23 Dec

7 hrs
1100/2045

finally done, going home on leave

22 dec

5 hrs
0745/2115

21 Dec

9.5 hrs
1530/1730

20 Dec

9.5 hrs
1345 / 2100

19 dec

9.5 hrs, 1130/2215

18 Dec

12 hrs, 1330/2030

17 Dec

9.5 hrs, 0830/2300

16 dec

Been having trouble getting to sleep.

3.5hrs, 0715/1845

6hrs, 0805/1730

X-ray machines; sleep and work

Traveling recently...a thought: Instead of carting the bins back through the line every time, why not have them attached to a looping conveyor belt?

Very busy this week, so let's try something new and quick: hours of sleep and work times.

2hrs, 0520/1900

Politics

I object to elected officials giving televised speeches in front of uniformed military members.

Mafia Wars

Some math on Mafia Wars...fair warning: Geek alert.

So, Mafia Wars on Facebook. The Reward points you earn in the game can be used to buy other goods, including in-game money. You can also pay real US dollars for reward points, making it possible to develop a conversion factor between the two.

At today's rates:

You can puchase reward points at the rate of 42 for 8 dollars...

42 Reward pts / 8 US Dollars = 5.25 R pts / USD

And you can purchase in-game money as follows...

206000 MF$ / 10 R pts

Allowing for a calculation of an exchange rate between in-game money and out of game money...

206000 MF$ / 10 R pts = 108150 MF$ / USD

Okay, so, so far we seen some interesting stuff, but I'm sure you're asking yourself, "Damn Dave, you need to get out more." You're probably right, but the point to all this is the following:

Since I can also earn in-game money by playing the game, I can reverse this calculation and find out how much my in game money is worth in real dollars. This means that if I could sell my in-game dollars at the same rate they sell them to us at, I would have...

900,000,000 MF$ * 1 / 108150 USD/MF$ = 8321USD (rounded)

...over 8000 dollars in the real world. Not bad for for the spare time I've put into the game while checking facebook.

You may have heard of this in other games where people really are doing this: Link

Want to see an example of a terrible corporate website? Dominos.com

(Except the real time pizza tracker, that's actually really cool.)

comm...

No internet at work today...no email, or network drives either.

Google wave, more digital history

The whole thing is long, but the first few minutes are very interesting. Google Wave is a response to the following question: What would email be like if it was invented today?

Google Wave video

As the speaker notes, the original protocols for email were created more than 40 years ago, pre-dating internet as we know it. One way this affected the way email works is that it basically mimicked the only existing way (at that time) of sending information from one person to another over long distances and asynchronously: normal mail. One person talks to one person, and maybe the second person replies.

If you overlook the fact that the processing power and computer networks that we now take for granted were at that time only the wildest speculation of the smartest and most studied people in computer science, email is a very unimaginative advance. All it did was take the snail mail paradigm and transfer it to the digital environment: send-receive.

As I understand it, a "wave" is a rethinking of the communication paradigm. With email (and snail mail before it), the basic idea is to communicate one set message to one or a few people, and maybe there is a reply. The letter is a fixed product, and is only accessible based on the efforts of the participants, i.e., to give access to the letter, someone who has it has to send it to someone who doesn't. In turn, if a reader wants to provide feedback, they have to reply and specifically send to previous readers and writers. There is no master source of information except a person who has read all the letters, if there even is such a person. (If you've ever tried to collaborate with multiple people on a long term project via email, you know how hard this makes things at times to keep everyone current on what's been done, what needs to be done, what's changed, etc.)

A wave changes this paradigm by starting from the beginning as a message that exists apart from the participants. Rather that starting with the person, who you will tell something, you start with the something you want to communicate, and linking your friend to it so they can read it. Once created, the message exists apart from the creator, in some place where lots of people can access it, like a computer server.

