Greetings and Salutations!
So I ‘caught a case’ on Twatter:

This being for responding to and asshole “Representative” name of Eugene Vindman… y’all may remember him as the Virginian Congresscritter who’s brother is former Army Lieutenant Colonel name Alexander Vindman, also known as “that lying piece of shit Krainian-born traitor” who helped get OrangeManBad ‘in the soup’ so to speak in regard to ONE of the impeachments (that OMB eventually beat).

The reason I call Vindman a traitor is he LITERALLY commited treason in his dealing both with the Krain, and as well as selling out his Commander in Chief. My poast on Twatter had to do with some ludicrous comment that fag-boi “Eugene” (only closeted fags keep a name like that into adulthood IMO) stated about OMG calling out the seditious statements that were and are seditious by certain ‘untouchable members’ of CONgress.

He said something that irked me, and I wrote essentially that he shouldn’t worry, as that his Brother, an actual fucvking traitor hasn’t had ANYTHING happen to him, both by dint of being a Demoncrat AND a Jew, so ergo, why is he making big smoke over OrangeManBad calling out treason, when it IS treason?

No joke…I got banned within 30 seconds of hitting ‘post’

I hit post, and I immediately had a screen come up asking if I was a robot. Not realizing the depth of the error I had committed, (i.e. commenting on a Jew and being a traitor to the US) I hit “I am not a robot” only to catch an immediate 7 day suspension.

And to add insult to injury?

I was told, as seen before, that I could keep messaging my people/followers via DM. Instead, when I asked them (multiple people) to let folks know I was hemmed up, I got “Message Failed”, in this case directly to Art Sido:

So much for ‘Direct Messages to my Followers’ Aye?

Soooooo next step?
I of course (foolishly) reached out to Support:

….with the expected results.
I can’t even message support LMFAO.
Why even bother amiright?
I mean when I can’t even get a message support to through?

Guess I’ll have to create a new profile, which is annoying.

And rebuilding the followers? That’ll be a pure pain in the ass… Either way…. this’s just foreshadowing of what’s to come I guess… MOAR reason to get ready to bail to ‘parts unknown’ with a LOT of physical books… like actual genuine real paper copied books, and settle in for a long, quiet retirement.

Now otherwise?
I’m holding up.

It’s been a long week, but I made it out the other end despite “the slings and arrows of outrageous stupidity” if you’ll allow a classic literary reference. As I was talking about, the shit that those Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers were spouting? Well considering that the majority of them WERE or ARE either DotMil or DotDef folks, meaning current reserve/national guard folks OR contracted DotMil or Department of War (used to be defense hence the DotDef reference) which means that they’re fully aware that what they said is a no go.

At worst? Treason
At best? Sedition

Under law, Title 18, Chapter 115, Part One (Titled “TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES”) and ALL it’s follow on parts, per section 2387, (and I quote):

18 U.S. Code § 2387 – Activities affecting armed forces generally

• U.S. Code
• Notes

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(a)Whoever, with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the military or naval forces of the United States:

(1)

advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States; or

(2)

distributes or attempts to distribute any written or printed matter which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States—

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.

(b)

For the purposes of this section, the term “military or naval forces of the United States” includes the Army of the United States, the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve of the United States; and, when any merchant vessel is commissioned in the Navy or is in the service of the Army or the Navy, includes the master, officers, and crew of such vessel.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 811; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 46, 63 Stat. 96; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147; Pub. L. 109–163, div. A, title V, § 515(f)(2), Jan. 6, 2006, 119 Stat. 3236.)

Yep

Now the very fact that NO ONE in the DotGov in the past 50-60 years, outside of when they cooked them two Heeb Traitors, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in the chair, has ANYONE EVER had ANY realistic prosecution done for OBVIOUS treason/sedition… nope… it’s been quiet on that shytte for the most part…

In fact ANOTHER recent story, A guy who SHOULD HAVE BEEDN put against a wall for his bullshit? The convicted spy and traitor jew Jonathan J. Pollard  met with the US Ambassador Mike Huckabee ostensibly to thank him for all the support when he was in jail for genuine treason he did while working for the FBI

Ahhhhh
How far we’ve fallen from when we used to send jews to the chair for being traitorous pieces of shit aye? THIS fucker should have been burned at the stake for what he did. Some of the intel he handed over LITERALLY caused some people to get killed and/or their families to be killed… a TRUE Spawn of Satan IMO.

Fuck those people.
For real.

Personally, I’d purely love to see those current assholes who’re promoting sedition and treason within the Armed Forced snatched from their beds, taken to Gitmo, put in Camp Delta, (incommunicado as that’s the way it’s done) brought out, charges given, trila knocked out in 30 minutes, and sentence carried out. Ashes/Bodies to be given back AFTER the sentence is carried out.

And for all those who say I’m being too hard/radical?

Just what the fuck have the Demoncrats been screaming about when they get back into power? They sure as fuck are NOT going to let ‘bygones be bygones.’ If anything, what they did to the J6 kids is just a preview of the level of malevolence and evil they fully intend on performing against anyone and everyone who either dissagreed with them, or even voated against them on.

The reckoning that they have planned is both Biblical and Satanic at the same time. Best wrap your head around it now as OrangeManBad IS NOT doing what needs to be done, nor is ANYONE under him doing the same. Nor ARE they going to do what needs to be done… they’re all doing that “D.C. performative bullshit” and they fully expect that when the ‘other side’ takes over in 2026? 28… whatever fucking year it’ll be? They’re EXPECTING it to be ‘business as usual’.

However?
My POV?

Nope
They’re going to go full on demoncratic retardation social justice stoopid that’ll make the Soviet Russian purges look tame by comparison. Hence my looking for a place far, far away. I recommend y’all do the same.

So for nor, thats it.
More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
A very busy day today which (again) left me mentally frazzled. I swear there’s only so much time int he day that I can compartmentalize some of the retardation I have to deal with, and then it’s like a “NopeNopeNope!” and I have to step a waaaays a away from the phone and KB lest I go full retard and blow up at someone.

I think that’s universal at this point.

So otherwise, I don’t have a LOT of points, political/military/’other’… tonight’s ‘episode’ if you will is sort of just a random collection of some of the stuff I’ve seen this week. On the Krainian Front? Seems that Ivan, after taking Pokrovsk has cut off and surrounded Mirnograd:

The reason this gets filed up under a “Big Fucking Dealski” is that BOTH Pokrovsk and Mirnograd were (past tense) major Krainian Defensive Strongpoints.

Donetsk Oblast has been one of the major objectives of the SMO. Donetsk formed the Donetsk People’s Republic back in 2014 supposedly by “Russian Back Paramilitaries”. What’s interesting is it’s traditionally been primarily a Russian Oblast, both in history, language and location. In fact the five major Oblasts that were in “rebellion” against the Krain which were ‘targeted’ by the “SMO” (Special Military Operation) include parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, all which have been subject to Russian military operations and occupation.

