of whoop ass on any team foolish enough to suit up against them. As for my other loves: Berkeley has a legit squad but life w/o Marshawn ain't going to be easy but Forsett is pretty tight, things in South Bend are about to be ugly and another year or two is needed before the Weiss recruits start tearing things up, and with Northwestern nobody ever knows what's going to happen with them but everyone loves Pat Fitzgerald. As for the big picture USC looks head and shoulders above the rest every year.... but finds a way to lose a game or two. I'd just love to see WVU and Wisconsin in the national title game because all those farm people in NOLA for the Sugar Bowl would be awesome for humanity.

-Things not to take for granted: efficient mail. I'm going to this baby shower next weekend (in the army guys go to baby showers also) and I ordered a present on amazon.com (a $40 swedish baby carrier, it was on the registry) but it usually takes about 10 days for things to make their way over here. First they're sent by whatever service to this place in Cali where they become property of the Army mail system and from there things slow down. So I ordered this things 11 days out and now I'm sweating it.

-On that note I LOVE having things sent to me. Right now I'm waiting on something from my fav Ray Ray (it's a white chick) and I'm beyond excited. I guess it's kind of like when we'd all go away to Camp and a package shows someone cares. I've fallen off with my sending spree but I'll pick it up. Who doesn't like a smile produced by the mail box?

-Kevin Garnett is in the Eastern Conference......... Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I've always been a fan of Farragaut HS's second best product (if you know who Ronnie Fields is, you're awesome) and to be honest I think Lebron better haul his ass off that throne he was sitting on at the ESPY's and lock himself in the gym because The Kid has escape Minnesota and is about dominate. Love KG. The man brings another level of intensity to the game and has talent on PAR with anyone not named Jordan. But, Rasheed will always remain first in my heart.

-Man I listen to way to much Cocaine Rap and as a result I needed to prove my street cred to my Korean workers. I'm all about being legit so this was a very serious task. Well is ended up being eating a ton of Dog meat and drinking some Soju. Man those dudes got a giant kick out seeing me eat the Gae Go Gi and bathing it in their version of hot sauce. Luckily Louisiana taught me well and their spices didn't do much. It was a very fun evening.

-So I was watching my rip off version of The Simpsons film and upon seeing Spider Pig I thought of one of my incredibly annoying NCO's (fat, blonde hair, no one likes him, it makes too much sense!) and decided that SGT Jergens no longer exists, there is only Sergeant Spider Pig. 'You've gone mad with power!'-The Simpsons

-Being gone for the next month is going to suck, and one of the many reasons is that I'm missing 'Yo Mama' coming to Camp Casey. That's right, Wilmer Valderamma and some of his geeks are coming to the grimiest corner of the US Army to bust yo mama jokes. Man if they let soldiers participate there are going to be some murders in the police blotter. One of my soldiers spent an entire week busting on another soldier, and it was pretty funny, so I can only imagine what would happen if they let everyone heat on each other.... it'd be a catastrophe. Anyways we used to be all about yo mama jokes in middle school, and the best among us was Greg Hamilton, and you know where he ended up? Got his Chemistry bachelors from Emory and is now working on his Phd. at Berkeley. Damn.

- Yo mama is so stupid she studied for a drug test

-So for the like 4th time I put in my preferences for my next assignment and at this point I don't really care anymore. Just get me out of Korea, deploy my ass so I can make my bones and fulfill the reason I joined the Army, and leave me alone. Of course the preferences were list accordingly: Outside the continental US Kuwait, Germany, Hawaii and within the states Maryland, Colorado Springs, Washington State, Alaska, Augusta Georgia. I'm really hoping for Kuwait but who knows?