To explain it a little more concretely, let's say you want to tell two friends about a boat trip. You start by creating a wave (which looks mostly like a webpage) titled "Boat Trip." You write a short message and then link your friends digitally. When one next logs in, he sees he has a new wave. He opens it, reads it, and replies. (So far, just like an email.) But then they say, "Hey, that was a good story. Do you have any pictures? Oh, and do you mind if I show this to some of my friends?" When you next log in, you see the reply, and the question, and say "Sure." Your second friend later logs in, and instead of just seeing the original message, sees the whole conversation. He replies also and says, "Yeah, cool trip. Here's some pictures of my last trip." And he posts them to the wave. Your first friend logs in, sees your reply, and links other friends. He also comments on second friend's pictures. Later arrivals to the conversation also get to see all items added to the original message. As you can imagine, it's already starting to get pretty convoluted, but items are laid out in chronological order, with each item date stamped and lated comments sub-bulleted. But to make it easier to actually see how the conversation evolved, there are history buttons (like on a wiki page) that allow you to start at the original message and watch each addition in the order it was made.

The closest analogy I can come up with is that a wave is more like a book. Some one writes it and leaves it in the library for others. As they read it, they can add to it, creating a later edition to the book, which sits next to the original on the shelf, and so on.

An upside to the email paradigm is that between two people, the information is fairly easy to organize. If you printed out a series of emails and replies between two people and put them in order, you would basically create a physical book that tells the story.

By contrast, a wave is much less meaningful outside a digital environment, where it cannot be manipulated real time by the reader to see the changes over time (and by the way, the above description is only the most basic introduction to the capabilities of a wave). While I anticipate waves will revolutionize and much improve group collaboration, they also mean we will be tied firmly to the electronic world; truly digital history.

I wish I could do anything as well as this guy rides a bike...

