Win some, lose some...

**Bluesman** · 07 Apr 05,, 02:52

Kinda mixed day at work today: lost a '47 in Afghanistan (not a SOCOM bird this time, thank God; after losing the COMBAT TALON II in the Balkans, we're a bit worn).

On the other hand, we handed 'em their asses again in Iraq. LOTS of good stuff: dead Bad Guys (including a pair that we'd been looking for), took their stuff, got lots of good gouge, the people CHEERED our guys, and we got one of their VBIEDs to blow up while they were working on it (which made everybody in the Ops Center giggle like demented little girls).

Still, I'm a bit down tonight for some reason. Just tired, I think.

Wish that dam' bar o' butter o' mine would get home...

**dalem** · 07 Apr 05,, 03:18

Originally Posted by Bluesman

Kinda mixed day at work today: lost a '47 in Afghanistan (not a SOCOM bird this time, thank God; after losing the COMBAT TALON II in the Balkans, we're a bit worn).

On the other hand, we handed 'em their asses again in Iraq. LOTS of good stuff: dead Bad Guys (including a pair that we'd been looking for), took their stuff, got lots of good gouge, the people CHEERED our guys, and we got one of their VBIEDs to blow up while they were working on it (which made everybody in the Ops Center giggle like demented little girls).

Still, I'm a bit down tonight for some reason. Just tired, I think.

Wish that dam' bar o' butter o' mine would get home...

And of course we won't hear of any of the good parts on the news.

-dale

**Shek** · 07 Apr 05,, 03:20

Originally Posted by Bluesman

Kinda mixed day at work today: lost a '47 in Afghanistan (not a SOCOM bird this time, thank God; after losing the COMBAT TALON II in the Balkans, we're a bit worn).

On the other hand, we handed 'em their asses again in Iraq. LOTS of good stuff: dead Bad Guys (including a pair that we'd been looking for), took their stuff, got lots of good gouge, the people CHEERED our guys, and we got one of their VBIEDs to blow up while they were working on it (which made everybody in the Ops Center giggle like demented little girls).

Still, I'm a bit down tonight for some reason. Just tired, I think.

Wish that dam' bar o' butter o' mine would get home...

Blue,
Is BG Kearney your boss?

**Bluesman** · 07 Apr 05,, 04:19

Originally Posted by shek

Blue,
Is BG Kearney your boss?

No, I work for MG Dailey. A terrific man, and I am pleased to pass on the very good news that we got yesterday: he's been nominated for Lieutenant General.

His deputy is ALSO a helluva man: MG Wurster. I will always feel a debt to him for the way he took a personal interest in making sure my promotion/decoration ceremony was PERFECT, and he arranged to have my wife hooked into it by video teleconference while she was on temporary duty in San Antonio. He treated my parents with the utmost respect and care, and they were so knocked out by his sincere attention to them, and acknowledged Joe's service as a Higgins boat pilot in the South Pacific island invasions.

I telephone-briefed SOCOM commander (General Brown) himself on Saturday. (Can't tell you about what, though...)

While I'm on the subject of simply awesome leaders/great officers that I'm blessed to serve with, let me relate this:
LtCol P. is the drivin' wheel for this field problem we're going out on next week. (Actual Joint Task Force commander is MG Wurster.) As such, he makes the decisions on where I go and what I do on a day-to-day basis during the deployment. Well, he found out that Lt. Bluesman is deployed, and she wouldn't be back before we left.

Bad luck for us, right?

He took it upon himself to see to it that my counterpart would take my place on the advance party, and I would go out with the main body. Instead of deploying on the D-Day, I'd go on the D+4. I am still going to miss my wife's return by @ 24 hours, but THIS way, my kids aren't on their own for four days, only one night (which is WAY easier to plan for).

How cool is THAT? He can actually make it a positive thing from the JTF's point-of-view, too, because my counterpart has to learn my job in case I'm not available when we do this for real, and this is a great way to break him in to the ADVON Team.

He also tried to get it set up for Lt. Bluesman to visit the deployment site (choppered out and back; cool, no?), and kinda fudge it as a semi-official trip to 'coordinate' with our AFSOC medics. It fell through, but I appreciate the effort. A LOT.

I would kill or die for these guys. They care, and they're not past bending a few rules for their guys' benefit. (I'm under no illusions; when mission requirements dictate, they're going to do their jobs, and my comfort, preferences or even safety is not going to get in the way; but both sides of that deal accept it.) THAT is real LEADERSHIP, fellas, and I appreciate just how fortunate I am to serve with these men.

By the way, these guys aren't the usual HQ rats and garritroopers. We've got some real hard-ass killers in our hallways. One of the guys I'm friendly with killed an aQ fighter in a blacked-out house in Afghanistan with a K-Bar...and he's like Ward Cleaver. I'd never know if one of my contractors hadn't shown me the story about him. Another guy that is like a male version of the Lunch Lady is doing really spooky stuff about half the year, and the rest of the time, he's back here acting like a pizza delivery boy college dropout.

But you should meet this bunch. It's the best assembly of competence and natural ability and sheer force of personal magnetism I've ever been around. We've got a few 'rock stars' (as they are derisively called) and big egos, but for the most part, if you didn't know the stories, you'd pass right over these guys, and not notice them. There is another guy that wears chinos and polo shirts every day to work. He's a VERY young colonel that does something so cool, I don't think even HE is allowed to know about it. But you'd never pick him out as the most dangerous man in the room. Heard someone call him 'the American Skorzeny".