My Bad

2007-08-02T01:03:00.000-07:00

My bad on not posting for a while. Since the new boss has taken over I've actually stayed pretty busy with things I should have been doing before (but due to neglect my old boss never told me about). Anyways catching up is one of my favorite things, behind only beer and football, so I gotta kick this off:

-My new boss is the shit. It's amazing how just showing you care a little about someone can spring complete loyalty. A couple of my buddies out here also got new bosses and the vast majority of them have the same story as I: The old boss was a douche, the new guy is actually interested in me and I'll follow him anywhere. I just hope I've done this with my subordinates.

-So I finally got in touch with my branch manager and I should be hearing about my next assignment soon. You can't even imagine how geeked I am anyways I asked to stay out of the continental US (CONUS) and go to inorder: Kuwait, Germany, Hawaii. If they decide to send me CONUS the list is: Ft. Detrick, MD/Colorado Springs, CO/ Ft. Lewis, WA/ Ft. Richardson, AK/ Ft. Gordon, GA. Personally I'll be straight with any of these assignments although Gordon was forced upon me. For the staying abroad part, well I miss the US like hell but this is the time in my life to get my travel on. I just got a new passport and I have plenty of cash to blow so now I just need to wait for the 4 day weekends to come! I've been listening to my boy Matisyahu and I really want to visit Israel but my girl Petters makes Africa seem very attractive. Who knows?

-Man I went to this Korean baseball game and it was the shit. If Americans learned how to cheer like that it'd be something else. All their chants were extremely well coordinated, they blew confetti into the stands whenever they scored a run, and best of all the game was BYOB so everyone was crunk! I could go into the experience more but it'd be best told in person.

-Man college football is so near. This year I'm on USC's jock again because they have one of the most talented teams ever assembled. Of course we say this about USC every year..... Anyways it looks like with Wildcats and Fighting Irish are about to be in for a rough year so I'm going to have to be strong. It's going to be wierd, the games come on at 3AM over here so my plan is to get back from the bars at 1AM, eat some food to sober up a little, and then start up again watching the games. This plan is open to change though.

-I caught one of my Koreans sleeping on the job so tonight while he's working the 24 hour help desk I'm having him watch 'It' to keep him awake. This should be awesome.

I'll keep updating this posting, but it's time for a nap

Korea keeps going

2007-07-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

So things have been moody as usual. I'm incredibly, and I mean over the top, happy with my new boss. The man is keeping me busy but I have absolutely no questions about his dedication to making me into a good officer which of course is my goal these days. Camp Casey is getting lonely and I sent out a couple of the begging for attention e-mails after a bit too much scotch last weekend and I'm definitely backing off f-book and AIM for a little while. I think this latest mood swing was seeing that my boy Chris got married and knowing that my buddy Kevin is about to and I really wish I could have made the ceremonies, but I don't have any vacation days. In fact I feel like a pretty shitty friend for not being there for their special day. Luckily when I talk to my buddies out here they've all had similar experiences with missing big events. I was talking to one of my soldiers about it today and he put it in perspective when he talked about missing out on a year of his daughter's life. That shit hit home. I have absolutely nothing to bitch and moan about compared to that man. I think having that talk will kick my mood back into gear because comparing the two experiences definitely left mine in light comparison. So I've been reading this book and it has definitely knocked down my usually high patriotism, which is especially unusual since my favorite holiday of the year the 4th of July is tomorrow. I'm sure I'll survive as long as I find my white tee in time for the Lloyd Banks concert. Actually it's going to be an interesting week because the next day I get a 'special' tour of the DMZ with my unit (once you've been there a couple times, it stops being cool and is more of a 'thank God I'm not posted at the Joint Security Area' experience). Then a three day weekend where...... I'll probably be as lazy as possible besides going to Seoul to do a theater hoping day. Yeah so life is pretty boring. Anyways here are some interesting links and thoughts:

-This is perhaps the funniest think I've ever heard about: The Hip Hop Beef of Lil Bow Wow and Lil Romeo. Master P talking shit to Bow Wow at the Nickelodeon Awards? Definitely not rowd it rowd it bout it bout it. In fact that might be the softest thing I've ever heard of.