Now to talk to and/or listen to THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY LIVE there it wasn’t an “occupation” but a liberation. The Russian majority population were under a LOT of pressure, both socially and militarily by the Kiev Junta (and yeah, Krainfeld and the CIA installed bullshit DotGov there is and has been an illegitimate occupation and installed CIA front)

Either way, I’m not going to get into the deeper issues and causes, what I will say is that both Mirnograd and Pokrovsk were BIG defensive centers… the term “Fortress” was used in reference to both cities… and now? Pokrovsk is done, and from the look of it, Mirnograd is only a week or so from completekly falling.

Much like the Battle of Bakhmut and Siege of Mariupol, both locations Bakhmut AND Mariupol were seriously built up as defensive hard-points, and bragged on both by the Krainians and their Enemedia Mouthpieces as “Unconquerable”. And, much like other famous places that were supposed to be unbreakable, Ivan did what Ivan does, which was grind them both down to the nub and destroy them piecemeal.

Granted, in both cases, there were MAJOR casualties on both sides in both battles, with the Krain eventually being wiped the fuck out. Fast forward a few years later, and Ivan, having learned a few lessons and developed a BUNCH of new tactics, has repeatedly done the “surround ’em/FAB-Drone the fuck out of them/mop up the remains” tactics. Ivan is taking his time now… no need to rush… no need to expend troops… just s-l-o-w-l-y move, a wee bit at a time, and once you get a location closed off enough, pull back the troops and drop an extreme metric fuckton of high explosives on anywhere an enemy troop may or may not be, and then send in a few troops to mop up the shell shock survivors (if there are, in fact any.)

Now mind you, this’s going on the entire 1000 mile front. Ivan is moving forward, and judging from all media accounts all around, they’re out of men, money, weapons and almost time. July 2026 is MY call when this wraps up. The only wrinkle is IF the EUroweenies decide to jump in and do something stupid(er) like actually get involved OPENLY. If that happens? All bets are off, and I sure as Hell wouldn’t want to be vacationing ANYWHERE in Europe if their political masters decide to go full retard…

Then…I found this over at John WIder’s place:

I’ve read the whole “shopping cart theory” of who a civilized person is, versus who isn’t. This however is the first time I saw this particular graphic, and I got a kick out of it.

It’s a perfect illustration I think.

And then I found this from Twitter tonight:

Yep.
I’ll just leave that there…
And lastly some bad humor:

That cracked me up.
So More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
So it’s been a week so far. Feel like I’ve been “tied to the whipping post” with the morons I have to deal with on the regular. Today was just a continuation of the beatings if you will but I did have one high point.

My new drone showed up.

It’s a 2.4 gig 3 camera quadcopter.

The price?
I pretty much stole it.

I found it on a Online County Police Auction… I threw a $25 bid at the last second juuuust to make sure I got it, with I think $15 for shipping? For $40? Hell yes! I mean… it’s NOT a high-end drone, but normally it retails for about $125 which at what I paid for it?

I’ll take it GLEEFULLY.

I also found a almost-identical one on Temu (of course) that was only $40, but there’s the import tariffs and crap that gets added on? Either way, to get some more drone training in for that price? As I stated before, I’ll take it.

So now I have two drones.

This new quadcopter, and then my “Scout” Dronecopter:

The Scout is a good practice drone, and small enough to get in and around the interior of the house (or any house for that matter) for recon pretty well.

The problem is that it’s so lightweight, ANY and ALL breezes affect its flight. One time I was working on going room-to-room in the house, and the Central Air Conditioning kicked on, and the bird ‘lurched’ across the room in the draft of the AC blowing out of the vent.

So I’m not sure of the utility of it outside in real crosswinds.

This is a standard problem for the cheap ‘practice’ drones if you will. No real weight. One of my early $30 Amazon Chinesium drones I actually lost when practicing outside with the Redhead Nukular Gran. If you recall while I was flying it, I had a BIG gust of wind show up unexpectedly, and grab it, and last I saw of it, it was headed due south towards the Publix a quarter mile away…

Never did find out what happened to that ‘un LOL.
It literally faded to a teeny-tiny dot and then >poof<

So tonight, I tried to to fly this new quad inside BUT had a minor issue. Or maybe not minor per se…

The doggos.
Chili AND Stella both seem to think that the quadcopter is something they need to ‘fetch’ out of the air… I tried to get them to leave it alone, but nope. They weren’t listening at all. In fact Stella got too close while lunging at it, and the rotor blade caught her on the nose. She yelped pretty loudly as it must have hurt, but did that stop her?

She’s a fucking rockheaded Pittie…
What do you think?
Riiiiiiiight.

Now it’s a challenge apparently.
Must. Snatch. The. Flying. Thing.

So this means in the future, I’ll have to either practice in the bedroom for the initial ‘tuning’ of it and getting a feel for the flight characteristics, or take it down to the park at the elementary school we used to take the Grans to after school or on a Saturday and give it a try there.

When I say ‘tuning’ I mean that the controls and servos need to be dialed in for accuracy, otherwise it might have drift already in the settings, and I need to make sure that it does a steady hover, and do some other things, to include getting the 4k Cameras ‘dialed in’ as well.

Seeing that drones are the future and at least trying to learn how to use them is a good and necessary thing. Better to learn on the short $$$ models than to spend a grand on a nice DJI Drone like the Ivans and Krainians use and have that get wrecked?

I’d rather burn through a half a dozen ‘practice drones’ learning how to ‘fly’ a drone rather than buying a $$$$$Mondo-Expensivo$$$$$ one and wasting/crashing/destroying it by accident. In fact as part of my training/learning experience(s), I found and downloaded a free drone racing game on Steam to try and get the ‘feel’ using that. Called “The Drone Racing League” It’s OK to a point…

My issue with it primarily is that the problem with that is it’s not very accurate, and the fact that it’s a racing game, the ‘training’ is more focused on MOAR SPEEEEEED than anything else.

I just want/need a basic simulator, and lacking that, I’ll keep using ‘disposable drones’ to get proficient in my craft and flying skills. I sure as Hell can’t afford a $1200 drone and smash and bash it all to Hell and Gone just to practice…

The idea is we/me/you should be Training on something everyday if you can Aye? In my case, I’m working on my drone-skillz. If anyone has any other ideas, throw them in the comments. I appreciate y’all and anything you throw out there.

So on that note
More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
WHat a wonderful weekend… I’m almost over the jet lag, and working on a couple or three new poasts that’ll be up, one of which is a Substack that’s WAY overdue.. I’m sort of upset w/myself on that…

But hey, I’ve been balls out so go figure.
Tonight interestingly enough, I got a “Remember This?” Email from my original-original blog from WAAAAAY back in the day. The first poast being from (of all days) September 11, 2008.

“A long time ago, in a country far, far away…”

Rather Appropriate Aye?
So here’s two of them for tonight as I’m still trying to unfuck my luggage/laundry/laziness. I mean I have only so much of ‘me’ and oh so much for ‘me’ to deal with it, so tonight, you get two ‘blasts from the past’.

