Through The Looking Glass

Date: Apr 4, 2009

Through the looking glass

Current mood: quixotic

Wow! It's been quite awhile since I posted here and subsequently at my public blog,( http://charlesking.blogspot.com/ called "A Pax Americana and other fun stuff") There have just been SOOOO many things going on, I really didn't know where to start.... the rise of Facism in America? Socialism takes hold? Assigned to Afghanistan? The passing of my dear friend (and mom)?... where to start, where to start?
February 13th, 2009
Mom passed away of an overwhelming systemic failure following years of declining health. I thank God I was there for all but the last 2 hours of her last day. By the time I left, she was unresponsive and she was for the most part already gone. But the morning hours and night before she died were incredible in so many ways. It was an experience that ratified every belief I have in the hereafter. She was obviously standing with one foot in this world and one in the next.
The conversations we had in those final hours were surreal but so meaningful. She knew it was her time and was in a hurry to get where she needed to go. She would stand up next to her bed and demand "I need to go...NOW!" The first time she did this, I guided her to the restroom. Ooops! We got there and she said - rather impatiently- "I don't need to use the restroom!"
"But mom, you said..."
"No I said I need to go!"
"Go where, Mom?"
"Heaven! [of course!]"
She then had conversations with Dad, Uncle Harry, Nannie, Her dad... passing on messages and all the things they were telling her... It was truly amazing! About half way through, I realized that I was witnessing this all by myself, and I asked the nurse to get Cath (who was in the lobby) so she could share in the magical conversations taking place.
About 4 in the morning, Mom sat on the edge of her bed for the last time. After that, she laid down, and to my knowledge never got up again. I held her hand as we said a rosary at 7AM before I left. Although her eyes never opened and she never spoke, from the time I began the Apostles' Creed to the final "Hail Holy Queen" her grip on my hand was noticably tighter.
By the time I got home, she had passed. Not only do I miss my mom, but a dear friend and fellow conversationalist. One of her final statements to me will remain in my heart and mind forever. "Do you know what happy is? It's love. That's it. Happiness is love...PERIOD!"
Amen!
___________________________
THE GUARD
Things are as unpredictable as ever, although I LOVE the group I'm with ("The Rear Guard"). We number about 30 soldiers who didn't go over with the other 70 to Baghdad. They (the forward guard) are assisting the 30th in Iraq while the rest of us will be sent over to Bagram with our parent Batallion (the 86th) for a COIN mission tentatively leaving for Pre-Mobilization on October 10th.
I've been talking to guys who just got back with the 220th, and I'm definately happier to be heading to Afghanistan where I can do some seriously meaningful COunterINsurgency service. Iraq is completely winding down, with most of the heavy lifting being done by the Iraqis.
Overall, this is GREAT! Every individual who said it would never work, or that peace and liberty couldn't be brought at the end of an M16, or (like Harry Reid) said the war was lost - must now eat their own words! IT WORKED! IRAQ is free! They have a democracy. Granted it's not a Jeffersonian democracy in the image of the US - but if it WAS then we would be guilty of "imposing our culture" on the Iraqis. It is a democracy formed in the image of the Iraqis. So much for that "imperical America" accusation. Anyway, I drift.... in Afghanistan, there is still a war to be fought and won, and I can be a part of that, which is why I rejoined in the first place. In Iraq, the interrogators will be interviewing the same scores of individuals who have been interviewed a dozen times before... the missions in Afghan will be unique sources and gather truly important intel... I'm looking forward to that!!!
_______________________
Tess' and My Wedding
We just started the classes for being married in the Catholic Church... it's really happening!! lol! That's kinda' the way we felt during our first class... "Oh Boy! This is really going to happen!!" Scary, exciting, exhilerating and breathtaking. August 8th is coming up REALLY quick!
________________________
America Bashing
I hafta' be careful here... can't speak badly of my Commander and Chief, ya' know... Let me just say this. If America is "arrogant" it is because we have done more to help others than any other country in the history of the world. If there is an earthquake or a tsunami, Americans are the first there and spend more than most other countries combined. America has given more to the victims of AIDS in Africa and elsewhere than all other contributors combined... when "The UN" flies in to "rescue" some oppressed people, it's actually Americans carrying the weapons, spilling their blood, and nutralizing the perps. In Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, Kosovo, and most other UN "rescues" when the UN turned tail and ran, it was the American who had to stay behind and pick up the pieces. -ADHD moment - When are those American troops coming home from Kosovo that Clinton promised would be back by Christmas in the '90's??---
Most countries :::::::coughcanadacough::::::::: don't even NEED a military because they know "Those horrible yanks" will defend them. I don't apologize for being an American! I don't apologize for being part of the country that brought freedom to Europe not once, but twice... to the South Pacific, Indionesia, North Africa, Iraq and 'coming soon' Afghanistan. I don't apologize for being part of the culture that has advanced medicine and technology far more than any other civilization in history. I'm not the first to say this, read what a Canadian had to say about America - Gordon Sinclair circa 1972 -http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/sinclair.asp
And what is Washington DC (particularly the Congress) doing to preserve the most productive, most successful, most advanced, most free civilization ever created on the planet? The country that has lead the rest of the world for the majority of it's 200 year history? They are trying to turn it into France... into the EU... into the same failed system that created the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, China... such wonderful role models. How stupid do you have to be to realize you can't spend your way out of debt?!?!?!?!?!?! "Duh! My credit cards are maxed out... so let me get another credit card and transfer the ballances and put intrest onto intrest .." Yeah! There's a winner of an idea!
Well, they wanted change and they got it in spades! Let's see how they like them apples in 2, 4, or 10 years when intrest skyrockets, when the massive printing of paper money has devalued the dollar, and inflation comes back in double digits! We didn't get Bush's 3rd term, we got Carter's 2nd term... God help us!

Currently watching:
The Dark Knight (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy)
Release date: 2008-12-09