Hannitized

I just saw Sean Hannity, Oliver North, and Neil Boortz at a voter rally in Dayton last night. It was a pretty cool experience. It is nice to see some people that I listen to on the radio. There was 1 liberal in the crowd and Sean Hannity and Neil Boortz really got on him about some issues and challenged him on his candidate of choice. I tried to meet Oliver North afterwards, but failed in my attempt. They had to leave right away and goto Cincy.

Mother's Truck

Mother's Truck 1
Originally uploaded by nukeit1.

My mother was involved in a vehicle accident this morning and here is a picture of it afterwards. She got banged up a bit; broke 4 bones in her right foot and bruised up her knee as well. I was upset when she called me this morning right before I was going to leave to see President Bush at the Hara Arena. I was really looking forward to it because I never seen a President in person before and would like to see this particular one. But of course, of all timing, I had to go and pick up my mother at the hospital and take her to another doctor's office. I don't mean to be cold towards my mother, but it was just wrong timing I guess. It looks like she won't be able to drive for a bit and will have a hard time getting around the house. So I guess that leaves me with a lot more responsibility at home.

Something I Fear

In light of recent news; I'm not going to lie. My biggest fear when I enter a combat zone is getting hit with an IED or something and losing a limb(s) and being put in a wheel chair or something the rest of my life. I goto Wright State and I see a lot of people who are disabled and I think that I might be one of those in a year. I really don't like to think about that. I think I would prefer dying than having a disability. That may seem odd to some people, but I like having a fully functioning body and I don't want to go through life without it. I like being active in life; paintball, driving, racquetball, walking, etc... Other than that fear, I wouldn't mind getting some trigger time in, since I have spent the last 3 years training, sweating, and physical pain for this one thing - war.

Conversations in Class

While sitting in my economics class, waiting for the break to end, I overheard a conversation by 2 ladies, in the row in front of me. They were talking about politics and the issue of abortion. One lady mentioned that she works for her church and will be voting for Senator John Kerry; as well as her 2 pastors will be voting for Mr. Kerry. She said that she thinks that it is not right that people based their decision for President based on whether or not they are pro-life or not. I agree with that a little bit, but not on a issue as strong as abortion; generally if you are pro-abortion, there are some other issues that Christians should not be for. I just can't believe what I hear. Some people are making this whole voting process too emotional. You should not be voting with your emotions because they are usually jacked up and obviously don't make the best decisions for you. Rather, I think more people need to use that grey matter in their heads', but what do I know.
Another conversation that we had early in this class, was also about politics and who you would vote for and why. The issue of homosexual marriage was brought up. This one lady brought up that she goes to church and was for homosexual marriage because she works in a hospital and sees the effect of not allowing it. She thinks that when 2 loving and totally committed homosexual adults can't be allowed to see one another at a hospital or on their deathbed is wrong. This lady said that Christians should not judge people for having an "alternative lifestyle." That kinda ticked me off. It is not an "alternative" lifestyle, it is a homosexual lifestyle. I hate it when I hear someone try to water it down to mean something not as bad. They need to quit worrying if they might hurt someone's feelings, and just say it for what it is.

The cat is out of the bag

Well, for those lucky few, welcome to my blog. Thanks to a certain individual, Aaron, the cat is loose. So, I hope you all enjoy reading this stuff and take it with a grain of salt.
James Out.

