SCARY #FWOD

Today’s single word writing prompt is “scary” (Fandango), This, That and the Other, WP blog). This is my piece for this prompt entry.

A pretty spot on prompt for today, a day of twists, turns, blunders and all-out stupidity emanating from our White House and Pentagon.

Let me add a slight disclaimer here, while it may not be exactly necessary I believe that it’s pertinent to the post I am about to write. I am a veteran of the US Army (80-86) and served during the scary cold war. Thing about that period of time was that it was one of those times when you never knew what would happen or when or where…sneaky Russians, very real threats of nuclear war and dangerous leaders of many countries. I had the pleasure (said with sarcasm) of serving all of my Army years in nuclear missile units, both in Germany and the in the southwestern USA. In Germany my unit handled intercontinental missiles, the big boys. And in the US I was in an MLRS unit. Multiple-Launch Rocket System. Smaller, fast as fuck and deadly accurate. The ones we handled were nuclear capable, this type of missile system can be used and adapted to lots of applications, ships, planes, ground transport, etc. They’re still in use today. The big boys I spoke of earlier were removed from Germany in 1989 under part of the ending of the cold war’s agreement with Russia. I am sure that the US military has plenty of missiles positioned around the entire world. We’re kind of obsessed with them and always have to have the most and the best. This is disputable according to Russia now, it seems they may have surpassed us in the nuclear weapons field by quite a bit. I could probably write lots more about this, but this is not the point of this post….I got derailed I think…back to our topic…

Our president, Donald J Trump, made a huge, very reckless move by authorizing the assassination of Soleimani in Iraq. Yes, this guy was a super duper bad guy and needed to be eliminated anyway, but this wasn’t the best way or time to do this deed. I understand it had to be done eventually, but I disagree whole-heartedly with the way this was done. Trump takes full personal responsibility for this – at least right now, I am betting he will flip and start blaming it on someone else when things go very, very wrong here – and they will, it’s only a matter of time.

So, he orders the strike. The drone takes the guy out – AT the Baghdad International Airport!!! Trump immediately starts bragging all over Twitter about his successful assassination. The USA has not assassinated a man of this stature since 1942, they shot down a Japanese generals plane and killed him, very different circumstances in a very different time period, really no comparison, but good historical fact to know.

The coming retaliatory strikes will be brutal. They have so many capablities that I don’t believe the average American can even fathom. These people are professional warriors with lots of sneaky, underhanded methods of warfare. Their strikes WILL affect the homeland, most likely in the form of cyber attacks. They’ll shut down our electrical grid, disable banking, cause havoc on the stock market, force oil up over $100 a barrel (they’re already doing that, it was $70/brl today!) And while this is going on you won’t know how many they are blowing up over in the various middle eastern countries because our communication system will be inoperable here. We’ll be in the dark. That. IS. SCARY.

I know this sounds like some sort of war novel I am dreaming up. It’s insane. But it’s happening. I follow this pretty in depth. I read the Iranian reports, Iraqi reposts and everything from the major hubs on this. So much is happening it’s hard to keep up with some days even. I’ve heard every major military expert and strategist talk in depth about this and their outlook is very stark, scary and not good for the US. Yeah, we are a strong military, but Trump is counting on a conventional war and Iran is not.

Iranians do not fight their own wars, they fight strategically across the globe, often simultaneously in strikes, and are very smart about their methodology. Soleimani made damned sure of this. He organized this entire set up and now his right hand man is in charge, he’ll carry out Soleimani’s plans to the letter. It’s going to be bad, and I am worried about HOW bad. It’s quite SCARY that Trump has his stupidly tiny fist on the big red button in the situation room. THAT is the MOST SCARY to me! I really hope they will tackle his ass if he even considers using that button.