My reply to a recent email:

~~~
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=21337502001

I love this stuff, I can watch it for hours. When I can, I like to watch the X Games, which features a bunch of events besides BMX, which is what this is called.

(On a side note, I've been watching the X Games since ~2000, and in the last few years they've been getting a lot more TV coverage. As a result, it seems, the events have changed a bit to get bigger and bigger jumps, more speed, more height above ground, etc.; in a word, more attention-getting. But I think they are missing out...it's the small moves that he makes in this video that are so spectacular, where he's balancing the whole weight of the bike on one small patch of tire or stopping the bike on one wheel and doing almost static jumps from one surface to the next (or for that matter, backflipping off a tree!...never gets more than 10 feet off the ground, but how cool)...maybe just personal taste, I suppose, but that's me. Thanks for the link!)

d

http://espn.go.com/action/xgames/xg15/index

phone spam

Message I got recently:

"Hi. This is Victor Symonds with suburban Debt Solutions at (866) 203-9552 please give me a call regarding your outstanding credit card balances. I think there's a good chance we'll be able to reduce your debt down to 0 with our debt Assistance Program. We'll even loan new. I've, $1,000 to get you started. We need to access, so please give me a call as soon as possible. At (866) 203-9552."

The return number was 623-871-2692.

Discipline

Twitter and texting have helped make me a better writer by forcing me to take out all but the essentials. (OPR writing too, for those in the AF.)

Also, got my orders today, quite late for a PCS.

Greetings from Las Vegas 12 Aug 09...(264 words)

*For those of you getting this for the first time, I try and send out a
*little update about once a month to keep in touch with folks. Please feel
*free to read it, skim it, or ignore it. If you would rather not get it, let
*me know. See http://iloaktree.blogspot.com/ for more info.

All,
For those of you who follow these emails, I apologise for have gone so long without writing. As I recall, it has been about 18 months since my last letter. Part of the reason for this is that I have starting writing a blog, which is a much easier way of pushing information out to folks. The link can be found down below.

Since then, I have gone and come back from Iraq. I arrived back in Vegas and was given the job of flight commander in my squadron, which meant that I was supervising about 15 people. Due to the current ops tempo in the RPA world, most pilots in the squadron fly every day they are at work, flight commanders included. The combination of flying and supervisory duties kept me quite busy.

Also due to the heavy ops tempo, the Air Force has set up a new training base in New Mexico to create new RPA pilots, and they needed people to work there. I didn't really want to go, but unfortunately the guy in line ahead of me has a pregnant wife and the AF isn't allowed to PCS you within a certain time of a due date, so the job came to me. I'll be moving later this month.

I would have liked to go into more detail, but I'm afraid it would had delayed sending this, and I didn't want to wait any longer. I still plan on writing every so often, but for the latest news on me, visit my blog at the link below.

Fair winds,
d

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Handcrafted emails by:
David Witt

Skype: oaktree1977
Twitter: iloaktree
On MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/davewitt
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davewitt
The blog: http://iloaktree.blogspot.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---,--/0\--,--- ----,--\0/--,----
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--message ends--

The things people throw away...

I was taking out the garbage, and by the dumpsters of my apartment, I found a folding bed frame, two queen sized mattresses and a box spring. If I had the time, I could probably run a small business off the stuff people throw away at my apartment alone. I find furniture down there all the time.

I cooked tonight, probably for the last time here.

District 9

Every so often, a movie comes along that looks so cool, I wish I could watch it right then and there.

http://d-9.com/

Turned in my assignment RIP today.

packing...

Started taking things down off the walls today.

Happy 4th...

In Congress, July 4, 1776.
A Declaration
By the Representatives of the
United states of America,
In general Congress assembled.

When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the Present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People; unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.

He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislature.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule in these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Powers to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic Insurrections among us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of the divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress,
John Hancock, President.

Attest.
Charles Thomson, Secretary.

link

placeholder

took me awhile to finish this one...

life's reset button

organizational challenge

The commitment for USAF pilot training is 10 years. But pilot training takes about 1.5 to 2.5 years. And of course (I mean, _OF COURSE_) every pilot has to be an officer, which generally takes 4 years of undergrad work at a commissioning source to accomplish. This means that today, the USAF is making decisions about pilot manning ~16 years in the future. That's an awfully long decision cycle. Our OODA loop is very big...no wonder we are so terrible at managing our manning.

geek update

Updated my webcall button now that it's Google Voice instead of Grand Central. There's a lot of new widgets to add to blogs out there...may have to play with a few. Also, working on a couple of substantive entries.

Medicare

Somewhere in a computer, I am listed as turning 65 next month. (Erroneously.) So to all those writing and calling, no thank you, I do not need help learning about my medicare benefits.

life's reset button

Just a few days ago, I passed 12 months in the U.S., which in my AF experience usually means something is about to massively change.

I generally find it takes at least a year to get to know a new town; learn some streets, get to know the people and neighborhoods a little, get used to my work schedule, make friends with neighbors and people at work, etc. It's nice when you get to that point. There's a sense of familiarity to your home and neighborhood, you can make plans for vacation or social engagements, or find some friends if you unexpectedly get some time off. Things fit.

Before you get to this point, everything is inefficient. Everything you do, you are doing for the first time, so you make mistakes, forget what time the drug store closes and get there too late. You don't know the local slang, what places are busy or slow when, rush hour and the good streets or bad; you have to go exploring a lot and ask a lot of questions. As you can imagine, if you move often enough, you never get to the familiarity point. The town and the people remain strange to you all the time, and the phone book (whether physical or internet) remains a constant companion. Everything has to be planned carefully in advance. Deployments have the same effect.

When you have a deployment or a move coming up, it really changes your priorities. Who's going to spend time buying furniture when you are about to deploy, or move all your crap across country? (Thus my continuing lack of a kitchen / dining room table.) Why buy a new car to let it sit unused and pick up a car payment? Why bother trying to get a date with that woman you just met? You're leaving and she'll be gone when you get back.

As you may have inferred, the Air Force is moving me again. New Mexico this time, my eighth city in nine years. I don't have orders yet, but we (the squadron and I ) are pretty sure I'll have to be there in August. I am so tired of getting good at something and then abandoning it to move and start again at nothing, and of having everything to do with work be last minute, improvisational, and sloppy. I can handle this for a year, or three, but as it's going, I would imagine I could do a full 20 year career and have it be this way the whole time...which I don't want.

Anyway, here begins a series of entries on PCSing.

Monthly update...

It has been a habit of mine for several years now to write a letter once a month to a collection of friends and family. (At least, once a month was my intention, I have very rarely lived up to it.) The idea was to stay in touch with people and keep them up with where I was and what I was doing since I moved around so much. This was in 2000, just after I had commissioned and started my military service, while I was in Delaware; This was in the dark ages: before Twitter, before Facebook, before blogs, when all we had was email.

It was surprisingly difficult to make myself write a two page letter once a month. Anyway, starting this blog really put the final nail in the coffin of this process, since blogging is so much easier than writing an email and maintaining a list of emails to send it to. It is useful, however, to actually write entries like that, a summary of what I've been up to. One of my old email subscribers wrote recently and noted that I haven't written in awhile, which was the motivation for this entry and to send out an email to my list with a link to my upcoming monthly post.

I can thank my sisters for getting me involved in Facebook (and I do). I wouldn't have started blogging if it weren't for my last deployment...I've had conversations about this with my dad, who noted that people tend to grasp a method of communication and hold onto it at some point. It's not that email isn't faster than snail-mail, but if you only have mail addresses for all you old college buddies, it's hard to get into email. Changing established means of communication (or anything, for that matter) takes energy and a willingess in change and innovate. So anyway, I am trying to get back into the habit of writing once a month, and I will be posting them here.