The most startling thing that -I- personally notice is how much more eloquent? I was back then? It’s hard to describe, but my Doctors over the years who’ve read my various mind-leakings online have told me that the differences in my writing, then to now, absolutely point to the degradation of my mental acuity. They attribute it primarily due to the multiple Traumatic Brain Injuries incurred as a contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan…

Too many ‘danger close’ rounds and getting blow’d da fuq up without penetrating shrapnel damage…

No worries however, I do in fact have quite a few of those as well.. unfortunately NONE of which add to my VA Disability Rating as I was a “Private Citizen” working on a contract when these various ‘issues’ occured…

Go Figure.
So in keeping with the subject, here’s a poast from November 17th, 2008. Judging by it, it was when I had redeployed from Kuwait to Iraq on the last contract I had there.

So here we go:

Monday, November 17, 2008

OK… Where am I again?

Jesus wept. You go to sleep on an airplane that stated the destination as “Baghdad” and you wake up somewhere over the fucking rainbow…

Yepper dear readers, the Intrepid Reporter is back in Baghdad… formerly known as the “Club Saddam-A-Go-Go” and it being the favorite third world shooting gallery for Al Queda and the other refuse from the Slums of Syria and Pitfalls of Palestine… well let me tell you… things changed

A LOT.

Got me a hunch that the current IR Reports are going to be a hell of a lot more boring than my writings of yesteryear in ’04 and ’05. Hell, even ’06 with the “Today I washed my sox and my ass during a rocket attack.” being the highlights are going to seem positively electric compared to this snoozefest.

INSANELY changed doesn’t begin to describe this place. I’ve landing in Baghdad under fire before and watched random acts of anti-aircraft fire overhead as the locals would try and unsuccessfully utilize old triple a flak guns… I’ve seen Baghdad under lock and key so to speak throughout 04 and 05. NUTHIN and I do mean NUTHIN can begin to describe the change. Quick observations included the fact that the city was all lit up where it had never been before. Try standing on the runway and not having to worry about random acts of rockets, mortars and suchlike. Try no body armor seen on anyone anywhere since I’ve been here… This place is so laid back its stupid… Hell the place I’m currently dossing used to be considered “Indian Country” back in ’04… as in the insurgents used to infiltrate through this very area that I’m staying in and try to ambush mo’fo’s as they tooled down the hardball…

Either way, my itty bitty mind is officially stated in the condition of “Blown” and I have NO idea what tomorrow will hold. I’ll do a more in depth analysis later. Until then, I’ll holler atcha.
______________________
Huh… wild memories from almost 17 years ago exactly
Not bad… not bad at all…

The follow on poast comes a few days later, after I had set down, and gotten a bit ‘settled in’. I’ll let it speak for itself:

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Oh Wow man…. Like WOW!

OK ladies and gents of the studio viewing audience… I’m in Baghdad and my brain is somewhere in the Matrix, and I’m sure somewhere in there I went completely friggin bonkers… either that or I’m sitting in a padded cell somewhere waiting in a haze for the docs to come in and either dose me with my next med or to complete the lobotomy… I’ll explain as we go…

OK… when last we left the Intrepid Reporter of Baghdad Fame, he was overwhelmed by the sights, sounds and yes, even the smells of Baghdad. To whit, 2 out of the 3 things have changed, and 1 hasn’t. I’ll give you a hint… back in the day, (’04 to ’05) Lil Country and I used to begin the day with the following scene:

Scene One:
Setting: The cab of a Ford F250 King Cab, two contractors Big Country and Lil Country climb in and start the vehicle.
Big C, (sniffing air loudly): “Dude, did you shit?”
Lil C, (looking offended): “Naw dude, that’s just Iraq!”

END SCENE

Yes, the smells are still the same, a piquant aroma of burning plastic, trash and the heady undercurrent of urine and dried human feces… think of an open sewer, then add some ‘spice’ to it. Nice huh? However, it’s the ONLY thing that remains the same.

The changes here are insane. No gunfire other than the ranges, which seem to be going on almost ALL the time. I can tell a range from a gunfight as the range has nice orderly pauses in the automatic fire… time for them to reload and aim carefully for the next set of targets. The sounds of a running gunfight tends to blend together and multiple calibers can be easily distinguished… as they said in Heartbreak Ridge “That is the sound of the AK-47 assault rifle, the preferred weapon of our enemy, which makes a distinctive sound when fired at you!” Truer words have never been spoken. So anyways, the ranges are going full time, and amazingly, the Iraqi Army is ALL over the place, and not only that, they are NOT wearing baclavas.

The dork in the back wants to know what a baklava is and why would the Iraqis be wearing Greek Pastry? Sheesh it takes all fucking kinds don’t it? OK. The baclava is pretty much a ski mask ok? Difference between a ski mask and a tactical baclava is that a tactical one is usually made of nomex, which (theoretically) is fireproof, or at least extremely fire resistant and flash resistant. Important things in the soldiering biddness as it were. The importance here is the Iraqis, besides not wanting to lose their rather copious eyebrowz is that they needed to hide their identities. The fact is, back in 04 and 05, if a dude was ID’d as an Iraqi National Guard or Police working with the dirty Invading Christian American Crusaders (their words, not mine!) then not only they would be at risk, but the cowardly fucks who were part of the insurgency would go after their families, hence the need to cover up and hide their identities.

Not anymore however. All the guys I saw going out to do the dirty to the bad guys last night were wearing only Body Armor and weapons… and quite a few fucking weapons I might add. All were carrying M-4 or M-16s which shows how far they’ve come from the days of the ubiquitous AK 47. They looked professional, and truth be told, mean as fuck. Like pissed off and ready to take back and KEEP their country. I wish I could feel bad for the insurgents, but I can’t so fuck ‘em!

Other things… ah yes.. part of the reason I’m sure I’m in a padded cell somewhere… well I was staying for a short period of time (my ‘acclimatization’ as it were) out at another company’s AO. That was good until I was evicted to Camp Victory… specifically Camp Liberty. I had to go down to the ‘Mayors’ Cell’ which is sort of the control and commander for all of the trailer parks here in the base. I went in and the kindly Master SGT hooked me up with a room. The trailer in question is supposed to be close to where I’m constructing a base of operations for the new company. The key had “6-441A-B” written on it which means Pad 6, Trailer 441, room either A or B.

Pad 6 is where I used to live in 04 and 05. I wasn’t prepared however, for the shocker of a lifetime, which goes to prove that I’m either permanently insane, or I’m actually in the Matrix, inside a tube or red goo with wires up my ass, powering a super genius computer or some such shit.

441 was the EXACT SAME TRAILER AND ROOM I lived in back in 04 and 05.

I’m officially ‘blown away’ now because of this. I’m temporarily in what used to be Lil Country’s “Blue Room” until I can move back into what we used to call “The Ponderosa” come Sunday. My old room is currently being used by some of our temp help, so Sunday I move back “Home” so to speak. Tell me I’m not tripping please?

Ok, besides that, I’ll go into some more later without compromising security. Needless to say, this is the EASIEST money I’ve ever made, and the danger is FAR over rated. I’ll holler more soon, and until then, I remain,
The Intrepid Reporter.
______________________

So there you have it… a trip or so down memory lane with, as I called myself, The Intrepid Reporter. Pretty wild to re-read that, and look back EONS later right?

