Manns Medium

It never ceases to amaze me how some can love money so much that they are willing to take advantage of anyone and everyone they can to reach their goal of bathing themselves in green.  The worst part is those they set their sights on are normally those who have done them no harm.  Many people say that terrorism is the ability to stop the regular activities of citizens and robbing them of a sense of security.  According to Mr. Curtis L. Coy, Deputy under Secretary for Economic Opportunity, Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, his department “has recently been notified of potential fraudulent attempts to contact Veterans using VetSuccess.gov.  These individuals may be operating under company names such as Auto-Desk, Venus Remedies, or Aesculap Implant Systems.  Be aware that these are potential fake inquiries, and you should not communicate with or send any information to these individuals.”  He warns all vete...

Recently the media world is all a buzzed about drone strikes killing Americans, while listening to their argument against it, one can see their point.   I mean, who wants to be the one who receives a visit from their own government with an order to kill you because they believe you are part of a terrorist organization.   You have got to admit, this would not be the first time our government has gotten this wrong.   So here comes the ACLU, the defender of all those abused by the system.   They step up to suck up all the camera time that they can to tell anyone who will listen that they are on the case.   The “pure” liberals follow not too far behind them to get their 15 minutes of fame and renew their “holier than thou” status.      I do not begrudge them their points of the argument and have to honestly admit, that their points do have merit.   What bothers me is their inability to present both sides of the argument instead on only talkin...

When you feel like you have been in a prize fight and could not defend yourself from the massive amounts of blows thrown by your opponent.  When you thought you had a handle on your opposition only to find yourself trying to dodge a flurry of punches.  Some landing and some glancing but each one inflicting a little damage all the same.  During these times, you realize that this is not a title fight nor is it a dream or a figment of your imagination.  This is life, plain and simple and if you are going to play it, buckle up because it will be a long and bumpy ride. Why so gloom you ask, well I have just discovered that there is a very strong possibility that I have two beautiful daughters that I never got a chance to know, watch grow or hold.  Their names are April and Ashley and they lived in my dreams.  They have relocated into my heart and there they have built a mansion to remain for the rest of my days.  You see, I had taken a military doctor’s ...

On November 13, 2008, I received a letter from the Commandant of the Marine Corps.  Now for those who might not know who that is or know that my prior life was served as a United States Marine from 1980 till 1991, the Commandant is the top executive in the Marines.  He is the guy who sets the policies, procedures and standards that all Marines must live by.  Getting that letter, made me first wonder why he was writing me and if the Marines had finally gotten around to issuing my overdue medals or was there another sinister meaning for this letter.  What I discovered after reading that letter would prove more devastating  than I could have known. The letter was actually from Major General E.G. Payne, Assistant Deputy Commandant, thanking me for taking part in a study  that was seeking to see if there was a link between individuals who had lived and worked at Camp LeJeune between 1957 and 1987 and the cancer causing toxins dumped in the drinking water. ...

Yesterday, I attended a gathering and was listening to a young man tell me about some of the promises made to him by a Marine Recruiter.   I found myself strangely confused by what I was hearing because it sounded nothing like the Marines that I spent over 9 years in.   It made so little sense that I had to question him about it and was surprised to find that he took offense to my asking. The main question focused on the information that being a felony would not mean anything as far as owning a firearm because the Marines would not only wipe that away but allow him to gather items associated with firearms outside of the realm of the military.   He stated that he would not only be able to own a firearm with his felony conviction but also purchase silencers.   Now while this may not appear such a big deal to most people, it truly concerned me. The Marines, to me, was an organization that prided itself on choosing the best and the brightest to wear that uniform...

There has been hours and hours of coverage about the US soldier who went on a killing spree in Afghanistan and there has been a few willing to offer their reasoning for his actions.   Out of all of the noise, I have not heard one person propose that the actions may have been guided by an even more compelling force than Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The actions may have been fueled by a condition called “battle fatigue” combined with the enormous drive to get out of Afghanistan and away from the war zone for good.   I say that because understanding that the breaks you receive from war is never enough time to allow any military member to deal with what they witnessed or took part in before being sent right back to the front lines.   It may have been as simple as getting tired of dodging bullets and wanting to be home to rest. According to an article written by Heidi Vogt and Pauline Jelinek of the Associated Press titled Accused US soldier flown out o...

As a former U.S. Marine, I quite often find myself attempting to meet the standards set up by those in power and seldom do I ever match any of them.   I am held responsible for keeping your freedoms free and accomplishing the mission that allows those in power to obtain that power but even that is not good enough collateral to secure a loan or run your business. In the military, you are mostly graded on your ability to follow orders, accomplish the mission and the time you have spent dedicated to your particular job.   When that life is over and you are integrated into the civilian world, it’s a rude awakening to learn that the promises made are not the promises kept.   When you wore the uniform of the U. S. Armed Forces, people come up to you all the time to express their gratitude for your willingness to lay down your life to keep the joy in theirs but as soon as you disrobe from that obligation, so goes all that goodwill. You are charged with keeping America s...