~~~
minor edit 23jun09, a couple of typos

Overlord

6 Jun 1944

Holidays

Interesting upside to working on a 4 day weekend: our internet is actually fast enough to be helpful, rather than a brake on how much work I can do.

Star Trek

I am impressed. To work, this movie needed decent writing, spot on casting, outstanding acting and finesse in assembling it all, and they had it. Simon Pegg as Scotty was a master stroke.

always ready

The war waits for no man...

link

Gitmo

For pity's sake. Seriously?

Congress denied the funding to close Gitmo.

Okay, I don't have much time for anything but sleep these days, so pardon the lack of finesse: the threat posed by those in Gitmo is now and always has been overstated. We are all surrounded, all the time, by much more dangerous criminals, safely contained in the same prisons we could put these guys in. Gitmo itself is a continuing blemish on our reputation as a just and democratic nation, and makes it harder to fight this war. It should be closed immediately.

Jon Stewart

Main stream press, catch a clue. Want to see a good interview? Watch Jim Cramer interviewed by Jon Stewart. A great interview period, possibly the best yet about the economic situation. It is a great credit to both Cramer and Stewart, and shames most mainstream news.

I get more out of 22 minutes of the Daily Show than maybe a day's worth of cable news.

The interview on Comedy Central.

More cadet advice...

...work hard. Did you know that your order of merit from the zoo is used to calculate your line number for major?

AFPC Promotions page

Love stories

In honor of the day, a few 6 word love stories from a collection by Smith magazine. Some happy, some sad endings.

"will you marry me?" he texted.

No more psychos. Or Boy Scouts.

After three years, he chose cocaine.

Found prince, living happily ever after.

I always smile when he calls.

Too pretty? I got her anyway.

Sock drawer's hidden letter betrayed her.

Married too young. Now both sorry.

Let's get naked and wrestle. Ready?

I was sad. Then we met.

Where's the emoticon for "you suck?"

He had "man boobs". Strike three.

My history notwithstanding, hope springs eternal

What do you see in me?

He remembers wrongdoings but not birthdays.

Dumped through email with spelling mistakes.

Seeking Prince Charming, found Princess.Engaged!

Two captains. Haven't sunk ship. Yet.

Spellbound, I followed you to Arkansas!

Man, you still get to me.

shot my cat, stole my camera

This could be love. You in?

Found love when apartment caught fire.

You had me at "Ender's Game".

He'll always still matter to me.

Lost her. But she's happy now.

(Minor edit 15 Feb to make sure it's clear I took these from Smith mag...don't want to steal someone's stuff!)

(Minor edit 26 Dec 13 to make it easier to search.  Valentine's Day, six word stories, six word story)

How to pack Care Packages

I have a bunch of friends overseas right now, so I've been putting together a few care packages lately. Some guidelines I like to follow:

Just like emails, care packages work best if they are smaller, but arrive more frequently. The fact that you get something is the best part, not that it's perfect.

Remember these are items that need to keep well, and be eaten on the move, and may well get very hot and very cold on the way.

The process takes a lot of steps, which is why it is hard to complete sometimes. (I had some friends tell me after I got back last June that they had put a package together for me, then never gotten around to mailing it, and eventually started eating it as sat on their kitchen counter. It made me laugh because I have done that myself.) They are: get a mailing address. Buy the stuff. Pack the box. Take it to post office to mail. (You have to do this because it is going overseas, and you have to fill out a customs form).