So let me know your thoughts in the comments!
More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
So yeah…
On the debrief, I’ve got not a lot to add except for the Senior NCOs (all still on active duty) who were on said-cruise. I’ll get into that in a few, as I got ONE issue that did pop up on the radar.

That being Saipan.

Now I check out YouTube for some videos, and have a couple or three channels that I follow… nothing too deeply, just good content or interesting stuff if you will…”Dark Seas” with the occasional weird story about ‘stuff’ and mysteries fromt he oceans, to Simon Fowler’s multiplicities of channels that he narrates. Critical Drinker and Nerdrotic are also on the ‘must watch’ when they get new posts up…

One of the ones I also check out occasionally is ‘Yes Theory’

It’s about these two Swedish dudes who go and explore wild, weird and off-the-beaten-track places. They’re interesting, although I’m not down with their philosophy of “One Race, The Human Race” when anyone who’s truly explored some of these third world shitholes knows the reality of such high-minded libtarded points-of-view…

I’d say if anything the fact that where they go and the off-camera ‘stuff’ has to include fixers, and local contacts and more than likely contract security as otherwise? Some of the stranger places they’ve been to, and rolled through apparently unmolested/unkidnapped/uneaten (Congo and the like) tells me there’s a LOT of ‘stuff’ that doesn’t make it on camera.

SO… that being said, last night? This popped up on my feed:

Now, bullshit ‘hype title’ aside, (that being “The Dark Secrets Hidden in America’s Most Isolated Islands” ) it’s a pretty good overview of Saipan and Tinian, which is the Island directly south of Saipan. Tinian for you history buffs are well aware that THIS was the place that the US stationed like ALL of it’s B-29s that bombed Japan conventionally on the regular, and then in late 1945, loaded and assisted with dropping the first two nuclear weapons on Japan as well…

So they do a check out of the place, and come right out and show that, overall, it’s a damned nice place to be… to the point what was supposed to be a single 30-40 minute episode (their usual) is now being broken into two or maybe even 3 episodes…

Now… MY issue with this?
Saipan’s “cover”, if you will, is now officially blown.

Part of what I liked about it was the fact that not a Hell of a lot of people knew about it. Not many do, to a point. In fact during the intro, the two guys talk about the fact that EVERYONE they talked to had never even heard about the Northern Marianna’s, nevermind Saipan. Now? After this episode? At last count it was at 988 thousand views, and if history shows anything, when a channel like ‘Yes Theory’ profiles a place, increased tourism is usually a after-effect.

Dammit.

So that’s a minor irritation.
Now… Back to current events…

So the Resort… The British Colonial Resort specifically…
It’s famous for being in the James Bond Movie “Thunderball” with Sean Connery. A very nice place that’d been recently completely refurbished and refinished… Up to date, and well appointed to say the least:

I got the full “lunch and drinks” menu… and with a View Like THIS:

And on the beach, looking out:

And then, walking back towards the Hotel itself:

And hey!
Mellow and Beee-Yoot-A-Full!!!
They even had an Arch made of coral for (I’m guessing) weddings and whatnot… it is a magnificent setting for a destination wedding IMO:

And at the end of the day, after getting a mite sun-scorched, I rolled back to the Ship:

…and after I got back, I got dressy-dressed (for me)…

…and hit the Casino, and had a top-notch dinner, and ended the cruise on a high note with a crazy show that was rather well done:

Overall? 8 out of 10.
The food and prices prevent a full on 10 for 10.
It’s just like, my opinion man…

Now as far as the folks I met?
Well… it’s hard to define some of them… as in one or two of them were rather easy to identify in that the position they have is EASY to look up online… Now granted, we’re not talking the SMA or such, however… the guys I talked to are in positions who’re high enough to be identifiable.

Case in point: A senior NCO at the Drill Sergeant’s Academy. Now… there’s ONE main one of them, so I’m not going to say what position he holds… needless to say, he’s one of the Top Dogs so to speak on the NCO side of things…

I met him while I was getting ready to roll out on the trip to the British Colonial. I was needing some ‘lifer juice’ (i.e. black coffee) and there were a few setups in the lounge area which was the Assembly Area for the majority of the groups headed off-bowt. I was a wee bit hungover, and this guy was up there getting his caffeinated fix on as well… he looked ‘average’ so to speak, and we started chatting… the usual ‘on-board pleasantries’ on I learned exchanges under such social circumstances…

I mentioned something along the lines of “Hurry up and wait…” as we had to form up to leave at like 0800, but we actually didn’t leave until almost 0900. He looked and said “It’s the Army way” at which point we both looked at each other, and recognized a commonality… We sat down together, and exchanged bonafides, and turns out… well… ‘Kevin’ is one Hell of an NCO and maaaaan

He’s got some serious time in.
He told me he’s retiring within a year +/- after 33 years in, and then, he’s done. Primarily that he’s burned out and needs a ‘change’… He was fascinated to meet ME in that he wanted info on… well… how do I put it? How to approach Civvie Life?

He’s been in so long he’s got NO CLUE as to how ‘regular life’ is… he wanted any insight I had, and I gave it freely to him. One of the biggest things I tried to tell him was to start right now in s-l-o-w-l-y “deprogramming himself” from the whole “Army Lifestyle” and to learn to slow down…

I gave the best example I had, which was our Brigade Sergeant Major from the Rakkasans… when I first had gotten there,, the dude had retired… like right after I had gotten there… I never met the man, and have no idea as to how he wass, but ‘intensely wired’ is my guess…

Especially that within like six weeks of his retirement he dropped dead of a MASSIVE heart attack/stroke in the HEB while shopping as a ‘civilian’… his wife wasn’t surprised from what I heard… he was just wrapped waaaaay too tight for Civvie-Land, and cashed in. I actually used the line from “Full Metal Jacket” (which, of course he got the reference) was that Civilians overall are “…nothing but unorganized grab-asstic pieces of amphibian shit.” and to expect nothing but the worst, and HOPE for the best.

THAT might help is what I told him.
That and Chaos Rules.
Civvies have no clue…
I also told him that he should go “ROAD” which is an old Army term for “Retire On Active Duty” provided he didn’t become a total shitbag… especially for where and what he was doing,, meaning at the DSA, he couldn’t fully embrace the shitbag way of life, but that he 0might- be able to relax, and learn to relax, which, again –might- keep him alive so to speak.

We talked quite a few times over the remainder of the Cruise… I wish I’d met him early on, but as they say, it is what it is… He DID however tell me, that despite the Enemedia’s portrayal of the opinion of the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, that no… they have no fucking clue and that ALL the NCOs, with the exception of some of the MAJOR promotors of the whole “Muh Diversity Bullshit” (his quote) that the NCOs and Line Grunts are both seriously grateful for the changes and massively support said changes.

He said ONLY the senior ranks.. primarily the Perfumed Princes and Cocksuckers who ‘made the grade’ under “Teh Obamanation” (again his quote) were upset with the SecWar. “Top Kek” as he called it…

Go figure.
I had to find the most based Black NCO in the US Army right?

