Thank you!!!

Thanks to all those bloggers out there who cross posted my little book.

I truly appreciate your time and efforts to help this starving artist er…  new kid on the block get off the ground.

And thank you for the overwhelming response from the readers!!! I literally could not do this without y’alls support.

And thank you for having more dollars than sense… 🙂

Seriously, I cannot tell y’all what this means to me.

Posted in WOW

What would you say if you saw THIS headline???

Navy disqualifies 151 sailors after sex assault review

Pretty negative, right?  Obviously the Navy can’t get it’s act together so there are rapes left and right…

But if you actually READ the story…

The Navy initially had suspended five sailors among the 10,000 personnel it reviewed. That review was expanded to about 20,000 and resulted in the suspension of 151, Lt. Cmdr. Chris Servello, a Navy spokesman, said Wednesday.

The “vast majority” of the 151 didn’t receive the proper training or lacked certifications for duties involving sexual assault prevention and response.

Just a tad bit different isn’t it…

151 out of 20,000… Doing the math… that’s .0076 %…

They whole article is HERE at USAToday…

Nope no media bias, not a ‘smidgen’…

Sigh…

The Grey Man…

It’s real…

TGMVignettes

And up in electronic formats for both Kindle and Nook.  Edit and apparently also as a real dead tree HERE!!!

I will warn you now, the print version is $14.00 which is high, but as a self publish I couldn’t drive the price any lower without having to pay them…

If you were one of the folks that helped as an alpha or beta read, check your email.  For those who expressed an interest in a signed copy, I will be able to get those out the end of April (I still have a real job… dammit).  Please send me an email with your mailing address, how you want it personalized and I’ll give you details and approximate dates I expect to be able to fulfill your requests.   IF any of you folks are going to NRA, I will try my best to have a few copies there.

Thanks again to all of you for your support.  It’s not the next great American novel, but I hope you’ll enjoy it anyway! 🙂

And reviews would be appreciated!!!

Thanks again,

Old NFO

Random stuff…

Apparently Di-Fi doesn’t like it when the shoe is on the other foot… OR up her ass…

“Based on what Director [John] Brennan has informed us, I have grave concerns that the CIA search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution including the Speech and Debate clause,” she said. “It may have undermined the constitutional framework essential to effective congressional oversight of intelligence activities or any other government function.” 

The rest of the story appears to be that congstaff apparently smuggled out classified unreleased documents from a report on waterboarding, and the CIA took offense. And started tracing where the documents had come from and guess what…

They went and found the docs and erased them… So Di-Fi is stomping feet and throwing a hissy fit, while ignoring the fact that her OWN folks are guilty as hell…

Full article HERE on foxnews.com

In the WTF news, the Navy is building a new class of large ocean going research vessels named after astronauts (turn about being fair play, since the shuttles were named for research vessels). The first two are the R/V Neil Armstrong and R/V Sally Ride.

RV Neil Armstrong

BUT, the administration is cutting funds to ocean research (I guess they’re doubling down that climate change is ‘fixed’ science now)…

So the UARCs are getting less $$ to go do research on these brand new vessels that are literally state of the art!

Bottom line is they probably will not be utilized anywhere near their full capacity, and will cost the Navy more $$ to maintain them at WHOI and Scripps…

Link HERE to their little charade…

Sigh…

On the GOOD news side,  the Pentagon has decided to make the Swedish-made Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System (MAAWS)– or the M3 Carl Gustaf for short– standard issue!!!

Full article HERE.  I’ll guarantee THAT will leave a mark on anything it hits!!!

And in the it’s STOOPID class…

Enforcement issues surround two Northern California cities’ bans on high-capacity magazines. The Oakland Tribune reported Saturday that since Sunnyvale’s ban went into effect midnight Thursday, not one of the now-illegal magazines has been turned in. San Francisco police report that they have no system to track whether any magazines have been turned in for destruction under the new ordinance. San Francisco residents must surrender their high-capacity magazines to police by April 7.

Full article HERE.

 

What are we doing???

I am really beginning to wonder why we’re in this handbasket and where we’re going…

It’s like there is just a total blanking on what’s happening in this country and around the world.  The almost total reliance on social media, nobody is even bothering to check out events, just listening to sound bites and blindly believing them…

Kids don’t know geography, can’t name the states, can’t add subtract or spell.  And they sure as hell can’t punctuate… All they know how to do is txt LOL…

Schools only teach ‘approved’ history, I don’t think they even offer Civics courses anymore, and nobody can punish an unruly child.  Parents refuse to take responsibility, kids don’t even understand that they SHOULD be responsible for their actions, and if you DO hold someone responsible, you’re gonna get sued…

The reality is this country is in serious trouble, and nobody seems to care. It’s all partisan politics and infighting in DC, while the USA burns…  And the unions want more $$ and more unionization for less work and push off any attempts to have any workplace competency…

The military is being cut off at the knees, senior leadership that doesn’t toe the party line are relieved, retired or forced out.  Manufacturing has gone overseas for damn near all the major capabilities that made this country great no longer can even be done here; religions are under fire, especially Christians and Jewish.

