Doolittle ya know

So, on the 18th of this month an important anniversary passed us by without many people noticing.  It was the anniversary of the 1942 Doolittle raid.  In honor of that, I submit to you some more required reading about the further implications of said raid.

Reconsidering The Doolittle Raid

Like mentioned in the article, I am one of those who were taught in school the "common knowledge" relating to the event, without being told some of the finer details that might prove otherwise.  Go check it out, as it's a fantastic and relatively short read.  Ya read it yet?  Okay.  Now, time for my two cents.

One thing that they didn't mention, is the growing misconception of the target of the raid.  In recent times, I have been told (and blatantly offended) by many peers who attempt to demonize and marginalize the Doolittle raid by stating that it was not very heroic because it had targeted civilians.

This is a blatant lie.  Although all the factions targeted civilians at some point of the war, the Doolittle raid's target was not civilians.  They were the Tokyo naval yards and other factories producing military equipment. For example, a factory producing tanks will always be a high value military target regardless of how many civilians work there.  Even if that weren't the case, they still executed a very dangerous raid with little regard to their safety and a mind firmly on completing their objectives.  Aircraft and crews were pushed to the absolute edge of their limits.  Heck, they even removed nearly all their defensive armament to reduce weight just to reach their target, which was fairly well defended and ran the risk of being intercepted.  If that aint heroic, i don't know what is.

I'm so flattered

So, some years ago, I served a two year stint as a full time missionary for my church.  What can I say?  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  Quite literally.  People often have two responses once they find out that I have done so: first, they are blatantly surprised, because they don't associate me with the "type" that would do so.  Next, they inevitably ask a variation of the question "what was it like?"  Well, because serving a two year mission is such a massive life-changing experience, it's very hard to conjure up an explanation that can encompass the full two years of extremely unique experiences.

However, to give a basic idea of what day to day life is like, I often compare it to being on deployment while serving in the military.  The only major differences between the two (that I can tell) are the extreme physical risk that goes with others trying to take yours as well.  Going on a mission kind of goes like so:

Through high motivation you decide to volunteer, never really knowing the extent of what you're getting in to, then you put in an application to volunteer and eventually receive a call, you never go where you want to go, you're put through a crammed training course that only vaguely prepares you for any actual work you will do, some of your class can't hack it and washes out, any romantically inclined relationship you have is guaranteed to end, there is a strict daily regimen and schedule you adhere to, there are a litany of regulations, rules, and protocols for you to memorize and follow, there is regular PT (though thankfully not as a punishment), you have to put up with stupid immature cohorts that on occasion hurt your own cause, along with incompetent superiors that attempt to sap what's left of your morale, the English language is slowly eclipsed by the proprietary jargon and acronyms used by your service to the point that no one understands you, you go on long patrols where nothing happens a majority of the time, march through whatever inclement weather comes, extreme boredom begins to set in and slowly makes you go crazy (momma dawg!), people are often pointing guns at you and trying to hurtle improvised weapons at you, the media at large seems to either mock or hate you, "pulling teeth" often describes trying to deal with the locals you are trying to help, you sacrifice your all to help the community and country in which you serve, with little to no local recognition of your sacrifice, and in the end you are just kind of thrown back into the world to sink or swim, and only others who served seem to understand your experience at all.....and it's worth every dang minute of it!

Despite all I mentioned, it really is an experience I wouldn't trade for all the riches of the world.  I am truly thankful for the chance I had to serve, and was sad when it ended.

But back to my initial point, which is the comparison to the military.  I was recently reading American Spartans: The U.S Marines: A Combat History from Iwo Jima to Iraq, and despite the first chapter or two being a bit moto while hearkening the spirit of recruitment ads, there was couple of bits that caught me off guard.  The first being this paragraph:

"Whenever Marines are being trained, at whatever level, talk of character building and values is never far behind.  Words like pride, discipline, and persistence permeate marine discourse.  Marines have their own language, with scores of saying and slang words.  The Corps has been referred to derisively as a kind of military cult, and more dispassionately as a kind of military "denomination".  Indeed, there are some striking similarities between the Marines and a religious order.  Both require a transformation for full membership, a kind of rebirth.  Both require the willing acceptance of a core set of beliefs   Both require an enduring commitment to a cause greater than oneself.  For the Marines, stories of Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Hue, and Chesty Puller are sacred.  They serve as scriptures do for religious groups."