Political power is great

I tell you what, I am tired of hearing about all these stupid lame things that the democrats are doing to try and get Senator John Kerry elected. I mean, come on, they complain when VP Dick Cheney gets a flu shot due to the shortage. The dude is in his 60s and has had 4 heart attacks! He more than qualifies for a flu shot, as per government regulations. Also, this whole thing about Senator Kerry going hunting the other day in Ohio, what is he trying to do! He is for government gun control, the NRA does not support him, he had to borrow that camouflage jacket. People leaning left, listen to me, John Kerry thinks you are ignorant, he is pretty much calling you stupid. Mr. Kerry does not hunt, he is trying to swing some conservative votes his way cause he goes geese hunting. This is purely a political event and wants people to think otherwise. Massachusetts has the most strict gun laws, but no one wants to know that because it takes time to research a candidate and we all don't have time for that. So, lets just go with what the TV ads say, or what MTV tells us are the facts. Better yet, Michael Moore knows a lot and has made a nice little documentary that is fun to watch. NO! NO! NO! Prior behavior predicts future behavior. Just look into each candidates accomplishments and records for voting and there you will see what the candidate is really all about. Find some non-partisan publication and read what each side has to say and find facts to back it up. I'm tired of fricken liberals asking me all the questions about President Bush doing this, being part of that, lying to us. Instead of asking me questions, where I do present facts about the truth, give me some facts about where you have come to this conclusion. Oh wait, that's right, MTV didn't tell you the facts, "the TV ad said this so it must be true," or wait, Mr. Moore said it in his documentary and it was shown in theaters nationwide and therefore must be true. I am more than willing to hear someone's side for a candidate if they would only know something true about his/her candidate of choice.
I am James McCauley and I approve of this message.

My lovely weekend

Well, it was another lovely drill weekend of doing a whole lot of nothing. People sometimes ask me what I do during drill and I try to give a good answer, but it is hard because of so much time spent doing very little just boggles my mind. I can't picture everything that we have done and tell someone because it seems like when I am telling it, we did very little training. And you know what, we do do very little training or a lot of stupid stuff and sit a lot. Funny how we can only get 4-5 hours of sleep at night, but yet be rushed to do our so called training that lasts into the wee hours of the night which in all reality, we are just sitting around or standing around smoking and joking. We wait until the invisible hand, to all of us, which we are sometimes told is the battalion, gets things in order and up running.
There are some good things that I can say happened this weekend of drill, which by the way, was a little bit longer than a weekend (5 days). Somehow, somewhere, our company gunny was able to arrange for some of the riflemen in our company to qualify on the pistol range. That is something which rarely ever happens in the reserves because lack of time and money prohibit non-essential personnel from firing the pistol. Lucky, I was one of 38 riflemen that was picked to shoot. Now, this is my first time doing the pistol range, so I did not perform as high as I would with the rifle range, but I think I did well considering my lack of training on this weapon system. I shot sharpshooter, so now I get to add 1 more badge to my dress uniforms, so I am happy about that.
The rest of drill week consisted of having some classes on Thursday about IEDs and EPOW searches, then practical application afterwards. LtCol. Lesaveage, the BN commander, talked to the whole battalion for a bit. He said some watered down secret stuff and his opinions. I pulled targets all day Friday. Helped teach a class on Saturday morning, then headed to pistol range. Afterwards, sat around for about 6 hours waiting and hating life while at the same time waiting to be picked up to meet up with the rest of the battalion. It was kinda cold outside just sitting around or standing. Anyways, they ended couldn't find us, so by a act of God, the 6.7 mile BN hike was cancelled. Needless to say, it was a happy day for all the Marines. Next, back onto the bus for the 8 hour ride back to Columbus. Sunday consisted of cleaning weapons and taking care of admin stuff and once again, a whole lot of sitting around. Oh, we were also put on alert offcially for mobilization in January.
Well, that was a lot of info, so I will leave it as is.

Drill week

This week I have drill from Wednesday evening till Sunday evening. Drill weekends usually aren't too much of a hassle, but when it starts on Wednesday then I have a problem. The main problem is that I have school that will suffer. I will be missing some classes and at the same time, miss 2 tests and have a third one to take on Monday, which I won't have anytime to study for because I have no time during drill. In regards to the other 2 tests, I am taking one early on Wednesday before I leave and taking the other one on Monday. It is just too much studying with virtually no time to do it in, hence the problem with drill starting on Wed. So, right now I am attempting to study for my stats test so I don't fail it too much. Oh, I will also be missing the 3rd Presidential debate, which I like to follow closely.