-On the note of Master P, can you believe this song used to touch people's (well atleast mine, and I still know all the words) hearts? Times are a changin. Actually if you watch and Master P video now it's pretty damn funny. Or if you want to get really funny.

-So one of my soldiers is married to a Filipina woman, definitely not a Juicy Girl though, and she told him about this awesome story (well tragic, but ridic) about the real GI Joe being killed in a terrorist hit in the Philipines. If you thought Diego Garcia was cool, this blows it out of the water.

-On the line of Diego Garcia, check this out. We're everywhere.

-While I got mad love for Chris Brown (he set it off at the Grammy's with Lionel Ritchie and Stevie Wonder) and think Ne-Yo is the man, lets be real: they're both keeping the throne warm for the return of everyone's favorite A-Town star Usher. I don't know what he's up to, and I'm usually pretty on point with my celeb gossip, but after the stuff he sang about in Confessions album I'm pretty sure he's busy apologizing to people. Anyways can't wait to return 'on the beat that makes yo booty go smack'

-So one of my Korean National (KN) workers got into a car accident and my boss, one of my subordinates, and I went to visit him at the hospital. You know how American hospitals are giant? Well Korean ones are very small. Actually it was really weird because we got dropped off at the hospital, saw the other KN's out there and asked about Mr. Cho to which they replied by pointing across the street, where he was walking out of the Korean market still in his hospital gown. Totally odd. Anyways we met his family in his room and it's good to know he's going to be ok. Probably the funniest thing about the experience was sitting at the PX (Army Walmart) and trying to figure out what we should get him as a get well gift, 'Well Sir, I mean maybe we should get him booze because I know he likes to drink, maybe some dip because I don't think you can smoke in hospitals?'. Good stuff.

-The pettiness of the Army, this is me chatting with my main buddy in the Battalion Joy:
Alec12484: btw i was in the ville with CPT Koh visiting a hospitalized KN
strada17: nice
Alec12484: and he asked what i'm doing tomorrow and i said crashing at your place after talking some shit with you
Alec12484: and my E-5 is like 'yeah it's all about you (CPT Koh)'
Alec12484: it was funny
Alec12484: because CPT Koh is already working his way to saint hood in the unit
Alec12484: like today he lost his coffee mug
Alec12484: under past leadership, it would have remained lost
Alec12484: but it was promptly found today
Alec12484: it might sound small, but it's a gesture of respect
strada17: hahaha
strada17: thats the most hilarious thing ive ever heard
strada17: can i quote u on that
Alec12484: feel free
To some a coffee cup, within my unit it's a mark of respect. Imagine if he had lost something that was actually important, the man is loved, it would have been found.

-Man, I keep on reading about people in The E getting shot and killed. First Thomas Guy who was in the HS Football program with me and now this stuff. As much as during HS we liked to say Evanston was rougher (it so isn't, well atleast 80%) this kind of stuff shouldn't be happening in my suburb (never mind any suburb). It's very disturbing to hear about this, especially with how the communities down town area has taken off and in 80% of the city real estate prices are rising. I think it's about time we kick community investing in the not so nice 20% up a notch. Of course that's something I assume the people of Evanston will realize on their own, because they're my kind of people. Gotta love E-town.

-After watching Sicko, the new Michael Moore film, and reading about the Kennedy Administration, it finally hit me how much our country is controlled by large corporations. I can testify on my own as to how much money we spend in the military industrial complex and the health care thing seemed beyond whack. I might stay in the Army just so I don't have to worry about health care ever again. The film made a deep impact upon my thinking.

-So to the right is proof of when you can tell discipline is breaking down in your unit. The top row of photos are the officers in the chain of command going from my boss, to his boss, to her boss, all the way to the President. On the bottom is the NCO support channel (the top sergeants). Well as you can see the top NCO in my immediate unit, the First Sergeant, is represented by 'Mole Man' from The Simpsons since they share a striking resemblance. Usually the First Sergeant is the tough dude who dictates unit discipline. 'Mole Man' is not a tough dude and the resulting discipline is obvious.