So, what I usually do is the the address from an email they sent, put it on a post note, and stick that note on the box I intend to use. Once again, the box doesn't need to be huge. 10" X 13" X 5" is a good size. Then I go and buy things at the store and repack them in the box, which I throw in the car and mail the next time I can.

Items I like to include:
A note. ANY news from not-in-the-desert is entertaining!

Triscuits (or other crackers like Ritz, Saltines, etc. Buy the small box and leave the crackers in it.)

Easy cheese. (One can per box of crackers.)

Summer sausage. (Nice because it comes sealed in plastic, and keeps well. Also, after you open it, you can slice easily, and put on the crackers, but it isn't as messy as tuna or (shudder) Spam.)

Chocolate. I like the fun sizes of Snickers, Butterfingers, Baby Ruth, etc. I buy the big bags and then repack them in 1 quart ziploc bags. This makes them a little easier to carry and share, and also contains liquid chocolate if the package gets hot on the way. Also the ziploc bag is often useful afterwards.

Drink mix. Obviously it is difficult (though not impossible) to mail liquids. Unless someone is really jonesing for a particular beverage they can't get downrange, get the drink mix instead.
(See note on alcohol below.) I also takes these out of the original box and put in mini ziploc bags.

Cookies. I buy the variety packs of small (~2 oz) bags of things like Cheeze its, Animal Crackers, frosted animal crackers, mini oreos, mini chocolate chip cookies, Nilla Wafers, etc. The small bags let you avoid repacking them yourself. I open the box and put the small bags in the care package loose, they also act nicely as padding.

Other candy. Fruit roll ups, gummi bears, twizzlers, etc. Again I look for small bags, or I rebag them myself.

Beef jerky.

Trail mix.

Other stuff: Current magazines, books, small cheap toys like legos or suction cup dart guns or matchbox cars.

Illegal items:
Booze
Porno (Note that the CENTCOM version of porno means "any depiction of a female body above the ankles, between the wrists, and below the neck." Not kidding.)
Bibles or other religious materials.

(For those of you who speak military, possession of these items will generally get a military member an at least an Article 15 off the bat, no questions asked. For those of you that don't, that's bad.)

Once you get into a decent rhythm, you can start customizing based on inputs from them, but don't stall out on the process, or you'll never get them mailed. If you don't hear from whoever, just mail it generic. Oh, and if they have their address before they leave, pack one and mail it the same day they do so they will get it a couple of weeks after they arrive.

Oh, also: Do yourself and the person you are mailing it to a favor: Don't use their rank in the address, and leave as little return address information as possible (magazine mailing labels, for example). Anyone downrange should be shredding or burning address information from inbound mail, but make their job easier - don't write it on the box, use a label they can easily cut off. If a bad guy (or opportunist) sees a rank on a package, they might decide it's someone worth mailing a letter bomb or poison fruitcake to. Or maybe they'll mail it to the return address.

Twitter 2

...and I just figured out how to RSS it here.

Twitter

I just signed up for Twitter and I'm still not quite sure what it is...

The speech

28 Aug 63

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Text+ video

video on Youtube

Upside to being in the worst housing market in the country

Vegas was among, if not THE, hardest hit area of the country by the housing mess.

The upside: my rent went down by $100 month.

(Last year, it went down by $50.)

Hardest goodbye

My dad was driving me to the airport to come back to Vegas after leave this year and I had a pit in my stomach...I really didn't want to get on the airplane. It was really good break, I saw a lot of the family and had a good time. But each trip home now is just a reminder of what I am missing while I am gone. And nothing I do at work is fun any more...I had to come back to the squadron and help decide who to kick out next month, and the month after that, and the month after that. That was the hardest goodbye I've had in a long time in the AF, maybe ever.

Dear Boss, I quit.