Dude was and IS awesome to the point we exchanged phone numbers and emails… in fact I need to send him another email after this… this guy was seriously cool AF… One of the things that stuck with me was that he was thrilled that the Drill Instructors could FINALLY do their jobs without looking at having a Congressional or 15-6 Investigation being launched to deal with “Hurt Fwee-Fwees” as he called them…

He told me FAAAAR too many great warfighters (and their institutional knowledge was lost) when they quit after the Global War on Terror as when it became time in their careers to either do the recruiter thing, or the D.I. thing, where waaaay too many called it a day as they either HATED being a ‘salesman’ i.e. recruiter OR they refused to be a D.I. as that was the path to career-i-cide due to DEI and all the bullshit that went along with it…

Fascinating intel.
Granted this’s a Bugs/E-4’s-Eye View, but to me very telling.

Make of it what you will.
And on this note… I’m bailing for now as I’m STILL jetlagged like a motherfucker. Like I said, it was a fantastic weekend and to all of those out there all going “Ha Ha! I called it!” about Aesop? So fucking what? The Dude when met face to face was cool and unassuming… all the haters are going to hate… In my case? I look at it as a cool thing to get to meet another blogger with some reach like myself, as well as some fans who showed up as well…

Can you say the same? It’s weird to have ‘fans’ so to speak, but at least I appreciate them coming out and meeting me, and making me realize that I have an impact so to speak… that’s fucking cool in my book… PLUS: I’m digging the whole “Choosing My Own Adventure” thing right now, and am trying to figure my next step(s) on the whole who/where/how/when thing…

In fact, Doc Samizdat DM’d me about Saipan, and maybe a trip to Peru? Either way, like I told him, I’m down like a clown these days as what else do I have to do? Grow old and bitter behind a keyboard, raging against the dying light, or seriously carpe that fucking diem until I choke the fuck out of it?

Me?
I choose the latter.
Hope y’all stick around to see what I get into next.

So More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
Well, as stated last night, I made it!!!
Yay me!!!
And I’ll tell you what… I was shocked, shocked I say!

Well… not really… I mean I was, but wasn’t at how cold and rainy it is currently. Even the locals I talked to were pretty surprised and miserable, as while YES, this is the time of year for ‘winter weather’ it’s a wee bit colder than they normally get… which I suppose is a national thing right now…

I mean I talked with Gretchen the other day when she had to come by the Casa to fetch up some of her rarely-worn winter gear. Even -I- had to dig out my fleece and sweatshirt with that cold-snap. Up living w/her ‘rents it’s even colder and that’s only about 100 miles north on me…

So here? Cold and Wet
VERY unexpected.

So I settled in and well… I crashed.
Hence my lack of updating like I had stated I would. I’m going to finish off the Nassau trip while I travel (I hope) but I will get it done. Mind you, it’s NOT ay sort of Drama or Weirdness… more of some of the people I met, and their perspectives… Namely some Active Duty Personnel that I interacted with, and got some interesting intel from regarding Current Day DotMil (multiple branch) Point of View…

So, as stated, I did arrive is SoCa:

Florida Part Two: With MOAR Palm Trees.
ONE interesting observation:

EVERYWHERE and ALL THE BUILDINGS had a sign similar to this… It’s like the ultimate (IMO) “Mommy Issue”. OMFG!!! -SOMETHING/SOMEWHERE- that was used MAYBE in the process of building the ACTUAL Building itself MIGHT cause cancer/birth defects etcetc.

FFS
Fucking Califrutopia Amiright?

To continue… I did get to the room…

A Residence Inn King Suite…
Provided for by, of all people Aesop of The Raconteur Report

Yep.
Aesop and I on occasion have traded insults, barbs, and general shytte, but all in good fun. He’s got his opinion and I got mine, but we respect each other, and realize that just because we don’t necessarily agree, doesn’t mean our own individual opinions are invalid… He even donated some shekels when we were fighting for Addy back a few years ago, and we’ve exchanged emails on the regular.

When he read that I was going to be in ‘his A.O.’ he emailed me, and offered up getting me a room. Not one to turn down some hospitality, and to get to meet the ‘mysterious General Aesop’ as Glen refers to him as, I wasn’t about to say no. After I got checked in, we made arrangements to meet up at a Mexican Restaurant, and had dinner. Post Victuals, we went to the Movie together. IRL He’s a nice guy, and tolerates no bullshit (much like yours truly) And a great time was had by the two of us.

I even got a picture of him with me in the theater while we waited for the show to begin:

Rather Apropos as he did request OPSEC deniability.
Personally I think it’s perfect.

We also had two long term readers of mine who met up with us, so a very merry gang we had. S&P didn’t realize the dude I was w/was Aesop, but they were pleased as they read his stuff as well… At for them: Well met to the BOTH of you Brothers!!! I cannot thank you enough for the gift(s)! HIGHLY Unexpected and Unnecessary! I won’t go into it, but the generosity came in at a 12 on the 10 scale… as stated before, it was COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED!!!! Guys like that are why I still grind on this thing after all these years… my most ‘umble thanks to say the least…

So…
Yep…

The Frida itself, while a -mite- run down was still cool AF IMO, and as you can see, they do the Rocky Horror Picture Show on the regular (costumes encouraged) and it’s a funky old-style theater that you’d expect to find as an Art-Haus Movie Theater in a Southern California city…

Now… the movie itself?
It was worth every. single. bit. of effort. I did to get here and do this. My primary reason was waaay back in 2016? Sapper, Ranger Jay and myself went and saw ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ in Orlando on the BIG SCREEN for the 20th Anniversary.

I didn’t see it back in the day because ‘reasons’
But it, like ‘Forbidden Planet’ is one of my favorite movies, and having seen that on the Big Screen with the color, the sound system and everything? I’ll be watching for similar things in the future as Big Screen versus Lil Screen (even if it’s an 80 LCD)? Let me tell you…

This movie purely kicked ass…
PERFECTLY restored.
MAGNIFICENT sound effects and everything…
In fact, the ‘moments of tense waiting while the monster was approaching’ even though I knew the monster was inroute, I was still on the edge of my seat due to the atmosphere that the theater provides, and which I now realize is sorely lacking in the house viewings of movies and whatnot.

So post movie, I got dropped off, and now, well I’m hammering this out and realizing I have like a 0500 wakeup, and a shitload of jet-lag to look forward to. The leg is looking ok-ish. I think it’ll take a few more days of the drugs to get things back, but I am feeling better which is important.

So on that note, I’m off to crash
More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
Soooo… it was a LOOOONG day!
Did 3/4 of a day at People’s Glorious Tractor Factory and then packed and got dropped off at the Aeroporto by Sapper, who’s got another quiet weekend without my witty repartee to bother him… Which BTW tell me this ISN’T the coolest custom license plate we saw on the way to TPA:

Florida has a Gadsden Flag plate available… myself, I think having that plate is waaay cringe… HOWEVER! In this case?

