News from the dolphin bros

2004-08-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back. Lots of excuses but the main reason is how hard it is to be faithful to writing. So many things get in the way, in particular the lack 0f desire to think. However, waiting for internet capability in Bahrain and then spilling Guiness on my laptop really did put a hurting on my motivation. I'm not sure if I was more mad about losing my computer or the last half of the Guiness. After all, Swain is an Irish name. Then it took DELL an entire month to get me a new computer. Okay, I got that out of the way now I can get back on track with what's going on over here as I see it. And I do mean as I see it. This is my disclaimer- I am very opinionated and I will interpret the conversations and news events with no apology.

Let me get to this whole "Swiftboat Vets for Truth" thing. I have spent my entire adult life in the Military. I spent five years in Germany as active duty Air Force. I spent two years working for AAFEES (the military's shopping center) on an army post. And I have spent the last 17 years in the Navy reserves; twice involuntarily moblized to do my part in the war against terrorism. The time is coming for me to part company with the military and I don't know how I am going to cope. We are our own subculture. We are a band of brothers with a unique perspective on how the whole machine really works. And it is to that unique perspective that non-military types need to pay close attention. Kerry wants to hide behind the facade Hollywood creates with regard to the military. He knows people like Chris Matthews will latch onto an ideal when it comes to Kerry as a hero. His campaign relys heavily on the truth that most never-military civilians believe that the military is a machine, a well oiled machine that has no bureaucratic B/S.

This is why the Swift Boat Vets need to have their say. I know a sailor who received the Navy Achievment Medal for buying radio batteries for our unit out of his own pocket. While it was a comendable thing to do, it did not rise to the merit of receiving the medal. I received one myself for helping our unit pass a series of important inspections. Why did they award it to me? To help me make a promotion. It was the emptiest award I have ever received. We past the inspections because I did my job. That is not an acheivment, it is an expectation. The medal did help me to get a promotion. How do you get medals in the Navy. For the most part, you write them up yourself. The very reason that desk jockies have a chest full of ribbons and the soldier in the battle has none. Because heroism does not blow its own horn. Nobody who is a hero sees themself as one. You become a hero by doing your job in the right circumstances. Heroism is simply not shrinking back at the time you are called upon to do the thing you were trained to do. Medals are properly awarded by those on the sidelines. They are awarded by the onlookers amazed at an individual's willingness to push through extremely difficult circumstances. When one of those "heroes" writes up his own medals it is cause for his shipmates to raise and eyebrow. When those eyebrows go up it is cause for those who know nothing about the military to listen.

Why do these Swift Boat Vets have such a bone to pick with Kerry. Of course the reason is obvious. He trampled on their heroism by depicting them as cowards. He then came back to the States and accused the very people he robbed of medals of committing the atrosities he admits to committing. Who do I believe? I believe the Swift Boat Vets for truth.

Kerry is proven to be a flip-flopper on every issue. He is proven to lie about circumstances surrounding events simply because it helps him to drive a political point home. He is a proven liar. The Swift Boat Vets have no such trail of deception. Instead they exemplify the very character that we associate with those we call heroes. Only a fool would not take the time to listen to what they have to say. Or perhaps somebody who has a political agenda (though this type can be characterized a a fool as well). Kerry's medals, I believe, are like oversized breast enhancements. There is some realness to them, and they will make your head turn, but underneath them is artificial substance likely to lead to long term sickness.

2004-05-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

What a day. Listening to all of the vitriolic discourse coming from the left is almost unbearable. And knowing that all of this vicious language and deliberate, disingenuous grandstanding is an attempt to win a very small percentage of "undecided" voters. It reminds me of my trip to Verdun, France. Millions of casualties in order to gain a small strip of land between the trenches. The casualties in this case, of course, are the honor of a system of government and the very men that have been shipped into harms way to protect it.

What does the left's call for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation tell us? It communicates quite clearly why we cannot let post Kennedy Democrats have charge over our wars. This is the first prolonged military action since Vietnam, and Democrats are quickly reminding us why they created a quagmire over there. While the Commander in Chief is trying to walk the knife-edge of Iraqi/Islamic politics and effective military execution, the left (and loudest) wing of the Democratic party want to fight the war from D.C. For them everything is politics. Undoubtedly a President Kerry would have forced his Defense Secretary to resign with no regard for the man's hard work, successes, or honor. Because he has no honor himself, he has only ambition. And this type of poll driven Commander in Chiefing is exactly what he and his Democratic cohorts would do. They have one conviction, keep power, and therefore try to figure out what Americans might want. Except for the one thing Americans do want- leadership.

I make my home in Arizona and for years I have heard nothing but incident after incident of abuse in our jails and prisons. Our famous Sheriff Joe Arpio's jails are accused of torture, killing, videotaping naked prisoner, and creating the harshest of living conditions for prisoners accused of no more than drunk driving. Not to mention the repeated raping recently of a female prison guard in a state prison by two inmates who took over an entire prison section. Where is the outrage against Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano? All of these atrocities have occurred on her watch. Isn't she expected to have full accountability for everything in the scope of her charge. Surely her small government is less complex and easier to maintain than the Pentagon. And not only her state, but prisons throughout the United States are famous for the inhumanities that occur within their walls. Where is the outrage? There is no outrage because the Kerry crowd doesn't care one bit for prisoners in the U.S. or in Iraq. They only care for a foothold in the dislodging of President Bush's popularity with the American people.

John Kerry has no vision for this country and he is the exact representation for the Democratic Party today. An Old Testament prophet said that "without vision the people perish". John Kerry's only vision is seeing himself sitting in the Oval office. He will tear down the house to get to that desk. His call for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation is a clear indication of the type of Commander in Chief he won't be.

2004-05-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

2004-05-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

Awaiting the going. Called to serve and glad to be a part. All of us wish we had a bat-phone to GW to let him know we're "all in". Not for any other reason than to encourage him as so many around us do their best to discount the bravery of our Commander in Chief and those that follow his orders. Heroes, everyone of my Dolphin Brothers, and their families too.