An Air Force friend told me about this letter and I recently looked it up. We were discussing the various problems of the AF and I mentioned that our current situation would seem to parallel the state of the armed forces in the years after Vietnam, say ‘75 to ‘85…all the good people who’d been in the fight quitting because they couldn’t hack all the queep and time away from home any more, all the folks not making the sacrifices getting ahead. He mentioned this as evidence.

~~~

Link

Dear Boss,

Well, I quit. I’ve finally run out of drive or devotion or rationalizations or
whatever it was that kept me in the Air Force this long. I used to believe in, “Why
not the best,” but I can’t keep the faith any longer. I used to fervently maintain
that this was “My Air Force,” as much or more than any senior officer’s…but I
can’t believe any more; the light at the end of my tunnel went out. “Why?” you
ask. Why leave flying fighters and a promising career? Funny you should ask—
mainly I’m resigning because I’m tired. Ten years and 2,000 hours in a great
fighter, and all the time I’ve been doing more with less—and I’m tired of it.
CBPO [Central Base Personnel Office] doesn’t do more with less; they cut hours.
I can’t even entrust CBPO to have my records accurately transcribed to MPC
[Military Personnel Center]. I have to go to Randolph to make sure my records
aren’t botched. Finance doesn’t do more with less; they close at 15:00. The hospital
doesn’t do more with less. They cut hours, cut services, and are rude to my
dependents to boot. Maintenance doesn’t do more with less; they MND [maintenance
non delivery] and SUD [supply delete] and take 2.5 to turn a clean F–4.
Everybody but the fighter pilot has figured out the fundamental fact that you
can’t do more with less—you do less. (And everybody but the fighter pilot gets
away with it …when’s the last time the head of CBPO was fired because a man’s
records were a complete disaster?) But on the other hand, when was the last time
anyone in the fighter game told higher headquarters, “We can’t hack 32 DOCs
[designated operational capability] because we can’t generate the sorties?’’
Anyway—I thought I could do it just like all the rest thought they could…and we
did it for a while…but now it’s too much less to do too much more, and a lot of
us are tired. And it’s not the job. I’ve been TDY [on temporary duty] to every
dirty little outpost on democracy’s frontier that had a 6,000-foot strip. I’ve been
gone longer than most young jocks have been in—and I don’t mind the duty or
the hours. That’s what I signed up for. I’ve been downtown and seen the elephant,
and I’ve watched my buddies roll up in fireballs—I understand—it comes with
the territory. I can do it. I did it. I can still do it—but I won’t. I’m too tired, not
of the job, just the Air Force. Tired of the extremely poor leadership and motivational
ability of our senior staffers and commanders. (All those Masters and
PMEs [professional military educators] and not a leadership trait in sight!) Once
you get past your squadron CO [Commanding Officer], people can’t even
pronounce esprit de corps. Even a few squadron COs stumble over it. And let me
clue you—in the fighter business when you’re out of esprit, you’re out of corps—
to the tune of 22,000 in the next five years, if you follow the airline projections.
And why? Why not? Why hang around in an organization that rewards excellence
with no punishment? Ten years in the Air Force, and I’ve never had a DO or Wing
Commander ask me what our combat capability is, or how our exposure times are
running during ops, or what our air-to-air loss and exchange ratios are—no, a lot
of interest in boots, haircuts, scarves, and sleeves rolled down, but zero—well,
maybe a query or two on taxi spacing—on my job: not even a passing pat on the
ass semiannually. If they’re not interested, why should I be so fanatical about it?
It ought to be obvious I’m not in it for the money. I used to believe—and now
they won’t even let me do that.

And what about career? Get serious! A string of nine-fours and ones as long
as your arm, and nobody can guarantee anything. No matter that you’re the Air
Force expert in subject Y…if the computer spits up your name for slot C—you’re
gone. One man gets 37 days to report remote—really now, did someone slit his
wrists or are we that poor at managing? Another gets a face-to-face, no-changefor-
six-months-brief from MPC…two weeks later? You got it—orders in his in
basket. I’m ripe to PCS—MPC can’t hint where or when; I’ve been in too long
to take the luck of the draw—I’ve worked hard, I’ve established myself, I can do
the job better than anyone else—does that make a difference? Can I count on
progression? NO. At 12–15 hours a day on my salary at my age, I don’t need that
insecurity and aggravation. And then the big picture—the real reasons we’re
all pulling the handle—it’s the organization itself. A noncompetitive training
system that allows people in fighters that lack the aptitude or the ability to do