KLDZR
Killdozer!?!
That’s fucking great!
Both Sapper and myself were loving it…
Speaking of which… as I was saying… Me being gone again? Well Sapper much prefers the peace and quiet with me being out and about… The animals however tend to ‘cluster’ when I’m out of the Casa:

ALL the Animals… From the left, you have Bob-the-Cat, the Red Hot Chili Pupper laying on Stella The Sausage Princess, and in the back, Beans. Beans is the other cat we have who tends to be a bit ‘asocial’, even by cat standards. I took him in when his person had to move back home, and unfortunately Beans wasn’t able to go… when she had him, she told me she’d found him living out of a dumpster, so he’s semi-…. I dunno… he’s not feral, just…. not the cuddliest cat…

But BOY is he fat.
Like 4 times Bobs size…
BIG HONKING FAT BLACK CAT!!!

What I find humorous is the fact that Bob and Stella ‘match’ in color, Chili and Beans match… and this was unplanned… it just sort of happened.

Usually the dogs stay w/me all day while I work, and at night while I blog. They usually bunk with Sapper at night 90% of the time… With me gone again, they look like they’ve all clustered w/Sapper…

So I’m here, and crashing out, as I’m wiped:

I got here to freezing rain (comparative to Florida) and it was a LONG couple of flights…
So I’ll take some time tomorrow and try to finish up the Bahama Debrief, and then I’ll get into what’s going on this weekend, and who I’m meeting up with… with OPSEC being a part of it… not mine, but others so to speak.

So More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
OK
Let us get the health thing out of the way. Some of you who’ve been hanging out for quite a spell may remember that my dumbass cracked the ever loving shit out of my shinbone on the ‘bad leg’ (AKA Lefty) while doing PMCS and ‘stuff’ on The Boat (The J3 Donated Boat that is)… PMCS stands for Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services, which is a term used in the DotMil for inspecting equipment and doing on-the-spot repairs IF one has the ability. Meaning I was working on The Boat and forgot I had a GIANT assed tow hitch I needed to dodge…

Like I said, dumbass mode engaged.

Said-Injury looking like this:

Yeeeeah… a ‘Fred Flintstone’ sized lump that was so bad, Sapper insisted we go and get me checked out at the VA at the time… which was pretty much worthless, as it resolved after about 3 months (August 12th being the Day of Deep Impact if you will) on it’s own.

HOWEVER…
The reason I call it “the bad leg” is that’s the knee that got blowed da faq up back in 2006 and had to be rebuilt. Now in the hospital, you can see a wee bit better, but when they cut on me to insert all that Titanium and the other ‘robo-knee stuff’ a LOT of the return veins got either severed, smashed and or not fully mission capable:

All that blotchy color and darker skin?

Yep. That’s been there since the surgery.
Which was in January of 2006…
Not much they can do about it (so I’ve been informed)

So back then I got a Xray and some other pablum that was (IMO) wholly inadequate but it IS the VA so… not much I could do about it… That being said however, things appeared to be OK… Until a few weeks ago when I re-hit the original area…

My dumb ass hit the same exact area again… the how/where/when/why? No idea. I did, however, break the skin, and therein lies the problemo. It was a minor cut BUT

Seems it got infected.
And a BIG PART of my overall encompassing health issues stem from my nerve damage that I got waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day… that being the injury that earned me a One Way Ticket to Fort Living-room, The House.

See… I regularly injure myself.
Most dudes do to a certain degree

The usual stuff… minor cuts… smashed/broken toes (hence last night’s meme of the stones… that cracks me up)… but when I do cause a self induced injury, the problem is I barely register it/feel anything!!! It stems from the brachial nerves coming off of the Cervical 5,6, and 7 vertebrae.

The main nerves got squished when I did my best Wile E. Coyote imitation with the main gun toob of an M1A1 Abrams:

Meaning instead of a “Rock or Something” I got a 10,000 Pound Rheinmetall made M256 120mm Main Gun Toob dropped laterally across’t me squash, thereby inducing a serious vertical compression based impact injury that crushed me like a bug and almost kil’t me.

Hence the cartoon.
BUT
I did say
ALMOST
Thankfully I was in great shape and my at-the-time 26+ inch neck did NOT shift/slide or displace, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation, as I would have died right then, right there… Nope, I got ka-squish-tulated, and have been dealing with it since…

As it was however
So at first, I was in AGONY 24-7-365 for years.
Muscle Spasms, Pain, Joint Pain…

ALL the pain….

Then… it sort of just tapered off…

It seems that I finally found a Sawbones who could explain it to me… As it was such a severe injury, that over time?
The pain receptors burned the fuck out. Leaving me with NO IDEA that I had a cellulitis infection cooking away for a few weeks, and that it’d spread causing a serious buildup of liquid (lymph) and peripheral edema.

They loaded me up with a metric fuckton of meds so now I’m not worried about any potential social diseases like HerpaGhonorrSyphilAIDS or anything… the amount of shit they put me on I could probably bang a leper… anyways…

To add to the good news, the EKG came back awesome with NO ABNORMALITIES, and the liver panel came back the best it’s been in years, much to the consternation of my primary care, who’s used to seeing it marked “Pickled/Plastered” for the past 20 years or so… Add on that the chest X-ray and leg X-ray show no issues either, and I got the Ultrasound today and they said they’d call me IF there was anything to worry about… In fact the BP?
Yeah… without ANY drugs I was running a 127 over 72 Average

Which for a 57 year old sedentary (current lifestyle that is) sort of guy?
That’s fuckin’ great…

And since I haven’t heard anything negative about Ye Olde Ultrasounde???
That means I’m cleared for a bounce to California to see ‘Forbidden Planet’!

Which ALSO has a few surprises!

As in I may/may not be meeting up with some of you who’ve told me you’d be there and look for me, and I’m also the grateful guest of a fellow Blogger who kindly offered me up a place to stay, and is someone who’ll blow y’alls minds when you find out who… I’ll keep that for later…

I’m also trying to coordinate to see Concerned American from WRSA as he IS a damned good fren and we’ve broken bread quite a few times… it’s a matter of timing as he has to leave shortly after I get there… ships passing in the night and all that (without the romantical bullshit involved in that old saying…LOL)

So no matter what, this’s going to be a kick-ass weekend.

Now, to continue with the debrief of “Operation Nassau”

When we last left off, our Hero, Big Country had been repulsed by Superior Numbers and an Unnatural Putrescent Stink that was vaguely reminiscent of Mad Dog 20/20 and Old English Malt Likker, coming from the Hot-Tub(s) that appeared to be brewing “Negroid Soup” at the back of Ye Ole BOWT.

Needless to say… there was NO coming back from that level of gross… As seen by my reaction here:

“Run Away! Run Away!“
Monty Python and The Holy Grail
(or is it Groid these days?)
Anywho….

It was sort of like that joke when us GenX kids were kids still “What’s grosser than gross?” followed up by some really foul punchline in one form or another… Anyway, many of you in the comments tended to agree… So with that minor defeat being logged, I retreated to a ‘beach chair’ to read and relax…

I got a wee bit of sun, as I forgot the sunscreen, but only enough to feel ‘warm’ as opposed to ‘scorched’ which is a good thing. I stayed out there working my way through some long-overdue reading which, for once, did not involve training manuals and/or ‘educational stuff’ which is my usual.

Nope… this was pure ‘reading for mindless pleasure’

The unplugging of my Casaba was almost physically felt.