Whew. Sorry. I kind of needed to blow out a bit of CO2 (in virtual form, I guess). I just feel kind of weird after that day. Not bad, just a bit out of sorts. Let's hope I shake this funk off, whatever it is, and whatever is causing it.

**dalem** · 07 Apr 05,, 04:26

Awesome stuff B-man. Thanks for sharing.

-dale

**TopHatter** · 07 Apr 05,, 04:26

Great news all around Bluesman!

Originally Posted by Bluesman

Heard someone call him 'the American Skorzeny".

Wow...sounds like a very dangerous breed of cat

I hope he doesn't have any dueling scars on his cheek

**Franco Lolan** · 07 Apr 05,, 04:31

sweet. pray for you man. sounds like Tampa is in good hands. I'm from Davie.

**Bill** · 07 Apr 05,, 04:33

If some predator gunsite camera footage somehow ended up in my email inbox i'd be a very happy camper.

Actually, wait a minute...i already have someone that sends me some. But of course...the more the merrier.

Hehehehe.

**Bluesman** · 07 Apr 05,, 10:00

Let me see if I can get some UNCLAS video of the VBIED workshop goin' KERFLOOIE...good stuff.

**Bill** · 07 Apr 05,, 15:02

That would rock dude.

**Avenger** · 08 Apr 05,, 04:44

Originally Posted by Bluesman

Kinda mixed day at work today: lost a '47 in Afghanistan (not a SOCOM bird this time, thank God; after losing the COMBAT TALON II in the Balkans, we're a bit worn).

On the other hand, we handed 'em their asses again in Iraq. LOTS of good stuff: dead Bad Guys (including a pair that we'd been looking for), took their stuff, got lots of good gouge, the people CHEERED our guys, and we got one of their VBIEDs to blow up while they were working on it (which made everybody in the Ops Center giggle like demented little girls).

Still, I'm a bit down tonight for some reason. Just tired, I think.

Wish that dam' bar o' butter o' mine would get home...

Blue, you folks there may not realize how strongly those of us mired in civilian life are pulling for you. You're all doing great work for the good of our world, that will be recognized as such by history.

Keep up the good work, and fry those creeps' asses.

**Bluesman** · 08 Apr 05,, 22:53

Originally Posted by TopHatter

Great news all around Bluesman!

Wow...sounds like a very dangerous breed of cat

I hope he doesn't have any dueling scars on his cheek

Nope, nothing to indicate he's Jame Bond reborn. Looks like just about everybody else in the mall on a Saturday.

**Bluesman** · 08 Apr 05,, 22:55

Originally Posted by Franco Lolan

sweet. pray for you man. sounds like Tampa is in good hands. I'm from Davie.

Time for a meet-up/eat-up. You want to try to get a WAB/Florida Chapter barbecue run together?

**Bluesman** · 08 Apr 05,, 22:58

Originally Posted by Bluesman

Let me see if I can get some UNCLAS video of the VBIED workshop goin' KERFLOOIE...good stuff.

I made the phone call today to try to get the Pred video into my UNCLAS e-mail, and I got a very pregnant silence on the other end of the phone.

I asked, "Is that a problem?" Answer: "How long you been at SOCOM, Sarn't?"

Okay. No way. No EFFIN' way. Sorry, fellas; didn't meant to be a ****-tease.

**Bluesman** · 08 Apr 05,, 23:46

Originally Posted by Avenger

Blue, you folks there may not realize how strongly those of us mired in civilian life are pulling for you. You're all doing great work for the good of our world, that will be recognized as such by history.

Keep up the good work, and fry those creeps' asses.

I absolutely REVEL in their defeats and deaths. And I hate 'em all the more because I've been driven to the point that I feel that way. I never used to think of it as a job that I loved the results of. But I do now. As bad as I want to win our war, I wish I could go on killing our enemies for the rest of my life.

I wonder if I'll ever get over that. As of right now, I don't really want to. I cherish this grudge, and it's what makes me go in early, stay late, and go as hard as I can while I'm there. It's kind of made me a bit too intense for some of my colleagues' tastes.

I know that my people think of me as kind of 'different' (okay, WEIRD), and I've detected their attempts to 'manage' my state-of-mind: if they believe I need a lift or a boost, they'll point out a positive report, and draw me into a conversation about it; if they perceive that I'm chewing over some bad news, they steer clear; and if they see I'm under pressure from above, they will do WAY more than they are responsible for, whether I wanted them to or not.

Avenger, I appreciate your post. I hope that you still feel that way, and I wonder if the country accepts that I and maybe some more of us aren't the reluctant warriors that do what we do with more sadness than anger. I can tell that I've changed, and now I view Heaven as more like Valhalla than Eden. Most Americans don't want to think their troops are anything but citizen-soldiers that just want to get back to farmin' and clerkin'. Well, not me: this is not a job that I view as just a dirty chore that 'somebody' has to do. No; I want to defend my country by killing ALL of her enemies. I'm not working towards another goal for a future chapter in my life. This IS my life, and I can no longer think of myself in any other role.

I hope that when we win, I can be something like I was before, but I'll bet that won't happen.