-So I found out my favorite KATUSA at Camp Casey, definitely not as cool as CPL Kim but he's at Camp Red Cloud, Lee Jae is being certified as a Microsoft Professional. So my new boss is a stickler for making things look professional, which is how they should be, put formating Word and Power Point can be a bitch. But now, I just yell from my office, 'Lee....... Jae (the pause being because we also have Lee Yong)' and he runs over and is like 'Yes Sir' and then I tell him my problem, he leans over the keyboard for maybe 15-20 seconds, runs away, and comes back in 2 minutes at most with the answer (I assume he's looking at his text books). Anyways he never fails to solve the problem and watching a 6'2'' Korean dude running around never fails to be entertaining. I'm trying to figure out a way to bring Lee Jae to my next assignment. Good help is the shit!

-2 things I can't find anywhere in Korea: A Cubs hat and a french coffee press. Lancelot saved damsels in distress, AK searches for the gear of below .500 teams and fine java. That's how I roll.

-Ah today I went to the ville, and bagged a Leinart USC Rose Bowl Jersey and a Jerome Bettis Notre Dame '89 Fiesta Bowl. And I complain about being here? Oh yeah, the other things.

-So I got in touch with my old home base teacher from HS and we had some serious catching up to do about some serious business, she's in poor health right now and I had no idea. While I sometimes feel intrusive with sending lots of e-mails, IMs, f-book messages (I swear, no more drunk ones!) I'm not going to risk falling off with people I care about like how I did with my teach. Especially with my travels these days I can't say 'hey I have a three day weekend coming up, I'll grab a southwest flight and we'll get lunch'. It's more like 'hey, hopefully we'll see each other during Christmas, if not then maybe the next one!' And I'm a big believer in face time. Signal is about using Video Teleconference (VTC) and it's totally impersonal.... although it allows you to go on f-book during a boring ass meeting ;-) Anyways I'm rededicated now to staying in touch.

More to come, sorry about how this entry is short and not to dollied up, it's been a long day and I just wanted to get some stuff out there.
-AK

Been Reading the Ancients

2007-06-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

So recently I've bee reading this ridic book on the Kennedy's and it dropped one of my favorite lines: 'Crossing the Rubicon'. For those who don't know it's a reference to Julius Caesar crossing big river in Italy with his Army to enter Rome and take over the empire. Basically it means you're going beyond 'the point of no return' and things will never be the same.

Also when the parents visited and my Pops spoke about the condition of one of our family friends, Steven the widow of my sister's Godfather Greg, he told me about how the man can't travel without the ashes of his deceased husband and more or less is a shell of his former self. I won't go into my tirade on gay rights or my definition of love, but it made me think of the quote from one of my two favorite ancients (Aeschylus and the pictured above Aurelius) that my boy RFK used to describe his brother's death: 'Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the aweful grace of God'. I really hope Steven finds that wisdom and moves on, but it's amazing to hear about how love lost can cripple. A big time eye opener.

So for this blog entry I wanted to use some of my favorite quotes from the ancients, the stuff that motivates me and helps me make my decisions, the good shit:

'A man's character is his fate.' -Heraclitus

I like to interpret this as 'good things happen to good people'. Of course we all say this isn't true and can be cynical, and accept that it isn't true. Personally I believe that good things do happen to good people.

'Great spirits meet calamity greatly'- Aeschylus

Big time players show up in big time games. I'll call this the Tom Brady quote.

'Take heart. Suffering, when it climes highest, last but a little time'-Aeschylus

Amen. Hopefully this one is true. This is from my RFK book and still makes me think of him dieing in the hands of the Mexican waiter, having escaped the world tried to save, the expectations that no one could live up to, and looking for once at peace with the world.