As a former US Marine, I recall the song and stories of the “Battle of Tripoli” that was told and sung in basic training.   The words spoke about the Marines taking the city and yesterday this city falls again except it was taken back by its citizens instead of by an outside occupier. Some time ago, I wrote an article for my blog Manns Medium where I said that this conflict would be over in less than six months.   I did not hear many experts even guess at the time frame but I did hear them express negative reaction to this decision by President Barack Obama.   I only wonder if they had their crow baked, roasted or fried?   There were also some who questioned if the Republicans would care enough to give this president any credit but more than that, I question whether any reporter, commentator or journalist will do the same.   I did not expect the White House and this president to take a victory lap because he suffers from a deep sense of humility but wouldn’t i...

According to an article written by Caren Bihan and Tabassun Zakaria of Reuters titled Al Qaeda number two killed in Pakistan this week, they reported that “Al Qaeda's new second-in-command was killed earlier this week in Pakistan, U.S. officials said Saturday, in a major blow to the group still reeling from the death of Osama bin Laden.   Atiyah abd al-Rahman, a Libyan national, rose to the number two spot when Ayman al-Zawahri took the reins of al Qaeda after bin Laden was killed in May in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.” They say that this is not confirmed but if it is then while many may have forgotten about the reason given for the Afghanistan War, there are many who have not.   It appears that soon wars will be fought similar to video games so those who demean those who are quite good at those war games may want to re-think their position.   The best quote found in this article was that from a top US Official saying "Dialing back on al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, especi...

Is it just me or has others noticed that quite a few military members are choosing to skip out of the military using the birther issue?   Just ran into this article by Josh Funk of the Associated Press titled Air Force discharging sergeant who doubts Obama where he reports that “t he Air Force said Wednesday it is discharging a hero of the so-called birther movement who refused to report to duty in Germany for a few days earlier this month because he doubts President Barack Obama's citizenship. Staff Sgt. Daryn Moran expects to be discharged within the next week. Although the 41-year-old Nebraska man refused to report to duty and had called for Obama's arrest in statements on websites, several other things contributed to his discharge, including his opposition to Obama's decision to allow gays to serve openly in the military.” It was reported that Mr. Moran obtained his information through the internet and of course we all are very much aware that anything found on the in...

There are times when those who complain about another tends to repeat those very same antics that they railed so viciously against.   Case in point, Republicans take on “Obamacare” as “pulling the plug on grandma” only to now stand for a proposal that would completely change Medicare and Medicaid as we know it.   This is now the same track that some on the left are following.   Their take on bringing Osama bin Laden out of the compound alive when they were also the ones who kept implying that the Bush Administration wasn’t doing enough to bring bin Laden to justice.   If media checks their past responses, they may be surprised to find them saying that the death of bin Laden would be a good thing.   Now that this has come to pass, they are saying the exact opposite. I do not know who appointed Laura Flanders, Michael Moore, Rosie O Donnell and others to be the Democratic spokespersons but they do not speak for me.   I am quite content that Osama has been...

Imagine my surprise when I saw this article and begin to read it.   Surprised because of two important facts.   Fact one was that it was written by someone whom I had very high regards for and one of the best in the business, Mark Halperin , who not only got the entire event wrong but was way off on his implication that his reporting cast no shadow on those who accomplished this feat. I speak of Mr. Halperin’s take in his article titled Time Five Mistakes the Obama Administration Has Made in the Aftermath of Bin Laden Killing for Time.   At this time I would like to challenge Mr. Halperin on his points made in the article to include why I think he and others like him are completely off-base.   Mr. Halperin states that “no one can question the heroism of the US military, the doggedness of the intelligence community, or the cajones of the President in making the call.”     But when you micro-manage decisions made or past events you do nothing more than q...

Nothing demises a spirit more than having those who were not actively involved micro-managing the results of success.   One does not question those who have questions and often times revel in the fact that there is interest in what they did but when it comes to arm-chair quarterbacking and back seat driving, it gets quite annoying. In an article written by Jim Kuhnhenn of the Associated Press titled Raid poses narrative challenge for White House , the clear answer to why this narrative may not be happening fast enough for media were close to the very top of his own article.   "We review this information and make these decisions with the same calculation as we do with so many things — what we're trying to accomplish and does it serve or in any way harm our interests, not just domestically but globally," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.”   Toward the lower half of the article even more reasoning for patience was expressed "A graphic image such as that has the...