Trump is taunting the Iranians like a school yard bully. It’s so embarassing and has his aids and military guys scrambling every time he says another outrageous thing on Twitter. He’s threatening outright to commit war crimes. He’s very pro-torture and says he will authorize water boarding and worse. He’s threatening to blow up cultural sites. That makes me angry AF because historical and cultural sites should always be protected, just as hospitals, schools, churches and synagogues should always be protected. There are just things you don’t touch. Trump doesn’t care, he’s not following the Geneva convention’s rules of armed conflict (1954) that protects those sites. I hope like hell his guys will NOT carry out orders to commit war crimes. They DO have that right, you can refuse an order if it violates common sense and is illegal. These are exactly the type of things that terror organizations do, this is ISIS type behavior. It’s not dignified of the United States military – any branch.

Trump is doing all of these things himself. No Congressional involvement like there is supposed to be. No declaration of war from Congress. No authorization. No consults with military specialists, experts, generals (“I know more than any of my generals!”) He’s being outrageous dangerous, violating every rule we’ve ever followed about attacking other counries, we have processes and he’s not abiding by ANY of that. Blatantly defying Congress and stonewalling the American public.

Thousands of more troops are being shipped over there by the hour. Six B-52 bombers are now positioned in the Indian Ocean, just out of reach of Iranian missiles but ready to strike at a moment’s notice once given a mission and a target. THAT IS SCARY!

I watched as some loaded on TV today, the looks on their faces were horrible. You could almost feel their reluctance to board those planes, not understanding the reasoning behind these crazy presidential orders and moves. You know they all go because their dedicated to their oaths – I was, I would go where told and do what I was instructed as every soldier is taught. Being in the service doesn’t work out for anyone if there is not complete obedience across the board so that everyone is operating on the very same page of the manual. It’s a rule; a fucking unwritten warrior’s law. Going rogue will get you killed or at least removed in some way, depending on where you are and the situation at hand.

I feel for those being deployed. I am scared for them, for their families, for their futures. For tomorrow. They’re being sent into a cauldron that’s heating up by the minute. I hope they stay save, act bravely and with precision.

There’s so much else going on in Washington DC. It’s a complete debacle of madness. Impeachment, which is just crazy. No one obeying laws or court orders. Cover-up of major corruption by the administration. A rogue leader, a rogue Senate leader (McConnell) and a completely lemming kind of Republican party, Senators and Congressmen/women, I think there are only 2 women in the GOP portion of the Senate. Bunch of racist old white guys mostly who are all afraid that they will be exposed by #45 for something he has record of them doing – probably being in Jeffrey Epstein’s black book for most of the. You KNOW that William Barr had that delivered to him immediately upon discovery during the FBI raid on his home. Trump has that book, I’d bet a $Millon that I don’t even have that he has it. It’s never been mentioned again since the night they took it during the raid. And the Epstein was dead shortly afterwards…conveniently. (that’s another topic entirely!)

That’s it for this blog rant. That’s what I think of what’s going on in the middle-east and why I am scared for the whole world. Times are changing. Life for all of us will be markedly changed for this time in history. It will be interesting, but scary, to learn and adjust to how those changes will affect each of us.

Peace to all.

~MB

#YouAreEnough Challenge Day 2-5

Due to the mid-term elections and my obsession with them, I have not kept up with the 30-day challenge #YouAreEnough.  I am about to do days 2, 3, 4, and 5 here.

Day 2: A special encounter that almost felt like an angelic experience.  An interesting thing to think about.  I once got into a taxi in Gaithersburg MD after working painting a house that day and the taxi driver was an older white gentleman.  I was a bit down and he seemed to notice and struck up a conversation with me.  The 20-minute ride really made me think, he seemed very intuitive to my plight – I was struggling with whether I would stay in DC or move back to Maine at the time.  He gave me some good advice.  The next day I needed a taxi so I called the same company and requested him…they told me they had no one by that name working for them…I swear this guy was an angel in disguise.