'He tells himself over and over again in any choice presented to him, "Prefer the hard." This holds good not only in great matters, but also in very small, in fighting by the frozen Danube and in starting the day early'- Aurelius

There's a reason I appreciate Korea and am /begging for Kuwait next. As the closest thing I've had to a mentor said 'take the hard assignments'.

'I do not promise you ease. I do not promise you comfort. But I do promise you these: hardship weariness, and suffering. And with them, I promise you victory'-Garibaldi

Man that's the kind of shit that makes me want to wake up each morning, eat my cereal, and give everything I have! My new boss gave his speech at our Change of Command ceremony and he did a good job, but when it comes my time to own a formation of soldiers again, this is exactly what I'll be saying.

'Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.' -Marcus Valerius Martialis

Be real.

'To be ignorant of the past is to remain as a child'-Cicero

Throughout my reading of history I see the same mistakes happen often. The problems they thought they were going to have if the Bay of Pigs succeeded...... are the same problems we have in Iraq now. In my office I keep posted a list of the things I fucked up on so they maintain a constant presence in my life and therefor will not be repeated. I could rant about the importance of knowing your past, but Cicero put it best.

The Supply Guy (Explicit Lyrics)

2007-06-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting to post this blog entry for ages, and finally pulling the trigger on it has me way geeked. So in the picture to the right is my Company's supply guy, Mr. Yi, Hong-Tae. There are several people named Yi in company, most notably the Commander, but I call this one 'Wild Ass Mr. Yi'. This cat is the man, he can cuss like a drunk Bears fan after the Super Bowl when someone says 'how about Sexy Rexy?' (not that I'd know....) and has palms greasier than any politician to ever run for office in Illinois. This is my guy!

Ever met someone and been like, 'man I'm going to be talking about this guy for the rest of my life'? Well Mr. Yi is one of those folks. My first Platoon Sergeant put it best, 'Mr. Yi has spent way too much time around Soldiers.' What prompted this response? My KATUSA's saying 'Oh Mr. Yi has very good English' and me having to reply 'NO NO NO, guys if you talk like that to an American he will beat you up badly!' Basically this dude cusses like it's the only vocabulary he knows, and to some degree it is the only vocab he knows.

So Mr. Yi and I have developed a good relationship. Game recognizes Game if you will. So we tend to cuss back and forth at each other as a form of salutations:
2LT Kinczewski (with bass voice you can only summon from the bottom of your belly) : 'Hey old Mothafucka, I'm here to beat your ass and get my paper for the month'
Mr. Yi: 'You son of a bitch, I kill you LT (pulls a hammer out of his desk), where's my money mothafucka!'
2LT Kinczewski: 'Haha, how's it going Mr. Yi? Why did you have to steal my best soldier for the supply room?'
Mr. Yi: 'She need more babies and no one else can do it!'
Then we shake hands and get down to our petty business (my hand receipt and getting paper). This cat is way out there. The real fun with this exchange though is when we have soldiers who are new to Korea or KATUSA's new to the unit who have had the 'respect your Korean elders' mantra printed on their mind and don't recognize the fun being had with the interaction. It totally tweaks them out. The only time I've ever seen Mr. Yi get legitimately pissed was when my Formerly Favorite Specialist (the one who got in the accident that cost me $900 ie formerly fav) joked on Mr. Yi's fake Burberry (Burferry, it does exist, as my Momma found out from her knock off shopping). At that moment I realized Mr. Yi was for real.

I can't get into the man's character enough, but he's one of those people you don't forget about. Especially after I saw him with the new Commander, and played the usual 'What's up mofo' game with him, and he didn't respond. I was shocked. He said 'what's up LT' and left the profanity on the sideline, and I looked like an a-hole in front of the future boss (who I have very high hopes for). I asked Mr. Yi what the dilly was and he said 'Commander said to clean up my act now'. And now you know why I await the new boss (and there are many many more reasons).