Of course said-mindless pleasure reading was getting caught up on John Ringo’s “Dark Tide Rising” Zombie-Apocalypse series of book(s) (up to #16 now!) but hey! Preppers gonna prep, and us TEOTWAWKI fiction lovers need some down time and love too amiright?

And when the night started to close in, I got this:

This picture does that skyline no justice!

It was absolutely magnificent, and reminded me of just WHY the Good Lord gave me a smol wakeup in N’awlins two weekends before via the Bishopman… It really reopened my eyeballz to the beauty that is still in this world, as well as a reminder of just what the fuck we need to fight for when the time comes…

Anyways, enough with the ‘waxing philosophically’.

Leave that to the Libtards and Bluehaired Breeding Rejects…

Jes’ Sayin’

So after soaking up the rays, and Saturday being a full-on “Day At Sea” which can translate to “We have them trapped and can try to milk every. single. shekel. out of them as they are, in fact, a captive audience.” (which was absolutely true) it was time to ‘go on the prowl’ and check the various bars and entertainment and shows to be had on Ye Olde BOWT…

Now mind you, I only had a total of 4 buckets of bleer (intentional misspelling, there’s a inside joke there) for the whole trip… essentially one a day, and only bought the occasional companion/bedwarmer a few boozles as well. she claimed not to like to drink too much…

Meh… whatever…

Now while I wasn’t drinking, I did have a cash reserve of a couple of fitties that Sapper had laid on me for his ‘rent’ before I left… he contributes weekly, and for the most part, said $$$ goes to the household expenses. Since I’m no longer having ‘extra expenditures of a type’ I was able to hold onto said $$$ for a “just in case/OH FUCK!” moment as cash talks a language allll it’s own overseas, even in a place as relatively civilized as Nassau…

And having cash?
Well the only place on BOWT that took cash was the Casino.
Hmmmmn…

Blackjack anyone?
Yep. That was fun…

Mind you I literally broke even as fuck.
By the time we re-anchored and docked back in Palm Beach, I had had a zero-sum set of game(s) for the whole weekend, meaning I started with $170.00 and went home with $170.00… minus $20 in tips to the dealer(s)… so as far as I was concerned it was a wash…

That being said, for a few hours, I was up by like $400…

To the point I started getting free drinks and if I wanted, appetizers IF I requested them. I’m not a great player by any means… I’m more ‘instict driven’, meaning while I can NOT count cards, I do see the ‘greater pattern of chaos theory and randomness’ of the Shoe as the cards are dealt.

Case in point:
New dealer.
They re-did the card decks or the shoe as it’s properly called.
Then, after -I- cut the cards, and after a few other things happened, the dealer asked us to throw down on the table, at which point I did not.

I waited.

Which after having played multiple successful hands the dealer, (an nice girl from Serbia named Markova) asked me why I was sitting the first (and subsequent hands) out?

I said I never play off a fresh shoe… maybe hand number 3 or 4, but only if it feels right.

She shrugged and played and I watched.

After Hand Number 2, on a $5 dollar table (the $5 table kicked in from 15:00 until 18:00 to get the suckers in) I threw in $50 for Hand #3.

Now this table had the “Insurance/If your hand has…” spots… and in this case IF your face cards on the first hand (meaning the first 2 cards you get thrown only) has either a Blackjack or a hand that equals 20, and IF you get that 20 with a queen, well I believe as memory serves me it was a progressive payout… if you got 20 via 2x Queen Face Cards, it was a 200 to 1 payout… meaning if you bet $1, you made $200… and it went from there.
That is IF you put down some ducats BEFORE the dealer even started throwing cards…
Otherwise it was a moot point. To continue

When it came time for Hand #3 on this shoe and I had thrown in the $50? The cards came up:
Two Tens
Which got me a 25-1 payout because I had hedged a bet on it equaling 20. And since I had two 10 cards?
I split.
And because of the split, I was able to double my original bet on them ($25 more on each)
Which in turn gave me a Blackjack on One Hand and another 20 on the other, which curb-stomped the dealer nicely… I made almost $250+ off that one hand alone altogether

Needless to say, I had a blast
And BTW, don’t argue my maff… it’s been a LOOOONG day and I’m a wee bit fuzzy. What matters is I had a ball, ‘companion’ had a good time, and then, well it was time to prep for the AM trip to Nassau itself.

Because of the upcoming off-ship adventure, I went to bed pretty early… This was Saturday night. I also didn’t drink worth a fuck-all as each beer, a 16oz tallboy, or a ‘pounder’ as they used to call them back in the day, cost $8USD EACH.

5 of them were $42.99 which gets filed under an “Oh my aching balls!!!” level of pricing… Buying a mixed drink for my companion? $18 for a Sex on the Beach or a Mai Tai on the BOWT… extortion-level prices IMO.

So… I went and crashed, and fought the good fight to get some serious ZZZs as they’d been in short supply.

I woke up and brekkie that AM was an omelette:

Somewhat on the lighter side, BUT!
It was good grub as I stated before.
And on that note, I’ll leave it to finish (maybe) tomorrow as I do have to continue, but that being said, the day tomorrow is looking BUSY-BUSY AF. We’ll have to see. I AM bringing my little Lappie (Thanks for that Ed!!!) so I can at least attempt to stay on topic as well as update y’all…

Say a prayer for me, wish me luck and I’ll be back.
More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
Part the Second of the mission debrief is put on hold for tonight as I have to go to the E.R. It was pointed out to me by a fren who saw my picture(s) and told me I got some serious Edema going on and since my last Liver Panel (4 weeks ago) was completely normal… something isn’t right…

In fact the Docs at the VA said it was the best one I had done in like a year or three… like EVERYTHING either perfect or even low. So I don’t -think- it’s the booze… Also I don’t have ANY symptoms that are associated with that outside of MASSIVE edema/water retention…

Another point is my weight went from 320 to about 360 over the past 2-2.5 weeks. In fact I went from 357 last night to 360 overnight and yes, I did recalibrate the scale BOTH times as I had trouble with ALL the readouts.

That’s….concerning…

I mean I DO love me some beer and pizza but that’s a stretch, even for my garbage gut….

And when earlier Doc Samizdat called me just to yakk it up, when I told/asked him, he told me to make sure I go tonight

So I’ll update later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
OK folks… back at Ye Olde Casa of Ele Grande Campesino! Safe and relatively sound… leastways tired AF as it was a full day evolution to get back here… Long ride/Traffic/Minor Vehicle issues and the like took what should have been 3-4 hour jaunt into the Floridian Version of The Bataan Death March across the peninsula… like we’re talking almost 9-10 hours and my legs and back are still jacked up.

As you can see, literally “…from Sea to Shining Sea” and all that Jazz… Now this’s probably going to be in two parts as A) I got a later start as I worked late to -try- and make up some of the missed hours for People’s Glorious Tractor Factory… I was supposed to have only one day of LWOP (Leave Without Pay) and use the last 4.5 hours of my remaining VayKay time. And B) I’m still pretty tired… lots of fun (again) power packed into what was supposed to be a three day weekend, which due to unforseen circumstances became a full four day.