Political correctness is all the rage, to the detriment of the good of the country, and everything is either racist, or homophobic, or (insert minority here)…

If you’re a small business owner, you no longer have the right to refuse service without risking lawsuits…

It seems everybody has their own special ‘month’ except America… sigh…

Our universities are training people from everywhere in the world in hard sciences, but American students by and large are going for soft degrees, and wonder why they can’t find jobs.

And I’m not even going to get into the whole health care mess…

You can’t find ammo, because any time standard calibers come on the shelves, they’re gone in a heartbeat, or they want an arm and a leg for it. (like $60/500 rounds of .22).

People in CT, NY, MD, NJ and some other blue states are damn near in revolt over crushing gun regulation, and people and businesses who can are voting with their feet…

Our country is becoming a land of the haves and the you owe me’s…  And they you owe me’s have the government at their back…

I’m sensing an undercurrent of grumbling and people seem to be getting fed up with all the BS, and I think this country is turning into a powder keg that is getting closer and closer to blowing…

I’m also seeing friends that can, pulling the plug and heading for the hills, either literally or figuratively.  Downsizing, or whatever you want to call it, but they’re abandoning the high paying jobs in the metro areas, and going low profile in an attempt to preserve their sanity.  Folks are converting 401Ks and savings into ‘convertible’ items, whatever that may be (Gold, Silver, ammo, you name it).

I’m getting closer to doing that same thing, because I don’t want to have to fight my way out of town when all this goes to s**t, and I wonder if I’ll be able to…

And I’m scared for my kids and grandsons… This is NOT the America I wanted them to have; nor is it the America I spent 22 years defending around the world.  And when I see that generation, I’m not impressed with most of them; nor the ones coming behind them.

What happens when the civility ends?  What happens when one of us ‘old farts’ has had enough?  Will we be shot down in our homes in a SWAT raid?  Or die on the street in a running battle with (insert group here)…

And most of all, HOW DID WE LET THIS HAPPEN???   I think ‘most’ of us know better and we just haven’t stood up to the gradual erosion of our rights, choosing to go along rather than push back and get involved in politics.  Spit…

It now may be at the point that it’s too late, and the only option is fight or flight…

I truly hope not, but my level of confidence is probably at an all time low.  Sorry for such a downer post, but NOTHING I’m seeing/hearing is good news on any front.

Comments?  Recommendations?  Buhler?

Stabby Thing…

Okay, I need some expertise… Stabby I’m NOT good at…

I ‘think’ this is a Japanese Model 30 from Nagoya…  Hooked quillion gave it away

No hangar, and it’s been used, but all original including the wood and the ‘button’ sheath… I ‘think’ it fits a Arisaka rifle.

DSC00884

I think this is the Nagoya Armory mark.DSC00885

Not a pristine blade, some rust…DSC00886

Looking for a good home for this, since I don’t have a rifle to put it on. Make offer… 🙂

WWII Poster…

This one’s for Danny and all the Coasties out there…

US Coast Guard Victory - Reduced

1943 US Coast Guard recruiting poster.

 

I hate to say it…

Zero time to get a message out?  No comms no nothing???

It is beginning to look like terrorists/suicide bombers might have taken down the Malaysia Airlines 777.

The US has sent USS PINCKNEY DDG-91 to assist in the search.  Malaysia is a hotbed for both AQ and ASF, and is home to more muslims than any other single country in the world.

Thoughts and prayers for those who died, and their families…

Stupid is…

As stupid does… sigh…

From a JHU/APL study

WASHINGTON — Texting while walking accounts for more injuries per mile than distracted driving, according to a professor of emergency medicine who says he’s treating a skyrocketing number of pedestrian injury cases.

/snip/

The number of pedestrian injuries has jumped dramatically in the past 10 years, coinciding with the proliferation of cellphones, says Jehle.

An Ohio State University study found the number of pedestrian injuries involving cellphones tripled between 2004 and 2010, while the total number of pedestrian injuries dropped.

Jehle says the numbers likely understate the problem, as patients tend to underreport information about behaviors they find embarassing.

Historically, pedestrian injuries affected the very young, the very old, and the very inebriated, but that has changed, according to the OSU study

Now, those under 30 – chiefly 16-to 25-year-olds – are the most at risk for cellphone-related injuries while walking.

Read the whole Article HERE at WTOP.com

On the way to an offsite I did watch a guy walk right out into traffic while texting… He ‘almost’ ended up DRT, as traffic was probably doing 40mph. Luckily he stepped out in a gap between cars…

Thankfully I was in the other lane, because I’d have nailed him; there was NO way I could have stopped in time.

 

The Candy Bomber…

Worth the time…

For those who’ve never been in, kids throughout the world have always known American servicemen are suckers, and always have candy…

Even today, downrange Americans are still giving candy away to the kids… We’ve sent a LOT of 2 lb bags of Starbright Mints with every care package that went downrange…

h/t JP