Man I feel terrible because Mr. Yi gives me such great material but I'm so geeked to share the 'Wild Ass' experience that I can't write it out properly. Well at least I can leave you with a picture of me and my favorite KATUSA:
-AK

Quick Hits Pt. VI

2007-06-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, the time to throw out the random thoughts has come again:

-Bad. Luckily it's sounding like we might repeal it after the recent court ruling saying that the President can't label random people of interest 'Enemy Combatants' and hold them in jail without trial. My only concern about this is that the court ruled 2-1 in the case and not 3-0.

-Every mention that my KATUSA's love Bon Jovi? I think it's awesome.

-Man we all make mad fun of Paris Hilton, but Lindsay Lohan is the real trouble maker. Lindsay 'The real mo'freakin deal' Lohan. Just read the URL of the link and get ready for a helluva read. Bitch needs to lay off the Cocieena. But on the Hilton note I'm very disappointed with the blanket coverage, and I mean every channel, we gave to her incarceration. I mean like BBC and CNN International. I wonder what the world thinks of us after this. I almost feel like I should sit my KATUSA's down and make them watch a taping of The Kennedy Center Honors to show our nation still has some class and taste. Never mind they left Andrew Lloyd Weber off the list for last year, it's still an damn strong line up. Even Condi loves them!

-So I had to do a map for my M-203/249 range and I used Google Maps and you know what I found? Detailed images of the largest military base outside the United States. Not cool. I don't think Kim Jong Il has access to his own satellites, but I'm pretty sure someone in his Dept. of D-Fence has an internet connection and can see this stuff. So as a little experiment I took some engineer tape and made a giant 'X' on top of my building, and each day I'm checking Google Maps to see when the X shows up (the new image of our building is uploaded) and then we're going to take the 'X' down and see how long it takes for it to show up Google Maps to see how often the satellite passes over us. Signal: We're Clever.

-My God, Daddy Yankee and Fergie got together to make a song. I can't imagine how this makes music critics feel, probably similar to FDR when he heard that Hitler and Hirohito were boys. Evils meet. Jay-Z has already done his crossover thing with Linkin Park and meeting of the minds with The Roots, so to freshen things up, I'm putting out the call for Nas and Pearl Jam (they both hate on the downfalls of American culture) to get together and defeat this clear and present danger to pop culture. I don't know how it'd work, but desperate times call for extremes.

-Rihanna, that's one damn fine looking woman. Plain and simple.

-How do you know you're from The E? When you have random cravings to hear Jay-Z's The Black Album. 99 Problems and not having my MP3 player was one. I freaking love my hometown! As I'm convinced everyone who has Evanston on the Birth Certificate and High School Diploma do. While the image to the right may be hazy the memories are clear and crisp. Still remember the end of the ceremony with the habitual chants of 'E-Town What? E-Town What?'

-Dude I'm reading this book about the JFK assassination, and RFK's hunt for the truth and eventual assassination, and there are too many holes in the 'single shooter' theory to place much faith in it.

-So I was chilling out and watching TV and I caught this speech by Patrick Fitzgerald at Amherst and it blew me away. Right now in my heart he's right below RFK and Edward R. Murrow on the hero scale. Talk about a dude who has been on the come up his entire life because of hard work and talent. I love how he took on the White House. Even better though was how he got the former Governor of Illinois sent to jail. It's kind of a knowledge that's limited to Illinois, like Casimir Pulaski Day, but Ryan was a very evil man. Many many people in Illinois hold him accountable for one of the more heart breaking stories you'll ever hear. Anyways he someone how got one of the nations top defense lawyers to represent him pro bono (the defense was said to be worth $20 million, no kidding) but Fitzgerald put him away. Basically it showed that no one could outrun the federal prosecution for corruption and led to a bunch of cases across the country being opened which were previously thought to be unwinable due to the defense the former politicians would hire. Mad props to Fitzgerald for getting Scooter also.

I've got to get back to reading my book, so I'll write more later.
-AK