<Le Sigh>
Side Note: Ever notice if you miss one day of regular work without pay, the paycheck appears to be lighter by like a full $200+/- than normal… but if you do an extra 10+ hours of Overtime at time-and-a-half, you only seem to make like an additional $50+/-?

Go figure.

So on that note, let’s “Break it down like Barney” with some of the observations I had. Now… I pretty much was up all night worrying about the trip. Pre-Mission jitters is what I call it, as well as a certain amount of anticipation. The only other cruise I was on was with X#1, and ALL of the X-In-Laws and to be fair, it was mostly on MY mental headspace and timing, in that I had just recovered from that nasty near fatal lung infection, and they had discovered the tumor in my lung because of it.

Throw in a healthy dose of PTSD, and ‘other issues’ and said Thanksgiving cruise was doomed from the get-go. SO I had high hopes that this’d be fun.

Now… I got to the Port, and had a pretty quick run-through to get on board. The people were a interesting and eclectic mix with the ‘blend’ appearing to be a 1/3rd of the “Main Tribes of the US of A” if you will, those being Whytte, Blaq, and Hispanic. (with some serious various delineations among the Hispanics that I’ll cover in a bit).

For the most part, everyone was cool, calm and collected, with only ONE noticible group that had everyone’s toofuses on edge… it was a party of 4 Tatonka Whammenz… I.E. The Shaniqua Bridal Brigade… Loud, obnoxious, entitled and truthfully, all four of them looked like 800 pounds of gratuitously gross flab packed in waaaay too tight Spandex and bullshit…

<SHUDDER>
Just the memory makes me want mind-bleach in Liquid 90 Proof strength… It was that bad.

I got the following as I had cleared the Boarding/Customs location:

I will say the folks running the show were pretty damned efficient. They got everyone prepped and ready, locked and loaded and on-board within an hour of my estimated SP time, which was 12:00-13:00. SP being a DotMil term that refers to the location and time where a convoy or unit assembles and begins a movement I.E. “Start Point”

Once on Board, I made my way to my room:

Which was located roughly inside the red circle here:

Without knowing it, I chose wisely in that the red dot with the number 5 in it? That was/is the main onboarding/off-boarding point/door. It meant that due to my room’s proximity to said door, I was one of the first on, and the first off when the whole thing was said and done.

Honestly, I for the most part forgot pix of the room. It was OK… with a King Sized bed, on which the mattress was a wee bit on the harder side than I liked, but the AC was first class and the shower astall, while smol (for me) was still enough for me to get my scrub on in. The only issue, leastway in the bathroom, was the hot water was tepid at best in the shower, while the sink had a lot of the agua caliente rolling… In there of note was the toilet itself, which was somewhat reminiscent of a Jet Aircraft’s shitter. It appeared to be suction-powered or something… I dubbed it the “Turbo-Flush 9000” as I think if I had accidentally flushed whilst perched on it, the suction was so strong it was likely to rip my junk off and suck it down the tubes.

The major negative was only ONE US Standard power outlet on the smol desk area. It did have, strangely enough, another power outlet, however it was a Euro-Style two round-prong round plug type, and I didn’t have an adapter, nor did I know if it was 220 or 110, and wasn’t risking toasting any of my gear.

Once I got settled, I gave myself the nickel tour and rolled up to the 11th floor to the “License to Chill” bar and pool deck:

It was, as you can see, an utterly gorgeous day.

At this point the BOWT started rolling out, and since the sun was not quite yet setting, before dinner I plopped down, and sans sunscreen read my book for a few to initiate “Chill Mode”

I hung out and basted a bit in the sun until about 17:00 and then went to the “Port of Indecision Buffet” which was located one deck below the pool deck. Once I got there, I found it was a choice of pizza, burgers or the ‘flavor of the night’ which in this case Dinner being some Jambalaya and Mac n Cheese with assorted ‘other’ stuff…

Yeah, the food wasn’t great but it was “chow” in the respect that it was aight, plentiful, filling, and available damned near around the clock. I forgot to take the pic before starting to chow down as by that point I was hungry-hungry.

It was exceptionally reminiscent of the food we had in the chow halls in Iraq and Afghanistan. ESPECIALLY the Burger bar on the poop-deck in the 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar:

I swear to GOD as my witness that these were the same exact burgers we had “back in the day” in the chow hall(s) on Victory and Balad.

Speaking of Church, I did find the Chapel and yes, I did visit on Sunday:

Your basic AF Multi Denominational Church, with an emphasis on 1970’s decor and “All of the Above” Religions. I think the Bishop from N’awlins would have been pleased. No real services held of course, but at least it was a place to go (at least for me) to give thanks and reflect on the wild-assed shytte I’ve been doing as of late Aye?

Shortly after eating, and since I had only had about an hour-and-a half of sleep, I went and got a surprisingly good night’s sleep after dinner. The sleep was sound, but vivid dreams were had that really surprised the Hell out of me… it was like a ‘life in parallel’ so to speak where for a bit, I wasn’t sure which place was the ‘real world’… it wasn’t a problem, not even… just really vivid and… sincere? I’m not sure how to describe it… suffice to say I got some really good ZZZs out of it…

So, after a really good, hard crash out, I made sure that I was up relatively early for the “Full Day At Sea” to take advantage of the ‘stuff’ they had available. The first thing I did was hit the brekkie in the buffet:

My absolute favorite meal of the day on board hands down.

Polish Breakfast Snausages w/Onions, French Toast Stix, Infidel Meetz (ham) and good ole US Army (probably) powdered scrambled eggs. I realize it’s with an Ironic Tone that I say this, but considering how as I went along and discovered that the majority of the guys on board were all either retirees like me, and/or quite a few active duty guys who spanned ALL branches, the chow was great (leastways to us Grunts).

The chow also brought back some fond memories, leastways in the case of breakfast, which when I was active duty in the Army AND as well as being a Contractor, the brekkies were the tits man…

After breakfast, I then scooted back up to the “License to Chill” bar and pool deck, and well… I tried to be early and get to the Hot Tub as Ye Olde Spine was in pretty rough shape still, and there I found my first… hmmmn… “Diversity Checkpoint” so to speak?

Mudshark and Groid Soup anyone?

EUUUW! EUUUW! EUUUW! EUUUW!

So much for THAT amenity amiright?
Those two tubs stayed that way the entirety of the trip mind you. Meaning positively PACKED with ‘floaters’ so to speak… Needless to say, I had ZERO Interest in soaking myself in any potential ‘stuff’ that could have been passed on in such a hot-temp breeding ground for the HerpaGhonnaSyphiliAids that any one of them weirdos were possibly carrying…

Thanks/No Fucking Thanks Aye?

Sticking my dick in an open, pus-filled Festering Wound held more appeal TBH… I know… gross but y’all didn’t smell the scene… and yes… ‘Par-Boiled Nog’ Does have a rather pungent aroma.

And now… with that rather grody description, I realize I’ve hit the writing limit for tonight.

Tune in for the next installment tomorrow of our Travelog of The Country of Bigness™ and his Wild and Whacky Adventures!

Thanks for coming by!
So More Later
Big Country