the job. Once they’re in, you can’t get them out…not in EFLIT, not in RTU,
and certainly not in an operational squadron. We have a fighter pilot shortfall—
didn’t you hear? So now we have lower quality people with motivation
problems, and the commander won’t allow anyone to jettison them. If you haven’t
noticed, that leaves us with a lot of people in fighters, but very few fighter pilots,
and the ranks of both are thinning; the professionals are dissatisfied and most of
the masses weren’t that motivated to begin with. MPC helps out by moving Lts
every 12–15 months or so—that way nobody can get any concentrated training
on them before they pull the plug. Result: most operational squadrons aren’t
worth a damn. They die wholesale every time the Aggressors deploy—anybody
keep score? Anybody care? Certainly not the whiz kid commander, who blew in
from 6 years in staff, picked up 100 hours in the bird, and was last seen checking
the grass in the sidewalk cracks. He told his boys, “Don’t talk to me about tactics—
my only concern is not losing an aircraft…and meanwhile, get the grass
out of the sidewalk cracks!”—and the clincher—integrity. Hide as much as you
can…particularly from the higher headquarters that could help you if only they
knew. They never will though—staff will see to that: “Don’t say that to the
general!” or “The general doesn’t like to hear that.” I didn’t know he was paid
to like things—I thought he was paid to run things…how can he when he never
hears the problems? Ah well, put it off until it becomes a crisis—maybe it will be
overcome by events. Maybe if we ignore it, it won’t be a problem. (Shh, don’t
rock the boat). Meanwhile, lie about the takeoff times, so it isn’t an ops or maintenance
late. (One more command post to mobile call to ask subtly if I gave the
right time because “ahh, that makes him two minutes late,” and I will puke!) Lie
about your DOC capability because you’re afraid to report you don’t have the
sorties to hack it. “Yes, sir, losing two airplanes won’t hurt us at all.” The party
line. I listened to a three-star general look a room full of us in the face and say
that he “Didn’t realize that pencil-whipping records was done in the Air Force.
Holloman, and dive toss was an isolated case, I’m sure.” It was embarrassing—
that general looked us in the eye and said, in effect, “Gentlemen, either I’m very
stupid or I’m lying to you.” I about threw in the towel right there—or the day
TAC fixed the experience ratio problem by lowering the number of hours needed
to be experienced. And then they insult your intelligence to boot. MPC looks
you straight in the eye and tells you how competitive a heart-of-the-envelope
three is!…and what a bad deal the airlines offer! Get a grip—I didn’t just step
off the bus from Lackland! And then the final blow, the Commander of TAC
arrives—does he ask why my outfit goes 5 for 1 against F–5s and F–15s when
most of his operational outfits run 1 for 7 on a good day? (Will anybody let us
volunteer the information?) Does he express interest in why we can do what we
do and not lose an airplane in five years? No—he’s impressed with shoe shines
and scarves and clean ashtrays. (But then we were graciously allotted only minimum
time to present anything—an indication of our own wing’s support of the
program. Party line, no issues, no controversy—yes, sir; no, sir; three bags full,
sir.)…And that’s why I’m resigning…long hours with little support, entitlements
eroded, integrity a mockery, zero visible career progression, and senior commanders
evidently totally missing the point (and everyone afraid or forbidden to
inform them.) I’ve had it—life’s too short to fight an uphill battle for commanders
and staffs who won’t listen (remember Corona Ace?) or don’t believe or
maybe don’t even care. So thanks for the memories, it’s been a real slice of
life…. But I’ve been to the mountain and looked over and I’ve seen the big picture—
and it wasn’t of the Air Force.

“This is your captain speaking…on your left you should be able to see
Denver, Colorado, the mile…”

_____________________________________________
Source: The linked site in the first post, Appendix II in the book “Sierra Hotel”, C.R. Anderegg. (That’s not where it originated.)

This letter was written by Capt Ron Keyes. Gen Wilbur Creech was the commander of TAC at the time. The letter stayed around, as common knowledge throughout the fighter community, for quite a few years. One of “the Classics” that remained relevant…maybe you had to be there at one point or another to appreciate it.

[As it was told to me, this letter was written as a reponse to a request by Creech for feedback from the troops, and was not intended to be submitted, but was accidentally. Keyes in fact did not quit, but went on to retire as a general. - drw]

Valkyrie

Thumbs up.

I was in Berlin in 2007 when they were re-shooting parts of this. It does make me wonder how history would have been different had they succeeded, and is a fitting reminder thatnot all Germans were Nazis, not all members of a nation support all its actions.