And then this quote on the same page from Gen. Anthony Zinni, "What we were doing was not a job, not even a profession, but a calling.  For me, joining the Marines was the closest thing to becoming a priest."

I don't hold myself anywhere near the same regard as our servicemen, but it is kinda fun when I hear them point out some of the similarities of our service.  There are many quotes of comparing christian service to the military, but this is the first one I've heard coming from the other direction.  Cool.

Update:  Another thing I forgot to mention that makes missionary service similar to deployment, is the goggles.  Every missionary is instructed about the goggles.

Lifeless husk mode: on

What is it with women I know calling me at 1:00 in the morning?  Seriously.  Not that I mind them calling, or even them calling at that hour, but it seems to be a regular occurrence, and that is the thing that bugs me.  I like sleep, but not as much I do women, so of course I'm gonna take the early morning phone call.  Doesn't mean I'm not gonna be completely incoherent by the morning though.

And now for something completely different.  Here's quite possibly the greatest thing I will see all day, via Soldier Systems.

I love it.

So, yeah, kind of a cheap-o post overall, but rest assured that once I get some rest, I'll post something of significance.

Why? I'll tell you why.

Just in case you don't go around the same avenues of the internet that I do, I recently saw another post that is a must read:
http://lurkingrhythmically.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-so-called-rights.html

on time and on target

More Sunday tunes for your perusal:

It has begun

So, our production floor was just barely having some kind of pep rally or morale thing going on, in which they all started reciting something in unison really loud, so you could hear it all across the offices.  Since this has never happened before, a lot of people were a bit confused.  That included our new guy in IT, who approached my desk and cautiously asked me if I knew what was happening.

With the straightest and most serious face I could muster, I looked at him and said, "Yeah, it's just a communist uprising.  Happens every month or so, and ends in a revolution of some sort."

My stupid sense of humor while workers of the world unite.

I just don't know

Yesterday and today seem to be those kind of days in which everything seems to piss you off, and even the things that normally cheer you up do the same thing, too.  So obviously it was a bit hard to find the motivation to post anything yesterday.

One thing that managed to make me feel a bit better was my new found enjoyment of the show Adventure Time.  It almost disturbs me how much I've come to really enjoy this cartoon for children, but like most shows I enjoy, it has a surprisingly dark and zany sense of humor, along with some characters that are much more tragic and deep than they initially appear.  It even manages to be post apocalyptic too, with the first shot of the intro showing un-detonated nuclear ordinance scattered across the waste.  Nice.

I downloaded seasons 1-4 and am enjoying just about all of it so far.  Too bad I don't have any kids, as that would give me a much less socially awkward reason for me watching it.

Wiki walkabout part III

So last night while eating dinner, I was looking over Tam and Roberta's posts about their outing to the zoo.  Which caused me to start reading all sorts of wiki articles about the various species of sea lions and seals, which whenever I see them in person, I just cant help but think they sit, move and overall behave like large sea-fairing dogs with flippers instead of paws.  What cute little carnivores they are!

Just look at that smug face.  You can totally tell that this one thinks he looks mother effing majestic, and well, he's right.

That in turn, caused me to start looking up more about dogs, which naturally makes me look for large breed dogs.  Then, after a cursory Google search, I stumble across one of the coolest breeds I've never heard of before:  The American Alsatian.  Also identified by it's unofficial name, the Dire Wolf.  Wow, now that's a cool canine.  Check out the breeding program's website, which is far more nerdy than initially thought, as their long term goal is that they intend to replicate the prehistoric ancestor to today's dogs and wolves (the Dire Wolf) to allow scientists to better study the type.  For Science!

Dang!  That's one cool looking dog.

Disconnected; for better or for worse.

It seems (for good reason) that most of my favorite people on the internet all seem to be annoyed/amused/perplexed/pissed off by all the so called "reporting" done on the recent tragedy in Boston.  It's at times like this, after all the misinformation, conjecture and political blood-dancing, that I'm really glad I don't pay for cable or satellite TV.  I'd like to say that I don't have it at all, but apparently our complex provides basic cable for free, so whatever.  It does make me a little less connected with the events of the world at large, but I think the pros have outweighed the cons so far. 

That sad moment when

you learn some bit of important national news from someone you would never trust to give you even the smallest bit of factual information, so you completely dismiss it until you find out later that it's actually true.

Yeah, just found out about the events in Boston.  I hope the figures for dead and injured don't get worse as time goes on.