 Day 3: Share a time you felt lost and how you got found.   When I left the military in September of 1984 I never realized how difficult it would be for me to reintegrate into civilian society.  I had a really tough time adjusting and was very lost. I drank heavily, got my first DWI within 2 weeks of my discharge, resulting in a broken leg and a concussion plus loss of my license and dignity. By January of 1985, I was miserable. I missed the Army, the organization and always knowing what was expected of me. I missed the discipline and at 22 I still NEEDED that discipline in my life. I re-enlisted for 2 more years of active reserve duty. I was legally in the reserves, I just got them to assign me to duty that I had to report to every day for a couple of years. Once I put that uniform back on I refound myself and my purpose for that time. In 1986 I finished and the second time I didn’t look back, but I do wish today that I had stayed in and done 25 years.  I would have been finished and collecting a nice pension right now.  Hindsight is 20/20.

Day 4: Share a time you received life-altering news, good or bad, that impacted your life.  It was August 31, 1992, I went back to the clinic where I had gone to be tested for HIV – everyone was being tested at the time, so I figured what the hell and got myself tested (also at the urging of my therapist at the time).  The counselor saw me come in and quickly got me into a private space where she blurted out “I’m so sorry, you are HIV positive”.  I will never forget that day, those words, or her pained look when she told me. Come to find out I was the first woman she had had to tell they were positive. Back in 92 we still didn’t have good drugs to suppress the virus and stop it from becoming AIDS. My entire life changed during that minute. I felt like I had an expiration date stamped on my forehead.  Since then I have come great strides. It’s been 26 years, I am happy, healthy and my viral count is Zero – undetectable – meaning the virus is not active in my body and the drug cocktail I take every day is working well. I am lucky. I lost many friends early in the discovery of this epidemic. I still miss them and grieve for the lives that they missed because of this horrible disease. I fondly remember the days before we knew anything about HIV/AIDS and how wild and crazy they were. I live a safe, sane life now and I take care of myself and my loved ones because in the end, that’s all you really have in this life.

Day 5: Share a time when you felt unimaginable loss and how you came to realize that you were ENOUGH to handle it.  The only thing I can relate to this one is the break up of my 14 yr relationship with my ex. I never thought we would split; I seriously thought we’d be together to the end. So, life without her and without all that was entailed – the farm, the horses, the animals, and the money – seemed very foreign to me. It took me a couple of years to adjust to my new circumstance of being single and having to look at rebuilding my life as such. I went through all of the emotions, from grief to anger to acceptance and then I moved on and have put together a pretty comfortable life for myself today. I dated a few other women along the way and last year I found the right woman to compliment my life.

There! I am now caught up. I will write the Day 6 blog after dinner tonight.  I hope you enjoyed this quick one, as there will be more coming!

#youareenough

Peace!  ~  MB

Share Your World (SYW)

I follow another blog called “Cee’s Photography” on WP and she also has a website at this LINK.  They’re tied together tightly so what you see one is generally on both sites.  Anyway, she does a weekly “challenge: on her page, and I am participating this week.  Here are the questions and my answers.

Do you prefer eating foods with nuts or without nuts?  I am okay with both, I enjoy bananna bread and brownies with walnuts or pecans.  And I like granola that contains nuts and raisins the best.  So, I guess my “preference” would have to be WITH nuts.  🙂

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?   It doesn’t matter to me. I am not afraid of closet monsters. If I’m lazy they’re left open.  If I am in one of my neat-nik moods then they’re neatly closed, as is appropriate.

Are you usually late, early or right on time?  I have an issue with tardiness.  I do NOT ike to be late or have someone be late on me.  If I tell you a time, or we agree on a time, then you better be where we arranged to meet or I’ll be irritated as fuck.  I would rather be early than late any day.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  I have been in a really good mood lately so lots of stuff has made me smile.  My girlfriend’s little girl starting school on Monday made me smile, despite the bussing troubles they’re having.  She looked so cute and this is a big adventure for her – as well as her mother.

I appreciated my girl for making me the luckiest Butch around and being MY girl.  I love what we have and appreciate her understanding and her love, as well as her support, every day.

 

So, that is my entry into this week’s SYW challenge.  Thanks for the challenge Cee!

Peace  ~  MB